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stariikis · 10 months ago

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𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 | 𝐤𝐬𝐧

synopsis ; you're definitely sunoo's number one photographer, said so even by himself. usually you're the first to be pointed out by him, but today he doesn't even spare you a glance before walking in his concert venue.

pairing ; guitarist!sunoo x femphotographer!reader genre ; hurt/comfort, fluff, established rs, oneshot disclaimer ; this is NOT an smau, i just included these two texts for context ^^ enjoy reading!

(click to expand pictures)

Hurriedly fishing your digital camera out of its pouch, you alight the bus and rush towards where hundreds, nearly thousands of people are congregating. There's a good mix of male and female fans, but they all have one thing in common - they're here to see your boyfriend perform.

Two teenage girls whisper behind hands to each other, barely concealing their excitement. You can feel their gazes burning your back alive as they try to subtly point at you, but it's no use for them. Before they can scurry off, you turn and wave at them.

As much as you would like to have your own meet and greet with Sunoo's fans, you slip past the blinding camera flashes, huge tripod set-ups and the bustling groups of fans to reach the front of the crowd. Hoping to catch a glimpse of your boyfriend before he makes it into the venue.

After apologising to several mildly annoyed fans, you finally stumble out of the crowd. And there, a little ways away, Sunoo turns to face you. Everyone around you starts to scream, when the artist begins to tug his guitar case from the back of the van.

While everyone marvels at the sight of Kim Sunoo right before their eyes, all you are looking at is the sticker you pasted on the back of his case. The signature he asked you to put, hidden next to the zipper. You wonder if everybody else sees it, too, or if it's a secret for you to keep.

Girlfriend privileges, you joke to yourself.

When Sunoo successfully heaves the case over his shoulder, a surprisingly loose grip on the sling, he turns back around to greet his fans.

Usually, his gaze scans the crowd to search for you. His eyes will visibly sparkle with an eagerness that can't be explained when they land on you. He'll grin to himself, do a tiny little wave of glee and continue walking to his destination.

However, this time, he seems either oddly sure that you're not around, or is plain ignoring your presence. Dramatically, like a scene in a movie or tv show, time seems to slow. Sunoo's eyes skip past you, moving with the crowd. And as the crowd moves with Sunoo and his bodyguards, the only barrier a few mere cones, you stand still.

You're fortunate that the strap connected to your camera is looped around your wrist when you drop the whole thing abruptly.

No. This can't be. You're not only Sunoo's girlfriend. You're his tip-top personal photographer. The highest HD qualities of him come from your digital Canon camera, and your camera only. You're not going to go home with an empty camera roll.

Relying on the hope that the security guards recognise you, you enter the area marked by the cones and dart after Sunoo.

"Yah!" You yell out, to nobody in particular as you enter the restricted zone in the stadium. It's a huge recreational area, off boundaries just for today's concert. Breaking through the crowd for the second time definitely stalled you for too long, because Sunoo is nowhere to be found in the empty room.

Across the dark, foot-ball field sized room, there's a staircase, leading to the backstage. You assume that's where Sunoo is, since he needs to rehearse with the two others in the band in about... you check your watch. About ten minutes.

You can hear Jungwon's voice trailing from the floor above, and that's what helps you make the decision to take the stairs up.

Why you decided to run, slip and fall at the first three steps of the staircase, however, you're not very sure. An agonising pain shoots up your ankle while your camera skids across the ground.

Letting out a hiss, you bring your hands to grab the base of your leg, willing the sharp pain away. Your head's a little dazed, but you can recognise Riki as he rushes down the stairs upon hearing the loud crash.

"Y/n!" He exclaims, doing a 360 to see if Sunoo's nearby. "What did you do? Are you okay?"

"No, not really," you wince a little sarcastically, trying not to break face in front of Sunoo's bandmate, who has assigned you as his punching bag of teasing remarks. Riki rolls his eyes and straightens up to call your boyfriend over.

"Sunoo! Your girlfriend's injured!"

Your eyes squeezed shut to block out the pain, you don't notice when Sunoo flies down the stairs and materialises right next to you after a few minutes pass.

"Hey, y/n, what did you do to yourself?" He presses an ice pack against your right ankle in lieu of your hands gripping it desperately.

"It's okay, I think it's just sprained," Riki sighs and continues unhelpfully, "you're such a bad boyfriend. I was the first one down here."

"Yah!" Sunoo glares his way. "You took one look at her and didn't know what to do and called me!"

"I'm joking, hyung," Riki raises his hands in a surrendering motion, the laid-back grin on his face never dissipating. With that, he spins on his heel and walks back up the stairs, leaving you and Sunoo in silence.

When you can't take the chilling quietness anymore, you blurt, "what did I do?"

You're prone to overthinking, yes, but there must be a reason warranting why Sunoo refused to acknowledge you there outside the venue.

"What did you do?" Sunoo echoes in confusion, tilting his head and adjusting the ice pack on your ankle. "What do you mean?"

"Did you not see me earlier?" you hiccup, and it hasn't even occurred to you that you're crying. The ice is doing little to numb the pain, and with Sunoo acting so off, you're not sure how to feel okay. "You didn't greet me, didn't wave. You just walked away."

"Y/n," Sunoo laughs, "I really, truly, didn't know you were there." He whips his phone out of his pocket and opens your chat, continuing to chuckle quietly to himself. "I'm so sorry I didn't see your texts. I had already reached the venue and had no idea you were there too. I assumed you were going to be late."

Your voice cracks embarrassingly when you say, "you could have at least tried," before shoving his shoulder gently.

"I'm sorry, baby," he murmurs, half-amused. He does not sound sorry at all. But then he leans back, pouts, and then kisses the top of your head. "I'll let you get even better resolution pictures, okay?"

Although Sunoo's interpretation of what an apology is... may be a little warped, he's still your boyfriend, and the show must go on. As promised, when you take your front row seats next to both Jungwon's and Riki's respective plus ones, you take the best, most satisfactory pictures you've ever taken.

you're just the best at photography aren't you 🥰

thank you for reading!! feedback is always appreciated.

more of my works >

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silencedrowns · 8 months ago

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if you’ve cosplayed for long enough, you’re probably familiar with the phenomenon known as “yaoi concealer lips”, where cosplayers portraying male characters popular in M/M fiction put concealer over their lips because “anime boys don’t have visible lips”. Don’t ask me why this is infinitely more common for male characters who get a crapton of BL made of them, but it is.

Anyway, I was watching some s1 original series Star Trek in HD, and I noticed something. In several scenes, Kirk is visibly wearing concealer or foundation over his lips. This means that not only is Kirk/Spock the foundation and creation of slash fandom, but is also the originator of yaoi concealer lips.

You’re welcome for any interior screaming this may have caused.

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gabessquishytum · 9 months ago

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Morpheus is a demisexual incubus. In other words, being him sucks. He doesn't want to have intercourse with any strangers, thank you very much. He's been feeling like a failure for a long time because what's his worth if he cannot perform his function? And he just can't have one-night stands, it feels very wrong to him. Eventually, after centuries of starvation, he finds a solution: he simply creates dreams of a sexual nature for sleeping minds instead of actually having sex. This is much better. Now, he'd really love to find a loving partner...The problem is, the creatures/gods/humans he tries to date all have a very wrong idea of him. Well, they have the right idea of most of his species - incubuses are beings whose existence is defined by sex - but Morpheus looks for emotional connection and a deeper bond…that's why he gets dumped every time he refuses to give it on the first date. Hob Gadling is a sexaholic. He homewrecked a marriage (or two...or three...or four. he didn't count, alright?), left a string of broken hearts in the aftermath of whirlwind nights, and simply ruined lots of chances for a happy, fulfilling relationship. He's been in therapy for some time now to manage his addiction, and he believes he's ready to give a committed relationship a try. He really strives to maintain sexual sobriety this time and be a better partner. When Hob sees a gorgeous dark-haired stranger with electric blue eyes in a cafe, it's love - and lust - at first sight. The man is beautiful, and, oh, what Hob wouldn't give to bend him over in the gents...But hey, he knows it leads nowhere, so he shakes off the reverie and approaches the stranger, trying to keep himself at bay. And to think of serious intentions. Morpheus is very guarded at first: being an incubus, he can see dreams, nightmares, and daydreams of a sexual nature, and he's ready to bolt together with his cappuccino and pain au chocolat the very moment he catches a whiff of Hob's fantasies about him. However, Hob does his best to conceal his struggle, and Morpheus...stays. They talk a bit, and then a lot, and even have a walk in the park. Hob is smart, funny, and very charming. Morpheus immensely enjoys their spontaneous date. When it comes to the end, Hob doesn't invite Morpheus to his place, but he makes it clear that he'd like to see him again. Morpheus is secretly delighted: he's seen a whole Kama Sutra featuring himself in Hob's mind during their date, but Hob is being so sweet and considerate! Perhaps it means something. He agrees to meet again but tries not to get his hopes high. After all, it's just a second date, and his natural allure of incubus is almost impossible to resist even for a person without sex addiction. How many dates will it take for Hob to get into Morpheus' pants? And will he be able not to break his heart and stay faithful? Who knows...

This is SUCH a good au. Good on Hob for going to therapy, I’m proud of him. And good on Morpheus for giving him a chance, despite all the HD dirty thoughts that are projecting out of his brain!

The thing about Hob is, everybody might as well be an incubus, as far as he’s concerned. Every adult person that he meets is a threat to his sobriety. He has those kinds of thoughts on a near constant basis, as Morpheus begins to realise when they spend more time together. And for Morpheus this is actually a huge bonus. Knowing that Hob sees him just as he sees the rest of the world is actually quite soothing. Hob doesn’t want to fuck him because he’s an incubus - he might as well be immune to Morpheus’s sex magic, because he’s constantly at full capacity already! He genuinely likes Morpheus for his personality as well as wanting to get freaky with him.

Plus Hob is one of the more understanding people that Morpheus has spoken to about his demisexualness. Hob has experienced an extremely heightened sense of sexual attraction for much of his life, and it’s always felt out of his control. So he understands what it is to have a different relationship with sex. He’d never want Morpheus to force himself into sex. Although he is somewhat concerned that his friend (date? friend who he is dating?) may not be feeding as much as he should be.

Ultimately they both want the same thing: an emotional bond, a closer connection. Hob is deeply afraid of fucking it up but he really really likes Morpheus, could maybe ever love him? At least he feels like love actually does exist when Morpheus is around. For half a minute he can stop thinking about sex and just think about Morpheus’s pretty blue eyes and his tiny little smile… he’s stopped counting how many dates they’ve been on without fucking. And Morpheus? Well, he’s starting to feel like sex with Hob would actually be rather nice.

Maybe there’s a place for them to meet in the middle. It doesn’t have to be everything or nothing. At the very least, Morpheus is positive that Hob will taste like the most intoxicating of drugs. And he’s starving for it.

#the sandman #dreamling #nsft #CW sex addiction #cw monsterfucking

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somasoa · 2 months ago

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The True Nature of the Ghost Ship: A Legend of Zelda Halloween Theory

This theory will be citing the gameplay changes and minor story retcons present in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, one of the most iconic parts of the latter half of the game is the search for The Ghost Ship.

The Ghost Ship is a phantom ship that is present at night in certain quadrants of the Great Sea. The quadrant it appears in is dependent on the phase of the moon on that night - for example, on a full moon, the ship will be present at Crescent Moon Isle. It is translucent in appearance, with tattered sails and the spirits of the dead floating around it, and, without the Ghost Ship Chart, one can sail straight through it. When the Ghost Ship is present, a storm will start, and when getting close, an ominous chant can be heard.

それから、数百年・・・あのガノンさえ、蘇らなければこのハイラルは永遠に眠りから覚めることは、なかったのだ

Have you seen it? The Ghost Ship also appears in these seas… On the nights of the downward crescent moon...

Fishman (The Wind Waker) - Translated by Sidier

On Diamond Steppe Island, an island in the southwest of the Great Sea, there is a grotto that Link can enter. Upon delving inside, Link finds a ship graveyard - multiple ruined ships, filled with Floormasters.

Upon exploring this ship graveyard, Link finds the Ghost Ship Chart, which shows Link the location of the Ghost Ship is each night, and, upon encountering the Ghost Ship, he can now sail into it to actually board it.

We learn about the Ghost Ship Chart at an earlier point in the game, when Link encounters Lenzo. Lenzo informs Link that the Ghost Ship Chart was made by a man who sought the treasure of the Ghost Ship and wanted to document its movements. However, upon completion of the chart, the man suddenly died.

ある時、船が壊れてしもうてなわしは潮に流されるまま、海を漂っておった・・・そんな時じゃ海の彼方に見たのじゃ幻のように透き通る不吉な船そう・・・幽霊船の姿をなうわさでは幽霊船が出没する海域を調べた男がいて、それをマップに記したそうなのじゃが・・・書き上げてまもなく男は亡くなったらしい・・・おそろしや～まあ、そのマップさえ手に入れば幽霊船にのりこんで、中の財宝をそっくり頂けるかもしれんがの！

One day, my ship broke and I drifted along the seas, driven by the currents… That was when I saw something far away… A transparent, creepy ship, almost like an illusion… Yes… I saw the Ghost Ship… Rumors say that a man investigated the areas where it appears and wrote up a map, but… He died shortly after completing it… How scary! Well. If you can get a hold of it, you can board it and might able to take the treasures!

Lenzo (The Wind Waker) - Translated by Sidier

When Link enters the ship, he is transported into what appears to be another dimension. The ship appears very similar to one of the many other Submarines in the game or the bottom level of Tetra’s ship, but many parts of it are torn off, and through the gaps are inky black darkness, with the spirits of the vessel seen floating on the bottom floor of the ship.

After defeating the ghostly enemies present, a ladder drops down, which Link can then use to climb up and acquire the Triforce Shard concealed within the ship. An ear-piercing shriek rings out, and Link wakes up on the King of Red Lions, back on the Great Sea, now suddenly morning.

While this is a fun and interesting questline, the ship actually doesn’t give us much to go on in terms of lore or story. However, this Halloween, I would like to propose a theory based on the limited evidence we have, and determine what exactly the Ghost Ship is and why it protects a Triforce Shard.

To preface the theory itself, it is necessary to establish a running trend with the Triforce Shard locations that are found on the islands of the Great Sea.

The King of Red Lions establishes that when the Hero of Time crossed the boundaries of time and returned to his childhood at the end of Ocarina of Time, the Triforce of Courage from the Adult Timeline was split into 8 pieces and hidden throughout the Great Sea.

時の勇者が時を旅してハイラルを去る時勇者のもとを離れ、８つのかけらとなって各地に飛び散ったと言われている

It is said that when the Hero of Time left Hyrule on his journey through time, the Triforce of Courage left him and was scattered among the land in the form of eight pieces.

The King of Red Lions (The Wind Waker) - Translated by Jumbie

While it is never specified in-game if the Triforce Shards were hidden before or after the flood, facts in-game make it likelier that it occurred after the flood. For example, the fact that the majority of the Triforce Shards are found on the surface of the sea rather than needing to be pulled up via the Grappling Hook suggests they were hidden at a time when the islands were the only accessible land. In corroboration of this, the presence of Triforce Sea Charts that reveal the locations of the Triforce shards suggests that their locations were only concealed after Hyrule was already flooded and the world was divided up into maritime quadrants.

Because of these facts, it is very likely the Triforce Shards were hidden in a time when the flood had already occurred and Hyrule had been swallowed by the Great Sea.

Many of the hidden Triforce Charts and Shards are directly hidden behind locations that are tied to the Royal Family. For example, many of the Triforce Shards are hidden within caves that utilize the same type of architecture present in the Tower of the Gods and Hyrule Castle. Furthermore, they are also hidden behind the usage of the Wind Waker, a relic of the Royal Family. While Daphnes may have been in possession of the Wind Waker during the time between the flood and The Wind Waker, this does not preclude the descendants of Daphnes creating seals on the Triforce Shards that would require the Wind Waker to unseal them.

Given this shared architecture, as well as the importance placed on the Wind Waker, it becomes immediately clear that the hiding of the Triforce was done at the behest of the Royal Family, or what remained of it, following the flood. You might wonder, however, what this has to do with the Ghost Ship.

Taking into account the totality of these factors, it’s likely the Ghost Ship was specifically made by the surviving Royal Family and its servants as a means of protecting a Triforce Shard, similar to how they hid the other Triforce Shards in locations across the Great Sea. However, it’s unlikely that the surviving Royal Family members and their servants created the actual Ghost Ship, given its supernatural origins, so it’s likelier they created the thing that became the Ghost Ship.

Returning to Diamond Steppe Island for a moment, I mentioned that there is a ship graveyard there, and it is in that graveyard that Link discovers the Ghost Ship Chart. However, there is something peculiar about one of the ships present in the graveyard; upon closer analysis (and a bit of clipping through a wall), it can be determined that this ship is just a broken down version of Tetra’s Pirate Ship, as it is identical in almost every way, including the figurehead!

A nigh identical ship graveyard can also be found one quadrant north, at Needle Rock Island, with the same ruined ship.

However, what does that tell us about the Ghost Ship? Interestingly, the Ghost Ship is also nearly identical to Tetra’s Pirate Ship. However, there’s a noticeable difference; the figurehead is not that of the one found normally on Tetra’s ship, but of a strange figure, with what appears to be its hands clasped in prayer.

Despite this difference, it can be demonstrated that the Ghost Ship shares the model of the ship used by Tetra and her crew, a vessel of the Royal Family, implying that the boats are of the same make, similar to the destroyed boats in Diamond Steppe Isle and Needle Rock Isle.

Strangely, the figurehead of the Ghost Ship has a very strong resemblance to the figures that are depicted in the introduction tapestry of The Wind Waker who were praying to the Gods after the Hero of Time’s failure to appear.

What could this mean? Suppose for a moment these praying figures in the tapestry were servants of the Royal Family, and survivors of the flood - very likely, considering the Royal Family were the ones who had the tapestry created following the flood, given its presence in Tetra’s room on her ship.

As we know from Diamond Steppe Island, multiple of the same model of Tetra’s Pirate Ship were made, and it’s likely that it was simply the ship style that was utilized by those directly affiliated with the Royal Family. Given the presence of the Triforce Shard on the Ghost Ship, it’s likely that, in life, it was a regular ship that consisted of a crew that protected the Triforce at the behest of the Royal Family. However, as we’re told in The Wind Waker, centuries have passed since the original flooding event.

それから、数百年・・・あのガノンさえ、蘇らなければこのハイラルは永遠に眠りから覚めることは、なかったのだ

Centuries have passed since then... If Ganon had not revived, Hyrule wouldn't have awakened from its endless slumber.

Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule (The Wind Waker) - Translated by Sidier

Like all mortal men, the crew of this ship dedicated to the protection of a Triforce Shard were doomed to die, whether it be through old age or some other unforeseeable disaster at sea. However, given the presence of the Ghost Ship in the modern day, still protecting the Triforce Shard, is it likely that those deceased souls - the ones who survived the flood, and who protected the Triforce Shard - then went on to continue roaming the Great Sea in the form of an undead crew on their supernatural ship. This would be reinforced by the fact we see a ruined Royal Family ship in Diamond Steppe Isle, which, coincidentally, is also the same location we find the Ghost Ship Chart. We know that the Ghost Ship Chart was made by a man seeking the Ghost Ship’s treasure; is it possible the Ghost Ship killed this man somehow, as a way of protecting the Triforce, and hid the chart in Diamond Steppe Island? If this is the case, it’s likely that it is capable of moving other objects, and is likely the reason the ship graveyard exists in Diamond Steppe Island in the first place.

From there, it is also possible, then, that the ruined Royal Family ship we see in Diamond Steppe Island is actually the “corpse” of the Ghost Ship, and the phantom ship we see roaming the seas is the spirit of this ship transformed, with its figurehead now resembling the praying figures who survived the flood - the servants of the Royal Family, who now, in death, continue protecting the Triforce Shard. However, it’s also possible that the Ghost Ship’s original ship was just an unseen fourth ship separate from Tetra’s, the Needle Rock Isle ship, and the Diamond Steppe Isle ship.

Regardless, this interpretation also explains why the ship disappears once Link acquires the Triforce Shard; the purpose of the ship and its crew was to protect the Triforce Shard, which they would continue doing even after shedding their mortal coils. But now, with the appearance of the one true Hero and his acquisition of the Triforce Shard, they can now leave the Great Sea and move onto the afterlife, their ultimate purpose finally fulfilled.

In summary, the Ghost Ship was a ship that consisted of servants of the Royal Family who survived the flood. The surviving Royal Family hid the Triforce Shards throughout the Great Sea, and one of shard was hidden amongst a group of these servants who had their own ship. However, eventually, the ship was destroyed somehow, and its ruins either sunk to the seafloor or possibly even found their way to the Diamond Steppe Island ship graveyard, either via natural or supernatural means. The Ghost Ship, the twisted and warped spirit of this ship, continued sailing the Great Sea, with its undead crew still protecting the Triforce Shard. A man seeking to acquire this treasure created the Ghost Ship Chart, and dropped dead upon completing it. The chart was then placed in Diamond Steppe Island, somehow, likely related to the Ghost Ship’s supernatural abilities. Eventually, the Hero of Winds stumbles upon the ship graveyard as well as the Ghost Ship Chart, and upon entering the Ghost Ship, he puts its undead crew to rest and acquires the Triforce Shard, allowing the Ghost Ship to end its reign as terror of the seas.

However, there is still much about this ship that goes unexplained. Why was its chart on Diamond Steppe Island? Why does it favor certain islands on the Great Sea based on the phases of the moon? While an answer to questions like these would explain practically everything surrounding the Ghost Ship, perhaps it’s for the best that this phantasmic ship still has some mysteries left unanswered...

#zelda #zelda lore #the legend of zelda #tloz #legend of zelda #zelda theory #zelda history #the wind waker #zelda the wind waker #tww #nintendo #nintendo lore #nintendo theory #ghost ship #zelda halloween #nintendo halloween #halloween

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herejusttosufferalong · 5 months ago

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Rumor has it, make-up department had to bring in extra concealer one day for HD, because RG scratched and bruised her real bad in a bitch fight over L.

But HD apparently gave as good as she got and RG has been missing a toe ever since.

I wonder if mother and daughter are still fighting over this man

#ladies enough #not a good look #issa joke

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hokmakeup123 · 1 month ago

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#face concealer #face conceal #makeup concealer #hd conceal #la girl #Hok makeup #makeup products

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keautybeauty · 7 months ago

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#Concealer #Full Coverage Concealer #Keauty Beauty HD Full Coverage Concealer #Liquid Concealer #best full coverage concealer #full coverage concealer for oily skin #best concealers #concealer makeup #Matte Liquid Concealer

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mx-misty-eyed · 7 months ago

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OK CLANCY THEORIES THAT I CAN SHARE NOW THAT THE ALBUM IS OUT

(I'm kinda going crazy here and possibly reading into things too much so idk also these are just my opinions and I'd love to hear other interpretations)

Clancy is using psychokinesis possibly too much and is becoming corrupted, I think he's turning into a bishop and is gonna fall victim to the cycle the attempt to reclaim red and to reclaim the power to fight against them might turn into him giving in. Like firstly "I'm testing the limits of what a mind can do" in routines like, nobody should be using this power their minds weren't made for it.

Then Vignette "not sure when it started, peelin' from his bones" then "hope it held together long enough for he to pitch the greener grasses" CLANCY STARTING TO BE CORRUPTED BY THE POWER BUT NOT NOTICING AND JUST HOPING TO STAY TOGETHER TO FIX THINGS FOR EVERYONE, also just "clinging to promises fighting off the vignette tunnels cave visions fade swallowed by the vignette" perhaps fighting off the corruption??? (also "no its not me its for a friend" Clancy perhaps becoming a bit selfish with his goal to take down the bishops and trying to lie to himself and say he's doing it for others???)

WE ALL SAW NAVIGATING (JOSH ISNT REAL WHAT THE FUCK I KNEW MY BLOOD WAS INVOLVED IN THE LORE) Anyway I don't even know what to say about the video I didn't even really watch it I was nodding off (fully awake rn) but THE SONG??? Just like basic stuff "pardon my delay I'm navigating my head disassociate" very just like, him fighting with the power and corruption and trying to figure things out, still trying to fight back against dema still. "How things change so rapidly I find my self-esteem, then turn so cold" STILL THE CORRUPTION

SNAP FUCKING BACK. THIS ENTIRE SONG AUGH gotta break it down a lot more than the others "got a bad feeling that i'm about to break been a good streak but the pressure's overweight" and also "got a bad feeling I'm gonna lose the lead" FUCKING CORRUPTION THE POWER AND PRESSURE IS GETTING TO HIM HES ABOUT TO SNAP "if I'm gonna snap necks then I gotta snap back" HE HAS TO FIGHT IT OFF AND COME BACK TO HIMSELF TO FIGHT DEMA (also "running from a thing that I kicked in '17" BLURRY?? that was the last blurry year before trench)

"blacklisted from forgiveness" and later "I have seemed to run out of excuses of why I am this way" could be him acknowledging what's happening to him and just accepting that. "its a backslide I commandeered a hot ride drove it til the engine died all of that progress lost today" FIRST OF ALL BACKSLIDE REF, SECONDLY HE IS DESCRIBING HDS AND HIS ESCAPE AND HE IS SAYING HES LOSING THE PROGRESS CUZ HE MARCHING BACK INTO DEMA!!?! "I've been praying for my elasticity to return to the way that it was" maybe Clancy saying that he wants to recover from psychokinesis the way he used to but he's not anymore

"I don't want anymore know me or not see me at my lowest you don't have to drop" if you've read this far then I think (?) that's self explanatory. "don't know how I feel man bout you sleepin so close to a weapon you conceal man" may either be about Clancy sleeping near antlers/just being too comfortable with them, or Clancy being the weapon himself. now for fuckin

paladin strait

"standing on the shore staring down a hurtling storm makin' it's way toward me" staring down his final(?) face down with dema. "here's my chance, time to take it can't be sure that I'll make it even though I'm past the point of no return i'm all in, I'm surrounded put my money where my mouth is" past the point of no return in two ways, hes going to fight them and there's no turning back now, and he's been corrupted and he's aware of that and that there's no changing it now he's just gotta complete his final goal AND THEN

"On the ground are banditos fighting while I find Nico even though I'm past the point of no return climb the top of the tower "show yourself," I yell louder" saying while I fight Nico even though I'm past the point of no return, to me, implies that he's fighting him even though he's been corrupted and may possibly be turning over to his side AND THEN THE WAY NICO GREETS HIM AT THE END "hello Clancy" IT WAS FAR TOO NICE AND FAMILIAR FOR SOMEONE HE HATES AND WANTS TO FIGHT, I THINK CLANCY TRIED TO FIGHT AGAINST THE BISHOPS WITH THEIR OWN POWERS WEARING HIS OWN RED HOOD BUT THE COLOR AND THE POWER TOOK OVER HIM AND HE IS BECOMING ONE OF THEM

#twenty one pilots #frankie #clancy #tyler joseph #josh dun #twenty one pilots theories

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samkiszkasfacialhair · 2 years ago

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Painted Up

Pairing: Josh Kiszka and Female Reader

Summary: Josh decides to experiment with stage makeup, which leads to more than a couple surprising things.

Warnings: Alcohol, mention of gender norms

Word Count: 2.8k

With any job, there were pros and cons.

The pros: It was a stress free environment, the traveling was amazing, and the guys were always polite and nothing but sweet to you.

The cons: It was a little boring at times compared to your previous jobs of runway shows and horror movie special effects. But you couldn’t complain. What did you expect when you took a job as a makeup artist for a band of men?

There were four of them. Jake, Sam, Danny, and Josh.

Jake and Sam were simple. Once a week you’d be greeted by a cute face with long hair popping his head into the makeup and hair room before a show asking in the sweetest voice, “Do you have a second?” or “Can you cover something up for me?” To which you always said “Of course!” without hesitation. You’d sit them down, do what they needed, and in 5 minutes, they’d be out.

Danny was a bit more daring. He had darker features than the other guys and he was willing to try eyeliner and experiment with colors. It was never anything crazy but with him not being up front, a little extra pop of something was exactly what he needed. And still, it was easy because nothing had to be precise. Whenever you tried something new on him, their photographer would be there to snap a photo of his look.

But Josh? Josh was your favorite. As the front man, he got a little more extra attention from you in the makeup department. You covered up his sunburnt cheeks, separated his lashes with clear mascara, and filled his beard in occasionally. He was also a bit more talkative than the other guys so whenever he was in the chair, it was a nice time.

He had a great personality and you loved conversations with him. It was no wonder people were captivated by him on stage. You were captivated by him when he was just his regular, everyday self.

Part of you wished he could get more attention from you in other ways. You had to admit, he was cute. Very cute. His looks combined with his personality gave you butterflies that were hard to ignore. And you could never quite tell if he was flirting with you or just being polite.

But regardless, this was work and he was your client. You had to be strictly professional with him.

One day, the band was shooting a few videos so you were really making sure you got each of them good. They each took a bit more time than usual since they had to be HD camera ready. You were giving Josh his usual fix, with just a bit more here and there when you saw his eyes wandering into your kit.

“What are those?” he asked, nudging his head to the little box of rhinestones you had next to your eye shadow collection.

“Rhinestones,” you replied casually, shrugging your shoulders, “You know, for like, extravagant looks,” you said as you continued dotting his cheeks with concealer. You pulled back from him and leaned down into your kit to get a sponge.

“Hm,” he paused, “Do you think I’d be fit for an extravagant look?” he asked, giving you a shy smile.

“Do you want an extravagant look?” you asked, looking at him with an I know you want it kind of smile.

“That depends. Do you think I could pull it off?” he asked.

His expression turned a little more serious with his question. You could tell he wasn’t simply nervous about being able to pull off the look. He was thinking a little deeper. This wasn't just concealer and clear mascara; and this was a bit different than just eyeliner on a drummer. This could push boundaries a bit. And even play around with gender norms. You could tell he wasn’t one hundred percent sure about this.

However, with all that being said, he could absolutely pull off an extravagant look and if it ruffles some feathers, who cares? It’s not like he’d be the only man to ever wear makeup. This is the 21st century after all. Besides, with his strong facial features, combined with his stage outfits and stage presence, he could pull off anything to be honest.

“Are you kidding? You definitely could. I mean, look at you. Look at your stage outfits. Look at your face? A little sparkle and a little color would be perfect,” you said.

He tucked his lips into his mouth, trying not to smile too wide. You could tell he liked the idea but was still a bit apprehensive.

“Here, you look through and see if there’s anything you like. And, if you do, we can try something out. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy if you don’t want it to be. It can be subtle.”

He pursed his lips to the side and nodded. Your reassurance to make things subtle if he wanted seemed to make him feel more confident. He turned himself in the chair and rested his elbow on the counter, peeking through the kit.

As he looked, he picked some products up to see the different colors of everything you had. His eyebrows furrowed as he went through the kit and put back ones he didn’t particularly care for. He was careful with everything he touched and he made sure he put everything back where it came from.

Finally, he settled on a tube of gold liquid eye shadow and the container of rhinestones.

“Ooh, gold?” you asked, a bit flirtatiously, as he placed them onto the counter.

“Yeah, right?” he asked, “Red and gold go well together, right?” he asked, looking down at his jumpsuit, which was a shade of deep red, and then looking up at you for your opinion.

You bit your lip, smiled at him, and nodded.

You felt your heart stop and your smile faded as your eyes locked with his.

In that moment, he was different than you’d ever seen him before. He wasn’t that confident and funny guy you always saw him as. He was shy and unsure of himself.

He blinked and looked away quickly, putting an abrupt end to the eye contact.

“Um, yeah, so, like, do you just wanna…” he trailed off, as he sat back in the chair.

“Yeah,” you said, “Do you have any idea of what you want me to do?”

“Not really,” he said with a sigh, “But I trust you.”

You stood in front of him like you normally would and you got to work.

His eyes watched your hands as you twisted the cap off the eyeshadow tube and scraped off the excess product on the container.

“Close your eyes,” you whispered as you brought the applicator to his face.

He did as you said and you began delicately painting his eyelid with the gold shimmer.

When you got to the outer corner, you began a downturned wing of gold, which quickly became something more.

You got lost in the art. Josh was the perfect canvas, it was easy to get carried away with him.

Before you knew it, you were looking at five points of gold, resembling the sun, running down his cheeks.

He looked unbelievable.

“You can open now,” you said to Josh.

He opened his eyes as you turned back to your kit to get tweezers, glue, and the rhinestones he chose.

You picked up a rhinestone in the tweezers and applied glue to the back. Slowly, you leaned forward towards Josh and brought it to his face.

This was the closest you’ve ever been to him. Your faces were just inches apart. You could feel him exhaling through his nose slowly on your wrist. You could smell cologne on his neck. You were trying to concentrate on the task before you, making sure the rhinestone went in just the right spot. But Josh was making your job hard. Not to mention, you could see his eyes looking at yours the entire time.

Rhinestone by rhinestone, he wasn’t breaking his stare.

After you placed the last rhinestone to his face, you pulled back just a bit to get a full look at the sun burst on his face and swiped your fingertips across it with feather light motions.

“Perfect,” you whispered.

“Yeah, perfect,” he repeated. He wasn’t talking about the makeup.

When you finally looked into his eyes, he was looking deep into yours.

There was silence for a few moments until Josh spoke.

“Would it be super unprofessional if I-”

“No,” you cut him off as you shook your head.

Slowly, his hand came up off where it was resting on his lap and he held your jaw lightly.

He pulled your face closer to his and you both closed your eyes and connected your lips.

The kiss was soft and sweet. His lips were warm and fit perfectly on yours.

The two of you broke the kiss and pulled back in the slightest bit.

You stared at each other for a few seconds until you each broke into smiles.

“Maybe, red and gold aren't the only things that go well together,” he whispered.

“Maybe,” you giggled.

Years passed and you went from being Greta Van Fleet’s make-up artist to gaining a new title.

Josh’s girlfriend.

You kept your job with them despite your relationship status and when you were working, the two of you kept things very professional. Except when you were alone of course. If Josh’s dressing room door was locked- it was obvious that you weren’t just doing his makeup.

What started off as a relatively boring job touring as a makeup artist for a band of men completely changed your life. The job you once thought was easy and boring, had turned into the most exciting time in your life and it had brought you the love of your life (and three amazing friends).

Throughout the next couple of years on tour, Jake and Sam would come to you for their usual quick touch ups as always. But Josh and Danny kept the more extravagant looks going.

Danny caught on to the rhinestones and before you knew it, you were lining his eyes with black eyeliner and gluing colored rhinestones around them. He also started asking for more which led to completely smoking out his eyes with black eyeshadow. He loved the intense dark look of it and you liked that it really brought something out in him, personality wise too.

Josh stuck to the rhinestones for a while. He liked having them in different designs and he even suggested to place them down his chest at one point.

You taught them both how to properly take the makeup and rhinestones off in a safe way, instead of just rubbing their eyes or scratching them off. Josh listened, Danny didn’t as much. He liked the little extra black the remnants of his makeup left for his everyday self.

Regardless, Josh loved the rhinestones so much that he started taking videos of the process of getting his makeup done. He would film himself on his phone and call it his “Rhinestone Diary.” He said he wanted to capture the memories of getting his makeup done on tour and that it was his favorite part of his pre-show routine.

Eventually, the social media team took that one over and it became a thing for Josh to do before shows. He turned it into a whole comedy sketch and the fans loved to see what you saw in him- his personality and his captivating show looks.

Before you knew it, the tour the guys had been on for almost a year was coming to an end. You were in Josh’s dressing room with him and Danny doing both of their makeup.

Jake and Sam got their usual touch ups and went their separate ways to continue preparing for the show. The door was wide open and people were coming in and out with questions and orders for them.

Danny’s makeup was done and you were carefully applying gold eyeshadow to Josh’s eyelids when Sam walked in, ready to go on stage.

“Whatcha doin’?” Sam asked as he sat down with a can of hard seltzer in hand. He picked at some of the products you had set out for Josh and inspected them carefully.

“Eyeshadow,” you said softly as you concentrated on the art you were creating on Josh’s face. You brought the brush across his eyelid and swiped the gold across his temple. You continued, adding horizontal stripes of gold down his cheeks.

“Wanna do me next?” he asked.

“I already did you, Sam,” you said, still concentrating on Josh’s face.

“No like, really do me. Like how you do Daniel and Josh,” he said.

Danny lifted his head up from his phone. Josh’s eyes snapped open, and you turned your head to Sam; all three of you were in a state of shock.

“What?” he giggled as he looked at you all looking at him.

“You want me to do your makeup? Like makeup, makeup?”

“Yeah, give me something. Nothing dark. But,” he paused, “surprise me.”

“Let me finish your brother and then I’m all yours, Samuel,” you said, smiling.

Sam smiled, sat down on top of the counter, and swung his feet back and forth. He waited patiently for Josh to be done and then swapped places in the chair with him when it was his turn.

“Make me beautiful,” he said, smiling as he sat up tall in the chair.

“Eh, you need a lot of work. I’ll see what I can do,” you teased.

You all laughed as you inspected Sam’s face for options of what to do.

He had perfect skin and down turned eyes, which gave him a lot of lid space that extended from the inner corners, all the way out to the sides of his face with a perfect downturned swoop.

You decided on a little black mascara, which he flinched when you applied it, gold winged eyeliner which covered his eyelids, and a few rhinestones across his lash lines.

You completed his look and turned him around so he could get a good look of himself.

His eyes widened and his face lit up at the sight of himself.

“Woah, this is sick, Y/N. Thank you!” he said happily as he turned his head back and forth to get a good look.

The three of them stood in the mirror and gushed over their looks for the night as you started packing your kit away.

“What are you doing? We have like 10 minutes,” a deeper voice called from the doorway.

You all turned your attention to Jake who was in his suit, ready to go.

All three boys turned around and Jake’s mouth opened slightly when he saw Sam, who usually never had anything on his face for shows.

“Jake, do you want a makeup look too?” you said, stretching out your words.

“No,” he laughed, quite certain with himself.

“Come on! Do it with us,” Sam begged.

“You’re the only one without it,” Danny added.

“You’re gonna look stupid,” Josh said.

Jake looked at all of them with a conflicted face. You could tell he didn’t want to be left out but he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea.

It was the same face you saw on Josh years ago when the idea of makeup was first brought up.

After a few seconds of silence, you spoke.

“Jake, it doesn’t have to be like theirs. I could do something subtle,” you explained.

The room was silent except for the quiet whispers of “Come on,” and “Please?” coming from the guys behind you.

Finally, Jake broke.

“Okay fine. But just a little.”

The guys cheered and Jake fought back a smile.

You sat Jake down and grabbed a singular black eyeliner pencil. You traced his upper and lower lash lines lightly and then, while it was still fresh, grabbed a brush and blurred it out. You pulled it out just a bit at the outer corner of his eye to create a subtle winged look.

It took two minutes.

“What do you think? If you hate it, we can take it off,” you asked, holding a handheld mirror in front of him.

“No,” he paused, “I actually kind of like it,” he said as the other guys got peeks.

“Five minutes till stage,” you heard a voice call into the room, snapping everyone's attention toward the door. There were two security guards waiting to escort the guys there for the show.

You put the eyeliner away and the guys thanked you and you wished them luck as they left the room and headed to the stage.

Josh waited for you. When you were done putting the eyeliner away, he pulled you in by the waist and kissed you sweetly.

“You think Jake really likes it?” you asked, running your hands down his satin sleeves and locking your fingers with his.

Josh nodded and kissed you again, “Yes,” he said, “I know it.”

You smiled at him and breathed a small sigh of relief.

“You do a good job. Maybe we should keep you around,” Josh teased as the two of you began to walk out of his dressing room and toward the stage, hand in hand.

“Maybe,” you giggled.

#josh kiszka #josh gvf #josh kiszka fanfiction #josh kiszka fan fic #gvf fanfiction #jmk #josh kiszka x you #josh kiszka x y/n #josh kiszka x reader #josh kiszka imagine #josh kiszka one shot #greta van fleet fan fiction #josh kiszka fluff #gvf fanfic

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drarryspecificrecsdaily · 24 days ago

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2024.12.01

Complete fics posted on AO3 this day

1. Heatwaves by KateBishopHawkeye [E, 58k]

Summer, 12 years after the war. It was not the worst heatwave in London's history, but Hermione and Harry would be damned if it didn't feel like it. Especially in 12 Grimmauld Place, where four unlikely housemates find things heating up in unexpected ways amid old hurts and new threats.

2. Under Your Spell by SairleB [E, 23k]

In a world where omegas are cherished in the Wizarding World, while in the Muggle World they're viewed as less than…Harry takes after Vernon in the worst of ways.

---

Fest/Exchange

1. Where Starlight Falls by Anonymous [E, 33k]

The magic concealing Sirius’s Last Will and Testament doesn’t reveal the full extent of Harry’s inheritance until two years after the war. When it does, it turns out that Harry has inherited more than just the Black Family vault—he’s inherited the family’s magic, too. He just has to find it first. And he needs Draco Malfoy’s help to do it. ★ H/D Erised 2024 | @hd-erised

#drarry #drarry fanfic #drarry fic rec #harry potter #draco malfoy #daily list #2024 #2024.12

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soobadnoonecanstopher · 1 year ago

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Can I Stay? (A Baekhyun Story) Part 2.

Pairing: You x Baekhyun

Rating: M

Word Count: 5.4K

Warnings: Longing looks, unspoken stolen glances, daydreams and overreactions, an unspecified age difference, an English story that uses the word Noona for lack of another word in English that carries the same feeling, if you don’t like this, then don’t read this story.

Author‘s note: remember all those years ago I said I’d write a Baekhyun x Noona fic? This is that fic.

Inspired by the Ray LaMontagne song Can I Stay

Tag List: @andimoon @his-mochi-cheeks

Links: Can I Stay? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

The important parts of the meeting were a blur.

The very important, critically vital, future deciding parts of that meeting, yeah, that meeting filled to the absolute brim with the most VIP of VIPs was all kind of a blur.

You probably did fine. You’d done enough of these by now that you knew you could trust your mind to perform expertly on autopilot.

Metrics to report? You had them.

Deliverables? In spades.

Facts to show where your team outshone the others? Child’s play.

Story after story of your team’s very clear successes with you, their trusty captain at the helm? You had too many to recount, even when you picked just the best scenarios it still felt like bragging.

But that was the point of these things. Showing off for the people who mattered; the senior directors, the production team leaders, the deep pockets, the huge investments, and the big opinions who’s fortunes grew fat and heavy off the backs of the labor of thousands. The decision makers, the cord cutters, and the trigger pullers were all present today.

Meetings like this didn’t happen often but when they did they always mattered.

As you went through your slides and your carefully planned speech you kept your eyes steadily ahead of you at a level just above all of their heads. You’d occasionally allow your gaze to touch upon a few select sets of eyes such as the Company’s Vice President’s no nonsense eyes that watched the presentations with expert level eagle eyes ready to pop off a difficult question at a moment's notice for some of the less prepared members of this upper management team. You’d had none from her. Only a rare tick of her head with an impressed eyebrow lift and an even rarer concealed smile toward you as you were speaking. Many of the others eyes that watched you had far too much pressure when you allowed yourself to lock on, so you mostly looked at the foreheads and you kept your wits about you.

You only very briefly held President Byun’s eyes — the President of this company who had famously worked his way up from the bottom, or so his Wikipedia page said.

The President’s eyes bore a striking familiarity in their shape and in their color to his son’s. A superficial familiarity, because something deeper was very different from the set of eyes that carelessly burned a hole right into the very center of your chest almost an hour ago out there in that secluded hallway.

You could physically feel that same careless set of eyes on you now. A tingling sensation came from the left section of the room where the assistants to the management team stood by armed to the teeth with items ranging from a fresh set of batteries for a wonky laser pointer, a spare laptop for a machine on the fritz, to a box of every single cable and adapter and connector known to all of current and past technology on the off chance that some important person with enough zeros in their bank account might wish to connect a 1991 LaserDisc player to the several thousand dollar HD projector system installed in this meeting hall.

You were winding down now, finishing off with a well received joke that brought out an audible chuckle from the room and you could feel the pressure lessen as you easily answered the few questions that were posed.

You couldn’t help the way your eyes began to drift to the left side of the room. As if you had been called by him, your gaze moved so damned easily. It was probably because your speech was all done and you’d reached the end of the slide. You’d never quite mastered exiting one of these things with poise and ease and when your eyes drifted over they naturally settled right onto Baekhyun’s face.

The feelings that coursed through you were conflicted. Comfort and concern. Sanctuary and danger. You wanted to look at him. He felt like a friend and a comrade in here amongst so many others that expected and demanded so much from you. He was safe. He had been safe. He’d helped you prepare for the weeks leading up to this and you knew he was on your side. And you’d been holding it in so well. No one suspected a thing, you were sure of it. You’d been on top of the pesky crush you’d been hiding ever since you met him. And it had been just that. Just a silly passing crush.

You had fully planned on saying goodbye to him in three weeks time and moving on with your life with yet another unrequited love under your belt and a few unrealized fantasies in your head to hold you over until you found enough hours in the day to actually start dating someone. Someone closer to your level. A similar enough age not to raise any eyebrows at work, and a similar family background. Just someone normal and definitely not someone from a family like Byun Baekhyun’s. While the age gap between you and Baekhyun wasn’t completely unheard of, the gap in social status was pretty vast. Sure you’d reached a level of professional success through sacrifice and hard work but every single hard earned dollar you’d made was the result of your own efforts.

How would you even begin to compare to this man? Baekhyun and you came from entirely different worlds.

How much trouble would you be in if all these leaders found out you were falling in love with their very own untouchable Prince? How much of him were you actually allowed and how far would your fall from grace be if you took too much?

Baekhyun’s smile was wide and genuine and his eyes shaped into little half circles. His hands were moving with the silent secret applause he gave you with just the tips of his fingers before shooting two quick thumbs up in your direction. You held your breath as you looked at him. You found it difficult to do both of those things simultaneously it seemed.

‘You’re so cool!’ He mouthed and you pulled your lips in between your teeth to keep your face impassive. It was self preservation. You knew you should not have looked for him at all.

The room was in motion again as the next team manager took to the center of the room. You took your seat for the rest of the meeting and steadied your gaze to the front of the room. You would not, absolutely would not waver.

But your memory, like your eyes earlier, drifted in his direction. You stared straight ahead ignoring the strong pins and needles feeling over your skin that came from the assistants section and your mind replayed the feeling of his long thin fingertips slipping along the surface of your face. His fingertips that touched along your jaw at first then moved higher. So light it felt like silk over a porcelain vase until those fingers threaded into your hair behind your ear, his pinky at the nape of your neck, his thumb pressing over your earlobe and the soft warmth of his palm along your jaw, guiding your face to him; urging you into his lips.

His lips and the yielding uncertainty in them.

His lips and the warmth of the exhale from his nose.

His lips, begging and your own, too scared to reply.

The speaker at the front of the room had said something funny. An audible chuckle sounded out around you and you dropped your hand from your face quickly and your index finger released its touch on your bottom lip and you looked around, chastising yourself for letting your mind wander in this way. The slight panic that you’d missed something important pulled at your nerves and your eyes, out of habit, sought out the familiar.

You found him so easily. He stood out like a sparkling Diamond in a room of rocks. The giggle in the room was winding down but those brown eyes were already locked into yours the second yours found his. Baekhyun’s expression was flat and serious and it was obvious that he, like you, wasn’t laughing. Perhaps he had missed the joke as well. Baekhyun was quiet and he was motionless, sitting amongst a group of assistants who could never really be his peers, they all giggled and whispered among themselves all worked up from the end of this tortuous meeting or from the entertaining speech they’d all been witness to, you couldn’t be certain.

You caught onto his eyes from across the meeting room. There was a moment of almost peace, when you looked at his serious face and he stared at you in silence, clearly lost inside his own thoughts.

The moment did not last long because his eyes seemed to widen and a bubble had popped, awakening him or alerting him, his posture changed and he pulled back instantly, averting his gaze with a recoil of his features he lifted a hand to rub over his face; he looked away from you. You wondered what had him so engrossed. What had been interrupted inside of his mind just now.

Had your own self resolve been weaker, the curiosity might just eat you alive from the inside out like acid.

Bodies were moving around the room. Your name was called by many a friendly smiling face pulling someone you simply just had to meet. Your introductions were filled with flattery on the excellent work you always produced. You were humble and you were grateful.

Out of the corner of your eye you caught the bounce of a blonde head of hair in the crowd as the small groups mingled about.

“My son has been making his way through the company learning the ropes from the very best we have in each department!” A deep voice boomed and your ears caught a few friendly chuckles as responses as one important man showed off to a group of other important men.

“When are you moving onto the next team?”

“I want to stay where I am for longer. I still have a lot to learn from my manager.” You were close enough to make out Baekhyun’s voice through the murmur of the crowds around you.

“Nonsense,” the old man began and to your surprise, Baekhyun’s voice firmly interrupted.

“No, not nonsense, Dad. I’m staying on this team for two more projects, at least. Maybe more. I haven’t even been involved in the beginning and end of anything yet because My Daddy keeps moving me around like a chess piece just to one-up his friends.” Baekhyun’s voice was quiet enough for the others in this room not to hear him, but you’d grown so accustomed to his particular way of speaking that you could just make out every word he spoke to his father, despite how under his breath he tried to keep it.

“How am I supposed to show my face around these people if you keep pulling me out before anything gets finished? How do you think that makes me look? Do you think that earns me any of their respect?”

Your curiosity betrayed you when you turned your head around just enough to catch the determined look on Baekhyun’s face. You felt a strange mixture of shock and pride watching him respond with such purpose and confidence to his father’s whims that you felt your jaw drop open just a little just from the surprise of witnessing this. You were so caught up in what he was saying and how he was saying it that the small tick of his eyes in your direction caught you off guard and made you flinch. How long had he known you were here? He certainly didn't let your eavesdropping stop him from making his point. His eyes touched yours only for a moment before he inhaled a steadying breath, lifted his chin and spoke his final piece.

“Respectfully, If you want to be able to trust me with your company in the future you need to start trusting my judgment about my life right now, Sir.”

The old man didn't speak right away but Baekhyun’s eyes didn't stay on his father’s face. Those flighty eyes of his gave you away instantly. President Byun turned his head, following his son’s eyes to find you standing close by; not close enough for it to be obvious that you had heard the entire exchange, but your proximity to and your current work with Baekhyun certainly made you feel guilty for lurking around the two family members having a private conversation.

The president didn’t betray any conceivable suspicions he may or may not have had of you, but you did find yourself pulled forward out of your duty to the company and pure politeness.

You greeted them both with a smile and respectful head nod and even reached out to shake President Byun’s hand as he addressed you by name and complimented your presentation. It was a conversation that had been repeated all afternoon and you responded in kind, giving humble appreciation for your excellent team and their efforts.

You’d expected the pleasantries to be the end of it, but the President kept speaking with a wry smile and a genuine twinkle in his eyes this time.

“So you are the reason why my son suddenly has the guts to stand up to me for the first time in his life,” he remarked matter of factly and you heard the deep chest filling breath Baekhyun slowly inhaled beside you. He then cleared his throat out loud and crossed his arms over his chest. The gesture had no effect on the old man who was clearly not new to embarrassing his children.

“Baekhyun has been an incredible addition to my team. I haven’t known him for very long but what I knew right away was that your son has an incredible sense of conviction and determination — he must take after you in that regard.”

This brought a grin to the President’s face and he reached out a heavy hand to lay over his son’s shoulders. Baekhyun’s face held a barely concealed wince and he rocked back and forth on stiff legs. He really should have tried harder to control his face. You’d had the same forced smile on your lips for a solid hour and a half now and your cheeks were starting to go numb from the efforts. For a man who smiled as easily as Baekhyun did, he really didn’t seem to be able to turn it on at a moment’s notice when he didn't genuinely mean it.

“I’ll tell you what,” President Byun turned to speak to you, “You turn him into you and I’ll promote you to Director.”

You pushed the final laugh out of your chest at the ridiculous promise and you said your farewells. You really needed this meeting to be over so you could get out of these heels and into the quiet sanctity of your office. You had several tasks left for the day and not enough hours left in the work day to get them done.

You gathered your things and you gathered your own important person and you left. While, no, you didn’t physically drag Baekhyun out of there, he followed on his own without so much as a word or even a glance from you. Your silent egress down the hallway toward the elevator was echoed by the familiar comfort of his quiet trailing footsteps. When you paused inside the elevator with a light hand to keep the doors open, he kept his eyes down at his feet and stepped inside.

The elevator doors closed and you stared ahead of yourself at the blank silver elevator side panel and he stared ahead at the numbers panel and you instantly missed the excitable chatty assistant you had before today.

This Baekhyun was too quiet and too serious. This Baekhyun was holding his breath beside you and you knew it because when you stole a glance at his face his cheeks were pink and his eyes and mouth were all closed up tight, ready to pop.

It seemed a nerve was being worked up.

It seemed maybe something was incoming and your hackles began to raise. This was the last thing you wanted to happen inside this enclosed space with no escape.

Perhaps it would be an apology for the stolen kiss in your sanctuary. An apology for taking that particular funny joke too far just for the sake of laughing at you.

You weren’t always like this; cynical and mistrusting. Sometimes you let the delusions play out. A microscopic voice inside whispered a hopeful and naive, ‘perhaps it would be a confession.’ You bit down a little on the side of your tongue to keep from making a sound. Someone like him? Surely he had his pick of women. He was so handsome, young, smart, capable, and he came from money. The kind of money that controlled the world.

You were a few of those things, you had your own money, not the world controlling kind but you could take a nice vacation anywhere in the world and even travel first class without batting an eye, and you even had your fair share of suitors. Hell, just this morning the creepy married father of two in your building ogled you in the elevator — gave you the old up and down and a suggestive wink.

And when you got off the bus at work this morning the homeless man across the street who usually shouted nice ass, changed it up and shouted nice tits at you and he was right. Your tits did look nice today. And perhaps the most eligible, most exciting of your suitors, the handsome new barista behind the counter at Starbucks who for three days in a row, had drawn a small sharpie heart after your name on your coffee cup. That could be flirting, right? The tiny little black thing perfectly drawn, as if he’d taken his time with it like he might, with you.

There was a change in Baekhyun’s face. You saw his lips purse outward and he slowly began to exhale the breath he had been holding. His cheeks were still pink but his eyes were open and he cleared his throat and angled his torso toward you a tiny bit.

It was happening, he was ready to apologize for playing silly tricks on you.

He was ready to pull apart that hole inside of your chest with his slippery fingertips and let out the last scattered fragments of your self esteem.

“Miss Manager,” he addressed you, alone in this quiet elevator without anyone else around to care, without his usual nickname for you. His voice held a seriousness that you’d never heard from him before. It made the air inside of this elevator feel stale and stuffy and you looked away from his grave face and his trembling lips.

The first words out of his mouth burned as they hit.

He didn’t call you Noona. He always called you Noona. From the very beginning there was affection and endearment in that word he used to address you by and you had been annoyed by his audacity and the unearned familiarity of that word at first, but the absence of it in this very moment paired with that look on his face and his flat out refusal to meet your eyes had your mind reeling and your skin crawling from the emptiness of it all.

Three more weeks. You had three more weeks, or less if his father decided to pull him sooner.

Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it would hurt less to sever the ties of familiarity now and go back to a strictly professional relationship with your temporary assistant Byun Baekhyun.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened and you inhaled a swift breath to speak.

“If you are going to apologize to me, there is no need. Let’s both just pretend it never happened.” You struck hard and you struck fast and you watched his face just long enough for the realization to hit him. You watched his face just long enough to see the quick blinking in his eyes and the way his jaw muscles clenched down hard.

It was better this way. He wouldn’t get attached to the Noona who didn’t deserve his sweet nicknames and you wouldn’t have to survive being left again. Not that your last several romantic relationships were anything to compare to this functional strictly work relationship but there was a sort of sick satisfaction in you finally being the one to say it first.

‘This is over.’

‘We should end this.’

‘I’m in love with someone else.’

‘She’s pregnant, I’m sorry.’

He was stuck in the elevator again.

“Assistant Byun, are you coming?” You couldn’t help yourself with the overly formal title. Afterall, he started it with that Miss Manager shit inside the elevator and you could feel your emotions getting the better of you as he stood there silently watching you without moving his feet.

You had tasks to finish for the day. You both had so much work to get done.

He wasn’t moving.

“Are you mad at me?” His question was as small as it was childish. This was a professional workplace. Your jaw dropped and your head tilted and you just looked into his eyes for a second. Was this man really asking you this just outside of your office where your entire team worked?

Yes. Yes maybe you were mad at him, but you’d be damned if he knew about it. You closed your eyes and inhaled slowly.

“No,” you lied and he watched your face too closely so you spun around on your heels and walked swiftly back to your office, taking quick steps through the rows of cubicles filled with your team members to reach your office door and you pulled it open, half wondering if he was still stuck back in that stupid elevator. Maybe you could send him a chair and a desk so he could get some work done in there.

Inside of your office was quiet. You had your plants in the corner beside the window that offered a nice view of the city and your desk was covered with stacks of files that needed your attention. You kicked off your shoes and tossed them away. Your blinds were open to the rest of the team’s area and a few minutes after you entered and heard the single click of the door behind closing you telling you that you were completely alone at last.

Then another sound happened.

The door opening again, the door closing again, the sound of a human body inside of this closed office with you. A body who had sprinted across the crowded office full of your entire team, no doubt calling insane amounts of attention to himself in the process and you heard the telltale sounds of that human body behind you, somewhere lower now toward the floor.

To your horror, you spun around quickly to find Baekhyun down on his knees with his head hung low and a look of severe penance on his pretty face. The blinds of your office were open and several curious faces peered around their computer screens, trying to get eyes on whatever was going on in the bosses office right now.

You rushed to the blinds, pulling them closed as quickly as you could, which you realize only makes things look that much worse and would only make those peering faces that much more invested in the drama.

“Baekhyun, get up. People are watching.”

You had to step around him to reach the next window. He was very much in the way.

“Not until you forgive me, Miss Manager.”

There it was again. You angrily yanked the last of the blinds closed and stood in place with a hand on your chest as you willed your emotions to calm down. This was work. It was ridiculous of you to be so upset at his title for you. Hadn’t you been the one insisting a month ago that he call you that?

Behind you, he was still down on the floor and you felt a tiny poke that stung on the back of your heel.

“You have a blister,” his voice whispered quietly before the sounds of his movement signaled that he was moving around the room.

Two hands landed on your shoulders and gave a gentle push. Your legs resisted at first but the push became less gentle and you risked either falling flat on your face or giving in to his pushing.

“Assistant Byun, I assure you, I am more than capable of handling my own blister.”

“Evidently not, Miss Manager, it is already popped and bleeding.”

The pushing turned to steering and his response to you was downright snarky sounding. You found yourself shoved into a side chair in the middle of your office and you landed with a huff, immediately crossing your arms over your chest and offering as hard a glare your eyes could manage.

You glared at the man who was crouched down on the floor in front of your feet and his eyes glared back at you with a matching intensity that took you off guard. Why was he mad? Was he mad just because you were mad? Without his own reason to be mad? How dare he?

He was gripping your foot. You gave the smallest tug, resisting this but his hand wrapped around tighter as he ticked his tongue in annoyance.

“Be still,” he scolded without earning any sort of authority at all. He was leafing through a first aid kit that you had no memory of ever seeing before in your office.

“I told you I could do it myself.” When you snapped back at him, his eyes shot up at you.

“Miss—” as soon as the first word of that stupid formal title left his lips you rolled your eyes hard. You had absolutely no control over it. It just pissed you off to hear coming from his lips. “-Manager,” he finished but his eyes widened marginally at your obvious reaction.

“Miss Manager?” He said again, softer this time with a question in his tone. You set your jaw, tightened your arms over your chest and looked across your office.

“Noona,” he called and your jaw unclenched as you bit down on your upper lip. You could feel warmth creeping up your neck and filling your cheeks and you swallowed away the saliva that pooled under your tongue and you did your absolute best not to look down at him.

“Noona,” he called again and your eyes darted down into his. Your eyebrows rose a few millimeters in response to him and gone was the snarkiness and glare in his eyes as he looked at your face. There was something softer brewing in those eyes that watched you now. You saw the beginnings of a smile on his lips.

“You’re cute when you’re mad,” he said with a lift of a single eyebrow and he looked down at your foot. He was spreading some sort of ointment over the open blister on your foot now that you’d stopped fighting him about it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Baek. I already told you I wasn’t mad.”

“You were so mad, you almost kicked me when I was begging for forgiveness earlier,” he said in a mock serious tone. He was pressing a bandage carefully onto the heel of your foot and you felt afroned by his baseless accusation. His joke. You did no such thing! You felt a small laugh escape your chest and you pushed forward with your foot, the one he was holding in his hand and pushed it lightly against his chest. His balance teetered but he stayed upright and held on tighter to your foot to keep his balance.

“I did not!” You felt the first giggles break free from your chest.

“Look! You just did it again! This is an abuse of power!” He was laughing now, and his hand still hadn’t released your foot even though the first aid care was complete.

The hand holding your foot had wandering fingertips that gently caressed the skin over your Achilles tendon, seemingly smoothing the already smooth bandage there. With his other hand he carefully dropped the pieces of wrapper from the bandage into the trash can beside the chair you occupied. Your eyes followed as his slim fingertips carefully and slowly dropped each tiny piece of trash one at a time into the basket, taking way too long with it. They floated down and landed on top of an empty Starbucks coffee cup with the name Baekhyun written in black sharpie followed by a little hand drawn heart.

Apparently that new Starbucks hussie drew hearts on everyone’s cups.

Just like that you were down another suitor.

“Help me, somebody, anybody. This lady is crazy. She only paints half of her toenails,” he was outright laughing now gesturing to one foot with bright pink polish and the other with completely bare toes. You remembered your failed attempt at a home self care spa day. You’d gotten through a half a bottle of wine and half of your toenails when your work phone rang and you had to abandon your other foot to deal with a work crisis that only you could fix.

It somehow made you feel just a little sad, hearing how hilarious he found you. And knowing he was right about how much of a mess you were — with only a married sleaze and a dirty catcalling street bum offering you any sort of real attention, even if it was the absolute worst kind of attention.

You pulled your foot away. He was done with you now, he could have his laugh all he wanted on his own.

You had work to do.

You resisted the urge to kick him for real and stood up quickly, extracting yourself from his seated body and you made your way toward safety behind your desk where he never dared to step.

Only this time you felt him behind you in an instant with his hands grabbing your arms and shaking with the smallest pout on his lips. His laughter had quit the instant you stood up.

“You’re not still mad at me, right?” He was shaking your arm, pulling you back from behind your desk, where he must have known he wasn’t allowed.

“Right?” He shook your arm again. You knew this tactic. You’d seen it before. He was trying to wear you down by being annoyingly cute and he was really, really good at it.

Your anger had dissipated a while ago. This wasn’t anger you were feeling and you sighed out loud with your expression calm and steady. The anger was long gone. You had reached the final stage — acceptance.

Baekhyun would be leaving soon. You and him, he and you, the two of you like this together, it had an expiration date.

“We should finish our work,” you spoke clearly and plainly and his eyes widened as the shaking of your arm stopped and the pout disappeared.

“All of it, Baek. We should finish everything. And we should do a good job so you can get the most out of the last few weeks you have here… with me.” The last two words came out as a whisper and you had been staring down at the stack of folders on your desk.

Baekhyun was looking at your face. Gone was the cutesy act and the mocking laughter on his voice and his next words pulled your attention up from endless folders of work you still had to do.

“Noona, Can I stay?”

[To be Continued]

Links: Can I Stay? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

#Baekhyun fic #exo #exo fic #baekhyun #exo baekhyun #girl dinner

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