#god the way i WISH i could 'i told you so' to a) clients b) supervising partner c) opposing counsel

[sarah-yyy]

two lawyering moods

me: why am i always right

me: why is everyone else always wrong

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

By Your Doorstep (Part 4)

Summary: The reader and Dean celebrate Tessa’s birthday with a big surprise before making a drastic change to their relationship...

Pairing: Doctor/Neighbor!Dean x reader

Masterlist

Word Count: 4,100ish

Warnings: language, angst, mentioned past sexual assault (not graphic)

A/N: Parts of this series are told from two different POV’s. Dean’s POV are written from limited third person. Reader’s POV are second person (like a typical reader insert). Enjoy!…

_________

Dean’s POV

Two Weeks Later

“Oh fuck yeah!” said Dean, jumping up and down in the driveway as he read over the letter in his hands. 

“Dr. Dean that’s a bad word,” said Emily, the five year old three houses down. Dean slapped a hand over his face as she rode past on her bike, her father laughing to himself.

“Hope it’s good news, Dean,” said Chris.

“Very. Sorry about that,” said Dean, Chris waving him off as Dean jogged back inside. He read over the letter again and looked through the packet. “Alright. As long as you keep a B average or above you’re golden kiddo. You get straight A’s anyways so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Dean smiled and gathered up all of the documents, getting them together with Tessa’s birthday present. Y/N had tried to tell him that giving away his old iPhone was too much but all it did was sit in a drawer now when it worked perfectly fine. He was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be thinking about the phone at all once she found out about the grant.

He looked back at the bag on the table and frowned. Maybe she’d take it the wrong way, like he was trying to save her sister or their family or something like that. He could have given them the application and had them fill it out. They would have probably gotten it still. Dean knew his letter he’d included didn’t hurt but he didn’t want to be that guy. He was already a doctor, already helped Y/N with a job, already paid for dates and things. It was no issue for him at all and he knew she didn’t care about the money but he didn’t want to rub it in her face that he could help more than she could.

Dean grabbed his phone and called Cas, Sam stuck in some network client thing all night he’d told him. It rang a few times before it picked up, the echo in the background telling him he was on speaker.

“Deano!” said Benny. “Gonna make it over tonight after all?”

“Hey guys,” said Dean, sitting down on his couch. “You got the crew together?”

“Nah, just us and the girls. They’re still out shopping. What’s up?” asked Cas.

“You know Y/N?” asked Dean.

“The girl you’re clearly in love with? Yes we know her,” laughed Benny. Dean was quiet and heard them shift on the other end.

“Everything okay?” asked Cas.

“I think I fucked it up. I think I’m going too far too fast.”

“What do you mean?” asked Benny.

“Tessa, her little sister, she’s in high school and I applied for a grant on her behalf for her college and she got it,” said Dean.

“That’s a problem how?” asked Cas.

“I don’t want it to come off as me trying to save them or anything. I’m nervous she’s gonna get mad at me,” said Dean. His friends were quiet and knew a teasing comment wouldn’t come. “Guys.”

“Tell her you applied on a long shot and a grant is what helped you with school. You’re not saving the day, just sharing a benefit you got,” said Benny. “Shit I wish I’d had someone do that for me.”

“What’s going on Dean? You’re normally the last person to freak over shit,” said Cas. Dean sat back and stared up at the ceiling. 

“Talk to us bud,” said Benny.

“I like this girl and it’s been years and years since I had a girlfriend. You guys know I’m not good for more than a fuck,” said Dean.

“Lisa was a super bitch and you know that’s not true,” said Benny.

“I am in my thirties and I’ve never had a real relationship. I don’t even know how. I’m gonna fuck this up so bad. I know it.”

“Contrary to how often I call you a dick, you are one of the best people I’ve ever met,” said Cas.

“I agree and you know all our friends and especially Sammy would say the same thing. Brother you gotta relax. This girl from what you’ve said and everybody else says, well we ain’t never seen you so happy so stop freaking, go get ready for your date tonight and put some faith in this girl that she’s not gonna hurt you back,” said Benny.

“I didn’t say-”

“Dean, we’ve known you forever. We know when you’re scared. I know most people in your life end up hurting you but take it from us, not everyone will. I got a good vibe from her,” said Cas. 

“Me too,” said Dean quietly.

“You doing okay?” asked Benny. “In general you know.”

“Yeah. Most of the time I’m great now. The past few weeks have been awesome. I think maybe that’s why I keep freaking out over this girl. It’s like, fucking finally, I understand what a good relationship can be.”

“You been to Ketch lately?” asked Cas.

“No, not as a patient. I’m okay.”

“Well still go for a tag up every once in a while for us,” said Benny.

“I know. Never would have gone without you assholes getting on my back in the first place.”

“That’s what friends are for,” said Cas, Benny chuckling. “So where you guys going tonight?”

“Monico’s.”

“Fancy,” they both said and Dean rolled his eyes, smiling to himself.

“Goodbye assholes,” said Dean, hearing them laugh before he hung up. He sat up and took a deep breath. “Alright. Shower. Shave and fingers crossed tonight goes well.”

Reader’s POV

“Okay, presents before or after dinner?” you asked as you carried in a bag to Tessa’s room. 

“Before, obviously,” she said. 

“Alright, well I know you wanted something really badly this year,” you said. “Why don’t you open the green one first?”

“This feels like an iPhone box…” she said with a big smile. She tore off the paper and grinned. “Awesome! What one is it?”

“It’s a ten. It’s used but in really good condition. I got you a case and extra charger too,” you said. “We can swing to the store and activate it tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Y/N, really,” she said. She grabbed the card next and her eyes went wide when she saw the cash inside. “Y/N.”

“It’s your money you gave me. It’s yours. Buy whatever you want, okay?” you said. She nodded and unwrapped a few more small things, a book she’d been talking about, some make up you knew she’d use, a new pair of her nike running shorts that’d been on sale thankfully. You smirked when she picked up the last two presents in the bag. “Alright. I hope these are...suitable for you.”

She tore off the wrapping on one and started to laugh.

“It’s hot pink,” she giggled. “Why is it hot pink?”

“Cause vibrators come in a variety of colors,” you said with a laugh. “I will let you read through the charging instructions on your own and same for the other box. There is toy cleaner because yes you need to wash these things properly and I got some water based lube. Go with water based. It dries up faster but it works better to me. Oh and wash everything like five times before it goes anywhere near anything, okay?”

“Okay,” she laughed. “I can’t believe you actually bought me this stuff.”

“Can’t get pregnant off a toy,” you said.

“Definitely can’t do that,” said Dean, Tessa wide eyed as he popped his head into the doorway. She shoved the boxes back into the bag and he laughed. “I’m a doctor. Sex doesn’t bother me and I think your sister has a point.”

“Oh my God, I forgot he was here,” she said, running her hands over her face.

“I was wondering where you two ran off to,” he said. He stepped inside and pulled out a box from behind his back. “Happy birthday, Tessa.”

“Thanks,” she blushed. She undid the bow and paper, smiling as she opened the box. There was an envelope inside but she picked up the headphones and shook her head. “Dean I can’t accept this. It’s too much. I already know the iPhone must have been yours.”

“You are smarter than you look,” he said. “But I can’t accept your refusal of my present. I have new ones and those never get used and I’m bigger than you so you’re gonna lose this argument one way or the other.”

“I’d listen to him, Tessa. He gets his way when he wants it,” you said. She rolled her eyes but smiled.

“Thank you. People haven’t been nice to us the past couple years,” she said. You glanced down to the floor, Dean leaving his arm wrapped around your waist. 

“People weren’t all that nice to me either for a long time,” he said with a nod. “Someday when you’re able, you help somebody else out, understand?”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod.

“Open the envelope. This one’s a present to you both,” he said. You cocked your head as she tore it open, reading for a long time before she pulled out a paper and handed it to you.

“Dean,” you said, sitting down on her bed after you’d read it a few times. “Dean this…”

“It’s a grant. It’s very similar to a scholarship. I’m an alumni of Elmdale and the medical school there. Tessa you qualify and so I applied on your behalf a few weeks ago and you were accepted. The grant will cover half of four years of tuition,” he said.

“What does that mean?” asked Tessa.

“It means we will have to pay very little with financial aid,” you said. She was beaming and you shook your head. “You applied weeks ago?”

“After I met you two. This house seemed familiar to me for some reason until I remembered. Y/N I told you someone helped me when I was eighteen?”

“Yeah?”

“I think his picture is hanging in the hall,” he said.

“Our dad?” asked Tessa.

“He got me a job and helped me pay for part of my school. I came here once when I needed his help. Your father was a very good man and it’s clear his daughters are the same. Neither one of you deserves to go through all the pain I did. I don’t want you to. It was no trouble at all to do, I swear.”

“Tessa, I work at Dean’s office as a lab tech,” you said. She turned her head and you saw Dean nod. “I lost my job before. We were scraping by. Barely. We’re okay now but without this grant...it would have wiped out our inheritance. That was for weddings and down payments for houses. We can keep it now...we can keep the house now.”

“You hate this house though,” she said. “I hate this house.”

“Tessa-”

“We can downsize,” she said. “Y/N, every night you stare down at their bedroom door. It’s like we live with ghosts or something. It doesn’t have to be so tight. Do we really need a five bedroom house?”

“It’s not as tight anymore. We’ll talk about it. Let’s go celebrate all the good news,” you said. “I’ve been dying for a Monico’s steak.”

“She seemed pretty happy tonight,” said Dean as you sat on the front porch a few hours later. You hummed and rocked in your seat beside him, resting your head on his shoulder. “Did I overstep?”

“No. You were the boy in the mailroom, weren’t you. Dad used to talk about you sometimes. Mostly when I didn’t want to do something. He told me some people my age have it so much harder.”

“True. But you can’t compare one person’s struggles to another’s. It’s not fair to either one.”

“Would you sell this house if you were me?” you asked.

“I like that you live close by. I’d miss that. But it’s a lotta house for the two of you and it sounds like a change might be a good thing. You could downsize to somewhere else in the neighborhood and probably bank a good chunk of money for later on.”

“We could.” Dean was quiet, gears turning in his head. “What are you thinking of?”

“My house is a five bedroom too.”

“Yours is also newer,” you said. “And bigger.”

“Tell me if I’m crossing a line but...you guys...could stay there if you decided to sell this place. Temporarily. Or not temporarily,” he said. You stared up at him and he looked away. “Like I said, I’m sorry, I know it’s...I should go.”

“Hey. I’m not afraid of you.” His head turned back towards you and he swallowed thickly. “Tell me another secret and I’ll you one.”

“I think I I’m falling in love with you and I’m afraid I’m going too fast and that you think I’m creepy or weird deep down and I’m up to something when all I really see is me and my brother in you and your sisters places and I know how much it sucks and how much it hurts and I know you protect her from stuff she doesn’t even know about. I’m sorry for saying that about the house just now. I’d still like to see you though if that’s okay.”

“I think this is fast too but I also think that part of me fell for you the day you carried her home. You don’t want anything from us. Just to help and it’s not because you pity us or anything like that. If I’ve learned anything yet in life it’s that you don’t know when it’s gonna stop and there’s no use in wasting time.”

“What are you saying?”

“You willing to put up with a teenager, a service dog and someone who has not had a moment to themselves in two years?”

“As long as you don’t snore,” he smiled. You laughed and kissed his cheek. “Are you serious?”

“I don’t like this house anymore. If she doesn’t want it, I don’t want it. Maybe we can do some test runs, stay over for a weekend or two, see if we want to make it a not temporary thing.”

“That sounds great,” he smiled. “We’ll figure it out, sweetheart.”

Two Months Later

“I’m home,” you said on the way back from the store. You’d been staying at Dean’s for two weeks now after a nice couple closed on your old house. So far it’d been great and you were perfectly happy to stay there with him and Tessa for the foreseeable future. “I picked up some-”

“He is not my dad. I am eighteen,” said Tessa as she stormed over to the foyer. You glanced back to where Dean was over in the kitchen and sighed. “I want to go to Paulie’s tonight.”

“Who is Paulie?” you asked as you kicked off your boots.

“A friend,” she said.

“You’ve literally never mentioned him before,” you said, carrying some groceries through the family room and to the kitchen.

“That’s what I said,” said Dean as he peeled a potato at the island.

“I thought I said you’re not my dad so you can shut the fuck up.”

“Hey!” you shouted, Tessa freezing up. “Apologize to Dean.”

“He-”

“We are stable for the first time ever because of him. I trust Dean to make decisions for you when I’m not home. If he said no, then the answer is no. Go to your room,” you said. She grumbled and pounded her feet upstairs. You washed up and gripped the countertop. “I’m sorry. I can’t believe she said that to you.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be the bad guy,” he said as he picked up another potato. “Paulie what’s his face doesn’t sound like he wants anything other than in her pants so she can swear all she likes at me.”

“What’d she say exactly?”

“She wants to go over to Paulie’s tonight to hang out with some friends but I overheard her and Hailey talking earlier this week about a party and I don’t need a medical degree to put it together.”

“If she sneaks out I’ll kill her,” you said. You glanced down to Toast’s dog bowl and paused. “Dean what would happen if she drank on her medication.”

“She can’t drink alcohol on that stuff,” he said. 

“What would happen if she did.”

“She could have a seizure,” he said. 

“Tessa!” you shouted. You jogged upstairs and found her bedroom empty. “Tessa!”

The house was quiet and you put your hands on your head. 

“Toast!” you shouted, the dog trotting out from Dean’s bedroom. You immediately ran inside, Dean already upstairs and you saw her sitting out on the balcony in a chair, her face in her knees. 

“Can I…” said Dean and you nodded. You followed him outside, Dean walking over and squatting by her seat. “Tessa, what are you doing out here?”

“I wish I was normal, didn’t have a fucked up head.”

“I got one too,” he said.

“Do you have to take medicine for seizures? No?” she said.

“No but my dad used to beat me up,” he said. She turned and he nodded. “He would try to beat up my little brother too sometimes but I would take the hits when I could. Tessa, you can’t drink when you’re on your medicine. You just can’t.”

“I know that,” she said.

“You can’t sneak out and leave Toast behind either. It’s not safe.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Y/N and I get scared too is all.”

“You just pretend to like me cause you fuck my sister.”

“For the record, I don’t fuck your sister. Relationships are complicated. You might not realize this but I care about you for you. If I didn’t I would not want you in my house, in our house, and I wouldn’t get scared about you going to parties with guys that just want to use you for sex. I give a shit about you Tessa whether you believe me or not.”

“You don’t care,” she scoffed. “You feel sorry for us. Nobody on earth would ask two strangers to move in unless you-”

“Tessa you can think whatever you want about me. I’m not your father and I’ll never try to be him. But I sure as shit know how to be an older brother. So be pissed off and be rude and whatever else you want to. I’ve done this before with my own brother. You don’t scare me. The only thing that does is you getting taken advantage of or you getting hurt and Toast isn’t there to help. Someday you’ll get it through that thick skull of yours what the truth is but until then, I’ll be the asshole who doesn’t let you go to parties you’ll get hurt at.”

“You pity us.”

“I’m jealous of you.” She stared at him and you swallowed in the doorway. “Your parents loved you. Mine didn’t. You want to talk about being fucked up? I’m here anytime.”

She nodded and he sat up on the bench with her. You went inside and finished preparing the potatoes, mashing them up and saving them for later. It was nearly ten by the time you heard the stairs creak and Dean walked down them.

“Y/N,” said Tessa. You got up from the couch and walked to the bottom of the stairs, Tessa glancing down. “I’m sorry for how I’ve acted today and treated Dean lately. I was…”

“It’s okay,” he said quietly as he rubbed her back.

“I was scared when we moved in here a few weeks ago. I don’t want to lose you too and Dean takes up time that it used to be just us and I know the accident wasn’t my fault but I feel guilty still sometimes and I know your life is different because of it too and I want you guys to be happy, I do. I just get scared you’ll forget about me. I don’t wanna be alone. I’m not ready.”

“You don’t ever have to be alone, Tessa,” you said. She nodded and looked up at Dean.

“I know. I was silly. But I’m better now,” she said. 

“It wasn’t your fault,” you said.

“I know,” she said. 

“Why don’t you head to bed, Tess. Tomorrow I can come to your session with you like we talked about,” said Dean. She nodded and walked upstairs, Toast trotting into her room. You walked upstairs and into your bedroom with Dean, shutting the door after yourselves. “I should have...change is difficult on kids with PTSD. I should have realized that’s why she’s been so snippy. I thought it was just hormones.”

“Probably both,” you said, climbing onto the bed. He lay down next to you, staring up at the ceiling. “You care for her.”

“You two are a package deal, sweetheart,” he said with a light chuckle. “Can’t love one without loving the other.”

“Like you and Sam,” you smiled. “I can’t wait to meet him in person.”

“Me too.”

“Is Tessa okay? You guys talked a really long time.”

“She was afraid I would replace her, push her out. Granted I do like spending alone time with you and everything but she needs you and I’m not here to take you away from her. I think she understands that now.”

“Dean why haven’t we had sex?” you asked. He sat up and you shrugged. “We’ve dated nearly three months and you don’t even try to cop a feel. For how fast certain things are between us, that one feels a little slow. I just want to understand. I don’t...I’m not saying it’s a problem I just want to know.”

“You asked me on our first date, or you made a comment, that I don’t seem like the shy around women type.”

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t use to be. A smidge, especially if they were the one that seemed to be controlling the situation but it was always good. I had some girlfriends, had some hookups. More than my fair share of hookups. The girlfriends…”

“The bitch one?” you said, getting a chuckle out of him.

“I stopped thinking I was relationship material for a while. So I did hookups for a long time and that was good. Until about two years ago. I haven’t had sex since.”

“Did someone hurt you?”

“No. I just...I asked her to stop and she didn’t.”

“Dean she hurt you.”

“It’s not that big a deal.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Well I don’t want to talk about it anymore, okay?” he said. He put his back to you and you took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I know we sleep in the same bed and…”

“And I don’t need to have sex with you. Would I like it? Sure. But my sister and I aren’t the only ones in this house that need to be taken care of. You’ve done a really good job of that lately and I’d like to start pulling my weight in that department. When you’re ready for sex, you tell me, otherwise, I will just cuddle you real hard until then, okay?”

“Alright,” he said quietly. He reached behind himself and wrapped your arms around him. You kissed the back of his neck, Dean taking slow breaths. “I don’t really know how to let someone take care of me though.”

“We’ll take it slow,” you said. “Like maybe with you being little spoon tonight.”

“Alright. I can try, sweetheart.”

_______

A/N: Read Part 5 here!

[jiminrings]

Can I request a drabble, hobi is kinda like a band singer and Y/N is like his old time friend and they like had a falling out bc he got super successful but years after they're like together again? IS IT TOO SPECIFIC UHM :")

parallel

pairing: hoseok x y/n

wordcount: 4k

glimpse: hobi’s kind of an asshole and is vERY much emotionally repressed, y/n’s serotonin is dependent on wearing bridesmaid gowns, the dwindling one-sided pining anD the everlasting question of where the fuck was hoseok when you needed him :D // gif is from pinterest!

notes: this drabble really hits close to home and tysm for the request babe!! even if i’m a month late yeesh :O

you can’t believe yourself either when you say it

but holy shit — weddings are definitely your thing!

there’s something about the union of marriage that gets your head into overdrive but in a gOOD way

there’s just something so pulling about last-minute changes and family drama and awkward trips to the restroom that make your mind mHMMMM THIS IS IT CHIEF

yea granted that not every wedding you go and participate in isn’t exactly straight out of a rom-com

lmao sometimes it’s so obvious that the bride doesn’T love the groom but hey!!! who’s keeping tabs :D

you love wedding environments so much that here you are, two years out of uni and a couple of gigs later — couples are LITERALLY fighting over you

heh not to brag but uh

you weren’t recognized as best wedding planner for two years in a row and have your face in multiple covers of bridal magazines and such

time magazine recognized you as one of the most influential people in the scene last year but hey !!!!! no big deal lads

“i am asking you for just one minute, y/n!! stop being a wedding planner and start being my maid of honor!!”

nayeon exasperates and tugs you by your sleeve, having already noticed your second nature of taking charge the moment you entered the hall

after all, this is just cake tasting! that’s why she’s brought her maid of honor to help her out, nOT immediately go fishing for a clipboard

“well if the planner you hired wasn’t so sloppy-...” it’s a fact! he relies too much on his tablet and doesn’t even have any paper with him, and even if he’s already using a tablet, he doesn’t even use different colors to mark out!

apparently nayeon can’t handle the truth because she’s stamping her hand to your mouth that’s already a frown, about to suffocate you if only you didn’t bite it

>:|

y/n - 1 | jisoo’s hand - 0

you’re just a lil bit cranky alright

the last wedding you’ve catered to was just three days ago, and well you’re thankful for your job!!! really!!! bc not everyone is as booked as you nor sought-for

but there’s something about her wedding that puts you off :((

she’s very kindly yet firmly told you that no, you would absolutely not be her wedding planner and coordinator

“b-but i-“

“i want you to relax! and it’s-...”

“we said-“

“we said when we were kids that we’d plan each other’s wedding, but we didn’t swear on it! and i want you to-...”

“y-you told-“

“i told you that we didn’t have a wedding planner yet so you’d intentionally clear your schedule for me! and here we are-...”

“i’ll cry-“

“aww you big baby, save it for the wedding! i told you, just relax, m’kay? let yoongi handle the planning, and you do the unwinding.”

goddamn yoongi

yoongi who’s a wedding planner in his sPARE time could fuck right off

you don’t care if he’s very persuasive and firm and happened to book nayeon’s wedding even it was peak season :((

you don’t wanna admit it, but being a wedding planner has basically been your personality trait for the past years and it’s hard to cope when your job is to not.... plan and worry

anyways besides that

you’re a little iffy because nayeon’s wedding is your wake-up call

you’ve been planning weddings.... but uh when the FUCK is yours

u are so tempted to put a sock over your head and just yell gIVE ME A RING!!! PUT IT IN THE BAG

unfortunately, you don’t even have someone in your life to readily propose to you

you would have had someone, actually —

if only hoseok didn’t wake up one day and decide to remove you from his life

if only your childhood friend didn’t suddenly decide that you’re not worthy of his attention and time!!!

god he thinks he’s a bigshot

and well yea ok he IS a bigshot

who doesn’t know jung hoseok at this point :((

you’ve always figured that he’d be successful at whatever path he chooses and for a moment, you feel sorry for him that he’s stuck in such a state of mundaneness

he’s stuck between home and school and since he has no choice — you

your each other’s day one!!! the moment your mom went home from the hospital, her first instinct was to knock on hoseok’s mom’s door and then iMMEDIATELY present you to her

the two of them are absolute best friends and why not make our babies the same way ya know????

the two of you were apparently so close as babies that when one was crying, the other would comfort

and you weren’t even a year old then????

you’ve shared cribs and milk bottles and clothes and everything in between with hobi

so why is it that when you’re just almost at the peak of your life with graduation, he just suddenly decides to drop you?

he’s suddenly too cool for you as if he hasn’t spent countless nights crying on your shoulder for any inconveniece that gets brought up

he can’t even meet your eyes :(((

that’s why graduation is the blandest and emptiest day you could recall

hoseok is over there with his bandmates looking the absolute hAPPIEST and you’re there by the corner.,.,. alone by yourself feeling like your cap has the words dropped by jung hoseok :D all over it

he’s at his peak and at the top of his life performing and touring, whenever and wherever

he’s happy

but without you in it :(

the irrational (and probably rational) part in your head is beyond infuriated at him because atleast offer an explanation!!! if you did wrong at one point, then he should tell you!!!

not suddenly pretend that you were nEVER in his life

even his mom feels guilty and ashamed over his son’s actions so she orders flowers from the shop signed underneath your company, then send it back to you

for awhile she tried to pretend that it was hoseok but no :((( that man will physically convulse if he doesn’t add (atleast) three hearts after his name

you hate him so much that you still religiously visit his instagram and wonder if he could see your likes despite a couple other million liking the same posts

you hate him so much that he’s number one on every single thing in your spotify wrapped 

you hate him sO much that you wonder who’s behind the songs his band plays and how you’d wish that you’d be the one he’s writing about

“is the cake that... perfect?”

nayeon gently places a hand on your shoulder to which you flinch and she backs off because christ i’m nOT taking the cake away from you!!!

oh my god why are you tearing up

“yeah, yeah! it’s so good. you should try it nayeon!” you’re scrambling to scrape up your plate, almost shoving the fork into her mouth as she squeals with the sudden attack

yoongi has ???? hovering around his head but this is nOT about you my man

he sneaks a look to the bride’s plate and uh-huh... yup..... she has the same moist chocolate fudge cake with coffee ganache on her alright

the topic of hoseok that you bring up to yourself, one that no one knows (not even nayeon!!!), is just something that never seems to vacate your mind fully

it’s been two years and you’re still so touchy and you dON’T KNOW WHY

he probably doesn’t even think about you when he’s drunk and bored

“this champagne must be so... nice?”

nayeon thinks out loud as you’re once again crying into doing your maid of honor duties

she’s a lil worried if she’s being honest but you always whisk her away when she’s about to ask

like right now :D

“are you-...”

“i just can’t believe you’re getting married!! wow, you’re so cool. with the love of your life. then the two of you could be cool together after the wedding. you aren’t gonna forget me once you’re married, are you? nayeon do you think that i would ever be married-...”

you should just accept it now :((

you’re a little bit of a mess and a half underneath your pantsuits and walkie-talkies and the special pride you’d carry whenever the couple mentions you in their wedding speeches

absolutely WHY in the hell do you think about hoseok when it comes to weddings???

it’s almost a pavlovian response when you instruct the people to open the doors and the bride to start walking and your mind would iNSTANTLY think about him

it’s sometimes awkward when the couple would ask ah !!!! ms. y/n u are such a world-renowned wedding planner !!!! your own wedding must’ve been magnificent :D

aha actually about dat.,.,

you get tons of gifts of gratitude from just a single client alone and you don’t have hoseok and his stupidly powerful arms to help carry boxes back to your car

you don’t have him to give untouched and left-over flowers to

you don’t have him to remind you when you’re getting a little ahead of yourself over just talking to sponsors and trying to squeeze in as much as you could for an initial budge

you don’t have hoseok, in all his glory, to put his hand on the small of your back when you’re talking to how you need the fireworks to start the moment the band starts playing ice ice baby and the vendor does nOT need to know why it’s the song chosen by the couple

it’s what he’d do when you’re trying to fit two semesters’ worth of notes into a pricey A3 notebook that you’ve bought 

and just how many weddings do you plan and coordinate, even within just a span of two week?

:)

a lot.

often.

you think about hoseok a lot. often. oftenly a lot.

but aha nOT TODAY!!!

today’s nayeon’s wedding and you’re not gonna ruin it for her by projecting your yearning into your best friend’s wedding that clearly isn’t yours

10/10 she’d probably stop reciting her vows to ask you why you’re sniffling

your only source of distraction is your gown!!!

your maid of honor is the absolute pRETTIEST and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel gorgeous in it

it’s floor-length silk!!! fLOOR-LENGTH !! SILK !! GOWN

it’s in a deep mauve with an off-shoulder situation and a little risqué bit of cleavage!!! cinches right at the top of your waist and poofs a little and oh my god mayhaps you aRE pretty

god hoseok may have not written you a song, but sean kingston dEFINITELY did

nayeon knew you’d be catching everyone’s attention as much as her wedding dress would and she’s absolutely happy and fine with it!! 

in fact she’s strategically practiced her throws for her bouquet so you’d catch it and your gown would nOt go to waste

having a wedding happen right where you are, but being in it as a guest instead of a planner, is just so much... calmer

you’re not fixing the chaos but you’re just watching it!!! if you feel a little more bubbly then you’re gonna partake in it hee-hee

yoongi’s actually not so bad

he could just be a little too lax which ends up with him being lost and distraught 

you could see so much of you in him when you were just starting out and it’s endearing actually

(( nayeon’s told you in passing that she once told yoongi that you were her best friend and he looked both intimidated and awed at the same time ))

the only thing you help yoongi with is sending him a thumbs-up every now and then and he perks uP because that’s the signal that he’s doing a good job and not fucking up

nayeon looks so beautiful and you’re already tearing up fixing her veil :((

you know how wedding photographers and videographers LOVE people crying???? they r probably eating your shit up so quick that you won’t be surprised if you take up atleast half of the same-day edit of their wedding film

there’s something so serene about the hecticness everyone’s indulged themselves in

you’re grinning when you walk down the aisle because you realize that omg you haven’t doNE this in a long time!!! 

the last time you did was testing out the aisle for a client that wanted it ala crazy rich asians and you had to walk back and forth cOLD-ASS water with damp rolled-up pant cuffs before they got the temperature and the levels right

nah you should definitely know how it’d be because after all :D you aRE the consultant for that scene in crazy rich asians :D no biggie :D

it’s such a serene blast to see everyone happy and in their element

you’re sitting the reception out bc yoongi very kindly pleaded to please give him notes and promising that he’d never tell it to anyone else

the whole planning process for nayeon and not oNCE did he bring a notebook..,., but he just hAPPENS to have one when you’re telling him how to say no to your client

“listen, you have to tell them in the sincerest way possible, that you tried everything. it gets them going when you tell them that you even pleaded with the vendors, but don’t go too low on your knees, alright? and then after that, you say a strict no. no, because their choice of flowers is absolutely sHIT for their tie-dye theme they’re so adamant about!”

yoongi has never listened so intently

not even when his roommate lists out their grocery checklist

“mhmm. and if they still push, should i give them an ultimatum? or tell them about a wedding that totally happened that did exactly what they were planning, and how much the guests hated it?”

okay nOW he’s talking

“what you do is...”

the buzz of the reception never really dies down because it’s barely even starting!! the couple’s still finishing up on their pictorial which gives everyone time to get to the venue and freshen up or get last-minute gifts lmao

you know that it’s starting when the band or the dj starts doing polished mic checks

mic check! one, two, three! sKRRRRRRRRRRRRRRA

no, no 

there’s something definitely wrong

the rolling and the lull of routine words just seem so familiar

mic check! J-A-Y! H-O-P-E! J-HOPE! jung-...

oh

my

fucking

gOD

that’s hoseok.

that is most dEFINITELY hoseok

you turn your back to see the stage set-up and god...... fuck

it’s someone you haven’t seen in the flesh for two years yet spent the years of your life with before that 

he looks sickening in his black mandarin-collared suit with thick white lining on it wITH his hair styled up and parted to the site

it’s even more sickening for you because you don’t actually know if you can mANAGE to be here

you’re standing up abruptly and yoongi squawks at that because he is the furthesT thing from being finished about asking how to make the guests arrive on time without holding a field trip assembly-like type of line with the megaphone

the fastest way out was dashing through the front part and you must have forgotten that hoseok has a knack for catching things with his perfectly good eyesight

“y/n?” 

ok what now

he mumbles your name to the mic, his eyebrows furrowing as his eyes trail the speed-walking speck of mauve from in front of him 

his little question to himself must have gotten people more than curious

they’re already mORE than curious because it’s his goddamn band that’s playing!!!! and the fees are not cheap and it’s practically impossible to book them!!!

but jungkook, their drummer, was a close friend of the groom’s and alright.,.,. okay maybe we CAN play at weddings now

ok hoseok’s mind is probably just playing tricks on him and he should finish setting up before the lights dim again for what they insist is the 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓬𝓴 𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻

but then he can’t help but look oNE last time

then he sees the watch he’s gifted you on his wrist — one that he was supposed to give you at graduation but later made his mom give it to you instead and not say that it was from him

...

....

whew he might need his inhaler for this one and he doesn’t even hAVE asthma

oh my god what the hELL is hoseok doing here????

you haven’t seen him for two years, and the moment you do, it’s in your best friend’s wedding with no date present??

you’re clearly panicking and the only form of caffeine you’ve gotten is the pre-game of getting a few bites from the coffee ganache in nayeon’s wedding cake that she was munching on while getting her makeup done

you know what!! it’s fine

it’s totally fine :D

hoseok is just hoseok and you’re not gonna be intimated by the man you’ve been loving in the sidelines from practically your whole life :D

it’s not a big deal!

besides, people are looking for you bc you’re supposed to give the opening toast to welcome nayeon and her groom in

you’re walking, you’re talking, aaaaaaaand-

yeah this is not nOT a big deal

you’re crumbling from the inside out because seeing hoseok is just too painful after two years of wondering where you could’ve went wrong and what could’ve happened if the two of you didn’t fall out

you feel especially bitter when hoseok starts singing their famous song about love and everything in between

everyone’s sWOONING and on their feet and you’re literally just there vibrating with how furious you are

you keep downing the good champagne as iF it’s gonna get you drunk

yoongi has a clue that the server must be a little dizzy having to go and back forth to your table so he just offers his portion to you

you’re so goddamn busy and absorbed with loathing him that you don’t even turn your back to notice that his eyes keep flickering to you

even at the cheesiest lyric, hobi expects that you’d atleast LOOK at him for that one but nOOOO your champagne flute and the blondie beside you is just much more interesting

you’re buzzing with anger that you aren’t enjoying this reception At All

you fail to even recognize that nayeon’s intentionally had your favorite food to be served!!! and you have an extra portion delivered to your table!!!

you just want your suffering to eND wow absolutely how much longer could this go

you’re so busy with cussing the whole ordeal in your head that you didn’t even notice how the band isn’t playing anymore and instead everyone’s swooning over the cake

it’s lost in you that hoseok’s shooed yoongi from his chair, sitting right beside you and even scooting closer until his knees bump to your own

and that’s when it sinks in

hobi doesn’t even have time to tell you how beautiful you look because you’ve gone straight to seething him

“for the record, i want you to know that i hate you.”

...

:O

okay hoseok didn’t expect that

for all he knows, the two of you even vOWED to never say the h word even if it’s meant jokingly!!

it’s a lethal word and the two of you collectively agreed to never play with it in regards to saying to one another

but well here you are

you’re saying it as if you’ve never been more sure of anything in your whole life

you feel actually relieved to say it to him right to his face, a miniscule weight lifted from your shoulders while your arms are crossed just by looking at him

hoseok does you one better with a timid chuckle, looking down on his rings that he’s fiddling with nervously

“yeah. i hate me too.”

.... oh

you’re perplexed at his reply so much so that you’re speechless

you’ve been keeping to yourself what you should say to him the moment you see him for two years and now that he agrees to what you’ve just said.,.,.,

oh fuck that

“i hate you so much, hoseok! i don’t even know what i did wrong and i asked even your own mother what’s wrong with me! did you know that you are, without a doubt, so fucking selfish???”

you exclaim as quietly as you could but that doesn’t stop people from glancing because the two most-known people in the room, besides the bride and groom, are having what seems to be an... intimate conversation with how close the two of you are??

“did you even try once to consider how painful it was for me to wonder why i just am the way that i am? or is that even too big of an inconveniece for you to think about because you’re so busy?”

“did you suddenly get too big for me, huh?” you ask straightly without malice, not even thinking about the double meaning because clearly, you’re too PRESSED lightly jabbing your finger to his chest

right he deserves that

hoseok’s fucked up big-time, that much he knows

his eyes are actually stinging right now and he would ask you for your handkerchief that you used to always carry for him but uH he thinks he doesn’t deserve any of that

“why couldn’t you just tell me what was in your mind? you know that nothing would change whatever it was that-”

“i love you, okay?”

hoseok interrupts you with his mumble before he sets his eyes down once again on your watch

you’re speechless for long this time

“..... w-what?”

okay maybe he fucked up even more

“listen i-...”

“if you love me, a single text wouldn’t have hurt, hobi!!”

your chest doesn’t hurt anymore but it iS constricting with the amount of emotions and scenarios you’re trying to process

he’s kinda lost because oh my god you aren’t mAD anymore!!

and you don’t look fazed that he just declared his love for you

“i dropped you because i-i — i don’t want the people i love seeing me fuck up, y’know? i finished uni for the sake of it, and i didn’t even know if the band thing would work out!!”

“but baby it dID work out!!!!”

jesus christ hoseok may be a fucking iDIOT

you’re shaking him by the shoulders and he actually has to stand up so he wouldn’t fall by your ministrations

you feel so happy because your processing was just about to be finished, equal parts relieved and happy and maybe a tiny bit confused still

“it did work out because look at you now!! hobi, you could’ve just called me and i would’ve accepted the call before it even rings!!” you’re happily frustrated with him that you push him until the two of you are in the dance floor, his mouth curving up both in disbelief and giddiness

“i didn’t because i thought-...”

he’s interrupted by a swift and tight hug to his middle, his arms moving on their own to envelope you in his warmth

the top of your head still smells the same :D

his purpose is lost before he gathers his bearings once again, freezing in his stance before weakly attempting to push you off

“... you were married.”

the harsh sQUINT of your eyes you’re giving him prompt him to explain

why is he so nervous

“i-i go to your instagram? and well you uh, you posted this pic of you in the middle of the aisle???? you had your back turned and your silhouette’s seen then you were holding a bouquet!!! then after that, i-i never opened your account. jesus christ, is your husband here with you, y/n? what am i supposed to-...”

the realization’s starting to sink into hoseok because it’s something he’s shoved to the back of his head and now he’s seeing it straight-on

you’re throwing your head back laughing at him :D

great

now he’s both heartbroken AND a fool

there’s a gentle kiss on his cheek, one he didn’t expect and one he doesn’t hate

“i’m a wedding planner.”

god now this is just so fucking funny

the two of you fell out and remained distanced because of just a series of unprecedented miscommunications!!! 

the whole thing is so ridiculous that it actually feels light and relieving to talk about

“you’re.... a wedding planner,” he mumbles once again for confirmation, his loose arms around your waist now tightening

oh my god

hoseok starts chuckling to himself out of delight, turning to full-on cackles with you at how much the two of you have just been beside each other like parallel lines

“i need to make up the past two years to you.”

he declares seriously as a promise, pressing a tender wet kiss to your cheek that gets you giggling

“only if you write me a song,” you do him one better, kissing him on the corner of his mouth 

“don’t you know that most of them are about you? anyways, you should plan our wedding once it happens,” he’s forward with his words, having waited long enough that he nuzzles his nose to yours

:D

you’re gonna do him one even better

you’re gonna go right for the kill, the truth spilling out of you before you kiss him longingly, for the first time that it feels that it’s been something you’ve always yearned for

“don’t you know that you’re in my mind for every single one?”

[evilwickedme]

ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...

[love-like-poetry]

The Bounty's Truth-Part 8: “Ni Kar’tayl gar darasuum.”

Summary: Ava and Jango take a vacation on Coruscant.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Warnings: romantic af sex, PIV(unprotected), some mild violence.

Home sweet home. I missed this ship. Jango went to the cockpit and I headed down to the cargo hold to clean the sniper rifle and put her away. After I was finished, I headed up to join Jango. “Looks like we’ll need to restock on ammo for the NT-242 and concussion grenades. Bane used what we brought to Athus Klee. I also need to take a look at the canon support systems. The warning light was on.” I rambled as I sat down in the copilot seat. “We’re headed to Coruscant, we can get all that done there.” Jango said. “Coruscant? Oh my Gods I’ve always wanted to go there!” I exclaimed with elation. “What’s it like? I’ve heard the whole planet is one giant city.” I asked grabbing his arm.

“The surface is impressive, but we will be going to the lower levels.” Jango replied pulling up a map of the planet. “We’re going to stay here.” He pointed to the area we’d be in. “What’s the job?” I asked. “No job. We’re going to take some time to recoup.” He told me, trying to hide a smile. He always has a contract he was working on, so this was unexpected. “Really?” I had the biggest grin stretched across my face. I’ve been living on a ship for 5 months so getting to stay somewhere else for a while was exciting. The only other place I’ve spend the night was at Gardula the Hutts.

The planet looks incredible. I can see the lights of the massive city all the way from space. “No way..” I whispered in awe. Jango looked at me as I stared at the metropolis. I quietly took in the sights as Jango flew through the city. I think he purposely took a detour for my sake. We finally made it to our destination about 10 levels down. He told me to pack my things since we will be staying here for a little while.

We made our way out of the hangar and into the enormous city. Even the lower levels were incredible to me. I felt like a Jawa in a scrap pile. I wanted to see and do everything. “Stay close Ava.” Jango called as I stopped to stare at a street performer. She was incredible, I wish I could bend that way.

I closely followed Jango as we walked through the crowds. Someone rammed into my shoulder so hard I almost fell. “Watch it lurdo!” The aggravated trandoshan hissed. Jango whipped around and shoved him against a wall. “Want to say that to me?” Jango raged pinning him to the wall with just one arm. “J-J-Jango Fett!? Kriff I-I didn’t see you.” Never thought I’d see a trandoshan this scared. “I-I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t know s-she was with you.” He stuttered holding his hands up. “Apologize.” Jango ordered. The trandoshan looked at me, “I-I’m so sorry miss, p-please forgive me.” He begged, I thought he was going to cry. I nodded my head and Jango let him go.

The terrified lizard took off running, pushing people out of his way. That was an over reaction, I thought to myself. I think Jango is still harboring ill feelings from what happened on Mustafar. Jango grabbed my hand. He was starting to squeeze tighter as we weaved in and out of the hordes of people. I couldn’t really feel my fingers anymore. I tapped his arm lightly, “B-baby your hurting my hand.” I whimpered softly. He immediately let go. “Kriff, You okay?” He asked examining my fingers. “I’m fine love, just loosen your grip please.” I giggled lacing my fingers back with his.

We approached a busy hotel with several ‘creatures of the night’ outside. A few of them headed inside with their new clients for the hour. We entered the relatively well kept hotel and stopped at the front desk in the lobby. “Jango! Good to see you friend.” The male zabrak behind the counter said. “The usual?” He asked getting a keycard ready. “Yes.” Jango replied handing him the credits. “You must be in a hurry today Fett. Usually you settle into your room before finding your entertainment for the night!” He gave a hefty belly laugh. “Give me a ring when you’re ready to leave honey, and I’ll call you a cab.” He winked at me. I contorted my face then looked at Jango. “She’s staying with me.” He said snatching the keycard out of the zabraks hand. “Oh Kriff, my bad.” The man nervously laughed. “Uh, enjoy your stay miss.” He was rubbing the back of his neck. “Thank you.” I said dryly.

I knew that Jango has slept with other women, obviously. But I didn’t like to think about it much. Now I was going to be sleeping in a bed that he’s fucked countless women on. Its been a challenging few weeks for me emotionally, this didn’t help. Once we got to our room I placed my things down and headed to the fresher. I needed to calm myself down. I wasn’t sure if I was sad, angry, or irked. Maybe it was a mixture of everything. I sat on the floor and started to quietly cry from my frustration.

I heard a knock on the door. “Ava.. are you crying?” Jango asked behind the locked door. “No, I’m fine. Just give me a minute.” I sniffled. “Ava, open the door.” I knew if I didn’t, he would force it open. I got up and unlocked the door. I turned around to hide my red face. “Is it from what the attendant said?” From his tone of voice, he wanted to go rip that zabraks head off. “No.” I replied, my voice shaky from attempting to push the emotions down. “It’s stupid, I’m fine.” I sniffled. “Tell me.” He was trying to remain calm, but he was upset that I was crying.

Jango turned me around and lifted my head up. “Tell me what’s going on.” He was searching my eyes for an answer. I couldn’t speak. Because if I did I would loose it completely. “Cyare please” Jango held my face and wiped my tears. I physically couldn’t hold back anymore. I threw myself into his chest and bawled. I soaked his shirt with my tears and snot. I was so embarrassed. I started to try to wipe it up, but Jango just pushed my head back into his chest. He picked me up and carried me to bed. Neither of us said anything for the rest of the night. He just held me tightly until we fell asleep.

When I woke up my eyes were puffy, and I had a headache from crying. I could still feel Jango next to me. I rolled over and he was laying on his back, looking at something on his holopad. “Good morning.” He said grabbing my hand. He put the holopad down and turned to face me. “Feeling better?” Jango asked with care. I covered my face with the sheets. “I’m so sorry about last night. I don’t know what happened.” I was blushing in shame. Jango pulled the sheets down so he could see my face. “We don’t have to stay here. I can get us another hotel. One I’ve never been to.” He consoled, touching my cheek.

“No, no. I’m okay. I-I just never… The thought of other women getting to touch you… That maybe I don’t deserve you.. Maybe I’m holding you back..” Being honest about my insecurities was difficult, but freeing. “Cyare.” He sounded happy and hurt at the same time. He started to sit up. “Come here.” I got up and straddled his lap. Resting my knees by his hips. We were now eye level with each other. I played with the fabric of his shirt, and he rested his hands on my thighs.

“Ava, I love you.” He professed with absolute confidence. All my insecurities melted away. He LOVES me; I didn’t need to be veracomic to know he was telling the truth. I could see it in his eyes. My body, heart and soul belong to him. Tears of joy welled up in my eyes. “I love you Jango.” We pressed our foreheads together and basked in this moment. If the pain, loss, and injustice I’ve experienced in my life was the price to get to Jango; it was all worth it. “Ni Kar’tayl gar darasuum.” He hummed in Mando’a. I later looked up what the sweet words meant. ‘I will know you forever.’

We made love and it wasn’t about carnal pleasure. It was about bonding and simply being close. I’ve never experienced anything like it. My orgasms were slow, lasting what felt like minutes. There were times where he just held me, keeping himself inside. It felt like he didn’t even want to cum. He just wanted this moment to last as long as possible. This time, there wasn’t hunger in his eyes. Just love and adoration. “You are the embodiment of my euphoria cyare.” Jango grunted as he finally came. He wasn’t speaking Mando’a this time, it’s like he was able to think clearly while experiencing a slow, drawn out orgasm. The ropes of cum just kept pouring into me. He stayed inside until his cock was soft. I felt as if a part of me was missing when he finally pulled out.

We didn’t leave the hotel room for 72 hours. We ate, slept, and made love. Jango Fett is everything I thought couldn’t exist. He’s all I need. On the fourth morning, I woke up but Jango wasn’t in bed with me. I looked around and he was casually dressed, sitting at the table looking over holograms. “Guess I could only keep you in bed for so long.” I softly giggled. I put one of Jango’s shirts on, then made my way over. He pushed his seat way from the table so I could sit in his lap. I wasn’t wearing panties. His hands wandered under the fabric to feel my soft skin “Mmm cyare. How are you more beautiful each morning?” Jango muttered as he kissed my covered breasts.

I blushed furiously and bit my lip. “Let’s head out today. I’m tired of the food service here.” He said looking at me with a smile on his lips. “I’d love to, but after.” I unzipped his pants and slowly sat down on his already throbbing cock. I began to grind my hips back and forth. You’d think after 72 hours of nothing but sex would put out my fire. But it only fed the flame. I constantly craved him. It wasn’t just about the physical pleasure. I needed to be a part of him. “How are you this good every time?” I moaned as he moved my hips with his strong hands. He slid his fingers down to rub my clit as I continued to grind. “It’s only going to get better meshla.” He said with a smirk. I whimpered as I kissed his lips. Our tongues danced together and I started to breath heavy from the approaching climax.

He knows the right pressure and speed that makes me cum quickly. He wants to be able to tease me, but once he sees the look on my face he can’t stop himself. He’s even started to learn when to slow down so I don’t hurt from overstimulation. He continues to work my clit until I throw my head back and squirm on top of him. He then wraps his arms around my waist and squeezes me tightly. It’s his turn. I don’t think he’s ever cum before me. We’ve climaxed at the same time, but he’s never allowed himself satisfaction until I was taken care of.

He stands up so I wrap my legs around him. Not wanting to separate. I cling on to him so he can adjust his grip from my waist to my ass. Once he does he bounces me up and down on his thickness. He handles me like I weigh 20 pounds. He starts grunting louder. “Shi as ibac…Kriff!” He unloaded his pleasure into me and then sat back down. I stood up then cupped my hand over my cunt so the mess wouldn’t get on his pants. “Mmm, okay I’ll shower than we can go.” I kissed him then made my way to the fresher to clean up.

Once I got ready, I came out to see Jango in his full armor. “Jango, I thought we were on vacation?” I said placing my hands on my hips. “We are.” He replied shrugging. “Why are you in your beskar?” I asked almost laughing. “Baby, it’s Corescant. My reputation gets me places.” He chuckled and opened his arms as if to show off. I walked up to him and trailed my fingers down his chest plate. “Well, it’s a good thing you look hot in beskar.” I kissed his helmet, the cool metal felt refreshing against my lips.

Jango took my hand and we left. He made sure to not squeeze my hand to tightly. I reminded him that we needed ammo so we stopped at a dodgy little shop. “Fett! My favorite customer. What can I get you today?” A devaronian exclaimed embracing Jango. “Yvak, how have you been?” Jango asked patting him on the back. “Good as always friend! Who’s this lovely lady.” He picked up my hand and kissed it. That was a pretty common practice for devaronian’s. “This is Ava.” Jango said putting his hand around my waist. “Ava, a pleasure. What are you doing with this bucket head?” Yvak teased, elbowing Jango.

It was strange to see Jango be friendly with someone. Made me happy to know he had some people in his life that treated him well. I giggled at Yvak’s jab. “How long have you guys known each other?” I asked looking up at Jango. “Oh it’s been what, 10 years?” Yvak answered scratching his head. “I’m the one who sold him those blasters you know!” He pointed to Jango’s holsters. “And they’ve served me well.” Jango placed a hand on his friends shoulder. “We need some concussion grenades and NT-242 ammo. I could also use more Z-6 rockets.” Jango informed the devaronian. “No problem, I should have all of that. Let me show you some new weapons that just came in too. I think you’ll like these.” Yvak led us to the back. “You still flyin that fire spray?” Jango nodded his head. “Well get a load of this.” Yvak lifted a large crate on the counter. “Seismic charges. These bad boys can wipe out 10 fighters at once.” He held one up to show us.

“Sure, I’ll take a few crates.” Jango said. I think I know why Jango is Yvak’s favorite customer, he likes new toys and has plenty of credits. “Have you had any run ins with droids lately? Because this paralyzer disc can immobilized any droid.” Jango shook his head. “No, I don’t deal with droids often. Only IG units and they’re usually on my side.” Yvak put it down then picked up another weapon. “This would actually work well with your current armor, a Dur-22 wrist laser. This baby is great if you’re in a pinch and need something close range.”

“I’ll give it a try. Load these up with the rest and have it delivered to my ship.” Jango instructed. “Anything for you miss?” Yvak turned to me. I looked around the room. “What’s this?” I pointed to a pronged blade. “Oh Jango, your girl has great taste. This is a Thorn of Ryloth. It’s a spring knife that comes with a wrist mount. This is also an electromechanical weapon, the two edged blades are enveloped with cascades of energy, once engaged.” I smiled as he handed it to me. “Wizard.” I commented, studying the blades.

“What do you think?” I asked showing Jango. “Alright, we’ll take this as well.” He said handing it back to Yvak. “Excellent! I’ll have your items delivered to the fire spray by the end of the day.” The devaronian just earned enough credits to live lavishly for a year.

We had lunch at a cute little diner, then headed to a bar for a drink. Looks like it was a bounty hunter hot spot. Everyone moved out of our way until a large male twi’lek stood in front of us. He was looking for a fight. “Well, If it isn’t the Mandalorian, Jango Fett. I heard you had a little bitch following you around.” He scoffed folding his arms. “I’ll give you one warning. Move.” Jango said calmly. “Oh yeah? Or wha-“ the twi’leks words were cut off as Jango violently kicked in his knee cap making it bend backwards. The twi’lek fell to the ground screaming from the pain. “Anyone else?” Jango looked around the room. No one dared to step forward.

“Get him out of here.” The barkeep said to security. They dragged the crippled twi’lek out of the bar. “Thanks for not making a mess Jango. First round is on the house.” The barkeep said casually. Fights must happen pretty often here. So I’m sure he appreciates it when they are quick and clean. “Two spatchkas.” Jango requested as we sat at the bar. “Haha, hey I’m glad someone finally shut that guy up!” Another bounty hunter said who was sitting next to us. He raised his glass to Jango. “You always know how to end something before it starts Fett!” He drunkly laughed.

“Here you are.” The barkeep placed two glasses in front of us. “You lookin for work?” He asked. “Not right now.” Jango waved him off. “Okay, but it’s a doozy.” He shrugged. My curiosity was peeked. “What is it?” I asked leaning forward. “Well apparently someone has put a hit out on a Jedi. Two Million credit reward.” He said in a hushed tone. “A Jedi?” I almost choked on my drink. “That’s insane. Aren’t they impossible to kill?” I asked. “It’s not that hard.” Jango said confidently. “Once you get their laser sword out of their hands, they don’t know what to do.” My eyes widened in surprise. “You’ve killed a Jedi?” I whispered holding his arm. “A few.” He replied, finishing his drink.

“Well if you change your mind, let me know.” The barkeep said as he went to serve other customers. “Honey, two million credits, you could retire.” I said leaning on his shoulder. “Is that what you want?” Jango asked holding my chin. “I mean this week has been amazing. Just the two of us. No one shooting at us. But I’ll follow you anywhere you go Jango. I’m happy as long as I’m with you.” I kissed him on the lips and smiled. “Let’s head back.” He said throwing some credits on the counter.

It was a quiet walk back to the hotel. He seemed distracted. I’m worried my comment about retirement made him upset. Once we walked through the door I said “Baby I didn’t mean to push you or anything, I know that your work is important to you. So forg-“ He kissed me mid sentence. “I’m glad you told me. Because I’ve been looking for a place for us to settle down. Ava, I want to marry and start a family with you.” He was confident, but slightly nervous.

“Oh Jango.” I threw my arms around him and tears started to fall down my cheeks. He was willing to give up on the only life he knew, for me. To know he was telling the truth, as always, made my heart light. “What do you say?” He asked pulling me away so he could see my face. “I’ve never wanted anything more.” I kissed him then said, “I love you so much.” He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. “I love you Ava.”

[world-of-aus]

Strictly Confidential - Part 3

Warnings: easily flustered Bucky Barnes because that is a warning!

A/n: sorry for the delay, I’ll be updating the dates of release on this masterlist! Left it on a bit of hanger because i need to get you all roped in further as we take off! I hope you’ll enjoy this chapter i love writing a flustered Bucky! As always thank you for reading!

Part 2 / Series Masterlist

There was something about mornings that Bucky dreaded, but there was something about this particular morning that just took the cake.

Since he woke up this morning, two hours late to be exact, everything was slowly going to shit. From the accident on the streets causing him to arrive an hour later to the office then planned, to the mix up on his coffee order, to the only elevator in the office out of order, he didn’t think it could get any worse, there was just no way.

He should have known better than to think otherwise because finding you bent over his desk, your skirt tight around your backside nearly sent him into cardiac arrest, of course it was your first day working for him how could he have forgotten. Seeing you bent over his desk had him growing hard in his slacks his hand cupping the warm Styrofoam cup a little too tightly sending the lid popping off and hot liquid pouring over his hands, a loud, “son of a bitch,” spilling from his lips.

A gasp left your lips as you looked over your shoulder just in time to see him drop the coffee to the floor with a hiss, “Mr. Barnes, oh my goodness,” you voiced making your way over to him, “here let me help,” you murmured grabbing the files from his other hand. He watched you move around his office, placing his files neatly on his desk before you were moving back over to him to pick up the lid and coffee cup discarding them in the can by his door.

“I’ll be right back,” you murmured exiting his office door, Bucky watched the door you had glided out of in a daze, he hadn’t even been in his office for a full minute and he was already captivated by you.  

Your rushing back in a minute later when he’s finally managed to snap himself out of the very trance that you have put him in. “Here,” you voiced moving over to him grabbing a hold of his hand as you placed a cool towel on the heated red skin, “you really ought to be more careful Mr. Barnes, if you need me to fetch your coffee in the mornings before I come in, I have no problem doing so.”

“Nonsense y/n, that’s not - Jesus christ,” he grunted watching you drop to your knees swiftly to tend at the coffee spill on the floor giving him a perfect view down the top of your blouse.

Your eyes shoot up, brow raised, “Everything alright sir, was the towel not cool enough, I can see if I can get you some antiseptic, Steve said I could fetch him if I needed anything,”

“Sir?” you questioned slowly when he didn’t answer at first, Bucky blinked at you owlishly before shaking his head, rubbing at his eyes, “Mr. Barnes are you sure you're okay, I can go get Steve, really it won’t be an issue.

“no, no,” he muttered shaking his head, “it's just been a long morning, nothings quite going as expected,” he sighed rubbing a hand over his eyes.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” you questioned.

His eyes are snapping open at the sound of your voice, and god he wished he wouldn’t have chosen that exact moment to look at you because he's a breath away from falling to his knees himself, licking his way into your mouth and fucking you senseless on the floor.

“Uhm actually yes, do you think you could fetch Steve for me?”

“No,” Bucky looked at Steve incredulously, “what do you mean no!”

“What I said Bucky,” Steve replied with a roll of his eye, “no, your hired her yesterday, now all of a sudden you decide it’s not something you want,” he questions, “we’ll I’m sorry man, but no, I’m not going to fire someone because you change your mind from one day to another, she’s a damn good publicist give her a chance, she’s going to change your life!”

Bucky groans, running a hand through his hair, how can he tell Steve that’s it’s not you, its him. How does he tell Steve that he signed up for a Cam website like him and Sam had told him to jokingly do and that the Cam girl he loves to spend his hard-earned money on is you, his newly hired publicist? How does he tell Steve that he can’t be in your presence without his dick getting hard at the mere sight of you? How does he tell him that you already did change his life?

“Steve please,” his best friend shakes his head, “If you want her gone YOU fire her,” he glares, “I’ve seen the work she does, and I know the great things she’s capable of, so I'm not going to do that to her, you do it if you really don’t want her working under you.”

Steve doesn’t give him a chance to argue, a chance to plead with his friend, his best pal, because Steve is exiting his office in a huff, and Bucky knows he’s fucked up.

Today really was the bane of his existence.

A soft knock sounds on his office door, he glances up to see you there a soft smile on your lips, “I brought you some lunch, asked Steve for your usual, I hope you don’t mind, figured you had a bad enough morning, and with Steve walking out of here like a man on a mission, I'm assuming your meeting with him didn’t go as great.”

Bucky sighs, “you have no idea” he murmurs.

Your gliding through his office doors, placing a bag from his favorite Diner down in front of him, “I hope you enjoy your lunch Mr. Barnes, and if there’s anything else I can do for you, I honestly don’t mind offering a helping hand,” you shrug, “I may be a publicist but I can be a friend if you need it.”

Your words shock Bucky, you really were the total package, weren't you?

The words are out of his mouth before he can stop himself, “would you like to have lunch with me,” he questions and its that teasing glimmer in your eyes that has him adding, “of course only if you want, if you don’t have lunch plans with anyone else.”

A soft laugh falls from your lips as you take one of the seats in front of his desk, softly moving things from in front of his desk off to the side, “was planning on having lunch by myself in the workroom, but having lunch with you sounds a lot better, get to know you on a more personal level Mr. Barnes.”

He clears his throat, opening the bag as he pulls his burger and fries out, “what would you like to know?” he questions shoving a fry into his mouth.

“what’s your guilty pleasure?” and really your question is innocent, but something in him snaps when he watches you lick the extra ketchup off of your finger.

“you,” he murmurs in a daze.

Your eyes are meeting his brow raised, a smirk pulling at your lips, “excuse me?” you question.

Bucky's cheeks flush red at the realization of what he’s said, “YouTube, YouTube is my guilty pleasure, and god does he wish the floor would swallow him whole because your full-on smirking, and he knows you know.

“alright Barnes, why is YouTube your guilty pleasure?”

“I like to watch videos,” he shrugs, and a snort falls from your lips, “what type of content do you like to watch?”

You.

“I don’t have a specific thing I like to watch,” unless it's your spreading your legs for me, my name spilling from your lips in a breathy plea, “I like to watch anything that catches my eye really,” and you catch me eye.

“Have a special someone in your life right now?” you question over a fry.

Bucky takes a bite from his burger considering your question, “define special someone sweetheart,” and he grins when he hears you clear your throat, cheeks taking on a slight hue of pink.

“Now Sir, I think you know what I mean by special someone, do I really need to spell it out for you?”

Yes, yes you do, with your mouth wrapped around his cock, tongue swirling over his head, there goes his slacks.

“should we skip the question?” you question.

“Wouldn’t say I have a special someone, but there is someone I'm interested in, is that answer enough for you?”

You smirk, “might need to spice it up, but hey that’s my job,”

“what about you.” he fires back, and honestly, he’s a little curious.

“what about me?

“do you have a ‘special someone’” he questions throwing away his trash in the bin under his desk.

“Define special someone,” you throw back a teasing smile on your lips.

“would you like me to spell it out for you?” he questions because really he would drop to his knees if you asked him too.

You laugh shaking your head, “not that it’s any of your business,” you tease, “but if you must know, there is someone I am interested in, he’s a client of mine.”

Bucky raises a brow, “oh, anyone I might now, someone from your work perhaps?”

Your cheeks flush red, as you wipe at your mouth with a napkin, “I don’t think you know him, but he is a client of mine, a regular if you will.”

“a regular you say,” he questions, is there a name to this lucky fellow?” he adds, and that only makes your cheeks grow warmer.

“Buck.”

Bucky chokes on his saliva, his body convulsing wildly in a fit of coughs, “oh my god Mr. Barnes are you okay?” you questioned concerned.

His hand is waving wildly in the air, voice coming out strained, “yeah, yeah I'm fine, went down the wrong pipe,” he coughs.

You're getting up then making your way around his desk, your hand rubbing his back softly, “did the name ring a bell?” you questioned through a laugh, and good thing his head is ducked because surely he would have given himself a way with just a look.

“No, no, I promise it wasn’t that like I said it's not the best day, and it seems I can’t even swallow.”

Your stifling your own laughter, and his eyes grow wide, “y/n get your mind out of the gutter,” he grunts.

Laughter is fully spilling out of your lips now, and his eyes slide up your legs, stopping on your face, god the sounds you make always sound so heavenly to him.

“I’m so sorry,” you snort, “but you walked yourself into that one!”

“I think that’s enough questions for today,” he laughs, your laughter finally getting him, “that’s fine,” you chuckle wiping under your eyes, the hand that was on his back falling to your side, and there’s a part of him missing your touch.

“Steve said he would fill me on as much as he could so that I could start working on something for you,”  

Bucky watches as you gather your things feet carrying you to the door, you turn to face him a warm smile on your lips, “thank you for letting me have lunch with you Mr. Barnes.”

He’s smiling back, “thank you for having lunch with me y/n.” he watches you leave through his door, the glass closing softly.

He’s slumping against his chair, a breath of air leaving his lips, “buck,” he was your special someone, or at least the man behind the screen of your Xmodels website was.

BuckmeUp his Xmodels username, it had to be him, he had looked through your publicist website last night, looked through the articles, and videos you have created for various clientele and there was no “Buck” there.

His thumb runs over his lip, he knew this wouldn’t end good.

Its later that same day that he decides to call it for the evening, he had gotten absolutely nothing done today, and to be quite frank he was over it.

Grabbing his things, he exited his office, intent on heading home and calling it a night, he didn’t think he had it in him to go through anything else.

Seeing the elevator with no out of order sign had slightly lifted his hopes, thankful to not have to walk down three flights. He’s stepping into the elevator when he hears you call out for him, his foot stops the closing doors, as you run the rest of the way, “oh thank goodness,” you breathe as you slide in past him, pressing up against the wall, “I thought I was the only one still here.”

“What are you still doing here,” he questions as the doors slide closed, “I’m usually the last one out of the office, did steve leave before you?”

Your nodding, “yeah he said he had to get home, he said I could stay behind to finish up putting together some of the information he gave me about you.” you smile.

“anything interesting?” he questioned watching as you pulled your phone from your purse.

You look up at him slightly as you unlock your phone, “he told me some really lovely things about you and your company, you sound like quite the catch.” you grin, eyes averting back to your screen.

“Texting your “special someone,” he questions as the elevator dings, doors sliding open.

A laugh leaves your lips, but your eyes remain glued to your screen as you follow him out of the elevator, “something like that,” you murmur.

You’re locking your phone as you and Bucky make your way down the corridor of the bottom level of the office, your slipping out the door with him, when it's time to part ways. Bucky's phone pings with a notification pausing him in his steps as you continue on, you turn your head when your feet away from him, “I’ll see you tomorrow Mr. Barnes, have a great night!” you call out, as you walk further down the quiet streets. Bucky goes to respond but the notification he just received has his breath catching in his throat, and his words dying on his tongue.

Xmodels:

Have sometime for your best girl tonight? - Vixen

Part 4

WorldofAUs Forever Tag-list: @cap-n-stuff-main​​ @bucky-cinnamonroll-barnes​​ @kseniiafirebrace​​ @sideeffectsofyou​​ @pinknerdpanda​​ @thefridgeismybestie​​ @b0nkybarnes​​ @oliviastan17​

Strictly Confidential Tag-list: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @lady-pswrld @connie326 @lookiamtrying @depproselily @mollygetssherlockcoffee @jaywolf840 @calwitch @genlovesdcb @xoasalxo @jbarness @undiscovered-misunderstood​ @abschaffer2​ @brattypeony​ @sassy-pelican​

[charincharge]

Person A and Person B are co-workers who hate each other. They’re always competing with each other at work and they’re always getting into arguments. Then one day Person A is leaving an appointment with their therapist when they happen to see Person B waiting to see the same therapist in the lobby. I think one is perfect for rowaelin.

This was silly but fun. Word Count: 1,757

Aelin pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, a horrible mannerism she’d picked up from her least favorite person. She could see her boss bite back a smirk as he noticed Aelin’s mirrored position from across the table. Aelin leaned back, removing her hand from her nose, refusing to have anything in common with the man who made her life a living hell. Fucking Rowan Whitethorn.

When Aelin had first joined Rifthold Marketing, she’d been excited to meet her team. She’d been warned she would be the first female to be hired as a senior account manager, and that it was a bit of a boys’ club. But Aelin could handle herself. She was fierce and opinionated and refused to be bowled over by any sexist asshole. But it turned out she didn’t need to be worried, the team of managers, who referred to themselves as The Cadre, invited her to their weekly happy hour her first day on the job, welcoming her with open arms.

Well. All, except one.

Rowan Whitethorn was a prick extraordinaire. He scoffed as Aelin sipped her chardonnay at their happy hour, frowning into his beer unhappily at her presence, and he hadn’t warmed to her since. It’d been four months, and every day he’d made Aelin’s life a living hell. Which is why for the life of her, she could not understand why Dorian, the company VP had asked them to work together on a new account pitch.

“This is insane, Dorian,” Rowan grumbled from his side of the table, his fingers ever present on the bridge of his nose, between his furrowed brow.

“As much as I hate agreeing with him,” Aelin said, clearing her throat. “Rowan is right.”

“I am?” he asked, straightening up slightly.

“Of course,” Aelin scoffed. “Us working together is ridiculous. I have an existing relationship with the account. Orynth Hotel Group is only taking the meeting because of me. They want to rebrand with me. Rowan has no business pitching whatever nonsense ideas he has to them.”

“Except Rowan also has an existing relationship with the client,” Rowan said, speaking of himself in the third person. It was something he did all too frequently, and it made Aelin’s skin itch every time.

“The existing relationship should not count if it’s not professional,” Aelin jeered, and Rowan’s lips curled into a sneer as his fist pounded on the table. “Who is she? An ex? You screw your way into all your accounts?”

“Excuse me?” Rowan gaped. “Dor, come on, she can’t say that. Not only is it not true,” he ground out. “But it’s grounds for harassment. I’ve worked with Maeve on three campaigns, and she specifically reached out to tell me she’d just joined Orynth.”

Rowan glared at his boss, who looked far too amused at his discomfort. Dorian sighed loudly.

“Which is why I need you to work together,” he said, giving the pair a small smile. “Orynth is a huge account, and we would be idiots to lose out because you two couldn’t come up with a cohesive pitch. I know I can count on my two best account managers to come up with something spectacular, yes?” He paused and looked at them. “By Friday, please.”

Aelin groaned and slumped back into her chair, nodding feebly at Dorian as he left the two in the conference room.

“Coffee?” Aelin offered, hoping to thaw the icy glare from Rowan’s eyes, but it hardened even more as he shook his head.

“While you waste time on that, I’ll gather my notes for you.”

Aelin tried her very hardest not to roll her eyes as she made her way across the hall to pour herself a cup of coffee. She could get through this. It was one week of her life. Just one fucking week where she’d have to spend every minute of her day with Rowan. She paused. Thank gods she had therapy tonight. Her therapist had heard far toto much about the infamous Rowan Whitethorn, and she had a feeling she’d be hearing another earful tonight.

When she made her way back into the conference room, Rowan had spread out a series of boards he’d drawn up across the table. The intricate pitch proved he’d already put a lot of work into it, but Aelin had done the same prepping for this meeting. She knew it was going to be a long battle between them. As she glanced at the boards, she couldn’t help but admire some of them. She hated that he was actually pretty talented. If only his attitude didn’t suck so badly, they might actually be a pretty great team.

“So?” Rowan asked expectantly as Aelin took a sip of her steaming mug.

“Your illustrations are beautiful…”

“But,” he ground out between his clenched teeth.

“But,” Aelin continued. “Orynth has worked incredibly hard to launch themselves as a luxury hotel brand. Cozy, family stay doesn’t exactly say – luxury to me.”

“I don’t know,” Rowan countered. “Taking time off work. Having a family. Sharing a meal. Feels like a luxury to me.” His eyes were suddenly sad, and Aelin felt slightly uncomfortable seeing it. She looked down at her coffee and when she looked back up, his eyes were back to their usual cold glare.  “I suppose you have something much better?” he asked, his voice defensive with sarcasm.

“In fact…” Aelin laid out her own papers. Her boards weren’t anything close to Rowan’s meticulously drawn illustrations, but they got the point across. Rowan’s eyes flicked across them quickly, and she could see the eye roll he barely restrained.

“What?” she snapped.

“It’s just… sex?” he scoffed. “It’s so overdone. This isn’t a seedy Vegas hotel for a forbidden affair.”  

“No, it’s… a staycation for an overworked couple who deserve time to relax. Away from their family. Time for themselves. Between sheets or otherwise. The luxury of being yourself.” Aelin used her best pitch voice and watched as Rowan barked out a loud laugh.

“You think that’s going to sell?”

“You’re infuriating!” Aelin said.

“You’re not much better yourself, Ace,” he spat, using Dorian’s nickname for her.

“Fine,” Aelin sighed. “Let’s scrap them both.”

“Fine,” Rowan agreed, pushing all the papers off the table and making room for new scratch. She was in for a long night.

Luckily, at seven on the dot, Aelin called it for both of them. They’d made a list of general areas to explore and a few sub headers without murdering each other. She deemed that extreme progress.

“Where you going?” Rowan asked as she gathered her things. “Hot date?” he asked, glancing at the clock.

Aelin snorted, thinking of her weekly date with her therapist. “Something like that,” she answered.

Rowan stretched, clearly annoyed. “I would have put in another hour, but who am I to judge? It’s not like we have to pitch something to Dorian in four days.”

Aelin didn’t dignify his taunt with a response, her fury rising up in her as she sped off to therapy.

“I wish I didn’t have to work with him. He’s just… rude,” Aelin concluded for her doctor, who sat listening to her intently. “All the time.”

“And you’re not?” Yrene probed. Aelin rolled her eyes.

“He started it!”

“Aelin,” Yrene sighed. “We’ve talked about this every week for months. Someone needs to be the first to extend an olive branch, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be him.”

“Well, it’s not going to be me, either.”

Yrene gave her a warm smile. “Did you think maybe that you two spar because you’re so similar? Obviously, I only know what you’ve told me, but maybe Rowan needs you to be the first to reach out.”

“Unhelpful session, doc,” Aelin laughed as she stood, the timer beside Yrene beeping softly.

“It’s going to be a stressful week for you, I understand,” Yrene said. “But, you can do it.”

Aelin walked all the way down to her car with Yrene’s affirmations ringing in her head. Should she reach out? Say something kind? It would maybe make this week better. Or maybe not, she sighed.

As Aelin reached for the car door handle, it didn’t open. She dug through her purse only to quickly see her key wasn’t there. She realized she’d left her car key on the arm of Yrene’s couch. She’d been in such an infuriated rush when she got there she must have forgotten to put it back into her purse. Yet another thing Rowan Whitethorn was to blame for.

She stalked back upstairs to the second floor, and saw that the light on Yrene’s door was on, meaning she was already in another session. Damnit. Aelin couldn’t wait around for another forty five minutes while Yrene’s eight o’clock appointment received their therapy.

Tentatively, Aelin knocked on the door. The chatter stopped from inside the office as Yrene opened the door a crack.

“Hi!” Yrene said, her voice high with surprise.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Aelin began, “But I left my car key on your couch.”

“Am I hallucinating?” a voice called from within the office. Aelin would recognize tthat voice anywhere.

“No fucking way…” she mumbled as she pushed the door open wider.

There, on her spot on her favorite couch in the room, sat Rowan.

“Did I conjure you? Said your name three times, and you appear like Bloody Fucking Mary,” he scoffed. “Date went badly?”

“I forgot my key,” Aelin said, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. All those times Aelin had complained about Rowan, and here Rowan was probably doing the exact same thing. Aelin couldn’t bear it.

Rowan’s eyes widened as he realized where Aelin had been. He reached over and grabbed her car key and walked it to her, handing it over.

“You know,” Yrene said softly. “You two are the only clients who sit in that spot.”

“Great,” Rowan sighed. “I’m going to need a new therapist,” verbalizing the thoughts that Aelin had just had.

“No!” Yrene called out as Rowan grabbed his jacket off the couch. “Rowan, don’t…”

“At least I get to keep something this week,” Aelin smirked, putting her key back into her purse. At her smug smile, Rowan growled and stalked back to the couch, plopping down on the opposite side. He flicked Aelin off, and Yrene gave her a soft smile.

“See you next week, Aelin,” she said, closing the door in her face.

No fucking way, thought Aelin. Never again would she be seeing the same therapist as Rowan fucking Whitethorn.

~*~

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[wouldpollyapprove]

A Girl That Wasn’t Meant To Love

Request: can you do a tommy x reader based on the song hell on high heels by motley crue

Requested by @magnificentzombiebasement

Thomas Shelby x Reader

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: Language, alcohol, prostitution

A/n: I had a completely different idea for how I wanted to write this and what I ended up actually writing is more of like a prologue. If you guys like this, I may write a second part, but it’s not a priority at the moment. I also want you guys to know that I gave up editing this halfway through b/c it’s hella long and I’m lazy. So, that’s the reason things may be spelled wrong or not make sense at all.

Masterlist

“There’s no shame in this life,” she’d been told before. It was by an old woman, one stuck in her place at one time in her life. “There is no shame in doing what must be done to survive.” Head held high, that’s what Y/n lived by. Ugly truths and monstrous men, she saw nothing but the end of the line. Every night was touch or go, wondering if she would have enough money to make it to the next. But with each rising sun, she grew stronger and the money in her pockets started to bulge.

There was no shame in what she did if it led to her survival.

Y/n never liked the only word ever used to describe women like her: “prostitute”. The word, unclean, allowed men to shove her face in the mud. Women, who never had to do a days work on their back to pay the bills, would spit at her, curses, even words sailors wouldn’t utter, leaving their porcelain lips. They didn’t see the pot of gold they had stumbled upon, all that they had that was out of reach from other’s. They were selfish in believing that some people had a choice in what had to be done to put food on the table.

It had always been a struggle to come by much of anything. Y/n grew up in a village in France that knew everything but wealth. People made enough to live, but never leave. War was the only thing that ever allowed boys and girls alike to wave at the village behind them. Most never returned, but there were always more to replace those in the ground. Producing like rabbits, there was no such thing as plentiful. Skin and bones, they all worked day and night to live for another hour, but it was never enough for Y/n. 

Tough as nails, she was tired of living from meal to meal. Wishing for the world, she wasn’t like her mother or sisters, who dreamed of getting by, she wanted to take what was her’s. And so, with what little she had, she fled to Paris. It took days, different strangers pitying her state, the dirt stained clothes and tangled hair, but eventually she reached the golden city.

There, she could find little work with the skill set she’d acquired as a child. Laborers weren’t meant to walk the streets of the capital, they were meant for the tiny villages that she came from. And so, another line of work had to be found and that is when the woman who ran Le Sphinx pulled her inside. Knowing nothing of prostitution, Y/n was forced to quickly learn, being educated in both the desires of men and etiquette. 

Once ready and thrown to the lions, she did whatever she could to stay above the sharp, white teeth. At first, there were many nights with tears streaming down her cheeks and the thought of home forever circling around her mind. It was hard to adapt to something she’d known nothing about. Even harder when she was merely competition to the other girls. No one would extend a hand, wipe the tears off her stained cheeks and tell her that it would get better. The girls at the brothel were worse than the ones Y/n encountered on the street. They did anything to start a fight and were worse than thieves. If you valued anything, it wasn’t to be kept in plain sight. It was a war zone one no man would ever have to face.

But before Y/n knew it, she was on top, the woman all the business men and visiting royals wanted to spend the evening with. It wasn’t bad to be sitting in the lap of a Norwegian royal, not once you were aware of how much their hat alone cost. Drowning in riches, this was close enough to the life she wanted. With all the money given to her by the men that believed they were her only loves, she packed her bags and moved to London. 

That was where the rich became even richer and where our story starts.

Settling into her London home, Y/n decided she would rather spend her days doing anything but lying on her back. There were some clients, wealthy ones, that she’d see occasionally, but she wanted to make money in other ways. And with all that she had saved up, she did just that by purchasing a dress shop. It was the perfect quaint life that she had been looking for all along and it was finally her’s. Most of her days were spent hiring seamstresses or going over new fabrics, Y/n wanted women to flock from all over the country to buy her dresses and she would do anything to achieve that.

But like everyone, she got bored. 

Wanting more than to roam the streets of London, she decided to put one of her best workers in charge and run around the English countryside. While on her little holiday, Y/n stopped in Birmingham. Meant to be the manufacturing capital of the country, it didn’t try to hide that fact. But she loved it. The dirt and grime, the sweat that covered the brow. She was raised just as they were, work until the day was done. The broken backs and accidental deaths were something she was all too familiar with. 

These people were her people.

Taking in the city around her, Y/n wandered into a pub near a few factories. Whether it was accepted for women to venture out on their own in this city or not, she didn’t care. A mediocre whiskey sour was all she was asking for. Pushing the doors open, gold details ran along the wall as the sun peeked through stained glass windows. For a pub on the wrong side of town, London was all that crossed her mind. There were many pubs in the capital that held themselves like the one she stood in. Shaking off her shock, Y/n took a seat at one of the bar stools, sinking into its cushion. 

“What can I get you?” the barmaid with eyes that dripped of honey and charcoal curls asked her.

“How about a whiskey sour?” she smiled at the girl. She looked to be no more than eighteen, what an age to be. By the time Y/n was that age, she was already in Paris, doing the job few women willing accepted. The girl nodded, curls bouncing around her chiseled face, before fetching the ingredients needed.

Y/n leaned back in her chair and began to search her purse for a cigarette. It was a bad habit she’d picked up from the brothel, but it did wonders at calming the nerves. She searched and searched, but it appeared that she smoked the last one that morning. “Fuck,” she muttered, doubling checking.

“Missing something?” a voice asked from across the bar.

She straightened to lock eyes with a tall man, his brunette hair shaved at the side. Unsure what to make of him, she simply nodded. He held himself like a businessman, suit and all, but all she could see were the rough edges of a working man.

“What have you lost?” he asked, waiting for a proper answer. 

Sighing in defeat, Y/n placed her bag on the bar. “My cigarettes. I fear I’ve cleaned myself out.”

A soft smile tugged at his lips, slowly he dug a hand into his jacket pocket and pulled a pack out. “I happen to have a few.”

Y/n couldn’t help but smile seeing the canister. God only knows where she’d have to go to buy a new pack. “Mind sharing one with me?”

Waltzing over to her side, movements swift and precise, he held one out between his fingers for her to take. Gently, she slipped it between her own before placing it between her lips. Being a gentleman, the man already had his lighter out by the time it was snug between her painted lips and lit it for her. “Thank you…” she waited for a name, taking a drag.

“Tommy.”

“Thank you, Tommy,” she smiled and watched as he slid into the seat next to her. “I assume your first name’s Thomas then.”

Tommy smiled. “No, it’s Ethel.” The statement pulled a laugh from the woman sitting next to him. “And what’s your name? Or do you not have one of those?”

“Oh I have one,” she said right before the barmaid returned with her drink. “Thank you,” she smiled at the girl. Attention back on the man beside her, she took a quick drink of her better-than-mediocre whiskey sour before answering his question. “Y/n L/n.”

The man nodded, eyes going up the length of her body. The silk smooth fabric of her dress, the purse discarded on the bar top, and the jewels that hung around her wrist told Tommy all he needed to know about her. Plain as day, Y/n came from money. “What brings ya to Small Heath?” Tommy questioned, lighting his own cigarette, and leaned back in his stool, turning towards her. 

“Small stop before traveling to London,” she admitted.

“London’s home, I take it.”

Y/n shrugged and flicked ash into the ashtray between them. “For now.”

Silence fell between the two. For once in her life, butterflies fluttered around her stomach, creating a knot that was both nerve racking and pleasant. There was never a chance for Y/n to even think of any sort of love except that of money before moving to England. But still beside Tommy, she felt something that she had never experienced before. Her heart told her it was more than just the love that overcame a silly school girl. No matter what it said, though, her brain overruled and told her off on the silly notion. 

The two spent the rest of the day talking at the bar, swapping stories of all they had done. Y/n swept her early career into a dark closet, locking it away from the young man. She knew how his sky blue eyes would turn the color of the sea with the knowledge out in the open. She couldn’t have that. For most of her life, Y/n had watched people’s views on her change in an instant based on a profession many dipped their toes into in the name of survival. She wouldn’t have that with him. Not when she could feel it in her bones that he was meant to be something more.

Eventually, Y/n had to go back to London, but she didn’t board the train without handing Tommy her address. “Write. Please. Anytime you wish, write to me. I will always answer,” a glossy smile danced on her lips, she placed a small paper in his palm. 

“I will. I promise,” he answered. Though they hadn’t known each other long, both knew that they would never lose touch.

“I best be going now.” Y/n scanned the station, noticing as people began to board the train. “Goodbye, Tommy.” Before she could turn on her heels, a hand caught her wrist and pulled her back. A grasp escaped her before soft lips captured her’s. Deepening the kiss, Y/n wanted to do anything but board the locomotive. 

Tommy pulled away, resting his forehead against hers. “Goodbye, Y/n,” he said with a sad smile as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

They parted that day and as Y/n watched him become nothing with the growing distance, she could still feel his lips on her. Call it love, call it lust, but it was one of the great wonders of the world, that she knew. 

Once in London, Y/n made haste to write to Tommy. Her friends couldn’t help but notice the smile that adorned her face when the mail was dropped by every day and the one letter she picked out of the rest, holding it to her chest. They wondered if she’d found a lover or a boyfriend, but there was no answer she could give them.

What was Thomas Shelby to her? To a girl that wasn’t meant to love?

An answer couldn’t be given in fear of ruining what had been created. 

Piles of letters flowed between the pair and soon, Tommy was asking her to come to Birmingham once more. The same excuses were used each time. She couldn’t find anyone to watch the shop or money was tight and she couldn’t spare a penny. White lies left her lips dressed as the truth. She couldn’t leave the safety of her home to visit the darkness of the unknown. Everything surrounding the man was new to her and Y/n couldn’t figure out how to handle it. Run straight at it or hide in the corner, those were her options. She liked the corner.

But Mr. Shelby wouldn’t have it with the excuses, deciding that if she couldn’t come to Birmingham then he would go to London.

A knock at the front door pulled mighty barks from Pearl, the French Bulldog Y/n found starving on the streets one night. With eyes on the stove, Y/n was weary to leave them unattended to answer the door. “Be there in a minute,” she called, giving the eyes a few extra seconds before sliding them onto a plate. Pearl ran between her feet, almost tripping her, as Y/n walked to the front door. Doing her best to keep the creature in the house, using one foot to hold her back, she opened the door, body freezing when she locked eyes with the man in front of her. 

“Y/n.” A smile like honey spread across his face, almost making Y/n forget why her heart seized up in fear. 

“Tommy,” she breathed out in return. The dog behind her used the shock to her advantage and quickly found a gap between her owner and the door, slipping through to bark at the stranger in front of her. Y/n scoffed and quickly scooped the dog up before she could take a bite out of Tommy’s polished shoes. “Pearl, you pest,” she scolded. “Um, please, come in.”

When the door was opened wider, Tommy stepped through the threshold and began to strip himself of his coat. “I was in town for business, thought I’d come see you.”

A smile lit up her face at his words. No one had ever been kind enough to do that, not for the innocent reasons he was. “There’s breakfast in the kitchen if you’d like some.” He nodded, following close behind as she led the way, eyes scanning the walls that past him.

“Lovely home,” he remarked as Y/n gestured for him to have a seat at the kitchen table. Doing as she pleased, he sank into the wooden chair and took in his surroundings.

The second his eyes had landed on her months before in the Garrison, Tommy knew the woman came from money. Back straight as a board, jewels dangling from her body, there was no mistaking it. He sat beside her, hoping she couldn’t sniff out dirt poor, violent prone individuals. By the end of her stay in Birmingham, it seemed she knew no difference between expensive suits obtained by gun point and those with a handful of coins. 

It was foolish for Tommy to believe she would want anything to do with him. He was a poor boy turned thief turned war hero turned criminal. Little he touched after the war was legal and he knew better than to believe that a woman of her status would ever want a man like himself. 

“Yeah,” she shrugged while dishing eggs onto two plates. Before placing them on the table, she set a piece of toast next to the eggs and grabbed the butter off the counter. A plate was placed in front of her guest, who wasn’t sure if he should be surprised that she knew how to cook. Anyone who owned a house such as the one Tommy found himself in usually had a few maids and a cook, but not Y/n it seemed. “What business brings you to London?”

“None worth anything,” he answered.

A groomed brow raised, she wondered why he wasted the trip. “Then why come?”

The answer that escaped his lips hit her in the heart, the one she saw coming. “For you.” For her, he had left the comforts of his home. For her, he had wasted precious time. And for her, he would surely be disappointed. 

“Tommy,” she drawled, eyes gloomy to match her said smile. “You didn’t have to.”

Leaning back in his chair, his blue eyes pierced her own. His demeanor had changed. Once loving and sweet, now sharp and calculated. “You refused to come see me, decided to come see why.”

Y/n sighed, unsure whether to let her eyes wonder or stay focused on the man in front of her. “I’ve been busy,” she lied.

Her words must have been see through, not an ounce of weight to them, when Tommy rolled his eyes. “Apparently, you’ve been so busy that you’ve allowed yourself to visit the coast.” His words were bitter, laced with venom, each syllable as dangerous as the next. “Thought I wouldn’t find out?”

A foolish move to believe she could live a wonderful life. Once back in London, Y/n had done her fair share of research on Thomas Shelby. When it came to survival, it was always best to know all those around you. Y/n couldn’t allow anyone to burn her empire, no matter how much she was willing to let them. She knew Tommy was making his way up in the world, climbing the latter, each rung as illegal as the next. He was a quick witted and calculated man. Ambition seemed to always cross his mind. Tommy seemed to know as much about her as she did about him. But if he only mentioned her trip to the coast, perhaps he didn’t know all she thought he did.

Opening her mouth to say something, she was cut off before a word could get out. 

“What am I to you?” The words were heavy on his tongue, even heavier ringing in her ears. 

Y/n sat there, opening and closing her mouth, the breakfast in front of her completely forgotten. There was no perfect answer. No sentence that could be formulated that could wash away the pain evident in his eyes. There was no word that could be uttered to mend what she had broken but the simple truth.

Letting her eyes scour the room, she did her best to avoid eye contact as Tommy’s gaze drilled into her. “If you believe you don’t mean anything to me, you’re wrong. You mean the world to me.”

“You have an interesting way of showing it.”

Y/n couldn’t help but flinch at the bitter words. “I…��� she shook her head and got to her feet. She couldn’t sit still, not with her heart attempting to beat out of her chest. “I don’t know how to love.”

The words were barely above a whisper but Tommy heard them from his place at the table. Eyes softening, he wasn’t sure he’d understood her properly. “What do you mean?”

Pacing around the kitchen, tears welled up in her eyes at all she didn’t want to say. Y/n wasn’t ashamed of her past, in fact, many would find it triumphant, but it wasn’t one that bathed in love. She had never been loved or in love until she had met Thomas Shelby at a pub in Birmingham. Many only had one love and that was good enough. But with her background, love was never enough. She could love with her whole heart, but her loyalty would always come into question.

“I have never been allowed to love,” Y/n explained at the mini bar in the corner of the room. It may have been early, but it was never earlier too early for a drink. A strong on at that. Shaking hand poured whiskey into a glass, filling much more than needed. “I-I have never been in a… relationship that wasn’t physical.”

Tommy wasn’t sure what to make of her announcement or  the woman that stood before him. Whiskey pouring over the rim of her glass, it wasn’t hard for the man to see that her gentle words covered up a dirtier trust. Pushing himself out of his chair, in a few quick strides, he was by her side. Long fingers snatched the drink from her hand, placing it on the counter. “Were you a-”

“Please, please don’t say it!” she begged, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Please.” Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her against him, her head resting against his chest. “I won’t, I won’t,” Tommy said, rubbing a hand up and down her back. It did little soothe her but it was better than doing nothing. “It’s alright, love.”

Y/n shook her head, pulling away enough to meet his eyes. “No, it’s not,” she cried. “I’m fucking filthy! Not someone anyone would love.”

It broke his heart to see the pain in her eyes, the truth she placed on each word. Placing a hand against her cheek, he stroked the smooth skin, letting her melt against his touch. “I love you, Y/n,” he said softly to combat her sobs. “And I don’t care how filthy you are, I love you. And if I have to teach you how to lover properly, then so be it. But if you can love Pearl then I know you can love anyone.”

She was quiet, savoring each word that was said. No one had ever said such a thing to her and meant every word. Some customers had believed they were in love with her, taken her kindness for passionate love, but it was never that. “Do you mean it?” Y/n asked as Tommy wiped her tears away.

“Every word.” He leaned down, capturing her in a kiss. Y/n grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. Tommy could have stayed there, with his arms wrapped around her, forever, but Pearl had other ideas. The dog barked from the other side of the room, earning laughs from two. Turning his attention back to Y/n, Tommy brushed a stray hair behind her ear and asked, “Now, will you come to Birmingham with me?”

*~~*~~*

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Peaky Blinders: @simonsbluee

[mayraki]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“you’ll remember me”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SERIES MASTERLIST

MY MASTERLIST

who is max belinsky?

summary: Max Belinsky and JJ Maybank are the two troublemakers of Outer Banks. Going to parties, getting into trouble, having an attitude and being the two people you don’t mess with are the perfect ways to describe them. What would happen when the two people who seem to have trouble follow them around meet? One thing is for sure, they didn’t expect this outcome.

JJ felt a strong headache once he woke up on that morning at the Chateau. His eyelids were heavy and the feeling of being tired didn’t disappear even if it was 12 pm and he had slept all morning.

He sat down and all those memories of the day before appeared on his mind like a fast truck. He covered his face frustrated with his hands while trying to breathe normally, but the air seemed to get thicker around him so he quickly got up from his bed and opened the door of the room, letting the air of the living room hit his nose.

“There’s the sleeping beauty.” John B said once he saw JJ walking towards the kitchen.

“Hi.” He said with a forced smile.

“What’s up with you?” John B followed him to the kitchen.

“Nothing, why you ask?” JJ started to pour some water into a glass while trying to sound as calm and unbothered as possible.

“You seem distant, and you never sleep until noon. Something happened man?”

JJ quickly shook his head. “No, Nothing. Just tired.”

John B nodded not fully convinced, but knowing that JJ didn’t like to talk about those things he went through, he just brushed it off and walked back to the living room where now Kie was at.

“Hey guys.” She seemed to be looking for someone since she walked to the kitchen but because she didn’t found what she was looking for, she walked back to the living room followed by a confused JJ.

“Everything alright, dude?” JJ asked.

“No.” Kie shook her head. “Have any of you seen Max?”

As soon as he heard her name coming out of her best friend’s mouth, his heart skipped a beat. He looked down while shaking his head, but when Kie took a deep breath he locked eyes with her confused friend.

“What happened?” JJ asked trying to not sound worried at all, but fully failed.

“We were supposed to go surfing an hour ago, she didn’t show up. I thought she was here since I went to her house and nobody was there.”

“Have you tried talking to Sam?” John B asked.

“No, she’s at work. I can’t call her.” Kie let out a tiny sigh.

JJ looked down biting the corner of his lower lip, trying to not think about something bad happening to her and not get worried, but since the last time he saw her he treated her horribly, he couldn’t avoid thinking that. “Maybe she’s at her work.” JJ said trying to think of places she could be, and hoping Kie didn’t thought of that and all of this worrying was nothing, but Kie shook her head.

“No, I already went there and they said she didn’t show up for her shift this morning.”

JJ was getting real worried, she was nowhere to be seen? Where could she be? What could have had happened to her? And what if it’s bad? He couldn’t bare that thought, so without trying to fight his need to know and his body’s actions, he quickly walked out of the front door ignoring Kie’s and John B’s questions on where he was going.

JJ had in front of him the restaurant Sam worked at. He took a deep breath before walking into the restaurant and sitting down at one of the tables. He noticed Sam talking with a smile to one of her clients before walking away and entering to a room behind the long counter.

As soon as Sam opened the doors she locked eyes with JJ. She looked down but JJ noticed she rolled her eyes, before walking towards his table.

“What are you doing here?” She asked taking the little note book she had on her apron. “Are you here to eat?”

JJ shook his head. “No-”

“Then why are you here?” She asked while looking around making sure no one was hearing that she wasn’t being very friendly to a supposed costumer.

“Where’s Max?”

“Why do you want to know?” For the way Sam was treating him, he figured that Max had told her about the last time they talked. He wasn’t surprised, it was down for it to happen. But deep down he wished it didn’t. “It’s not like you’re her friend or anything. So why don’t you just leave her alone?” She said firmly before walking away, but JJ quickly got up and followed her.

“Please, all I want to know is if she’s ok. I know you know where she is.” JJ at this point was begging for it, but Sam wasn’t having any of if.

“Why would I tell you? You don’t care, is that right?” Sam rolled her eyes. “JJ, I’m working, leave if you’re not going to order anything.”

“No.” JJ shook his head. “I’m not leaving until you tell me where she is and if she’s ok.”

“No, JJ. Leave.” Sam was walking around trying to do her job while JJ was glued to her trying to get her to talk.

“Please. What happened was not what you think. I’m not going to bother her, please, Sam.” JJ was talking so fast he didn’t realize some of the words that he just said.

“What?” Sam turned to him confused.

“What?” JJ asked as confused as her.

“You just said, ‘what happened was not what you think’. Then what is it?”

“I said that?” JJ asked more to himself really, because he was so into figuring out where Max was that he didn’t pay attention to what he was saying. Sam nodded. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was trying to say.”

“Well, you said it for a reason. Then what really happened?” Sam insisted. JJ stayed in silence not knowing what to say. He didn’t want to tell Sam about why he really pushed Max away, because if he did, he knew that she was going to tell Max at some point, or worst, try to convince JJ that it wasn’t the right thing to do. Since JJ wasn’t talking, Sam took deep sigh and said softly: “she’s at the main land.”

“What?” JJ asked quickly. Max’s mom and dad appeared on his mind. Why did she left? “Is it something wrong?”

“Yeah.” Sam nodded and walked away with the intention to end the conversation, because in her mind JJ didn’t know about Max’s past, but when he spoke again she turned around confused.

“Is it about her mom?”

“What? You know?” She asked getting back closer to him. JJ nodded. “Yeah, it’s her mom. When did she tell you?”

“At the night of the midsummer. Does she go to the main land a lot?”

Sam shook her head. “She didn’t give me full detail on it. She doesn’t like to talk about it, later when it’s all gone, she does. All I know is that it’s not good.”

“When did she left?”

“This morning. That’s when we talked.” JJ nodded looking down still worrying about what bad thing happened, if the three siblings went over there... it can’t be good. “For someone that told her to her face that they’re not friends you seem to really care about her, huh?”

JJ looked up at her and noticed that her eyebrows were raised. He let out a tiny sigh before looking down again. “I do.”

“Then why did you said all those awful things to her?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Fuck that, life is complicated, dude. But whatever it is you fight it. You can’t let something keep you away from the things or people that make you happy, fuck the thing that’s making it complicated. If it makes you happy then why lose it? You don’t make something go just because it’s complicated, if it makes you happy then it’s worth fighting for.” Sam said and then a little smile escaped her mouth. “Max taught me that.”

“Yeah.” JJ said when a tiny laugh came out of his mouth. “Sounds like her.”

“Look, I don’t know what is going on with you, but I can totally see that you care about her and I know she cares about you too. I want her to be happy, and maybe her happiness involves you, I don’t know.” JJ looked up at her surprised when those words came out of her mouth. “But I know what she went through a year back, I was there. And I won’t let anyone do that her again, so you better fight that thing that’s making it complicated and fight for her, because I know that your happiness may involve her too.”

JJ was walking back to the Chateau with Sam’s words playing on his mind on and on. Maybe she was right, or maybe she wasn’t, it was something that time was going to answer for him. But, is he going to know? After all, he still felt the need to keep Max away from him. And the fact that he never experienced something like this before... the fear of the unknown was getting to him.

“Hey, man, you alright?” John B asked once JJ entered the house with a lost look on his eyes.

“What? Yes- I am. Don’t worry about it, dude.” He shook his head before sitting down at the couch with the intention to light a blunt, but Pope grabbed it and tossed it to the side. “Hey!”

“How was your talk to Max?” Pope asked ignoring JJ’s complain.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t talk to her.” JJ shook his head while his fingers started to play with his lighter.

“C’mon, we all know that you went looking for her when Kie didn’t found her.” John B said and then waited for JJ’s response, but he didn’t talk. He kept looking down at his fingers. “Well? Did you?”

“Did I do what?” JJ kept playing dumb, expecting for the boys to drop it, but unfortunately for him, they didn’t have that in mind.

“Dude! What’s up with you and her?” John B grabbed a chair and sat down in front of Pope and JJ on the couch.

“Nothing out of the ordinary.” JJ shrugged his shoulders.

“You have a little crush on her.” Pope said gently slapping JJ’s arm.

“A little?” John B asked after letting out a tiny laugh. “More like huge!”

“No, guys! I don’t have a crush on her. Besides, I’m pretty sure I won’t talk to her anymore.”

“Why not?” John B asked confused.

“Oh my god, what did you do JJ?” Pope asked slapping himself of the face.

JJ shrugged his shoulders again. “Nothing, just- we won’t hang out with her anymore.”

“I like her!” John B complained. “She’s cool and I’m pretty sure she’s the only one who can beat your ass in surfing, I like that about her. Kicking your proud self from the throne.” Pope nodded looking at John B, but when JJ didn’t defend himself, they both went back at JJ confused.

“Ok. You didn’t insult John B or went on about how you’re the best. What’s wrong with you and what did you with our JJ?” Pope asked concerned.

“Nothing.” JJ said frustrated and then proceeded to get up from the couch to walk to the kitchen. “Just forget it, guys.”

“This is more serious than I thought. A girl is making JJ get all serious. We have an emergency.” John B said and Pope nodded agreeing. They both followed JJ to the kitchen but once he noticed, he quickly went back to the living room to go and hide on his room, but the guys were faster. They stopped him by grabbing his arm and pulling him to the couch.

“Why don’t you want to talk with Max, man? Because last thing I knew, you were always following her and wanting to mess around with her.” John B said with his hands resting on his waist.

Pope nodded. “Bro, there’s no denying here, you like her. So, what’s up?”

JJ quickly shook his head. “I don’t like her.”

“Sure, I believe that.” John B said sarcastically. “Don’t play stupid, we have time for that on another occasion. Not now. What’s up dude?!”

“Nothing’s up!” JJ tried to get up from the couch but the boys pushed him back. “Would you let me go?!”

Pope and John B shook their heads at the same time. “Nope.” Pope said. “If it’s not to talk to Max, then you can’t leave this couch.”

“Sorry. We don’t make the rules.” John B said.

“You guys suck, you both know that?” JJ complained. “I don’t have anything to say to her.”

“Yes! Yes you do! You have to tell her that you want to kiss her so bad that if you don’t, your lips are going to fall off.” John B said and that made Pope and JJ looked at him confused. “What? Sarah and I watched a romantic movie the other day, I thought that phrase was good for this moment.”

“Dude, you’re so pussy wiped.” JJ said and Pope let out a tiny laugh.

“You’re the one to talk.”

“What? I’m good.” JJ said shrugging his shoulders.

Pope let out a tiny laugh. “You’re so stupid.”

“Hey!” JJ yelled.

“What? It’s true!”

“He’s right.” John B pointed with his head at Pope.

“You’re going to let a girl like Max go because what?” Pope waited for a response but then added quickly. “Because you’re stupid!” This behaviour on Pope wasn’t normal, but his friend ignoring what he were feeling and walking away from what made him happy was getting on his nerves. “Look, I don’t understand a lot about girls, believe me-”

“Oh, we can believe that.” JJ said but Pope continued ignoring his comment.

“But what I do know is that you two really care about each other. And I don’t know what the HELL is going on in that head of yours, but you NEED to talk with her about what you’re feeling. And don’t even tell me that you don’t feel anything, because I can tell. I haven’t seen you flirt with a girl like this since like... ever! And the way you look at her looks like you’re looking at a fresh rolled blunt! That’s NOT nothing. Wake up bro! And you better go after her and talk to her because I don’t like when I go like this!” Pope spited out. John B and JJ were both looking surprised at Pope. He let out a big sigh before saying more calmly: “I’m done.”

“For someone who doesn’t know a lot about girls, he’s 100% right.” John B said.

“Well, you’re not the only one who watches romantic movies.” Pope shrugged his shoulders.

“They’re good dude!” John B nodded with a smile. They both went back at a confuse JJ sitting on the couch. “So, are you going to talk with Max or what?”

JJ didn’t respond immediately. At first he thought it was the official day to confuse JJ, day to say all of these things about him and Max. But then, his mind finally opened and noticed that they were right. They way that they both cared about each other was something special. JJ liked to admit it or not, but he always waited for the moment to mess with her or just watch her get annoyed at his comments. He loved the way she would respond and unintentionally say flirty comments back. Those double meaning phrases she would say without even realising, and then he making fun of her. Her little song “you had a crush on me” and the way she made him smile, how she made him more calm even if she wasn’t in the room. All those moments, where he would imagine her laughing and all the screams would slowly fade away. Her attitude and how she was ready to defend him against his dad. They cared about each ocher like they never cared for someone else... They were right. He couldn’t let something like that go.

Max was sitting down in the waiting room of the hospital her mom was staying next to Fred and Cody. Her foot was going up and down while her fingers were playing with each other.

Her head had a slight pain but she didn’t care, all she wanted was answers. After an hour of waiting without any news once they got to the hospital, her mom’s room door opened and the three Belinsky siblings never got up from a sit faster than they did on that moment.

“How is she?” Fred asked to the doctor.

“She’s going to be fine. It was just a fall.” He said and Max felt how her chest was slowly opening up.

“How did it happen?” Cody softly asked.

“We always have this exercise with our patients, we try to keep their legs strong even if they can’t use them anymore. She tried to do it and it all went backwards for her. But she’s fine. She hurt her face and arm, but they’re tiny bruises.” The doctor let out a tiny hopeful smile while looking at Cody. On that moment, Ben Belinsky walked out of the room. “I’m going to let you guys alone.” The doctor said before giving the family a last smile and walking away.

“Dad!” Cody yelled before quickly running to give his dad a tight hug. He was then followed by the other siblings and it turned into group hug.

“How are you all?” Ben asked.

“Been better.” Fred said. “How is she?”

“She’s good. Tired, that’s all.” Ben let out a tiny smile. Max noticed some bags under his dad’s eyes and her chest started to hurt again. She knew that if she didn’t sleep, neither did he. “Hey, it’s almost dinner time. Why don’t you guys go and get something to eat from the cafeteria. I’ll stay here in case mom needs something.”

“I’m not hungry.” Max said quickly. “You go, I’ll stay with mom.” Ben was about to say something, but Max cut him off. “You need to relax, dad. Go, I’ll be fine. I’ll eat later, I promise.”

“You sure?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, besides, I want to talk with mom.” Max let out a little smile before he gave her little kiss on the forehead at then left her behind.

She slowly opened the door and noticed her mom on the bed, with a bunch of cables surrounding her. Gianna let out a big smile once she locked eyes with Max, she opened her arms waiting to giver her daughter a big tight hug.

“There’s my little troublemaker.” Gianna said.

Max let out a tiny laugh. “You used to call me that all the time.”

“Well, you were a little troublemaker back in the day. Now you’re a big troublemaker.” Gianna moved her body to the side to let Max sit next to her legs on the bed. “C’mon, sit.” Max listened to her mother. She sat down and immediately Gianna grabbed her hand. “So, what’s new with you?”

“Nothing, really.” Max said shrugging her shoulders and looking down. She didn’t want to talk about what happened to her the day before, all she wanted was to focus on her mom. But her mind was playing tricks on her, since her head couldn’t stop playing his words and emotionless expression on and on.

“Baby, I’m your mom. I know when something’s bothering you.” Gianna said trying to get her daughter to look at her. “Besides, you move your foot up and down repeatedly when you’re anxious.”

Max quickly stopped her foot and let out a tiny smile. “It’s nothing.”

“It can’t be nothing if it’s bothering you. C’mon, tell your mom. Or am I too old to understand teenage things now?” She said jokingly and Max shook her head with a smile. She locked eyes with her mom and started to bit the corner of the lower lip. “I was a teenager once, you know?”

“Really, I though you were born old.” Max said jokingly.

Gianna opened her mouth pretending to be offended. “I’m not old. I’m just... experienced.” Max nodded. “C’mon, tell me.”

“It’s just-” Max let out a tiny sigh. “How can you know what someone is feeling?”

“Well... you can never fully know. You can tell some things, by their words, or by looking at their eyes or body language.”

“But- What if you felt like they were feeling something but then they say the exact opposite thing?” Max asked.

Gianna lifted her eyebrow. “Max, is there something that happened with a certain someone that you need to talk about?”

“No- no.” Max quickly shook her head, but when Gianna looked at her with her eyebrows raised, she let out a tiny sigh. “Ok, maybe.”

“Alright. Is this- person-?”

“It’s a boy.”

“Is this boy... his name, maybe, maybe... has two letters?” Max rolled her eyes and then a little smile escaped her mouth.

“Mom, you already know is JJ.”

“What?! One never knows!” Gianna said innocently. “What happened, baby?”

“I don’t- I don’t want to talk about it. It just- hurts. That’s all.”

“Do I need to tell your father to kick his ass for me?” She asked and Max let out a tiny laugh but then shook her head. “Alright.”

“Dad doesn’t need to do that for me, I’ll do it.”

Gianna nodded. “That’s my girl. Look, whatever happened, I’m sure you two will work it out.”

“I don’t know. I just- don’t understand. Everything was fine, and then it all went upside down. Nothing makes sense anymore.” Max let out a sigh before letting herself rest her body next to her mom. Gianna started to caress Max’s hair while her face was laying on top of her chest. “It’s hard, mom.”

“Life is hard, baby. Especially if it involves love. It’s a magical thing our minds can’t comprehend, so we get confuse and overthink. But when the right one comes along, you’ll know.”

“How did you know dad was the right one?”

“Well, it took me a while. But when I did, there was no one who could’ve stopped me from marrying your dad. He made me laugh, made me feel safe, he showed me that he cared, that no matter what was going to happen, he was going to be there for me. And he did.” Max stayed in silence and Gianna noticed. So she asked: “Did that made you think of someone?” But she didn’t answer immediately, because it did. But she was sure, he didn’t think of her.

“Hey, is everything alright?” Ben asked once Max stepped out of Gianna’s room. Cody and Fred were behind him.

Max nodded. “Yeah. I just need to take some fresh air.”

“Perfect timing, because someone if waiting for you outside.” Cody said with a tiny innocent smile, but Max knew it wasn’t innocent at all.

“Who?” She asked confused.

Neither Ben, Cody or Fred said something, they all left Max behind before going inside Gianna’s room. She shrugged her shoulders in mind that maybe that person was Sam, that decided to visit her since her parents had a boat that could take her to the main land, so she walked to the front door with a smile excited to see her best friend but the person that she least expected to see was in front of her once she opened the giant doors.

“What are you doing here?” Max asked once JJ locked eyes with her. He seemed sad but she didn’t care, she was mad and confused at the same time, why did JJ took the ferry?

“Hi.” JJ waited for her response but she didn’t answer. “Is your mom ok?”

Max furrowed her eyebrows confused. “How did you know I was here?”

“Sam.” JJ said softly. “Don’t get mad at her, I practically begged her to tell me.”

“I’m not mad at her.”

“I just wanted to see if you were alright.” He said.

Max let out a tiny sacrcastic laugh once those words made her remember the last time they spoke. “That took me back.” She said.

“Max, I’m sorry.” That’s all JJ could say. He didn’t know what could go out of his mouth to not mess things up, he was terrified of that. So he choose for the safer option.

“Sorry about what? About treating me like trash after I went over to your house because I was worried about you?” Max didn’t want to be hard towards him, but all the pain and angry she felt inside was making her tongue uncontrollable.

“I didn’t mean anything I said yesterday.” He spited out. She didn’t expect hearing that from him, so she stared at him surprised.

“What?”

“It’s true. I never should’ve said those things.” He took a step to be closer to her.

“Then why did you?”

“It was my dad. He told me that he didn’t like you. He told that he didn’t like your big mouth, and I know what he does to people with big mouths... I’m sorry.” Max noticed some pain in his voice. And the fact that she knew what he meant by knowing, made her feel the pain she felt when she saw him covering his ears at his house. She swallowed trying to control everything she was feeling inside.

“You tried to protect me from your dad by pushing me away and in the process hurting me even more?” She softly asked trying to understand him.

He furrowed his eyebrows confused. What Max just told him meant that what hurt her more was the fact that he tried to make her walk away leaving him behind... instead of him trying to protect her from his dad. “What?” He asked confused.

“JJ, I don’t give a fuck about your dad. I care about you.”

“And I care about you.” JJ answered without hesitating. It was over for him and his feelings now, he couldn’t control what he felt anymore. He took some steps closer to her but she took some steps back.

“I can’t just... forget about those things you told me, JJ. Even though you didn’t mean them.”

“I’m sorry-”

“Yeah, you said that.” Max slowly nodded.

“I truly am. This time I mean what I say. Fuck! Max! My head is a mess right now, I’ve been looking all day for you and the moment that I thought something bad happening to you my heart dropped to my ass- I thought it was my fault and I hated my self. I don’t know what is this thing that’s happening to me and the people that I talked to today are fucking right but I’m still so fucking confused. Fuck! My mind keeps telling that everyone leaves in the end and that I should just walk away, for the best.” He spited out so quickly that it took Max a second to fully understand and process everything he just said. JJ took a deep breath and then closed his eyes trying to deal with the fact that he let out something that was going inside of him, and that was new for him.

She was as confused as him, but one thing was for sure for her. “I won’t leave, JJ.”

“Nah.” He shook his head letting his hands go to his pockets. “You don’t know what the future holds for you.”

“Alright, maybe I will be here, maybe I won’t, who knows? But if I’m not here physically, I will be there.” She pointed at his head. “That’s the thing I do. I stay in people’s heads for a long time. I’m pretty unforgettable.” She let out a tiny smile and JJ felt the inside of his chest open up.

This time, Max was the one who took some steps to get closer to JJ, she lifted her arms to wrapped them around his neck. He let his head rest on her shoulder and his arms go around her waist to enjoy the feeling her touch was giving to his body.

All of this was new for them. Max experience this before, but not like this. Even if the thing was clear, they were still teenagers trying to go through life and not fuck things up. Life and love was just a mystery that they will slowly solve along their lives. Maybe with each other, maybe not, neither of them knew the future, but in the moment, they both knew that they wanted to experience whatever that was... with each other.

@iamaunicorn4704 @onceinagenerationrage @lasnaro @k-k0129 @x-lulu @oopsiedoopsie23 @baby-pogue @roamingmarauder @ponyboys-sunsets @agirlwholovescoffee @thorsangel @royalmerchant @deviouscharitos @badbitsh13 @cilorawr @mdlyncline @ilovejjmaybank @corebore123 @starksweasley @allycat449-blog @netflix-imagines @alwaysasadaesthetic @queenofthepouges @jjsmaybcnk @sexytholland @xoxoalxssa @sadcupofcoffee @strawberrydonkey @allielozoya @jjandreidsgirl @sarcasticsagittarius1998 @nevvvv @drewswannabegirl @outerbanksbro @itsyagirljay @alw4ysmaybank @mrsromangodfrey @kay667 @casper17 @jarahisendgame @niya-savage @scooby6 @dustyjjumpwings @sweetlysilent @alternativehp @stilinskingongo @renatafairchild @stfukie @chasefreakinstokes @beloved-vinyl-addict (+)

[dordmagazine]

What The F Are Intrusive Thoughts?

Lesson brought to you by the fact that most of us are having intrusive thoughts right now, no one talks about it, it's considered taboo + scary, and tbh the psychology community does a bad job of normalizing this common evolutionary behavior.

What The F Is an Intrusive Thought?

Imagine this, you're going about your day, and suddenly you’re hit with a thought that’s bizarre, shocking, uncomfortable, triggering, or overall anxious. No reason for it, it just pops up. 

Could be the voice in your head saying the worst thing you can imagine is happening 

Could be a gut feeling followed by intense anxiety and thought spirals 

Could be thoughts of doing something shocking and out of character for you (usually sexual, violent, or suicidal)

Could be in terms of a relationship (thinking you’re not good enough, they’re not good enough, suddenly fearful of commitment despite having intense feelings for that person)

Intrusive thoughts are actually perfectly normal. Literally everyone has them, not just those with mental illnesses. Intrusive thoughts don't necessarily mean you have a mental condition you need treatment for. Intrusive thoughts are not messages, red flags, signals or warnings, despite how they feel. Even for my intuitive people, your intrusive thought doesn’t mean the situation is actually going on. It's just a thought with zero meaning behind it.

Intrusive thoughts feel so threatening because anxious thinking takes over, and the thought appears to have some intense power that it actually doesn't have.

Common intrusive thoughts we don't call "intrusive thoughts", but they really are: 

Thinking our partner doesn't want us 

Thinking our partner will leave or is cheating 

Fearing everyone at the office hates us 

Convincing ourselves we'll fail 

Thinking we'll go broke

Being afraid that fictional things will happen (ex being fearful that you’ll live the plot of a book you just read)

For some reason we don't associate this type of anxious thinking with intrusive thoughts, but they're classic intrusive thoughts. Other thoughts include thinking about having sex with someone you'd never sleep with, getting in fights, getting raped or abused.

It’s important to note, if you are having intrusive thoughts of getting raped or abused, or doing the actions, that does not mean you want to rape or abuse or get raped and abused. For people who conduct these behaviors, these are not intrusive thoughts. They don’t think much about them and move on. These thoughts cause great stress for you because they go against your values and you’d never do them.

For Example:

People who have intrusive thoughts about cheating, usually value commitment, relationships, and family.

People who have intrusive thoughts about hurting an animal, love animals and would never harm one intentionally.

People who have intrusive thoughts about their religion, are usually extremely faithful and take their faith seriously.

Intrusive thoughts are intrusive because they go against your values. You are not subconsciously represented by your intrusive thoughts.

The Science

Here’s the facts, we get intrusive thoughts for a few reasons.

First one, our brains get bored and try to entertain themselves. I wish I was kidding. We’re taught the brain is a complex thing, but it’s really a toddler. In fact the part of the brain associated with intrusive thoughts, the Amygdala, is the youngest part of the brain. It’s kinda still learning how to brain. 

When we get bored or over stimulated, the Amygdala comes up with situations, so the body can send up doses of chemicals and hormones. Our brain likes to imagine things, it’s just sometimes daydreams turn into nightmares. 

Most common reason our brain has Intrusive thoughts, is because it’s evolved to keep us safe. So it constantly scans the environment for danger, running through all the possible cases. While doing this, it generates thoughts that you are unaware of. When it hits one that causes you fear, it becomes a conscious thought.

When fear hits the body, within seconds fight or flight turns on and the Amygdala is turned screaming. It wants you to come up with a plan to stay safe if the event ever happened.

Once you do, the screaming stops. If you ignore it, sometimes the screaming gets louder. We see this a lot with patients who have OCD, the thoughts get louder or keep coming back harder when we try to ignore them.

In a way our Amygdala is saying “Can’t you see we’re in danger?”

The problem is there is rarely ever any actual danger. The Amygdala is the brains faulty security system. It’s triggered by wind the next County over.

The brain does this so that you are alerted to the potential threat and can then problem-solve your way out of it. Our brain honestly thinks it's helping us. But as I mention everytime I talk about anxiety, we're not outrunning bears anymore. We don’t need overly sensitive Amygdalas.

That’s why OCD treatment uses exposure therapy designed to reprogram how we perceive thoughts in the mind. Treatment involves pushing yourself to do what scares you and ignoring the need to control everything. Overtime the brain adjusts to your responses and you have less obsessive intrusive thoughts.

Follow Your Gut

I’m a natural intuitive. So for me to follow my intuition I had to make peace with my intrusive thoughts.

Remember, our brain doesn't know the difference between real threats or imaginary ones. The brain thinks "I thought of it, it's real". Think of it like a toddler holding an imaginary tea party. We know the cup is empty, but the kid honestly thinks imagination made tea.

I see a lot with people who are practicing their intuition or learning to trust their gut fall into the trap of feeding their intuitive thoughts. Out of nowhere they get an intrusive thought that their blessing, prayers, or manifestation isn't coming. And they freak out because they think it's divine guidance.

My dears, your intrusive thought isn't divine guidance. It's your bodies glitchy security system. Your gut, the universe, or god, didn't telling you that your person will never love you, that the job isn't coming, or that you'd never get rich or have a family.

The thing with intrusive thoughts is they often keep coming up, which tricks us into thinking that it actually means something or it's divine guidance. But the reason these thoughts come us is because we never told our brains it's not actually a danger or threat.

How To Make Them Stop

First things first, if you have intrusive thoughts find a Therapist who focuses primarily on OCD. Many Therapists claim to have worked with OCD patients but lack the education or experience to support your healing journey. 

The thing with traditional talk therapy is it can usually make OCD and Anxiety worse. If you are seeking out professional help, which I always recommend, find a Therapist who is trained in Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP). If you’re on the edge of deciding to see a therapist, there are incredible patient guided workbooks designed to help stop intrusive thoughts.

Some of our favorites are:

The ACT Workbook for OCD: Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Exposure Skills to Live Well with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Marisa T. Mazza PsyD

Brain Based Therapy for OCD: A Workbook for Clinicians and Clients by John B. Arden

Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts: A CBT-Based Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive, or Disturbing Thoughts by Sally M. Winston PsyD and Martin N. Seif PhD

Brain Lock, Twentieth Anniversary Edition: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior by Jeffrey M. Schwartz

How To Be There For Someone With Intrusive Thoughts

Intrusive thoughts can effect our relationships in every way. It’s hard to see your loved one go through suffering you can’t understand.

I always explain intrusive thoughts like this:

An intrusive thought is like we watched a documentary on Bigfoot. Before it, I knew Bigfoot wasn’t real and the documentary only assured me that Bigfoot is made up. But every night I’ll be terrified that Bigfoot is outside of my window and will hurt me when I’m sleeping. So I lay awake and plan or sit in fear. Eventually, the fear will bleed into my daytime life and I’ll become scared that Bigfoot is behind me or will hurt my loved ones. And in the documentary it said people used to keep garlic in their pocket to ward off Bigfoot. So I start carrying around garlic and hiding it in my loved ones belongings. This entire time I know Bigfoot isn’t real. I know my behavior is irrational. But my body is still scared. Even if everything inside of me says Bigfoot isn’t real and even if it’s proven by Scientists. I’m still afraid.

If the person you love struggles with intrusive thoughts it helps to view everything from their perspective. You don’t need to feed into the compulsions, in fact you usually shouldn’t.

Someone suffering with Intrusive thoughts or OCD needs the people around them to be compassionate, understanding, and kind. When someone exhibits an obsessive behavior tied to intrusive thoughts ask them, “Is that an intrusive thought?” usually that’s enough to stop them the thought, even temporarily.

Another thing you can do is ask the sufferer to explain to you what they’re feeling and why they think that way. And don’t judge them for it. Simply nod and smile. People who have intrusive thoughts or OCD need to feel like they aren’t broken because of the way their brain is programed.

Remember, all their brain is doing is trying to stay safe. Treatment involves reframing thoughts and reprograming their brain. The goal isn’t to stop our Amygdala from being aware, it’s to make it less sensitive and less afraid.

Our brain needs to alert us of a flood, it doesn’t need to alert us of 5mph wind.

The important thing to remember with intrusive thoughts is to think of your brain like a toddler. It's pointing everything it thinks and sees out, making sure you see it too. All it wants you to do is say, "yes, I know. But that's not important right now." or "I think you're not seeing it correctly, it's actually this."

Having these thoughts are normal and although distressing they say nothing about your character. 

Follow us as we work to end the stigma around mental illness and keep an eye out for our full magazine set to release early January 2021.

Disclaimer: No one at DORD is a medical professional, meaning we provide education from our first hand experience (and our Editor In Chief’s Psychology Degree). If your intrusive thoughts cause you great discomfort, contact a license professional. If you think you're going to hurt yourself or someone else, contact a professional. If you'd like to know how to get in touch with a professional, shoot us a DM and we’ll gladly help connect you with the appropriate resources.

[flamehairedwritings]

The Fiancé: Chapter Three

Characters: Steve Rogers x Female Plus-Size Reader

Rating: The whole series will be E, 18+ Only

Summary: A lie about your best friend at a Christmas party spirals into world news, but a previously unknown threat leaves you having to now live the lie of Steve Rogers being your fiancé.

Originally based on the prompt ‘Character A’s ex will be at the Christmas Party A is attending. Character B poses as A’s fiancé,’ by @alloftheprompts.

A/N: The whole series will include swearing, alcohol, threat, violence, protected sex, and more tags to be added!

The Fiancé Masterlist

All Works Masterlist

Read on AO3

Please don’t copy or steal my work, and please don’t post it on any other sites; credit does not count.

You, Me, and The World

“Right...”

She’s looking at you, you’re looking at her.

“I didn’t tell anyone else,” she whispers after a few, silent moments.

“I believe you, Dolly, it’s all right.”

You’re internally panicking, externally, actually, too, probably, from the way she’s looking at you. You open your mouth, then close it, then open it again after taking a breath.

“Right. If you could just tell her that... I’m in a meeting right now... but that I will call... her back.”

Dolly nods slowly. “Okay... All right...” She nods again, and then closes the door and you watch her run towards her desk.

You sit back and stare at your computer screen. The article is still up, and you can’t stop yourself from continuing to read it.

Update! The lucky, lucky lady of Cap’s dreams is Y/N, Head of Marketing at June & Mayflower Publishing! A regular old person, we’re glad Cap is so down-to-earth! Our sources say they’ll be announcing the date of the wedding within the next couple of days, and we’re so excited!

Along with the update is a picture of you, taken from your Instagram account. You’re smiling into the camera, mid-laughter, a cocktail in your hand.

Oh my God...

You feel your phone buzzing in your bag and jerk forward, fumbling as you try to unzip it quickly. Grabbing your phone, it’s a number you don’t recognise. Expecting a call from a new client today, you answer it without thinking.

“Hello, Y/N speaking?”

“Hi, Y/N! I’m calling from Stars Today, congratulations on your engagement! I was just wondering if I could have a quick—”

You hang up, dropping your phone onto the desk and put your head in your hands as you groan, your eyes closed.

This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening...

How did they get your phone number? How did this even get out? Joe? Gwen? Someone else who had overheard your huge, stupid lie? You wonder how Steve is—

Your eyes snap open.

Steve.

Oh my fucking God.

You grab your phone again and unlock it, tapping and swiping quickly to find his number. Dialling, you hold it to your ear, biting at your lower lip. It rings, and rings, and rings... and goes to voicemail.

Shit, he probably can’t hear it while he’s jogging, or he has it on silent, or whatever, oh my God, this is insane...

Hanging up and locking your phone, you sit back, your gaze lifting to the window. The office has filled slightly, more and more people arriving and, yes, they’re all glancing in, murmuring to each other. They’re smiling, they’re all happy and delighted, but you just feel your heart sink lower and lower.

No, right, none of that, just clear it all up now, just go out there and say it was a lie, suck it up and feel humiliated for ten years, it’ll be fine.

Pushing your chair back, you clear your throat as you move around your desk, clutching your phone in one hand. Opening the door, you step out and people are already looking at you. Clearing your throat again, you inhale a breath and smile as they instantly go quiet.

“Hi, everyone, uhm...” You shift your stance as your gaze sweeps the room, everyone silent. “I’m sure you’ve all heard what has been said in the tabloids and I just wanted to—”

“You bitch!”

Any other time you would have been offended, but now you just want to curl up and die because of how overjoyed the voice is.

Bridget Sanderson, your closest friend in the office, and D.C besides Steve, marches through the door, pushes through the small group and grins at you, their mouth open.

“You engaged bitch! I knew something had to be going on! How could you not tell me?!”

You exhale a faint, and you feel like you’re about to faint, laugh and shake your head. “Oh, well, actually, Bridge’, and, uhm, everyone, you see the thing is—”

“So you’re giving the Monday morning pep-talks now, huh?”

Oh my God, will everyone please stop turning up to work on time.

CEO of June & Mayflower Publishing, and your boss, Yvette Adebayo arches an eyebrow at you as the group parts for her, removing her gloves.

“Oh, no, I was just—”

“Can I see you in my office?”

“Yep, absolutely.” You smile as she nods and heads for her own office. You follow after her, somewhat meekly.

Yvette is no-nonsense, hates a fuss, a scene, is the classiest woman you’ve ever met, and you hate disappointing her. That’s not to say she’s mean or cold or anything that the world labels assertive women in leadership roles as, you just bloody love her. As much as you love yourself, God, you want to be her.

Closing the door to her office as she removes her coat and hangs it up, you clasp your hands together, trying not to play with them nervously. Sitting down, she looks at you, folding her arms.

“So.”

“So...” you parrot, stretching the vowel out.

She arches an eyebrow.

Sighing, you drop your hands. “Oh, Yvette, this is a fucking nightmare, I’m not—”

“I know, I can see that it is, I’m not here to chastise you for not telling me or anything like that—”

“Yvette.”

She pauses, her eyebrows raising slightly as you’ve not once in your three years of working together interrupted her or used an exasperated tone. You probably look as helpless as you feel, too.

“Yvette, I’m... I’m not engaged.”

Her eyebrows rise higher. “... You’re not?”

“No.” You feel your face warming in embarrassment as you launch into your explanation, “It was just a stupid lie I told at the party to make Joe jealous.”

“Joe was there?” she frowns.

It’s not the most pressing of matters to address right now, but then you remember she hadn’t attended the party, knowing her employees wouldn’t fully relax with the big boss there.

God, she’s amazing.

“Yeah, he said Adam invited him as a plus-one. I suppose he’s back for the holidays to see his family, too.” You shake your head slightly, embarrassment returning. “And I just... whenever I see him or think about him I get so mad, he was such a pretentious asshole even when we were going out, I was actually working myself up to break up with him when he put in for the transfer which was a blessing in disguise and—”

“So, you wanted to get one over on him,” Yvette cuts you off from your rambling.

“Yeah, well...” You pull a slight face. “That kind of makes it sound like I used Steve... which I did...” You pull a face again before closing your eyes and pressing the heels of your palms to them, groaning. “Oh, God, I’m such an awful person...”

“No, you’re not, Y/N,” Yvette insists. “Joe was always an ass, thinking he was better than everyone, so I can completely understand why you would want to have a moment of superiority.” 

“That still doesn’t make it okay, at all.” You fold your arms, blowing out a breath. “He just... He looked at me like it wasn’t possible. Like I couldn’t have Steve Rogers fall in love with me, or someone like him, and I hated that. Even when I was dating him there was always something about him that just... Made me feel like he was doing me a favour. That he was so amazing and a complete catch. So just once, for one second, I wanted him to think, ‘God, I missed out... She is worthy, she is incredible’.”

“Y/N.” You gaze meets Yvette’s as she leans forward. “You are worthy. Period. No matter what. Whoever you decide to be with, they’ll be damn lucky and they’ll know it.”

“I know, I know, I tell myself that and believe it most days, but...” You sigh heavily. “I used Steve. I did what everyone else does and put him on a pedestal and used his status and his iconography to just get back at my stupid ex when I’m supposed to be his friend. Sure, he’s a super-soldier and a, you know, super-hero but first and foremost, to me, he’s my friend and a human being. And I dismissed all that for one tiny, stupid moment of wanting to feel smug.” You can feel tears starting to fill your eyes.

Wiping at them quickly, you blow out another, slightly shaky breath.

“Y/N,” Yvette says gently, “It was a dumb thing that you did, but a human thing. You made a mistake, and we can rectify it.” You watch her as she turns her computer on and straightens her back. “We’ll write a press-statement that we can release, it doesn’t need to give specifics, just that there’s been a misunderstanding, and then you can tell everyone you actually know as little or as much as you want.”

God, you are actually about to cry, she’s just the absolute bloody best.

A smile pulling at your lips, you wipe your eyes again. “Thank you, Yvette. I mean it, you really are—”

“You fucking bitch!”

God, I wish Bridge’ would stop calling me that— 

As Yvette’s eyes widen, though, and you turn to look out of her window to the office floor, you realise it’s not Bridget. A young woman, sobbing, steps out of the elevator. People stare, frozen to the spot, because this has never happened before, security in your building has always been incredible, and why would someone trespass on your floor? She’s striding across the room, too fast for people to clock on and react, pointing at you.

“You bitch! You don’t deserve him, he’s better than you!” she yells, thoroughly and completely distraught, but all you can do is remain frozen in your spot.

You can hear Yvette shouting into her office phone, demanding where security is, when four of them are suddenly there, shoving people out of the way and one of the men grabs the woman when she’s only a few feet away from the door. She screams as he wraps his arms around her to restrain her, hauling her back and having to lift her slightly. She just kicks her legs out, thrashing and trying to get free.

“You bitch, you bitch, you bitch!” she screams over and over and over, and you’re still frozen.

The security man drags her back towards the elevator, another man accompanying him, and the remaining two, a man and a woman, continue towards you. The woman opens the door, shaking her head as she steps inside.

“We’re so sorry, there’s just so many of them down there, she must have just slipped through. Are you okay?”

You stare at her.

“There’s more?” Yvette asks.

The woman looks to her. “Yeah, they just started turning up, some are fans, some are paparazzi.” Her gaze returns to you. “Again, we’re so sorry, we’re increasing our team for the foreseeable future, it won’t happen again.”

You think you might actually faint now. 

“Okay. Thank you,” you hear yourself saying.

The woman nods and steps out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

“Y/N, are you all right?” Yvette asks gently as you turn to her, your lips parted.

“Uhm...”

When you don’t continue after a few moments, she nods and moves around her desk towards you. “Take the day off. Alice and I’ll draft a statement later. Is there someone who can come and pick you up?”

You nod a few times as she squeezes your shoulder gently. “Uh, yeah, there’s someone I can call.”

—

Natasha Romanoff beams when you exit the elevator and approach. Beams. She’s smiled at you before, sure, several times, but this is a beam. And then she opens her mouth.

“Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re telling people now!”

I’m fucking sorry, what?

Before you can mutter that this is actually not something you’re quite ready to joke about yet, she throws her arms around you and hugs you tightly. “Oh, I’m just so happy!”

You just stand there, holding your bag, as she rocks you, having never felt so confused in your life.

“Uh—”

“Right, yeah, no time, let’s get you home, huh?” She’s no longer beaming when she pulls back, instead looking incredibly sympathetic in a way that doesn’t make you feel any better. Patting your arm, she looks behind you and nods at Yvette and the two security guards who have accompanied you down into the private underground garage that belongs to the building. “I’ll take it from here, thank you.”

Dropping her hand, she moves to her black Corvette a few feet away and opens the passenger door, holding it open for you and gesturing for you to get in. Looking over your shoulder at Yvette, you manage to return her smile before heading to the car. Getting in, you place your bag on the floor between your feet as Nat closes the door, and buckle your seatbelt before closing your eyes, exhaling a long breath. You open your eyes when the driver’s door opens and Nat slides into the seat, closing the door.

“Nat, I—”  

“What an exciting day. You must be so over-joyed!”

She’s beaming at you again as she starts the engine after buckling her own seatbelt, but something about her tone tells you she isn’t actually joking around.

“Nat, do you—”

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you okay? It must have been terrifying with that woman getting in.” She looks genuinely concerned this time as she steers the Corvette up a ramp and onto the main street level. 

“Uh, yeah, it was actually, but, uhm, I—”

“It’s all right, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” She pauses for half a second to check the street as the barrier lifts before she turns onto it and, fuck, you forgot how fast she drives. “We’ll just get you home, then you can relax and we’ll do what we can, okay?”

“Yeah, right, okay, but—”

She turns the radio on, turning the volume up a few numbers, and taps her fingertips against the steering wheel. “Have you spoken to Steve?”

Your heart sinks at the reminder of him and how this must all be affecting him because of you. “No, not yet,” you murmur, playing with your hands in your lap. “Have you?”

“Yeah, he can’t wait to see you.”

He must be fucking desperate with how fast you’re going.

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, he’s at your place, popping open a bottle of champagne I should think.” She glances at you, beaming again, and you just frown.

What the hell is going on.

Something tells you, though, to not broach the subject again, so you lean your head back and mutter, “Yeah, I’m gonna need a fucking drink.”

It doesn’t take long for Nat to reach your apartment, and you still don’t understand how someone can be a fast and safe driver. You’re about to say as much, because you can’t do a single journey with her and not, when she parks in front of the building. Right in front of it. You pause in unbuckling the seatbelt you had been gripping, frowning at her, because she never does this as your building also has its own underground garage, and she loves her car.

“Nat, what about the garage?”

She unbuckles her seat belt and reaches over you to the glove compartment. “Oh, I won’t be staying long.” She pulls a box out of the compartment, closes it and sits back, opening the box. She opens the box to reveal sunglasses and puts them on. Sunglasses.

Leaving the box on the dashboard, she smiles at you and pushes her door open, stepping out. Grabbing your bag and doing the same, you watch her as she closes her door and looks up and down the street. Then, she looks to you as you close your door, her smile lingering.

“Come on, let’s get that drink, shall we.”

You reach the front doors of your apartment building first, and unzip your bag, searching for your keys. As you pull them out, Nat takes your bag from you, her smile still there.

“Here, I’ll hold this for you.”

“Okay.” Deciding to just go along with whatever is happening until you’re in your apartment, you turn and unlock the door. Faint Christmas music plays over a small speaker on a wall, and the building guard, Aaron, who you’d say you’re quite friendly with, looks at you from his place by the mailboxes as you enter and you nod at him. He nods, then gives you a thumbs up as he grins.

Oh, God.

“Way to go, Y/N! I had no idea!”

“Yep, okay, Aaron,” you murmur as your face heats and you stride towards the elevator. Nat is close behind you and you press the button to herald the elevator as she stops beside you. Then, you glance at her, frowning.

She’s searching through your bag, opening pockets and unzipping compartments.

“What are you doing?” you murmur, raising your eyebrows as she takes the spare pens you always keep in your bag out before slotting them back into their compartment.

“Nothing,” she says without even looking up at you.

Right.

Your jaw moves as the elevator ‘ding’s and the doors slide open. Incredibly grateful to find no one inside, you step in and turn to the buttons, pressing the button for your floor as Nat also steps in.

The moment the doors close, you turn to her, your hands going to your waist, your keys digging in to you even through your coat. “What the hell is going on, Nat?”

She doesn’t say anything, continuing to search through your bag. Your eyebrows raise as you release a scoff of disbelief because she’s ignoring you.

“Nat?”

Finally, she zips your bag back up and lifts her head, holding it out to you. You can’t tell if she’s satisfied or unsatisfied, and she’s silent, her gaze holding yours. Taking your bag, you shoulder it and press your lips together. You’re angry, confused, definitely dissociating somewhat, but something else is starting to creep up now. Fear.

The ‘ding’ of the elevator makes you jump slightly. Nat’s through the doors first this time, beckoning you to follow. You do, gripping the strap of your bag tightly. Your keys are biting into your skin as you shift them in your hand as you walk, and you find the key to your front door, Nat pausing by it. You unlock it, glancing at her. Her eyes are on the hall behind you, her features expressionless. Your heart pounding, you push your door open. Stepping in, you lift your head and pause, finding Sam Wilson stood in your living room area.

He turns and grins, holding his arms out wide.

“Y/N! Congratulations!” he laughs as he moves towards you, and your bag falls from your shoulder as you hear Nat close the door behind you.

As his arms go around you in a hug you would usually be delighted to return, you just stand there, again, feeling tears of irritation start to prick at your eyes because what the hell is happening. 

You’re speaking before you even realise. “Can someone please tell me what in the absolute fuck is—”

“All right, the place is clear.”

Steve appears from your bathroom, making you break off, your eyes darting up to him. Sam releases you then, holding your shoulders gently, his smile gone. “Y/N, are you all right?”

You look from him to Steve, your lips parted. “No, I’m not. What the hell is going on?”

Nat moves around you and pushes her sunglasses onto her head as Sam drops his hands. “Sorry about all that, Y/N. We’ll explain in a moment.” She raises her eyebrows at Sam slightly, gesturing him over to the large window that looks down onto the front street of the building. “Sam?”

Giving you a reassuring smile, though you absolutely don’t feel reassured, Sam follows her, leaving you standing there, looking at Steve. His arms are by his sides, and he exhales a breath as he moves towards you, an expression you can’t describe on his features.

“Y/N—”

“Oh, Steve,” you quickly interrupt, unable to bear whatever he’s about to say, good or bad or disappointed, because no matter what, this is your fault. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean���”

He shakes his head, his hands replacing where Sam’s had been, warm and light. “Y/N, are you okay? Nat messaged about what happened at the office, I’m glad you called her.”

You look at him in disbelief, your hands having found his chest at some point. “Yeah, I’m fine, are you okay?”

A corner of his mouth lifts, softening his features instantly as his thumbs stroke your shoulders. “I’m fine, Y/N, I—”

“Really? You can say if you’re not, I would absolutely understand, actually you should be pissed off with me, Steve—”

“Y/N, Y/N, it’s all right,” he says gently, having heard, as you’d tried not to, the slight cracking in your voice. He draws you closer, his arms going around you in a warm embrace.

You realise, in that moment, that neither of you hug very much. You see each other so often that all you greet each other with is a hello, or you just high five when something exciting happens. Hugs are reserved for when you’re thanking each other for a present or when... You can’t really think of any other time. Even when you have a cry, you’ll both sit down and he’ll pat and rub your back, and you’ve never seen him cry at anything more than a movie, so.

God, we should hug more, this is nice. 

“So...” Sam’s voice has you pulling back, Steve’s arms falling from you as you turn to him, a smile tugging at his lips. “How did this happen, or do I just not have my RSVP yet?”

You tilt your head, your lips pressing together. Yeah, you’re definitely not ready to joke about it yet. You might not ever. 

“Well...” Moving to the couch, you take a seat as you blow out a breath, your face already warming again. 

Here we go, my now permanent state of embarrassment continues.

They’re all looking at you, Sam leaning against the wall, glancing out of the window every now and then, Nat sat on the arm of the couch opposite you, Steve standing between you and Nat, his hands in his pockets.

Clearing your throat, your hands on your knees, you lick your lips. “So... When Steve and I were at my work party last Saturday, my ex-boyfriend was there and I told him that...” You take a short breath, glancing at Steve before deciding to settle your gaze on the coffee table. “... Steve was my fiancé, because...” You just can’t bring yourself to say it. “... Well, I don’t know why, really.” You move on quickly. “So, when I got to work today, Dolly said Gwen from work overheard me saying it to Joe, so she could have spread it, or Joe could have, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking—” 

“Joe is the ex-boyfriend?”

You gaze darts from where you had been looking at Steve to apologise to Nat.

“Yeah. He lives in Chicago but he’s back for the holidays, I’m assuming.”

“How long were you two together?”

“Only a few months—”

“Did he ever meet Steve?”

You frown lightly at her. “Only at the party, why?”

Her hands are clasped together, her eyes fixed on you. “What’s his last name?”

“Havers. Joe Havers. Why?”

“When did he start working at your place? When did you start seeing each other?”

You look at Sam, who’s looking out of the window, then to Steve, who’s looking at the ground, then back to Nat. “About a year ago. We started dating a month after, and then he broke up with me when he transferred to the Chicago branch the August that’s just gone. Why—”

“Did he ask you out? Pursue you?”

You release a breath, your frown returning. “Yeah, and I guess, but, like, in the way you would when you want to date someone—”

“Did you ever meet his family? Friends?” She’s unrelenting, expressionless.

“Well, no, but he never met Steve during that time, either—”

“Did he ask to?”

“No.” You exhale in frustration, your jaw moving. “Look, what’s going on, Nat? You’d said you’d tell me.”

She lifts her hands slightly. “We just have to look at every option, Y/N.”

Your frown returns as you look at them. “Option for what? Who spread it?”

There’s silence. Your eyebrows raise. Sam meets your gaze for a second before looking back out the window, Steve’s still looking at the floor, and so Nat, once again, is your only option. Your eyebrows rise higher as she tilts her head.

“Y/N... We need you to continue being Steve’s fiancé.”

You stare at her, your lips parted. “... I’m sorry... What? Why?”

As slight as it is, it’s the first time you’ve seen Nat look uncomfortable. “You’ve already encountered a rather... over-zealous fan, and, we’ve got intel that suggests some... unsavoury characters are using the chatrooms and blogs that they operate to track Steve’s whereabouts.”

 You arch an eyebrow, releasing a breath and not quite knowing what to address first. Irritation blends with anger and you focus on that because you don’t want to feel anymore afraid than you already are. “’Unsavoury characters’? I’m a big girl, Nat, you don’t have to sugarcoat whatever this is.”

She glances at Steve for a fraction of a second. “All right, terrorists. Terrorists are using chatrooms to plan to assassinate Steve.”

Your mood shifts instantly. A coldness sweeps over you and fear envelops you as you look at Steve, who is finally looking at you, your eyes wide. “Why the fuck would they want to do that?”

Steve opens his mouth but Nat gets there first.

“Steve is America’s greatest living symbol. Can you imagine what kind of message it would send from any group should Steve be killed?”

You look between them all, your mouth open. Nat continues after a moment, not liking the idea of that statement hanging in the air.

“We need you to spend this week doing what happily engaged couples do. Cake tasting, wedding dress shopping, visit venues, hold hands, look completely in love, all of that so that we can see who turns up and who follows him.”

You close your eyes for a moment, your brow furrowing, before you release a breath and look at her. “So, I’m... I’m, we’re bait?”

Nat’s features soften. “Y/N, you and Steve couldn’t be safer, I promise. We’re going to move you both to a new apartment with proper security, the place’ll be watched around the clock and it’s only until Saturday evening.”

“Why Saturday?”

She rests her hands either side of herself on the arm of the couch. “We’ve been hearing chatter that that’s when they’re planning to attack, at the party with the world watching. So we need to identify who they are before then. Obviously.”

“Right.” You stare at her for a few moments before your gaze drops to the table. You haven’t quite been able to get a handle on your breathing for the last hour, but now it really is difficult. Your hands are gripping your knees, and you have to swallow hard to stop the bile rising in your throat.

“Y/N, you don’t have to.” Your eyes lift at Steve’s quiet tone. Then you realise what the expression is; regret.

You release another breath. “Are you kidding me, your life is in danger, why didn’t you tell me this?”

His mouth lifts a fraction. “It’s not exactly what I want to race home and tell you about.”

Your chest tightens. You make your mind up instantly. You look at Nat.

“I’ll do it.”

She nods, giving you a small smile. “You can’t tell anyone it’s not real, and be careful when you’re speaking on the phone, they could tap it.”

Ah, so that’s why Nat had checked your bag and Steve and Sam had been checking your place, and probably why Steve hadn’t answered your—

Oh, shit, wait...

Your shoulders drop slightly. “Oh, my boss knows.”

“Yvette?” Nat slides her phone out of her pocket as she looks at you.

“Yeah, I spoke to her earlier, before the... fan, and she asked me how I was and I told her.”

“Right.” Nat arches an eyebrow, tapping something into her phone. “Can she keep a secret?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Nat smiles at your fierce certainty, locking her phone and keeping ahold of it. “We’ll need to speak with her, anyway, let her understand the severity of the situation so she won’t trust anyone. That’s good actually ‘cause you’re gonna need to take the week off work.”

Your heart sinks. “What, why?”

“You need to spend every moment with Steve, and I think this would be a natural thing to do. We can have a press release put out saying you don’t want your work bombarded like earlier, you won’t be able to concentrate—”

You raise your hand, pointing a finger. “Hang on, I can multi-task and work under any conditions.”

Nat’s lips twitch. “We know that, Y/N, I’m not discrediting how good of a worker you are, we just need the rest of the world to think that.”

You bristle slightly as you press your lips together, your shoulders dropping again.

Her amusement vanishes, her features softening. “It’s just until Sunday, then we can let everyone know the truth. This is a great chance for us to find these guys, Y/N. We wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important or useful, but you can still say no.”

There’s a long pause. You glance at Steve, he’s still got that same expression, almost pained. You could say no; you think it would almost relieve him if you did. You know him well enough by now that he’s probably full of regret for putting you in this position by being your friend.

Well, Steve, I get the guilt card on this one, it was me who put us in this position.

You've always known the risks of being associated with him and being his friend. You’ve never spoken about it with each other but you’ve just always known, it’s how his world operates. But he wanted to be your friend and you wanted to be his, so why the fuck shouldn’t you be. Something that had come up in one of your first, long, late-night conversations is the sense of loneliness you both feel. Sure, you have friends, both of you, and you both work in very people-orientated careers, but... Loneliness just seems to linger, uninvited. You’ve never felt that loneliness with Steve.

And now some fuckers wanted to kill him.

You look at Nat. “Yeah, I want to do it.”

She gives you another smile, nodding. “All right.” Rising to her feet, she folds her arms. “I guess we got some packing to do, then.”

You’re about to look at Steve, hoping to reassure him that you really do want to do this, when Sam lets out a low whistle.

“Well, Nat... Think there’s gonna be some scratches on your fancy car.”

Pushing yourself up from the couch, you move to the window as Nat tuts under her breath, and join Sam. Your stomach flips as you gaze down and see the crowd of people on the street, surrounding her car and staring up at the building or at the entrance. There’s a couple of news vans, too, reporters and their cameras hovering by them, gripping their microphones and glancing up every few seconds, waiting.

Oh my God... There’s gonna be three people in this so-called relationship; me, him and the world.

—

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[inyournightmares97]

Ultimatum (Part 6)

Park Jinyoung is a master negotiator. He’s used to preying on people’s weaknesses and manipulating them to get his way. So he can’t understand you; a lawyer who sees the world in black and white, as either good or bad. Conflict is inevitable.

But if the two of you can just set aside your differences, perhaps you can perform miracles together.

Word Count: 7.1k+

Warnings: Angst, office!au, enemies to lovers!au. Some language

Part 1: In Which You Win

Part 2: In Which He Wins

Part 3: In Which the Common Enemy Appears

Part 4: In Which You Work Together

Part 5: In Which Nobody Wins

Part 6: In which Everybody Wins

Part 7: In which Love Wins

 -----------------------------------------------------------

You weren’t sure how long you sat in your car. 

It could have been hours, really. The sky darkened and night fell, but you couldn’t calm down enough to go inside. How were you going to tell your mother that you’d just been forced to resign? You had a decent amount of savings but elderly care was expensive and if you didn’t find a suitable job in two months then you were going to find it difficult to pay your mother’s bills. 

You groaned. 

How did this all go so terribly wrong? 

Maybe you shouldn’t have exploded at the CEO. Did it really matter whether he valued your work? You weren’t a child that needed praises. You were getting paid well and that should have been enough incentive for you to keep your mouth shut and just do your work. 

Maybe you should have listened to Jinyoung. He could be infuriating, but maybe he was actually much smarter than you. 

At least Jinyoung’s pride hadn’t lost him his job.

Either way, there was no use moping about it now. Your time with the company was over and once you broke the bad news to your mother, you would have to go home and fix your resume before sending out job applications. 

Fuck. You hated job-hunting. 

You stepped out of the car and walked to the entrance of your mother’s care home. The usual nurse was standing in the lobby and her eyes widened with delight as soon as she saw you. 

“There you are! Your boyfriend’s been here for a while, he kept asking when you would come!” she chirped. She giggled and leaned closer to whisper. “Where did you meet him? Is he rich? He looks rich, just something about the way he walks and his clothes-”

“Excuse me? What boyfriend?”

“The one who came yesterday!” she said. Her eyes narrowed. “Do you have more than one?”

"No, I don't..."

I don't even have one, was what you were about to say, but something clicked in your mind. The one who came yesterday. She could only be talking about Park Jinyoung. What was he doing here? Shouldn't he have gone home to pack for Busan after the disaster of today evening? 

Or was he just here to torment you? 

You went into the lounge and found your mother sitting in her usual armchair. Jinyoung was sitting beside her- his laptop bag strewn on the floor and his suit jacket slung over the back of the chair as he spoke to her with a handsome smile on his face.

You sighed. You didn't really want to face him tonight. Park Jinyoung had seen enough of your weaknesses tonight to last a lifetime. 

"Hi," you greeted them, interrupting their conversation. Your mother looked up with bright eyes and Jinyoung looked at you too. His soft lips curved into a smile. 

"Hey!" he greeted you cheerfully. "Where have you been? I thought you left work a long time ago! I tried calling but you didn't answer."

You forced a smile. "Jinyoung…"

"Yeah?"

"Not that I don't want you here, but I'd like a few minutes alone with my mother."

Jinyoung stood up and smoothed his formal shirt down with a nod. "Of course. But before that, I need a few minutes alone with you. Can we talk outside?"

You felt tired. "Can it wait? I-"

"No, it can't wait. It has to be now. Come on."

You were too exhausted to protest as Jinyoung wrapped his warm fingers around your forearms and steered you towards the exit of the care home. You found yourself back in the parking lot with a sheepish Jinyoung looking down at you and rubbing the back of his neck.

"What is it?" you asked. 

Jinyoung cleared his throat. "Well… I'm not sure how to explain this but…"

"You have one minute."

"Okay. I talked to the CEO again and he said everyone can stay here and nobody has to go to Busan," he blurted out. 

Your eye twitched. 

"Excuse me?"

"You can stay here. And keep your job."

"No, I heard you. I just don't believe you," you replied. You narrowed your eyes at Jinyoung. Was he joking? Was this some kind of a trick? You might have gotten along with the successful salesman in recent days, but you couldn’t forget that he was a manipulative asshole capable of anything.

"I'm not lying. Check your email," he insisted.

You fumbled in your bag for your phone and quickly checked your email. Park Jinyoung was telling the truth. There was an email in your inbox from the CEO stating that the transfer orders had been cancelled indefinitely. 

You felt weak.

"What the f-"

Jinyoung grinned. "I told you I wasn't lying."

"How did you manage that?" you demanded. You stared up at him in shock. "Park Jinyoung what the fuck did you do?"

Jinyoung wiggled his fingers in the air. "Magic."

You flung your handbag at him in frustration, and Jinyoung flinched when it smacked into his shoulder. Your red eyes showed how furious you were and he took a step back from you with a nervous laugh. 

"Hey, now calm down…"

"You did something stupid, didn't you?" you demanded.

Jinyoung shook his head. "No, I-"

“Park Jinyoung tell me what stupid, dick-head move you pulled to get us our jobs back or I swear to god-” 

Jinyoung backed away from you nervously. “Hey! Relax, I’ll tell you if you promise not to hurt me! Look. I didn’t do anything illegal. We had another negotiation where I pulled out another card I’d been hiding and it turned out that was his bottom line, so he agreed to let everyone stay. We’re not getting bonuses anymore.” 

Your heartbeat was thudding. “I… I don’t understand.” 

“Me neither,” Jinyoung complained as he rubbed his sore shoulder and pouted. “If I’d hit you with my bag then things would be a lot more serious, you know. You can’t just hit people. Even if you’re a woman.” 

“I-I’m sorry.” 

Jinyoung smirked. “And?”

Your eyes widened in shock. "Oh my god. I already emailed my resignation! So did Yugyeom and Youngjae! What if the CEO accepts them?" 

"He can't."

"Why not?"

Jinyoung folded his arms across his chest with a smug smile. "I talked to my friend in IT. He recalled the mails and deleted them from the server. They're gone, long before the CEO had a chance to see them."

"Wow."

"Don't you have anything else to say?" Jinyoung pressed. 

"What?"

“Let me give you a hint. An expression of gratitude. Two words, first word is five letters, second word is three-” 

“Thank you,” you mumbled. 

Jinyoung’s smile softened and as you looked up at him, you could see a quiet satisfaction in his eyes. It surprised you. 

This wasn’t the usual haughty, egoistic pride that was spread all over Jinyoung’s handsome face. It was something more innocent. 

The pleasure of having made someone happy. 

Jinyoung had never imagined it could feel so wonderful. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, well, well! Look who was gone for a whole minute! If it isn’t our Legal team.”

You looked up from your laptop to face Jackson Wang, standing over you. The entire office was in a cheerful mood this morning. News had spread that the Busan transfers had been cancelled and that the CEO had been forced to give in. 

It was a victory that everyone shared. 

People had been coming up to thank you all morning. You’d tried telling them that you weren’t sure how it had happened, but they wouldn’t listen. 

“Morning, Jackson,” you greeted. 

“Good morning. I see some bright and happy faces!” Jackson waved at both Yugyeom and Youngjae. Then he turned back to you. “Anyway, I’m here to check up on the sale agreements I asked you to look through?”

You nodded. “I’ll send them to you with my comments by the end of the day.”

“Good stuff, good stuff.”

“Was there anything else?”

With a nod, Jackson climbed up and sat on the edge of your desk with one leg. You frowned in disapproval. You didn’t like people sitting on your desk. Then again, Jackson Wang was hardly the most tactful person in the world. 

“What do you think about Jinyoung?” he asked eagerly. 

You raised an eyebrow. “Jinyoung?” 

“Yeah.” 

“What do I think about him? In what context?” you asked, confused.

“In every context.”

You folded your arms across your chest and leaned back in your chair. “I’m a little busy, Jackson. Can we save the games for outside of working hours?”

Jackson sighed. “You know, Jinyoung might seem a little selfish but deep down he’s a really sensitive guy. You get what I’m saying? He reads poetry in his free time. He likes little kids. He really loves his mom and he’s passionate about his work. And recently, I learned that he even has the potential to be rather… romantic?”

You stared at him. “Are you two dating?” 

“What? No!” 

“Then what the hell are you trying to say?” 

“Screw it. Never mind. You wouldn’t understand,” Jackson replied as he got off your desk and dusted off his pants with a frown. “You’re really cold, you know that?” 

“Please go away.” 

“Fine. I’ll leave. I just feel bad for Jinyoung, that’s all.” 

“Seriously Jackson, go away.” 

“Fine!” 

Jackson left and you rolled your eyes, accidentally making eye contact with Yugyeom who was watching the exchange with interest. You shrugged in bewilderment and Yugyeom grinned until his phone buzzed and he looked at it with wide eyes. 

“Hana?” he answered happily. 

You sighed and turned back to your laptop. 

Young love. You wished it was that easy for you. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You had just sat down to eat your lunch in the cafeteria when Park Jinyoung slid into the seat across from you. 

“Hi,” you greeted him, mildly surprised. 

Jinyoung barely looked at you as he unwrapped his sandwich hastily. “Hey. Can’t talk for long, need to eat fast because I have a meeting with a client in about fifteen minutes,” he blurted out before taking a huge bite. 

“O...k?” you replied. You hadn't even asked. 

He looked up at you as he swallowed. “How’s your day going?” 

“Um, fine, I guess.”

“Just a heads up, don’t take any rumours you hear around office too seriously. Jackson might be saying some stuff, but that’s because he’s been smoking too much weed. Oh, but don’t tell anyone I said that either. HR might organize a drug test and I don’t want him fired.”

You stared at him. “Jackson shouldn’t be smoking.”

“I know, I keep telling him that but he doesn’t listen!” Jinyoung insisted as he took another huge bite. His sandwich was half gone and he rapidly drank half a bottle of water. 

“What kind of rumours, though?”

“Huh?”

“What kind of rumours is he spreading?” you repeated. “If he’s saying something that’s affecting you badly, or disparaging you then shouldn’t you talk to him? Or at least ask HR to talk to him?”

Jinyoung laughed and waved it off. “What? No. It’s cool.”

“If you say so.”

Jinyoung swallowed the last of his sandwich- you hadn’t even touched your own food yet- and crumpled up the wrapper before finishing his water bottle. Then he looked at you with a handsome smile. 

“Oh, and did I mention? I kind of need you to attend this client meeting with me.”

You stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“I’m negotiating a huge sale and the client is being stubborn. I know our good-cop-bad-cop routine didn’t work too well on the CEO, but it would be great if you could come along. I’m up for an award in March and I really need this sale.”

Your face turned white. 

“Park Jinyoung, I cannot believe you-”

“I’ll see you at Conference room 7 in… thirteen minutes? I knew you would be a sport. Thanks so much!” he gave you a friendly pat on the back and a charming smile before briskly walking out of the cafeteria. 

You stared down at your lunch tray and took a deep breath as you waited for the anger to wash over you.  

You should have been furious. Park Jinyoung had signed you up to attend a meeting during your lunch break with almost no notice and you should have been raging mad at the nerve he had. 

But you weren’t. 

Because taking someone from Legal to his negotiations was something Jinyoung had been refusing to do for the past year, no matter how many times you begged and pleaded with him. He always said that wasn't something he could compromise on. Maybe his failure to give you enough notice was annoying and inconsiderate but in the bigger picture…

You had won. 

You smiled to yourself and then glanced at the time. 

Oh, shit. You had barely 10 minutes to eat lunch. 

Fuck you, Park Jinyoung. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh excellent, you're here," Jinyoung greeted you with relief as you turned into the hallway. He looked smart and well-dressed; the suit jacket was only pressed and worn for client meetings and you could smell his cologne. 

Park Jinyoung smelled wonderful.  

You frowned at him. "You don't just spring meetings on people. That wasn't funny."

"It was to me."

You sighed. "Look. There's still 2 minutes left, at least give me a quick briefing and tell me what this meeting is about?"

"Relax. The deal is in the bag. The client's product specifications are really particular and nobody else in the industry is willing to accomodate them. So they need us badly. The issue is getting them to pay a better price. Right now, they're acting arrogant and low-balling us with the figures."

You raised an eyebrow. "How do we fix that? Price negotiation isn't my strong point."

Jinyoung chuckled. "Nobody in Sales is stupid enough to ask you to negotiate anything for them. Don’t worry.  That's not what I expect."

"Then what do you expect?"

"I just need you to be a bitch."

You bristled. "I'm not sure how I feel about you calling me that word repeatedly-"

Jinyoung blinked innocently and shook his head. "What? No, I'm not calling you a bitch. I'm saying that I need you to act like one, just for the purposes of this client meeting so that they get a little flustered and agree to a higher price."

"Still not an appropriate word to use in the workplace," you pointed out stubbornly. 

He groaned. "Fine. I'm sorry. Can you please come and be unreasonable and obstinate, like you always are whenever I ask you for anything?"

You folded your arms across your chest. "You can do better than that."

“This is absurd.”

“Asking for basic decency is absurd?” you demanded. 

Jinyoung groaned and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Fine. Let me try again. Will you please attend this meeting with me and help me strike fear in the hearts of the clients with your powerful and fearsome ways?”

You smiled. “I like that.”

“Come on, let’s just hurry up and go inside.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That won’t work.”

The client looked flustered. Jinyoung leaned back in his seat and watched as you handled the entire meeting yourself, cutting off the client at every turn, insisting that nothing would work and being an obstinate, unreasonable bitch. 

Jinyoung was having the time of his life. 

“But we’ve already compromised on a lot of the terms,” the client insisted. The lady had looked confident when she entered, but she was slowly buckling under your strength. Her desperation was leaking into her voice. “We’re offering the best terms we can and we want something that will benefit both parties-”

“Then how about you offer something that will actually benefit both parties? Because what you’re offering right now is a joke.”

Jinyoung leaned forward in a half-hearted attempt to control you. 

“Now come on. Let’s not be too harsh. Mrs. Kim is doing her best-”

“Mrs. Kim needs to do better,” you replied sharply. “What they’re asking for is something completely out of the box. There’s no standard protocol to follow to produce a product like that and we would have to customize all processes from the ground up. I’m a lawyer, should I really be teaching you about business processes, Mr. Park? Please bring your common sense to this negotiation.”

Jinyoung blinked in amusement. You were even turning against him, now? Even though your lips were pressed together in a frown, he could see a glint in your eyes. 

You were enjoying this. 

Fuck, Jinyoung thought as he gave up and relaxed back into his seat. He had never realized exactly how attractive you were when you were flaunting your power. Or maybe he had. Maybe this was just the first time he wasn’t at the receiving end of your wrath, so he could sit and watch you with leisure. 

Mrs. Kim bit her lip. “These are the final numbers I can offer you. Can you take a look?”

You glanced at the numbers and stood up. “This is really a waste of time.”

“What-”

“I don’t think this meeting is going anywhere like this,” you decided. You tossed your pen onto the table and it hit the surface with a thunk as you gathered up your belongings. Mrs. Kim looked shocked but you kept a perfectly expressionless face as you slung your bag over your shoulder. “Perhaps we can meet again, Mrs. Kim, once your company looks at the numbers and comes up with a more competitive figure.”

Jinyoung blinked. “Are you really-”

You stormed out, unable to suppress the giggles that were threatening to erupt from your lips. You waited until you were in the corridor and at a safe distance before allowing yourself to laugh. It was awful; you felt bad for the poor woman but she now understood who had the upper hand and she would be forced to concede to whatever Jinyoung asked. 

Still, setting aside the satisfaction of winning…

It was the most fun you’d had in a while. 

You heard the conference room door open and Jinyoung stepped out into the corridor. His eyes were shining as he walked towards you briskly. 

“Okay,” he said with a grin. “I knew you were good but I didn’t know you were that good.”

“I almost feel bad for her,” you giggled. 

“Relax. The numbers they were quoting originally were terrible. You finally brought her up to a more reasonable price. I can’t believe you just stormed out like that, though, that was…”

You bit your lip. “Excessive?”

Sexy as hell, Jinyoung thought to himself silently. 

“Effective,” he said out loud. “It was effective. I’m going to go back in there and comfort her and seal the deal, okay? Thanks for doing this, honestly. You saved me from having to accept her low-balled figure.”

“Park Jinyoung? Showing gratitude? I must be dreaming.”

Jinyoung frowned. “Hey. I’m a reasonable guy.”

“Sure.”

“And besides. It’s not too bad when we’re on the same team, is it? I always imagined you would get in my way during negotiations but honestly… when we’re on the same page I think we do pretty well,” he admitted. 

You nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. I guess we do work well together.”

“Anyway. I should go back before she cracks. See you.”

“Yep. Bye.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

You returned to your desk to find Yugyeom waiting for you. 

“What’s up with you?” you asked. 

“I feel like I should tell you something,” he began awkwardly. Yugyeom lowered his voice and shielded his mouth with one hand to whisper. “Hana told me that there’s some rumours going around the Sales department.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Really Yugyeom? Participating in office gossip? I expected better from you.”

“It’s about you,” he insisted. 

“What about me?”

He cleared his throat. “Okay. I know this sounds absurd, but... Jackson Wang is going around telling people  that Park Jinyoung is in love with you.”

You stared at him. 

“What?”

“Park. Jinyoung. Might be in love with you.”

You couldn’t help it; you laughed. The thought was so absurd that you couldn’t react in any other way. Jinyoung? In love with you? Wasn’t he always calling you a witch and a teacher’s pet and saying he found your moral superiority annoying? How could he possibly be in love with you, in any sense of the word? 

“Wow, I needed that laugh.”

Yugyeom frowned. “But it’s serious. People believe it.”

“What is this, middle school? Do we spread rumours about every guy and girl who talk? Park Jinyoung hates me. Sure, maybe we worked together on a couple of things and have some level of professional compatibility, but-”

“Professional compatibility?” Yugyeom questioned. 

“You know. We work well together. That’s it!”

“Huh.”

You flushed. “What are you getting at here? Just because Park Jinyoung and I managed to work together like decent human beings does not mean that he suddenly likes me in any way. He’s a selfish asshole and I’m not his type in the slightest. We have to struggle just to have a civil conversation.”

Yugyeom shrugged. “If you say so.”

“I do. Why is Jackson spreading rumours like that? Is he actually high while at work?”

“Jackson doesn’t smoke up.”

You blinked. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, he quit smoking years ago. And he’s Jinyoung’s closest friend at work, don’t you think he would know what he’s talking about?” Yugyeom reasoned. “I know Jinyoung isn’t typically nice or flirtatious but he does seem to find reasons to come around here a lot and you get really worked up around him so it could be… you know.”

“No, I don’t know. Tell me.”

He lowered his voice with a childish grin. “Sexual tension.”

“Do you want to be fired less than a day after getting your job back, Kim Yugyeom?”

“No, ma’am.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were just getting ready to leave when Park Jinyoung came by your desk. 

“Hey,” he greeted. “Heading home?”

You nodded, feeling flustered at the sudden sight of him. As much as you wanted to brush off the rumours, you couldn’t completely ignore them. 

Could they be true? Had something changed between you and Jinyoung? 

“Yup, getting ready to leave. Did you need something?” you asked him. 

“Just thought I’d stop by and update you on how the negotiation went. We signed off on the deal, Mrs. Kim offered way more than I expected her to. She was relieved not to have to negotiate with you anymore. I guess you do have some skills, teacher’s pet.”

You rolled your eyes. “I’ve always had skills.”

“Anyway, I thought we should celebrate sealing another deal. Want to go get a drink?”

“I have plans tonight. Maybe some other time. You’re supposed to take someone from Legal along to all of your important client negotiations, I hope you remember that?” you demanded. 

Jinyoung chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll see.”

“No. Don’t brush me off. I’ll see you at the next negotiation.”

“You’re enjoying it, aren’t you?” Jinyoung asked with a chuckle. “You were in your element today. Fine. Who am I to deny you some excitement in your dull life of reviewing contracts? I’ll give you a call when I find my next client. Good night!”

“Night.”

Jinyoung left and you shut your laptop down, sliding it into your bag and zipping it closed. You had just slung it over your shoulder when you noticed that both Yugyeom and Youngjae were staring at you with wide eyes and open mouths. 

“What’s wrong with you two?” you demanded. 

“Park Jinyoung just asked you out!” gasped Yugyeom. 

“Huh?”

“He just asked you out to drinks after work! Right in front of our eyes! How are you so calm about this, you rejected Park Jinyoung!”

Your cheeks burned up. “What? No! I helped him close a sales deal so he probably wanted to celebrate by getting a drink, that’s all! Colleagues do that all the time, don’t they? Don’t the Sales guys treat you two to drinks when a deal you’ve been working on goes well?”

“No. The Sales guys are stingy as hell,” Youngjae replied. 

“But-”

“He just asked you out and you said no.”

“He did not!” you insisted, flustered. “This is so absurd, I don’t know why you guys are so hung up on this. Jinyoung doesn’t date women like me. I'm sure he goes for a different type.”

“Do you know what his type is?”

“... No. But-”

Yugyeom and Younjae both exchanged a meaningful look while you stared at them in bewilderment. 

What was happening?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

You didn't realize it at the time but perhaps in his own subtle and clueless manner, Park Jinyoung was attempting to woo you.

“What’s this?” you asked. 

Hana had turned up at your desk early in the morning on Monday, carrying a small box with three take-away coffees in it. She set one down on your desk and smiled. 

“Coffee,” she explained cheerfully. “Mr. Park asked me to get some for the Legal team. I dodn’t know if you like sugar and milk so I just bought some extra for you to add. There are muffins too, if you guys are hungry.” 

“Wow,” Youngjae looked suspicious as he took his coffee. “This is a first. Do you think it’s poisoned?”

Yugyeom grinned as he reached for his own cup. “Thanks, Hana. Although maybe it’s our boss we should be thanking. We all know who Park Jinyoung really sent the coffee for, and it’s not you or me, hyung.”

Youngjae grinned and raised his cup in your direction. “Thanks, boss.”

You glared at them. “He sent it for all of us!”

“Sure he did.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jinyoung was pacing the corridor and talking on the phone loudly. 

It was mildly distracting but it wasn’t as if you could ask him to shut up; it was an open office space and people talking on the phone and discussing things was a common noise that you should be able to ignore. 

It still didn’t make sense that he wanted to take his phone calls here, so far away from his own desk. 

You closed your laptop and took two steps towards the corridor just as Jinyoung ended his phone call and fell into stride beside you. 

“Hey!” he greeted. “Going to get some lunch?”

You nodded. “It is lunchtime…”

“Great. I’m hungry too. Let’s go together. Do you want to hit that chinese place across the road? I have some discount coupons and their wontons are amazing. You don’t have any meetings right after lunch, do you?”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Not unless you spring one on me like yesterday.”

Jinyoung chuckled. “Me? Not today.”

You followed him out of the office, unable to find a reason to say no. And why shouldn’t you go with him? Colleagues could go out to grab lunch together, right? 

To be honest, you’d never really been close enough to anybody from a different department to have lunch with them but lots of people at work did it. Besides, Jinyoung had talked about discount coupons and nobody said stuff like that if they meant it to be a date.

Right? 

Why were you even thinking about this? Yugyeom and Youngjae must have gotten to your head. 

“Thanks for the coffee this morning,” you told Jinyoung as he opened the door for you at the restaurant. He smiled at you sheepishly. “Why did you ask Hana to get us all coffee and breakfast?”

Jinyoung shrugged. “I don’t know. You guys work hard. Just wanted to appreciate it.”

“Huh.”

“Why do you sound like you don’t believe me? Table for two, please,” Jinyoung said quickly to the waiter, who led you both to a corner table with a pleasant view.

“I just never pegged you for the appreciative type. Not to mention that I don’t think the company as a whole really appreciates anything my department does here,” you mumbled bitterly. 

Jinyoung stared at you, dark eyes concerned. “Hold on. You’re not still hung up on what the CEO said, are you? It’s his personal opinion. You can’t take it to heart. Most of us don’t feel that way about Legal. It’s just one guy.”

You sighed. “That one guy runs our entire company, Jinyoung.”

“I know. But…”

“But what?” you demanded. “He controls the policies and the way things run here. A company is moulded by its CEO. I don’t know how much longer I can stay knowing that he dislikes me. I’ll never be able to grow in my career, I’ll be stuck here forever.”

“You can find ways to grow!”

“Under his authority?” you scoffed. “You think the man is ever going to give me a promotion, after the shit I pulled with him? I’m not sure how you convinced him to give us our jobs back but I can guarantee he’ll bear a personal grudge against me.”

Jinyoung frowned. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”

You rolled your eyes. “You don’t control him.”

“I got him to cancel the Busan transfer, didn’t I?.”

“Yeah. How did you do that?��� you asked with a frown. “I was too surprised to push you for an answer that day, but you never explained. What did you do? I hope you didn’t blackmail him or do something dangerous, Park Jinyoung.”

Jinyoung scoffed. “Please. I told you I didn’t do anything illegal.”

“Then how?”

“I just figured out his bottom line and threatened to rip it out from underneath him.”

“What was his bottom line?”

Jinyoung smiled cryptically as he picked up a lunch menu and flipped through it. “Maybe I’ll tell you someday. What do you think about shrimp wontons? They’re personally my favorite.”

“I hate them.”

“Fine, I’ll order a single portion then. Oh look! They have some Christmas specials. Speaking of Christmas, are you planning to go to the annual office Christmas party tomorrow? It’s a lot of fun. There’s free cocktails and they usually do this stupid little Secret Santa thing.”

You groaned. “God, I hate those.”

Jinyoung chuckled. “I thought you would.”

“I never get a nice present. I got socks one year, and this disgusting scented candle set the next. It stank up my house whenever I lit it. Besides, I can’t on Friday. They’re having a Christmas celebration at my mother’s care home and it’s really important to her that I go.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

“Yeah. We used to have these huge family Christmases when I was a kid but, well… we don't anymore and I think my Mom misses them," you admitted. You sighed and flipped a page of the menu. "I know it’s hardly enough, but I should at least spend time with her myself, so she’s not completely alone."

Jinyoung blinked. "Huh. I've always found huge family Christmases a pain. Then again, I've never really spent Christmas alone."

You raised an eyebrow at him. "You have a huge family?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I don't know, I figured your family abandoned you as a kid because they couldn't stand you anymore," you said flippantly. 

Jinyoung frowned. "That's not nice."

"I'm not nice. And I don't like shrimp wontons. Can we order chicken instead?"

Jinyoung sighed and closed the menu. "Yeah, fine, have it your way."

---------------------------------------------

Your mother always looked sad around Christmas-time. 

“How much longer do we have to listen to her?” you whispered to your Mom with a playful grin, in an attempt to cheer her up. Another one of the elderly ladies at the care home was reciting poetry and she seemed to have an entire sheaf of papers to read from. “Is she reading us a poem or an entire trilogy?”

Your Mom hushed you. “Don’t be rude.”

“But it’s boring.”

“Yes, but it’s important to her that we listen to her poetry so let’s not interrupt her,” she insisted. She placed a weak hand on your arm and smiled hesitantly. “I’m sorry you had to come and stay here with me on the night of your office Christmas party.”

You rolled your eyes. “Come on, Mom. They do those Christmas parties every year. People just exchange cheap gifts and get extremely drunk. It’s no fun.”

“And listening to Mrs. Jung read her poetry is?”

“It’s fine because I’m with you,” you promised. 

“You should be out with your friends and coworkers. Or your boyfriend. What happened to that nice young man who came by here a couple of times? He seemed interested in you.”

You flinched. “Park Jinyoung?” 

“Yes, Jinyoung. I thought he liked you. He seemed very polite and charming.”

“He’s just like that. Besides, I don’t think I’m the type Jinyoung would really go for,” you replied. You turned to your Mom and bit your lip. “I think I’m going to look for a new job, Mom. Don’t worry. I’ll look for a company nearby so I can stay near you, and something that pays well, but… I don’t think I see a future for myself with this organization.”

You mother blinked. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’ve started applying already.”

“If you say so, dear. You’ve always been responsible about your decisions, I doubt there’s any advice I could give you.”

You chuckled. “You’d support me no matter what.”

“Of course I would.”

“What do you want to do on Christmas Day? I can ask the doctor to let you out for a bit and we can have lunch at my apartment. I’ll buy groceries and cook for us both. How does that sound?”

“It sounds lovely, dear,” she said softly. 

“You don’t sound so sure.” 

“I am, really.” 

You opened your mouth to press her further but before you could, a round of polite applause filled the room. Mrs. Jung had finally finished reading her poetry. Your mother waved for the nurse to come over and take her to her room. “I’m a little tired, dear. I think I’ll go to bed. Drive home safely, okay?” 

You nodded and gave her a hug goodbye. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside in the parking lot, Park Jinyoung was losing his mind. 

He couldn’t stop thinking about you. The Christmas party had been a blast from the start; Jackson was a hilarious drunk and he’d even caught Yugyeom and Hana making out less than an hour in. Jinyoung should have been having fun but he kept thinking about how much he wished you were at the party. 

After drowning just enough wine to lose any remaining sense of propriety, he’d taken a cab to your mother’s care home. 

And now he was standing outside in the chilly winter air, wondering what the fucking hell he was doing outside an elderly people’s care home, drunk and clutching an expensive bottle of wine that he’d swiped from the party and waiting for you to come out. 

It was pathetic, really. 

And Park Jinyoung wasn’t pathetic. 

No. He wasn’t. Women fell for him, not the other way around. Park Jinyoung had never struggled to find attractive and willing female companions, even before he’d acquired a high-paying job and bought his own apartment. So why was he so fixated on you? 

Why was he sitting here in this desolate, pathetic, miserable place?

Perhaps it was because the moment you entered his line of vision, his mind went blank and all he could think about was how adorable you looked walking over towards him in the cold, your arms wrapped around yourself and face snuggled into your scarf. 

“Jinyoung?” you called out in disbelief. “What are you doing?” 

Jinyoung didn’t know how to respond. He decided that bare-faced shamelessness was the best way to go. He was drunk so he would blame it all on the alcohol later. He smiled and held up the bottle of wine. 

“I felt bad that you were missing the party, so I decided to bring the party to you,” he called out cheerfully. “After all, I am the party. What more could you want?” 

You laughed. Your laugh was beautiful, Jinyoung thought. Maybe it was all the more precious because it was so rare. Maybe the fact that you were usually frowning or upset meant that when you laughed, you really laughed, and there was nothing fake or forced about it. You never tried to please anyone. You never tried to seem friendly or polite to satisfy someone else. 

You were yourself, and perhaps that was what Jinyoung found so attractive about you. 

“Are you drunk?” you asked as you neared him. 

Jinyoung pouted. “Just had a few glasses of wine.” 

“How did you get here?” 

“I took a cab.” 

“Fuck, it’s freezing. Let’s get inside my car and turn on the heater and then talk, okay?” you decided, fumbling for your keys. Jinyoung had a stupid smile on his face as he slid into your passenger-side seat. He smelled faintly of wine and cologne. 

“Was the party boring?” you asked. 

“It was okay,” he replied with a shrug. “I found Yugyeom and Hana sucking face in the janitor’s closet but I swear I didn’t tell anyone about it.” 

You giggled. “I see.” 

“I may have suggested to Jaebeom from HR that he would find something interesting if he went looking for a mop, but I swear I didn’t tell on them myself, I would never do that,” Jinyoung insisted. His words were clumsy and you could see that he was a little drunk. 

“Is the wine for me?” you asked, pointing to the bottle in his lap. 

Jinyoung grinned. “I stole it from the party.” 

“Hand it over then.” 

You took a swig of the wine straight from the bottle and giggled when you saw Jinyoung staring at you in awe. “What are you gaping at?” you demanded. “You didn’t think to bring me a glass, did you?” 

“Nope,” he admitted. 

“So keep your mouth shut until I’m at least half as drunk as you.” 

“My pleasure.” 

You had never imagined getting drunk on wine with Park Jinyoung in the parking lot of an elderly care home, but a lot of things had happened in the last one week that you’d never imagined. Perhaps you should just let loose and take life as it came. 

You turned and looked at Park Jinyoung. His dark eyes were watching you closely. 

“Jinyoung,” you said. 

“Yeah?” 

“What’s your type?” 

His eyebrows furrowed. “Huh?” 

“You know, in women. What you look for in a woman. You must have some kind of a type,” you insisted. With all the gossip going around, you needed to know if there was a chance that Jinyoung could ever be attracted to you. 

“I just…” Jinyoung blinked at you slowly. “I don’t know.” 

“How can you not know?” 

“I just don’t know.” 

“But you must-” 

Jinyoung’s eyebrows furrowed, irritated. “Fine, I do know. But I’m not drunk enough to say it out loud in front of you, and you can’t make me so don’t try to trick me into it. I’m smart. I don’t blurt out stupid things when I’m drunk. I’m Park Jinyoung, and you won’t get a word out of me.” 

You blinked at him. “Fine, I didn’t know it was a secret.” 

“It is a secret and I won’t tell you.” 

“Fine, then. Why did you come here?” 

“Ha! Another trick question!” Jinyoung shook his head and smiled, leaning his head against the seat drowsily. “I won’t tell you. I’m not going to let anything slip. I won’t.” 

“Is everything a secret?” 

“Yup.” 

“So you won’t tell me anything tonight?” 

“Nope.” 

“So should I talk, then?” you asked, taking another swig of the wine. You sighed and leaned back in your seat. “I don’t know what to do to cheer my Mom up. I think she’s lonely and I try to spend as much time as I can with her, but I think even I can’t fix the loneliness she feels around Christmas-time. I think she misses big, traditional family Christmases.” 

Jinyoung grinned. “You can bring her to my house.” 

You blinked. “Really?” 

“My family makes a huge deal out of Christmas. My parents and my sisters and my aunts, uncles, cousins, they all cram themselves into that tiny house and break out of the food and decorations. Lonely?” Jinyoung scoffed and rolled his eyes. “She won’t have room to breathe in that crowd of overbearing nuts.” 

You giggled. “I still can’t believe that you come from a big family.” 

“Tell your Mom she has to come to Christmas at mine. Call her right now.” 

“You don’t mean that.” 

“I do. Call her.” 

You giggled as you took your phone out of your pocket. Your Mom answered on the first ring and the wine was the only reason you said the next words that came out of your mouth. 

“Mom, Jinyoung wants you to go over and spend Christmas at his house. What do you think?” 

Your mother sounded confused. “What, sweetie?”

Jinyoung gestured for you to hand him the phone. You gave it to him and he held it up to his ear clumsily. “Ma’am, you are most cordially invited to Christmas lunch at my house. My Mom makes the best chicken in the world but since you need to take care of your health please stay away from my sister’s gravy that shit is toxic,” 

You laughed and took the phone back from him. “Sorry Mom, he’s drunk.” 

“I think you are too,” your mother replied with a small laugh. “Good night, sweetheart.” 

“Goodnight.” 

You hung up and turned to see that Jinyoung was staring at you, his eyes glazed over. He ran his fingers through his hair and your heart skipped a beat when he smiled down at you softly. 

“Hey. We make a good team, right?” he asked carefully. “I like… I like it when we’re on the same side. Like at that meeting. And with the CEO. And now. I hated you when you were getting in my way but now it feels like we’re on the same team and it feels right.” 

You giggled. “You’re a good teammate, Jinyoung.” 

“Really? Why do you think so” 

“I don’t know. You’re… reliable. And smart. You’re a bit of a pain but honestly, I think you’re growing on me. Kind of like a fungus, except less disgusting.”

Jinyoung chuckled. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

“And I have a nice ass, right? I’ve seen you staring at my ass.” 

You laughed, unable to control yourself. This situation was absurd, this conversation was absurd and everything you were doing right now was completely absurd. 

But in some odd way, it also felt right. 

“You have a lovely ass, Jinyoung.” 

He scoffed. “I knew it.” 

“And now that I just said that, I realize I’m officially drunk too, so we're gonna need to call a cab to get us both home.” 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[soobiniebaby]

Angels & Devils Part XV : It’s You

Tomorrow x Together Fanfiction

~ p a r t s : main post || prologue || part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || part 5 || part 6 || part 7 || part 8 || part 9 || part 10 || part 11 || part 12 || part 13 || part 14 || part 15 || part 16 || part 17 ~ p a i r i n g : love triangle involving choi soobin and choi yeonjun  ~ g e n r e : high school au | some social media au | some fluff & angst | childhood friends | love triangle  ~ l a n g u a g e : English  ~ w a r n i n g : contains swearing, alcohol, kissing (?) and may contain mature themes (angst, etc.)  ~ a / n : This will be my first fanfic (go easy on me pls) and i’m just writing this as I go along, so bear with me juseyo The setting (place/country) of the story is up to the reader’s interpretation ~ s u m m a r y : What should she choose? Han Baby: the new girl with a troubled past MO Academy: her new high school Choi Soobin: student council president, member of the Ecosave club, volunteer at the Humane Treatment of Animals, member of the Honor Society, a vocalist in the Jazzed club, the school’s all around golden boy Choi Yeonjun: leader of the Dance club, star of the Jazzed club, the school’s it boy with a bad rep 5 best friends, 1 new girl, 1 childhood friendship, 1 epic love triangle? What will this school year bring?

Soobin’s breath catches in his throat as he absorbs the words on the screen.

Was Yeonjun really asking him to step in as B’s date? Suddenly, Soobin’s fantasies of having B as his date come flooding back to his mind, and he could hardly believe that most of it would be a reality. From him showing up at her apartment door to pick her up, to having their pictures taken together right as they enter the event hall, and maybe even up to how breathtakingly ethereal she’d look under the sparkling lights as they’d slow-dance in the middle of the dance floor.

The thought of his fantasies for the past few weeks becoming a reality made his cheeks heat up, and he takes a deep breath, quickly weighing the possible pros and cons of what could happen if he stepped in as B’s date in his mind, before he counts to three and sends his response.

Yeonjun’s request caught Soobin so off-guard that he wasn’t even able to mention why he messaged him in the first place. He sighs, tossing his phone down beside him on his bed, as he tries to get a grip on his thoughts, which were now swirling around with fantasies of B opening her apartment door and looking lavishly perfect in her dress, slow-dancing with B and taking pictures with her and sitting beside her at their table and—

Soobin shakes his head, trying to shake away such thoughts. B was his friend, and he would be there for her as a friend, only until Yeonjun arrives and takes his rightful place as her date.

He sighs again, his heart still pounding as he says “Alexa, lights off” before he’s enveloped in darkness.

•°•

B pouts, her whole lower lip sticking out as she looks up at her boyfriend with puppy-dog eyes.

Yeonjun frowns. “Baby, c’mon, please don’t do that. You’re too fucking cute, God. You’re breaking my heart.” he says, unable to stop himself from stepping forward and taking her face in his hands, his thumb gently rubbing on her lower lip as if he could erase her pout. “I wish I could skip it, trust me I do, but business is business, and you know how my father can get about things like this.”

B holds her pouty face for a moment longer before she sighs in defeat, realizing that she had no choice in the matter.

It was the morning of the Fall Ball, and when she heard someone ring the doorbell so early in the day, she was a tad annoyed that someone would dare bother her beauty sleep. Once she saw it was Yeonjun, she instantly felt her mood go from 0 to 100, happy to see him standing at her doorstep. But once he told her why he was there, her mood instantly went from 100 to 0 once again.

It wasn’t Yeonjun’s fault that his dad was a cold-hearted business-minded dick. She melts into Yeonjun’s touch, her eyes fluttering shut as his thumbs gently find their way to her jaw, lightly tracing patterns.

“Fine. I understand.” she finally says, opening her eyes to meet his. She lifts a hand up and cups it over one of his, entwining their fingers together. “But will I at least see you tonight? I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks, and I wanna see your jaw drop once you see me in my dress.”

Yeonjun raises a brow. “How are you so sure my jaw will be dropping?”

B smirks, her eyes alight with mischief. “Well, first of all, it got Ryujin’s stamp of approval on the slutty-and-classy factor. And second, no matter how pretty and sexy I’ll look in the dress, I know that all you’ll be thinking about is how you’ll be taking the dress off.” she says, watching Yeonjun’s mouth drop at what she was suggesting.

“T—taking the dress off?” Yeonjun stutters, and B stifles back a laugh. She had never seen Yeonjun stutter before. “Me? Taking the dre—taking your dress off?”

B nods, and Yeonjun’s eyes widen. She grins devilishly. “I mean, if you can’t make it to the dance, we can always have a little after party of our own.” she says teasingly.

Yeonjun just looks at her in wonder, before shaking his head and letting out a chuckle. “Damn, Baby, you’re really something else.” he says, and she can’t help but hold back her laughter. “I just—I fucking love you, you know?”

Now it was her turn to go slack-jawed. “What? Wait, you what?” she says, not sure if she heard him right.

He laughs at her reaction and shakes his head once again. “I fucking love you, Baby. I love you.” he says, and when she remains frozen in shock, he says “I just wanted to let you know, and I don’t want you to feel pressured to say it back, so you don’t have to.”

B nods, her tongue still caught in her throat as she tried to wrap her head around his words.

Yeonjun sneaks a quick peek at his phone. “Ah, I have to go, I have a video meeting with our Japan clients in 30 minutes.” When she remains silent in shock, he chuckles and bends down, planting a warm lingering kiss on her forehead. “My business thing will be starting at around 8PM, but I’ll try to ditch it early and if I’m lucky I can make it to the ball by 10PM, and I promise I’ll make it up to you. I’ll see you later, Baby. I love you.” he says, caressing her hair before turning away to leave.

As she watches him make his way down the stairs and get escorted into the car by his driver, she finally snaps out of her daze and feels herself smile.

“I love you too.” she quietly says into thin air, before she shakes her head, her cheeks hurting from smiling, before she closes the door behind her and prepares herself for a busy day.

•°•

That was 13 minutes ago.

Soobin sighs as he checks his phone one last time before he pockets it, his hands shaking as he does so. He holds his arms out as his sides and starts to flail them around vigorously, hoping to shake off the nerves. He takes a deep breath, stuffing both of his hands as deep as they could go in his coat pockets, and slowly counts to three before abruptly ringing the doorbell, holding his breath as he waits for a response.

“Soobin? Is that you?” B’s voice floats from inside the apartment.

Soobin forces himself to put on a smile, making sure to avoid tripping over his words as he says “Yeah, it’s me!”

“Hold on, I’ll be out in a bit!” she calls, and he hears some noises from inside the apartment, such as the sound of her running around and rushing to do whatever it was she was doing.

“Alright, take your time, I’ll be right here.” he says reassuringly, taking deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves. He was just a friend picking up another friend to go to the dance together…as friends. Why was he so nervous?

Wanting to appear as casual and calm as possible, he decides to take his phone out of his pocket and feign scrolling or typing, just so that he wouldn’t look pathetic when she opens the door.

Once he hears her footsteps approaching, he holds his breath, and when she finally opens the door, he tears his gaze away from his phone to greet her.

And he nearly drops his phone, his jaw nearly dropping along with it.

A petite goddess stood in front of him, illuminated by the light pouring out from her apartment. Her long hair was parted to the side and framed her face with loose waves. Her eye makeup was done with simple winged eyeliner and long curled lashes, her face glowed and shimmered with highlight and bronzer, but her lips were painted a loud and eye-catching red, accentuating the cute little cupid’s bow on her upper lip that made them look irresistible.

But what really made him nearly drop his phone was her dress and how good she looked in it. No, how good it looked on her. Her blue dress fell off her shoulders, the flowy fabric leaving her neck, back and shoulders bare, with delicate satin trimmings all over. Her gown had a modest empire waistline yet had a surprisingly daring slit that ran all the way up her thigh, with satin trimming once again added in to balance out the look. She paired the dress with a pair of strappy heels that crisscrossed around her legs until just below the knees.

“Okay, I’m ready, let’s go!” she says, not noticing how he was ogling her. “Sorry if I kept you waiting out here, I didn’t know it would be this cold.” she says, rubbing her arms with her hands.

It’s only when the freezing cold autumn breeze hits him when Soobin finally unfreezes, and he snaps into action, taking his coat off and offering it to her.

“Here, you can use this to keep yourself warm.” he says, and before she can refuse, he slowly drapes it over her bare shoulders, careful not to ruin her hair or makeup as he does so. “At least until we get to the car.” he adds, once he sees the hesitance on her face.

She nods her head and smiles up at him. “Thanks, Soobin. 5 minutes in and already I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have you as my date.” she says, and he prays that it was dark enough so that she couldn’t see him blush. “Well, as my last minute date at least.”

Soobin coughs, trying to conceal his red cheeks. “Right, um, let’s get going then.” he says, leading the way to the car. He offers to hold the ends of her dress as they make their way down the stairs, making her giggle, and once he opens the passenger door to his car, he offers his hand to help her easily slide into the car. He closes her door and quickly makes his way to the driver seat. He hears her sighs in relief as he shuts the door behind him, the car heater kicking in as he starts the engine.

“Oh, that feels nice.” she says, putting her hands up towards the vents to defrost her cold fingers. “Again, I just wanted to thank you for doing this, Soobin. I know you didn’t really want a date to the ball and that you weren’t really interested in taking any girl from school to the dance this year, but I hope you’re not too bothered with having me as your last-minute date.”

You’re the only girl in the entire school I wanted to take to the ball. Having you as my date is the only thing I’ve been dreaming of these past few weeks. I wouldn’t trade having you as my date for anything else in the world.

As all these thoughts flood Soobin’s mind, he simply smiles back at her and says “No problem, B. I don’t mind it at all.”

Her eyes sparkle as she beams at him then, happy with what he said, and just like that his heart rate started to speed up once again. Tonight was gonna be a long night.

•°•

“Say cheese!”

“Sir, could you lean in closer, maybe put your arm around him?”

“Sir?”

Beomgyu hastily puts his arm around Taehyun’s waist, pulling him closer to his side as they posed for the photographers at the entrance of the event hall. “Tyun, are you okay?” he whispers, shaking him slightly.

“I…I’m, um, I think I’m feeling a bit shy.” Taehyun finally admits, his eyes darting around the area, which was quickly starting to fill up with students arriving with their dates, presenting their tickets and getting in line to have their pictures taken by the photographers before entering the event hall. Beomgyu had picked him up from his apartment, being the perfect gentleman, and they had arrived at the dance a little early so that they could do a few last minute checks around the venue before most of the guests start to arrive.

Whenever he and Beomgyu were together, he simply felt happy. It was just the two of them, talking and laughing as they always did, except now there was some handholding and kissing in between. And when Taehyun asked Beomgyu to be his date, he was simply happy about the thought of going to the Fall Ball together. But now that they were here, together, as dates, Taehyun was starting to realize that he hadn’t exactly thought the entire thing through.

He didn’t think about the stares they’d be getting, or the confused looks that would come their way when people saw them together, or about the excited whispers that would start whenever people spotted them walking hand in hand. And now that he was seeing it, he was starting to feel shy. He didn’t know what it was like to be in a relationship, and frankly he wasn’t used to the attention that came along with it, especially since his partner just happened to be one of his best friends, and his co-student council member. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the pair of them would receive so much attention, but Taehyun was surprised nonetheless.

Beomgyu chuckles. “You, Kang Taehyun, are nervous? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous before.” he says, leaning in so close to whisper in his ear that Taehyun could feel his breath lightly tickling his neck. “Why are you nervous?”

“I guess I’m just not used to all the attention. I’ve never been in a relationship, so I don’t know how to act around you now when people are watching.” he says, his eyes catching random glimpses of stares aimed at them.

“Ah, of course it’ll come with a lot of attention, silly. Especially since you have me, the elusive and charismatic Choi Beomgyu by your side.” Beomgyu says teasingly, and that was enough to earn a small smile from Taehyun.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Taehyun says, feeling a bit more relaxed.

“And you’re adorable.” Beomgyu says, causing the younger boy’s cheeks to flush.

“Perfect! Hold that pose!” the photographer exclaims, seeing that Taehyun looked more relaxed and natural now. He quickly holds the camera up and points it towards them. “1,2,3, smile!”

As the flash goes off, Taehyun feels himself smile, and he feels Beomgyu’s arm around his waist tighten just a bit more before the photographer says “Excellent! Thank you, and enjoy your evening. Next!” signaling the end of their turn.

Taehyun lets a small sigh, feeling himself relax, as Beomgyu takes his hand and pulls him forward, finally stepping through the giant double door entrance and into the event hall.

“Wow, you guys really pulled out all the stops for this one.” Beomgyu comments as they take in the room. It was spectacularly designed with rows and rows of fairy lights hanging across the ceiling, with curtain lights lining the walls. The ceiling itself was barely visible as the entirety of it was shrouded with different fall flowers such as Dahlias and Begonias, with balls of autumn leaves hanging as well, some occasionally falling down and letting the room rain with autumn leaves.

“You mean we really pulled out all the stops?” Taehyun says, raising a brow. “Have you forgotten that you’re actually a part of the student council or do you really not pay attention during our meetings?”

Beomgyu laughs. “I do, trust me, but I didn’t know it would turn out looking like this! It’s amazing.” he says, still in awe.

Taehyun can’t stop himself from smiling, feeling a sense of pride. “I helped choose the flowers. Now let’s go find our table, the others might be waiting for us already.” he says, now leading them towards their assigned table, which was conveniently situated near the side of the event hall, closer to the stage and the side entrances so that they as student council members would have easy access to any backstage problems.

When they arrive at table 21, they’re surprised to see just 2 people sitting there. Soobin and a girl. The girl was sitting with her back to them, and all they could make out was that she had long dark hair that fell down her back in waves.

“Huh, is that Soobin? Who’s he sitting with?” Taehyun asks once they spot the table from 10 feet away.

“Maybe he caved and got himself a date at the last minute. I mean it’s not like it would be hard for him to find one on short notice.” Beomgyu muses. “I wonder who it is.”

Once they arrive at the table, Soobin’s face lights up as he sees them.

“Gyu! Tyun! You’re finally here.” Soobin says. “Take a seat, Kai and his date should be here soon too.”

Beomgyu raises a brow at Soobin’s smiley demeanor, but takes a seat nonetheless, but not before he pulls out a chair and offers it to Taehyun.

“Ah, you didn’t have to.” Taehyun says, though the pleased smile on his face betrays his words.

“Hush, shut up and let me be your perfect date. I mean, you’ve been dreaming of this for a year now, right?” Beomgyu says teasingly, laughing when Taehyun gives him an annoyed look.

“Soobin, seriously, I swear I’m gonna kill you for saying that.” Taehyun says, shooting daggers at the boy. But before Soobin could respond, his date turns in her seat to face the two boys, and their jaws drop as she does so.

“Yeah, remind me not to spill any of my secrets to Soobin either.” B says, coming face to face with Taehyun and Beomgyu.

“B?” Beomgyu asks, surprised. “Are you Soobin’s d—Where’s Yeonjun?” he stutters.

B laughs out loud at Taehyun and Beomgyu’s confused faces. “Oh, sorry, I guess we never got to tell you!” she giggles. “Um, Yeonjun’s dad forced him to go to this business party thing at the last minute, and I guess he sort of assigned Soobin to look after me. Until he gets here, at least, he said he’ll try to cut the party early so he can catch the end of the dance.”

Taehyun raises a brow. “Oh, what a shame.” he says, his words directed at Soobin. “How inconvenient is it that you’re stuck with Soobin as your date now.”

B nods “Luckily Soobinie’s very kind and he accepted, although I’m trying to be as less of a burden as possible.” she says, laughing as she rests a hand on Soobin’s arm.

“Very lucky.” Beomgyu says, smirking at Soobin behind B’s back. “I’m pretty sure Soobin won’t see you as a burden though, he is very lucky to have been blessed with the opportunity to have you as a date tonight.”

“Aw, thanks Gyu, you’re so sweet.” B says, looking at him in awe. “Tyun, is he always this sweet? You two are so lucky to have each other.” she says, looking between her 2 friends lovingly. When the guys told her the news, she was so happy she started to cry. After all those mornings she spent walking with Taehyun to school, she never would have imagined that he would have feelings for someone like Beomgyu. In the dynamic of their friend group, the 2 of them stood at opposite sides of the spectrum, yet they worked perfectly well together, like blue orangeade.

“I have to admit, the idiot has his moments.” Taehyun says rather lovingly in contrast to the nickname he had given him. “Speaking of idiots, where’s Kai? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”

And right on cue, Kai and Yuna come stumbling up to the table, both of them in a fit of giggles as they try to seat themselves, abruptly stopping once they noticed there was 1 empty chair.

“Hey guys, who’s not here ye—” Hueningkai starts, but once he sees B next to Soobin, his confusion further grows. “What’s going on here? Where’s Yeonjun?”

B and Soobin explain the situation once again, and Kai and Yuna nod understandingly.

“I never knew Yeonjun’s dad could be so harsh.” Yuna pouts. “I’m sorry about that, B. But hey, at least you’ve got another handsome guy to keep you company tonight.” she says, winking at Soobin. “Let’s try to enjoy it anyway, alright? And I’m sure Yeonjun will do anything to see you tonight.”

B nods in agreement, happy that she had her friends with her to keep her company. Maybe her night wouldn’t be a total bust.

Just then, Soobin holds her hand under the table, squeezing it comfortingly. She looks at him and sees him smiling at her. “Don’t worry, we’re right here for you.”

She beams at him and squeezes his hand under the table, entwining their fingers together. “Thanks, Soobin. Really. It means a lot to me.”

And just like that, she knew it was going to be a good night. With or without Yeonjun.

•°•

The night had kicked off with a bang. The council had hired a DJ and opened up song requests so that students could hear their desired songs along with personalized dedications all around the event hall, students from the Theatre club had been assigned by the student council to host the event. Designated different clubs within the school were tasked to present special numbers at hourly intervals throughout the night. The Theatre club had done a short improv scene, picking random students in the audience to participate, which earned many laughs from the crowd. The Photography club had been going around and taking polaroid pictures of the students. The Film club has been documenting the night on video and will be showing a short highlight reel by the end of the evening.

But now, it was the Jazzed club’s turn.

Soobin nervously walks across the stage, the spotlight trailing him as he makes his way to the center, adjusting the microphone stand higher to match his height before he starts.

“Hey guys, how’s everyone’s evening going so far? Is everyone having fun?” Soobin says, pleased with himself when the event hall booms with cheers from the crowd. “That’s good to know. On behalf of the student council, I’d like to acknowledge the participation of everyone here tonight and for everyone who couldn’t make it, without all of you, this event wouldn’t have been a success, so thank you.” he says, earning cheers from the crowd once again.

He flashes a charming smile as he continues. “I know that this evening has been a blast so far, but how about we slow things down a little bit…” he says, and right on cue the selected members from Jazzed club goes on stage and starts to prepare their instruments, which gets the crowd cheering again. “Coming right up, we have a special performance by MO Academy’s very own Jazzed club!”

Soobin takes the mic in his hands and starts to walk around the stage, approaching each person one by one to introduce them to the crowd. “Here, we have our student body’s precious Public Relations Officer, Kai Kamal Huening, tickling the ivories!” he says, putting a hand on Kai’s shoulder as the younger boy plays a few keys on the piano, making the crowd cheer.

He moves on to the drum set. “On the drums, we have Yoon Dowoon! Drop us a beat, please!” he proclaims, and Dowoon follows suit, showing off his skills.

“Isn’t he amazing, folks?” Soobin asks the crowd, making them cheer in response. “Next up, we have Nam Donghyun playing the Bass!” he says, motioning to the bassist as he plucks a few strings.

“On guitar, we have our student council’s very own Treasurer, Choi Beomgyu! Show us what you’ve got, Gyu!” Soobin says, dramatically doing a very bad air guitar impression in contrast to Beomgyu’s slow acoustic guitar. Soobin laughs as Beomgyu shakes his head.

“And last but not the least, our vocalist for the evening, the one and only Kang—” Soobin begins, ready to introduce Taehyun, until Beomgyu grabs the back of his suit, tugging him to his side as he quickly whispers in his ear.

“Taehyun can’t do it, he’s dealing with a crisis with the security team.” Beomgyu explains hastily.

“What! Who’s gonna sing then? Can you sing and play the guitar at the same time?” Soobin asks, trying to keep a smile on his face even though he was panicking on the inside.

“I don’t memorize the song, just the notes.” Beomgyu says. “But why don’t you sing? It’s not like you haven’t sang in front of an audience before. And you have no excuse not to sing, because you wrote the song.” Soobin couldn’t think of an excuse to get himself out of it, because Beomgyu was right. Soobin had been working on the song for a couple of months now, but he never intended on singing it himself, especially not in front of a crowd, and especially not in front of her.

Before Soobin can protest, Beomgyu quickly takes the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, our vocalist for the evening, the one and only Student Council President, Mr. Choi Soobin!” he proclaims, making the crowd cheer as Soobin practically chokes on his own saliva, taking the microphone back from Beomgyu.

“I—uh, yes!” Soobin says, quickly gathering his thoughts, not wanting to look unprofessional in front of the whole school. “Our first song tonight is a special composition by the Jazzed club! Composed by Kang Taehyun, and lyrics by Choi Soobin.” he says, letting the cheers from the crown die down before giving the band the go signal.

The lights dim as the song starts with a slow intro from the drums and the piano, and the spotlight focuses on Soobin as he starts to sing.

(ORIGINAL SONG: Look After you by The Fray) [some lyrics changed by author for story purposes] “If I don’t say this now, I will surely break As I’m staring, your hands I want to take I look on breathlessly, my knees they start to shake My heart has started to separate”

As he sings, he remembers all the moments he caught himself staring at B, and all the times she made his heart speed up just by looking at him, and all the instances where simply seeing her took his breath away, like when he picked her up at her place for the dance that night.

“Oh oh, be my baby oh Oh oh, be my baby And I’ll look after you.”

He sees her in the crowd then, sitting by herself at their table, her chin resting on her hands as she watches the band play on. Her eyes meet his and she smiles, giving him a small wave. He’s unable to stop himself from smiling back, his heart pounding in his ears.

“If ever there was any doubt My love, she’s looking at me Her smile gives me security Her love rings with clarity”

He’s watching her watching him now, her head nodding along to the gentle beat of the song, her eyes bright as she claps with the crowd and cheers him on.

“Oh oh, be my baby oh Oh oh, be my baby Oh oh It’s always have and never hold You’ve begun to feel like home, yeah What’s mine is yours to leave or take What’s mine is yours to make your own”

He wrote these lines after the night of Yeonjun’s birthday, when he saw her a crying drunken mess on the closet floor and realized that he would do anything for her. It didn’t matter if she was his best friend’s girlfriend or if she was the girl he was in love with, it didn’t matter if she was drunk and crying or sober and laughing. To him, he was B, one of the few people in the world he held closest to his heart, and he knew he would do anything for her.

“Oh oh, be my baby oh Oh oh, be my baby Oh oh”

As he sings the last lines of the song, he feels his face start to heat up as the audience begins to cheer louder, a bit shy now that he had sung his song in front of the whole school. Singing a song he wrote in front of the person he wrote it for was something he never anticipated he’d do, but upon seeing her eyes, as bright as ever, focused on his face, he would’ve written a million more songs and sang them all to her if it meant she’d look at him like that every time he did.

When the audience starts to die down and the couples on the dance floor start to return to their seats, he spots Taehyun running to towards the stage, waving his arms at Soobin, signaling that he was there and that he could take over.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that song was called ‘Look After You’ written by yours truly, composed by Kang Taehyun, and performed by MO Academy’s Jazzed Club. Let’s give another round of applause!” Soobin proclaims breathlessly, his smile widening as the crowd starts to cheer. He quickly motions Taehyun to come on stage, relieved that the younger boy was there. Soobin didn’t think that he could sing the rest of the songs on the setlist without any practice.

“And now, here to take us away with a voice as cool as the Fall breeze and visuals as refreshing as Autumn leaves, let’s give it up for Kang Taehyun!” Soobin announces, arm outstretched towards the boy who was now making his way across the stage.

“Thank you, everyone.” Taehyun says, smiling as he catches his breath. “We’ve got a great set prepared for you tonight, so grab your partners and prepare to swoon as we start with a song called Autumn Leaves by Ed Sheeran.”

When the next song starts to play, Soobin makes his way off the stage, his body still humming with adrenaline from singing his song on such short notice. As he makes it off stage and finds his way back to his table, he receives a few compliments and pats on the back from his fellow students, telling him he did a great job on the Fall Ball and gushing over how beautiful his singing was. He acknowledges them bashfully, his face heating up more and more by the second, until he finally makes it to his table, which was occupied by no one but B.

She starts to clap as soon as she seems him approaching, shaking her head in approval, legs crossed casually. “Wow, Choi Soobin. I’ve been told that you were a bit of a songwriting genius, but I didn’t know just how much of a genius you were until now. You definitely live up to your hype. Well done.”

“Oh stop it, you’re only saying that cause I’m your friend.” He smiles shyly as he takes his seat next to her, mindful of the absence of their other table mates. “Why are you alone? Where are our fellow table 21s?”

“Gyu, Tyun, and Hyuka are all onstage and will remain onstage for at least 5 more songs, and I’m guessing Hyuka’s date is off somewhere with Ryujin.” she says, referring to Yuna. “They invited me to hang out with them while you were all onstage, but I didn’t really feel like taking shots of the Tequila that they smuggled in at one of the bathroom stalls.”

“Is that what they’re doing?” Soobin says, raising a brow. “You do remember that I’m the Student Council President, right? Doing something like that could get them suspended!” he exclaims.

B laughs lightly. “Oh, I don’t think I could ever forget, Mr. President.” she says, wiggling her eyebrows at him. “And yes, I am well aware of that, but I trust that you won’t bust them anyway because although you have responsibilities, you’re not a fun-sucker either so as long as you trust that they know their limits, you’ll just be keeping a stern eye out instead of busting them.”

Soobin sighs. “You’re right, I guess you know me too well.”

B nods. “Yes, and I happen to know that you haven’t had the chance to break out some moves on the dance floor all night.” she says, exasperated. “C’mon, Soobinie, you should dance! I know you don’t have a date and I’m just a sort of last minute engagement, but you could ask literally any girl here to dance with you and I just know that they’d practically pee themselves with glee as they drag you to the dance floor.”

Soobin laughs. “That’s absurd.” he simply says, and she shrugs. It’s quiet between them for a moment, they watch the couples on the dance floor until the song comes to an end and a few of them make their way back to their seats while the others stay on the dance floor and give a round of applause to the Jazzed club.

“Thank you, thank you.” Taehyun says, his voice reverberating through the event hall. “Now for our next song, no high school dance would be complete without one of the most iconic high school prom songs in the cinematic universe of Young Adult movie adaptations. As seen in the Twilight saga, this is Flightless Bird, American Mouth.”

“B?” Soobin says, turning to face her as Taehyun sings the first line of the familiar song.

“Yes?” B asks, her eyes focused on the couples dancing in front of them.

“I know that I’m just a stand in until your real date arrives and that Yeonjun will probably be here before the Fall Ball ends, but do you wanna dance with me?” Soobin says in one breath. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, but I think it would be a waste if you just sit here all night. I mean, I’m not saying that your night will be a waste or anything or that you’ll just be sitting—”

B silences him by standing up and grabbing his hand, forcing him to stand up. “Like I said, Binnie. You could ask literally any girl here to dance with you and they’d practically drag you to the dance floor.” she says, beaming as she drags him through the throng of people until she finds a vacant spot near the stage.

“Didn’t you mention something about peeing themselves with glee—?” Soobin begins, but she shuts him up by putting a finger up to his lips, which catches him by surprise. He remains frozen as she guides his hands to her waist and she reaches up to rest her hands on his shoulders, her neck outstretched as she looks up at him.

“Just shut up and dance with me, Choi Soobin.” she laughs, which causes him to unfreeze and sway along to the music.

“You know you have 4 different names for me?” Soobin says out of nowhere. “You’ve called me about 4 different names just now.”

“What?” B asks, curious. “No way! How can I possibly have 4 names for 1 person?” she says.

Soobin bites his bottom lip thoughtfully before answering. “Well, you call me Soobin on normal occasions, Soobinie when you wanna ask for a favor so you act all cute, Mr. President for when you’re teasing me about anything school or council related, Choi Soobin when you’re either impressed by me or annoyed by me, and sometimes you call me Binnie, though I’m not sure why just yet.” he says. “Oh, that’s 5 names!”

B looks at him, incredulous. “Wow, I’ve never really noticed.” she says, amazed. “Anything else I should know about myself?” she asks teasingly.

Soobin stays quiet in thought for a moment before the words come pouring out. “You fiddle with your pens when you’re bored. When there’s something on your mind, your eyes dart all over the place as if you can see your thoughts out in the open. You make this face when you’re tired and cranky.” he says, his eyebrows pulling down and his cheeks puffing out as he pouts, mimicking her expression.

B chokes out a laugh. “No, I don’t!”

Soobin smiles at her fondly. “Trust me, you do! Um, what else? When you’re excited about something, your eyes sort of just light up and you practically bounce in your seat. When you’re nervous, you have a tendency to tap the tips of your toes on the ground. When you’re shy, you usually end up hiding your face with your hands—”

“So do you!” B interrupts.

“I know I know, let me finish!” Soobin laughs, his breath shaky now. “You’re a straw-biter, so you hate metal and paper straws cause they’re no fun for you to bite on but you use them anyway cause you wanna save the sea turtles. Your usual order at Kang’s café is a large peppermint mocha iced latte which you usually don’t end up finishing so you have it packed in a paper coffee cup and give it to the homeless man who begs right across the street along with whatever change you have in your pocket. When you’re happy, you sing out loud and your voice when you sing is soft and sweet and if I could, I’d record it and play it as a lullaby on nights when it’s particularly hard to sleep.”

B laughs, in awe of everything she was hearing, not noticing the way he was looking at her now. “My voice as a lullaby? It’d be like being serenaded by a banshee!” she exclaims jokingly. “What nights do you find it particularly hard to sleep, then? What causes your sleepless nights? Is it school? Is it stress? Is it a girl? When do you have sleepless nights?”

‘On nights when all I can think about is you.’ Soobin thinks to himself, but he just smiles at her warmly.

Before he can respond, the song ends, and the couples on the dance floor break away from each other and focus on the stage to cheer on the Jazzed club.

“Alright, this one’s for all those friends-to-lovers out there who were able to let love bloom from friendship, or for those who are still friends but would rather be lovers, this is your opportunity to get out of the friend zone!” Taehyun says, pointedly glancing towards Soobin. When he realized that B was with him on the dance floor, his eyes widened and he gave Soobin a wink, causing the older boy to blush. “This song is called Sweet Night by V.”

As the next song starts with a smooth acoustic intro, B turns to Soobin once again, not noticing how flustered he seemed to be. “Hey Binnie, you down for round 2? Or we could go back to the table if you don’t feel like dancing, I know you don’t like crowds.” she says, referring to them being in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by couples who were starting to get very close and intimate with each other.

Soobin looks at her and shrugs. “I wouldn’t mind dancing with you again.” he says, and her eyes instantly light up, causing his heart to flutter. He didn’t want to admit it, but slow dancing with her was a bit of a dream come true for him.

“On my pillow”

She smiles up at him, and he offers his hand with a flourish, causing her to laugh as she takes his hand in hers, once again positioning them on her hips before she reaches up to lay her hands on his shoulders as they start swaying to the music.

“Can’t get me tired”

B leans forward and closes the distance between them, burying her face in Soobin’s chest, and he could only pray that she couldn’t hear his heart pounding through his shirt. “Hey, Soobin?” she mumbles, her voice muffled.

“Hm?” Soobin responds, trying his best to control his breathing and regulate his heartbeat, afraid that she’d be able to hear it with her head pressed against his torso.

“Do you remember the night of Yeonjun’s birthday party? When I was crying on the floor and you saw me?” she asks.

“Sharing my fragile truth”

“Yes.” Soobin says. How could he forget? That night, he had let his walls down and let slip just a sliver of what felt like truckloads of emotions he felt for her. She had practically told him that she would have chosen him over Yeonjun if it were an option, and that the prospect of them being together wasn’t just a fantasy. “What about it?” he asks, as casually as he possibly could.

“That I still hope the door is open”

B sighs, keeping her face hidden from him. “It’s just, is there really nothing more that happened that night?” Soobin had to lean down to hear what she was saying. He didn’t know why, but she seemed to be hiding her face in his chest. “Ever since that night, I’ve been feeling a bit…different, I guess?”

“Cause the window opened one time with you and me”

Soobin gulps. “What do you mean? Different how?”

“Now my forever’s falling down wondering if you want me now”

“Well, I don’t exactly remember much to be honest.” B admits, her voice still muffled against his chest. “But I remember you and me sitting on the cold floor, I remember I was crying and that my heart hurt, I remember you being right beside me and leaning on your shoulder, I remember saying—”

“Saying what?” Soobin asks, wondering why she cut herself off so suddenly, and wondering where this conversation was going.

“How could I know one day I’d wake up feeling more”

‘Maybe it should’ve been you, Soobin.’ Her words echo again in her head. Ever since she had that dream, or rather that flashback, he had been feeling different. As if her heart and body remembered something that her mind didn’t about that night. “I remember saying that I felt hurt.” she says instead. “I dunno, I guess I just feel weird because I don’t remember everything. I’ve never been blackout drunk before, so it’s really strange for me.” she says, chuckling lamely at herself.

“But I had already reached the shore Guess we were ships in the night Night, night”

Soobin remains silent, not really knowing what to say. They simply sway to the music then, under the soft glow of fairy lights, with autumn leaves and flowers occasionally falling with every gust of the chilly autumn wind that blew into the venue.

“I'm wondering Are you my best friend?”

B did feel like she had been closer to Soobin lately. She didn’t know if it was because her childhood friend, Kai, had been busy with his relationship lately or if it was because Yeonjun was closest to Soobin. But she knew that ever since that night, she had been seeing him in a different light, as if she knew she could tell him anything and he’d bring her a sense of comfort no matter what the situation. She just didn’t know why.

“Feels like a river's rushing through my mind”

Soobin’s heart starts to race as he tries to figure out why she had suddenly brought up the topic of that night, and suddenly he feels guilty once again, remembering seeing Yeonjun’s lips crash against Rose’s. He felt his stomach lurch at the memory, but he knew he couldn’t tell B about it. It was Yeonjun’s responsibility.

“I wanna ask you If this is all just in my head”

B was starting to wonder if Soobin had felt a shift in their dynamic ever since that night as well. Did he see her in a different light after witnessing what a miserable drunken mess she was? Did he remember her telling him that maybe it should’ve been him, whatever ‘it’ was? Or has he always just been so caring and a good friend?

“My heart is pounding tonight I wonder if you are too good to be true”

Soobin looks down at B then, who still had her face buried in his chest, the fairy lights shining warmly above them giving her honey toned skin a gentle glow. As small flower petals continue to fall overhead, a few of them catch in her hair, making her look like some sort of ethereal goddess. She was too good for him, and too good for Yeonjun as well. He knew that.

“And would it be alright if I pulled you closer”

B’s hands fall from his shoulders and slip down to his chest. She finally looks up at him then and smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, it’s just that you’re so tall, and my arms were starting to get tired. Do you mind if I keep my hands here?”

“How could I know one day I'd wake up feeling more”

When her eyes meet his, Soobin could swear that his heart was leaping out of his chest and right into her hands, one of which was situated directly above his heart. He nods. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

They spend the rest of the song dancing in silence. She rests her head against his chest once again, her cheek squished against his necktie, and his hands slowly wrap themselves around her waist comfortingly.

“But I had already reached the shore”

Suddenly, Soobin feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns his head and nearly jumps out of B’s grasp once he sees Yeonjun standing there.

“Guess we were ships in the night night, night���

“Excuse me, but may I interrupt?” he says politely. Upon hearing his familiar voice, B’s head snaps up and her eyes widen as she sees him.

“Yeonjun!” she exclaims, jumping out of Soobin’s arms. “Y—you’re here.” she says, caught by surprise.

Yeonjun beams at her then. “Hey, Baby. I made it right on time.”

B looks between the 2 boys for a moment, hesitant, before she walks up to Yeonjun and gives him a hug.

“Glad you could make it.” Soobin says, patting the blue-haired boy on the back. “Cleaned up pretty nicely, too.”

“Are you flirting with me?” Yeonjun says teasingly, making Soobin roll his eyes. He gives Soobin a quick one-armed hug. “Thanks for taking care of my Baby for tonight, Soob.”

“Don’t mention it.” Soobin says, smiling at him. “You 2 enjoy the rest of the night, now. I’ll see you back at the table.”

Yeonjun nods at him, meanwhile B’s staring at him the whole time.

Before he turns away, she takes a step towards him and reaches for his arm.

“Soobin, wait.” she says, catching the sleeve of his suit.

He looks at her over his shoulder. “Yes, B?”

As his eyes meet hers, she feels her breath catch in her throat. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what. Her mouth opened to speak, but her brain couldn’t think of any words to say.

He tries to decipher the look in her eyes then, as if she was trying to tell him something.

After a moment, she releases his arm. “I just wanted to say, um, thank you. For tonight.” she finally says, smiling at him, though it didn’t seem to reach her eyes.

“No problem, B. The pleasure was all mine.” he says, smiling reassuringly at her before he turns and makes his way back to their table.

B feels a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind, and Yeonjun rests his chin on her shoulder, whispering in her ear. “You wanna dance with me, Baby?”

She squeezes her eyes shut and takes a deep breath before turning to face him, painting a smile on her face. “I’d love to.”

As they start to dance to the next song on the setlist, Soobin sits alone at table 21 and watches.

And he didn’t know why, but that last lingering look she gave him was stuck in his mind.

•°•

Author’s note: Here’s part 1 of the Fall Ball! But the real fun starts at part 2, next chapter.  Just wanted to drop this before TXT’s comeback.

Watch out for MINISODE 1: BLUE HOUR coming out today at 6PM KST!

[dragonrajafanfiction]

CYOA: Gotcha

“I was invited directly. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him yourself.”  

You deliver this line with utmost confidence. This man was a waiter, someone who would be beneath a rich, young aristocrat like you were pretending you were. You were also a hybrid and was only briefly surprised that the waiter was one as well.

You could thank Chu Zihang later for exposure to what a truely frightening bloodline purity was like. This guy, while a hybrid, didn’t give off nearly the same shockingly inhuman aura as him.

The waiter let out a quiet hmph at your poise, but he still hesitated briefly, putting the business card down on the booth and walking away. “Please wait here.”

You see him disappear further into the restaurant, behind the dark wood counter of a bar. He picked up a phone and dialed the number. As a hybrid you had a much higher auditory sense than a normal human and could hear the conversation.

“Stravinsky brought a guest. This is a sensitive meeting. Did he say anything about it?” A pause. “Not sure. This person not one of us.”

The waiter nodded once and hung up the phone. He picked up a menu and wordlessly beckoned you inside. You can finally see the spacious interior. A live jazz band was playing, a svelte women in a skimpy gown crooned into microphone on a small stage. The tables were shrouded in darkness and cigarette smoke. 

You’re led to a large round table and you and Stravinsky recognize each other right away. 

With him other men in business attire were seated. You assume that they’re hybrids as well. They eye you with moderate annoyance. One that looked Asian ignored you completely. Another a women with mahogany colored skin, gave you the flash of the whites of her eyes, stood up and left the table.

You get the distinct feeling that you’re not welcome here but you have no choice but to wade into this river full of crocodiles. 

“I guess it’s a little late for introductions.” You hand Stravinsky your business card with your fake ID on it. Your name, a made up entity called Alpha Corp. Supposedly, you’re a successful software engineer.

Stravinsky pockets it without looking at it. “Gentlemen, where are your manners? Don’t tell me that we’re closing recruitment now that we’re so close to our goal.”

Your ears perk up and you look around, more intently now.

The Asian man finally gives you a bit of attention. “I kind of feel sorry for you. You were probably expecting a business opportunity. But this is a religious meeting.”

You look him straight in the eye and reply quickly. “What’s the difference?”

Stravinsky snorted with laughter, ducking his head. “Do I know how to pick them or what? I caught this young blood bidding 50 million on the Eye of Horus. Don’t be so close minded. We are all clearly a believers in the power of the gods.”

He leaned forward. “Besides, I’m in need of a play-tester for a very important game.”

His eyes sparkled in the dark as he gazed at you, not as an equal but like a predator, eying prey through the bars of a cage, imagining all the things he would do to you once he got his claws into you. You’d have to be careful.

“Tell me the details you want, but shouldn’t we introduce ourselves first?” Names, contact information... these were what Chu Zihang told you to acquire.

“We don’t use our real names here.”

The smartly dressed black woman returned to her seat and you nod to her. She flicks her eyes at you and says nothing.

“This is Amber Isle.” He says nodding to the woman. “This is Agate Image.” he says of the Asian man. 

As he introduces the people in turn, you immediately notice a pattern. The inclusion of a precious stone and the letters A.I. You file that away for later.

“And what’s your religion?”

“You should know the answer to that, if you’re in here.” Stravinsky lifted a bottle of wine and poured it into a glass to offer it to you. “Hybrids... they have a certain smell. Yours is faint... but it’s definitely there.”

“You’re going on like that? It’s a little embarrassing.” You take the wine.

Agate snorts. “If its embarrassing for you, imagine how it is for us. We’ve told him again and again, stop bringing his new hires to high level meetings.”

“I want to let them know what working with us has to offer.” Stranvinsky took on a wounded tone. “You don’t think its effective? It’s far more effective than your habit of picking them up off the street.”

He sounded pretty proud of himself. “And if I agreed to your game, what would you do?”

You obliquely reminded him that you haven’t agreed to anything yet. You need more information.

The woman next to him was strangely silent but she wasn’t ignoring you any longer, but watching you like a hawk. Her eyes were sharp. She didn’t trust you and that much was obvious.

You take a sip of the wine, meeting her eyes. 

“Ah. Remember what I said about defeated death at the end of the game? What if it wasn’t a game? What if it could actually be done?”

“Immortality is a fairy tale...”

“And yet every major religion preaches about it doesn’t it?” Stravinsky says slyly. “And we know what group who has perfected the art.”

“You’ve figured out dragon egg-making?”

You squint your eyes in shock. After the 4 kings were created, they were split into pairs. Both twins were born from special eggs. This combination of Alchemy and Technology was a mystery to even the oldest of Hybrids. So long as the dragon could make an egg after birth, once it died it could be reborn into the world. The only way to kill a dragon king was after birth, preventing it from creating its egg.

“You’d still have to be a dragon to do it. And you’re just a hybrid. No offense.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to believe it just by my say so.” He slid his cellphone forward and you hone in on it. There’s a video playing. A bright complicated alchemical circle, runes and what looks like an urn. “Is that an authentic dragon egg?” You ask, but you’re really focused on a certain icon. A text message has been received.

You reach for the phone as though to hit pause and accidently swipe down. A text message and a phone number catch your eye. But you pretend its a mistake and pause the video to examine it.

Stravinsky takes the phone back however. “Do you believe me now?”

“I do...” You say cautiously, while you mentally record the phone number you just saw in your memory. “How many others are involved in this?”

“Many? To know more, we’ll need you to agree to be one of us.”

You look at the other members of the table all of them scowling at you.

“Is this solely your decision?” You ask.

“You’ve already seen too much. I’m afraid we can’t let you leave.” Agate moves his jacket slightly to the left to reveal the gun hidden at his chest. “Sorry. It’s not much of a choice.”

Stravinsky scoffed. “For the rich and the strong, there is always a choice. I swear, you think you’re still part of the Yakuza.”

Agate’s eyes narrow to slits. “You just showed a highly classified document like it was an introduction pamphlet!”

You glance at Stravinsky who seemed to be enjoying his colleagues ire. But the man did have a point. He invited you to this restaurant, he knew you were a hybrid... what else was he assuming about you?

Fear starts to creep in. Was he behind the missing agent? Was he looking for his next victim? Laying obvious bait to trap the new target from Cassell?

“The truth is, I’m a software engineer. I work at the pleasure of my clients.” You say, setting the wine glass back on the table. “I can consult on any matter they like. At its heart, my job is to find solutions to client problems.”

“I don’t know about this egg business... but if you hire me as a consultant, you can both be rid of me and insure confidentiality as business partners.”

Glances were exchanged around the table and you secretly hope that they agree to this and not drag you down some dungeon and sacrifice a goat or something.

“I think this is acceptable.” The black woman, Amber, sighs and nods once.

Agate’s eyes go round. “I don’t agree with this but I suppose I have no choice now.”

“I guess that means you’re hired...” Stravinky also seems disappointed. Maybe he liked goat rituals.

Deep relief overwhelms you to your core. “Now, I take it you have a secure way to contact me? One we can freely use?” 

It was Amber who pushed forward a different card. This one only had a QR code on it. “You’ll be able to obtain that information here. Any software needs we have, we’ll be in touch.”

Much to your surprise she offers her hand to you. When you shake it, it feels strangely pebbly. Your eyes go wide. This woman... she had scales!

Her hand squeezes around yours. “Soft... just like an IT professional.” She purrs. “Failure won’t be tolerated. Neither will betrayal.”

She lets you go and you try to slow your pulse.

Stravinsky elbows you sharply. “She’s quite something isn’t she?���

You manage to hold your cool facade when you get out of the restaurant. You weren’t a smoker or a drinker, but right now, you really wished...

Your hands are in your pockets to hide how much they were shaking. You could still feel the scales on the back of her hand, the sight of the dragon king egg case. The gun. How close were you to dying in the restaurant?

After you walked around the block you flag down a cab to take you back to your hotel.

You take off your dress clothes and look at the clock. 3 am.

The phone buzzes. You put it on speaker phone. “Report.”

But you’ve barely had time to collect your thoughts! 

You make the best report you can. “Okay, so that’s what I’ve got.” Putting the QR card on the table, you massage your shoulders. You’re tempted to ask if you can go home now.

All of a sudden you’re interrupted by a critical voice. “You agreed to be hired by them?”

“I...” You weren’t sure what to say to this. “I had to find a middle way.”

“No... this is good. Because you’ll be in contact and you’ll be paid. That gives us two contacts. However, EVA will be monitoring both. I recommend you work remotely. These people are too dangerous for your level.”

You breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you, sir.”

“Take a break and rest up. We’re going to have to get you out of Munich. Were you followed?”

“Not that I saw, sir.”

“I’ll put out some security guards for you.”

Was Chu Zihang that concerned for your safety? He hung up abruptly. 

You can’t think to do much more. You were too tired to even put on your PJs. You just lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling.

You don’t remember your eyes closing, but you’re awakened by a sound.

Your cellphone is buzzing and vibrating erratically. Lines of green text descend in a cascade across the screen and then it goes black with only two words. “Gotcha.”

What do you do???

--------------------------------------

A. Jump behind the bed.

B. Call for help.

C. Throw the phone from the window.

[personasintro]

Hope World | 05 [jhs]

synopsis; You’ve decided to try dancing class, but the one who teaches you how to dance actually hates you.

words count: 5.3k

warnings: strong language

chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06

masterlist link

The beads of sweat are rolling down your forehead but even that doesn’t stop you from moving. You push your body from the ground, following the right steps of the choreography Hoseok showed you the last time. Your lungs are hurting making it harder for you to breath, but you ignore all of it — pushing it off the side focusing on your body movements. The song ends, yours and Hoseok’s heavy breathing filling the dance practice.

“Again.” You tell him, already getting into the position your choreography starts.

“Don’t you want to drink some water and have some rest?” He asks through his heavy breathing as he tries to breathe properly. His brows are furrowed as he’s trying to catch his own breath watching you do the same.

“No.” You answer almost immediately, impatiently waiting for him to turn the damn music on. He watches you for a moment, his hands holding his one hip. Even he’s tired after doing the same choreography without any break for god knows how long. He reaches for his water bottle beside his sport bag. You watch him as he opens the bottle, drinking the water inside of it while his Adam’s apple bobs. Wow, he’s thirsty. You think as he almost drinks the whole bottle. When he’s done, he’s handing it to you waiting for you to take it. But with a small shake of your head, you mutter ‘I’m good’ before looking at yourself in the mirror. You want to scrunch your face in disgust when your whole body glistens with sweat and you’re sure you can smell it mostly in your armpits. Your whole face is red with exhaustion while your whole body aches. But even that doesn’t push you to sit down for a bit. Not when you’ve those words in your head.

“I think you should take a break. You haven’t drink anything ever since you came here.” Hoseok says, pulling you out of your thoughts causing you to look away from your reflection. His dark brown fridge is wet with his own sweat, sticking to his own forehead as he wipes it off with his towel. He throws is back onto the floor closing his eyes for a moment, trying to slow down his breathing.

“No, I’m good.” You tell him again, really starting to feel impatient. He sighs, not telling you anything even though you could see him open his mouth for a second. He stands beside you, listening to the melody as the song starts. You hear him count and on his clue you start to dance the choreography once again. Your whole body aches but you still push yourself to do better, ignoring that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach. It feels like you’re going to throw up anytime soon from the exhaustion. To be honest, you haven’t feel this kind of exhaustion in a very long time. It’s the time of the body roll, the whole move is supposed to be fast and you’re trying your best. But your whole head spins following with what seems like someone punched your brain, causing you to catch yourself onto the floor. You shut your eyes in displeasure, hearing the music stop.

“That’s enough,” Hoseok’s loud and authoritative voice echoes in the room causing you to open your eyes. You breathe heavily slowly standing onto your feet feeling your head to shake once again. “Drink some water and take a break.” He tells you, not asking you this time. He watches you with his sharp eyes ready for you to obey him.

You lick your dry lips, trying to moisturize them but you barely have any saliva to do that. “I’m fine.” You tell him through your teeth, ignoring your headache and your whole body ache. You look away, staring at your own reflection which seems to be somehow blurry.

“No, you’re not,” He tells you through gritted teeth, his loud voice surprising you a bit but you don’t react. “You’re probably dehydrated and on verge of fainting.” He states with firm tone in his voice, showing his dominance over you as your dance instructor.

“Seriously, I—“ This time he doesn’t let you finish, a huge scowl covering his whole face as he look genuinely furious at you. He hates when someone is overworking themselves, he knows it best of all the people. He hates when he sees his clients like this — despite of their history with him. He won’t allow to anything bad happen through his dance class. Even if he has to deal with stubborn people like you. He’ll gladly put you into your own place.

“Take a break and that’s final.” He snaps at you, turning around grabbing his phone harshly. You stand there dumbfounded, his eyes snapping to yours as he sends daggers your way. You growl, turning around to your own stuff grabbing the unopened water bottle. You don’t realize how thirsty you really are until you finish the whole bottle, a desperate sigh leaving your dehydrated lips. You stand there, watching Hoseok as he taps into his phone. You wait for him to continue with this dance class, you’ve only your last twenty minutes and you want to make the most of it. But he ignores you causing you to sigh knowing he meant the break very seriously. You plump onto your butt, annoyingly sighing. However, your body is thanking you for the rest. Your muscles aches as the proof of your hard work. You throw your head back, leaning it against white wall causing you to shut your eyes. You feel your heart in your throat as it beats quickly.

“I think we should end it here for today.” Hoseok’s voice jolts you awake, without you realizing you stayed like this for a few minutes. You stand up almost immediately ignoring the throb in your head.

“What? We still have,” You look at your phone, seeing you still have thirteen minutes. Perfectly fine to go through the choreography at least three times. “Thirteen minutes. I took my break, I’m fine.” You assure him, your voice louder sounding almost desperate.

He sighs, shaking his head. “I think you’ve had enough for today. You’ve worked hard.” In some other moments you’d appreciate the little praise he just gave you but all you can hear is his ‘you’ve had enough for today’ and that doesn’t set with you well.

“B-but I’m perfectly fine!” You exclaim, not in the mood for fighting but if it’s all it takes for him to move his ass and do his actual job, you’ll do it. And he sees the determination on your face, but that doesn’t stop him.

“Is this because of what your mother told you?” He asks straightforwardly, scowling at you as you gape at him with opened mouth. You’re shocked for a moment before you close your mouth adverting your eyes from his confident ones. He’s not looking away from you, stubbornly keeping his eyes on you watching you every facial expression you make. He knows he hit the nail at the way your throat bobs.

“You know nothing.” You murmur, hating how exposed you feel right now. Well, because he’s right. Ever since your mother so kindly embarrassed you in front of him, her words has been replaying in your mind ever since. You can’t get her words it off your mind when you look at yourself in the mirror. It’s not that you’re fat, you can see your stomach not being completely flat and you were always fine with it. Until your mother told you otherwise. You’re aware of your stretch marks on your thighs, the cause of your growing up and your body enveloping into a woman. You had to deal with this body changes ever since you’ve become woman and it’s been tough — not because you thought it. But because your mother made you think about it like that.

“Actually, I think I know it pretty well.” You hate how confident he sounds when he says it. You roll your eyes your hands self consciously covering your stomach as you feel suddenly fat under his dark eyes. You’re not stupid. Hoseok’s body is perfect. He isn’t overly full of abs but you can still see the glimpse of it every time he sweats a little or wears slightly translucent T-shirts. He is quite tall with broad shoulders and thick thighs. His whole body is a proof of his hard work. And you know with what kind of girls he’s hanging out with. He never gave you a one reason to feel self conscious but you still do, remembering his date. She was perfect. A tall, skinny girl. And you wish you’d look like her. Maybe your mother would let you live after that.

“We still have thirteen minutes, well eleven now but doesn’t matter. I’m paying you.” You decide to ignore him mentioning your mother, not really in the mood of talking about her. Not when she’s the reason why you’re like this. Why you aren’t comfortable in your own skin. You raise your brow at him, not in a rude way but show him you’re indeed, paying him for doing his work. Not caring about your personal matters or life.

“I’ll gladly give you the money back,” He bites, furrowing his brows at you even more. You never thought it’s even possible, but he does it. “I’m not going to continue. Not when you’re fucking exhausted like this.” He isn’t screaming, but his harsh words are making your throat to feel tight as you bite into your lip. You’re desperate. You need to move and do something with yourself. And he’s here standing not helping you.

“Fine.” You snap, turning around grabbing your sport bag rather harshly but you don’t care. You know it may look like you’re overreacting and maybe you’ll be embarrassed about this later, but you can’t deal with all those emotions inside of you. You want nothing more than to eat ice cream and cry at the unfair life but you can practically see your mother scolding you. For the ice cream part, of course.

“Y/N, come on. Stop overreacting.” You hear Hoseok say as you’re making your way to the door ignoring him. But what you don’t expect is for him to catch up to you, his hand slapping against the door not allowing you to open it. You unwillingly look at him, giving him a nasty glare in return but he doesn’t back down. He’s not intimidated. Not when all he sees is broken girl.

“Let me go. You said it yourself, Hoseok. This is enough for today.” You tell him confidently despite your voice shivering a little bit. All you want to do is wrap yourself in your fluffiest blanket, away from this awful world.

“Y/N,” He calls to you, challenging you to look at him. You can feel his breath hitting your face and the smell of his deodorant and sweat mixed. It’s weird, but you like his smell even though he’s probably all sweaty like you. You only hope he can’t smell your sweat because there’s nothing worse than stink to someone. Not someone so handsome. “Look at me.” He murmurs softly causing you to shut your eyes. They sting as you feel tears forming in them and you know once you’ll open them, he’ll see.

“No,” You tell him stubbornly but he still stands there. You can feel his presence beside you, his hand not moving from the door. “I just want to go home.” You add weakly, almost pleading him to let you go. This is the last thing you need to feel — embarrassed in front of him once again. You hate that he even sees you being this vulnerable.

“At least let me take you home.” He says, surprising you. You slowly open your eyes, mentally thanking that your tears hasn’t fall. But you know he sees your glossy eyes when his brows furrow in worry.

“I can walk.” You murmur not really in the mood staying with him for another second. Even though you’d like that, but not under this circumstances. Not when he’s doing this because he pities you. He’ll probably laugh at you the next time you both will bicker. And you hate showing someone your weak side.

“Woman, you’re so stubborn.” He chuckles causing your lips to twitch in amusement, but it’s still enough to show some of your nonexistent happiness. Something about him calling you woman put some ease on you. Somehow, you appreciate it even though he didn’t think about his words that much.

“Thank you, but I’m gonna walk. I’ll see you next week.” You tell him quietly. From the corner of your eyes you see him hesitating. But at the end, he sighs slowly letting his hand slide against the door. He steps back giving you some space. 

“Okay. Bye.” He murmurs, watching you open the door and disappear after the door closes. He stands in the practice room all alone, sighing before taking his own stuff.

“What’s taking him so long?” Yoongi exclaims annoyingly, slouched on the comfortable chair as usual not letting anyone else sit there, despite it’s not even his chair. A glass of red wine in his hand as he purses his lips in annoyance.

“Calm down, Jin is bringing that new guy he met.” Hoseok answers bringing dried sea weed in huge bowl. Jungguk immediately reaches down for it, taking a handful of it throwing it right into his mouth. He munches happily as Yoongi scoffs at him sipping his wine.

“Hyung, stop giving me that look.” Jungguk tells him, reaching for it again.

This time Hoseok slaps his hand making Jungguk pout. “Leave something for the guest.” He scolds him like some little kid he is.

“I can’t believe you’re teaching boxing others. You’re still a kid.” Yoongi comments causing Jungguk his scowl at him. He knows Yoongi is just being Yoongi, not being totally serious. He sees the small smirk on his hyung‘s lips.

“I’m not a kid, I can kick your ass.” Jungguk tells him all smugly causing Hoseok to snort at his younger brother.

Yoongi narrows his sharp eyes at him. “I can still slap you across your face.” He tells him shutting Jungguk up as he burries himself into the couch. There’s a ring bell following right after, ‘Thank god’ leaving Hoseok’s mouth as Jungguk stands up to open the door.

“Be nice.” Hoseok points his finger at Yoongi in warning when there can be heard loud voices, especially Jin’s voice. Yoongi purses his lips at Hoseok. 

“I’m always nice.” He shrugs in response.

Soon enough, he is finally here and the long wait is over. Hoseok sees Jungguk, Jin slowly trailing behind him as he searches for the new guy they’ve been waiting for. But his eyes widens when he sees tall blonde man with dimple in his cheek, greeting everyone. It’s not just any guy. This guy is your friend he saw couple of times. His own eyes widens when he sees Yoongi remembering him from the party. Yoongi seems taken back as well masking it with taking a gulp of his red wine. But Namjoon’s eyes widen even more when he sees Hoseok staring at him with opened mouth.

“You?”

“Hoseok?”

They all say at the same time, causing Jungguk and Jin look at them all confused. “You know each other?” Jin asks, eyeing the both of them as Namjoon slowly nods.

“Kind of.” Namjoon mutters, clearly confused by the outcome of this night. He never thought Hoseok or Yoongi would be here. He never thought these are Jin’s friends.

Jin wants to ask more but he sees the sudden awkwardness in the air so he claps his hands loudly gaining everyone’s attention. “So, for those who don’t know Namjoon, this is Namjoon. My new... friend.” He says not clearly convinced, his ears getting little bit red.

“I think we all know him by now, Jin.” Yoongi mutters adding even more fuel to the fire, or awkwardness more like.

Thankfully, the awkwardness is soon gone as they start to play a lot of games full of Jin’s loud laughter and Jungguk’s competitive personality. Even Hoseok and Namjoon laughs at the same time, briefly chatting every now and then. Hoseok is filling another bowl of dried sea weed, Namjoon helping him with grabbing some bottles of soju.

“So, Yoongi is your friend, huh?” Namjoon asks as he opens the fridge, pulling out cans of Coca-Cola.

“Yeah.” Hoseok answers simply, throwing out the empty package.

“So, you’re the one who called Yoongi to look out for Y/N?” He asks, causing Hoseok to freeze for a moment. How the hell did the find out? He doesn’t realize he asked the question aloud until Namjoon chuckles. “I kind of figured. Y/N told me she called you while being drunk and then when I saw Yoongi here, I put two and two together.” Namjoon answers and in that moment, Hoseok thinks ‘Fuck, he’s smart’.

There’s nothing Hoseok can do, he can’t deny it so he simply nods. “Yeah, I did that,” He mutters under his breath. “But don’t tell Y/N.” He adds quickly.

Namjoon puts the cans onto the kitchen counter crossing arms over his chest. “Why not?” He asks confused watching as Hoseok sighs.

He leans onto the kitchen counter shrugging his shoulders. “Why does she has to know?” He asks back. Namjoon can see that for some reason Hoseok doesn’t want you to know the truth. Or it doesn’t even matter. What would it change? Your opinion about him? Probably not since he spent his entire morning calling with you. You complained about Hoseok how he didn’t want to continue with his practice because you were supposedly ‘tired’. You knew Hoseok was right, everything he told you. You were exhausting yourself and you could feel it. But you had to focus your anger at something and this is how you’ve dealt with it.

Namjoon sighs, not understanding the both of you since the both of you are confusing him. But he still nods, straightening his posture as he looks at Hoseok. “Well, thank you for saving her ass. She was pretty drunk.” He chuckles causing Hoseok to do the same.

“Yeah, I could hear that,” He says amusingly at the memory of your drunk voice. What have you called him? It was something about him being annoying with perfect body. “How is she?” He asks suddenly, his amusement fading as he looks at Namjoon.

“What do you mean? She’s fine,” Namjoon answers confusingly. That’s when Hoseok realize he doesn’t know about your recent behavior. You didn’t tell him. “Did something happen?” He asks, his overly protective side stepping out.

“No, I’m just asking.” Hoseok answers but Namjoon doesn’t buy it. He knows something.

“Is this about you not letting her finish her practice? Did you guys fight?” He asks remembering you calling Hoseok ‘jerk’ and ‘idiot with perfect body’ but he never thought it’s that deep.

“What? How do you know?” Hoseok exclaims loudly not believing his own ears. You already bad mouthed him again?

“She was pretty angry about it. What did you do to her?” Namjoon asks, not liking the thought of Hoseok mistreating you. You’re his best friend after all. He doesn’t care Hoseok is Jin’s friend. He can kick his ass no matter what even if he isn’t really a type of guy to do that.

“Me?” Hoseok exclaims almost angrily, Namjoon’s eyes widening for a bit. He’s scary when he’s angry. Now he knows what you talked about him being angry. “She was dehydrated refusing to take a break and she almost fainted. I’ve never seen her so pale and exhausted. Believe me, I know pretty well when someone needs rest.” Hoseok tells him through his teeth, angry that Namjoon even assumed he did something to you. Yeah, you annoyed him most of the time but he’d never purposely hurt you. At least not like this.

“That doesn’t sound like Y/N at all. Why would she do something like that?” Namjoon mutters not believing Hoseok’s words. But his whole face is filled with honesty and Namjoon can see how riled up he got. He obviously isn’t lying. And if he is, he’s pretty good at it.

“Because— I don’t know.” Hoseok catches himself not to spill the truth. You didn’t tell Namjoon, that means you don’t want him to know. And Hoseok doesn’t want to be the one to tell him. It’s not his place to do so.

Namjoon seems deep in thought before he simply sighs. “Well... thanks for not letting her to continue. She’s really stubborn sometimes.”

“It’s my job.” Hoseok mutters as he grabs the bowl helping Namjoon with a few bottles of soju as they both join their group of friends.

“Is he going to be there?” You ask grumpily. Would it be weird if you’d just jump back into Namjoon’s car and disappear so you could avoid this awkward meeting?

“I don’t know. Does it matter?” Namjoon shakes his head at you in disapproval. He told you he went to see Jin’s friends and funnily enough, mind the sarcasm, Hoseok is apparently very close to Jin. So after avoiding Namjoon the whole week, drowning yourself in depression, he picked you up from your sofa and gave you an hour to get ready. Apparently he wanted you to introduce Jin and his friends.

“No?” You ask unsure with your answer. Of course it matters! You haven’t talked to him ever since you practically escaped from the studio, too embarrassed to even think about it. You were preparing to meet him next week, not expecting to see him way sooner. But maybe, just maybe he won’t be here. “I’m not even hungry. What am I doing here?” You grumble, ignoring the stare Namjoon gave you.

The truth is, you’re really hungry. You haven’t eaten ever since this morning, minus the small apple you ate. Your stomach is basically screaming for you to give it some food and needed nutrition. And of course, you’re going to have Korean barbecue. Your stomach is growling just at the sight of the place you’re going to. “You don’t have to eat then. You’re here to meet Jin and get your ass out of your small apartment.” He tells you as he opens the door for you, letting you to be the first one to come in.

You thank him but still frown at him. “Leave my apartment alone.” You scold him, pointing a warning finger at him.

“Then stop complaining.” He grumbles, his hand on your lower back slowly guiding you through the tables.

“Stop complaining? What? You little—“

“You came!” Someone’s loud voice cuts you off, fortunately for Namjoon and you look at the tall man hovering over you. He’s beautiful. He wears a nice baby blue sweater hugging his broad shoulders. What a shoulders. His plump lips stretches into a kind smirk as he stretches his hand towards you. “You must be Y/N.” He says with buttery voice causing you to blush as you take his hand.

“Yeah, hi. You must be.. Jin?” You ask shyly, ignoring the others eyes on you. You still haven’t look towards their table, Jin’s presence completely distracting you. He’s very familiar to you since you’ve seen him that night in the club, but this time there’s no shitty lighting and you’ve pretty much good view at him.

“Yes, that’s me,” He laughs, smiling at Namjoon as you smirk seeing Namjoon’s red cheeks. “Please, meet my friends.” He says motioning for you to sit and also towards the three pair of eyes looking at you.

And maybe it’s karma or whatever you want to call it — but you automatically meet with powerful deep brown eyes looking straight through you. Hoseok.

“What’s with your eyes guys? Do you know each other?” Jin asks as all of you sit down, noticing the strange look you’re exchanging with Hoseok.

“Yeah, Y/N is in my class.” Hoseok mumbles in response, sipping something which seems like soju.

“Ah, isn’t this great?” Jin exclaims happily, completely obvious to the awkward atmosphere in the room. He’s quick to start talking, mostly telling some dad jokes which you must admit are funny. It’s just one guy in the corner staring at him, shaking his head disapprovingly when he tells another of one of his jokes. What was his name? He hasn’t introduced himself to you and Jin forgot when he realized you and Hoseok know each other. Jungguk was the only one who actually shook your hand with polite smile, introducing himself. As if he can feel your eyes, his eyes adverts to you. His look full of confidence as he raises on brow in question. He’s familiar.

“Have we met before?” You ask him, thankfully the rest of the boys too deep in some conversation to acknowledge you and him.

“We did.” He answers casually making you cock your head in question at him.

“What was your name again?” You ask trying to put puzzle pieces together. You swear you’ve seen him somewhere but it’s all blurry.

“I should be offended that you don’t remember me,” He chuckles amusingly causing you to chuckle back. “Yoongi.” He answers, introducing himself meanwhile Jin is putting the pork belly on the grill. At least this conversation distracts you from the amazing smell.

“I’m—“

“Y/N, yeah I know.” He smiles letting you know, that he really does know you. You’re opening your mouth to question him — where did you met, but Jin’s loud voice startles you as he’s doing a wrap with pork belly putting kimchi, spring onion and different kinds of side dish in it. When he’s finally done, he holds it out for you. You eye his hand, your stomach begging to take it and eat it.

“No, thanks. I’m not hungry.” You tell him, politely declining him as he pouts. Although he doesn’t pressure you, passing the wrap into Namjoon’s mouth who takes it more than happily. You ignore the look across the table Hoseok’s giving you. You avoid his eyes sipping on your water with ice.

“Hey, you okay?” Hoseok asks across the table, the sound of boy’s conversation and frying meat doesn’t make his voice stand out too much.

You look at him, noticing his knowing look. Of course he won’t let go what happened earlier. You knew he’d treat you differently. “I am.” You nod, smiling somehow weirdly at him thinking that’ll convince him. His expression is neutral and he doesn’t push you into anything, simply nodding reaching for a lettuce to make him own wrap. You watch him putting all kinds of side dishes into it, your stomach grumbling. You quickly touch it praying no one heard it, your hands already comforting it. You watch him as he’s done preparing it making it as a big wrap. You wait for him to eat it but you’re surprised when he doesn’t open his mouth and hands it to you instead.

You eye the wrap, a pork belly with kimchi peeking out of it causing you to unconsciously lick your lips. God, you’re hungry. “I’m not hungry.” You mumble but you’re met with his stubborn eyes as he narrows them at you.

“I can see the drools in the corner of your lips.” He says and you automatically go and reach for it, just to find your lips dry. He got you. You roll your eyes at him as he looks at you with his ‘I know you’re bluffing’ look.

“I told you that I’m not hungry.” You tell him annoyed. He sighs, eating the wrap himself while he rolls his eyes at you. Great, now both of you are annoyed.

“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” Namjoon asks you once the two of you are alone, away from the amazing and delicious smell of different kinds of meal. It was awkward to hang out with Hoseok when he spent the rest of the night giving you glances. It felt like he’s checking your every move and you had the feeling that he knows much more than you think he does. It almost felt like he’s exposing you and reading you like an opened book.

“Mhm..” You mumble not really agreeing with him. Well, Jin and Jungguk were really nice, making laugh everyone in the group. Yoongi was mostly quiet and looked somehow mysterious. “Hey, do you know that Yoongi guy?” You ask before he Namjoon can scold you for your previous answer. Obviously, he had a lot of fun with the guys, especially with Jin. You caught them whispering something to each other couple of times.

“I don’t really know him, but I’ve seen him before.” He answers somehow unsurely, checking your face before quickly adverting his eyes elsewhere. And in that moment you know that he’s hiding something.

“Where?” You ask, scowling at him letting him know he better not lie and tell you the truth. Namjoon sighs, knowing if Hoseok know he’d probably flip out since he didn’t want you to know.

“That night in the club where I met Jin. Yoongi was there. He’s the owner of the club I think.” He answers and you open your mouth.

“Okay and how does he know me? I don’t really remember talking with him. But he does look very familiar.” You state with puzzled look.

“He’s the one who found you when you went outside. If he didn’t find you I don’t know what would happen to you,” He explains honestly. You stay quiet and he can practically sees the wheels working in your head. He sighs dramatically causing you to look at him. “Okay. Hoseok is the one who called Yoongi to get you.” He spills so quickly, you’re unsure if you’ve heard him correctly.

“Wait? What? Hoseok?” You almost screech wondering if Namjoon is bluffing or something, but he isn’t.

“Yeah. You called him while you were drunk, remember? Well, I think he probably asked you where you were and when he figured out you’re at his friend’s bar he called him to get you. Thank god, he did that.” He explains and you scrunch your face in confusion.

“Why would he do something like that?” You ask much more to yourself. Ever since you’ve known Hoseok he hasn’t been very fond of you and the same thing goes for you. Despite you knowing that, your heart unwillingly flatters at the new information.

“He isn’t that bad, you know?” Namjoon chirps somehow careful in case you’d snap at him.

“Are you telling I lied to you?” You exclaim making your best friend shrug his head. When you gave him your nastiest face he quickly goes to defend himself.

“No, I just think the thing both of you are having is completely unnecessary. Hoseok is really a great guy.” You open your mouth at him, hearing him defending the devil itself. Yeah, it’s a nice feeling knowing what he has done for you. But why does he keeps treating you like that? But you can’t help and think about your latest dance practice when he genuinely looked concerned with you. He put your rivalry or whatever the two of you have, aside and made sure you’re okay. The same thing happened when he defended you in front of your mother. Why are you realizing this just now?

“You don’t know him the way I do...” Is the only thing you say to him, too deep in your thoughts as the realization slowly hits you. Maybe Hoseok isn’t that bad after all.

“Maybe that’s the problem.” Namjoon says quietly but you ignore him — too deep in your thoughts to realize what he actually meant.

[akimmito]

Heroes are made by the path they choose

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Master List

Chapter 11

It's not the MT

Silent Hill: Nightwing and Robin have gone to Paris.

It’s a Nara: Do you know their motives? We are not aware of any crime or related crime network between Gotham and Paris

Silent Hill: Red Hood told them about the MT

Almost pretty: Corvus should pay him a visit and shoot him in the knee

Three balls: with real bullets

Plasticine: or a rocket launcher

Wild goat: Can I go? So I can test my confetti grenades

Silent Hill: I think that sense of humor fits in well with Gotham

Needle: With the rogues

Olive: I totally approve of any kind of aggression against the nosy man

Great mother: If you do something illegal, make sure no one knows it was you

Almost pretty: the boss has spoken

Divine gift: It’s my duty to remind you that you must be investigating, if the foreign watchers have affairs with us, we will know in due course. Let's not do anything rash.

It’s a Nara: He’s right. I'm going to check the security cameras for any sign of them… Is Nightwing wearing his own outfit or did he come as Batman?

Silent Hill: Batman can't leave Gotham

The Antibiotic: Do you think if I get on a roof I can get a Nightwing autograph?

Wild goat: If you get on it, maybe Byakko accidentally shoves you into the void

-------------

Marinette sighs as she watches the group chat, foreign vigilantes while she and Felix have plans to get out of Paris, just wonderful, but she can't stop to think about it. She must first speak to Damian and then prepare for her travel.

She's heading towards her son's room, she can hear the little barking of the puppies as she gets closer. Adult dogs are used to sleeping in a room set up for them, except for Ícaro, the Australian Shepherd, who likes to sleep with Damian when he visits (which means that there will now be five dogs in that room, alongside Picatso, Dafne prefers to sleep with she). She knocks on the door and before long, he opens it, wearing only his pajama bottoms because his shirt is being used as a bed by Ringo.

"Is something wrong, mother?" Damian opens the door completely for her to enter, ignoring, for the moment, his previous fight against the cubs for his kidnapped shirt.

"Yeah... Tomorrow I will go on a trip with Felix, we will go to Turkey."

"Why?"

"Oh well, it's... there's a prodigy in Turkey and it seems like a demon wants it, so we'll find it before it becomes a problem." She explains, she was about to tell him about John, but with her out of the country, there was nothing to prevent him from discovering his identity and she doesn't know what could happen for his small Machiavellian head.

Marinette loves her child, but she can't quite predict it right now. Luka, a divine gift for her, explained that Damian doesn't want to be taken away from her and that he fears that someone external can achieve it, that he desperately clings to the only person who loves him for what he is and that if they take him away from him add more weight, separate he from his new family; that she represents his whole world. He also explained that it will take a while for him to get used to receiving people outside the MT, especially if they seem to show interest in she and that after Michel Laforet, well, the boy doesn't have a good impression of men. Although he showed bewilderment about his reaction for his two new clients, since he was openly hostile and he could not give him a definitive answer, but that he would analyze his behavior to help him go through the process he's living.

"I see... why don't you take me, mother? Am I not good enough to accompany you on your missions?" She sighs to see his hurt look and sits on the sofa in the room, inviting him to sit next to her, he immediately obeys and sits down, allowing himself to be embraced by his mother.

"It has nothing to do with anyone's abilities, if it did, it will lead other team members not only to Felix." She explains, beginning to pat her son's head, looking up at the ceiling as she decides to explain herself better and be totally honest with Damian. "When I founded the MT, I had been working alone with Felix for a while we were looking for evidence to convict Gabriel Agreste once and for all, we found so many charges that the prosecution would have a field day in the case... so that our victory was bitter because someone stole the butterfly brooch..."

"Mother, why are you telling me that? I know the story. ”He interrupts, not understanding Marinette's intentions.

"I know, you know the origin, but not the process." She responds with a nostalgic smile. "We spent half a year locked up cursing the person who dared to steal the Miraculous and realized that, as heroes, we could not hunt it without attracting attention... Hence the first idea of the MT arose and we founded it officially a week after the last Gabriel's trial, along with Kagami and Tomoe, who joined Luka soon after. Adrien decided not to be an active part of everything, but he became an unofficial member a year later because of his desire to find Nathalie's murderer, becoming an informant and investigator, everything that we could not take, he did it by getting a job modeling in the city where I was supposed to go. "

Damian did not know that, he believed that Agreste was affiliated with the MT just because he was previously one of the heroes, but, considering that not all the old Miraculous wearers are related, he should have considered another possibility (especially since the old wearers still wield a prodigy and he doesn't). He credits him for his commitment and intelligence to have a reason to go to those places, that also explains why he has been modeling for so many brands (some very strange ones like a brand of sardines with yellow peppers, he still remembers the jokes in the chat about his sardine costume).

"After we had an initial team in place, we started building our local network and expanding it using my grandmother Gina's connections, before long we were up and running and took Tomoe's recommendation to build a stronger team, in part for our work and so that the prodigies would have more places to be transferred… Each person who associates with the MT and proves to be loyal, receives the tattoo of the guardians. "Damian goes away to see his mother, that is something that he didn't know,  why? "That is why everyone knows magic, although not everyone is compatible..."

"Why don't I have it?"

"Because I wanted you to have options, not because you are my son and part of the MT means that you must bear that responsibility. I took you out of an organization where you were against your will… I wasn't going to put you in another, that's why we didn't introduce you to training until you asked for it. "Damian doesn't know what to say, is she taking his decisions into consideration? Does he want to be part of it in the same way as the others? He doesn't know, because he doesn't know what it means to be a guardian, but if he ask, his mother is sure to explain and give him all the time he need to make a decision.

"Why are you telling me now?" It's the only thing he can ask, he doesn't understand how conversation came to that.

"Because it's one of the reasons I am not taking you to Turkey." He understands, that is a job for them as guardians and he's not one, it should be obvious, but he still feels displaced. "The other is directly related to the history of the MT... I learned to work with Felix, we both know what to do and we don't stop, we create our own system over the years. We have had our difficulties, like four years ago in Liverpool, but here we are... And we just need to learn to coordinate us, for you. "

Marinette draws him back into her hug, this time placing a kiss on his head.

"What is the reason for the nicknames in the chat?"The question surprises Marinette, he was complaining about it, especially since his is Olive.

"Protect the identities of informants affiliated with the MT, that is, those who received a tattoo, but who are not part of the official registry."

"Is your lover one of those?"

Marinette smiles in amusement, of course her child would start tying up dots. Taking into account that they are traveling almost unexpectedly (he knows when it's so and it not a planned one, because she would have warned him in time) and for that to happen he must have found out very recently, that is, the day before and that day was see to John.

"Yup... And I won't tell you what his code name is." He just clicks his tongue, there are four users whose identity he doesn't know: God Shit, Not in Hell, Guardian Angel and Silent Hill. It could be any one of them, but he's noticed that Silent Hill maybe a girl, so he dismisses it. Returning to the users, only one is active, the others have not spoken to date, despite the fact that they are registered and that makes it more difficult... especially since man is related to magic, the occult and those things, hardly he can dismiss one and only because he's sure Guardian Angel is too bright for someone he know deals with demons, leaving him with the last two.

"I'll find out eventually. "He declares and Marinette knows it's true, one way or another he will. She hoped that didn't imply any international problem, considering that John lives in England.

"I know." She hugs him tighter before releasing him. "I wish it lasted longer, but I have to finish packing... Rest, Damian. I will come in the morning to say goodbye, I love you. "

Marinette gets up, but not before leaving another kiss on her son's head and then leaving the room.

Damian watches her go and his head begins to form a plan to take advantage of his mother's departure.

He will find the lover and question him (he will also threaten him a lot).

----------

Marie L. @MarieLenoir

It's always a pleasure to contribute to a good cause. Istanbul wait for us.

Chloe B. @BourgeoisQueen

I also want to travel, how unfair it's to be trapped in Paris

Dick Grayson @TheFlyingGrayson

The vigilantes of this city feel very happy or maybe Batman is too gloomy

Roy @RoyHarperQ

@TheFlyingGrayson Probably, although Green Arrow can be very gloomy when he wants

Jason @IAmYisus_XD

@TheFylingGrayson yes, well, it's that Batman is the living reflection of Gotham... gloomy and a piece of shit

-------

Damian gets up early and rushes into his mother's room to get Plagg out and talk to him, the night before he placed an order for various types of gourmet cheeses and his beloved Camembert cheese (specifically Camembert from Normandy), to please the more exotic tastes of the little god (especially since he has money that he doesn't use and has been accumulating for too long and this was a strategic move for information).

He takes him to his room, Longg is already awake and looks at him without much surprise, deciding to ignore the situation, knowing that he's a boy on a mission, the best thing to do is wait and advise him in a timely manner.

"Plagg, I need you to tell me the name of my mother's lover."

"Boy, as much as you want to say it, I won't betray... What's that?" The little cat asks noticing that the computer screen is on a website that he knows well, that's where Marinette asks for some cheese on occasion.

"That is the cheese order I made for you, if you tell me the name, of course, otherwise, I will cancel... All those cheeses that mother only allows you to eat once every three months, lost by a man." Damian smiles when he sees the excitement shining in Plagg's green eyes, he is sure he will say him.

"Did you ask for Camembert?"

"The original, Camembert of Normandy. "

Plagg is in conflict, so many delicious cheeses at his fingertips.

"When you get back from Turkey, they'll be here waiting for you." Damian keeps pushing for the name, he needs to know it, and besides Felix, Plagg is the only one who knows him and the little god is easier to convince. "You just have to give me a name. "

"FINE! Don't torture me, boy. "

"So?"

"John Constantine, blond, out of the same hell. You will recognize him immediately, he never quits the damn cigarette. I don't know how Marinette enjoys being with him, it's all the unpleasantness of humans combined in the same man. ”Plagg says wearily. "I better see those cheeses when I get back or I'll cry with Marinette about how cruel you were to me. "

"I think we all know that's impossible." Longg intervenes from his location, away from both of them. He watches with a little amusement the interaction of both, he knows that to obtain that Plagg decides to cooperate normally requires less moral methods. "It would be more credible that you were cruel to my dragon. "

"I can use blackmail, however, you're warned, boy. I can also cause nightmares. ”Plagg leaves the room to give his warning, returning to Marinette.

Damian smiles and goes back to bed satisfied, waiting for his mother to say goodbye and to plan how he will get to that man to talk. He pulls out his phone and starts checking group chats, Not the MT is always one of the most active, although Let's save Adrien is also usually enough active when they plan crazy and ridiculous ways to get rid of Lila Rossi, Adrien's wife.  Among the most extreme forms is sending her to hell or offering her as a sacrifice to some ancient god in America, although he knows that they will not do that, because only his mother can and she doesn't approve (she also scared them telling her about how everything can go wrong and condemn them all to hell, no one ever mentioned it again later.)

After a while finishing reviewing all the conversation that followed about the vigilantes and as the other heroes they know or admire got sidetracked, he leaves his phone aside and lets Picatso jump on him purring happy to be petted, the puppies seem they share the idea and they also get into bed... the best they can, although their jumping skills leave a lot to be desired, at least they are creative dogs.

Several minutes later, after feeling sorry for Ringo and putting him to bed, Marinette, completely groomed, gives him a funny but affectionate look before fully entering and sitting on the bed.

"Felix will be here soon, do you want to have breakfast with me before I leave?"

"Of course, mother."

She smiles and takes Titus in her arms to carry him with her, Damian takes Ringo when he gets up and Milo jumps out of bed to go after them, with Picatso following close behind. Ícaro continues sleeping.

-----

Bruce Wayne is Batman

I can jump from eighth floor and survive: Who changed the name of the chat?

I'll rest when I die: The same one that changed our names ... at least it's right

Hell rejected me : I think it gives us more personality than our names

I can jump from eighth floor and survive: Ok?

I can jump from eighth floor and survive: So! Since we will spend several days in Paris, I thought it would be good to wait a little to see the routes without them knowing about our presence

Hell rejected me: So yeah you are going to show up

I’ll rest when I die: It seems so, although from what I discovered patrols take turns in pairs or trios, last night only the sighting of Byakko and Genbu was recorded.

I’ll rest when I die: And last night it was Pyxis and Caelum

Nothing escapes me: They must have a very well protected base of operations, perhaps magic, I identified a network that connects all of Paris, but not the source

Nothing escapes me: I deciphered the accessible code, but it's incomplete. I don't think I can go any further

I can jump from eighth floor and survive: That only tells us how competent they are, I think we can get to know them and not meddle more in their affairs

Hell rejected me: Considering that all your interest is sexual, yep it's posible

I'm not Batman: What are you talking about?

--------

Max is not usually frustrated much, he has had to develop his patience and mental strength to solve the problems he encounters, but among the attempt to find the source of the MT by an unknown hacker (although if he must guess it must be related to the bats) and appreciates the magical defenses that only allow just a bit to crack all the code, just the general parts that don't show anything from the entire system. Of course, he could hack back and issue fixed, preventing him from trying again, but his priority is developing a new algorithm for butterfly detection, the old one was unfortunate when tested with one of Duusu's feathers (being that they share the same characteristics).

He has not slept the last twenty-four hours and is beginning to resent, but he must wait for Marc's arrival to be able to drop into one of the beds at the base for a little nap, if someone else comes with him, much better, so they can check all manual while he rests.

With Marinette and Felix going on a trip, it's inevitable that the leadership will fall into the hands of Chloe, who seems ready to go to war at the first hint of the butterfly (also Kagami, but she's leaving more ready to go on a murder mission).

This is not how he thought everything would go, they had seven years of preparation and at the moment of truth, none of them really knows which direction to take. Marinette and Felix are very determined to analyze the whole situation from a general perspective, looking at each variable and, while he agree, most of the team seems to want to just go after the thief and take away the jewel, without fully considering that this new villain's way of acting is much more lethal, his Akuma are well thought out to generate problems for them if they make any mistakes, as happened with the last attack if it wasn't for the second chance they would have lost (Luka explained what happened).

"Good morning..." Marc comes in yawning, his hair totally disheveled and still wearing his pajama bottoms, but with a dark blue sweatshirt on. He decided to sleep at the headquarters the night before to facilitate his arrival, in the same way Luka and Alix, because their work schedules allow it (advantages of being their own boss).

"Good morning, today you can dedicate yourself to review the surveillance cameras... although so far none have caught the butterfly."

"Okay, I'll check."

"I'll leave you then, I'll go to sleep... will you wake me up when breakfast is served?" Max gets up from his chair and feels his bones creak with movement, resentful at his disuse.

"Sure." He smiles sleepily and adjusts himself to the vacant post, ready to manually check each camera, starting with the ones closest to the last Akuma and starting to rewind to, perhaps, identify something.

He spends about three hours like this, watching the video tapes of at least four cameras from where the Akuma originated, noting that the butterfly is arriving and then the giant rhomb is present, but when he looks for the route... he only loses it, as if it had just appeared near the victim's residence.

There are multiple cameras in that area, but there are still blind points, if someone knows the exact location, they should be able to position themselves in those places. Could it be that the new villain was close to his future victim? Will he live there or did he decide to run to the place? If it's the latter, it makes him bolder than Gabriel, that's for sure, but it should make him more sloppy and still they are unable to find a clue.

According to Max, who was reviewing footage, the first Akuma came out of nowhere. No camera records the butterfly that should have come from somewhere.

So for him there are only two viable alternatives and neither is positive for his research.

Still, the possibilities are various and he can only guess the villain's line of thought.