#gonna be drinking some cocktails. salute.

[slavhew]

The needy eat man-mades

They wear phony clothes

They sit with our picture up until they grow old

[sparklypinkflightsuit]

Stars Align: Part 3

Pairing: Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

Warnings: Alcohol Misuse, Drinking, Angst, Eventual Smut, Fluff and a lot of it, Mentions of Abuse, Sexual References, Violence, Anger, Pining, I think that's it?

-- Part 2 Here --

_____________________________

18+ Only

_____________________________

Present:

You went back inside to let Gabby know you were going to grab a drink with Bradley, and to ask if she wanted you to walk her to a cab.

Bradley followed you to the dance floor.

“Rooster!” A voice rang out from the crowd, and a tall blond man emerged.

“Hangman.” Bradley responded, “I’m gonna shoot off, can you let Mickey know?”

The blond man raised his eyebrow, “Find yourself a little lady?” He looked over Bradley’s shoulder at you as you waited patiently.

“She’s my old best friend, haven’t seen her in years so we’re going somewhere quiet to catch up.” Bradley explained.

“Right, sure.” The blond winked. “Don’t be late tomorrow, Mickey will kill you.” And he turned around to leave.

Bradley faced you with a grimace, “Sorry about him, Jake’s a piece of work.”

“I’m more interested in the part where he called you Rooster. You kept the nickname?” You chuckled.

“Call sign.” Bradley corrected you with a grin.

“Wait… do you mean-“ you were cut off by Gabby barging into you.

“Whoops! Sorry. Are we leaving? I think I’ve had enough for one night.” She breathed, bunching her hair up off of her sweaty neck.

“Actually, yeah Bradley and I are gonna grab a drink and catch up. Can we walk you to a cab?” You asked, wrapping your arm around her waist to steer her towards the exit.

“Much obliged.” She saluted you and you chuckled.

Once Gabby was safely in a cab and on her way home, you turned to smile at Bradley.

“Where to?” You asked.

“I know a place.” He held out his hand and you took it, walking next to him as he gently steered you through the crowds. His hand felt remarkably strong yet so gentle at the same time, like he was gently cupping something he was terrified to break.

“So… call sign huh? That mean you got into the Navy?”

“Yes ma’am. I couldn’t wait to tell you about it… but you changed your number.” He bit the inside of his cheek as he looked at you cautiously.

“Oh… I didn’t.” You looked to the ground awkwardly.

Bradley glanced at you, confused, your number had been disconnected when he’d tried to call you years ago and had been ever since.

You bit your lip, “But that’s a long story, not sure we’ll have time for it tonight. I am sorry I wasn’t there for you when you got to experience that, though.” You felt horrible for missing such a milestone in his life.

Bradley smiled down at you, “I get to share it with you now, don’t I?” He nudged you until you grinned, and then let go of your hand to wrap his arm around your shoulder instead.

“Can’t believe I bumped into you, here of all places.” He mumbled absentmindedly as he walked.

“Yeah that’s fate I guess, Rooster.” You joked, referencing something from your past you always used to tease him about. He’s shot you a playful glare and you chuckled.

He suddenly stopped, “Here we are. I passed this place earlier and weirdly enough, it made me think of you.”

You looked up at the sign and scrunched up your nose, “A Cat Cafe?”

“No.” Bradley laughed, and moved you over to the left slightly, pointing at the sign next to it.

“Oh! An art bar, that’s better Bradshaw, for a moment there I thought you forgot that I’m a dog person.” You chuckled as you walked inside.

Bradley sat you down at a cozy corner booth, and squeezed in next to you as you scanned the menu for their cocktail list and some nibbles.

Your heart began to race as you felt his strong arm rest behind you on the seat as he read the menu over your shoulder. His breath was minty as it wafted over you.

“You think they’ll be serving any food still? It is 2am.” You said looking over at the other tables to distract yourself from your sudden emotional overtake, some of which had food on them, and your stomach growled.

“I’ll go ask, what drink do you want?” Bradley asked as he stood up, his hands propping himself up over you on the table, and you had to fight with all your might not to ogle at the size of his arms and the veins that protruded from his thick neck.

You gulped, “Sex on the beach, please.”

Bradley winked at you, “Whatever you want, Birdy.” And with a cheeky grin, he left to the bar to order.

He left you flushed and breathless, your rapid heartbeat doing little to distract from the sudden growing tension in between your thighs. You gasped to yourself as you realised your feelings were somehow still there.

Sure it didn’t help that Bradley was now a man, like really a man, or that his confidence was bordering on cockiness, but the real Bradley, or the old Bradley you should say, was still there underneath, and glimpses of him kept trickling through, reminding you of why you fell for him in the first place.

You were lost in thought when Bradley got back, jumping as he placed a plate of fries and your drinks on the table. He pulled a small canvas and a mini easel out from under his arm and positioned it on the table, with small tubs of primary colour paints. He pulled out two tiny paintbrushes from his pocket and handed you one as he eyed you up.

“Sorry.” He chuckled, “Care to tell me where you just travelled to… up there.” He gestured to your head and you rolled your eyes.

“Trust me you don’t want to know what goes on up there.”

“Probably for the best, bet it’s all lady stuff.” he said sitting down next to you.

“Ew, only you could make those two words sound gross, Brad.” You flinched.

Bradley chuckled, and you spent the rest of the evening catching up on all the things missed while you were apart, while picking at the fries and painting random squiggles on your canvas every now and then. You purposely left out the section of your life involving Jacob, as that was a story for another time, far too dark for a catch up date.

You learnt that Carole had passed away, and you were suddenly on the verge of tears. You felt so guilty that you never got to say goodbye, and that you weren’t there for Bradley when he needed you most.

“I’m so sorry, I should have been there for you.” You whispered, biting your cheek to stop the tears from falling.

“Hey, it’s okay. How were you supposed to know? She knew you loved her, I told her so many times towards the end.” He reassured you, but even as he did, his voice broke and you could see him swallowing down the lump in his own throat.

You were both sufficiently drunk at this point, Bradley more so, and your conversation had turned deep and emotional. You sat with your legs draped over Bradley’s thighs, while he played absentmindedly with your knees, a habit he’d picked up years ago, a coping mechanism of sorts to distract him from any issues at hand.

The first time he’d done this, you’d been at home watching a scary movie in the living room, and about halfway through Bradley had picked up your legs and put them on his lap. “You have really wobbly knee caps.” He’d commented, distracting himself from the gory scene ahead.

You’d looked at him, confused at the time, but it had come to be a comforting position for the both of you.

“What did you mean, earlier, when you said you didn’t change your number?” Bradley asked suddenly, clearing his throat of the lump.

You drew in a sharp breath, looking down at your hands. “It’s a long story Brad, another time?” You asked.

Bradley nodded, squeezing your calf.

“Should we make a move? Think the suns about to come up and you’ve got a wedding to attend.” You grinned.

“Yup, probably a good idea.” Bradley slurred, and you swung your legs off of him. He stood and immediately swayed, shooting a hand out to steady himself on the table.

“Woah, one too many whiskey sours, me thinks.” He chuckled. You got up and slotted yourself under his arm to steady him.

“Guess so. Let’s get you back to your hotel. Where are you staying?”

Bradley thought for a moment, and then looked down at you confused, “I can’t remember.” He snatched up the canvas and wedged it underneath his other arm.

You groaned. “Can you text that guy you were with earlier? Or do you have a keycard?”

Bradley pouted and shook his head, “Hangman and I are sharing a room, he has the keycard and he’ll be asleep right now. Can I crash at yours? Like old times?” He grinned his boyish grin and fluttered his pretty eyelashes, until you sighed and steered him towards the street.

“Yeah, okay, but a fair warning, I’m living out of boxes right now.”

“I thought you said you lived in an apartment, not in a box?” He slurred again, swaying on the spot as you stood and waited for a cab.

You laughed at his poor attempt at a joke, and patted him on the back. “You’re gonna feel awful tomorrow.”

“I know.” He grinned down at you, but his eyes were so sincere and gentle it made you want to kiss him.

A cab pulled up and you shuffled inside after Bradley. You told the driver your address and sat back.

Bradley was asleep on your shoulder within 2 minutes, and not long after you pulled up outside your building. You paid and thanked the cab driver and shook Bradley awake.

“Hmm?” He mumbled as he came to.

“We’re here.” You said gently, stroking his face to rouse him.

Bradley moaned at the touch and you found yourself having to clench your thighs, the sound vibrated through your entire body.

You managed to get Bradley to follow you, although wobbly, up the 5 flights of stairs, but you cursed the elevator being broken as it was like trying to coax a stubborn child.

Eventually you stumbled through the door and kicked your heels off.

“Home sweet home!” You sighed, eyeing up the mountain of boxes.

“It’s nice, bit crowded but it’ll get there.” Bradley slurred, walking into the kitchen and looking through your fridge. He pulled out a bottle of beer and was about to open it when you charged at him.

“What are you- ouch, what the fuck, Birdy?“

You collided with Bradley and wrangled the beer from his hand.

“Absolutely not!” You held the beer out of reach.

Bradley grinned and tried to swipe for it.

“No! It’s… 5:23am!” You groaned, checking the time on your phone. “You need to sleep or you’ll never make the wedding.”

“I’ll be fine! I don’t wanna sleep yet, we’ve got way too much catching up to do still.” He reached for the beer but you turned your back to him and held it as far out in front of you as you could.

Suddenly two strong arms were wrapping around your midriff and lifting you into the air. You squealed and tried to struggle, but a fit of laughter overtook you, zapping away any strength you held. Bradley smiled at you over your shoulder as he watched you lose yourself like you had when you were teenagers, and a wave of emotion and nostalgia overtook him. He put you down suddenly and turned you around.

Your laughing slowed and you looked up at Bradley, who’s eyes were brimming now.

''Brad are you okay?'' You were suddenly concerned at the sudden change in atmosphere.

Bradley pulled you in for a bear hug, and this time he just held you for a long time.

You rubbed his back soothingly, his fingers now thread in your hair as he held your head in place against his broad chest, his heart racing.

“I’ve really missed you, kid.” He said through a shaky voice.

“I’ve missed you too, Rooster.”

———————————————

Past:

You walked home with your heels in one hand and the other shielding your eyes as the rain poured down onto you. You were sure it rained so heavily that night because of how heartbroken you felt, and that Mother Nature just wanted to mask your tears with her own.

You burst through your front door and went straight upstairs, dumping your soggy shoes and purse by the door. Your parents turned from the movie they were watching in the living room in surprise.

“Jeez, when I said be home by 11, I meant more like 11:30, not 8:40.” You dad commented.

You slammed your bedroom door.

He looked at your mom who just shrugged. Your dad followed you upstairs, your mom hot on his tail.

“Honey, what happened?” He asked, pushing your door open gently.

“Nothing. I just want to go to bed.” You sniffed, undoing your braid to allow your wet hair to dry.

“Where’s Bradley?” Your mom asked.

“I don’t know and I don’t care.”

You tried to hard sleep that night, but sleep didn’t find you easily. You kept going over the night in your head, trying to figure out where it all went wrong.

Eventually you stopped crying and your sadness turned to anger. You hadn’t even wanted to go in the first place, Bradley had begged you to go, and now you were furious he had.

It was close to midnight when your door creaked open and a sliver of light filtered in.

“Birdy.” Bradley whispered.

Your head shot up off of your tear stained pillow, and you glared at him for a second. “Who let you in?” You demanded.

“Your dad. But not before he gave me a talking to.” He admitted sheepishly. You slammed your head back down on the pillow.

“Birdy I’m so sorry.” He walked in and gently closed the door. “I shouldn’t have doubted you, I’m not really sure what came over me.”

You said nothing, smushing your face further into your pillow to avoid even seeing your best friends face. You were so mad.

You felt the bed dip behind you as Bradley lay down.

“Lil bird, please look at me.”

“I can’t right now.” You huffed.

“Okay, I get that. But at least let me apologise.”

“Don’t bother. You left me there Bradley, after you begged me to go with you, I don’t think apologising is gonna fix this one.” You said as you propped yourself up on your elbows and glared at him.

Bradley suddenly felt the immense guilt of what he had done when he saw how puffy your eyes were from crying.

“I know, I shouldn’t have. I came right back, once I’d calmed down and realised I was being a total idiot, but you were gone already. Sophie’s friend Kate said she overheard Michelle talking to her friends. I know you didn’t do or say anything, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

“You’ve known me for years, Bradley. The fact that it took someone else telling you I wasn’t lying to believe me is a real gut punch.”

“I know, I’m a dick. It’ll never happen again. From now on if you say something, I’ll take your word. I swear.” He stuck out his pinky.

You stared at it and then at him for a moment. He seemed genuinely sorry, and you had missed him in the few hours since you’d last seen him, so you nodded and hooked your pinky in his.

“Fine. But I’m still mad at you.”

Bradley grinned, ruffling your already frizzy hair. You groaned and lay back down.

“Can I sleep over?” He asked, propping his head in his hand as he turned on his side to look at you.

“Only if you stop calling it a sleep over. We’re not kids anymore.” You huffed.

“Okay… can I stay the night?” He asked in a deep voice and wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

“That’s better. You can wear my princess pyjamas.” You joked, finally cracking a smile.

Bradley rolled his eyes, sitting up and peeling off his dress-shirt. “If we’re not kids anymore, I don’t need pyjamas.” He lay back down in just his pants, and you blushed.

You wondered at times like these if he knew how you felt about him, and just enjoyed teasing you.

———————————

Present:

The sun filtered in through your curtain-less windows and you groaned. Your hangover hit you as soon as you peeled your eyes open, and you pulled your duvet over your head.

You breathed through the rolling nausea, and squeezed your eyes shut to stop the feeling of the world spinning a little too fast. Suddenly you heard a loud thump outside the room followed by a deep voice mumbling “shit”.

You’d forgotten all about Bradley. You shot up suddenly as the night before came into memory.

You could hear Bradley groan in the living room, as he shuffled around trying to get dressed.

You walked to the living room and watched as Bradley searched frantically for his shirt.

His toned body looked unfairly delicious in the morning light. You bit your lip as you watched.

Bradley noticed you finally, and relief washed over his face. “Oh Birdy, thank god. I can’t find my shirt and I’m so late for the wedding.” He walked over to you and grabbed your hands, pulling you into the living room. “I can’t remember the end of last night.”

“Well, that’ll be the last beer you had.” You raised your eyebrow at him. “Okay let me think.” You pressed your fingers into your temples as you walked around the apartment.

“Okay… so we had a little moment in the kitchen-“ you pointed to where you stood hugging Bradley for what felt like forever.

“Oh did we?” Bradley jiggled his eyebrows.

“Shut up, not like that Bradshaw.” You shot back and rolled your eyes.

You kept walking, your eyes scanning the boxes and floor space.

“And theeeen… you gave me a piggy back ride to… the bedroom?” You couldn’t recall why. You walked back to the bedroom with Bradley hot on your tail.

Bradley’s shirt lay on the floor next to your bed, and you picked it up and handed it to him.

“Thanks, Birdy.” Bradley said sincerely. He took a moment to put his shirt back on and then gave you a sad smile. “I guess I better get going. Will I see you again?”

You suddenly felt a lump in the back of your throat, and swallowed it down as best you could before you nodded.

“I hope so, Brad. I really did miss you.”

You showed Bradley out and waved him goodbye as he walked down the stairwell. As soon as he was out of sight you bit back tears and went back into the apartment. You sniffled as you unpacked your kitchen essentials, and laughed wetly as you remembered some of the events of the night before. You suddenly recalled why Bradley was in your room, he’d insisted on waiting until you fell asleep before he went to bed himself, and he sat singing 80’s and 90’s hits softly to you as he drank his beer, and as it had worked so well in the past, it still worked perfectly now.

As Bradley sang Aerosmith, your eyes fluttered shut;

“… Don't wanna close my eyes,

I don't wanna to fall asleep,

'Cause I'd miss you baby…

And I don't wanna miss a thing.”

The last thought that sank through your mind as you drifted off into a comforting slumber, was that you finally felt safe, like really safe, and you hadn’t felt that way in a very long time.

Not since you moved away.

——————————————

-- Part 4 Here --

Taglist now open 💛 Please let me know if you'd like to be added!

@dizzybee03

[waitmyturtles]

Alright, this is it! The last of the Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS Afterglow Cocktail Series. I noticed some friends in the tags last week saying that they weren’t drinkers, so this is for the mocktailers, and especially for Tian, who HAS to (HAS TO) be contraindicated for drinking with his HEART TRANSPLANT MEDS, my man. And we're also celebrating his genius move with the tea leaves sachets from the original ATOTS series. Anyway, sorry for the shitty photos, I’ll explain:

I wanted to give a homemade spin to cha yen/Thai tea -- we see Pat/Pran and Heart/Li Ming drinking it in BBS and Moonlight Chicken. I used Pailin Chongchitnant's recipe (thank you to DEAR @telomeke for introducing me to Pailin's amazing recipes!) as a base. Pailin notes that real cha yen does NOT have spices -- that if spices are added, it's usually done by non-Thais as a means of adding an "exotic" spin to the tea, when it's just supposed to be tea, ice, condensed milk and evaporated milk.

But, ummmm, heh heh, I'm an Indian auntie who can't leave a recipe unadapted, so: I cold-brewed the Thai tea leaves overnight with boiled water and my own mix of spices (fennel, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise). I also sweetened the drink with spiced syrup made with Thai coconut sugar. Finally, I'm kind of off dairy (not really, but trying to), so I used coconut condensed and evaporated milk, which doesn't mix as well into the cha yen as real dairy or non-dairy creamer -- oh well.

ANYWAY, all of this to be said, this is Tian's Contraindicated Thai Chai, made by moi, an Indian-Malaysian auntie who's got FAR too many spices in the house and can't leave recipes damn well enough alone!

AND, as a bonus to myself, who DOES drink, I have a back-up option -- a to-go cocktail of guava and champagne that a bartender gave to me for free last night while I was on a date with the hubs! SCORE, BOB.

I'm gonna drink all of these while finally watching the finale of Our Dining Table, just to fuck myself up more on this crazy-ass day of dramas. SALUT, Y'ALL, this was fun! Big ups to senpai @respectthepetty for starting this trend! <3

[thedevilsruby]

Woke Up (Scout and Pauling oneshot)

Ms. Pauling knew it was a bad idea to go drinking with the boys on karaoke night but for once, she had the night off so figured it would be fun.

She sipped her daiquiri, choosing to ignore Demo drunkenly belting out a song she didn't know.

"I don't see how you can drink those girly drinks." Soldier grumbled, sipping his own beer. "Real men drink beer."

"She's a voman, herr Soldier." Medic stated, drinking his own cocktail. "Plus, I like fruity flavors more. "Vhich is ironic considering..." He leaned into Heavy's side as if to prove his point.

Pauling rolled her eyes, choosing not to reply.

"Next up, we have a man from Boston, give it up for Scout!" The announcer said as the audience burst into applause, the REDs being the loudest as the man handed Scout the mic.

"Thanks, y'all this little number goes out to a gal named Miss. Pauling! Can we get a spotlight please?" Scout said.

The purple-clad woman groaned as the spotlight landed on her. She covered her face in embarrassment as the audience clapped and cheered.

Was Scout seriously gonna sing her a love song tonight? That had to be the dozenth attempt so far.

A guitar started to play as Scout tapped his foot to the beat. Scout shot her a smirk.

"Don't you see?" He started out. "You're exactly what I don't want to be."

Wait what?

"Honestly, you're a walking talking purple tragedy." Scout stepped off the stage and strutted towards her, his smirk never leaving his face. "Can't believe I almost thought we were meant to be. Can't believe that I thought you cared about me."

Pauling watched as he circled around her, then finally faced her face to face, his smirk contorting into a glare.

"I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion!"

Pauling's jaw dropped as she heard all of this. Was Scout serious?

"I should say that you're kind of a dictator in a way." Scout turned and walked back to the stage. "You're to blame, you're a constant source of misery and pain."

Pauling bit her lip. She WAS the reason the guys were constantly working. but they liked it!

...didn't they?

"What a shame that you're so stuck up, I know you won't change. Out of frame, now I know you never cared about me, because you left me drowning."

Pauling started to feel ashamed. She formed a bond with the rest of the team but not Scout. And why? Just because he liked her. She never thought to sit him down and tell him it was never happening but they could still be friends. That's all it would have taken for his advances to stop.

But she didn't.

"I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion! I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion. You think that you're so clever, why you scared of looking so dumb? I don't think you're entitled to a 'pinion about me, but now I'm just so done!"

Scout looked into Pauling's eyes.

"I don't really care about you! No, I don't really care about, I don't really care about you! You!"

Scout turned his back but looked behind him at her "You're self-obsessed and all the rest, and Pauling, I'm so over it!"

All the REDs cheered louder than ever, some smirking at Pauling.

"I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion! I'm so glad I woke up, I'm sick of living under your thumb, I'm so glad that I woke up, I don't really care about your worthless little 'pinion!"

And the that, Scout dropped his mic. The whole bar erupted in cheers, while Scout walked back to his table.

"That was amazing, cadet, I'm so proud!" Soldier saluted.

Pauling looked at Scout who stared her right in the eyes.

"Next time, just tell me outright you don't like me. Don't play no fucking mind games. That's why you're still single, no one likes a lying manipulative bitch who can't say what she thinks."

Pauling felt a knife in her chest and a lump in her throat.

Scout sat back down and ignored her for the rest of the night.

Who cared what she thought anyway?

-

I really wish Scout would wake up (get it?) and just tell Pauling to fuck off. Not like she deserves any kindness from him anyway

Also my Pauling hate is showing, can you tell?

[muertawrites]

Liquid Black (Eddie Munson x Reader)[18+]

i loved these tags so much i had to write a little blurb about them (feat. bartender!steve bc i've decided i love him. also feat. perv!eddie bc... well we can't not have him, i love him also.)

"Whatcha got for me tonight, potions mistress?"

Eddie flashes you a lopsided grin as he approaches the bar, drumming his knuckles over the polished wood and claiming his regular stool in the corner by the back.

It's a typical Sunday night - one you've lived at least a hundred times over the past three years. Eddie comes to his favorite bar on the night his favorite bartender always works and asks for a drink, the only catch being that it can never be the same. This bar specifically is known for its eclectic selection of booze and strange cocktail mixtures (aptly named The Laboratory), and he likes seeing what you come up with. Even if he hates it, he's always honest, always tips well, and always hangs around to chat for a few hours. Sundays are slow, but they pass by quickly with your favorite regular to keep you company.

"Absinthe and Sprite," you announce. You set a green Depression glass goblet in front of him, filled to the brim with a foggy mixture. He eyes you with suspicion, hesitant to take a sip.

"Absinthe," he repeats. "Won't that make me hallucinate? Or paralyze me or something?"

"Paralysis was moonshine," you correct him. "And absinthe hasn't been that cool since they started manufacturing it without the hallucinogenic ingredient. But this is good. I think you'll like it."

He peers up through his lashes at you, still clearly uncertain but with a smirk playing along his lips. He raises the glass and dips it to you in a little salute.

"If this kills me, make sure I have a kickass funeral," he says. "Cheers."

He takes a slow, ginger sip, licking his lips and squinting his eyes as he tests the flavor. He looks gorgeous tonight, with his hair pulled into a knot at the nape of his neck and a button down shirt hung loosely about his broad-shouldered frame. The top few buttons are undone, revealing the corner of his black widow tattoo and the guitar pick that perches enticingly between his collarbones, like a jewel on a velvet pillow. You don't realize you're staring until he snaps his head back towards you, eyes wide as he grins with childlike glee.

"That tastes like a black licorice jelly bean!" he cackles. "Oh my god, that's amazing! What do you call it?"

"Liquid Black," you tell him, nibbling at your smiling lip as you lean across the bar to get closer to him. "It made me think of you when I tried it."

Eddie matches your posture, folding his arms in front of him and inching forward until you can feel his breath. His pretty brown eyes are lidded; one of his fingers traces a slow line back and forth along your forearm, causing you to shiver.

"Thinkin' of me when I'm not around, huh?" he lilts. "That's pretty dangerous."

"Why?" you reply. "Not like you have a girlfriend or anything."

"That could change." He murmurs the words so that only you hear them, his tongue rolling out to lick the sweet remnants of your elixir from his bottom lip. Your eyes glance down to watch him, and he doesn't miss the hungry glint within them.

"I'm not working tomorrow," he divulges. "How about I buy you a late night dinner after your shift?"

You nod, taking the hand that rests on your sleeve and squeezing it within your own.

"Took you long enough," you tease. "I thought I was gonna have to get up on this bar and do a strip tease to get you to ask me out."

He laughs, his thumb making lazy circles over your knuckles.

"I wouldn't be opposed to you still doing that," he jests. "I get to pick the music, though."

"Oh? And what song would you choose?"

"Pour Some Sugar On Me," he answers without a pause. "Make it nice and trashy."

You giggle, flashing him a little smile as you raise his hand to your lips and lay a kiss to one of his rings. He gazes at you in awe, mouth curled into a dreamy smile as he mirrors the action, kissing the back of your palm.

"It's about damn time!"

Steve's voice causes both of you to whip your heads around, looking towards the door to the back room as he's stepping out of it.

"I've been telling Eddie to shoot his shot for almost a year," he says. "I couldn't stand him undressing you over the bar any longer."

You laugh as Eddie grabs his napkin from in front of him and balls it up, bouncing it off Steve's forehead. The man just chuckles, lobbing it back at his friend and missing spectacularly.

"So you've thought about this strip tease," you say, reaching and taking a sip of Eddie's drink.

He chuckles, taking his own drink when you hand the glass back to him.

"Maybe a few times," he admits. "But I'd love to see you do it in person, if you're offering."

"Let's see how good your head is," you suggest, smirking as you pull out of his grasp and back away from the bar. "Then we'll see."

As you saunter into the back room, hips swaying in a delicious rhythm, Eddie's heart jumps.

He's pretty sure he's in love.

masterlist

[artificialqueens]

At The Late Night Double Feature Picture Show (Gottrosenali) - Puppy

Halloween movie night can get a bit crazy at Rosé's place, especially when her partners talk during the movie. A/N: It's been a while, huh. So here's a Halloween-y fic finally finished around Thanksgiving. Enjoy! Here's the ao3 link.

~~

“Do you think the Repo Man does top surgery?” Mik asks through a mouthful of popcorn, his hand reaching for a zydrate blue vodka club on the cluttered coffee table. The silent response is deafening. Rosé takes her eyes off the movie for a split second to look at her boyfriend, and her girlfriend follows suit. Noticing the attention is now on him, he loudly sips his drink.

“You know what,” Denali takes the remote and briefly pauses, leaving Terrence Zdunich as an unwilling voyeur into their conversation.

“Think about it, Deedee.”

“I’m trying but – wait, are breasts technically even organs?”

“Do I look like I failed anatomy?”

“Yes.” Rosé answers without missing any beats. She knows he means to say ‘passed anatomy’, but there is never a bad opportunity to tease Mik.  “And they are organs… at least I think they are. Never mind, that’s not important.”

Mik dramatically gasps, laying on Denali. “Are you saying trans rights aren’t important?”

“To your boyfriend? Who is currently in the room? How dare you, Rosie!”

“Jesus.” Rosé growls and snatches the remote from Denali’s hand, unpausing the movie. “You… know what I meant. I’ll look it up.” Denali sighs, dejectedly grabbing a handful of popcorn.

“So, anyway if I was in Repo, you know what I’d do?” Mik continues the earlier conversation, talking with his hands at any given opportunity. “I’d get implants.” Denali nods her head. “ Purposefully not pay for them. The six foot six hunk of scary comes around. Oh please, Mister Repo Man, don’t kill me! I have the money … But I don’t. And then he slices my tits off.”

“That sounds like a fun plan but even after everything wouldn’t he just kill you? That’s what’s implied…” The blonde holds one hand on her breast and another towards a bowl of pretzels.

“If it’s the dilf from Buffy, I’m glad to die by his knife… or hacksaw or whatever he uses. Damn, now I’m thinking about how bottom surgery would work. Say someone gets a dick enhancement and then it’s an easy castration?”

“You’d still bleed out.”

A hiccup escapes Mik’s lips as he takes another swig of his cocktail. “But consider. I’m built different,” he whines before Rosé interrupts.

“Okay, so there’s one thing from 2008 saying they aren’t organs, but they are now considered organs? Also is it cool if Jan comes over after her shadowcast rehearsal?” Another text pops up. “And can she stay the night… She’s locked out of her dorm.”

“Oh damn. Did she lose her key or something?” Denali wonders.

“She’s been sexiled,” Rosé sighs reading the text. “Roommate has someone over and plans on having them stay the night.”

“That sucks… Good for her roommate though.”

“Nali. I love you, but that’s not the point.” The brunette quickly texts back a response and waits for her sister to respond. Standing up, she brushes some crumbs off her oversized sweatshirt and waddles away from the living room.  “God, I need to get the guest room ready, and I can’t have Jan sleeping on the couch.”

“But you’re gonna miss the movie!” Mik pouts as he scoots himself to his girlfriend’s spot on the couch.

“I’ve seen it enough times. You two behave yourselves while I’m gone.”

“Aye aye, captain.” Denali gives a mock salute before nuzzling her head against Mik’s shoulder. The two of them continue to talk during the movie, singing along to the songs at top volume and making the most of the popcorn bowl. Rosé occasionally sticks her head back in to check in on her partners (be sure to leave some popcorn for Jan) and make some commentary of her own. Mik expresses his love for Paris Hilton every time she’s on screen, drunkenly showing his affection while also lamenting.

“And to think people thought she was shit in this? Homophobic… or is misogynist?”

“Probably both.” Denali replies, “Want me to get you some water?” Before she could get an answer, Rosé returns to her spot on the couch with a few cups of water in hand. “Oh, thanks Rosie!”

“Anytime, baby.” Rosé passes the waters down the line and settles back in, fiddling with the volume. The movie continues and the three of them eagerly watch and commentate, trying their best to manage their volume.  “The way Jan literally wore this exact outfit to her first homecoming formal still baffles me… She went full out and everything,” Rosé comments once Blind Mag approaches Shilo’s house.

“Jan had a goth phase?” Mik exclaims, still slightly tipsy.

“Yep. Believe it or not, Janice Bernadette McCorkell had a goth phase. The year before she graduated from Saint Catherine’s, she wanted to reshape her image. So she went full goth…” Rosé laughs, remembering how disastrous the attempts went. “Or as goth as Jan could get. I’ll try to find pictures.”

Before Rosé can do so, Denali snatches the phone with a smirk across her face. “I think you’ve looked at that enough.” She chuckles and gives it back. Rosé faces the phone down on the arm of the couch and leans into Mik, loving the warmth.

However, before anybody could get too comfortable, there is an expected knock at the door. Rosé gets up and greets the new guest. Jan plops her bags in front of the door and pulls her older sister into a hug before properly entering. She makes her way over to an empty armchair and sits down, not realizing there is a long strand of toilet paper tailing from one of her tan LaDucas.

“Hey y’all.” Rosé, Denali, and Mik chorus a ‘hey’ back as Jan properly gets settled. She notices what’s playing on the TV and sighs. “Awh, you started without me…”

“Why are you mad? You’ve probably seen Repo the most times out of everyone here.” Rosé jokes, “Don’t worry. We’ll rewind a bit for you.”

“You got a little something on...” Denali attempts to add before being interrupted.

“I know. We had a test audience tonight,” Jan excitedly explains, now taking the paper off her shoes. She attempts to shoot it into the nearest trash can, but misses, too tired to pick it up. “It was fun. They were responsive. Who knew it was a bitch to clean up that much rice and toilet paper? The toast was easier because it was easier to see.”

She keeps going about how the rest of rehearsal went, the updates on the many crushes she gained in the cast. How she got two girls’ numbers on the same night, how she nearly twisted her ankle doing the Time Warp and how her director was this close to giving the cast a spiel about getting their shit together and how she could cancel this show in a heartbeat.

“She told me I was doing too much. Isn’t Columbia’s whole thing about being spunky?”

“Yes, but it could be worse. Could’ve been our old high school director.” Rosé says, turning to her partners. “He told Jan verbatim that she didn’t like how she was playing her character. And this was two days before tech.”

“Sounds like he straight up hated you.” Denali observes, her speech muffled with a mouthful of popcorn.

“Just about. Can we start the movie?” Jan moves from her spot to finally grab the discarded toilet paper, chucking into the trash with a reignited force. “Oh wow.”

“Congrats, gorge.” Mik tries getting up, but Denali immediately brings him back down.

“Thanks, gorge. Can I squeeze in?”

“Any other day, I would, but the couch is looking a little full at the moment.” Rosé shakes her head, now moving in between Mik and Denali. Jan pouts and slumps deeper into the armchair.

Resuming the movie seems to put everyone in a better mood. The throuple resumes what they did earlier, singing along and working even harder not to get a noise complaint now that Jan’s here. It does not take long for them to catch up to their previous spot. Sarah Brightman once again enters in a lacy black gown and sunken in eyes.

“Did you seriously wear that for homecoming?” Denali asks, remembering the earlier conversation now that Jan is here. “That takes some skill.”

“Yeah. I sewed most of it myself. Wait, where did you… ROSALIND VICTORIA MCCORKELL!” Jan scolds, throwing some popcorn kernels at her older sister.

“Hey! You can’t say that. That's a mom thing!” Rosé throws some popcorn back at Jan and pops some other pieces in her mouth.

“If you say so, Rosalind …” Denali interrupts, “Does that mean we can call you Linda?”

“Okay, that’s it.” Rosé playfully throws some popcorn at Denali.

Mik half expects his partners to accidentally turn the TV off during their squabble, but he doesn’t seem to mind. The movie has essentially become spooky background noise anyway. He hugs Rosé, shielding her from any possible popcorn attacks.

“Maybe we should pause the movie and deal with this?” Jan suggests, but it falls on deaf ears. Eventually, the food fight stops with a looming presence of someone having to clean all of that up. “I’ll clean up; I technically started it.” Rosé admits, starting to get off the couch, but she physically cannot. With Mik asleep on one side, Denali in the right cuddle spot on the other, and Jan bouncing in her seat, it finally hits her.

Oh yeah. That’s right… There's still a movie to finish. The rest of these shenanigans can wait.

[hanniiesuckle17]

Lover, Lover, Set Me Free...

A/n: I hope you like this! It’s been a while since I’ve written something like this! (not fully edited only partially edited) also i totally did not pull an all nighter to finish this hahaha.......

Requested by: @hannie-squirrel00​ (thank you for requesting lovely! Sry it took a while! I wanted to do it right! <3)

Warnings: cussing, slightly 18+ themes, POV switching

Word Count: 13k

Summary: Jisung is one of the biggest players on campus. When Hyunjin bets him that he can’t get into the coldest girl on campus’s pants, Y/n gets unknowingly thrown into the ordeal. While doing his best, Jisung unconsciously starts to fall for this girl who means more to him that he is willing to admit to anyone- even himself. 

Genre: Romance, angst, fluff, college!au, fuckboy!jisung, badboy!jisung, non-idol au

❁

When did university become a popularity contest? Wasn’t the whole point to come and learn? Instead, I’m fighting tooth and nail to get a spot in the costuming program with bitches who don’t even know how to sew on a damn zipper. My hard work is being looked over while girls making googly eyes at my professor get top priority in class.

“Y/n, if you aren’t careful you’re gonna sew your finger to your garment again.” My best friend, Felix, said next to me. I shook myself out of my trance and sighed, turning off my sewing machine and running a hand through my hair. 

“Sorry, my head is just somewhere else.” 

Felix scoffed next to me as he focused on hemming a lavender-colored slip. “I’d be spacy too if I hadn’t gotten laid in a year.” He nudged my shoulder making me laugh.

“I’m sorry that I don’t need to have an active sex drive to get work done. Besides, guys are a waste of time.”

“I strongly disagree with that last statement.”

Felix smirked and pulled his garment off the machine. Despite many girls pining after him, it was quite obvious Felix was into guys. Well...obvious to everyone except the girls who kept buying him vodka martinis when we went out to drink.

“Seungmin and I were gonna go out for drinks. You wanna come?” My best friend said packing up his stuff. I looked back at the dress I was sewing, then Felix. He was pulling his best puppy dog eyes on me. 

“I will go tonight if you help me put boning in two corsets tomorrow.”

Felix grimaced. But I knew he would rather have a drinking buddy than have Seungmin leave him at the bar shitfaced. “Fine. But the first drink is on you.” I smiled and packed up my stuff, taking the garment with me. I could work on it back in my dorm tomorrow.

Felix happily dragged me out of the theatre department building and to the most popular campus bar on a Friday night. Seungmin was already seated at the bar nursing a beer when we arrived. Several people greeted Felix as we pushed through the crowded pub. “If it isn’t the famous Arctic Bitch!” I scowled hearing the name. Apparently, I had given myself quite a reputation without even trying.

Seungmin didn’t mean any harm by saying it. He just liked to poke fun at me. I bought Felix his first drink and the three of us shouted at each other over the loud music and voices in the bar. “Why is it so crowded tonight?” I shouted, frowning as someone elbowed me. 

“Apparently, 3RACHA decided to show up a couple hours ago.”

“WHAT? I call dibs on Changbin!” Felix shouted, his eyes going wide. I rolled my eyes and stole a sip from Seungmin’s beer. I could honestly care less about those three bullheaded bone-driven music majors. I didn’t really see the appeal. So, instead, I steered the conversation away so I could in fact enjoy my night. 

❁

Third POV

Han Jisung smirked as he watched the girl whose name he honestly couldn’t remember walk away back to her friends. He looked down at the number she had written on his wrist. He was in the middle of deciding whether or not he actually wanted to call her when a voice called to him.

“Han stop flirting with random girls and come actually spend time with your friends!” 

Chan motioned him over back to the booth that his three friends sat in. Hyunjin scoffed and took another drink from his gin and tonic.

“Do you really have to do that?” Changbin asked, downing the rest of his drink.

“What?”

“Bone everything that moves.”

“Please. Han is not as good as he thinks he is.” Hyunjin said, slapping Jisung on the shoulder. Jisung glared at his friend. He and Hyunjin bickered, but Hyunjin didn’t usually bring out the big punches like that.

“Oh yeah? I can get any girl in this bar to sleep with me.”

“You really wanna do this?”

“Yes. Give me your best shot.”

Chan sighed, his hands covering his face. “Guys, don’t do this. I like this bar. Don’t kill the bar. I wanna come back here.” Changbin chuckled, enjoying the situation as he nursed his second cocktail. Jisung watched with a smirk as Hyunjin looked over all the girls in the bar. His grin stayed strong when Hyunjin turned back to him with a smile.

“You, sir, are in luck. Guess who I spotted at the bar?” Hyunjin quipped.

“Your mom.” Han held his hand up to Changbin for a high five, and the boy reluctantly complied.

“I challenge you to get Seoul University’s Arctic Bitch to sleep with you,” Hyunjin said pointing to the bar. Jisung followed Hyunijn’s direction and looked across the bar. His eyes fell on a girl with h/c hair and a stern expression on her face as she stole a sip from her friend’s beer. She wasn’t the hottest girl he had ever seen, but her ass wasn’t half bad. 

“Challenge accepted.” Han moved to get up from the booth, but Hyunjin stopped him once more. 

“Hold up big boy. You’ve gotta give me proof too.”

“What kind of proof?”

“I don’t know. Picture, video, something like that. I’ve gotta know it’s her and not one of the random sluts you usually hook up with.”

Han thought about it for a minute. He glanced over at Chan who shook his head solemnly. Of course, Chan would be against this. “Fine. What do I get if I win?” Jisung stated, shaking Hyunjin’s hand. Hyunjin thought for a minute.

“If you get her to sleep with you AND get proof- I’ll give you $1500.” 

The other boys’ eyes went wide. Fifteen hundred dollars? Han started daydreaming about the new monitors he could get for his computer and the new sound system for his home studio. Plus that could go to paying off some of his student debt because God knows his parents weren’t gonna pay for this expensive college. “Oh, you got a deal!” Jisung glanced back over at the girl by the bar. This would be a piece of cake.

“If you can’t get Y/n to sleep with you...you have to go to graduation dressed in full lingerie. And heels.” 

Chan and Changbin laughed, calling attention over to the boys for a moment. He had already agreed so there was no way he could back out of this. “Deal. I can’t wait to get my 1.5k!” Jisung smirked and poured himself another shot of soju before downing it like it was water. With a salute to his friends, the brunette haired boy crossed the bar to complete his challenge. 

No way he would need three months to complete this.

❁

Y/n’s POV

We had been at the bar for only an hour and a half and Felix had already had three drinks, one of which was paid for by a very pretty- but not so observant- girl. It was kind of funny to watch him tipsily argue with Seungmin over who was the better role in our university’s musical, Chicago: Roxie or Velma.

“Fuck you, Min! Velma is a boss ass bitch in thigh highs! Whatcha gonna do about it, BRO?”

“Lix, drink some water,” I said, pushing my water towards my best friend. He pulled the drunk move and took the tiniest sip before turning back to his word assault against our other friend. Seungmin was only slightly more sober, but still argued with passion for his girl Roxie. Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder.

“Hey, you’re....Y/n, right? Lemme buy you a drink.”

My eyes raked over the boy in front of me. His brown hair brushed over the corner of his forehead and his eyes had a mischievous glint to them. A confident smirk played on his lips as his hand ghosted over my waist, before turning to the bar and back to me. 

“What’s your poison? Cosmopolitan, right?”

“Actually, I’ll take a Godfather.”

I stifled a laugh at the near microscopic flash of surprise on his face. He quickly regained his cocky composure and looked me up and down. “Whiskey. A girl after my own heart.” While he turned to the bartender and ordered my drink I took the opportunity to turn back to my friends and roll my eyes. But, to my surprise, Felix was standing slack-jawed behind me staring at the guy attempting to flirt with me, his argument with Seungmin forgotten.

“Sorry, who are you and why should I care you like whiskey?”

The shock was evident on his face as he turned back to me. He blinked a few times before looking around the bar in confusion. “You don’t know who I am?” He scoffed when I shook my head. The bartender handed me my drink as well as a jack and coke for the boy next to me. “This might be harder than I thought,” he muttered under his breath before taking a large sip from his drink. I was driving so this would probably be my one and only drink for the night. “I’m Han Jisung. I’m one of the rappers in 3RACHA.”

“Ah....that explains the air of entitlement.” 

He sighed and took another swig of his drink, leaning on the bar. I was starting to get frustrated; I came to have fun with my two friends, not get hit on by some cocky asshole. “Look Jinyoung-”

“Jisung.”

“Right. Whatever. I came to have fun with my friends. So, thanks for the drink. Why don’t you just call...Mina,” I said reading the name on his arm written in girly handwriting. “Cause she already seems interested in your deal. But, I’m not so.....bye!” 

Without another word, I turned around and returned to my friends, who were speechless. I couldn’t help but watch their eyes track Jisung’s form all the way back to the booth with the rest of his friends who could be heard laughing- most likely at him- from all the way across the bar.

“You just shot down the second hottest guy on campus.”

“Second hottest?”

“Yeah, have you seen his friend Chan? Boy’s got abs like a washboard.” 

I could practically see Felix’s mouth start to water. “Keep it in your pants, bud.” Seungmin laughed at my comment and threw an arm lazily around my shoulder. “Min, are you drunk already?” He just giggled and started poking my cheeks. I downed the rest of my drink and let Seungmin rest his head on my shoulder. 

“Come on, dummies. Let’s go home.” Felix followed me out of the bar as I carried Seungmin to my car. I was pretty sure I heard cheers behind me as I opened the door, when I turned I saw Felix twirling his shirt over his head and dancing with some random guy near the exit.

“FELIX!” 

He whined as I dragged him away from the guy he was dancing with. “Noooooooooooo! He was so sweet!” I laughed and strapped my best friend into the car safely. Tonight was certainly not what I had expected.

❁

A car horn blaring outside my window sent me shooting up in bed. My hair stuck up in ungodly directions. Yet another night of restless sleep. 

I rubbed my eyes and checked the time. About nine in the morning. No matter how early I went to bed I never seemed to get a good night’s rest.

Lazily I rolled out of bed and slipped on some shorts. My tired body shuffled into the dorm living room. I laughed seeing Seungmin half falling off my couch, asleep; it wasn’t uncommon for him to crash at my dorm after having a few drinks. My roommate didn’t really mind seeing as she had quite the little crush on him.

Speaking of, the sound of her door opening caught my attention. “Morning Lia,” I whispered. She started to speak but covered her mouth when she saw Seungmin passed out on the couch. “You want some tea?” I asked, setting a kettle on one of the burners. She nodded, sitting down and crossing her long legs on one of the kitchen stools.

Lia was maybe a year older than me and also a theatre major with a focus in performance. She had landed the lead in many of our university productions including our current musical, Chicago. 

“So, Seungmin was in quite the heated argument last night.” My dormmate’s eyes widened at the mention of the boy’s name. “He was quite adamant on making Lix understand that Roxie was the greatest lead in the show.” A dark tint rose to her cheeks as she glanced at the sleeping hungover boy on our couch. Lia was playing Roxie in our production this year.

“He probably just likes the character.”

I rose a brow and handed her a mug of tea, before sipping on my own. “Sure, he does. Because our techie Seungmin just adores the motivations of a starstruck murderess.” Somehow her cheeks grew even darker. 

“I have to go work in the Shop today, could you watch him while I’m gone?” She nodded with a small smile. The Shop was what we called the costume and scene shop. Basically, the backstage tech work area was the Shop. 

After finishing our tea, we parted ways and got ready for the day. I slipped on my favorite sweatpants and threw on a semi-clean crop top. Feeling a little chilly, I threw on the matching grey jacket hanging on my desk chair. After fighting with my hair for ten minutes I gave up and started packing my backpack with things I needed for the day.

I groaned looking over at the corner of my room; I’d forgotten to take four rolls of rather expensive and custom fabric to the workroom yesterday, so I had to do it today. Gathering the fabric up in my arms, I headed out.

The sidewalks were practically empty as I crossed campus on my way to the Arts part of the university. My knee pushed up a slipping fabric roll before I continued my walk, pace quickening as I saw the auditorium building up ahead. Finally, I would be able to set these down soon.

“Ahh!”

My foot caught on a crack on the sidewalk and fabric unrolled and went flying through the air. I scraped my hands against the pavement bracing my fall. Slowly I sat up and looked at my palms. They were red, some of the scrapes breaking the skin. 

“Fuck. Really?” 

With a groan, I reached for the nearest roll and checked the material. Thankfully the black silk was still intact and not ruined. Carefully I started the process of re-rolling it, wincing at the rawness on my hands.

“Need any help?” A voice spoke beside me. Before I could respond, the person knelt down and started rolling up another length of red material. I scoffed seeing who the voice belonged to. It was Jisung, from the bar last night.

“I’ve got it.”

“I just saw you hardcore face plant. I don’t think you’ve ‘got it’.” 

He laughed at my scowl and continued to help pick up the fabric I had dropped. As I began standing up, he grabbed my hand. “What the hell dude?” I said, pulling away from his grasp.

“Woah. Chill! You scraped your hand. I’m just trying to help.”

He tucked the rolls under his arm and unzipped a pocket in his backpack, bringing out bandaids and some antiseptic spray. I eyed him warily, but let him take my hand again. He glanced up at my eyes, gauging my expression before continuing to uncap the spray.

“This will sting a little.”

“Tsk. I’ve sewed through my finger, I think I can handle- AHHH OW! FUCK!”

He laughed, his eyes turning into happy crescent moons. I had to admit he had a nice smile. Then again, how many times had that smile gotten him into the pants of half the female student body?

I watched as he opened up two bandaids, gently laid them over my palm, and covered the scrapes. When they were secure, he looked back up at me with that cocky smirk. 

“Want me to kiss it better?” 

I rolled my eyes and yanked my hand away. “Anyway, Jiwon-”

“Jisung.”

His brows furrowed in frustration but he quickly plastered on a more than fake smile. It was honestly kind of fun messing with him; he was so used to being treated like some kind of sex god it seemed he had forgotten what it was like to be a normal human being like the rest of us. “Thanks for the help. I’m gonna go now.”

“Hey! Wait! That’s not how you thank someone.” Jisung said, grabbing back the two rolls of fabric in his arms as I tried to take them. 

“Oh? And how do you propose I thank you?”

He smirked and looked me up and down. His hand ran through his brown locks as his tongue ghosted over his lips. “Well, I mean...” He shrugged as if the thought was just occurring to him. “I can think of a few ways you could return the favor.”

“Your genitals don’t come with a built-in bulletproof shield, so you better watch yourself, fuckboy.”

Jisung visibly gulped and slowly shifted the fabric rolls in front of his waist. I almost smirked seeing the brief look of fear for his manhood; he shivered under my stare and then regained his composure. “Man, they don’t call you the Arctic Bitch for nothing.”

My face fell and I ran a hand through my hair. “Look, I’ve got work to do, corsets to make, and I have to figure out how to sew rhinestones onto a lavalier.” Jisung seemed to take notice of my change in demeanor. 

“Hey, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Well, you’d be pretty offended if I called you a man whore. Same shit.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” He scuffed his shoe on the sidewalk and played with the edge of one of the rolls. Just because I would rather get through my insane credit hours than suck up to some bitch who’d probably drop out in a year doesn’t mean I deserve to have this hurtful nickname. 

“Where are you going? I’ll help you carry these.” Jisung interjected, breaking the very awkward silence. I shook my head and once again tried to take back my fabric. 

“I’m fine. You can go back to class or whatever.”

“I was actually headed to the studio to record with Changbin, but I’ve got time.”

I sighed. This man was persistent and not in a good way. There was no way I was going to get rid of him. “Fine. But if you fuck up that fabric I’m making you pay for it.” He smiled and tucked the fabric under his arm, following me to the back of the auditorium building. 

I watched Jisung take in everything in the hallway and on the walls as we made our way to the costume shop. “What? Have you never seen the backstage of a theater before?”

“Nah. I’ve only done small venues. Nothing with a stage like this.” 

I had almost forgotten Jisung was a rapper. As we came upon the workroom door, I adjusted the fabric in my hand and then pushed the door open with my foot. Jisung followed after I motioned for him to enter the room.

“Y/n! Do we really have to bone corsets? Like can’t we just cheat and put in a plastic lining?” Felix called out not looking up from his workstation. He sounded hungover. “Lia is tiny. Why does she need a fucking corset anyway--heyyyy there’s Jisung......Y/n why is he here?”

I dumped the fabric on a work table and Jisung did the same. “I picked up a stray. Thought you might like a pet.” Jisung rolled his eyes when I pointed behind me. When I turned around, Jisung still stood with his hands in his pockets. “You can go now.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Yeah, what if he doesn’t want to, Y/n?” Felix said in a teasing tone. A quick but deadly glare sent his way quickly shut him up and caused him to turn around back to his workstation. Jisung sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. 

“Look. I’m meeting a couple friends at the bar tonight. Why don’t you come by?”

“Hard pass.”

“What if I want to go?” Felix chimed in.

“Yeah, what if he wants to go!” Jisung said with a smirk.

“Felix, shut up for like two seconds.”

Felix scoffed and returned to putting boning in a red lingerie corset. “We both know that’s not gonna happen.” He muttered under his breath. I heard Jisung let out a laugh at the little exchange.

“Whether I go to the bar or not tonight has nothing to do with you. It is probably reliant on the fact that I have no control over my best friend.” Felix chuckled behind me. Jisung shrugged and looked around the room before backing away.

“Okay.”

“Hey, Jisung! Put in a good word for me with Changbin?” Felix called out, leaning over his chair. Jisung let out a lighthearted laugh as he opened the door. Felix had a hopeful look on his face that made me want to vomit.

“Sure, why not.”

Then we were left in silence. I quickly began working, but I felt Felix’s stare on my profile. I knew he couldn’t stay silent for long. Felix couldn’t go four minutes and eighteen seconds without immediately spewing out his opinion. Seungmin and I had timed it once; exactly four minutes later, he erupted.

“ARE YOU SLEEPING WITH JISUNG?”

“Did you see me go home with him last night?”

“No....you went home with Seungmin--OH MY GOD ARE YOU SLEEPING WITH SEUNGMIN?!”

“What? No! Ew!” I said tossing an empty pin cushion at him. “Never in a million years.” Felix let out a hefty sigh of relief. My fingers quickly worked through sewing up a finished section of a corset. 

Another silence followed as Felix turned back to our work. It was so obvious his thoughts were festering, just waiting to once again pop out. “So... how did Mr. Balls-for-Brains wind up helping you carry costume fabric?” 

I shrugged, putting in another piece of spiral steel and lining it up in a corset panel. “He helped me when I tripped. Apparently, the music department recording studios are near here.” 

“Uh....no they're not. The studios are on the other side of the Arts campus.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m pretty sure he was just hanging around the theatre buildings until he saw you.” Felix laughed as I shuddered. I took a quick breath as the needle pricked my finger. This conversation was seriously distracting me. “So....we are going out tonight though. Right?” 

“I’m not going out dressed like this.”

“Just grab something from the racks. Mr. Jung won’t mind.”

“If we are going out, I’m drinking.”

“No argument from me. Then we get fun Y/n.” I threw another pin cushion at him, hearing a high pitched yelp beside me. The two of us worked for the next 6 hours until the sun started to set outside the Shop window. I let Felix dress me up from stuff on the racks and we called Lia and Seungmin to meet us at the bar.

When we arrived, it was certainly less packed than the night before. I pulled at the tight skirt Felix had put me in, wishing it to cover more of my thighs than its length allowed. Seungmin whistled as I sat down next to him at the bar. He turned my barstool to face him and Lia, who smiled and clapped at my appearance. 

“Is this global warming because the Arctic is hot tonight!”

I slapped his shoulder and turned back to the bartender to order my drink. “I would recognize this anywhere. This is the work of the Great Felix Stylist extraordinaire.” Lia exclaimed, letting Felix take a bow. The bartender slid over my drink and I rested my feet against the bar stool. They were sore from the heels Felix had put me in; only once every so often would I let him play dress up on me.

The night rolled on and I even danced with Lia after a couple more drinks. We came back off the dance floor to see Jisung talking with Felix and Seungmin, his arm leaning against the bar. “Jackass alert,” I whispered to Lia as we approached. 

Jisung’s eyes widened when he saw our approach. He seemed to drink in my entire body, not letting any part of me go unseen. “Hey, gorgeous.” He said with a smirk, his eyes dragging over me once again as he sipped his drink. “Can I talk to you?” 

“Sure, I said standing next to Felix and stealing a sip from his gin martini. I was really thirsty after dancing so much with Lia. He glanced from me back to my friends who were watching us expectantly. 

“I meant alone.” 

With a nod, the rest of my friends started moving towards an open booth. I stopped Felix, a hand on his martini glass. “Leave it. I’m going to need more alcohol for this.” With a sigh and longing look at his drink, he left it in my hands.

“Are you drunk?”

“Not nearly enough.” I plainly stated before drinking some more of Felix’s martini. My face soured. I forgot he liked gin. Jisung laughed as I put the drink on the bartop. 

“Look. I think you and I should go out.”

“And I think you should jump off a cliff. Preferably one the size of your ego.”

“Ouch.” He said with an unaffected smile.  His eyes darted to a girl walking by us, but he quickly diverted his attention back to me. I tried not visibly throw up in my mouth at the action. “Let’s hang out this week.”

“Sorry; not into late-night booty calls since...well...ever.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair, a habit of his I had picked up on. I couldn’t decide if it was out of frustration or nerves. “Come on. I’m not that bad.” 

“Your reputation says otherwise.” 

“I could say the same about you.”

He smirked when I fell silent. My fingers played with the rim of the martini glass. I hated that he totally won that argument. 

“I’ll make you a deal,” His words made me look up and quirk an eyebrow. “For the next two months, you get dinner with me twice a week and we text once a day.” 

“I’m not going on a dinner date with you. I have zero time. I have to bring home my costume work as it is.”

“I never said it was a date. I just want to get to know you, Y/n.” Jisung chuckled and adjusted the clasp of my necklace, making me freeze. “We don’t have to go out to eat. I’m sure it’s hard to focus on work with a theatre major as a roommate. You can come over and I’ll order take out.” I had to admit that the offer sounded tempting. I loved Lia but she could be loud as fuck when prepping for a show. 

“Still low key sounds like a date.” 

“I swear I will not touch you unless you ask me to.” He winked and I rolled my eyes. “And you will ask me to. Eventually.” A heavy and anger filled sigh left my lips and Jisung leaned away. I honestly hadn’t noticed he had gotten closer.

“Lia is going to think something is up. Felix is for sure going to think I’m sleeping with you. And Seungmin...”

“You aren’t dating Seungmin are you?” 

He smiled when I shook my head no. “Anyway, there is no way I’m telling my friends I am hanging out with you.” He shrugged and sipped more on his drink. I was starting to feel a little bit of the alcohol’s effect. 

“I’m chill with that. So, you bring over your costume...stuff...on Monday and we can order in and get to know each other.” I shrugged and gave him a small nod. Jisung smiled in victory. 

“You do know I’m not going to let you walk away from this conversation looking that happy.”

“And how do you propose you fix that?” 

“I was thinking either a slap or a drink.” Jisung laughed and downed the rest of his drink, I assumed Jack and Coke, like the night before. He motioned with his fingers and tapped his chest. 

“Give me your best shot, gorgeous.” His willingness made me laugh, genuinely. “Although, I would prefer not to have a huge red mark on my cheek.” 

I nodded sarcastically. “Oh. Of course. We can’t damage the precious merchandise.” He groaned when I pinched his cheek. To be honest, I could not believe I was having a nice casual conversation with Han Jisung, 3RACHA’s legendary fuckboy.

“Well then, I’ll see you on Monday. I’ll be at the Shop.”

“I’ll see you then, gorgeous.” 

I rolled my eyes and picked up Felix’s martini. “ASSHOLE!” I yelled before tossing the drink in Jisung’s face. “Wow, that was really fun,” I whispered with a smile before walking away to my friends. 

“Y/N THAT WAS MY DRINK!! NO! MY ALCOHOL!” Felix said, fake crying.

❁

Jisung’s POV

The gin stung my eyes and Y/n was kind of blurry as she walked away, but I could hear the smile in her voice. This was ironically the first time I had let a girl toss a drink in my face. AND FUCK I WOULD NEVER LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN. 

I wiped my face and stumbled away from the bar, trying not to get even more liquor in my eye as I followed the laughter of my supposed ‘friends’ in our usual booth. 

“And the King has struck out yet again,” Changbin said as I sat down. Chan laughed but handed me a napkin to wipe my stinging face. A couple strands of my hair fell wet in front of my eyes. “What is this? The third time you been denied by Y/n?” Bin laughed and drank from his (probably) fifth beer of the night. 

“Han, I hate to say it. But I am so looking forward to seeing you in lingerie accepting your diploma.”

“I wouldn’t get ahead of yourself, Hyunjin.” All eyes turned to me as I blinked wildly. My vision was just starting to come back. I looked over to Y/n and her friends. Felix was chiding her about destroying his drink and Lia was high fiving her for throwing it. 

“...But she threw a martini in your face. I think that qualifies failure in every book I’ve ever read.” Hyunjin scoffed. Little did he know I had Y/n exactly where I wanted her. Soon she would be eating out of my hands. She would be begging for me to sleep with her before she even knew it herself.

❁

Y/n’s POV

Three weeks had passed and I had been drowning in work. Though I hated to admit it...Jisung was the only thing keeping me sane. He had been a really good friend to me for the past few weeks. Lia was the only one who knew about my little dinner rendezvouses with Jisung. And I was correct in the fact that I had been subject to her relentless teasing. 

“Are you sure you guys aren’t dating?”

“We are not dating. We are just getting dinner twice a week, getting to know each other, not seeing other people casually, and maybe some.....flirting-- AND OH MY GOD HE TRICKED ME. WE’RE DATING.”

Lia laughed at my realization. I threw down the dress I was working on for Lia’s finale scene. The sound of beads hitting the floor rung throughout the dorm. “What are you gonna do about it?” Lia questioned, adjusting herself on the couch.

“I’m going to go over there and question the shit out of his ass.”

“Hell yeah! Text me!” She cheered as I grabbed my keys and ran out the door. 

I slammed my car door and stomped up the stairs of Jisung’s apartment building. A million angry thoughts ran through my mind as I stormed down the hall to his apartment. Without another thought, I burst through the front door, which was oddly...unlocked. 

“HAN MOTHER FUCKING JISUNG! YOU TRICKED ME INTO DATING YOU AND I-”

I froze taking in the scene in front of me. Jisung stood wide-eyed shirtless and holding a bottle of water, sweat dripping off his forehead. Another boy, who I recognized as Chan from 3RACHA, dressed in a tank top and sweats was seated on the couch, his face full of surprise at my entrance.

“Oh- uh.....sorry...I’ll just come back when you have...clothes.”

“No, it’s fine! I was just leaving anyway. Thanks for going to the gym with me Han.” Chan grabbed his jacket and exited in the most polite power walk he could manage. Though not without giving Jisung a thumbs up and then shutting the door.

“So how long did you think you were gonna get away with this?” He smirked and opened the water bottle. I was struggling to look anywhere but his tan chest. He obviously noticed. “Oh my god. Would you please put a shirt on!” He chuckled and came closer to me.

“What? Do I make you nervous?” He looked me up and down with dark eyes. My heart pounded in my chest. “Look, I know you’re mad. But, you can’t tell me that you didn’t have fun hanging out with me. Can you?”

“No,”

“And you can’t say that you aren’t at least the tiniest bit attracted to me. Right?”

“I’m not...not attracted to you...”

Jisung smirked and slid his hand around my waist, pulling me so our chests brushed against each other. “That’s not a straight answer.” He smiled at my lack of response. Jisung was clearly enjoying this.

“Well- you’re...not a... straight answer.”

Jisung laughed and let go of me. “But, seriously Y/n. I don’t know about you, but I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you these past few weeks and I really like you.” He took my hand in his and laughed, making his eyes turn into crescents. “So, why don’t we make it official? Y/n, let’s date.”

I blinked a few times before turning away from him. This was not normal. My hands came up to my temple, a sharp pain suddenly emitting from there. “You can’t be serious,” I said, turning back to Jisung. “There’s no way you like me. You like girls for one night stands. I’m not like that. So there is no-”

Jisung’s lips crashed against mine, his hands gripping my wrists gently. He’s kissing me. What do I do? As if reading my thoughts he pulled away just enough to look into my eyes and smile. “Y/n, don’t overthink it. Just let go for once. You’re with me.”

His hand slid down to my waist and his fingers tangled in my belt loops, pulling me closer. My brain was in overdrive. I hadn’t been kissed in so long. Maybe what I said to Felix wasn’t totally the truth. Maybe I had just been depressing my long starved sex drive. Jisung was really nice and I really liked him. What would be the harm in letting myself have fun with someone I actually like for once?

“Okay...so maybe I like you a little bit.” Jisung smiled and brushed away a piece of hair near my face, grazing my cheek. My hands slowly came up to rest on his chest, his warm skin radiating off heat. 

“So are we on the same page? You’re mine now?”

“Fine. I guess so,” I said with a laugh. Jisung smiled and kissed me again. His fingers dug into my hips and he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. 

Kissing Jisung made my head spin in the best way possible. Needing air for more than one reason, I pushed against his chest. “Hey, why don’t you go shower. I’m sure you need one after working out with Chan.” He smirked, his hands slowly moving lower than my waist. “No, I’m not showering with you.”

“Damn. Worth a shot. You wanna stay? I’ll order pizza.”

“Sounds good to me.” After kissing my cheek, Jisung turned and made his way to his bathroom. When the door closed I leaned against the couch for support. Keep it cool, Y/n. I have to remember to keep my guard up. Jisung can’t possibly just change overnight. While I want to trust him...something is holding me back. 

Hopefully, I’m just paranoid.

❁

I rolled over in bed, not wanting to wake up. My hand brushed up against something cold. Opening my eyes, I saw my phone under my hand. The screen was still lit up and displayed a caller ID and call time of almost five hours. I smiled seeing Jisung’s name scrolling across the top. Did we really fall asleep on the phone? 

Picking up the phone, I heard the sounds of his small breaths and soft snores. “Jisung,” Another soft snore made me smile. We had only been dating officially about a week, but I was really enjoying my time with him. “Jisung?” 

“Mmph...I’m up...what’s happening?” He mumbled into the phone. Jisung must have fallen asleep on top of the phone. I laughed and sat up in bed, running a hand through my messy hair.

“I think we fell asleep on the phone, Ji.” His laugh could be heard over the phone.

“Ji?”

“What?” 

“That’s the first time you’ve called me something other than my name or an asshole.” I blushed and rolled out of bed. “Y/n L/n are you starting to like me?” Jisung asked, his voice rough from just waking up.  The gravely low tone sent a chill down my spine. 

“Well, we are dating. That’s what two people do when they like each other, dummy.” I leafed through my closet, tucking the phone between my ear and shoulder. He let out what sounded like a forced laugh. Maybe it was just my imagination. It was my brain searching for things to make me not trust him.

“You want to drop by the studio later? I should be working all day but it would be kinda cool to see you.” My ears picked up on the sound of his fingers racing across a keyboard. What could he be working on this early? 

No, Y/n. Don’t go there. I have to at least try and trust him. I can’t be nosy and wondering about everything in his life when we’ve only been going out a short time. 

“Uh, I can probably drop by around three. I have an exam today I can’t miss.”

“Okay. I’ll text you the studio number. See you later, gorgeous.” With that, he hung up the phone. I tossed the device on my bed and finished getting dressed. A ding notified me of a text. Glancing at it, I saw Jisung sent me the number of the studio number he would be working in and a heart. 

It almost set me a little on edge. I knew his personality. I even knew a few of the girls who had the unfortunate experience of falling into bed with him. It just seemed a little weird to me how doting he was with me when he was never like that with other girls. 

Maybe he really was trying to make a change? That couldn’t be impossible. Could it? People change. Most often in fairytales and movies, but it happens like 1% of the time, right? These thoughts swarmed through my head as I walked into my lecture hall. 

I sat in my usual seat, arriving about five minutes before class was set to begin. Looking up, I saw several sets of eyes staring at me; all belonging to different girls. Some had looked of pity, some disgust, but all looked slightly confused. Ignoring them, I pulled out my notes for a few more moments of study time.

“You’re the girl whose dating Han, am I right?”

I looked up to find a very pretty girl with blonde hair and big doe-like eyes. “Umm...yeah. Is there a problem or something?” She shook her head and sat down next to me with a smile. 

“Oh! No, not at all. I just had to see for myself that’s all. My name’s Momo. I’m a dance major. I have a mutual friend of Han’s, Hyunjin.”

I nodded, glancing from her to my paper. I wasn’t really used to this much attention during class. Usually, I just focused on the lecture or project and didn’t talk much. “Yeah, I know they are friends, but I don’t really know Hyunjin myself.”

She nodded and twirled a pen between her fingers. I started to wonder what her relationship was with the boys. She was obviously gorgeous and she seemed just like Jisung’s type. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had slept together before.”I’ve just heard so much about you. All those rumors are totally bogus by the way. I would love if we could be friends.”

She took my hand in hers with a bright and blindingly white perfect smile. Did she not know what personal space was? “Uh....sure. I guess that would be cool. I’m usually pretty busy with making costumes for the university’s musical.”

“Here! Take my number! We can go get coffee sometime. I’d love to hear all the juicy tea about the girl who finally got the famous Han Jisung to stop sleeping around.” Momo ripped a piece of paper from her perfectly organized agenda and wrote her number on it. The professor started speaking as she handed it to me. Holy shit it was scented! 

This day was just getting more and more confusing for me.

❁

Jisung’s POV

The studio was freezing as per usual. Even bundled up in a beanie and hoodie I was cold, pulling the sleeves further down my hands. I watched the monitor carefully and adjusted the headphones over my ears. 

“Okay, Bin! You’re good.” Chan called to the boy in the booth after I gave him a thumbs up. “So, I take it things with Y/n are...good,” Chan asked hesitantly. The topic of Y/n was a sore subject for him so I was surprised he brought it up. 

“Oooooo We talking about the Snow Queen?” Changbin said plopping down on the couch near the wall. I turned in my chair to roll my eyes at him. “I’m taking that as a sign you haven’t gotten in her pants yet?”

“She’s honestly kind of a prude....well. Not a prude. But you know what I mean.” Chan shook his head at my words.  

Changbin threw a ball of paper at my head, making me send another glare his way. “Isn’t this the longest dry spell you’ve had. How long has it been?” I sighed pulling the headphones down around my neck.

“One month, five days, twelve hours, and twenty-two minutes.”

“You know it’s gross that you keep track like that,” Chan said taking a swig from his water bottle. “Y/n seems like a nice girl. It’s kind of sick you and Hyunjin using her like this.” I shrugged, not really caring.

“I mean, I guess. But, I would rather be $1,500 richer.”

“Just remember Y/n has feelings too.”

I nodded and turned back to the monitor looking at the track we just recorded. As if on cue, the door opened and Y/n’s voice could be heard greeting the other boys. 

“Hi!- Oh! Sorry, I didn’t expect anyone else. I’m Y/n. It’s nice to meet you.”

Turning, I saw her shaking hands with Changbin and Chan. “Y/n that’s Bin, and you’ve met Chan,” I said pointing to the boys. “Now you’ve met all of 3RACHA.” I pulled her hand, dragging her closer to my chair. Chan rolled his eyes when I pulled her down and kissed her cheek. The smile on her face did not go unnoticed by the boys.

“How was your exam?” I asked, playing with her fingers.

“It was okay. I passed for sure. A girl named Momo asked to get coffee with me. Apparently, she knows your friend Hyunjin.” My eyes went wide and I stood up, pulling her to my side with a nervous laugh. 

“Well, uh... I think we’ve all done enough work today. Y/n you wanna go get some boba or something. I’m hungry what about you? Bye guys!” Quickly I pushed her out the door and waved goodbye to the boys. 

I had my fingers crossed that Hyunjin was keeping his big mouth shut.

❁

A month and a half. That’s how long I had left before I lost and was forced to be utterly humiliated in front of the entire university. Y/n and I had been dating for almost three weeks and hanging out for longer. I had to make a move tonight. 

My friend Minho had hooked me up with some tiny night vision camera that I had hidden all around my apartment. I knew Y/n was starting to trust me more, so this was the opportune time. She was coming over any minute now. I checked my reflection in the mirror and ran my hands through my hair. 

$1,500 here I come.

A knock bounced off the walls of my apartment. I checked the time. 8:30 pm. She was late by about forty-five minutes, which was not usual for her. What was it she always said? Early is on time and on time is late? Some weird theater shit like that. 

Something was up.

I rushed to the door and opened it to find Y/n standing at my doorstep. She gave me a tired smile and kissed my cheek in greeting. She looked like she felt awful. “Hi, Ji! Sorry, I’m late. Felix bailed on me so I had all this extra work to do for the musical and I have a semester project due this week-”

“Y/n what’s wrong?” She sighed and collapsed onto the couch. Sitting next to her I could see the concealer under her eyes attempting to hide the dark shadows. She never wore makeup unless she was going out. I was surprised even remembered that. “You can tell me anything, gorgeous.” She smiled when I took her hand. 

This might be better than I thought. Comfort her. Get the proof I need. Shove it in Hyunijn’s face. I could tell she was deciding whether or not to trust me. If it was something small she would tell me no problem.

But... maybe this was something bigger. 

“I’m just...really stressed.” She said, pushing her hair away from her face. I could see the wall she had slowly building itself back up. There was pain behind her eyes. She was hurting. Why did that make me sad?

“That’s not all this is.” I turned towards her fully, giving her my complete attention. She crossed her legs up on the couch and stared at her fingers. When I lifted her chin I saw tears on the brink of falling from her eyes.

“I just... feel like...- nevermind it’s stupid.” She shook her head and looked around my apartment. She tried to laugh it off but frowned when she saw my face. Y/n let out a shaky breath when I took her hands in mine, resting them in her lap. 

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Just sitting across from each other on the couch. She seemed to be working up the courage to tell me something.

“Nothing I ever do...seems to be...enough.” I looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “I work my ass off. All the time. But, it feels like I can’t do anything right lately. Not enough for my mom. Not enough for my teachers. Certainly not enough for Tech Recruiters. I just feel like I’m falling short on everything I do. And I’m tired. I just want to be enough for someone. But, who am I kidding? Nobody likes me. I’m Seoul University’s Arctic Bitch, right? I’m too coldhearted and selfish to get anywhere in life, let alone convince any theatre company to hire me so I can pay off my student loans. I’m just so fucking tired of feeling this way. Sorry for whining. I know you probably had other plans for tonight.” 

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and stared out the living room window. “Hey,” I said pulling her attention back to me. Surprisingly, she let me reach up and wipe a tear from her cheek. “Look at me,” Reluctantly Y/n met my eyes. “You are more than enough for me.” She looked down and smiled, wiping more tears on her sleeve.

“Really?”

“Really.” I ran my thumb over her knuckles and smiled at her. It took a lot for her to open up to me like that. “You have just been bottling this up haven’t you?” She nodded and wiped another tear, before looking back up at me. Her eyes were still beautiful even when she was crying. “I do that too. It’s a habit we should both fix. Could you talk to Lia? Or Felix?”

She shook her head and started playing with my fingers. I started to like the feeling of her smaller hands in mine. “Lia has her own stuff to worry about. Her dad keeps pressuring her to join an entertainment company. And Felix...well Felix means well, but...” I was relieved to see her smile again. Her laugh was contagious. 

“Yeah, I get it. Kind of like Changbin and Chan. They mean well, but they don’t understand sometimes.”

She nodded and played with one of the rings on my right hand. “Thank you for listening. It really means a lot that I can trust you like this.”

“You trust me?”

“I never thought I would say that but... I would never have told Felix that and he is my best friend.”She reached up a cupped my cheek. Her hands were warm and inviting. I stared into her eyes no longer seeing hurt behind her E/c orbs. 

“You’re beautiful. You know that?” I said without thinking. My eyes widened and I pulled away from her touch. I had never said anything like that. Usually, everything I said to Y/n had a purpose or plan behind it. But, I just spoke without thinking. 

Y/n smiled, her eyes turning even brighter. She leaned forward and kissed me. Something about this kiss felt different than the times I had kissed her before. My heart started to race and goosebumps crawled over my skin. I smiled when her hands pulled me closer to her, tangling her fingers through my hair.

A sigh escaped my chest when her teeth grazed over my lip. She pulled away only for a second to catch her breath before coming back to me. I pulled away when she threw her leg over my lap and straddled me. “What are you doing?” I asked as she kissed from my lips down to my jaw. It was exciting not to be in control for once. 

“Showing you how much you mean to me,” She whispered before kissing my lips again. Instinctively, my hands gripped her waist wanting for no space left between my body and hers. I felt close to Y/n in a different way. I feel like I had been in this exact position with other girls, but with her it was different. Something about kissing her like this felt intimate. Like it was just for us to share. 

Fuck. The cameras. They were still recording all over the apartment.

“Uh- Y/n...” I said pulling away from her, my hands planted firmly on her hips. “Are you sure you want to do this, gorgeous?” My eyes widened as she nodded and continued to drag her lips across mine. “Because we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” Please tell me to stop. If you don’t I don’t know what I’ll do with myself. 

“Ji, I want this. Do you?”

“You have no idea.”

“Good. Do you trust me?” Y/n asked with a mischievous smile. I nodded watching her eyes twinkle in the low light of my apartment. She dragged her fingers down my chest and pulled at the hem of my shirt. As soon as the fabric was over my head and flung somewhere in the living room she smashed her lips onto mine. 

My thoughts were running a mile a minute. How was I supposed to turn off all the cameras without her knowing? After seeing her in pain, I couldn’t hurt her like that. An idea popped in my head. Wrapping my arms around her waist I pulled her up and carried her, pushing her back against the nearest wall. 

Her legs tightened around my waist, holding herself up. She looked down at me with hooded eyes before kissing me again. With one hand I kept her steady while the other searched the bookshelf next to me for the camera I put in the living room. Feeling the metal and plastic, I quickly turned it around blocking its view. 

There should just be two more in my bedroom. “Ji,” Y/n moaned into my lips. She was driving me crazy. I was already more worked up from this than I had ever been with any other girl. She giggled when I carried her through the bedroom door and pressed her up against the wall. “You know...I haven’t done this in a pretty long time...” Her words were breathy and cut off when she joined her lips back to mine.

“You could have fooled me.”

My mind was kind of in a haze. All I could think about was Y/n. I couldn’t think straight with her hands all over me. Where did I put the second camera again? Her lips trailed down to my neck sending my brain and body into overdrive. Come on, Han. Focus. 

The desk! Then the third was by my nightstand. I moved us over slowly, hoping she wouldn’t notice. I wanted to touch her so badly. But, I couldn’t betray her trust after she opened up to me like that. Joining my lips with hers, I felt blindly around the table for the small device. After I found it, I tucked it behind the monitor. 

“Are you sure, gorgeous?” I asked one more time looking into her eyes.

“Jisung, stop asking or I swear I’m gonna-”

“You’re gonna what?”

“I don’t know. Just kiss me damn it.” She smiled when I smashed my lips onto hers. Her fingers pulled at my hair as I dragged my lips down her jaw. She joined our lips as I picked her up and carried her to the bed. The bed dipped as she laid on the mattress. Before I could reach for the nightstand she pulled me over, straddling me on the bed again. 

I tried to keep my brain clear as she attacked my neck and chest with her lips. Knowing she was distracted, I grabbed the camera and threw it across the room wanting this to be done. Her head turned at the sound, but I pulled her back to my lips. 

“You drive me crazy,” I whispered, reaching down and pulling at the hem of her shirt. My lips latched onto every bare piece of skin I could find, wanting to feel every part of her. I was ready to be with her, in more ways than I had thought.

❁

Y/n’s POV

I lay in the dark, staring up at the ceiling. Jisung laid beside me his arm slung across my stomach and soft snores leaving his lips. I smiled seeing him next to me. I had slept for a few hours but like usual, I had woken up in the middle of the night unable to fall back asleep. 

Shifting onto my side, I looked at Jisung. He looked peaceful in his sleep. There was always something active about him when he was awake. Like he was never still. Seeing him in a state of calm was intriguing. My hand brushed the side of his cheek. A strand of his brown hair fell over his eyes, so I gently pushed it back and softly moved my hands through his locks.

Jisung let out a little hum in his sleep, making me smile. I started to pull away my fingers but Jisung’s hand shot up to keep it there, startling me. “What’s wrong, gorgeous?” Jisung mumbled, placing my hand back in his messy hair. 

“I can’t sleep. Don’t worry about me.” I said quietly going back to playing with his soft brown tresses. He shook his head, brows furrowing in the cutest way. His fingers latched themselves onto my wrist, rubbing his thumb against my skin. 

“I’m not sleeping unless you are,” He whispered, obviously half asleep. 

“Shhh. Ji, go back to sleep.” Instead of complying he tugged me into his bare chest and started tracing soothing patterns on my lower back. In all honestly just that alone was making me just a little sleepy. My eyes were starting to droop, just laying in his arms, but my brain was still wide awake. 

Suddenly, my ears picked up on the soft sound of Jisung singing. It was slow and gentle, his voice a little rough from sleep, but beautiful all the same. His voice was like honey, soothing my entire body. My fingers started to slow their movements as I tucked myself into Jisung’s chest. 

I finally fell into a deep sleep listening to Jisung softly sing to me.

❁

Light streamed through the window, hitting me straight in the face. I groaned and tried to roll over. My brows furrowed when something stopped me. My tired eyes opened more to see Jisung still sounds asleep, holding onto me like a teddy bear. 

Sensing my movements, Jisung’s eyes cracked open and smiled. “Good morning, gorgeous,” His voice was scratchy and low, sending chills down my spine. Jisung pushed himself up on his elbow and hovered over me with a drowsy smile. 

“Morning, Ji,” 

He genuinely smiled down at me and leaned down pressing his lips against mine. I felt him smile when I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Do you have class this morning?” He asked against my lips, which were most likely swollen from last night. Jisung himself had several darkening marks on his neck and collarbone. 

“Not until tomorrow. Do you?” 

“I was supposed to go record with Chan and Bin.”

“Supposed?”

“Like hell, I am going to leave you looking this beautiful in my bed,” Jisung said pressing his lips down my neck. “You want a shower? I’m gonna call Chan and tell him I’m not coming.” I nodded and pulled him up to my lips one more time.

“Thank you for last night, Ji. For everything.” 

He smiled and kissed my cheek. “Feel free to borrow some of my clothes,” Jisung said with a smirk before rolling over and grabbing his phone on the nightstand. I grabbed a hoodie from his closet while he was distracted with his phone and headed to the bathroom.

❁

Jisung’s  POV

“Chan, I’m in deep shit,” I whispered into the phone. I checked to make sure Y/n was out of the room. Chan scoffed over the line.

“Han. It is way too early for this. Did you accidentally email your professor a pornhub link again?” 

“What no!” Chan sighed. “Look, Y/n’s over here.” He started freaking out over the phone. I sighed letting his panic play out. 

“Oh no, no, no. You are not dragging me into this. Y/n is a nice girl. I want nothing to do with your and Hyunjin’s sick bet-”

“I think I’m starting to really like her. Like a lot.”

There was silence on the other side of the line. I decided that he was probably waiting for more information. Or he had passed out. Either was a probable response from Chris. “But, she’s at your apartment? Han, it’s like ten in the mornin-...You didn’t.” He took my silence as confirmation. “How could you? You said you like her!”

“I didn’t technically. I had these cameras set up, but I turned them off after she opened up to me and stuff started to happen.”

“YOU SET UP ACTUAL CAMERAS TO FILM HER?”

Chan screamed so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. Even then I could still hear him. “Did you hear the part where I said I turned them off. I have no proof....and honestly....I’m starting to question if I want any.”

“Wow. Good for you. You’ve had personal growth. Whoop-de-doo.” 

“Hey. I am asking for advice, not sarcasm.” I said with a sigh. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling it sticking up in weird places. “What should I do? Chan...I really like Y/n, but I’ve been lying to her up until now.”

“You’ve got to tell her the truth eventually.”

“But, what if she hates me. I don’t think I could handle hurting her.” Chan sighed again. I could practically see his face. The guy probably just woke up and I was putting all this stress on him. 

“I don’t know what to tell you,”

“I get it. Just don’t tell anyone about what we talked about, okay? At least until I figure out how to tell Y/n. I’m gonna stay here and think about it.” With that, I hung up the phone and laid back in bed. My fingers massaged my temple, feeling a sharp pain there. 

Did I really want to keep up this bet?

❁

Y/n’s POV

A weel later Jisung and I were doing even better than we were before. We were actually going out on dates and also...staying in and doing...other things. Jisung had invited me to come and see 3RACHA perform tonight at a local club, so Felix was fussing over my outfit. 

“Felix, I am not fitting into that dress.”

“You can squeeze!”

“A Polly pocket couldn’t fit into that tiny ass thing!” 

“Come on, Y/n! Be my Barbie!” Felix said chasing me around the costume shop with a tiny piece of white fabric that barely passed the social standard of being a dress. Eventually, he tackled me and wrestled me into the tight-fitting dress. 

“I feel naked.”

“Oh, please. He’ll love it.” Felix said throwing a pair of heels at me. I looked longingly at my pair of old tennis shoes. “If you aren’t wearing pumps at least wear some boots. We are clubbing after all.”

“Lix, we aren’t clubbing. We are watching Han perform.” 

“Same difference.”

I sighed and slipped on the black heeled boots Lix threw on my workstation and grabbed the brightly colored graffiti jacket that Jisung ‘left’ at my dorm. He had been leaving more and more of his clothes lying around my room. I wasn’t complaining.  

I drove both of us to the club and covered my ears entering the loud establishment. 3RACHA were already up on stage and performing a song so we pushed our way to the front. All the boys looked a little tipsy and had beers up on stage with them. Jisung saw me in the crowd and blew a kiss in my direction sending the whole crowd into a frenzy.

The show was incredible, though after I couldn't seem to get anywhere near Jisung. All the boys were hounded with fans and the crowd around them was too big to get through. “This is ridiculous. I can’t even get to my own boyfrien-” My world stopped when I looked over in Jisung’s direction by the bar. I swear everything happened in slow motion.

A girl with long platinum blonde wavy hair was draped all over Jisung’s arm. He talked to her while drinking yet another beer. I watched as she leaned up and cupped his cheeks, bringing him down for a sloppy kiss. The crowd cheered and I began to feel dizzy. “Y/n,” I heard Felix say, grabbing onto my elbow.

“I’ve gotta get out of here.”

The bass was so loud I could feel it pounding against my brain as I pushed through the crowd of dancing bodies. I heard someone calling my name, but I didn’t really want to talk to anybody. I just needed air. I needed to think.

“Y/n!”

I finally broke through the crowd and made my way outside the club. Where was my car? Where the fuck did I park? I ran a hand through my hair and looked around me trying to find my car in the see of dimly lit vehicles. 

“Y/n!” A hand grabbed my arm and turned me around. Jisung stood before me, clearly drunk with lipstick all over his face. “Y/n, baby, it’s not what you think.” His voice, which had become my favorite sound,  was slurred and broken up.

“Not what I think? Tell me, then. What was it?”

“Mina, she was drunk. She kissed me, but it didn’t mean anything. You know I only have feelings for you.” Did I know that? There was always this little thought in the back of my mind no matter how much I trusted Jisung that told me I was just another number in his playbook.

“Yes, she did kiss you. But that is a fucking cop-out. Because there is a reason she felt like that was an option.” 

I tried to push away the tears that threatened to fall. Jisung broke looking at me. I wanted nothing more than for him to hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay, but I didn’t know if I could trust him right now. I could tell it hurt him when he reached out and I backed away, tears inevitably falling down my cheeks.

“Don’t cry. I die when you cry.”

“Jisung you can’t do that!” I said watching a tear drip down his cheek.

“What?” 

“You can’t make me love you when I’m supposed to hate you!” I said slapping his shoulder and letting the tears flow freely.  Not hesitating, he wrapped me up in his arms, even when I tried to push him away. He let me cry on his shoulder and beat on his chest until it physically hurt to breathe.

“You’re right. It is a cop-out.” His hand came up and rubbed my back like he had done every night he stayed with me. “Y/n, I’m so sorry I let it happen. I don’t know what I was thinking.” My knuckles turned white, gripping onto his shirt. 

“Jisung, I’m tired of being hurt.”

“You are my everything, gorgeous.” He said lifting up my chin. I hated crying and feeling like this. It just sucked not being able to trust him when I wanted to be with him so badly. 

“How do I know I’m not just another random hookup for you?” 

“Because...” My heart dropped when he couldn't say anything.

“That’s the answer I needed. Thanks.” 

I started to walk away but he grabbed my arm, pulling me back into his chest. Jisung smashed his lips on mine, desperation, and passion filling the kiss making my knees go weak.

“That’s how.” He said, pulling away.

❁

I woke up the next morning, in Jisung’s bed light streaming through the window. I really should get him curtains. I smiled thinking back to last night. Jisung promised to show me that I wasn’t just another girl to him. And boy did he. I had never felt so loved than when I was with Jisung last night. 

I grabbed a big shirt of his that was lying around and slipped it over my head. My feet carried me out into his living room, where bright sunlight illuminated his only slightly messy apartment. A note on the coffee table caught my eyes.

Morning gorgeous,

Went out to get coffee and breakfast for us. 

I’ll be back soon, so sit tight. 

Ji <3

I smiled at his handwriting and the heart he left me. Lifting my legs up, I got comfortable on the couch and waited for Jisung to get back. The sound of a notification filled the room. Did I leave my phone in here? 

I searched for the device and found it face-up on the counter. It said I had one voicemail. Swiping on the notification the voicemail started playing. The voice of a boy I didn’t recognize filled the living room as I brought the phone back over to the couch. “Hey, it’s Hyunjin,” Oh. This must be Jisung’s phone. I was about to put it back until I heard the boy continue.

“Just reminding you, you’ve got two weeks to get into Y/n’s pants or you lose the bet. Your reputation as campus King is on the line, bro. Oh and don’t forget the cash prize.” 

I couldn't move.

❁

Han  Jisung’s POV

The coffee line took forever, but I finally got my order and excited the shop. I was trying to balance the cup holder in one hand and hold the door open for another customer when something slammed into my shoulder. “Hey! Watch it!” 

“Han?”

I looked up to see Hyunjin with a sly grin on his handsome face. “Hyunjin?” He clapped me on the back and helped me hold the door. “What’s up, man?” I asked when we were both standing outside. 

“I actually just called you like twenty minutes ago.”

“Oh, sorry I think I left my phone at my apartment.” I shrugged, trying to move along the conversation. Hyunjin was the last person I wanted to see. Especially after what happened last night with Y/n. “What about?”

“Just to remind you that you’ve got two weeks until you officially lose our bet. Don’t worry, I left a message so you can’t forget.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. My phone was still in the apartment with Y/n. “Oh, shit,” I muttered, eyes going wide. Hyunjin seemed to pay my reaction no mind. He was still stuck in his own world like usual.

“Whose the other coffee for by the way?” 

Fuck. She was gonna hear the message. No. She can’t hear it from Hyunjin. That asshole is going to ruin any chance I have left with her. Dropping the coffee and take away bag, I started sprinting across campus back to my apartment.

“HAN, WHAT THE FUCK?” 

I prayed that Y/n was still asleep. Maybe I could get there before she woke up, delete the message and just put this whole bet thing behind me. Doing Hyunjin’s punishment seemed like nothing compared to losing Y/n. I burst through the lobby doors and spotted my landlord already in his office. 

“Mr.Kang!”

“Good lord! Mr. Han, what can I do for you?”

“Uh...my girlfriend- the uh woman I came back with last night. Has she left yet?” I said completely out of breath. He stared at me like I was insane. 

“Not to my knowledge. I didn’t even realize you were serious about someone.” 

Before he even finished his sentence, I was pushing myself off his doorframe and racing to the elevator. I slammed the button and watched the elevator come down but it was taking too long for me. “Fuck this.” Racing up the stairs my heart pounded in my chest. Would she even still be there? Or would she just leave and not give me a second chance?

“Y/n?” I called halfway down the hall. I could care less about my neighbors at this point. “Y/n?” I burst through the door, knowing I left it unlocked. I let out a sigh seeing Y/n seated on the couch. My face fell, when I saw the dried tears on her cheeks. Without looking at me, she reached in front of her and played a recording on my phone. Hyunjin’s voice filled the room. 

“Hey, it’s Hyunjin. Just reminding you, you’ve got two weeks to get into Y/n’s pants or you lose the bet. Your reputation as campus King is on the line, bro. Oh and don’t forget the cash prize.”

She stood up and kept her stare on the phone. She looked broken.

“Are you going to say something?” Her voice cracked like she was holding back tears.

All I could do was cross to her and take her in my arms. I held onto her, cradling her head against my chest, my heart still racing from the mild panic attack that was just now catching up to me. 

“Thank god you’re still here.” 

I felt a few tears fall from my cheek and into her hair. “Jisung...was that all I was to you? Some payout? A way to keep your title of Biggest Fuckboy on campus?” She pushed away from me and walked to the other side of the room. The distance felt like miles.

I could feel my heart breaking. “What-no. Maybe at the beginning, but it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter? It doesn’t matter, Jisung? Yes. Yes, it does matter. You can’t keep lying to me and expect me to forgive you every time.” She yelled at me from across the room. I had never seen her this hurt or angry and it killed me.

“Y/n, please. Listen to me.”

“Listen to you? Your buddy Hyunjin just told me the whole fucking thing!”

“No! You have to hear it from me! What he said- it’s all turned around and screwed up. That’s why I wanted to be the one to tell you.” She backed away as I came closer. 

“Why didn’t you just tell me last night?”

“Because I was afraid! I was afraid none of this would be real and this feeling would go away; that the meaning would be lost.”

“The meaning of what, Jisung?”

I grabbed her hand in desperation, scared she might walk out the door at any moment. “This. Right here. Us. You and me.”

“Jisung, there is no you and me anymore.” She said pulling away and walking back towards the bedroom. I raced forward and blocked the doorway. “Jisung, move.” She said pushing against my chest.

“No.”

“Jisung! I want out! I can’t love someone I can’t trust.” She pushed through me with as much force as she could manage. I watched as she picked up the dress she was wearing last night from the floor. She tore off my shirt that she was wearing and threw it in my face. Y/n struggled to put the white dress back on before grabbing her shoes and trying to walk past me. 

“Y/n! Don’t leave, please.”

“How much was I worth Jisung? How much money were you going to get for fucking me?”

“$1,500. But, I didn’t take it! I didn’t even tell them that I slept with you because I didn’t care about the bet anymore. Y/n, please believe me. I will get down on my knees if you want me to.” She just stared at me in the doorway. “I will do anything to get you to stay.” Another silence passed. I felt small under her gaze. She had every right to be furious at me. 

“Kneel.”

Quickly, I got down on my knees. I had never moved faster in my entire life. I looked up at her, sharing the same tear-stained cheeks. To my surprise, she got on her knees with me and wrapped her arms around my neck. 

“Please, don’t hurt me anymore, Ji.”

Nodding I wrapped my arms around her and pulled Y/n into my lap. “I’m so sorry...I’m so sorry. I love you, Y/n. I’m sorry.” I cried into her shoulder. We just sat on the floor of my bedroom, holding onto each other, waiting for what would happen next.

❁

Y/n’s POV

The zipper on Jisung’s graduation gown was being a real pain in the ass. It had gotten stuck two inches from the top. They had already called my name and given me a diploma, so I came to sit with my boyfriend. He fidgeted while I sat in his lap.

“Man, this thing is tight.” 

“Well, keep in mind I didn’t make it for you. I made it for Lia. Also, do you know how many girls would love their waist to fit into this?” I said slapping his shoulder. 

“I think I’d rather be able to breathe.”

“Beauty is pain, Ji.” I said as I messed with his zipped. He nervously tapped on my thigh and waist as he listened to the Dean call out the names of students. “Damn this zipper.” My years of costume study were now being defeated by the zipper on my boyfriends graduation robe. “Ah-ha!” The zipper finally complied and moved up to the top of the robe.

“Han Jisung. Music Production Major.” The Dean called out over the speakers.

“Knock em dead, Ji,” I said kissing his cheek. Jisung smiled and walked up to the stage. Before the Dean could hand him his diploma Jisung unzipped his robe and the entire student body was filled with gasps and laughs. Jisung proudly presented himself wearing the red and black lingerie and corset I had made for Lia in the musical. It left nothing to the imagination, especially below the bodice. 

The look on the Dean’s face was priceless and Jisung twirled in front of him and laughed along with our graduating class. Jisung shook the Dean’s hand and took his diploma. Before he walked off the stage he turned around pushed his robe aside and slapped his own ass receiving many cheers and wolf whistles from the students. 

I laughed as he came back to his seat. He gave me a great big kiss and pulled me back onto his lap. “That was a piece of cake,” Jisung said, wrapping his arms around my stomach and resting his chin on my shoulder. I kissed his forehead with a big grin.

“I have never been so attracted to a man in lingerie.”

❁

Requests are open! Just send and ask, lovelies!

Masterlist

[moldisgoodforyou]

take a break (ii)

wordcount: 1.8k

warnings: cursing

part one

____

Around midnight that night, Rafe and Sophie were at the back-to-school party and Sophie was pleasantly surprised with how normal it all felt between the two. She told herself she fit in more wearing a minidress, knocking back lukewarm Coors Light in an old college basement rather than wearing a cocktail dress, drinking expensive vodka in a mansion. She didn’t let herself drink too much, afraid she’d spill her thoughts to Rafe. He did enough drinking for the two of them throughout the night and was thriving in the crowd with a bravado that came far too natural to him. 

“How do you feel about me, really?” Rafe asked Sophie, slurring just a little. He had his lips brushing her ear to be heard over the crowd and was leaning into her against the wall. “What do you mean? I like you, you know that.” She pushed his chest gently, making him stand straight again. 

“No, for real. Because I have something important to tell you, but I need to know how you feel.” He leaned close again and she felt uneasy, trying not to let herself overthink what he might mean. “Rafe, not now.” 

He frowned. “I wanna tell you. It’s special.” 

“Then tell me later. Only if you mean it.”

After he had tripped over a stray lamp cord and nearly took Sophie down with him, James and Colin had been watching Rafe, ready to save him from embarrassment. They’d been listening in and intervened when they heard the topic he brought up. “Rafe, dude, come get water with us.” (Everything had to be phrased as a group suggestion - drunk Rafe never accepted commands.) 

Rafe paused, glancing back and forth between them and Sophie. “No, I want Sophie to come, I gotta tell her.” 

“I don’t think you do.” Colin shook his head and grabbed Rafe’s arm, trying to pull him away.

Rafe huffed and flailed his arm out of Colin’s grip. “Fine, fine! Soph, baby, you gonna be okay?” She laughed and gave him a gentle push. “I’ll be just fine, I think you should go with the boys. Sounds fun.” He nodded and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Okay, but I’ll be right back. Don’t leave me.” 

“Won’t, promise. Go.” She shot a grateful smile to Rafe’s roommates and James grinned, giving her a cheesy salute as he tugged Rafe away to the kitchen. Colin rolled his eyes as he followed behind, then handed Rafe a bottle of water the second they walked in. “Here, drink.” 

“No, no, I’m good. I’m great.” Rafe pushed away the bottle, opting to take a long gulp from his solo cup instead. 

“That’s fine, I bet James can drink it faster anyways.” Two seconds after Colin handed the bottle to James, Rafe snatched it out of his hand and chugged the whole thing, crushing it in his hand. “Look! I did it.”  

“There we go.” James nodded. “Old tricks always work.”  

“Hey, guys.” Rafe accepted a White Claw from Colin, the boys figuring it was mainly water anyways. “I’m gonna tell Sophie I love her. Tonight.”

“Hell no you’re not.” Colin laughed. 

“You don’t wanna do that buddy, you’re better than that.” James shook his head, moving to block the kitchen door just in case Rafe made a run for it. 

Rafe frowned. “S’not fair. I’ve felt it for months now and I don’t wanna say it if she won’t.” 

“Months? I thought you told us you knew after formal. Which was early. It’s still early.” Colin added, ever-practical. 

James shrugged. He had been dating his high school sweetheart long-distance for three years now and was the hopeless romantic of the three. “That doesn’t matter. If you know, you know. That’s fine. But we’re not gonna let you make a fool of yourself for it, Rafe, you’re drunk off your ass right now.” 

“Drunk on my feet.” Rafe corrected, looking a little smug. 

“Sure, drunk on your feet. I was thinking about heading home, you wanna walk home? You’re too old to be missing classes for being hungover, even during syllabus week.” Colin reasoned. 

“Can I say ‘bye to Sophie?” 

“Just good night, no L-word.” James told him, and Rafe nodded. “No L-word.” 

The three made their way back out from the kitchen and Rafe found Sophie quickly, greeting her with a misplaced kiss on the corner of her lips. “Sophie, we’re gonna go home. No L-word though.” 

“No...what?” She asked with confusion as James smacked his forehead. “I can’t hear you, Rafe, it’s too loud.” 

“Good, we’re just gonna take him home!” Colin jumped in quickly, letting Rafe kiss Sophie again before tugging him away. Sophie watched them go, amused but utterly confused, hoping she was just assuming things too quickly from earlier.

_

After a week back at school, Sophie had hardly talked to Rafe. Her head spun  every time she speculated on what he might have been trying to tell her, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it. She tried to be subtle about pushing Rafe off, giving him shorter responses over text and making excuses when he asked to hang out. It wasn’t working. 

“Something’s wrong.” Rafe announced to his roommates, frowning when he received another half-hearted reply from Sophie. He’d tried to make plans with her three times that week and she somehow had a new thing she had to handle each time. 

“What do you mean, something’s wrong?” Colin asked. 

“It’s Sophie. She’s all off.” Rafe frowned. “Ever since we went home she’s been all weird. And now she won’t hang out with me.” 

“She’s probably busy, dude, doesn’t she have an internship this semester?” 

“How busy can someone really be during syllabus week?” James interjected.

“Week after, but real helpful, dude.” Colin chucked a dirty sock at James, and both of them started throwing random things across the room, yelling unintelligibly, until Rafe spoke up. “Hey. Hey! Knock it off!”  

Both boys had the decency to look a little sheepish as they settled down, James taking a seat on the couch next to Rafe. “Show me what she’s saying. Maybe you’re overthinking.” 

Colin flopped down on the other side of him. “Yeah, and didn’t you guys basically spend every day together over break? Maybe she needs some space.” 

“She’s my girlfriend, why would she need space from me?” Rafe frowned, handing his phone to James. 

James took his time to read through, trying to keep his expression neutral. “Huh.” 

“Fuck, that bad?” 

“No, no, not bad.” James paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “Maybe you just need to slow things down a little. You don’t need to see each other every single day just because you’re dating.” 

“I know that, but we’ve hardly talked all week. And she was weird at home too. I didn’t do something at the party, did I?” Rafe asked, trying to think back. 

“Uh...” Colin and James exchanged glances before Colin shook his head. “No, nothing out of the ordinary.”  

“Good. I’m gonna call her.” Rafe declared, leaving the room. Sophie didn’t pick up until the fourth ring. “Hey, Rafe, I’m walking to my freshman seminar, can I call you later?” 

“Convenient.” He mumbled before he could think. 

“I - what?” She replied, slightly taken aback. 

“Nothing, sorry. Yeah, can we hang out later? I can pick you up from the architecture building?” 

“Um...yeah. I’m done at seven.”

“Deal, I’ll be there.” He hung up before he could let himself say another dumb comment, while Sophie just stared at her phone in confusion after the dial tone. His comment weighed on her all through the class, and she was grateful it was just another lecture day she didn’t need to pay attention to instead of a technical day. When they got out a little early, she texted him right away. 

Sophie: just gonna walk home, we can talk tomorrow?

Rafe: I got here early, I’m parked on the side street

She took a deep breath and made her way out the building to his car - the fucking Range Rover that she had never given a second thought about until now. It was just another reminder of what she wasn’t. 

“Hey, Soph.” Rafe greeted her with a kiss once she slid into the passenger seat. She gave him a short smile. “Hey. How’d you know I’d be out early?” He shrugged, starting the car. “Only the second week of school, I just figured. Do you want to go get ice cream or something?” 

“I can’t, I have my first full day of my internship tomorrow and need to get things ready.” She started playing with her necklace, growing a little antsy. 

He glanced over. “Oh. Are you doing this every Monday?” 

“Monday and Wednesday nights, yeah. It’s kind of a lot, but I wanted to do one more TA class before senior year.” 

“That is a lot. Sounds like you’ll be busy.” He tapped his fingers on the wheel, staring ahead and listening to steady rhythm of rain that picked up around them.

She just hummed in agreement, falling silent again. After a few moments, she reached for the radio, and he gently knocked her hand away. “Sophie, what’s your deal?” 

“My deal?” She repeated. “I don’t have a deal, I’m just trying to figure out how to balance work and class. What’s your deal?” She shot back to him, growing defensive. 

“And me?” 

“What?”  

“You’re trying to figure out how to balance me, too?” He glanced over again, jaw set. This was not at all how he wanted this conversation to go - but it also felt good to finally get it out, so he didn’t stop himself. 

“Where the fuck is this coming from, Rafe?” She turned in her seat to fully face him, arms crossed. 

“You’ve been like this for a moment. Before school started, so you can’t use that excuse.” He pulled up front on the street outside Theta and turned off the car so he could fully face her. 

She backed down a little, shrinking back into her seat. “Have I? I’m not sure about that.” 

Rafe frowned and reached out for her hand, but she pulled it back. “Soph, come on. Talk with me.” 

“I am talking. There’s nothing to talk about. I’m just balancing things.” She insisted, biting the inside of her cheek hard to keep her composure. In her mind, there would be nothing worse than showing him how much she was struggling at the moment - she just needed to work things out with herself, and she’d be fine.

He regarded her carefully, unsure. “Maybe...maybe we should take a break.” He said it all in one breath, extremely wary of her reaction. “Just for a couple weeks. I’ll back off.” 

Sophie nodded in agreement without any hesitation. “Yeah. We should.” 

Rafe’s face twisted in disappointment. He swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were almost white, avoiding her gaze. “Okay.” 

“Okay.” She stopped, almost reaching out to touch him, question it, but changed her mind at the last minute. She grabbed her backpack and got out of the car, wincing when the door accidentally slammed shut behind her. 

He flinched at her slamming the door, eyes still trained out the window. Rafe still waited until she was safely inside, then waited a moment longer to catch his breath, feeling like he had been punched in the gut. 

A break, accepted without any pause. 

[dustbunny105]

Title: Cut Loose Fandom: Transformers G1 Ship: Ratchet/Sparkplug Word Count: 753 Rating: PG Summary: Sparkplug takes Ratchet to try to get his mind off things. A/N: This was originally written for... something, Idk, lol. I missed whatever it was, in any case, but I’m still pretty pleased with this :D

.

The music is pounding in his ears and the lights are pulsating, throwing the club’s roiling crowd into ever more confusing shadows. Sparkplug feels half drunk already as he presses his way through to the bar to collect the limited-time reduced-price drink the DJ has just sent said crowd into a frenzy for. The bartender tosses him a wink to go along with it and Sparkplug tosses down a tip in return.

He jostles his way out of the crowd around the bar, clutching his cocktail for dear life-- he doesn't know what gives it its lurid coloration but he doesn't want to have to worry about whether it'll wash out of his shirt. Or anyone else's, for that matter. Most of the patrons here are a lot more dressed up than he is. He drops a dubious look at the drink once he's free of the fervor and gives it a sniff, nose wrinkling as a cloying sweetness rides a fine fizz right up his nose. It's a long walk from his usual fare but then, he supposes, they're a long walk from his usual haunt. The music here is more Spike and Carly's speed than his own and his face goes warmer with every glance at the dancefloor. Still, it's a better fit than his usual bar for the company he's keeping tonight.

The ceiling is higher, for starters.

"Mission accomplished," he calls up at Ratchet over the thumping base as he approaches the table Ratchet had claimed him, raising his glass in a salute.

Ratchet, who’d been watching the throng on the dancefloor with keen optics and a slow-growing grin, turns that grin on Sparkplug-- and then does a double take. His optics flicker like he’s just come online and he squints down at Sparkplug’s drink. His feet stop tapping and he squats to squint even closer, lips pressed together and engine firing off a quick snap. A couple of the bolder patrons who'd been prowling closer to him get a lot less bold at the sound and scamper off.

"What color is that?" Ratchet demands, his gaiety giving way to gruffness. His optics flicker again, more subtly, and Sparkplug feels every hair on his body stand up on end-- a feeling he’s come to associate with a remote scan-- just before Ratchet balks. "Is that drink even fit for human consumption?"

Still not quite out of work mode after all, it seems. Sparkplug hides his disappointment and his concern beneath either of his quirked eyebrows and fires back, "What are you, my date or my dad?"

"No, then," says Ratchet, face dark with disapproval. He stares down the drink like he's daring it to make the first move-- until Sparkplug snorts a laugh and gets a face full of that frown for himself.

"Is that swill you still at the back of the repair bay fit for Cybertronian consumption?" he asks, not without a smirk.

While Ratchet is still visibly calculating just how openly hypocritical he can get away with being, Sparkplug knocks the drink back in one swig. It goes down as smooth as fruit juice, not that it tastes like anything found in nature. Still, it’s not bad. He doesn’t feel the alcohol yet, of course he doesn’t, so he instead calls on the memory of how much of it he watched go into the glass to get an advance on some courage. Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all, and Ratchet’s blue mood passed desperate a day ago. Ratchet is watching him like he's waiting for a bomb to go off and Sparkplug has to laugh again.

"So, come on," he says, setting the empty glass on the table and jerking a thumb at the writhing mass of bodies out on the dancefloor, "you gonna teach me to dance or what?"

Ratchet startles, looking back over at the dancefloor as though surprised to find it still there. His expression is a little clearer when he looks back; a little less haunted, a little more teasing. This is the Ratchet that Sparkplug intends to spend the evening with. This Ratchet smirks and says, "Dance? You? Out in this crowd? I knew that drink was dodgy!"

He's standing and offering a hand even as he says it, though, which Sparkplug accepts with a wink that cuts through both the dark and the flash of the club. Ratchet is the one to laugh this time as he leads them into the fray and leaves the blues behind him.

[cyclogenesis]

i have to tell you that the second i saw cal and ash on that mountain getaway a couple weeks ago, i thought about how desperately i would love a sequel to your turks & caicos fic set during that trip. (this is not a request, i promise, i just wanted to tell you bc that is one of my fav fics of all time)

Aw anon!! 🥺 Gosh I hadn't even thought about that when I was in my feelings about the mountain getaway pictures, which is wild because I am just remembering now that I started a fic after the honeymoon comment initially happened (like, very soon after, because @elliebirdthings was at that show and told me about it and we were freaking out haha), before we knew that they went to Turks & Caicos, and I had them taking that trip to a cabin in Maine.

Just for kicks, because this message made me smile and I love you for that, here's the beginning of that fic. It's unfinished obviously (not even any kissing!), but there's some nice stuff in there I think. This fic was going to be titled A whole fucking lifetime of this after the American Pleasure Club album which was a title I should have kept, goddammit. Also randomly in here I have them driving to the cabin while listening to My Bloody Valentine, who Ashton later called out as one of his main influences for Superbloom.

1600 words of unfinished Cashton under the cut! 😘

The day after the last meeting about the promo schedule the dressing room conversation turns, as it does, to plans for the break. It’s a month out, but they’ve to a man developed a fetish for planning their free time carefully as soon as the schedule’s set. Planning things makes Ashton feel like a grown-up. He likes renting cars. Sometimes he scrolls through AirBnB for hours just to see what’s out there.

“I’m going straight back, we got Dodgers tickets,” Michael says.

“I remember when you used to say ‘we’ and it meant you and me,” Calum says. He wiggles a little from where he’s snuggled against Michael on the couch like he wants to get away, but of course Michael doesn’t let him. Ashton thinks he probably wasn’t really trying.

“Aw, you’ll always be my first love,” Michael tells him, squeezing Calum to him more tightly. “You wanna make out just for old times sake?”

“I do not,” says Calum, but he lets Michael give him a big kiss on the forehead, his face squinching up happily.

“I just wanna get away for a bit, no work or social media or anything,” says Ashton, ignoring their tomfoolery. “A little cabin by a lake somewhere.”

“Oh yeah?” Luke says. “Where are you and Cal going this time?”

“Maine,” Calum says, at the same time as Ashton says, “Why would you assume we’re going somewhere together?”

A small silence falls over the room.

With dignity, Ashton says, “Calum and I are going to Maine.”

“Just get out in front of it this time,” Michael advises. “Let everyone know it’s another honeymoon. Take control of the narrative.”

“How many times can you go on a honeymoon before you have to acknowledge that you’re married?” Luke asks nobody in particular.

“It’s a bro trip,” Ashton says firmly. “For bros.”

“It’s very bromantic,” Luke says. “It’s okay, I’m not hurt I wasn’t invited. I love going back to LA and jerking off alone.”

“It’s nice that we’ve all got plans,” Calum says. He’s settled peacefully back against Michael, Michael absently petting his hair.

“It’s not a honeymoon,” Ashton insists.

*

Whatever, Ashton called it what he called it, okay? Might as well control the narrative.

Over drinks at the bar after their last show Calum asks, “Where would you want to go on your honeymoon, anyway? Somewhere new?”

Ashton pokes at the ice in his cocktail with his straw. Aren’t they supposed to not be using straws anymore because of the ocean or whatever? Ashton loves the ocean, it’s very important to him. Also this cocktail sucks. “Can I try your drink?” he asks. “I don’t love mine.” Calum has something with ginger in it, and bubbles. Calum slides his obligingly over, and Ashton passes his own over to be fair.

“I like yours better,” Calum says after a sip. “You wanna trade?”

Sometimes Ashton does believe in soulmates. “Yes, thank you.” He takes a long drink. “It would be nice to spend more time in Italy. Not one of the tourist-y parts though, somewhere quiet. Up north, maybe, one of the smaller towns.” He tries to picture what it would be like: olive groves, blue skies, stone churches. An old villa with lemon trees and a view of the hills. He’s so used to traveling with the band or just with Calum that it’s hard to picture anyone else there with him. They’re all as prone as anyone to get swept up with girls to the exclusion of most everything else, but Ashton can’t really imagine a future without seeing Calum all the time, without talking to him every day. Maybe he and Calum could just get married around the same time and they could all go on a honeymoon together.

“Yeah, that’d be pretty nice,” Calum says, looking wistful. Ashton wants to take a picture of him, capture the way a curl rests against his temple, how the blue neon lights behind the bar hit the glitter he let Ashton smear on his cheekbones before the show. They made a no social media pledge for this trip but Ashton’s bringing his camera anyway. He has to keep in practice, doesn’t he? Anyway, it’s important to capture these memories.

“Maybe we should just go,” Ashton tells him. “Why not? Who knows how long it could take for me to fool someone into living with this forever?” He sucks down the last of his drink, feeling sorry for himself now. What if he falls in love and she moves in and Calum stops coming over in the morning to walk to their favorite coffee shop together, and stops picking Ashton up so they can go hike Runyon, and stops bringing Duke over like he owns the damn place and doesn’t care about the dog hair that Ashton has to hoover off his couch pillows? That would be terrible. Worst of all, what if it was Ashton that suddenly wanted those things to stop?

“I’ll live with you forever,” Calum says, too busy flagging down the bartender to intuit Ashton’s emotional crisis. He gestures to Ashton’s empty drink. “Another one of those, right?” His own is still half full. Maybe he didn’t really like Ashton’s better after all.

“Yeah, thanks man,” Ashton sighs.

Calum bumps his knee against Ashton’s, the barstool squeaking beneath him. “Ash, you’re gonna find somebody if that’s what you want. Anyone would be the luckiest person alive to be with you. Maybe we could do Italy after the tour wraps, we’ll finish in Spain so it won’t be far.”

The thought cheers Ashton a bit; that’s a decent amount of time to get on AirBnB and see what he can find that’s available. It’ll be nice to have something to look forward to, Italian sunshine and limoncello and the quiet.

“Mike and Luke will definitely give us shit though about planning another honeymoon while we’re still on this one,” Calum says.

“Let ‘em,” says Ashton.

*

It’s not a long flight but it’s a bit of a drive from there to get to the cabin. But Calum said he wanted something remote and quiet, so it’s worth the wait, the drive in the dark. There’s moonlight, anyway, and Calum took the wheel, getting them the rest of the way there in their little silver Prius rental. He puts on My Bloody Valentine and sings along, low and comforting to listen to after so many days straight of playing, of promo. Halfway through the trip Ashton thinks he sees a shooting star, maybe thought he dreamed it until he felt Calum’s soft nudge of knuckles against his arm, heard his quiet, “You see that, bro?”

The way gets bumpy, thick with trees, dark and hard to navigate once they turn off the main road. At the end of it all there’s the cabin, looming in the dark, lights left on for them and the key exactly where it’s supposed to be. It’s past one a.m. but they still give the place a wander, stopping at the largest bedroom facing the lake. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows Ashton sees trees, darkness, the black glitter of water under starlight. Calum asks, “You want this one?”

Ashton looks further and just sees more darkness. “It’s kind of unnerving at night,” he says. “Anyone could be out there.” The other bedroom has smaller windows, but the point stands. “Do you wanna just watch TV or something in here and then decide?”

“If we get axe murdered here I hope our ghosts come back and leave a one star review,” Calum says, but he’s already shrugging his duffel off his shoulders and kicking off his shoes.

The host left them a bottle of pinot grigio so Ashton pours up a few glasses while Calum strips down to his boxers and gets in bed. The boxers have cartoon pugs all over them. “I can’t believe that’s the lingerie you’re wearing for our honeymoon,” Ashton says, handing him a glass. “I also can’t believe those boxers even exist.”

Calum raises it to him in a salute and takes a sip. “These boxers are fantastic, but I guess if you want me to take them off…” he trails off, eyebrow raised, thumb hooked in the waistband pushing them down past his hipbone, then further until Ashton can see the crease of his thigh.

“No, no,” Ashton says hurriedly, “I’m just saying, what’s wrong with a nice pair of footie pajamas? Keeps you warm. Keeps you modest.” Nevertheless he shucks his own clothes except for his own (very grown-up, perfectly normal, in a flattering shade of dark green) boxers and joins Calum in bed. Calum’s already stopped paying attention to him, too busy trying to figure out how to work the remote. He finally gets the screen to flash on, and Ashton stays quiet, sipping his wine while Calum flips channels, finally landing on something in black and white. Cary Grant comes on screen but Ashton still isn’t sure what movie it is; Calum seems interested enough, setting the remote down between them, so he doesn’t complain. The wine goes down easy and Ashton does too after not too long.

He rolls onto his side and sees that Calum’s eyes are already closed. It doesn’t look like he’s asleep yet; it always takes him a bit, leaving him in a dozy stage for about ten minutes during which he might respond crankily to any communication or with adorable mumbling affection. Ashton turns the sound down and says, as quietly as he can, “TV off?” Calum’s eyes don’t open, but he nods a little. “Okay. You want me to go sleep in the other room?”

Calum moves then, a sleepy shift of his body, fumbling a hand up and blindly patting the sheet until he makes contact with Ashton’s hand on the remote and squeezes it, links their fingers together like he can’t quite figure out how to make it work. It feels nice. “’S’okay,” he murmurs. “Stay here.”

Ashton didn’t feel like getting up anyway.

[scarletiswailing347]

Imp and Skizz: Skylands Adventure Chapter 1

Impulse had heard of lands beyond the border, beyond the oceans, and most of all, beyond the clouds. Under the influence of several rounds of the Moonlight Tavern's Specialty Spidereye Cocktail it seemed plausible enough, but now that he was sober and lugging around a full inventory filled with rather precious and expensive items, it was starting to seem a lot more like a pipedream than anything.

"Oh, you have got to see it, man!" the mysterious Netherborne had said, "The Aether it- it's incredible! Flying blocks, mobs that you can't find on regular biomes,and it's sobeautiful!"

Perhaps he was being hasty, perhaps he was being greedy, but all Impulse could think of in that moment was taking as many strange blocks as possible and using it for his various farms.

"Hey, I don't blame ya," the blond laughed after gulping down an entire mug of the aforementioned cocktail, "I woulda done the same thing."

And so here he was now, abandoned after the man had to go on the run for...something. Impulse didn't even get his name, 'I doubt it would've helped much but it could've been something at least, ' Impulse sighed, he understood that life can get in the way of things sometimes but he had no clues to go off on aside from the various snippets that Impulse could recover from his drunken haze on that one faithful night.

"...beyond the Farlands-

"...gonna need a rocket or a plane at least-

"...can't reach with an elytra-

"...need a lot of fire and cold protection."

Not even the letter that the (probably) Blaze hybrid left behind gave any concrete clues.

"Hey man! It's your drinking buddy from last night, thanks for letting me stay the night btw. Finally didn't have to freeze in the stupid overworld for once. I know we made plans to find the Aether together and everything but I'm afraid I can't fulfill my end of the deal, I'm a bit of a wanted criminal ya see. Nothing super bad (morally speaking), mind you, but unfortunately the Sentinels don't care much for that kind of thing. If you wanna go find the Aether on your own then that's perfectly fine, just be sure to keep this book on ya just in case you end up somewhere without any respawn magic. If you're not then just keep it anyway, ya never know where life takes you, ya know? Salutations and good luck!"

Impulse initially didn't want to go on this journey at all, he liked his peace and quiet after all, but his curiousity ate at him everyday 'til he's finally had enough. He did all the research he could and pieced together as much as he could from their humble town library, and yet it still wasn't enough.

The only place left he could think to look was back to where it all started.

"Why 'ello there, the usual?" asked the bartender.

"Yes, please," Impulse sighed a heavy sigh and slumped over the counter, "And make it ice cold."

"Yes, sir."

The tavern was rather empty which wasn't much of a surprise given it was 10:15 on a Monday morning -- too late for those who drank 'til the sun rose and too early for those who drank 'til the sun set.

One of the advantages that Impulse had as an independent redstoner was the fact that he can take a vacation whenever he pleases without much worry aside from waning customers. Luckily, though known mainly locally, Impulse's customers are loyal to a fault an would not mind waiting for his eventual return (besides, he wasn't the only redstoner around town should they need help).

"Tough week, eh?" asked the ram hybrid(?) whom Impulse has been a loyal customer himself to.

"It's still Monday, Zedaph," Impulse said to him with a half exposed eye.

"And yet you're here drinkin' in the middle of the day, lookin' like some Watcher put obsidian on you," Zedaph said while brewing the concoction, "Normally you only do that when all your contraptions are failin' miserably."

Impulse snorted, "Well, you got me there."

Zedaph set down Impulse's drink in front of him, "So, you wanna talk about it or what?"

Impulse took a sip, "It's nothing really, just about to go looking for a place that may or may not even exist after my supposed-to-be-partner abandoned me."

"Oof, that's rough, buddy."

"Eh, can't really blame him," Impulse waved an unfocused hand, recalling the various stories of faceless avatars descending from the heavens to bring 'balance' to servers, "Sentinels. You know how it is ."

"Ah," Zedaph hummed, "Any clue what he did?"

"Who knows, man, could be anything," Impulse shrugged, "All he said was that it wasn't anything super bad...morally speaking, anyway."

Zedaph hummed, "How specific."

"...mmmyeah," Impulse took another sip, "Anyways, I'm not here just to drink. I'm trying to figure out where he got his information from and he seemed like a regular here so..." Impulse waved a vague hand, "Not sure how we never met, though."

"Ooh, a regular? What's his name?"

"...I don't know," Impulse confessed.

"...you don't know?" Zedaph raised a brow, "You're supposed-to-be-partners and yet you don't even know the man's name?" the cheeky blond scoffed, "...and here I thought you were a polite young man."

"Hey, I am polite!" Impulse protested, "It's just that- when you're drunk, things just. Get forgotten, y'know?"

"Ah, I see, a bond forged in alcohol -- the strongest kind there is," Zedaph said with a sarcastic flair.

"Don't sass me!"

"Do you remember what he looks like at least?" asked Zedaph.

"Blond, pointy-eared, red pupils, red sclera, probably Blazeborne," Impulse hummed, "...red shirt, some kinda vest...and that's about it, I think," Impulse shrugged.

Zedaph placed his fingers on his chin, "Ah, Tango of the Tek Clan." he hummed, "Yeah, I know him. He usually comes during winter, which I suppose is why you two never met. He heard about the jack-o-lantern festival and wanted to see it this year. He's homeless but he's got a few haunts I can list down for you later."

Impulse hummed, "Hm, I see, thanks, Zed. Do you know if he raided any ancient libraries or wells of forbidden knowledge or..?"

Zedaph replied, "If he has then he hasn't said anything about it," then muttered, "well, either that or he only did when he was absolutely smashed..."

The bartender thought for a moment and seemed to have come to a realization, "...hey, hang on a minute!You never really said where you were going in the first place!"

"Oh, the Aether," Impulse said as casually as he could.

"The Aether."

"The Aether."

"W-"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, okay?" Impulse put his hands up exasperatedly, "And I have a feeling finding him would make things a little bit easier, so can you help me? Find him, that is."

"'fraid I can't, mate, got into a bit of trouble and now Graph won't let me out of her sight for at least a couple weeks," he took a glance at Graphoniac, who glared at him warily, and gave a sheepish smile.

"Aw man."

"Look at the recruitment board maybe?" Zedaph shrugged, "There's got to be at least one idiot out there who's willing to help you."

"Hey! But also, good idea!" Impulse took his mug and stoid from the bar stool , "Thanks Zed!"

"Happy to help," Zedaph nodded.

[oopsiedoopsie23]

On my own | Machine Gun Kelly/Colson Baker x reader

A/N: I’m back baby! I’ve been obsessed with MGK recently so here ya go. Btw forgive me there isn’t any direct MGK x reader in this but does include reader and MGK talking about each other in interviews.

Prompt: Reader is a popular Youtuber and has been in a relationship with MGK for a while. In separate interviews Reader and Colson get asked about each other and have to explain why they keep their relationship private.

“3, 2, 1 and we’re recording!”

“Hello everybody and welcome to the Zach Sang Show! Daniel’s here and I’m so excited to welcome to the studio...Y/N L/N!” You smiled and saluted the camera as everybody in the room cheered and applauded. “I should come here more often, really inflates my ego.” you wink.

 “From that response, it seems like we should have had you on our show a long time ago.”

 “Jesus no, I don’t think anyone could handle my ego being any bigger!” you giggle and you couldn’t help but smile when you hear everyone in the room chuckle.

“Okay, okay as much as I’m sure we would love talking about your ego for the whole interview, I’ve got some questions to ask you and I’m sure that Dan here, has some questions for you too.” “Of course, hit me Zach!” you smiled, mentally preparing yourself for the hour of questions that would ensue.

“...And that’s why you should not mix tequila and sleep deprivation, folks!” you smirk as you explain one of your many crazy drunk adventures that was posted to Youtube. “I’ll definitely keep that in mind for next time.” Zach chuckles “Dan, I know that you’ve been sitting over there dying to ask her something, what’s going on dude?”

“Okay...I’ve been debating about whether or not I should ask you this but I don’t know if you’ll kill me or not.” he says “Try me” you joke.

“So, what’s up with you and MGK?” you sigh, sitting up straighter, knowing that this part of the interview was probably going to be re-uploaded to the internet hundreds of times by fans and gossip sites. “Jesus Christ, you’re right I’m definitely going to kill you now.” you giggle 

“No, in all seriousness, we are dating, we have been for a while now and he’s amazing. But, when you’re dating someone as crazy talented and popular as Kells, you’re automatically given the title of ‘Machine Gun Kelly’s girlfriend’”

“But no offense, but isn’t that who you are? Like you’re Y/N L/N who is also his girlfriend?”

“Yeah that’s true, but it’s also like I don’t want all of my achievements and hard work to be pushed aside, just because of who I’m dating, you know? I love him but I don’t want my fame or my big break to happen because of him. I want to make it on my own.”

MGK’s interview/POV~

“What’s up, I’m Machine Gun Kelly and I’m here to pour it up with Elle.” I try shaking the cocktail shaker “Fuck there’s nothing in here.” I whisper before I hear a bunch of giggles.

“Cut! Okay do you want to try that again?” I look over at the producer who looks slightly annoyed. “Yeah, I promise I won’t fuck it up this time.”

“I’m Machine Gun Kelly and I’m here on uh, Thirst Trap with Elle...and this is gross.” I gesture to the most disgusting drink I’ve ever seen. “It’s like an intestine or something!”

The interview wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I mean I was pretty hungover from a crazy party that I went to the night before with Y/N but the people on set were pretty nice about it, and most of the drinks weren’t that bad. 

I took a shot of Jägermeister and grimaced, “And we’ve got a movie premier to go to folks, so uh, what else are we doing..pregame, Thirst Trap! Let’s fucking go!” 

I picked up the next question and read it out loud for the camera,“You recently retweeted a video of you kissing a mystery woman...for real?” I looked at some of the people behind the camera. “Who was she...who was she...do you have the video?” 

Everybody looks at each other, clearly worried that their interview wasn’t turning out the way they wanted. I on the other hand, was so fucking confused, was it Y/N? Did we post something by accident? Was it some random girl from a long ass time ago? What the fuck?

A girl in the back gives up and walks up to me, closer to the camera. “You didn’t show her face but it was on Valentine’s Day.”

DING! It was like a lightbulb went off in my head. “OH MY GOD! It was my blunt! I kissed my blunt!” I immediately burst out laughing “People fell for it? OH MY GOD YES! THIS IS SO GOOD! I start cheering, laughing about all the shit I probably caused.

“Y’all got me scared for a second, I’m not gonna lie. I thought that I  accidentally posted some shit with Y/N.” I tell the girl who told me about the video. “Do you want to talk about Y/N?”

“Um she’s my girlfriend, she’s super chill we’ve been trying to keep our relationship pretty low key, so before all of y’all go and try googling her and shit you’re not gonna find me kissing her on Valentine’s Day that’s for sure.” I can’t help but start laughing again. “Anyways, we don’t really like posting about each other and all that shit because she sort of does her thing and I do mine, and when she blows up and is sitting here doing this exact same interview, she wants it to be for her work, and I support that.”

“Okay, enough sappy shit do y’all have more Jägermeister?” 

[retirementhomecollab]

☾ the witching hour

☾ decision: hallway

☾ warnings: f!reader, alcohol mention, drug mention, sfw shirtlessness

☾ word count: 2.4k

“What the hell?” you grumble, running headfirst into a bare chest. “God, get a shirt.”

Your eyes widen. “Shut up.” Your eyes graze the body in front of you, sizing up the half-naked firefighter. There’s no hiding your smile as you tease, “Didn’t know you had it in you, Atsumu.” 

Atsumu leans in, hooking an arm around your neck. You turn your head, cheek squishing against his smooth chest. “No fuckin’ way,” he murmurs against you, “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.” 

You look up at him, chin resting in place of your cheek. “You didn’t tell me you were invited.” Your lower lip juts out, and you think for a split second that he might’ve missed you as much as you missed him, but you let the thought go as quickly as it came. 

“I forgot you knew Bo and them!” he says defensively, arm still around you like he isn’t planning on letting you go any time soon. “We could’ve coordinated.” 

Your heart skips a beat at the thought. You stick your tongue out, eyes squeezing shut. “Maybe next year,” you try, hoping it’ll get you the reaction you want. 

He laughs and you giggle, satisfied with his response as you get dragged to the counter. “Have you had a drink yet?” 

You shake your head. “Not yet,” you mumble, glancing around from his hold on you. “I just kinda got here.” 

He stops the two of you in front of the row of bottles, reaching for the tequila bottle. “Shots?” 

Your eyes widen as you frown. “Tequila… ” You gag, the strong scent taking you back to barely a month ago to a friend’s birthday party. Atsumu had been there too - drawing your hair back and handing you water as your head hung over a toilet at almost 4 am. 

“Fine,” he teases, swallowing down his smile. “Vodka? I’ll mix it real well for you. ‘Samu taught me how the other day.” He puffs his chest out a little and you fight the laugh bubbling up. 

You heave a sigh dramatically, rolling your eyes as you reach for a cup. “Fill ‘er up, sir.” 

He snaps his red suspenders loosely hung over his shoulders, taking your cup with a grin on his lips. You watch as he pours a good amount of vodka in your glass before mixing in just a little Sprite. 

Just as you're about to argue with him, a voice calls from behind you. 

“No way! Look who it is.” 

Your jaw drops as you catch sight of your club member. “No way, what’re you doing here?” you asked excitedly. 

“I could ask you the same,” he says, tipping his chin at Atsumu. “Not surprised to see the both of you here though, not gonna lie.” 

The heat rushes to your cheeks, and it’s taking every ounce of energy in you not to gauge Atsumu’s reaction. Instead, you beam at your junior, leaning towards him. “I almost wasn’t gonna show.” 

“Well why not?” Atsumu interjects, looking at you offendedly. 

“What do you mean, ‘why not?’” you ask back. “You didn’t even tell me about it!” 

“I was gonna text you eventually!” 

“Oh were you now?” you taunt, shaking your head at him and lifting your nose up. “Highly unlikely.” 

He presses his index finger against your forehead, poking you away from him. “Shut up.” 

“I don’t think I will,” you bite back, grabbing the bottle of Sprite. “There’s no way ‘Samu taught you how to make this, by the way. He’d make me a much better drink.” 

Atsumu leans against the counter. “There’s not a single person in this room that would treat you better than I would.” 

You clamp your lips together, your heart stuttering and almost stopping (or so you swore). The club member clears his throat, reaching for an empty cup. “I’ll catch the two of you guys at the meeting on Monday?” 

Atsumu salutes him with two fingers as you nod quickly, closing the Sprite bottle. As soon as he’s out of sight, you glare at Atsumu. 

“Look what you did,” you huff, setting the cup against your lips. “You literally drove that poor kid away.” 

“That was all you, sweetheart,” he says, pouring himself a shot. “He’ll be fine. Come on, do a shot with me.” 

He hands you the tiny red cup - you didn’t even know they make solo cups this small - and you reach for it reluctantly, as if it’s pure poison. You clink your cups together, and just as you down your shot, an arm swings around your neck. 

“Well, well, well! Nice to see you guys together, doing shots without the rest of us.” 

Atsumu chokes on his drink. “What the hell, Bo? You tryna kill me?” 

“Maybe, just ‘cause you haven’t Venmo’d anyone yet.” 

You look at Bokuto for a split second, and he stares back at the two of you, dead serious. A minute later he breaks out into a grin, slapping the two of you on the back. “I’m kidding, lovebirds! Have all the drinks you want! It’s on me!” 

You struggle to steady yourself, already feeling the alcohol rushing through your blood. He laughs heartily and stalks off to find another friend to bother. You giggle, eyes trailing after him. 

“Man, he’s so… ” Atsumu sighs, “so much.” He looks at you for a moment, eyes scanning your face. You feel hot under his gaze, tugging at your collar like you’re suffocating just standing there. “You’re already tipsy?” 

You shake your head quickly. “Another.” You’re eager to start feeling it already, maybe so it’d make seeing all of these other people more bearable. You hold your cup out expectantly, and he nods, filling his up right after. You knock the cups together and down its contents in record time, the liquid searing your throat. 

The two of you hiss in unison, scrunching your faces. 

You glance over at Atsumu, who’s taking a sip from his toxic cocktail he made for you not seconds ago. You stick your neck out at him. “You’re chasing a shot with … more alcohol?” 

“It’s all Sprite anyways,” he mutters nonchalantly, glancing over his shoulder towards the living room. You follow his line of sight for a moment - who’s he looking at? - before looking back at him. His eyes light up as he swings his arm around you again. You feel it flex around your neck and you fight the shiver crawling up your spine. 

“I see Suna and them, let’s go say hi.” 

Your stomach flips. It’s not like you don’t know his friends or anything - in fact, you know them well. With his arm around you though … you’re not too sure what to make of it. 

Your eyes flit up to him singing along, “She fill my mind up with ideas,” holding his cup at arm’s length as he tips his chin at his friends. He glances down and smiles at you, pressing you closer to him. Any closer and you think you might choke, so you wiggle a little under his hold. 

“Cast a spell on him tonight?” Atsumu’s twin asks as the two of you near the couch. 

You grin loosely, shifting your attention to him as Atsumu talks to Suna. You’re trying to shift towards Osamu but Atsumu’s arm around you is like a vice, keeping you glued to his hip. Your head’s starting to feel heavy with the Malibu rushing straight up to it, sweat beginning to prickle at your hairline. 

“If I were him,” you tease, “I would wanna spend all night with me too.” 

Atsumu looks at you quickly, as if he’d been listening the whole time. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” 

You pretend to think about it for a moment, giggles spilling from your lips. 

“There she goes,” Suna sighs, a slight smile toying on his lips. “How many shots did you guys even take?” 

Atsumu’s brows knit together. “Maybe four? I don’t remember.” 

You start to laugh for absolutely no reason, your limbs beginning to feel like jelly. Your head lolls back against Atsumu’s arm and he rolls his lips under his teeth, doing absolutely nothing to hide his smile. 

“Oh man, you guys,” you start to drawl, unsure of what you were even wanting to say. “You guys are so funny, you know that?” You turn and blink up at Atsumu, your lips spreading into a smile that starts to hurt your cheeks. “And you,” you begin, “you’re so - ”

“Alright,” Atsumu says quickly, eyes shifting back to his friends as he quickly swings you around. “Let’s go get some water and some air, hm?” 

You nod, your hair catching against the crook of his arm as you stumble to keep up with him. He finally lets go of your shoulders and reaches for your hand instead, quickly grabbing you a glass of water with his other hand. 

He sets it up to your lips and you drink like you’ve spent the past year dehydrated. You swipe at your lips quickly, mumbling a quiet, “Thanks.” 

He smiles as he pulls you out into the hall and you inhale deeply, leaning against the wall right outside of the apartment. Your nose scrunches when you smell a distinct mix of curry and weed, wondering if it would’ve been better to suffer with a blend of cheap, strong cologne and ethanol instead. He leans against the wall next to you, sighing heavily as he laces his fingers through yours. 

“Can we go outside for a bit?” you squeak out. Even the hall starts to feel stuffy with him right next to you. Are you going to remember this in the morning? Better yet, are the two of you never going to talk about whatever the hell this is ever again? 

You sigh at the thought as he peels himself off the wall. His brows pinch together and you think about how it’s absolutely endearing, before visibly shaking your head, desperate to pull yourself together. 

“Are you okay?” he asks, concerned. “Do you need more water?” 

You nod slowly, swallowing roughly. Your eyes flit down to your interlocked hands and you tug on him a bit, waiting for him to lead the way to the elevators. 

He slips his other hand in his pocket, steps slow and tentative to match your pace as you round the corner and past the double doors. He reaches for the down button and you wait in silence, your heart hammering against your ribcage. Your entire body feels heavy and you want to lean against him, so as soon as the elevator doors open and close, you seize the opportunity to let your head fall to his shoulder again. 

You watch the goosebumps start to creep up his skin. “Aren’t you cold?” you mumble. 

When he stills for a moment, you look up at him. You figure the bright red dusting his cheeks is just the alcohol, and you shift your attention back to the numbers dropping from 6 to 4. 

The elevator shakes and your eyes go wide. You lift your head quickly, letting go of his hand to grip his bicep. It shakes once again and you fall against him, before it stops moving altogether, the lights shutting off. 

“What’s going on?” he asks quickly, looking up at the ceiling. When the lights don’t come back on for a minute, when it doesn’t even move for a minute, he presses the emergency signal button. 

The situation is instantly sobering, especially when there’s no one on the other end of the receiver. 

“Hello?” He presses the red button again before looking back at you. “Are you okay?” 

You nod quickly. “Are you?” You’re no longer struggling to get the words out, but it wouldn’t be a complete lie that you weren’t feeling at least a little buzzed still. 

He hums, brows furrowing as he presses the button again. “Goddamn it,” he grumbles, pulling out his phone. It lights up in the darkness and you squint painfully as you watch him carefully. 

“Hey ‘Samu,” he says, pressing it up against his ear. “Yeah, we’re stuck in the elevator. Can you get somebody? Like get Bo to call maintenance or something?” 

You shiver as the air slips through the doors of the elevator and rub your hands over your arms, stepping back to lean against the wall. He joins your side like he had in the hallway, slipping his phone into his back pocket. 

“We should’ve just stayed in that stinky hallway,” you grumble. 

He snorts. “It was almost 3 am anyways. They would’ve started kicking everybody out.” 

You hum as you sigh deeply, your shoulders beginning to feel heavy again. You wonder if he’s feeling just as nervous as you are at this moment. 

It’s almost like he can read your mind when he hesitantly murmurs, “I really hope you’re not going to forget any of this tomorrow morning,” as if you could, “but I’ve liked you for a while now.” 

Your heart crawls its way up your throat. “I,” you stutter, “um, me too.” You shift awkwardly, looking up at him the best you can in the darkness. 

He breathes out a relieved laugh. “You’re kidding. What was it, the firefighter costume? I know I look good tonight - ” 

You groan, pressing your palm flat against his temple and pushing him away from you. “God, I hate you.” 

His hands reach for your hips greedily and you shiver again. “Not what you said a minute ago,” he teases, pulling you towards him. 

“Oh, shut up,” you mumble under your breath, shifting your eyes away from him. You can barely make out his outline in the darkness but you can hear him shuffle just a little closer towards you. 

His fingers find his way to your chin, lifting it slightly. Your pulse rings in your ears as you feel his breath fan your lips, his warmth drawing you in. 

The elevator shakes and the lights turn back on. Atsumu stares at you with wide eyes as you jump in your spot, startled with the sudden movement. The doors open on the fourth floor, and familiar group of farm animals stare at you tiredly.  

Osamu looks back and forth between the two of you, sighing heavily. 

“Do us all a favor and take the stairs next time.” 

Pick a different room: > Go to the closed bedroom. > Go to the open bedroom. > Go to the balcony. > Go to the kitchen. > Go to the bathroom. > Go to the living room.

[nsheetee]

Makizushi | pt 1

Part 1 | Part 2

Pairing: Chenle x Reader Genre: Suggestive  Length: 3.4k Warnings: female reader, a few make out scenes, Chenle is just a big tease throughout this whole thing, mentions of alcohol Summary: Renjun invites his close friends and you, his sister, to celebrate his birthday at a high-end sushi restaurant. Just one thing: you’re dating Renjun’s friend, Chenle. And another thing: no one can know.

◉◉◉ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ◉◉◉

Chenle checks himself out in the mirror of Renjun’s foyer, fixing the wrist cuffs on his suit jacket and putting pieces of his brown hair in the perfect spot. He has a clear view of what’s happening behind him through the reflection: the birthday boy is pulling apart Haechan’s gift that he says he absolutely has to open now, wrapping paper flying over Renjun’s head as he digs in.

“A flask?” Renjun deadpans and turns to a hoping Haechan, “Why did you get me a flask?”

“Remember the last time we went out for a fancy dinner like this? You saw that older guy with a flask and thought he looked cool, so I got you one, too!” Haechan explains but when he notices Renjun’s frown, his shoulders slump. “If you don’t like it, I’ll happily use it instead.”

“No, that’s not what I meant…” As Renjun and Haechan argue over the new flask and Jeno and Jaemin take some pictures together in the other corner of the room, Chenle takes a moment to slip away from the scene. He quietly scurries up the carpeted staircase and across the dark hallway to lean against the wooden frame of your bedroom door.

The reason everyone is waiting downstairs is because you haven’t finished getting ready, on account of Renjun telling you about tonight’s dinner plans very last minute. You texted Chenle in dismay hours ago, asking why he didn’t tell you of Renjun’s plans for tonight, but Chenle could only laugh at how flustered you became at the thought of getting ready for your brother’s dinner in only two hours.

Chenle has only seen the back of your head from his spot at your bedroom door, but he can already tell you look stunning. Something brews in his chest, a sense of pride and gratefulness brought up by how you manage to look so good, but Chenle knows he would be proud to call you his whether you’re the prettiest girl in the restaurant tonight or not. The feeling goes away as Chenle thinks some more on his thoughts.

He wishes he could call you his.

Freely, without restrictions, without having to worry what your brother or any mutual friends would think. These are the reasons you told Chenle that you can’t let your relationship out into the open yet. Chenle respects your wishes, but every secret date that passes and every time Chenle sneaks in through your window for quiet midnight cuddles makes him more and more frustrated.

You move in your seat at the mirror, catching Chenle’s attention. He doesn’t think you’ve seen him yet, and his thoughts are confirmed when you speak up.

“Renjun, come help me clip this in my hair, will you?” Chenle smiles at your cute struggling, walking up behind you and taking the metal flower clip out of your hand and helping you slide it into your hair. You’re startled to see Chenle’s reflection appear in the mirror, your heart thumps faster as you hear Renjun’s and Haechan’s argument get louder downstairs, a reminder of their presence.

“What are you doing up here? You’re gonna get us caught.” As soon as the words leave your lips, you completely forget about them. Chenle’s nimble fingers, strong from years of playing piano but oh-so-gentle when they caress your warm skin, run down your hair and tickle the back of your neck, then push your robe away to tenderly slide down your shoulder. You shiver from his loving touches and Chenle can tell how much he affects you when he leans down and whispers into your ear.

“You look amazing.” Despite the glaze that’s glossed over your mind, you still manage to roll your eyes and swat his hand away, standing up to face him.

“I’m still in my bathrobe, what do you mean I look amazing?”

“You mean, you aren’t going to a five Michelin star restaurant dressed like this?” Chenle teases, motioning down to your bright yellow robe and panda slippers, “Man, I thought you looked hot now. If you change into something better, I’ll be a dead man.”

“Then go dig your grave.” You playfully push his chest and walk around him, grabbing your actual dress for tonight. You motion for Chenle to step out of the room, but he pouts.

“I don’t want to go.”

“You’re not staying here while I change.” Chenle’s pout deepens and he clasps his hands together in front of his chest. You shake your head at his begging, walking to your bathroom. Before you fully enter, you turn around and point to your bed, signaling Chenle to sit down.

“Yes, ma’am.” He playfully salutes you and plops down on your bed. He hears you shuffling around in the bathroom for a while, and spends his time making blanket angels in your duvet and resting his head on your fluffy pillow; it smells like your shampoo and Chenle shamelessly digs his nose further into your sheets. When the bathroom door opens, Chenle sits up and his breath is immediately sucked from his chest.

You stand in front of him, your robe draped over your arm and your slippers dangling on your fingers. Chenle’s jaw drops at how your dress grips your waist, a bit jealous that this piece of fabric can do what he can’t tonight. The dress glimmers subtly in the lighting of your room, and it shows off your neckline and collarbone, one of Chenle’s favourite physical features about you.

He stands up and strides to you in two big steps, pushing the robe off your arm and precariously throwing the slippers somewhere behind him. You’re about to ask what he’s doing, but he wraps an arm around your waist, his other hand coming up to steady your jaw and his lips meet yours before you can take a proper breath.

Chenle’s force stumbles both of you into the doorframe of the bathroom, pressing your back against it while holding your hips against his own. Your forearms come up to rest on his shoulders while your fingers dance on the sliver of neck that his suit jacket exposes. Your fingertips against his skin make him shiver, and his lips press harder onto yours to somehow relieve himself of the growing adoration for you in his chest. The hand that holds your cheek lightly glides down to move the hair around your neck away and his lips follow to press kisses to the skin he exposed.

“Chenle…” You mumble, “We need to go, or else everyone will start to wonder where we are.” The words tumble from your lips, but you don’t really mean them.

“Can’t we just stay here? I’d love to do this all night.” He says between pecks, moving to where some of your cleavage is exposed by your dress. He nips at the soft skin slightly, not enough to leave any marks but enough to create a kindle of want in your body, dizzying your mind and making you grip onto his collar.

“Y/N! Is Chenle up there with you?” You both jump away as if you shocked each other, looking at the door in slight fear of being walked in on, even though Renjun’s voice is clearly coming from downstairs.

“Yeah, he’s using the bathroom.” You yell back, slipping out of Chenle’s hold, but grabbing onto his hand and silently pulling him to your vanity. You hand him a makeup wipe and shoo him out of your room; he leaves, but not until he uses the hand that’s placed in yours to pull you into him once again and give you a big, fat kiss on your cheek. You sit down at your chair to fix the mess Chenle made to your lipstick and also calm your heart down from his fervent kisses.

◉◉◉

You try not to look at Chenle on the drive to the restaurant, opting to sit in the front passenger seat next to Renjun, who’s driving everyone in one car to the restaurant. You can feel Chenle’s eyes all over you-- from the second you walk downstairs, to the car, and even when you walk from the valet to your reserved table.

You try not to give him too much attention, not wanting to spoil Renjun’s night in anyway. Although it does make you excited to see Chenle reacting to you like this, you fight an internal battle on whether to tease back or to keep your hands to yourself.

Your table is circular and intricately set up; Chenle is seated to your right and on your left is Jeno, on his left is Jaemin, and then Renjun, and Haechan. The waiter gives out the menus and asks for your drink order; you’re surprised when all of your friends opt for something non-alcoholic.

“Are you guys planning on doing anything after this?” You ask after the waiter leaves, not looking at your menu yet.

“No, I don’t think so. Why?” Renjun looks at his friends who are too focused on picking their meal for tonight, no doubt skipping over the price tag since Renjun is paying-- not by his own choice, of course.

“None of you ordered alcohol.” You point out.

“Are you calling us alcoholics?” Haechan speaks up, crisply closing his leather-bound menu and raising an eyebrow at you.

“No, but you all love alcohol, and today is a celebration.” You can’t help but sound suspicious. Haechan lets out a small smirk and shares a knowing gaze with Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin, who all either have a dumb smile on their face or try to conceal their dissapointed expression with their hand. Haechan looks over his right shoulder, then his left, and pulls his suit jacket away from his chest, taking out a flask and flashing it at you.

“Is that Renjun’s birthday present from earlier?” Chenle asks from next to you in a whisper.

“I told him not to bring it here. Did he listen? No.” Renjun whispers angrily over the table, rolling his eyes when Haechan nudges his shoulder.

“This place only serves fruity cocktails, we need something stronger.”

“So, what did you bring?” Jaemin asks.

“Tequila.” Everyone’s eyes widen when Jaemin reaches over the table and snatches the flask, quickly downing a long gulp and passing it to Jeno. The flask makes its way around the table, even Renjun takes a small sip after he loses to a round of rock, paper, scissors with Jaemin. When the flask comes to you, you pass, but are surprised when Chenle also skips and hands the flask back to Haechan.

“Are you not drinking?”

“Someone has to drive us all home.” He explains, tilting his chin up as if he knows he has impressed you with his “maturity.”

Admittedly, he has.

Chenle knows you like it when he shows some responsibility, and even if it’s by being the designated driver for one night, he’ll do it if it means you’ll adore him a little bit more. The waiter shows up at your table with your drinks, the flask is promptly hidden under the table, and everyone gives their order. Before you know it, the waiter is looking at you for your answer, and you realize you haven’t even opened your menu in the past ten minutes.

“We’ll share a plate of makizushi, the chef’s choice.” Chenle orders for both of you and hands the menus to the waiter. You don’t mind; Chenle’s ordered for you many times before when you go out for dates, and you usually agree with his taste in food. When the waiter walks away, you notice how everyone is looking between you and Chenle skeptically.

“Chenle’s sharing his food… with Y/N?” Jeno slowly puts together, and you pray that he stops his thought process there before he can come to any real conclusions.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to hold up the waiter. Was that okay?” Chenle explains, and everyone turns to look at you when his question hangs in the air over the table. You open your mouth and close it, looking identical to the fish in the large aquarium that takes up the left side of the restaurant.

“Yeah, it’s whatever.” You manage to breath out. Jeno, Jaemin, and Haechan turn back to their conversation, along with taking secret swigs of the flask. However, Renjun sends you a look, something between suspicion and curiosity, and you send him back a small smile to ward off any mixed feelings. He eventually goes back to enjoying his night along with everyone else.

The food is served, plates of sushi and several side dishes cover every inch of your table. The food is colorful and presented at the highest quality you could imagine, making your jaws drop and let out some “woah’s” at the sight. You dig in right away, the table going quiet for a few minutes as everyone takes a moment to indulge in the various flavors. As the night progresses, the opposite side of the table becomes visibly drunk, laughing loudly with no restraint and eventually not caring if anyone sees them with the flask.

You and Chenle sit closer together to be able to share the same plate; to you it feels natural, something you do every time you and Chenle go out to eat food. You have to keep reminding yourself that the other four guys around the table have no idea of the connection between you and Chenle, and you try to keep your distance. Chenle notices your tense figure, and decides you need to just relax a bit. Your brother and his friends are drunk enough to not bother you two anymore.

Your soul almost leaves your body when you feel Chenle’s large hand come down onto your knee underneath the table. You try to keep your reaction to a minimum, but you can’t help but send him a wide-eyed glance. He doesn’t look towards your direction, continuing to eat as if nothing is happening under the silk table cloth. You shake your knee in hope of knocking his hand off, but he only moves his hand up and down your thigh, his pinky finger ghosting underneath the hem of your dress.

“What are you doing?” You mouth to him, hoping to not attract any attention. He sends you a devious smile, and you know he wants to get you riled up.

“Are you guys okay?” Renjun’s voice startles both of you and you turn to face him.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Why?” Chenle answers for you, his continuance turning saintly rather than the playful spark his eyes held before.

Chenle’s hand squeezes the skin of your thigh in assurance, and you suddenly get hotter, squirming in your chair. This time it’s not because of the possibility of your friends finding out about your secret relationship, but because of Chenle’s touch. His warm hand feels at home on your skin, and you’re reminded of how he pushed you against your doorframe just a few hours ago, that same hand moving your hair away to press the most sinful kisses to your neck and chest.

The dirty thoughts in your mind make you slightly dizzy, your heartbeat in your throat and your thighs squeezing together before you shoot out of your seat, standing straight up. Chenle lets go of you, now a worried expression on his face, along with Renjun’s curious gaze.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, really. I’m just going to use the restroom.” You keep your voice steady, a surprise to you since you feel like a wobbly mess at the moment. You make your way to the restrooms, walking into one of the rooms and locking the door behind you. You take only a moment to notice how nice the bathroom looks; not just a toilet and sink, but a small lounge area in the corner with a loveseat and a chair. It feels like you’re in a living room rather than a restroom. You walk up to the marble counter sink, a pitcher of cold water sits in the corner and you fill up a cup, taking a long gulp to calm you down.

The cold water should extinguish the fire in your chest, but your mind still runs wild with thoughts of your boyfriend and his wandering hands. You take a moment to curse at him for getting you so riled up over something as small as just a few touches under a table. Maybe it’s the exhilarating feeling of staying secret, of being covert in front of the people you’re usually so open with-- it excites you.

Before you can think any further, a knock on the restroom door echoes through the room. You’re about to tell the person to go away, but they speak up first.

“It’s Chenle.” You hear, and whatever fire the water extinguished earlier is back and burning brighter than ever. You set down the glass, stride over to the door, and open it to reveal your boyfriend on the other side.

“Are you okay?” He asks, looking genuinely worried, glancing up and down at you, “I’m sorry if I went too far, I promise-” You don’t let him finish, forcefully grabbing the lapel of his suit jacket and pulling him into the bathroom. The door shuts and you push Chenle’s back against it, not letting him utter another word as your lips meet in a mess of sloppy kisses.

You don’t waste time, pulling his jacket over his shoulder, down his long arms and throwing it somewhere behind you. Your lips don’t stop moving against his, you don’t allow either of you to breath. Your hands grip his shirt collar and you press against him more, just wanting to feel him. His lovely hands, the ones that were causing you so much turmoil, finally wrap around you after a moment of hesitation. They glide over your waist and hips, the material of your dress pushing up at Chenle’s curious wandering.

When you do finally pull away, it’s when you feel like you might just pass out from lack of oxygen, and you both breath heavily. You don’t separate too far from each other, your breaths mingling in the small space between you both.

“This is not what I was expecting when I came to see if you’re okay.” Chenle admits, a sly smile on his lips that lets you know he doesn’t mind the unexpected turn of events. You slowly lean in, your gaze set on his lips until you join in another kiss. This time, it’s slower, a bit more loving and a bit less frantic. Your lips blissfully press together over and over again; you’re lost in a daze of Chenle, the scent of his cologne and the taste of makizushi on his tongue, that you don’t even realize he’s leading you backwards across the tile floor. When you feel the back of your legs hit the loveseat, you pull away and take a deep breath.

“Did I tell you how handsome you look tonight?” You ask Chenle in a low whisper, as if to not disturb the quiet murmur of voices barely bleeding in from outside the restroom.

“No…” Chenle laughs, a bit confused by your sudden question. You take the time to run your hands through his light brown hair, trail your fingers gently along his jaw and neck, your head leans in to press some quick kisses to the skin there. Chenle is reminded of earlier tonight when he saw you in your dress for the first time, how he did these same actions to you at that time, and wonders if he makes you feel as good as you’re making him feel right now.

Chenle barely realizes how your hands grip his sturdy shoulders, effortlessly pushing him down onto the loveseat. His eyes flutter open just in time to see you place your knees on either side of him, finding a comfortable seat on his lap. His hands naturally come up to run along your thighs, more of your skin exposed now that your dress is riding up. He leans his head back in pleasure to let you kiss from the base of his neck, all the way up to his jaw, and to his ear.

“I love how good you look in a suit.” You whisper, and Chenle can’t take it any longer, forcefully grabbing the back of your neck with one hand and pushing you into another heated kiss. His other arm wraps around your waist, pushing your body into his. He groans at the friction between you and him, and you whine at how stubborn the buttons of his dress shirt are to open. Neither of you hear the knock on the door, or Renjun’s voice from outside asking if you’re okay. But you definitely hear the bathroom door opening, your brother and your friends standing at the entrance of the bathroom with slack jaws.

“What in the hell is going on here?”

[thebestofoneshots]

PARTY FAVOURS

Paring: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Prompt: Bucky needs your help after a girl won’t stop unwantedly flirting with him.

Warnings: None, there’s a bit of Drunk!reader but nothing too crazy.

“Please, please, Please PLEASE!!” begged Peter as you tried to ignore him. “Just this once!” He repeated pleading with his big brown eyes. He wanted you to introduce him to Mary, the read headed technician Girl, which you wouldn’t have a problem with, but, she was Bruce’s niece, and if anything didn’t go as planned, you and that little spider kid would have a big green problem.

“I don’t know Pete, it might be a terrible idea.”

“Believe me, I will be the biggest gentleman to ever exist, I’d behave better than Cap, I promise,”

I rolled my eyes. “You better, or else, I will be the one to use you as bait with the Hulk, and he can beat up Gods,”

He nodded rapidly a bunch of times, swallowing hard but attempting to hide it.

“Fine, now get out, I’m gonna change so we can go,”

“Affirmative captain,” he said before doing a military salute and leaving the room.

“This kid,” you denied with your head and walked to your closet picking a dress and putting it on. Your makeup was done, in fact, Peter was there because he helped you with the eyeliner that you were shitty at no matter what, and he surprisingly had a great pulse for wings. It was another of Tony’s galas and everyone with money or contacts got invited.

You walked outside and Peter offered you his arm, to escort you, you laughed and rolled your eyes before grabbing it and walking side by side with him towards the elevator.

You were thinking of how funny a 17-year-old boy would look next to a 26-year-old woman when the door opened and you entered the party lobby, some people were leaving their coats but as you had arrived from just a few floors bellow neither of you had taken yours. Which you regretted as the ambient was rather chilly.

“There she is!” You heard the boy whisper at you.

“Relax, you’re gonna look desperate,”

He rolled his eyes as you practically dragged him to the bar and ordered two cocktails before remembering he was underage and cancelling the second one.

“Hey!” He exclaimed.

You raised your brows towards him and he nodded like a little kid, which he was to everyone on the team.

After a while, you saw Wanda talking to Mary and you smiled to yourself pulling Peter towards both girls, you went and greeted Wanda and after a few seconds Mary.

“Mary Jane Watson, this is Peter Parker, Peter this is Mary,” you said with a smile and gave Wanda a look which she immediately understood.

“(Y/N)! Remember about that girl I said I would introduce you too, I think she’s here. Come with me,” she said pulling you with her and leaving the two kids together.

“Did you just play cupid with those two?” She asked when you were far enough.

“He asked me, I just never told him they were secretly my ship,”

You both laughed and then Vision arrived and left taking Wanda with him, you were left sitting on the bar alone, you ordered another cocktail and then found the person that had been trying to make you notice him for at least 10 minutes now.

You turned to the soldier confused as he kept giving you looks and signs that you barely understood.

He motioned you to look at your phone.

You rolled your eyes but did as asked “Please help me, she won’t get off of me, even if I’ve told her it makes me uncomfortable,” as you read it you laughed and looked at him, who was pleading with his eyes as a girl with a really short dress rubbed her boobs to his arm, on purpose, you laughed at the sight, if only she knew the winter soldier wasn’t really into that kind of stuff, still stuck in the ’40s.

You asked for two drinks and walked towards him. This was gonna be fun.

“Honey, I’m sorry I took so long, Tony stopped me and he wanted a bunch of pictures with the girls. You know how he is,” You said handing him one of the glasses in your hand.

“He’s been alone all the time at the party,” the girl spilled with sass.

“Oh, I know, he came first to get seats, seems though like you’ve taken mine,” you said as they were on a two-person couch “but don’t worry, we’ll figure this out,” you observed right before sitting on one of Bucky’s tights and crossing your arm in his neck, still looking at the girl. Bucky used his left hand to hold you in place. You felt your heart rush a little from the closeness with him but you blamed it on the martini and the excitement of putting the girl in her place, even if you weren’t sure why it was so exciting. She rolled her eyes and crossed her leg facing Bucky, showing even more skin. Was she really going to continue this up?

“Babe, remember that time my hair got stuck in your arm after a mission,” you asked, to which he nodded.

“Of curse doll, how would I forget?”

You smiled brightly to avoid the mild blush being evident. “I was just thinking that I’m gonna have to tie my hair tonight if the plan is still on, to avoid any other incidents,” you articulated with a wicked smile. He gulped when he understood what you were implying, then you got close to his ear and whispered “now act as I told you something really dirty” although you didn’t mean for it to come out in a dirty voice. He squeezed you tight in response to it, you weren’t sure if it was acting or your voice had an actual effect on him. The girl rolled her eyes and left.

You started laughing and ended up giggling in the crock of his neck as you tried to calm down.

“Thanks for that,” he said after a little while.

“That’s what friends are for,” you cleared and then stood up to sit on the couch next to him. But right at that moment, Peter pulled your arm for you to turn towards him.

“She wants to go somewhere more private,” he said with a worried face.

“Why aren’t you there with her?” You asked confused.

“I have no idea what to do,” he shrugged.

You rolled your eyes in a friendly way “What did you even tell her?”

“That I’m in the bathroom.”

You laughed “Ok, 2456, that’s the code, tell FRIDAY that I let you, it’s for Tony’s private terrace, it has the best view in town.”

“But What do I DO?” He asked again, desperate.

“Well, you talk, and if things go well enough, you give her a kiss and ask for her phone.”

“How do I know if things are going well?”

You rolled your eyes while you thought of a way of explaining to him. Then you got an idea. You pulled Bucky up and next to you.

“You’re Parker, I’m Watson,” you explained to him and then looked at his eyes with the sweetest face you could pull up. You batted your eyelashes and smiled. You laid your head on his shoulder looking at nowhere in particular and then at him again, this time with the biggest heart eyes you had ever made to anyone.

That’s when Bucky did something you were not expecting, he located his hand on the back of your neck, the heat from his palm almost made you shiver, but it all was so quick, he pulled your head towards his and planted a kiss on your lips. It didn’t last much and when it was finished you were left blinking in confusion for a few seconds before turning to Peter with a smile “See, that’s what you have to do,” you told him and he smiled.

“Thanks for that, both of you,” he said right before running off.

Bucky sat back on the couch and pulled you next to him.

That’s when you spotted the same girl now torturing another poor man. “Looks like she moved to different prey,” you nodded towards her and he laughed when he saw what you meant.

“Poor guy,” he said before turning to you and noticing your fast rubbing hands over your legs, you were evidently cold.

“Why didn’t you say you were cold?” He asked.

“I wasn’t, not while I was on your lap at least,” you explained. He smiled and swiftly pulled you over him again, using part of the suit he was wearing to warm you. “How are you so hot?” You asked.

“I was born with the blessing of good looks,” he answered to which you softly hit his arm.

“You know I don’t mean it that way,” you laughed, Bucky was quiet most of the time although sometimes he acted so open and confident and funny it amused you, you had been told how he was a ladies man back in the ’40s. Maybe that’s how he was before they turned him into the Winter Soldier.

“You think the insect boy is going to make it?” He asked then.

“He has a name.”

“You do too but I call you doll anyway,” he shrugged.

“Well, MJ has definitely a slight crush on the kid, at least that’s what Wanda told me, and he’s trying hard.”

“I’m kinda happy we helped. The kid kinda reminds me of Steve before becoming Captain America, he wants to help and everyone thinks he’s too small for the job.”

“I wouldn’t be as happy, she’s Banner’s niece.”

“Wait, for real?” he said worryingly, Bucky hadn’t seen the hulk in action but he knew enough. Getting trouble with the big guy was terrible weekend plans.

“I hope Nat helps us in case shit happens,” was your only answer.

“Like what?” Asked Bruce who sat on the couch next to you yours, he was holding a small whiskey glass.

That took you completely by surprise “Ah... you know... world-destroying stuff,” you replied, you weren’t sure if’d sound like a question more than an answer, you hopped it hadn’t but you felt like it had.

“Hm,” was his unconvinced reply “Either way... have you seen Mary Jane? I’ve been looking for her for a while, can’t seem to spot her.”

“I... uh...”

“No, we’ve been together pretty much all night, we haven’t seen anyone,” Bucky Answered for you.

“Shame...” he said before taking a small sip from his drink “I was hoping to introduce her to Peter, she always complains about the lack of people her age in these parties.”

After that you relaxed a bit, at least you weren’t going to he smashed soon “Maybe they’ve already met? This isn’t such a big venue.”

“Maybe...” he shrugged still searching around the area, to see if he spotted either of the kids “why are you sitting in Buchanan’s Lap?” Was his next question, which was pretty fair since there was a perfectly empty space next to the two of you.

“Eh...” You started but stopped yourself mid-sentence to think about it for a second “Well, it’s a long story, but basically... cold.”

He seemed to be about to say something but by then Nat stood in front of you with her hands full “it’s time for the fun!” She interrupted handing each of you a shot.

“Thanks, Nat? What is it?”

“Vodka, for must of us, the one for James has some of Thor’s more potent stuff.”

“Sweet!” You heard him from behind. Sadly, there had been a mishap somewhere in the path from Nat having them served and them getting to you. You took the liquid in one gulp. “Woah, that ehm... You sure it was vodka?”

“Definitely,” she shrugged.

“Ok,” was your only answer. By then, Wanda had come and sat beside you an James with a bottle of wine. A server brought some glasses and she started serving one for everyone.

“I uh... I don’t think I should drink much more...” you said as she handed you a glass.

“Don’t be silly (Y/N), you’ve only had one shot,” she said taking a sip of her own glass.

You grabbed the glass and took a very small sip before leaving it in the table again. You knew you’d only taken one shot but you were starting to feel as if it had been 4, or more.

Thor arrived you your little gathering sometime after and sat alongside all of you, by then people had already started to leave the party.

“Hey, Thor, your stuff wasn’t as hard this time,” said Buck as he took a sip of wine.

“What are you talking about? The Captain had to stop drinking after his first glass, he said it was harder than normal.”

“I’m not quite feeling it, felt like regular alcohol.”

That’s when Nat noticed how off you were acting, too quiet, almost as if trying not to move, like a drunk person trying to play sober. “O der’mo,” she muttered under her breath.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Bruce who sat next to her.

“It’s just that, I might have given (Y/N) the mead and Bucky the vodka.”

By then you had already grabbed the empty bottle of wine, “Hey, look Bucky,” you said calling for his attention and pointing at the tag “It says you can’t drink if you’re pregnant, and also if you’re a car,” you giggled at your own joke, wondering if it would have been as funny if you had been sober.

“You definitely did,” whispered Bruce after seeing that exchange.

Meanwhile, you were determined in not showing that you were drunk, not after just one shot, and attempted to stand up, in an attempt to go for some water and perhaps eat something that would help sober you up enough to act decently, but as you tried to get up you feel right back on Bucky’s lap. “Sorry,” you mumbled, “must have tripped with the rug.”

Nat decided to speak up then “I think I know what happened,” by then the talk had already drifted to a different subject, so she realized she’d have to explain again “yeah, regarding the mead, I think (Y/N) might have accidentally drank it, instead of Barnes.”

“So That’s! Why I’m so happy,” you exclaimed in a very childish manner. Which just served as a way to confirm Nat’s hypothesis. “I should really go to bed.” You mumbled after, trying to get up again, Bucky was fast this time around and he helped you steady with his hands.

“I’d better take her.”

Everyone waved goodbye at the two of you and he walked to the elevator with you, once the door closed you were the first one to speak, “Hey Buck, did you really kiss me earlier or was I hallucinating?”

He was taken by surprise, he’d never seen you drunk before but he wasn’t expecting that “It wasn’t a hallucination.”

“Ufff... that’s great, I thought my crush on you was already making me crazy,” you replied causally.

“Your what?” He asked then, a pinch of hope in his heart.

“Well you know, that my brain had already gone cou-cou from liking you for so long.”

He smiled, he would have never thought he’d be thankful that you’d accidentally got drunk, he only wondered if you’d remember your love declaration the next day.

[grayintogreen]

I was not technically tagged, but at least two people on my dash were like DO WHAT YOU WANT NO ONE IS YOUR GOD, and you know what? They’re right and valid. 

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

96! And 90% of them are from just this year. Can’t wait to find out what the big 100 is gonna be. Any one of my WIPS could be Disney’s next 100th fic.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

455,024 (also mostly from this year...)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

In my entire life??? Since I was twelve??? I don’t even know, man. I wrote a lot of ooc crackfic and fic for cartoons when I was on FF.net, and then I was on LJ and wrote for a TON of different fandoms, but on AO3, I have written for Critical Role (so much CR), Yashahime/Inuyasha, Guardians of the Galaxy, His Dark Materials (TV), Steven Universe, Bleach, Alias, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Pushing Daisies (the last four were all transferred here from LJ, though)

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

- turning wine back into water (Critical Role, de-aging fic with plot, 30457 words)

I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE HOW POPULAR THIS FIC IS. It beat out two of my super popular GotG fics that have been up since 2017 BY A LOT. Apparently, there was a market for the Mighty Nein being adorable cocktail brats and saving the world. Thanks, Liam’s Quest!

It is probably one of the most wholesome fics I will ever write too. I love it.

- Sunshine Came Softly (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket and Mantis friendship, 3188 words)

THIS FIC STILL GETS HITS EVEN TODAY. It was written right after I saw the movie so it hit hard and fast on the hype train. 

- Mine Is Just a Slower Sacrifice (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket-centric, 2248 words)

BOY YOU CAN TELL THESE FICS ARE ANCIENT BECAUSE I HADN’T DEVELOPED MY TITLE NICHE YET. where are the lower caps and Seanan McGuire lyrics!!

Anyway, this was written probably IMMEDIATELY after I saw the movie and had to process Rocket’s emotions during the last moments, because of who I am as a person. For what’s mostly a character study, it got some mileage on it.

- they drink dreamers up like brandy (Critical Role, 1625 words)

Back to Critical Role! I wrote this one when I was in a fucking blind post-finale haze and producing massive amounts of Kingsley content and I wanted to write a silly fic about Caleb being tiefling catnip. 

- if adversity breeds character (we’ve character enough for two) (Critical Role, Beau and Molly-centric, 1824 words)

I feel like most of my most kudos-ed CR fics are Beau-related, which is funny because I never really wrote her EVER. I guess I need to write her more often. ANYWAY, this one got jossed immediately after 141, but I needed to write Beau and Molly bantering and I couldn’t get her flipping him off after revealing her card is Rumor out of my head.

(Incidentally my sixth most kudos-ed fic is my Fjorester next gen fic, WHICH I WAS NOT EXPECTING AT ALL. IT’S A FIC BASED ON MY OC FANCHILDREN!! I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THAT!!)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Usually!! There are times when I forget and then it’s been so long that I never go back, but I like responding to comments. They make me so happy and I want to make sure the people who take the time to comment know that I see them and appreciate them. Especially if they give me long comments. You long commenters know who you are and I value you and also flail incoherently in your direction.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

God, probably this church takes no conversions simply because, like, the whole ending scenes are MISERABLE AND FULL OF ANGST and then it has the hopeful ending that is actually a bullshit lie.

But second place probably goes to what couldn’t i offer, what couldn’t i give, which is just misery porn in disguise as a character study. Sorry, Cree.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Okay, so back in the day when I was a tineh fanbrat I wrote a lot of self-indulgent crossovers featuring my friends and I in true Mary Sue format being ~saviors of the world~ alongside our favorite fictional characters and after I grew out of that, I very rarely did it again, because as someone who can only write AUs if they’re high concept and can only write crossovers if the canon welding is pristine, it’s difficult.

I have ideas for some! I just haven’t written them yet. Or they’re sitting in Google Docs partially written.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not to my recollection, which is insane, because I’ve written some things in my youth that deserved it, but also I was a kid, so maybe I definitely did not deserve it. Don’t send hate to kids!!

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

The first smut I ever posted on AO3 involved some fucking American Gods flesh horror shit, so that answers your second question.

Basically, yes, but I write smut to facilitate character development in a way that regular story beats can’t, mainly with characters who are in some way deeply fucked up and have unbalanced dynamics. 

So basically chances of me writing smut that isn’t Creecien or Lucigast? Very low. (I haven’t written Lucigast smut yet but I will. Inevitably.)

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that anyone’s told me, but one time when I was a teenager someone ripped off an entire group messageboard RP I was in and tried to pass it off as a fic they wrote.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that anyone’s told me!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I tried and it did not work out, because of (non-wanky) reasons, but it’s just not something I’d be very good at. I was the kid who wanted to work alone on group projects. I’m bad at group work.

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

That I’ve WRITTEN??? Because that at least narrows it down significantly. Sesshoumaru/Rin hands down. It’s a good dynamic and they’re fun and sad at the same time. 

My self-indulgent ass does also enjoy writing Creecien though. I’m putting it out there because I want it.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

GOD POOR SUPERNOVAS OF ALL SOUND AND LIGHT. THAT FIC COULD’VE BEEN A CONTENDER, but I unfortunately posted it RIGHT BEFORE the White Diamond episodes aired and it became so jossed by canon so fast that I gave up on life with chapter two half finished. I need to delete it but I can’t bring myself to bury my shame.

15) What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and meta-narrative and character-specific stuff. I go into every story with CHARACTER FIRST mentality, which is how I end up writing so many damn character studies or why my word counts explode. I’m just out here naval gazing because I love character stuff SO MUCH.

I’ve been told I’m good at fight/action scenes too, which... Shocks me, but I think watching and playing a lot of D&D stuff has really improved how I write fighting and action sequences.

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

[whispers] too much naval gaze. dial it back, bitch. 

I get really caught up in character stuff and forget to do important things like ADVANCE THE SCENE OR DESCRIBE THE SCENE OR LITERALLY ANYTHING. I also don’t think my prose is all that great, but I’m pretty sure every writer feels that imposter syndrome bullshit, so /waves hands. All I’m saying is I have seen some writers on AO3 who are writing some fucking vivid imagery and stringing flawless sentences together and weaving introspection and description together like beautiful baskets and they are stronger than any US Marine and I salute them and wish to be them.

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Iiii try not to. There’s times where I want to throw in, like, a little Zemnian for Caleb flair, but I try to stick to things that are either untranslatable (like German compound words), common phrases (like please or come here), or insults/curses/ pet names. Things that I don’t think Google will fucking lie to me about.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think it was a Sailor Moon crackfic about Haruka being forced to enter a beauty pageant which was just a blatant rip-off of Ms Congeniality and oh my god was it awful. I don’t even wanna talk about it.

19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

this church takes no conversions, probably BECAUSE it’s my little red-headed stepchild of a fic involving so many things that are just never going to make it popular (backstory fic, fic that is almost 85% headcanon, doesn’t involve popular characters, etc.), but godDAMMIT I love that fic so much. It was fun and I use every bit of that headcanon in almost everything like it’s my job.

shattered stage is a close second, because it was such a crazy concept for a fic that I PULLED OFF SOMEHOW and is this wonderful mix of crazy plot and character and lore and my three favorite tieflings having to work together. And also Jayne Merriweather as the main villain. 

A lot of love went into both of those fics and they are my babies. this time next year we’ll see if I add Creedemption and shoot at fate to this list- probably. All of my epic long fics resolve to be my babies because I spent so much time on them, and I have to love them and cherish them because I raised them into gigantic wordy attempts to write a doorstopper.