#hello new followers i also do nail art

[doom-dreaming]

Cirque Colors - Paradiso

This seemed like a good one to show off for the last few weeks of summer.

(Top picture was taken indoors in indirect light, picture below was taken outside in direct sun.)

Paradiso is a gorgeous light minty-teal with purple shimmer and tiny holo glitters. I really wanted to do something with a retrowave feel and loved how these turned out. The patterns really remind me of the carpet of a local mall (which has been demolished for many years at this point) that I have a lot of fond memories about.

[amostimprobabledream]

Tastes Like Pepsi Cola (Dazai Osamu x Reader)

Also available on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47860600 When Dazai texts, you go.

That's how it's always been, ever since you met him. With clever words and those beguiling looks of his, he wrapped you up in a web that was so deftly spun you didn't even realise you were in one until it was too late.

Occasionally you'd rebel, leave him on read, ignore the siren call of him, go on dates with other guys, but he always got his way eventually. And the sessions spent after you'd pulled away from him were all the more intense for your resistance, with him making you come over and over until his name was all you could say, rattling around in your brain, carved into every inch of your skull. You'd limp to work the next day with Dazai's teeth marks hidden under your clothing, lovebites all over your neck and breasts, handprints on your ass, thin nail marks on your back and thighs.

Sometimes it was worth it just to rile him up, put a healthy fear of losing your company into him.

If someone asked you to define what you and Dazai were, you'd struggle to define it. Fuck buddies? Lovers? Friends, even? He sure as shit wasn't your husband.

But whatever it was, it was addictive.

That night, when the text came from him, you threw on some clothes hastily - it didn't matter what you wore, really, since Dazai would be unwrapping you like a Christmas present. You did put on some of your nicer underwear, though - you loved the way his eyes lit up at the merest hint of lace or silk and it made you feel good. It didn’t take you long to get to where he lived – so convenient for him that the Armed Detective Agency was literally right around the corner, yet he always managed to be late for work. You shivered under your jacket as you mounted the steps leading to his front door, the night air cool and crisp.

He answered the door before you'd even had a chance to knock - almost like he'd been peering through the peephole, eagerly anticipating your arrival.

"Hello, sweetheart~" He purred, eyes dragging up and down your body.

"Somebody's eager-" you teased, but you barely had time to finish speaking before he pulled you in, hands gripping your hips and effortlessly tugging you over the threshold of his place. The door slammed shut behind you.

His mouth smothered you in kisses, hasty, almost sloppy in his urgency. Not that you minded - even when he wasn't putting in much effort into it, Dazai was a fantastic kisser. His lips were warm, and it only took a little coaxing before you opened your mouth for him, tongue slipping deftly inside. It used to be you didn’t like kissing with tongues, guys before you jamming it in there and scraping it against your teeth, but Dazai’s turned it into an art form. You tried not to think about how much practise he must have had to get that good.

His elegant, long-fingered hands wandered up and down your body, squeezing and caressing and you let out a breathy laugh as his hands ghosted across your stomach. He was fascinated by your ticklishness, had pinned you down and tickled until you'd cried with laughter before. Strong despite his lanky frame.

"Is anything wrong?" you asked, reluctant to kill the mood, but there was something about Dazai's urgency that was mildly alarming. He chuckled against your neck, hot breath washing over your skin.

"Everything's fine, baby." He replied in a sultry purr. And then he said, casual as you please: "I think you need to come sit on my face now."

What?!

You and Dazai had done plenty before, but this was a new one, plus the abruptness of his command took you aback. You stared at him, amazed he could still make you blush.

"What?" you said, mouth hanging open.

Dazai only smiled, tugging you after him into the bedroom. Your feet followed him automatically, heart hammering in your chest.

Of course. Being around Dazai was like a riptide - all you could do was go with the current. “You heard me.” He said, his voice slow and sweet as honey. “I want your thighs either side of my face, and I want to eat you out until you scream.” His crude words combined with his sultry tones were a two-pronged attack – designed to shock, to smash down any guarded or teasing from you might try to put up with the brutal efficiency of a wrecking ball, and enticing enough to draw you in, cleansing you of any knee-jerk embarrassment by reassuring you as bluntly as possible how much he wants this. Your faced flushed, but how could you say no? It wasn’t like Dazai wasn’t very well acquainted with every part of you and denying him things already took an enormous amount of willpower and resolve. Why play coy now? “All right,” you said, swallowing. “Um, we should probably get on the bed, right?” Dazai was all too happy to take the lead, flopping down onto his futon and leisurely arranging himself. You were slower to follow and began cautiously taking off your clothes, aware of Dazai’s hungry gaze on you, taking in each inch of flesh exposed to him like it’s the first time he’s seen it. He loved watching you strip, delighted each time by every curve of your body. Coming from someone with Dazai’s looks, it’s one hell of an ego trip to be so blatantly lusted over, even if it could be overwhelming. “So pretty,” Dazai hummed, words drifting over to you like music as you were down to your bra and panties. “Come here, bella.” You made your way over to him, pulse fluttering. He hadn’t even touched you yet, but your body was responding to his voice. You idly reflected he had you well-trained and you should probably be a bit more concerned about that, but it was hard to fret too much about it when Dazai’s dexterous hands grabbed you by the hips the minute you got close enough and tugged you onto the bed. “Look at you, all nervous.” He chuckled, in a teasing tone that bordered on condescending. “This is a pretty cute side to you, sweetheart.” “Shut up, Dazai.” You muttered, rolling your eyes, and he laughed and brought you down for another kiss. While he had you distracted, his fingers hooked in the sides of your underwear and worked them down your legs. You only noticed when he broke the kiss and suddenly found yourself completely exposed. How did he do that?! “Dazai-“ you said, but even as you spoke he was making short work of your bra too – it was just a comfy sports bra, you hadn’t seen the point in putting something with underwiring on when you’d only be wearing it from point A to B, yet you still felt a note of surprise when Dazai tossed it aside to join the underwear on the ground. “You’re stalling~” Dazai singsonged, his eyes glowing like amber as he smirked up at you, his hands sliding up your torso to cup your breasts, his thumbs skilfully caressing the nipples and they perk up under his ministrations. Your teeth sank into the flesh of your bottom lip and, with Dazai’s encouragement, straddled his pretty face. His hands gripped your thighs to steady you and you paused in an awkward crouch, your haunches already starting to burn. Idly, you reflected that this might make quite a handy workout for your glutes and thighs. You could feel Dazai’s hot breath on your cunt and you fidgeted. Well, this was awkward. “Um, so should I…?” you trailed off. “I don’t want to suffocate you.” “Didn’t you hear me?” Dazai asked, and you jolted at the tone of his voice. His playful chiding his evaporating and now there’s a clear note of command – you internally cursed yourself for finding it hot. “I said, sit down.” “But- “

"Fucking sit down." He growled, holding tightly to your hips. "If I die, I die happy." Oh, fuck me. Obeying him without thinking, you let yourself sink onto him and Dazai moaned as your soft thighs enveloped either side of his face. His hands gripped your flesh, holding you in place, and he got right to work. Your eyes popped open wide. Dazai eating you out was nothing new – he sometime would fling his arms around you, hugging your waist, and sink to his knees begging for a taste of you, like he’d just die if he couldn’t bury his head between your legs right then and there. He’d even used that silver tongue of his to persuade you to let him crawl under your desk at the Armed Detective Agency once or twice – the last time, Kunikida had come over to tell you that you’d dated a document incorrectly while Dazai was sucking your clit and you nearly had a heart attack over nearly getting caught. But that paled in comparison to this – Dazai lapping at your cunt like a man starved, his nose nudging against the front of your groin, wanton moans leaving his mouth, muffled by your flesh. A breathy sound that you’ve never made before left your mouth and your hands grabbed the headboard before you, and you clung to it like driftwood in a shipwreck. “Oh god…” you gasped. “Dazai-!” His tongue thrust into you, and he moaned loudly, your taste hitting him like the first drink on a hot day. It was like devouring a ripe peach and twice as sweet – he was a fan of bitter flavours usually, but the taste of you was enough to drive him into a frenzy. Combine that with your high, keening cries and the way your thighs squeezed his face, it was heaven. His cock was throbbing, straining against his boxers, but Dazai ignored that for now – nothing would distract him from gorging himself on your flavour. “Fuck!”

Your hips thrusted forwards, you couldn’t stop yourself from grinding on him, chasing more of that sensation. You stopped, alarmed that you really might kill him if you keep that up, but Dazai’s palm cracked down firmly on where your thigh and ass meet and you yelped, but bucked forwards again, getting the message pretty clearly, no words needed. Dazai hummed in approval – you took direction so well – and his lips fastened around your clit and sucked, dragging it into his mouth and laving his tongue over it in a way he knew made you squeal. Your thighs clenched either side of him and Dazai keened in response. He wouldn’t stop until you came, until it flooded his mouth – your crotch was already slick with his saliva, but he wasn’t done yet. He playfully smacked your ass again, making you yelp and tug on his hair in retaliation, which sent a bolt of heat shooting down his spine – Dazai was well-versed in the interplay of pleasure and pain and liked springing it on you unexpectedly. Bolstered by his grunt, you did it again and if he could have smiled up at you just then, he would have. Alas, his mouth was thoroughly preoccupied. Little minx. He squeezed your ass enthusiastically as you ground down on his tongue, using the headboard as leverage to move your body up and down – you didn’t want to break his neck, no matter how much of a noble death Dazai would consider that, but fuck it felt good to be on top, demanding pleasure from his mouth and receiving it so enthusiastically. Heat pooled in your belly, spreading through you as the throbbing in your cunt grew more and more pronounced, like a second heartbeat. Dazai’s hands connecting with the flesh of your ass and thighs only encouraged it, little stings of pain serving as a deliciously contrasting sensation to the soaring electric pulse flowing through you. “Oh god, Dazai…just a bit more…” you burbled, nearly incoherent with pleasure, thighs trembling and your legs aching, but you didn’t care, you didn’t care at all, you just want to come. “Fuck, yes, just like that…” He used his tongue to thrust against your inner lips, growling wantonly as he did it, knowing you liked it when he got a little primal, a little feral, and his efforts were rewarded. That sweet, addictive flavour flooded Dazai’s mouth as you came, moans that were downright pornographic filling his bedroom, your voice rising to the ceiling like steam. “Nnn…Dazai-!” It took you a couple of seconds, with your orgasm flooding your brain, sending tingles shooting up and down your body, to remember where you were. When you did, you hurriedly shuffled back and Dazai’s face appeared beneath you, his mouth still shiny. He wiped it on the back of his wrist and smirked up at you. “Good job, baby. I told you you’d like it, didn’t I?” You laughed breathlessly, not sure why he was praising you when he did all the hard work. Still, you combed your fingers through his hair and Dazai leaned into your touch, like a cat, practically butting against your palm. “Yeah, that was…wow.” You said, feeling strangely shy, but Dazai’s smile was warm and reassuring. …That was all for two seconds, until he suddenly grabbed your sides and flipped you, squealing, so that you were on your back beneath him. You giggled wildly, staring up at Dazai as he looked down at you, and the way his pupils were black and shiny told you he hadn’t quite had his fill of you, not yet. “Hold back on the review for just a little longer, darling.” Dazai purred and, as you watched, mesmerised, slipped a thumb into the waistband of his boxers and began to slowly slide them down his hips. “There’s something else I’d like tonight…” ~ The next day, you sat at your desk. When you’d walked into the Armed Detective Agency that morning, it had proven rather tasking on your body – you were still a little knock-kneed from last night. Kunikida even asked you if you’d pulled a muscle. “Yes!” you say, pouncing on the ready-made excuse with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm. “Yes, I-I was moving furniture. I guess I forgot to lift with my knees.” While Kunikida tutted over your shoddy technique and reminded you that if you suddenly had the inexplicable urge to decorate your living room, Kenji would only be too happy to do all the heavy lifting, Ranpo glanced up from his desk. He had his feet kicked up like he was on holiday, a lollipop wedged in his mouth. When Kunikida went to go look for Dazai, who had yet to arrive at work, Ranpo sent you a knowing smirk that made you blush. Don’t tell me he knows! When you sat at your own desk, setting down your morning can of Coke and agitatedly rubbing your lips together, you felt reasonably confident you’d managed to get away with your lie. That was until Ranpo’s teasing lilt floated over to you. “I guess Dazai skipped breakfast this morning, huh?” You glanced at Ranpo, trying to play it cool. “What do you mean?” you asked, and quickly regretted asking when Ranpo’s eyes opened, amused emerald green meeting your flushed face. “Because any breakfast isn’t going to compare…not when he had that kind of midnight snack.” “RANPO!”

[astra-galaxie]

Hello again! Loved the Jason HCs, he might be a parody but he needs more appreciation, the missed potential!!!

ANYWAYS another character for the ask game (I hope two back to back isn't too much, sorry if it is ;u;)

Specifically, my personal favourite, SILVERee! 🏳️‍🌈💔❤️‍🔥🖕😭😶

(Bonus notes: I have a theory surrounding him specifically! Also I do wonder, why was he never given a legal name? Surely it would've come up since he was in 3 cases. (I assigned him Shin Sang-jun personally))

Thank you! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed Jason Stone HCs! His character definitely had some missed potential!

I don’t mind people sending in multiple characters; I always get repeat customers!🙂

That said, I’ll see what I can come up with for SILVERee!

(I just assumed we never learned his legal name because he lives his stage persona, but if it had been revealed, I could see it being done in his third/last appearance. (Nice name choice! I love giving unnamed characters names!)

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon

I’m not sure what I would pick for SILVERee… Maybe pansexual since he’s a big celebrator of love. But regardless of his identity, I see him having a preference towards women, but he is not oblivious to his attraction to men, non-binary, etc.

💔 An angsty headcanon

SILVERee’s manager was secretly working for SOMBRA. When he was starting out, he joined a talent agency to help him grow his fame. Unknown to him, it was a secret SOMBRA front to try and recruit unsuspecting youth. That’s how they were able to use his and others’ music to recruit more children. SILVERee never knew that his management team was so sinister, and after discovering the truth following SOMBRA’s Hunt, SILVERee’s career took a significant hit from losing his management team, and he had to start again almost from scratch.

❤️‍🔥 A romantic headcanon

While he can come off as a playboy and flirt, SILVERee doesn’t have time for relationships due to his busy schedule. But he would like to be in a relationship with someone who isn’t with him for fame. Of course, he knows it's unavoidable that his love life will be displayed for the world to see, but he would still like to find someone who loves his true self and not the singer on stage.

🖕 A headcanon relating to anger

SILVERee has a short temper, especially when things don’t go his way. It earned him the title of “diva,” and people know to follow his orders, or else he’ll (metaphorically) explode. But after receiving therapy for his trauma at SOMBRA’s hands, SILVERee also learned how to control his anger. He still has moments where he lets his anger control him, but he’s getting better at managing his temper.

😭 A headcanon about the worst thing that happened to them

During SOMBRA’s hunt, SILVERee watched a kid get shot in front of him. Their blood splattered onto his face and clothes, but he still believed it was all fake for the “show” and that the blood was artificial. When he found out the Hunt was real, SILVERee realized the blood on him was too. He had a panic attack, and the second he was able to take a shower, he nearly scrubbed his skin off, trying to remove the blood. Even afterwards, he could still see the blood and the guilt of leaving the injured child because he thought it was fake began weighing on him heavily.

😶 A random headcanon

He loves painting his nails. SILVERee finds it therapeutic to paint colourful polishes onto his nails and has even tried nail art. He’s not that good at making designs on his nails, but he’s getting better. He’ll also watch nail art tutorials to learn new tricks and how to keep his nails in good condition.

And that’s all I’ve got! Thanks for the request!

[echantedtoon]

A Rock And A Hard Place Part 3 Akaza

(Warning: Y/n gets cut twice on her by the demons but nothing serious. Douma IS his own warning possibly some innuendos.)

It all started with your last meeting with Douma the next week. It was business as usual.  You went in for an hour freezing your bones solid. He chittered away showing you a ice sculpture of you he made anf again gifting you a small ice sculpture. This one a little ice Lotus blossom. However before you left he grabbed your arm with a large smile. A grip that dug his claws in briefly making you since as the index finger nail pierced even your thick sweater AND jacket sleeve and cut your skin. As soon as it happened he let go and you yelled at him for gripping you so hard! Hr only smiled wider. Shinobu asked if you wanted to be looked over for the squeeze he gave you but you brushed her off. 

It was just a few bruises. You were more annoyed with the cut he left behind and the jagged almost frost pattern scar it left behind. But...you kept your mouth shut about it. It was just a scar, and if you didn't want to lose your pay then you shouldn't worry about it next week. However it wasn't Douma who you'd see next week after that-

There was something very strange going on here. 

You knew from the moment you went back there to do your regular job of cleaning up the place pushing around your big squeaky cart. You were pushing it along minding your own business right to the very end of the long, long, LONG hallway. There was an empty cell your bosses wanted you to clean out before a new demon would be moved in to be studied. Something about this demon being found living inside a vase inside an abandoned art museum by the ocean?? Whatever. Again you just minded your own business walking down the hall-

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP-!!!

You sighed passing right by the cell holding Douma as the blonde demon pressed against the window and wagging his tail insistently and knocking on it following you as you walked past.

"*sigh* Hello Douma," you greeted rolling your eyes. 

"It seems he's gotten really attached to you!" 

"Good morning, Doctor," you greeted Rengoku who was standing in front of the cell just across from Douma's. The pink haired demon was there baring his fangs at the doctor on the inside but stopped when he saw you were there. "What are you up to?"

He chuckled gesturing at the demon in front of him. "I'm making sure Stripes gets his daily food supply but I also wanted to see how long he could keep up his aggression towards me."

"Stripes huh?" He mentioned that demon before. You took a look at the demon also pressed against the glass. 

He was also very strikingly beautiful!!

His hair was a short hot magenta pink as was his very fluffy eyelashes. His skin was a greyish white marble coloring and all over his body was these strange dark blue stripes. He wasn't as tall as Douma was but he was still tall enough to tower over both you and Rengoku. He also wore a vest and baggy pants. Otherwise you could clearly see his muscular body. But what really caught you was his stain glass like eyes. Blue sclera broken into parts by veins and golden pupils string unblinkingly at you. 

Rengoku nodded. "YES! Y/n meet Stripes!" He gestured to the demon at the window. "He was brought just a week before you started visits with Ice- I mean Douma. So he's been here a few months. Unfortunately he's been too aggressive for anyone to get close to. A shame. It's not everyday we get a demon who interacts up close like this."

You looked at the demon still staring at you before looking inside it's cell. Raising a brow at the many large rocks and logs and other large objects in there. "What's with the makeshift jungle?"

"Oh. That's for him to break."

"What?"

"Stripes likes to break things and train a lot. We figured instead of him trying to break down the doors all the time we'd just give him things to take his anger out on. So far it's been working well."

You rose a brow before looking back at 'Stripes'. The demon continued to look at you before turning away and leaning down to pick something up off the floor. You both watched as he came back with a rick the size and thickness of a pure metal baseball. He made sure you were watching before with one hand- CRUNCH!! The rock crumbled into nothing but little pieces in his palm. Your eyes followed the pieces as they dropped to his feet before they widened and you looked back to Rengoku.

"Don't worry. He's securely contained on the other side. He can't harm anyone." The demon walked off again. "He's completely-"

He paused when you both looked back and found the demon holding up the biggest boulder in there with one arm supporting it against his shoulder. You both watched as with ONE HAND he lifted the boulder up and down a few times before just like shooting a basketball tossed it. You both winced at the crunching crashing noises it made as it landed on the thick metal floors before thudding along rolling a few times until it crashed into the far wall and finally stopping. When all was silent again, you perked your eyes back open and found the demon still staring at you tilting it's head expectingly. As if it was waiting for a reaction. After a moment longer of silence you spoke again.

"What the heck was THAT?!"

"It seems he was showing off his strength. Maybe as a form of intimidation? Or maybe he was trying to establish dominance as Douma is visible to him? Demons tend to fight over territory often."

"Whatever. I'm just gonna go do my job. I'll see you next week for my meeting." With that you just turned and carted off. 

The demon seemed to give a displeased sound and his pointy blue ears dropped watching as you left...but perked up and hissed at Douma who laughed at him. Rengoku looked at the pink haired demon, then at you, then back to the demon.

"FASCINATING!! A NEW DEVELOPMENT WITH POTENTIAL NEW FINDINGS!! I MUST INFORM SHINOBU ABOUT IT RIGHT AWAY!!"

************************

"I'm sorry. You're wanting me to do what now??"

You had come by the next week expecting to again go have an in person visit with Douma and do the usual listening to his chatter, watching him build ice sculptures, and the like. But instead you showed up to find a makeshift curtain covering the window to Douma's cell and the two scientists handling your part of the program smiling in front of the cell across from Douma's. You were confused until Shinobu opened up her mouth again.

"We want you to interact with Stripes from now on."

You crossed your arms and rose a brow. "And why would I suddenly do that? No one said anything about using me as bait for more than one demon."

"You seemed to have caught the attention of Stripes here. You see he's a complicated one. He's aggressive towards every male demon and staff member but he either ignores or is calm around women. You bring aggressive towards him last week seems to have caught his interest as no woman has really fought back especially when his anger wasn't towards you. We think maybe some positive interactions with someone would be beneficial!"

"Uh huh...And how much would I be getting paid for this one?"

"We'd start you out the same way. With three hundred for meetings outside the window and a thousand per in person! But we want to have you exclusively interact with Stripes from now on. What do you say?"

You should've said no...but the money was still really good. "*sigh* Am I getting paid this week?"

"If you interact with him yes!"

"Alright then."

"Great!" Shinobu pulled you until you were standing in front of the window and looking in. "Why don't you introduce yourself to him?"

You rolled your eyes but leaned over the window. The demon was in there alright. He seemed busy punching repeatedly at a heavy duty punching bag gyms had but much larger. Someone must've installed that in there for him. He hit it repeatedly with his fists and palms while in a stance. Sometimes he kicked at it too but it was light kicking and punching. Like he didn't want to break in his new toy too soon. You watched as he worked a bit before reaching out to knock on the glass window. He stopped arm stopping just a few inches away from the bag before his head turned. He looked annoyed then surprised seeing you standing there as you waved at him.

"Uh...Hi," you tried as both scientists watched and Shinobu started writing down notes.

He  didn't react right away just staring at you in surprise before slowly turning and approaching. You stood there unsure of what to do as he walked right on over to you and stopped. Unlike Douma he wasn't as enthusiastic but he was still intimidating in his own way. He tilted his head at you looking at you up and down before he did something no one expected.

A hand was raised up and pressed to his chest. "A..ka...za.." His voice was raspy and lightly strained like it was hard for him to speak. He then pointed his hand to you with a look. 

Did he want something? Your name maybe??

"Uh... I'm Y/n. Did that thing just...talk?" You looked at Rengoku who looked ecstatic and he nodded. "HOW?! I THOUGHT DEMONS COULDN'T SPEAK HUMAN!!"

"Remain calm." He assured holding up a hand. "It's not unheard of! It's really like a parrot!"

"...A what?!"

"A parrot! You see a parrot doesn't have vocal cords like ours so they can't speak like we do, and yet they can mimic human speech and words! Demon vocal cords works in a similar way. They can't speak human language because Their vocal cords aren't like ours but they're able to mimic some of our words in a similar way to parrots! But we've never had one do it so blatantly in front of us before! This is truly quite the experience!!"

So his name was Akaza??...Sounded better than 'Stripes'. You looked back to him as he tilted his head and then smiled at you. This was certainly going to be interesting. And you were certainly right about that.

You started visiting Akaza exclusively from now on during your weekly visits. He seemed to be pretty docile when it was just you and Doctor Shinobu but anytime Doctor Rengoku was nearby he was visibly on edge and casted the other male death glared. After the fifth week of this happening Shinobu suggested that only she around you to monitor the visits so the demon would feel more at ease. He agreed and from then on would only observe you from afar. That seemed to do the trick because Akaza was much more relaxed after that although sometimes he still shot Shinobu unsure of curious looks as she documented each visit. Most of the time nothing would really happen during the hour long visits. You'd do most of the talking but sometimes you'd ask him a question too and he'd answer with hand motions and actions.

"What's it like living in there?"

He scowled hard at the nearest security guard.

"Not too nice huh?"

He shook his head no. 

"You're pretty strong aren't you?"

He smirked at you and just turned around to walk away. He then proceeded to give the punching bag such a hard kick it completely snapped from the chain hanging it from the ceiling and crash in a destroyed heap against the far wall. You stared wide eyed as he brought up an arm flexing the bicep muscle clearly for you both to see. You won't lie your face did go a little red. But there was a big problem that came with the new meetings..No it wasn't the money change. It sucked going back to only three hundred extra dollars a week but that wasn't it. 

Douma seemed to really, really, REALLY dislike you missing.

The distress was intense with him. Wails. Constant ramming against the windows. It sounded like a whole circus of chaos. It worsened every time you passed his cell. It seemed he was able to study your footstep patterns and knew the squeak of your cart. Every time you passed his covered window he'd ram against it wailing and you heard his nails scraping against the reimbursed glass. It was freaky and it scared you. Akaza was there every time it happened and glared at the noise. He offered you smiled and a comforting hand pressed against the glass for comfort. You appreciated the gesture greatly gravitating all more to the least scarier demon whom didn't wail desperately every time you passed. You explained your concerns about it to the doctors but Shinobu told you to ignore it because-

"A demon in distress like this is rare. We want to study it more. For now do NOT engage with him even while working. Focus on Akaza."

You did but it was hard for you to ignore the chaos literally behind you during these meetings. It was why Rengoku suggested that you move onto in person meetings after another two months  to avoid Douma sensing your presence. You agreed to it as the desperate raging sounds were starting to scare you. And Akaza didn't initially scare you like Douma had. So your first meeting was well. Like before the doors opened just enough for you to walk in. You did slowly surprising the demon but he smiled widely and welcomed you in with hand gestures. And for the first time with these meetings..

You had fun.

Akaza was a confident and funny one. Unlike Douma he didn't have the need to cuddle and hold you every five minutes. But he'd often show you the things he could do. Mostly fighting stances and things that showed off his strength. You slowly started to forget about Douma especially when you were switched rooms and someone else was assigned to clean up the cells you usually did. At least for now. You were out on mostly 'cleaning bathroom duty' but you couldn't complain too much. 

It wasn't until one day where Akaza got bold reaching out to grab your hand one meeting. He kept looking at you in worry as if to make sure this was ok. It was cute so you giggled and squeezed his hand back making his eyes go wide... before he literally melted into your arms with purrs and coos. IT WAS SO ADORABLE!! The cuteness of it continued. You squealed the first time he playfully picked you up and lifted you up and down like a pair of gym weights but it ended with you laughing your lungs off. Months passed and your bank account was getting big but with Akaza hugging you around the waist with his head in your lap smiling you didn't mind one bit. Seriously, why couldn't you have met Akaza sooner? He was so nice. But things would soon come to a head-

"Akaza and Douma are going to be released soon."

You blinked at Shinobu who smiled still at you.  "Really?"

She nodded. "They've both been here for about two years now. The director thinks that's enough time and wants us to study a few new demons. This one's a family unit of spider demons so we're going to need the big space."

"Oh. When are the getting released?"

"The second Wednesday of next month, so you still have about a month to keep meeting with Akaza if you want to."

You nodded. "Yeah. I'll still be there. I might as well before he's taken."

"Good. Just please don't mention anything about them leaving to the subjects. We usually don't say anything about when they're released until  they're safely in the transport vehicle."

"Alright then."

It wasn't your place to do that anyways. They'd soon be free and you'd never see them again. You'd only have a few more meetings with Akaza until he left so you continued to visit him. On one of your meetings you both were roughhousing and he paused smiling softly at you before he gently grabbed your hand. You did flinch when his thumbnail (thumb claw??) slightly cut your palm but you really didn't pay attention to it. However you were kinda weirded out when it left a rectangle like shape behind on your palm. It kinda looked like his rectangle stripes but you again shrugged it off because it was an accident.  

Things didn't really kick off until your second to last meeting with Akaza which would actually turn out to be your last.

"Fantastic job, Y/n!," Rengoku greeted you just outside of Akaza's cell. The demon looked over at the window...and scowled at you two. "We've been able to see a lot of new behaviors in demons thanks to you. It's only sad we'll have to say goodbye to them both. Shinobu even took down the curtain off Douma's cell to allow him to look around one last time."

"I've noticed." You deadpanned looking at Douma pressed against the window staring at you unblinkingly and without a smile. It sent shivers down your spine. "Yeah though. This was kinda fun. I might do this again."

"That's wonderful! But I wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

Douma's head stiffly snapped to Rengoku. Akaza froze. ...And you blinked taken aback.

"Huh?!"

Rengoku sheepishly looked down reaching up to rub his neck. "I mean...I think Y-Y-You're very attractive and I just thought it'd be nice to give back to you a bit. I-I-If you want to of course."

Your eyes went wide... before you smiled wider and nodded. "Y-Yeah. I'd like that a lot."

Rengoku also lit up with a smile. Two demons moved in. 

"Really?! GREAT!! I'll pick you up at-"

C R A S H 

[sothasil]

Hi! You're one of my favorite artists ever, and I would love to do some studies of your art! What are some of your favorite pieces that you've done, and how do you pick your colors? There's a lot more questions that I could ask, but figured you wouldn't appreciate an entire list of questions XD

Hello and thank you, I am honored! Feel free to send me all and any questions! I'll answer these two, starting by:

How do you pick your colors?

As I change art style with pretty much every illustration project of significance, this varies a lot. Here are, from most to least common, ways I pick my colors.

Eyeballing it. Unfortunately my most common... What I will do a lot digitally is lay down a color background, and flats of a few colors, then manually adjust each until they look good together by selecting by color and using adjustements. I then paint over it all.

Using a limited palette, eyeballed. Same as before, but this time I force myself to only use a few colors. It helps me, as constraints do.

Using a reference, eyeballed. This happens a lot when I mimick an art style. My medieval drawings for example, are often done by looking at images of actual medieval art to get an idea of what colors to use to look medieval.

Using an existing image, pipetted. Rarely, often as a challenge or if I'm super stuck, I'll just take a pic with colors I like and pipet from it. This website automates this if you want a good easy starting point!

These can be combined around. I'll post examples now, explaining how they use each.

This is a sketch for a drawing I ended up doing way different. This is the first method - I used a flat layer for the characteres and three colors for the sky to test out atmosphere. This is how I plan out most full paintings, just trying to nail down a mood I have in my head. I fiddle around until I like it or, like in this case, fully give up and iterate further. Here, the composition was to be redone too as I did not like the body language. I was going for "bright hot sunny day under a weather that feels wrong".

For this comic, I combined a very limited palette and a photo ref to pipet from. I was looking for the stark cold/warm contrast of a mid-season bright night by a fireside. I took a google image photo of a campfire at night that was already edited. The photo itself looks unnatural but conveyed what I wanted. It's still on the file itself! From it, I pipetted a few colors I found "summed up" the palette and did all with them.

While my own habits make me prefer painting as you would in traditional methods, with directly picking the right colors, I will often digitally alter with overlays and layer blending modes some colors and gradients, etc, to alter a drawing to fix it's color palette. The following is a quite egregious example, because I first drew the character in flats before putting him in a full scene. Here is a before/after summed up.

The shadow is a layer, the bright yellow light zones also, and the orange "transitions" of light zones on the skin a third. There's also an overlay over the full character to blend him in. I do this by...making a full flat color of a layer, fucking around until a blending mode does what I want, and adjusting hue/brightness/saturation and opacity until it looks good.

Another WIP where I was struggling with the overall palette. I was going for late 60s psychedelic. You can see in the top right the original color. I thought it looked too...new, so I added a yellow layer on top, and fiddled with it. Final choice was the following setting. I then put it with my sketch and color blockout in a folder and painted over it.

For this sort of adjustement, the "Color Balance" modifier in CSP, Photoshop, and others is also a godsend - but one I often use for fine tuning a finished piece.

This being said, there's some rough rules to coloring which are...born from studying color theory and doing studies. I am guilty of doing very little studies...so I'll just sum up the basics of the color theory rules I use.

For "default" shading, I use a color that is darker, more saturated and with a slight hue diff. This is my "don't shade with black".

Using a shadow that's cooler will make the light look warm.

Vice versa.

There's a bunch of stuff to remember in how colors relate to each other and pipetting images who's atmosphere you think is interesting really is the best way to learn... It's learning how to black-blue/gold-yellow dress in your own art for the lack of a better word...But the basics will be:

Don't trust numerical values, but look at your colors in context. A same hue, brightness, saturation can look so much different. This is how Rakkan's beard looks whiteish here despite being a light very grey brown.

All this but...colour is such a wide topic, I can't really say a lot but can also type for hours... if you have precise questions about a piece in particular I can explain :') I hope this wasn't too vague and was instructive!

Speaking of particular pieces, answering your question last under the cut:

What are some of your favorite pieces that you've done?

In no particular order, illustration only.

Including this in another poast bc staff's new post editor limits the amounts of pics I can put in response to asks. Insert colorful language here...

Frankly twas hard to pick I am rarely fond of what I draw

[daughter-of-sapph0]

Hello! Congratulations on nine thousand followers... wow. Now that it's been... gosh... nearly an entire year since its conclusion, how do you feel about the best-evangelion-girl poll, in distant retrospect? I'm still a bit salty that Lilith didn't win, but hey, ridiculous gimmick polls are a democracy and I've only got one vote. Have you ever felt like you might host some other similarly complex poll again? I would really like to hear your final thoughts on the whole running-a-gimmick-poll-blog experience, now that that one is over. It's the reason why I found your main blog in the first place lol. I also really like your OCs, I ended up looking through your 'my art' tag one day and your pixel art, both old and new, is amazing. I hope you are having a wonderful ninethousandfollowersday. #lilithsweep

hi bestie! thanks for the ask

here's a quick explanation for everyone who doesn't know. I have a sideblog @best-evangelion-girl. now, it's mainly a queue blog for the anime stuff I like. but original it was a poll gimmick blog, to find which character in Evangelion was definitively the best girl and end the dumb debate once and for all. the only catch, none of the participants where any of the human characters from eva. they were all either angels or evas or mechs or whatever from the manga, anime, rebuilds, and other spinoffs. in the end, Ramiel ended up winning. but fan favorites Lilith, Unit-02, and Misato's Car all came in close behind.

I would say that in retrospect, if I would do that whole thing again, I would have planned it out better. firstly I would only do half as many entries. a lot of them were just filler. there were a ton of repeat entries because of the differences between the anime and rebuilds, and a bunch of nothing entries like the eva 4444C or whatever that cannon fodder from the fourth rebuild movie was called. I also would have scheduled the posts out ahead of time, instead of making them the day the results came in. also, I literally made all the posts on my phone during work, which probably isn't the best use of my fifteen minutes. I probably should have just waited until I got home lol.

my advice to anyone making a gimmick poll blog as someone who's done it twice now (I also had one for fictional transgender characters), start small. you don't need 64 or even 32 unique entries. you can just keep it simple. also, if you feel like it, try seeding your results based on what either you think is the most popular or by having a mini poll of a bunch of entries and ranking those by popularity.

as for if I'll host another competition like that, I'm not sure if I will. I don't have anything planned at the moment, but I'll keep you posted.

also, thanks for checking out my OCs! I love my little blorbos, and I'm super happy other people like them too! I'm still trying to figure out my style, but I feel like I've finally nailed it. pixel art is amazing, and after being almost entirely self taught for about two years, I feel like I've improved dramatically.

[alcameso]

❤️ please, have a seat ❤️

(tumblr doesn’t let us follow with side blogs, so if you came here looking for why i followed you check my side blogs listed below)

hello! my name is alicia, you can call me that, ali, or alcameso.

i am nonbinary.. or perhaps genderfluid ? haven’t gotten to the bottom of that quite yet and omnisexual. my preferred pronouns are they/she/he.

im from santo domingo, dominican republic and am 26 years old.

my favorite colors are red and blue.

🤍 what you can find here 🤍

fandom content. mostly animated media, sci-fi, horror, and various japanese anime. once i find a new piece of media it swallows my whole blog for a week or two.

biology, anthropology, and all general studies of nature are where my biggest special interests come from. the interests in question? dogs, plants and, believe it or not, kinks- no, not simultaneously, ya nasty.

i love all fuckin sorts of music, art, and literature which roughly make up the rest of my hypefixations (music performance, media analysis, and poetry to be specific). i make song recs on this blog, but you can visit my literature blog @smokeandsteam to find more pretty words.

i am a vehement supporter of all basic human rights. i do not tolerate meaningless hate and/or judgments based on ignorance.

if i had to identify with a belief system i’d tell you i’m part of the baha’i community, but i also practice secular witchcraft here and there, so who knows? i bring a spiritual vibe to the hang out the homies don’t know much about. i have a blog called @quisqueyanavaliente if you want to know more.

last but not least, there’s bound to be some spicy content sparsely flung about, but the vast and vulgar majority of it can be found on my ~other~ blog @ifyoumustknow.

i would jump at the opportunity to answer any kinds of asks, so don’t hesitate to interact with this blog or any of my other ones! the spicy blog, however, has its own set of rules in its pinned post.

🤍 tags to check out 🤍

i don’t really post much of my own content except for the occasional shit post or fleeting word vomit that shoots out of my brain like a water gun but i intend to make a habit of posting about new projects and events in the near future, so just know this tags list will grow:

for my song recs #alcameso has a spotify

for all posts made by me #alcameso

for my boyfriend sleep talking #sleep talking chronicles

for my work as a nail technician #alcameso is a nail tech

for my unwarranted opinions #alcameso has an opinion

for whatever is colonizing my brain at the time #alcameso has a hyperfixation

for my weird ass audio hallucinations caused by being sleepy or stressed #alcameso audio hallucinates

❤️ nice to meet you ❤️

[tr1ckysp00k]

Hello and welcome!

Introduction! <3

You can call me Trinity!

I will mostly be writing bob x reader stuff, that goes especially to my new story, just one bite. I will be writing for other types fandoms!

I do draw! My drawing isn’t all great, but I will be posting it nonetheless!

I do repost! Mostly stuff that I think are underrated, but if you don’t want me reposting please let me know! So no inconveniences can happen in the future.

What I will post/write? <3

I mostly post bob x reader! But I do plan on writing bob x *oc* as well!

The reader, aka y/n, is gender neutral! If you’re wanting me to write on a certain gender though, like female, male, transgender, masc, ect+ i’ll be happy too! 😋

What I really like writing is yandere stories or maybe angst! So much tension, and adrenaline! I often read other people’s stories and find inspiration in them!

What fandoms will I write for? :D

Spooky month, ofc

And DHMIS {big fan of this series}

{Maybe} welcome home ☀️

•Nothing Inappropriate just little eery stories between the characters and the reader•

{that’s all for now}

Fandoms I’m in?

🕷️ fnaf

🕷️DHMIS

🕷️ Spooky month

🕷️ welcome home

🐝 owl house

🐝 gravity falls

🐝 Kipo and the age of the wonder beast

Do you take request & ask?

Yes! Absolutely! Though, I may or may not respond quickly, I’ll make sure your asks don’t go unanswered!

I do have some rules that must be followed if you are gonna make a request, and if your gonna interact with my page!

Rules that must be followed:

No hatful comments on my work, if you don’t like what I post just scroll! It’s simple!

I don’t want pr-shippers not c0mshippers interacting with my account.

I do have boundaries. I will not be posting anything too inappropriate

I want to keep it 13+, please!

I don’t want ‘Fans’ of APH Interacting with my account.

Nor do I want people who support hatful and nasty behavior {by this you should know what I mean} on this account. I will not hesitate to block you.

What stories are you working on?

The current one i’m writing is a bob x reader story!

‘Just one bite?’

It was inspired by multiple artist in this app, in which I will be tagging! ⬇️

@dib-thing-wannabe /inspiration to my writing!

@grilladrago /inspiration to my writing and art!

@fatdemonlover /inspires my art and writing!

@ech0lesss /inspiration to my writing!

@cringe-croissant /inspiration to my art! And gives me motivation

@shaggyspook/@theogratking inspires my art and creativity!

{send love to these people!}

{I’m sure more inspiring artist will turn up! I enjoy seeing peoples art and stories, yall are so creative!}

How often do I post?

Not much unfortunately

Stuff about me! {just putting this on the table}

I am apart of the lgbtq+! [im pansexual!]

I’m as well a ally of the furry community!

I often draw as a hobby, as well as listening to music! I love various artist in the music industry!

{I’m not a HUGE fan of country music, it’s ironic because I grew up in the countryside LMAO}

I do a lot of writing in my spare time! I mostly like making fanfics {I love receiving peoples recognition off of them :’)}.

I don’t self-ship, but I support it and have no problem with people who do! <3

My bday is in June 23!

Music artist I’m mostly into;

Sodikken

Jack stauber

Lemon demon {I’m in love with the song ‘touch tone telephone’}

Slip knot

Surasshu

TEMPOREX

Mother mother

Nine inch nails

Black dresses

Vundabar

Crystal castles

And Gorillaz

Weird facts about me cuz why not? :D

• you know when you take out a fresh trash bag {specifically those black hefty trash bags} and it has a certain Smokey smell to it? I love the smell. And it has to be the hefty brand or otherwise it isn’t the same.

• I like cutting the sausage part of the Hot Dog into little bits, then eating them with chopsticks.

• I often collect trinkets and such, and keep them in a small box. I don’t even use them, I just collect them just for the heck of it.

• show me something smaller than it should be and I’ll lose my mind. {I also like collecting those mini brand figurines}

• I space out 24/7

• I cannot stand dry hands or touching anything that is too dry, it can be tolerated but I prefer for my hands not to feel chalky.

• often running out of glue because I’m obsessed with letting it dry on my hands then peeling it off.

• I have a habit of talking to myself.

Thank you for reading!

Hugs and love to all of y’all!

[news-markharrisonrootsmusic]

NEWS SEPTEMBER 2024

Hello everyone,

I hope people are as OK as they can be in this time of the Great Weirdness. It's a very busy time for me right now, with the new album and shows and everything else that goes into this music thing. Here's something I appear to have said in a recent interview and I reckon that, like Dylan, I'm going to stick to this kind of gnomic utterance in future:

I'm not an attention-seeking performer. I'm only interested in songs and delivering them well. That’s the only interest for me. It's not about me. My music points out rather than points in.

FANTASTIC REVIEWS OF THE NEW ALBUM

It's great to see how well-received the new album has been, here are a few of the things that have been said so far about FOOLS & CLOWNS:

'There's one thing you can always say about Mark Harrison: he's a complete original ....' (Blues in Britain magazine)

'this supremely well-informed character’s distinctive approach to music-making' (Morning Star)

'wonderful melodious tunes and fascinating lyrics' (At The Barrier)

'Mark nails the poverty (economic, moral or spiritual) of our own times with a zeitgeisty zing, all while still putting a smile on your face and a spring in your step!' (Plunger)

'I think it's blinkin' marvellous, 10 out of 10 to the Mark Harrison Band' (Frank Hennessy, BBC Radio Wales) 

'it’s a knockout record. The songwriting is clever and the arrangements are spot on' (Folking)

'Mark Harrison is an English singer-songwriter, whose ability to tell a story – and a story about the most unlikely of subjects – is, quite honestly, unsurpassed' (Down at the Crossroads)

'the playing and the wit and the wisdom of Harrison's words are a real joy to hear' (FATEA)

'songs that have melodies and hooks – some that will have you dancing, some nodding wistfully and a few that will have you raising your fists and roaring' (Music News) 

BUY THE ALBUM 

Please do go ahead and ORDER FOOLS & CLOWNS HERE - you won't hear anything else like it, and it might get you thinking, moving, smiling or all three at the same time!

Huge thanks to everyone who has already bought the album, hope you are all enjoying it. 

Everyone ordering the album directly via this link will also receive a private link to download it and watch a film in which I talk briefly about each of the songs and the ideas behind them. 

To get a flavour of the album, watch: 

the official film of the much-played and streamed single THEM AND US here

clips of tracks from the album: Fools & Clowns compilation

a film of us making the album: The Making of Fools & Clowns

The album has, as you can see, fantastic artwork, plus a booklet with all the lyrics. 

NEW T-SHIRTS

We now have a fantastic selection of new T-shirts in a new online shop. The designs are all taken from designer Andy Hall's wonderful work on albums and posters over the years. Three of the designs are available at gigs now. 

All the designs, in all sizes, can be ordered here: online shop

SHOWS

There are lots of forthcoming shows, and more coming in all the time, have a look at the listings here. Here are this year's as things stand, with ticket links:

THURS      OCT 3        GROUNDHOG BLUES CLUB, WELLINGTON, TELFORD               TICKETS & INFO

SAT         OCT 12           CARLISLE BLUES/ROCK FESTIVAL                             TICKETS & INFO

FR1         OCT 18      BREADSALL MEMORIAL HALL, DERBYSHIRE                          TICKETS & INFO 

SUN         OCT 27           BEVERLEY BLUES FESTIVAL                             TICKETS & INFO

SAT         NOV 2             THE PLOUGH ARTS CENTRE, GREAT TORRINGTON, DEVON                 TICKETS & INFO

SAT         NOV 23           THE EDGE ARTS CENTRE, MUCH WENLOCK, SHROPSHIRE              TICKETS & INFO

SAT         DEC 7              UNDER THE EDGE ARTS, WOTTION UNDER EDGE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE     TICKETS & INFO

We get to play at a whole variety of great venues and events, as people who follow us will know. Do come to something, and spread the word too, we need as many people as possible to come and find out about the unique thing we do ....

UPDATED WEBSITE 

The website has been revised and updated, have a look at it all here, it's got everything anyone could need to know, see or hear! 

http://www.markharrisonrootsmusic.com/

FILMS

New live films, including the most recent shows:

recent live films

All manner of good films are on our YouTube channel, have a prowl around and subscribe too: YouTube channel

SPOTIFY

You can check out all the albums here, and if you like the music, please do buy something too: 

Spotify

ALBUMS

All the albums, can be ordered direct here, so if there are any you haven't got, do get them! We do songs from all of them.

http://www.markharrisonrootsmusic.com/shop.php

[bealilyaliceinmarch]

Hello hi howdy!

My name is Jess, I go by the She/Hers, and this is my new personal blog, BeaLilyAliceinMarch!

Info and stuff:

About me:

I'm a student working at my degree of Mass Communications: Public Relations full time. Reluctantly, tbh but it lets me do a lot of creative writing classes. I like writing original stories and coming up with ideas for fanfic I'll never write cuz I haven't found a way to write fanfic I found fun. I want to make video games but haven't gotten around to it yet. I also think about media alot.

Media I Like:

Star Trek. Just all of it, I've seen every episode and movie.

Stargate. Working through it as this is written, have enjoyed mostly all of it.

Final Fantasies Vii Remake Project and XV

Alice Isn't Dead

Jet Lag The Game

Game Changer

Many musics, but particularly Nine Inch Nails, Poppy, and NateWantsToBattle

The Zooliminalogy Project

The Tags:

I will update as I go along, but all posts will be tagged with #BeaLilyAliceinMarch and anything NSFW will be tagged with that as a hashtag.

Each post will also be tagged with a name. This name will correspond with a topic. (I will also use the more specific topic hashtags)

Jess - Me talking to my followers directly.

Mabel - Media Talk!

Bea - Funnies.

Lily - Polls.

Alice - My personal creative writings.

March - Spirituality.

Octive - Music Talks.

Ezra - Visual Art.

More to be added.

And...

Thanks for visiting my blog! I hope you have a wonderful day! -Jess

[bulletsmustdie]

hello there.... welcome!

my name is BULLETS, i'm a 16 year old freak who likes music probably a bit too much for my own good. i go by any pronouns!! just preferably he/they. australian right here... and no. i do not ride kangaroos to school. no tone tags needed or used, if i really feel i should use them i will. thanks!

NOW!

what am i doing here on tumblr?

i am an artist. i draw things and sometimes animate things. this blog will also probably contain a lot random ass posts from me. like project designs and stuff, this'll be sort of like an art journal for me.

what kind of stuff do you draw?

i draw a lot of different things. im a huge bandom fan, i'm in tons of diffferent fandoms for bands, mainly my chemical romance. most of the art that i post on social platforms are rough sketches and 'memes'? if that makes sense. i do create official works and have done so for a while, they just aren't as frequent as i'd like them to be.

any warnings/other things we should know before following?

mostly just profanity warnings as in language, blood and gore might be present sometimes but not always. my art changes a lot, like a lot a lot, including my style and colouring patterns, so not everything i do is in concrete. thats why i dont usually make official pieces of work. i love experimenting with my work :)

cool! are asks/commissions/requests open?

yes! commissions are open at the moment, aswell as asks. requests are a bit iffy but if i feel like it i will. so lets just say asks are half half. if you want my commission info, dm me! i'm happy to answer any questions about it. i can draw just about anything but nsfw and extreme gore.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

i've got tons and tons. so many its insane.

bands im into: my chemical romance, brand new, nine inch nails, foxing, car seat headrest, born without bones, madonna, joy division, she wants revenge, modern baseball, soul asylum, paramore, pierce the veil, slipknot, jeff buckley, the smiths, frank iero, linkin park, radiohead, foo fighters, heart attack man, leathermouth, weezer, basement, fall out boy, the hotelier, new order, no doubt, pink floyd, the caretaker (💀), sports., the used and sooooooo many more........

games:

lethal company, minecraft, undertale, silent hill, terraria, phasmophobia, fran bow, and just a lot of random games you can find on itch.io are usually super fire

other random interests:

i play guitar, bass, drums and i sing. i absolutely love to jam and if you wanted you could check out my spotify profile if you were more curious as to my music taste :

@ bassdaddy07 @ (my spotify) .

.

.

my dni list.

BASIC DNI STANDARDS!!!!! no weirdos. if your a weirdo get the FUCK out of here!!!

if i feel like youre creepy and weird, you're blocked. also just a quick clear up, i say like "youre done" and "yorue blocked" a lot as a joke, you'd be able to tell if i actually mean it tho. anyways.

thats about it!!! i think.... have a lovely day and once again....

WELCOME!!!

[ajoytobeheld]

An Update

July 21st, 2011

Hello there,

It’s me, Gareth.

I thought I’d write a blog post to let you know what the haps are at the moment, as those of you who follow us on any one of a MILLION social networking sites that I type shit on, will likely be aware that our new album is all but finished and we’re very excited about it.

I know that a lot of people get frustrated during the period of time between an album being declared “finished” and the album’s actual release, so I thought I’d let you know what’s going on at the moment.

Right now, our main man and sound guru, Tom is exchanging final mixes with producer John Goodmanson, pruning every last note and drum hit to make sure every song sounds as perfect as it can.

“I think the lead guitar line treads over the vocal a little bit there, maybe pan it right rather than down the center”

All stuff like that that I’m nowhere near intelligent enough to hear without prompting. It’s so exciting hearing newer and newer mixes and the songs becoming bigger and better. Perhaps it’s presumptuous to think everyone will know what’s meant by mixing, so, without wanting to patronise:

Recording: being in a studio, playing the songs. Recording what’s played.

Mixing: putting everything that’s been recorded together. Making sure every part is at the right volume, making sure it sits nicely in the speakers or yr headphones or doesn’t sound too terrible when you decide to play it through YOUR SHITTY TINNY MACBOOK SPEAKERS. Ahem.

Next comes mastering, next week in fact. But even after recording and releasing as much music as we have, I still really don’t understand that. I generally just chip in with “make the gap between songs 3 and 4 half a second longer, maybe, idk?”.

So by the time of mastering, we’ll have nailed a final tracklisting, something which seems so close but is so important that it’s really hard to finally settle on something. And that’s why I would never dream of listening to an album on shuffle. They’re in that order for a reason, y’know?

This is one of my favourite parts of being in a band, though. I love writing the songs down in order, looking at how the songtitles look written next to eachother, and what story the titles alone can tell. Thinking how the narrative will develop across an album, and where the curveballs will come.

As this goes on, so does artwork. This doesn’t just mean cover art, but liner notes aswell. We’ve always taken great pride in our artwork and making sure our records are something worth owning physical copies of. This is the first time I’m handwriting the lyrics. It’s such a personal record that it seems completely appropriate/necessary.

In the meantime, we’re also working out Pre-Order Bundles. Stuff for you ‘normies’ and extra-special, exclusive stuff for Heat Rash members. A band like ours wants/needs as many people to pre-order the album as possible, so we’re trying to come up with stuff that you’d be silly to miss out on.

What sort of things do you want in a pre-order? What would you be excited by?

Oh and there are music videos and things to think about. A particularly troublesome matter, but one that will hopefully fall into place easily.

And then, of course, we have to be able to play the album live. We’re particularly looking forward to this. The songs are so massive and powerful on record, and I can’t even begin to imagine how much damage we could do with them live. Comewhat November (which is when the album’ll be released, and when we’ll be playing some proper (ie, non-festival) gigs) we’ll be a band with 4 records under our belts. It’s gonna be such a challenge to work out what to play. I hope we’ll be able to play much more varied sets, and I also hope we’ll have the balls to relegate some early-career set staples to the substitutes’ bench. This record is where we are now, as musicians, and as human beings, and I cannot wait for us to be able to present it to you.

Well, that’s quite a rambling post, but I thought some of you might like to be kept in the loop.

If you’ve any Qs (reasonable ones, obv) relating to this sort of stuff, feel free to stick ‘em below.

ATB (All The Best),

Gareth

ps. OH YEH, HEAT RASH UPDATE: as is probably clear, our commitments to recording an album/completing an album/playing festivals has slowed HR issue #2 down a little, but it really is very close to being finished, and I’m really proud of it. It’s a lot more focused than the first issue, the songs are wonderful and interesting undertakings and the written content is, I’d say, more personal and meaty. Thanks for your patience.

[ravenouscultleader780]

COTL AU : "A Tale of Two Lambs" Tumblr Exclusive Fanfic. Lamberina's Ref Sketc

Hello Cultists! Well I made a Edit Last Night to Only do Sketch Drawings of Each Character in my 1st COTL Passion Story Project with The First being The Official Title of it : "A Tale of Two Lambs" which this basically a What If AU where what if Lambert isn't the last Lamb of his Kind and there's another Living somewhere in the Lands of The Old Faith along with Nari feeling Surprised and Falls in Love with Lambert's Long Lost Sister Lamberina whom is a Tough as Nails Warrior Female Lamb and will protect anyone from any Foes Big or Small.

and There will be a Mini Arc with Lambert & his Newfound Sister Lamberina or Nicknamed Lambchops(by Narinder & Lambert himself) by Reviving The 4 Bishops into Simple Followers like Nari's Current Form with Lambert teaching them how to forgive their Brother Nari and become less Sociopathic & Ignorant.

Now This is Only The 1st Post of My COTL AU/Fanfic but more will be Revealed as well as Ref Sheets for Narinder, The Revived Bishops and Even Fellow Followers as Side Characters(OCs Followers Included also) and a Possible New Villain(who's a Lioness inspired by The 2 Upcoming Follower Forms coming in the ROTOF Major Free Update coming soon)

P.S : I still like using MLP Bases for my Digital Art on Tumblr & Devainart so for a Break from DA im gonna post some MLP Base Edits based on COTL Alone & Only for this Specific Blog and Fanfic Including The Other Characters.

[themonotonysyndrome]

REDACTED verse - William & Angel friendship headcanons

I don't know why, but I woke up with an intense urge to write something wholesome about these two. So here we go!

TW: A bit NSFT because Angel likes giving the Incubi and Succubi population a run for their money, lol.

On a pleasant evening, after a long day of work, William went to his favourite bakery to treat himself.

The owner immediately greets him warmly as soon as William walks into the store. Happy to see his regular customer. As the Unempowered man gives the Vampire King a rundown of this week's specialities, it begins to shower heavily over the city.

William purchases his favourites and that's when the bakery's door dramatically swings open. Lightning suddenly flashes, followed by thunder - illuminating the figure standing at the entrance for a brief moment. They're drenched from head to toe and eyes feral.

"Please," The mysterious stranger croaks out, perhaps a little desperate too. "Please tell me you still got some buttered croissant left!"

The bakery owner winces sympathetically. "You're out of luck, kiddo. This man here bought the last one."

When those feral eyes land on William, he can't help but clutches his goodie bag close to his chest in some sort of irrational fear.

Lol, but seriously, he's ready to share the baked goods with the stranger while they dry off using the towel provided by the owner. Conversation soon flows easily between them.

William learns that the stranger had the opposite day compared to his. It's been nothing but a string of bad lucks, red lights and spilt coffee on their work clothes and now they're soaking wet for wanting to buy some comfort food. He decided to buy coffee for them; hoping that it would warm them up.

It might be a shitty day for them but Angel left that bakery that night with a new friend.

So that's how their friendship started!

Their friendship dynamic is basically that one art meme where character A is the embodiment of chaos and character B is the normal one who just happens to be the chaos enabler.

William is delightfully taken by Angel's silliness and random bout of wisdom (they make him feel young again whenever they hang out) while Angel is charmed by William's gentle patience and the fact that he's 90% on board with whatever shenanigans they can come up with. That's more than David!

It's crazy how fast these two become instant besties!

"You know what's a power move, Will? Owning up to your fox pass. It's the ultimate - "

The conversations they have is hilarious:

"Wait. Wait. Excuse me?"

"What?"

"What did you just say?"

"Uh, power move?"

"No, no. After that."

"Fox pass?"

"... It's pronounced 'foe pa'."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"..."

Cue a quick and impromptu French lesson from an incredulous Vampire King on the word faux pass.

Angel made their life mission to annoy the hell out of William by mispronouncing other various French words.

These two also do lots of activities together! Mainly cooking. Each take turns going to the other's house and messing up the kitchen.

"Does this one look like nine by thirteen inches to you?"

EX: Today's agenda is baking cupcakes. William is holding up a couple of trays with a frown and presents one to a curious Angel.

"Yeah."

"Well, that was quick."

"Look Will, I get nine inched nailed daily. I know when I see one."

Cue Will blue screening for at least fifteen minutes while Angel howls with laughter.

"The youths of today sure are bold..."

Angel also made William hooked on video games. Specifically, fighting games. William surprisingly becomes very competitive whenever they play.

"Oh, no fucking way. Will! Will, dude, is that you!? Oh my gosh, hi! What are you doing here!?"

They exchange bits and pieces of their background before both of their identities are revealed during a Shaw & Solaire Party.

Angel's outburst earns the immediate attention of every attending Vampires and some curious Wolves. Everyone watches as they run up to him.

"Oh my, hello dear. This is a pleasant surprise. I didn't know you're a part of the Empowered world."

"Hey, that should be my line! Is your partner one of the Vampires here?"

(Vincent chokes on his drink while Sam gape.)

"I oversee the Vampires in Dahlia as their King."

William chuckles. Delighted at Angel's misunderstanding.

"You're a Vampire; that's so cool! I have a question - "

"I don't sparkle."

"You're a mind reader too!?"

"No. You're just... very predictable."

Vincent and Lovely furiously whisper that Will has adopted a stray.

Meanwhile, at the sideline, David has no idea that the Mr. Croissant Angel has saved on their phone is William Solaire himself.

[chateautae]

maybe i do | kth. I

➵ summary :  maybe you love each other, maybe you don’t. when a deal between your fathers leaves you forcefully wedding kim taehyung, arguably seoul’s most powerful CEO, you’re prepared for a loveless marriage of eternal regret and unhappiness. but maybe, it doesn’t turn out that way after all.

↳  part of the high-class series!

➵ pairing : taehyung x reader

➵ genre :  arranged marriage!au, ceo!tae, s2l!au, eventual smut, fluff, angst 

➵ rating : 18+

➵ word count : 11k

➵ warnings : swearing, alcohol consumption, anxiety, lots of feels about marriage, a stupid ex (reader’s), mentions of bad sexual experiences with ex (there’s consent, just bad sex that makes the reader feel shitty), does ceo tae count as a warning? 

➵ a/n: hello my first fic of my favourite trope arranged marriage, AND with kim taehyung?? yes pls !! this will be a series and I’ll be actively working on it so you don’t have to wait too long for chapters, i hope you can follow this series with me <33

chapter one : “my forever’s falling down”  

prev. ↞ || ↠ next  || masterlist

“Another one, Father? I thought I told you my secretary would be handling marriage profiles from now on. Stop concerning yourself with who I marry.” 

“But I do, son. Trust me, I know this girl, she’s the daughter of a trusted friend and I think she’s a good match.” 

“Father, everyone you choose for me I dislike and it’s distracting me from my work. I don’t need this right now.” 

“She’s different, Taehyung. I personally know her and I’m certain you won’t say no.” 

“And why is that?” 

“There’s something about her you won’t refuse, son, you’ll notice it when you meet her.” 

“I don’t want to meet her, Father. Like I said, I need to work.” 

“I just knew you’d act this way. Want to know something, son? I’ve made her part of a business deal, you can’t back out of this.”

“What? You made her part of a business deal?! Why would you-”

“Because you wouldn’t have given her a chance otherwise, you haven’t been giving anyone a chance since I’ve been setting up potential partners for you and I’m sick of it. You said you were open to an arranged marriage, where’s that attitude now?”

“Because, Father, I have a company to run and that’s-”

“No. I will not allow you to reduce your life to just this company. There are far more enjoyable things in life than a business.”

“But Father-”

“No, Taehyung. One thing you need to learn is balance. If you don’t give anyone or anything a chance you will live a lonely life behind your desk. Even in this cutthroat world of business where you can lose money or be betrayed by anyone at any moment, the most painful thing to suffer is loneliness, and I won’t let you live in this world alone.”

“Dad-”

“You will meet this girl, Taehyung, end of discussion.” 

“Dad! I told you I want nothing to do with your company, how could you let me get dragged into this?!” 

“Y/N-ie, I know you value the life you have without any of my help, but let me help just this once, especially with finding a husband. I’m being offered the deal of a lifetime and I can’t refuse, he just happens to be part of it. I need this for the company, please.”

“But Dad, I don’t even know him. And if he’s the CEO of some rich company he’s probably an asshole, I’m not doing this.” 

“Y/N-ie, trust me, I know his son. He’s a sincere, hard-working man, I promise.”

“Yeah, right. Even if that’s the case, I still don’t know him, let alone love him, Dad. How can you make me marry someone I don’t love?”

“Because you can learn to love him. There are no rules concerning the way two people should fall in love, love doesn’t always need to come first.”

“But Dad-”

“My daughter, I have not asked you for many things in my life, but this is one thing I must ask of you. Please, just meet him, don’t say no without even trying.”

“Dad, I don’t know-”

“Please, Y.N, do it for me. If not for the company or money, please do it for me.”

And here you were, fidgeting with the tips of your nails, tuning in and out of the present world and overthinking every aspect of your life that somehow lead you to this moment. Sitting on a Leather Italia couch in what was described to be Mr. Kim’s study; listening to your father’s incessant, albeit wholesome chatter next to you with your future in-laws across. 

And next to them was their suave, unreadable son sitting in a relaxed manner, flipping his attention between your fathers’ conversation and anything else in the room.

You on the other hand, were utterly high strung due to the fact that your father failed to mention your future fiancé’s identity until 30 minutes before arriving here, having done a quick search in the car to unveil who he exactly was.

And that’s when it hit you. You weren’t marrying just anyone, you were getting married to Kim Taehyung. The infamous CEO of Kim Enterprises—Korea’s largest software development and manufacturing company, rivaling to be one of the largest in the world. He was part of Seoul’s most prestigious circle of businessmen, having made multiple Forbes international lists of Most Successful, Youngest, Richest, and is even one of Korea’s most eligible bachelors, not just Seoul.

If this wasn’t already taking you out, then it was definitely the fact that his photos through a measly Google search did him absolutely, utterly and completely no justice. They simply could never capture the truth of just how handsome Kim Taehyung was in real life. You couldn’t deny it, he wasn’t just good-looking, he was stunning, gorgeous, seemed as though God had created the universe, heaven and hell in 6 days and left the 7th just to create him. 

He was like a work of art, worthy of being placed in the finest of museums and left untouched, unsodden by the ugliness of humanity. It made you feel extremely inferior to him in an instant. It was sickening, he was sickening, intoxicating, and quite frankly, intimidating.

It was his look, his undivided stare when he eventually settled his sight on you. It didn’t matter his dark hair that landed and perfectly curled above his eyes, the way he occasionally licked his plush lips or how his long, tall legs spread out before him, it was his look that made you want to turn tail and run.  

It seemed to reach into your soul, peer straight through whatever façade, walls or defense mechanisms you could spend years building only to have his simple look tear it down in minutes. He was alluring, captivating, left you wanting to cower into whatever hole you could dig yourself into or discover all the secrets he hid behind those enchanting eyes.

Kim Taehyung was many things you couldn’t quite wrap your head around, though you assessed your priorities and decided they didn’t just include him, but mainly the significance of the current meeting taking place right now. 

It wasn’t a mere one-time business deal to discuss a project, it was a meeting that entailed the partnership of both your family companies and would define the next however many years of your life. More specifically, spending it with the exact same man that looked at you without a single readable expression on his face. 

You distracted yourself by trying to observe as many useless things as you could, flitting around the room many times before suddenly glancing at Taehyung’s index finger coming up to rest against his lips.

You zeroed your vision in more. 

Is that a cut on his finger?

“Jae-in, of course! This is just as important to me as it is to you, your son is a remarkable CEO, and I’m sure he’ll make an amazing husband.” 

“Aish, Namhyun, you flatter me too much. My son may be handsome, though your daughter is even more beautiful. I’m very sure she will make a wonderful wife.”

“Yes, Namhyun, your daughter is absolutely gorgeous! Just as gorgeous as her mother. I know she wasn’t able to make it, though may I ask where your wife is tonight?” 

“Ah, unfortunately, she’s out of the country. Though I was hoping my presence would be enough to fill in for her, am I doing a bad job?” 

Laughter erupted from the parents in the room, meanwhile, Taehyung couldn’t help but notice the way you immediately winced at the mention of your mother. Something he definitely wouldn’t miss with the way he found himself examining your every move. 

It was habitual to him, something born out of his roots in business, only for the purpose of calculating and reading people like an open book. 

He knew you’d also become victim to that habit, though oddly enough, he found himself quite interested in observing you. He had already figured you out; you hated business, there was a clear disconnection between yourself and your father’s company and you reeked of a sense of independence that funnily contradicted the antsy way you bounced your leg. 

Your way of speech, however, mannerisms, gestures, your look; it was all professional enough you clearly have some sort of background in business. You seemed like an heiress to Taehyung, which you were, though you oddly had no interest in business?   

All these details piqued his interest, curious of just who you exactly were, but he was mainly intrigued by the mysterious claim his father made upon mentioning you for the first time. 

‘There’s something about her you won’t refuse.’

That had raked Taehyung’s brain consistently for the past hour now, crossing his legs loosely and his arms folded over his chest, contemplating over and over again as he looked at you, what’s so damn special about her? 

‘You’ll notice it when you meet her,’ the words rang in his ears.

That was the driving force behind his calculation, observation, near inability to take his eyes off of you as he learned new things nearly every minute and led him closer to understanding his father.  

He could tell you were an anxious person, though hid it behind a persona of false confidence. You had a tendency to stick close to your father despite observing you don’t rely on him for much of anything, even less your mother. The softness behind your every movement despite being from a business background where you should be harsh, rigid, rough around the edges, and yet you seemed entirely different.

Taehyung then realized how inherently dissimilar you were to many of the other women he met. They were all relatively of the same cut and look. Cold, sharp, cunning. All women of pure business; daughters, granddaughters or straight CEOs of wealthy companies, simply interested in marriage as a deal or an advantage rather than a commitment. 

And there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Taehyung was a man of business himself, married to his work, his home behind a desk and the company the only thought occupying his mind 24/7.

But with you, you were interesting, unlike the others and it made him curious.

Taehyung also couldn’t help but notice you were...pretty. You weren’t too overly sexy nor too innocent, you were pretty. There was an elegance to your looks, features like your hair and eyes complementing you as a whole, and he couldn’t miss that you felt oddly...warm.

Taehyung found himself beginning to understand his father’s original viewpoint, considering the possibility he could’ve been correct. 

You just seemed different. 

“Ah, that seems to be everything. Exact details about the wedding have already been put in place by us.”

“Yes! We’ve been waiting for our TaeTae to get married for so long. We’ve had plans for months now and we can finally move forward with them! You and Y/N don’t need to worry about anything!” 

“Mom, did you really just call me that in front of my future fiancé?” 

“Oh, let it go, son. It won't be long before she calls you that, too!” 

Taehyung could only playfully roll his eyes at his overly excited mother, you scrunching your nose at the embarrassment.

“That’s incredibly generous of you, Mr. and Mrs. Kim, though my conscience is not one to let such things go. My family should contribute to the wedding in some way. Y/N and I would be happy to do so.”

“Why don’t we discuss that outside? I believe we should give the future couple some time alone, shall we?” 

You and Taehyung exchanged a quick look before standing up and respectively addressing either’s parents, Taehyung shutting the door behind them once they exited and having turned to look at you, an awkward silence piercing the air. 

There it was again, his look. It was irrefutably the one reason you avoided eye contact with him, you felt he would swallow you up if you shared even 5 seconds between each other.

“So...” Taehyung suddenly broke the ice, eyeing you.

“So...” 

“Marriage, huh?” 

“Yeah, marriage. Never done that one before.” If there wasn’t a time you vehemently hated yourself, then it was undoubtedly now. You internally facepalmed at your dumb comment, adding a laugh at the end in embarrassment only to look away. 

“Uh..yeah.” Taehyung laughed awkwardly. “Me neither, if you didn’t already know.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and looked away, you fidgeting by the couches everyone previously occupied. 

A beat of silence passed as you both exchanged looks between objects in the room and each other, either of you pursing your lips or blowing light raspberries to cut the awkwardness. 

“I wanted to ask you something.” 

“Hm?” You turned towards him, lips just a pout as your doe-eyes awaited him. 

Taehyung didn’t miss that at all. 

“Um, your mother. I apologize if this is intrusive of me, though I couldn’t help but notice I’ve never actually met her. May I ask where she is?” 

You let out a dry chuckle before answering, another detail that didn’t slip Taehyung’s attention. “Trust me, Taehyung, one thing you’ll never have to worry about during this entire ordeal is my mother. She should be the last thing on your mind.” You assured him with what he could tell was your fakest smile, distracting him from the realization you’d said his name for the first time.

“Are you sure? I’ll be meeting her at the wedding so-”

“You won’t. I don’t think you will. Even if she does make it, it takes very little to impress her, just be yourself and she’ll love you.” You stated with a sense of finality, as though the topic should be dropped. 

“Be myself? I’m one of the best businessmen in Korea. It’s my job to get people to like me, easy stuff.” He casually gloated. 

“You don’t only have to be a businessman to do that,” you paused and looked at him, “you can just be Kim Taehyung, too.” You spoke nonchalantly, eyes lingering with his for longer than 5 seconds and he, in fact, had not swallowed you yet. 

Taehyung instantly furrowed his eyebrows, taken aback as if your suggestion was something outlandish, absurd, maybe even offending.

Nobody has ever said such a thing to him, not throughout the entirety of his life. 

Taehyung tried his best to recover, searching for another topic of conversation before he was cut off by your rather soft voice, he noticed. 

“Oh, I wanted to give you this.” You stepped towards him, reaching into your purse and retrieving something Taehyung couldn’t quite see. You strided over and extended your hand, Taehyung finding himself even more confused.

“A bandage?” 

“Mhm. For the cut on your finger. You should probably clean it and apply something before putting this on.” You stated nonchalantly once again, offering him a small smile whilst holding out the bandage. 

“Uh...” Taehyung started but couldn’t complete his sentence, lost on how you even observed something as small as his cut and spoke of treating it like it was an actual injury.  

After his struggle to form a sentence, you grew bold enough to gently remove his hand from his pocket and place the bandage in his palm, looking back up at him. You shared a momentary look with his chocolate eyes, instantly scrambling after realizing your hand was still in his.

He has really big hands. 

“We should um...probably go.” You avoided his eyes, stepping aside quickly to pull the door open.

Taehyung’s mind felt displaced, eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the fact that someone had actually left him with nothing to say, an extremely rare occurrence in his book.

He was even more displaced looking at the measly wrapper in his hand, then at the cut on the side of his finger, playing through the last 5 minutes of what just happened.

He scoffed to himself.

‘There’s something about her you won’t refuse.’

It had been 3 weeks since that meeting, not having seen Taehyung once as you wasted your time enjoying single life luxuries before you prepared for one of marriage.

It still felt odd to say such a thing, marriage, because it didn’t even feel like one, or a real one at that. It was forced, fake, a pressured one out of convenience. It felt more like a deal, something Taehyung and yourself had to settle for in order to keep your parents’ minds at ease.

That thought racked your brain all those 3 weeks; Taehyung had to settle for you, he didn’t choose you, just as much as you settled for him and didn’t choose him either. You both had ultimately agreed to the marriage only in an effort to optimize your parents’ happiness, not your own.

You had no clue how he felt, a mystery as much as the Bermuda Triangle, knowing he most certainly had a grand pick of women to choose from and you were most definitely his worst option.

You knew you were suddenly dumped on him, leaving him no choice in the matter as you learned your marriage entailed a beneficial business deal between your fathers’ companies, and Taehyung couldn’t really refuse you with so much on the line.

You had already felt inferior to Taehyung since the moment you met him, though your insecurities seeped further into the crevices of your doubtful mind the more you thought over that sad fact, contemplating a married life with him. In your opinion you were pretty much undesirable to him, Taehyung probably kicking himself knowing he had to unwillingly call you his wife for the rest of his life. 

You just knew you weren’t good enough for him, you would never measure up no matter how hard you’d try and that utterly terrified you. You were confident and independent when it came to yourself, though wedding a near perfect being regarded as one of Seoul’s finest in terms of a CEO and a man? 

Confidence be damned, this dude was intimidating. 

These were the feelings that swarmed your head as you sulked at your over-the-top engagement party, set up in a prestigious buildings’ gorgeous 37th floor riddled with baroque styling and embellishments, classical music gracing some of Seoul’s wealthiest patrons as their flutes clinked and snobby chatter filled the hall. 

It was all extremely high-status, reeking of upper class supremacy and quite frankly, it made you want to throw up.

You distracted yourself by bringing any and all types of alcohol to your lips, trying to focus on anything but your daunting thoughts.

The entire night you hadn’t talked to Taehyung, both of you having been too occupied with the numerous amounts of people meeting and congratulating you. This became a genuine nuisance as you’d mentioned before, this marriage was of convenience, one that brought families and companies together merrily and constituted hundreds of people attending your engagement party you didn’t really know.

Your friends were excited, over-the-moon you bagged a man like Taehyung and chastised you for not having told them about your engagement to him earlier. Your relatives similarly scolded you, pinching your cheeks and praising Taehyung like he was a God while they scrunched their noses at you for concealing him.

How could I tell you when I didn’t even know myself?, you thought.

It was funny they praised your ‘choice’ of a fiancé, positive nobody was saying the same to Taehyung without at least lying. The public only knew of you as your father’s daughter, never having seen you due to your vehement absence from anything remotely related to his company, and much of the business world in general. 

You weren’t part of that world, a world of greed and money-driven lunatics. It just wasn't you. It never suited you, left you with a bad taste in your mouth you constantly grimaced at and thought maybe you were the insane one for not understanding its flavour. As you grew older, however, you came to realize it simply wasn’t the path meant for you, someone who valued the independence and achievement of earning something for yourself, by yourself.

Ever since the inception of that principal, your young teenage self resolved you didn’t want to rely on your father’s wealth, especially not his influence or power to achieve your own place in life.

Your father had worked determinedly hard for years in order to stand as high he does now, warranting your acute admiration for your role model of a father, his now successful architecture business landing him a few buildings part of the Seoul skyline.

And after finally achieving his dream, it suddenly morphed into your own aspiration. His hard work drove you to want your own design part of Seoul’s breathtaking scenery as well, by means of your own effort, your own hard work. You didn’t want your father’s help. It felt wrong, like you were cheating if you used him to gain your place and so you condemned your life to one that separated yours and his. 

So you lived, worked and earned money without any of his influence.

You worked for an average architecture company where you felt comfortable, happy that you were away from the suffocating high-status business of your family. And although your detachment left your identity a mystery to many, your situation on the other hand was an extremely infamous one.

‘The-runaway-heiress’, was your staple trademark. The judgmental comments about your choice of life and the insults it warranted were never-ending, subjected to that criticism all your life.

There was no doubt Taehyung was hearing all of that, people probably warning him to step out of the marriage before it was too late. You weren’t like Taehyung, who was perfect, desirable, someone everyone either wanted or wanted to be. It left you glad and quite frankly, proud to be wedding a man of such caliber and incredibility, though left you wondering why in God’s name he would ever agree to marry someone like you; average, average and well, average.

“That’s your 5th shot, Y/N, slow the fuck down.” Your best friend Hana’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts, snatching the shot glass from your grasp. “It wouldn’t be cool if you were trashed at your own party, dummy.” 

Her sudden appearance brought a smile to your face. “I know, I just don’t feel well.” You sighed by the counter of the bar, seated atop a stool as you circled an empty shot glass mindlessly. 

“I get you, there’s like, hundreds of people here and you’re probably hearing a lot of different shit.” Hana appealed to you, having read your emotions like an open book. “Speaking of people, I wanted to ask, what’s up with Taehyung and his stare?”

You stifled a snort, looking at Hana’s incredulous face. “It’s just a habit of his. He stares at everyone.”

“Okay... sure, but I didn’t mean everyone, I meant you.” Hana emphasized, comically pointing.

You furrowed your eyebrows at her, arm leaning against the bar’s counter as you questioned, “What do you mean?”

“He doesn’t really stop staring at you, which is kinda weird. Unless you like that, I don’t judge people’s kinks.” Hana mockingly held her hands up in surrender, gauging a reaction out of you. 

You instantly grimaced, “It’s not a kink, Hana. Nice joke by the way, wanna sign up for SNL with that one?”

“I’m serious! I’ve been catching him just looking at you and I don’t know if it’s weird or hot.” Hana informed as you became more puzzled, her becoming oddly excited, “Awh, maybe he’s concerned with how much you keep drinking! That’s so romantic.” She chimed, looking off into the distance dreamily.

“Shut the fuck up, he wouldn’t do that.” You smacked her arm, snatching your shot glass back from her. “Besides, you’re one of the rare people who knows this marriage is fake, you know he doesn’t care.”

“Jheez, way to kill romance?” Hana rolled her eyes, smacking your arm in rebuttal before continuing. “I’m serious, though. This may be fake but he really does keep looking at you, and I don’t know what it means.” Hana speculated, contorting her lips as if in thought.

“It means nothing, Hana. You’re just seeing things.”

“Then why has he been staring at you depressed by the bar for the last half an hour?”

You nearly spit out your drink, “What?”

“Are you clueless or just dumb? He’s been talking to someone for 30 minutes but most of the time he’s been looking at you, and he still is, how haven’t you noticed?”

You creased your eyebrows in surprise as you slowly lowered your shot glass. You turned away from Hana to scan the small crowds of people mingling, eating, drinking in the hall.

You searched the room, drink still in hand until your eyes caught tall, dark and handsome in his finely pressed suit, casually standing with a drink in his hand by a table speaking to someone. You nearly jumped when your eyes locked with Taehyung’s, every cell in your body caught off guard.

What made your heart specifically race was the way he didn’t even look away from you. He held your gaze, casually conversing with the person in front of him, eyeing you until he finally cracked a small smirk before turning back to his companion.

Your eyebrows practically shot up to the sky.

“See, weird or hot? Am I even allowed to say hot?” Hana blurted as she reveled in your reaction. “And you really thought I was joking. You don’t believe anything I say, I could tell you the world’s ending and you wouldn’t believe me. I could tell you aliens finally invaded the planet and you wouldn’t believe me until the green motherfuckers knocked on your door themselves and-”

“Hana, shut the fuck up.” You cut her off abruptly and made a face at her. “Why did you even come here?”

“Grumpy, aren’t we?” She flashed you a sarcastic look before sighing. “Your dad wanted me to find you. You and Taehyung have to meet someone important, so you should stop drinking like an alcoholic, dumbass.” Hana informed hastily as she grabbed the shot glass from you and downed it herself.

“Your dad’s by the entrance, go before he gets mad!” She shooed you away, pushing you up until you whisper-yelled and smacked at her to let you go. 

You began stepping towards the entrance, smoothing over your dress and this was the moment you realized you may have drank a little too much. You were quick to reprimand yourself, cursing your unprofessional behavior as your inner equilibrium became slightly woozy, senses drowning out a bit, every sound hazed over with a buzz in your veins.

You sucked in a breath to pull yourself together, knowing your dad valued this person enough you and Taehyung had to meet them together. 

Taehyung.

You decided to glance in his direction, lips pursing seeing he wasn’t in his previous spot. You chose to ignore it, walking along until you felt a looming presence behind you, almost having time to acknowledge it before a hand suddenly touched the small of your back. 

“Looking for me?”

You nearly squealed, jumping with a hand ready to punish before calming down at the sight of Taehyung, sighing with relief. “Jheez, could you use my name? I thought you were a stranger.” 

“Well, hello to you too.” Taehyung quipped sarcastically. “And why would a stranger touch your back? Of course it’d be the only man in this room marrying you.” Taehyung narrowly eyed you, scrutinizing your reaction with his hand still pressed to you.

“People do a lot of whatever the hell they want, Taehyung.” You responded turning away from him, heels clacking as you continued to pace towards where your father stood. “W-why’d you do that, anyway?” 

Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows. “Because we’re engaged?”

“It’s not real, though.”

“It’s as real as it gets.” Taehyung finalized, making it a statement to smile at everyone you passed, to which you realized just how many pairs of eyes glued themselves to you. “This may not feel like a real marriage to us, but to the rest of the world it is.” 

He then suddenly leaned himself down to your height and lowered his tone, breath just ghosting your ear. “Y/N, we have to make this seem real, it’s the only way we’ll survive.” Taehyung was the closest he’s ever been to you, and the deep baritone of his voice as he called your name did absolutely nothing but manifest butterflies in your chest. 

Why was his voice so deep?

You shook the thought out of your head, ultimately choosing not to say anything because he was in fact, correct. You grinned widely continuing to mask the truth of your arrangements, leaning into him more as you settled for his hand on your back.

You’d noticed it before, but his hand felt particularly large against you now that he was so close. You glanced at his other hand resting by his side, impressed by how masculine they appeared; long fingers with running veins and a roughness to them, sculpted so well you were sure they deserved to be referred to as art. It tickled your giddy side for a second when they seemed to perfectly contrast your more feminine and smaller hands. 

It was kinda cute. 

You neglected your thoughts once you neared your father, warm-heartedly conversing with a well-dressed man you just about recognized. 

“Ah, there you both are!” Your father cheered, reaching out his arm so he could envelop you in a side-hug, returning Taehyung’s bow and addressment.  

“Dad, I heard you wanted us to meet someone?” You perked up in a superficial tone, at least attempting to act as though everything was fine and dandy in your life; maybe owing it to the alcohol to endure all the falsehoods.

“Yes, Y/N-ie, I wanted you to meet Mr. Won. Chang-in, my lovely daughter and whom I guess you already know, her fiancé and CEO of Kim Enterprises, Kim Taehyung.” Your father proudly presented you both.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Won, Kim Taehyung.” Taehyung was the first to address the man, extending his hand and bowing as he greeted him. You were almost taken aback by how polite he could be, the way his charming smile graced his features and attractively displayed his perfect teeth. His manner of speech and etiquette were all refined with a high degree of professionalism as well, internally gawking at his duality.  

Wasn’t he acting all entitled with you just now? 

“Nice to meet you as well!” You collected yourself and cheered, a little baffled as to why Taehyung still rested his hand against your back. “I’m hoping my father has only said good things.” You earned a laugh from the group, Mr. Won responding by receiving your hand with a firm shake. 

“Ah, Namhyun, you forgot to mention how beautiful your daughter has grown, and your future son-in-law has me jealous! What a handsome and accomplished young man, the perfect match, the two of them.” Mr. Won praised you both kindly.

You and Taehyung both smiled and thanked him humbly, feeling some heat collect in your cheeks upon Mr. Won’s words. You two? The perfect match? Unless he believes a rock and a Greek statue belong together, then he’s absolutely correct. 

Other than that, you chest swarms with butterflies thinking you’re now referred to as ‘two’. 

Taehyung for some odd reason encircles the curve of your waist suddenly, pulling you closer to him. You last minute sputter at the intimate action before leaning into him, one arm nervously encasing his torso as the other rests against his chest. 

You feel him tense underneath you. 

“Aish, you’re such a flatterer. Y/N-ie, do you remember Mr. Won? My friend from university? You haven’t seen him in a while.” Your father rested a hand on your shoulder, trying to jog your memory. 

“Oh, you mean Mr. Won from SNU?” You suddenly remembered, looking to your father for confirmation. 

“Yes, so you do remember!” 

“Of course I do, how could I forget!” You smiled brightly and returned your gaze to the familiar man. “Mr. Won used to sneak me ice cream when you wouldn’t let me have any, Dad.” You scolded him with a playful jab to his arm, inviting more laughter. “I apologize for not recognizing you right away, it’s been a long time, Mr. Won, forgive me.” You solemnly apologized, Mr. Won giving you a look of understanding. 

“Ah, forget it, Y/N. Don’t worry about it, although since it’s been a long time I hope you remember my son? He should be here somewhere..” Mr. Won trailed as his eyes fished over the grand hall, scanning around. 

“Your son..” You repeated to yourself, realizing there was a familiar connection itching at your mind, he was your age actually-

Wait. 

Oh God, not him. 

Anything but him. 

You felt raw panic seep into the spaces between your ribs, your chest filling with a constricting feeling of anxiety you couldn't shake off. Your heart picked up speed and the alcohol coursing through your veins didn’t help your judgement or memory at all, mind fogged over with the poison we dare call alcohol.  

You felt stupid, so utterly stupid. How could you forget Mr. Won and who his Godforsaken son was? 

You felt an anxiety attack riddling you, shifting your weight on your feet as you tried to bite back your uneven breathing. You just couldn’t see this man, especially in a situation where you were standing next to your husband-to-be. 

Taehyung wasn’t so invested in the conversation before him, mindlessly nodding along before he felt you physically freeze next to him, his glance to the side confirming your pale look, watching as your panicked eyes faltered to the floor and revealed... fear? 

He registered your odd shifting and your failed attempts at plastering a smile, confused if you knew this guy and if you did, why were you freaking out so much?

Were you in love with him or something? 

The thought minutely bugged him until he watched you turn straight up uncomfortable, horrified when Mr. Won called out his son’s name. 

“Kiseok-ah! Come here!” 

You stopped breathing when you heard the name, eyes going wide as you avoided eye contact with anyone in the group, but caught Taehyung’s undivided attention. He grew curious when Kiseok sauntered over to the group, your hand on his chest suddenly squeezing his suit as the mysterious man greeted everyone respectfully.

Taehyung watched as his intrigued eyes locked on you, eyebrows perking up amusedly as his lips curved into a smile Taehyung honestly couldn’t admit to liking. 

“Y/N? Wow, long time no see. It’s been what, a year?” The man Kiseok called out happily, like there was absolutely no problem occurring here but as Taehyung felt your hand clutch onto his suit, lips just about quivering before you forced a smile, he knew there was most certainly a problem. 

“Yeah.” Your voice was weak, small, and Taehyung found himself wondering how a courageous person like you was all of a sudden cowering. 

He’d heard it all night, all the accounts of your other life away from the business world. He wasn’t going to lie, he heard a multitude of opinions concerning you, many of which including either looking down on you or telling Taehyung there’s many other, more powerful women in business he could’ve been marrying instead. 

But Taehyung didn’t care for their opinions, he found you the most powerful woman he could ever marry, and agreed to do so because of that very prospect. Sure, you were estranged from the business scene and practically abandoned any role you’d play in your father’s company in order to pursue your own personal aspirations, but if anything, Taehyung found it highly commendable. 

Taehyung knew it took guts to do what you did, a bold and daring act that no other heir or future heir of a wealthy company could ever think of doing, including himself. 

What he found to appreciate most was your unwillingness to give in, where you had to have heard all the back-handed and snobby comments, yet you still held your head up high, remained rooted and adamant in keeping your current way of life. It instantly signaled to him you were courageous, fearless, unable to be stopped in your tracks.

So when he watched you become smaller and smaller the more you stood in the vicinity of this Kiseok, he knew something was sincerely wrong. 

“Ah yes, it’s been quite some time. Why don’t we step away from you three? You could do some catching up.” Your father urged as he motioned Mr. Won to step away with him. You lightly addressed them only to have your hands neglect Taehyung entirely and start fidgeting, attempting to calm your nerves as the alcohol inebriated your system and magnified your anxiety by tenfold. 

“Ah, yes, Kim Taehyung, CEO of Kim Enterprises. I’ve been meaning to meet you.” Kiseok extended his hand as his voice irked you with every syllable, trying your best to seem like absolutely nothing was wrong. 

Taehyung reached out his hand in response uneagerly, giving a small shake while wondering why you let him go. “That’s news to me, nice to meet you.” Taehyung responded, already feeling an intense aura of discomfort and tension between you both, sensing he was missing out on something that seemed 6 ft deep. 

“Likewise. Y/N..” Kiseok suddenly turned towards you, making you wince. You painted on your smile as you lifted your vision. “Kiseok.” 

“How’ve you been?” 

“Better than ever. You?” 

“Marvelous, just wondering what your life’s looked like since I haven’t been in it.”

“I believe I said better than ever, didn’t I?”

Kiseok scoffed unamused, “So a year, huh? In all that time you suddenly found yourself a fiancé, and Kim Taehyung at that?” Kiseok seemed to be making light-hearted conversation to anyone outside of your group, though you knew deep down the hostility behind his words.

“Yeah, I did. It just happened.” You shrugged, gaining the confidence to counter him. “And you? Plan on putting a ring on any of your girls? Maybe the 5th or 7th one you liked?” You sarcastically questioned, furrowing your brows in mock contemplation. 

“No, you know I’ve always had my eye on one girl when it came to marriage.” Kiseok eyed you knowingly, purposefully, like he was trying to make it obvious.

You snorted and glared at him, “If I remember correctly, your attitude said otherwise.” hatred began boiling under your skin. You felt yourself growing angrier by the second, memories between you two coming back in flashes. You didn’t even realize you were shaking until Taehyung’s hand suddenly entangled with yours, pulling you towards him almost defensively. 

You were surprised, looking at your connected hands and back up at Taehyung. He returned your look, peering down at you as he smiled warmly, affectionately. 

“I’m sorry, Kisook? Was it? My future wife and I have plans for tonight. May you excuse us?” Taehyung didn’t even let Kiseok respond before he was pulling you away, in complete shock at his first lack of manners you’d ever seen. You were only left to watch Taehyung as he lead you along, gaining the timely opportunity to realize he was taller than Kiseok, and in fact significantly taller than you. 

Taehyung was a large man in general, you noticed. His shoulders looked broad from behind, accentuated by the fit of his suit which also emphasized the expanse of his chest, tastefully exposing his sculpted neck. His legs were long, proportioned perfectly in accordance with the rest of his model-like figure, which was ideally fit and contained just the right amount of muscle. 

Dear God, you took your time with this one. 

You didn’t even realize Taehyung had pulled you into a secluded hallway or that you were ogling him when he suddenly stopped, turning in your direction and snapping you out of a near fever dream. 

Yeah, alcohol was not a good idea tonight. 

“Who the fuck was that?” 

“What?”

“That douche, who was that?” Taehyung inquired slightly pissed, in need of the asshole’s identity after watching whatever shitshow he didn’t pay for. 

“Nobody, Taehyung, he shouldn’t concern you.” You looked away from him, pouting in a way that made Taehyung momentarily notice the plush of your lips. 

Again?, was all he could think, first, your mother, and now this guy? Just how many people did you have bad connections with and he needed to ignore? 

Why were there so many intricate pieces to you? 

“Are you kidding me? He concerns me now, your mother I can understand but this guy? Nothing to me. I could step on him.” Taehyung proclaimed confidently and stood up broader, conviction written all over his face.

You couldn’t help but giggle at his remark, resembling the thought you had earlier. “I was just thinking, you’re a lot taller than him.” 

Taehyung couldn’t help but bite back a smile, watching you giggle like a shy high schooler and his ears gladly welcomed the soft sound. “Damn straight I am.” He adjusted the jacket of his suit suavely. It was then he remembered what his other hand was doing; still holding yours. 

His eyes suddenly gleamed with mischief. 

He squeezed your hand a little tighter and yanked you towards him, bodies just centimeters apart as you crashed into him, all up in each other’s personal space.

Your eyes widened in complete surprise. 

 “So you were thinking about me, huh?” Taehyung teased with a stupidly lowered tone, a smug grin decorating his face. 

You ignored the electricity shooting through you, rolling your eyes and playfully sneering at him. “Shut up, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see you’re taller.” You forced space between you two and tried snatching your hand from him, but his grip transformed into an iron lock. 

“Says the one who was thinking about me.” 

“Taehyung, shut-” You almost huffed out but as soon as you stepped away, your copious consumption of alcohol suddenly attacked you all at once, vertigo making you lose your balance until Taehyung reached out to steady you. 

“Jheez, did you have to drink tonight?” Taehyung chastised you as you fell into him, head spinning with disorientation and growing flimsier by the second. “You’re probably a lightweight at your size.”

“I am not a lightweight. You don’t even know how much I drank, it was a lot.” You bit back in rebuttal, hooking onto his taut forearms as he supported you. 

“But I did see.” He voiced barely above a whisper, causing you to snap your vision up at him incredulously. “What?” 

“Nothing, it shouldn’t concern you.” Taehyung mocked, though still tried to fix you onto your own footing.  

You didn’t even get to scrutinize him further when you felt another round of dizziness plague you, balance faltering again. Taehyung huffed out and finally flanked you on his side, arm encasing your shoulders as he adjusted you. “Okay Miss I’m-Not-A-Lightweight, you should eat something.” He fit you beside him, beginning to walk you towards the main hall. 

Taehyung in this moment didn’t understand what he was doing, utterly clueless as to what was fueling his actions. He was uncertain why he found himself.. caring? He didn’t even know you, yet he couldn’t help but become a little concerned when he watched you down drinks like it was New Year’s Eve. 

How can all that alcohol fit into one tiny person?

What was he even thinking when he dragged you away from that Kisuk guy? Why did he feel like protecting you all of a sudden? A near sense of possessiveness? He wasn’t even your real husband. 

It started giving Taehyung a headache. This was all strange, a foreign concept he wasn’t familiar with and he didn’t know if it was the result of his considerate personality or only manifested solely because of you.

The same way Taehyung dealt with his inner turmoil, you dealt with yours; you were always so adamant on independence though ironically found yourself leaning on Taehyung.

Oddly, you let him carefully guide you back into the hall with no protests. 

It was the day of the wedding. 

You wish you could recall your emotions throughout the day, certain there would be at least a sliver of a positive one. Though as you remained unmoving, nearly catatonic, unresponsive to your surroundings, you knew there wouldn’t be a single happy memory in the tsunami of sorrow that attacked you today. 

Emotions of grief plagued consistently as you realized the loss of everything you valued most in your life. Your happiness, your freedom, your ability to choose. The stripping of all those bundled into an stifling wad in your chest that left you in a perpetual state of wanting to cry.

The sting in your heart when you realized your mother didn’t bother to come, the excruciating smile you forced onto your features when Taehyung’s mother delicately placed the veil atop your head, the secret tears you shed after adorning your body with a wedding dress you didn’t even choose; it all left you internalizing feelings of utter agony. 

And none of it was your real choice. 

Even the flowers at the wedding weren’t your favourite. 

This day was horrifying. You couldn’t believe you prided yourself on your independence, refusing to give in despite numerous challenges and never taking a word of what anyone said to you. Even when someone begged you to change or come back to your old life, you always chose for yourself. You never allowed someone to push you around, seldom coerced into anything solely based on the wishes of another. 

Yet here you were, standing just before the grand doors of a wedding you never asked for, having easily followed every word of your father’s and sacrificed your deepest principles in order to make him happy, to appease and live up to his expectations that weren’t your own. 

It was utterly frightening, appalling. As if you had lost the one true commendable feature of the intricate character you were, suddenly lost the acclamation of others even if they didn’t know the true nature of your marriage. 

But what disgusted you the most was truly, that you had lost respect for yourself. 

These grim thoughts were the ones that attached themselves to you as you hesitantly hooked your arm with your father’s. You used every ounce of strength to not flee, to remain here, to still walk down that isle with your head held high like you always have despite abandoning every foundation of the character you’d spent years working on.  

You didn’t care that your eyes watered, masking them with the facade of happy tears from the blushing bride. You didn’t care when your father looked incredibly concerned and wondered what was so wrong, you didn’t care how sorrowful you may have appeared to anyone at this ironically glamorous event. 

Though what you did care for was that you couldn’t hold your head up as you walked down the isle, vision fixated on the ground as your tears betrayed you, spilling out at the traumatizing feeling of not being able to stand tall like you always did, something stripping you of your self-reassurance, your strength, your confidence.  

It all spelled the requiem of your soul as you reached the end, dwelling in the impossibility this was happening to you until you felt the touch of Taehyung’s fingertips, guiding you up the stairs. It was then confirmed to you this was in fact real, part of your new reality you had no choice but to accept. 

You suddenly felt eternal gratitude for the veil that now covered your face, hiding the tears you cried at mourning the loss of everything you worked for.

While the priest’s words were read, you didn’t exchange a single look with Taehyung, knowing you’d only want to evaporate into the air, to run away at light speed or have someone in a turn-of-events suddenly take your life, just so you didn't have to face the humility of giving up the life you’d spent blood, sweat and tears building if you looked him in the eye. 

You felt the weight of your unknown future crushing you, pushing you towards the precipice as you gripped Taehyung’s hands harder to ground yourself. 

You were to rely on Taehyung, to share a bond with him you had never spent time cultivating, expected to live a life next to him while never being able to truly understand him, know him, love him. The natural process of falling in love now tainted with the coercion of a pressurized marriage, losing the opportunity to achieve any true sense of love. You’d never experience finding the one anymore, your soulmate, the other end of your red string of fate. 

That realization made your tears spill harder, disconnecting your hand from Taehyung’s to prevent your choked sobs becoming audible, holding your palm against your quivering lips. 

To anyone beyond you and Taehyung, it would look as though you were crying tears of happiness, joyously weeping at your matrimony with the love of your life, though as Taehyung felt the shaking of your hands, your refusal to meet his gaze as you reluctantly walked down the isle, the agonizing pain he could see through the sheer of your veil, he knew you were far from happy. 

He couldn’t help but purse his lips together tightly, knowing you were probably swallowing insurmountable torment down your throat because of this marriage, and tears pricked at his own eyes finding himself able to relate. 

He wasn’t just upset for you or himself, it was the entire situation, quite frankly the fucking world. The fact that the universe planned this as your destiny, his destiny, that the happiness of your parents and two companies came at the expense of both yours and his.

He knew you didn’t hate him, that he wasn’t the reason just as much as you weren’t the reason either, it was the arbitrary nature of the arrangement. That whatever version of true love and happily ever after you and Taehyung had separately dreamed of, it could never come to life. 

Even if the company meant everything to Taehyung, his CEO position more important than whatever position he’d play as some husband, seldom having time to consider love and relationships, he still harboured the same wants and desires any human would. A partner, a companion he truly loved with whom he’d start a family eventually, create a life for them and himself defined by love and comfort.

Though Taehyung only knew now you would both die with your decision-making capabilities robbed of you, bound to each other forcibly without the ardor of real love. 

Taehyung’s every thought was proven correct when the two of you exchanged your vows in near strangled chokes and shaky tones, appearing as happy emotions to the guests of the wedding though only you two knowledgeable of each other’s suffering. 

Your vision finally met Taehyung’s once you heard the rawness in his voice, your miserable emotions doubling when you registered he was just in the same pain as you. It was in that moment the priest’s words became audible and rang loud in both your ears, suddenly grounding you two to earth and reminding you of your reality. 

“You may kiss the bride.”

Both of your eyes grievously locked for a moment of horrified realization; that you were seconds away from going through with this, throwing each other’s lives away for the utilitarian benefit, abandoning any sense of choice in whom you both would spend a lifetime with.

Taehyung swallowed thickly as he removed your veil, feeling his eyes fill with tears again when he laid them upon your utterly devastated, tear-stained face. You were using every nerve in your body to stop yourself from sobbing and caving into the ominous thought of fleeing the ceremony.  

Taehyung’s sight wondered to your lips as they still quivered, nearly swollen red at the intensity in which you bit them, awaiting the kiss you were certain would be filled with frustration and hatred, hatred for the mud you were dragging him through, hatred for pressuring him into suddenly valuing something more than his work and his company, to suddenly become a husband to you. 

Though as he watched the terror flashing through your eyes, tears watering your lash line, he knew he could never feel anything so ardently negative towards you, remembering exactly what he was stripping you of. 

The life you built on your own, defying any and everyone’s expectations of yourself, cursing your heir status to hell, your strength, your independence. Now? Your life was bound to his, bound to one where you were obliged to sacrifice yourself for your father’s company and the upper class cesspool you’d spent so long trying to run away from. 

So as Taehyung began closing the gap between you two, nearing your shaking figure, he resolved he wouldn’t make this hard. He would try, try to accept that his life now entailed you, would try to work towards the balance his father insisted he needed, try to understand that you were now part of his priorities and could never simply ignore you.  

He glided his thumbs against the back of your hands that held his pacifyingly, leaning down until he was just inches from your lips as you squeezed your eyes shut. He unexpectedly spoke quietly, meaningfully, seconds away from sealing the deal of an uncertain future, though, remained certain of this one thing. 

“I’ll take care of you, Y/N, I promise.” And he kissed you in a single breath, no haste, no pressure, only the gentle touch of his lips as they met yours, soft and light. 

Maybe Taehyung didn’t know the exact feelings behind his promise, but he knew the meaning; that no matter the arrangement, the non-existent feelings, the loss of choice, he would at least take care of you like any husband would, a good husband.  

He at least owed you that.  

You were left shocked at the nature of his kiss, Taehyung’s warm lips connecting with yours tenderly. You were convinced the tears you saw in his eyes were enough to assert he hated this, frustrated he had to sell his soul, wishing to only rush the kiss so he could call it a day and ignore you for the rest of his life. 

Though what you never expected was the promise he made, or the way he kissed you with such intimacy you found yourself melting into his touch, reciprocating. He kissed you like you were fragile, locking your lips in a way that solidified his promise, as if out of all the empty vows you spoke today, this was the one, true vow he would keep. His lips felt plush against yours, catching his mouth just a little more before the bittersweet disconnection. 

You and Taehyung exchanged a poignant look, small smiles decorating both your faces with a mutual understanding swimming in your eyes as you gripped each other’s hands. You let his promise permeate the air between you two, finding solace in his words as the applause of everyone attending the ceremony filled the hall.   

Maybe it was the warm way Taehyung always pressed his hand to the small of your back when you spoke to others the whole night, maybe the way he veered you away from excessive amounts of alcohol with a light-hearted scolding considering that last time you drank, or maybe even the way he gently held you during your first dance..

Maybe it was all these considerate, kinds act that made you view Taehyung in a less negative light and rather a favourable one, that maybe he wouldn’t be the asshole CEO you’d first accused him of being.  

You would also be an idiot to not mention how completely and utterly handsome he was, looks carved by the Greeks themselves, quite possibly the hottest, most attractive man you’ve ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. 

And maybe all that accumulated into your assured opinion that when it came to consummating your marriage with Taehyung, you’d have no qualms or worries whatsoever. You would be absolutely willing, ready to take the night on and maybe even have some fun for yourself with whom you could tell was a really, really nice guy.

Though as Taehyung walked calmly in front of you towards your hotel suite, reaching into his suit pocket for the card key he’d retrieved at the front desk to swipe against the lock, your chest clogged with a crushing feeling of anxiety you couldn’t subdue. 

These weren’t the same nerves of maybe being not pretty enough, body insecurities or fear of what to expect from Taehyung, no, these nerves came from the utter panic of having to experience sex with another man.

Especially since your last partner. 

It always started with your permission, that wasn’t the issue, Though what left you afraid, so utterly frightened with the thought of spending a night with a man like this came from the treatment you received from that partner. 

Safe to say, you weren’t treated kindly. Far from that, actually, you were treated as though you had no needs or were a means of simple use. Your last partner was the opposite of giving, he was selfish, self-absorbed and only concerned himself with his own pleasure, going on and on only until he was satisfied and neglected you in every sense of the word, sometimes even refusing to listen to you if you protested. 

To make matters worse, he wasn’t faithful. 

You knew he slept around, a lot, it was the number one reason you never agreed to actually date him, never make things official. 

But the reason you would end up sleeping with him was because of the most perfectly imperfect concept among the human race; love. You believed every time with him was a new chance to make that love real, that it was the genuine manifestation of your feelings for one another, thinking maybe he wasn’t the asshole he always portrayed himself as and could man up enough to love you unconditionally. 

And he completely reeled you in, made you fall in love too quickly and made you believe he was capable of love. This grew exponentially when you were often described as ‘the different one’, the one he always came back to, that you were special. You clung onto those words as much as you could, convinced each time you were in fact the one for him, that maybe one day, he’d wake up and abandon his fuckboy lifestyle and mature.

But everyday that went by, every promise that was never fulfilled, every word that wasn’t met with an action, and especially after every hook up that resulted in nothing new, you began to understand you were everyone’s favourite role in a Shakespearean play. 

The fool. 

You were a joke to believe anything he said, the most naive person on earth to think you were any different from the others, when every night simply ended in rough fucks, virtually no orgasm and miniscule aftercare.

It left you essentially scarred, traumatized that every man in the world was built like this. It didn’t help that whenever you look back, many of your ex partners were of the same cut, the same trope of assholes that don’t seem as bad but end up being exactly so. 

It was what made you swallow thickly as Taehyung opened the door to the suite, holding it open as he moved aside to let you enter first. You walked forward and unintentionally brushed against him, realizing how much smaller you were in comparison to him all over again. 

He towered over you, and it made you more nervous. 

You looked up at him momentarily and quietly thanked him as you stepped inside, setting your sights on the large, king sized bed situated on one side of the room, a lounging area with couches to the other side which lead to a bathroom. Seoul’s breathtaking skyline was visible in the dark of the night through wall-to-ceiling windows opposite to you, covered by flowy, sheer curtains. 

You took a deep breath, trying to remind yourself Taehyung was not the same. Not all men are the same, you can’t inflict the mistakes and wrongdoings of one man onto another, categorize them into one kind. You wanted to think this way, and you knew it was the humane way to think. 

But as the memories of those heart-aching nights filled your head, the empty words, the lack of care or concern, the neglect, the feelings of pure abandonment and use only caused your heart to beat profusely in your chest, clutching onto the neckline of your dress to breathe. 

What if Taehyung really was no different?

It then suddenly hit you you didn’t know him. All you knew of Taehyung was that he was a fiercely successful business man, sitting atop Seoul’s most prestigious with Godly looks and a stare that could kill a man. You remembered your initial feelings about him; his stare in fact intimidated you, quite frankly all of him intimidated you, he was the epitome of perfection and you were far from that very notion. It left you thinking you didn’t measure up, and that he could view you in a dissimilar light than you viewed him; an unfavorable one. 

He could simply not want you, but is forced to.  

You’d observed his kind behavior and actions over the odd two days you met him, though that was exactly the inculpatory factor; you had only met him twice. You didn’t know what he would be like alone, when it was just the two of you, when there weren’t eyes scrutinizing him and cameras snapping shots of his every move. 

You didn’t know how he would be like in the bedroom, either. 

Your mind raced as you conflicted with yourself, trying to understand that Taehyung could be different, though apprehensive with the miniscule knowledge you actually had of him. 

You discerned after that last asshole of a partner you needed the love and care of a real partner, someone who would tend to your needs, adore you in the midst of their actions, be a giver and not just a receiver.  

And you didn’t know if Taehyung would be that partner. 

“Y/N...” Taehyung called out to you rather softly as he removed his suit jacket, the rustling of the cloth signaling he had indeed done so. His footsteps were hard to miss, the soles of his shoes sounding against the hardwood floor as he neared your lonesome figure standing in the middle of the room. 

Your breathing quickened with nearly every step he took, attempting to resolve the civil war you were battling within. You were trying to convince yourself Taehyung would be a nice man, a nice husband; though couldn’t help but feel deflated by the fact it was all mainly coerced out of him.

Your thoughts overwhelmed you as Taehyung finally stood behind you, mere inches from your back as he watched you from behind, unbeknownst of any feelings or thoughts currently riddling you.

He hesitated, though gently placed his hand against your bare arm, the sudden warmth of his hand against your skin causing you to flinch. He peered down at your smaller self squarely focusing in front of you, anticipating your response. He grew slightly soft when you tentatively looked over your shoulders, clearly teary-eyed. 

Taehyung couldn’t miss how scared you seemed, and he his heart inexplicably stung at the thought you were afraid of him. 

“We don’t have to do this.” Taehyung’s voice was low and resembled warm honey, reverberating in a way that made you ease up. 

You worked towards a stable voice. “W-we don’t?” 

“No, we don’t” His voice held no disappointment, only the intention of seemingly wanting to assure you, firm and oddly comforting. 

“I’m sorry, Taehyung. I’m really sorry.” It was hard to keep your tone leveled, clutching your hand over your mouth as you swallowed your emotions. 

“Don’t be sorry, there’s nothing for you to apologize for.” 

You strangely felt the desire to hold his hand that rested against you, though you ignored the urge and simply stepped out of his touch, clutching your chest tightly in an effort to cower away from him. But it was here you suddenly remembered that he kissed you, and the way he did so. 

It made your cheeks fill with a rosy blush. 

“Do you mean that?” You’d finally turned to meet his eyes, his face only visible by the moonlight illuminating the room. He seemed to have retracted his hand and stood with both tucked in his pockets, relaxed. 

This became the first time you noticed just how ravishing he looked tonight. 

His dark hair was slicked back loosely and left enough pieces to fall as a comma, graciously exposing his forehead, his Tom Ford suit attractively hugged his model-like body, watch and accessories accentuating his expensive look. 

His features were casted over by soft lighting, somehow adding to his beauty as the glow made him appear... less intimidating, dare you say warm or inviting. 

His expression was funnily enough, one that you could actually read. He held no contempt, no impatience or anger, only a hint of consideration as his calm eyes looked at you. His face may have been predominantly blank, void of a smile, though certainty held a form of reassurance.  

“Of course I do, why would I do anything with an unwilling person?”

You scoffed lightly, “Not a lot of people would say that.” Your eyes faltered from Taehyung’s and clutched yourself tighter, expression completely telling of trauma.

Taehyung instantly picked up on it, eyebrows slightly furrowing at your words though softening once registering their weight. He felt an overwhelming sense of apology take him, thinking of his next sentence before his mind oddly flashed back to the night of the engagement party.

“Y/N, did Kiseok..?” Taehyung trailed hesitantly. 

You winced at his line of thinking, “No, no...not what you’re thinking,” you immediately denied. “Just, shitty experiences.”

“Shitty, as in...?”

“As in only seeking self-satisfaction, neglect, lies, infidelity. Can we go to sleep?” You deflected with a heavy sigh and a hand at your temple, the day’s events catching up to you.

Taehyung nodded in agreement, “Yeah, sleep. We both need that.” His eyes then landed on the bed, registering even if it were large enough you two could sleep apart, he still opted for caution. 

“Um.. you can take the bed, by the way. I’ll sleep on the couch-”

“No, don’t do that.” You replied quickly. “I can’t sleep on a king-sized bed all by myself, it’s huge.” You side-eyed the massive mattress and laughed a little, lightening the heavy aura casted over the room. 

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to be uncomf-”

“Don’t worry, Taehyung. You don’t make me feel uncomfortable.” You smiled at him lightly and received a small one from him, both your eyes mirroring the same sense of understanding you exchanged at the altar. 

“I’ll let you wash up first, your overnight bag should be in the bathroom closet.” Taehyung informed, pointing towards the direction of your things. 

“Thank you.” You voiced with an amount of warmth that made Taehyung want to genuinely smile, though crushed the weird urge and nodded agreeably instead.

You began walking away from him until a nuisance suddenly occurred to you, cursing yourself as you came to a full stop. “Um, Taehyung.. I forgot but could you..?” You angled your back towards him to call out to the ribbons tying the back of your dress, knowing you would’ve taken 20 years just to untie your bodice yourself. 

The fact that you weren’t looking directly at Taehyung made him feel relieved, glad he wouldn’t embarrass himself with the his eyes slightly widened. He was quick to reprimand himself, it’s just a woman’s dress, why the hell are you shocked? 

Taehyung swallowed dryly before replying, “Uh, yeah I’ll--I’ll do that.” He walked towards you sparingly and positioned himself behind you.

He’d noticed it before, but you were relatively small compared to him in size and it continued to poke at his brain, maybe even momentarily think it was cute. 

Cute? When have I ever found a girl cute?

Taehyung exhaled before his hands carefully made for the silk ribbons, his tentative fingers fiddling with the ties until he eventually began loosening each one. He started unlooping your bodice, breathing out considerably when each loop began exposing your back inch by inch.  

Taehyung’s sweet, hot breath fanned your skin, tensing each time as your every nerve went haywire feeling just how close he was. His slender fingers brushed against your bare skin here and there, making heat collect in your face.

You grew even hotter when your kiss with him suddenly crept back into your mind, unknowing of the reason why excitement and electricity shot throughout your body because of it. The way his soft, full lips met yours, mouthed at you tastefully repeated in your head, making you extremely nervous at how much a measly kiss from him was occupying your mind; it was just a kiss. 

Taehyung found himself tensing by the intimacy of the moment, remembering the way he so boldly kissed you. He found that he liked the plush of your lips, the way he had to bend down to your smaller height to lock lips; and it made him feel strange. 

How the hell was he taking interest in something other than his work? No, this isn’t interest, Taehyung thought, and would spend however long denying it. 

He’d finished the task throughout all his thinking, unrealizing of how proximal he was to you. He oddly hated that the moment was over, coming back down to Earth.

“There you go.” He cleared his voice and stepped away from you. 

You held your bodice up against your chest, realizing Taehyung had a full-access view of your back and you grew 10x hotter. You gulped at the thought before hastily turning around to thank him, quickly disappearing into the bathroom for a moment of reprieve. 

You shut the door and instantly breathed out a breath you didn’t remember holding, looking at your hot mess of a face in the mirror trying to cool down, reliving the last 10 minutes of what just happened. 

You took a deep breath. 

Maybe Taehyung is different after all. 

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[northoftheroad]

Hey!! I think most fanfics are of soft family living dick but I’m looking for badass strong dick fanfics. Do you have any recs?

Hm, a little less batfamily, a little more badass Nightwing...? I guess most writers that I know of seldom write Dick solo stories. (I'm as guilty as anyone, since my two multi chapter fics have DickRobin and Batman...)

Syl has some fics with Dick more on his own, as far as I remember. Here's one.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12081/1/The-Narc

This is one with a good take on where it's Dick who finds Jason.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12722481/chapters/29013246

Ok, so this has a protective Batman, but they're fighting (together) tooth and nail.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/542101/chapters/963633

Maybe lapsedpacifist's series about when Bruce forgot who Dick is? And Dick with a clone?

https://archiveofourers/lapsedpacifist/pseuds/lapsedpacifist/works?fandom_id=525714144

Here's one with Young Justice (tv) Robin, the team battling against the elements.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11915686/1/Derailment

Another Robin/Young Justice story

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10540787/1/Any-Other-Tuesday

This one by Aussie Nightwriter has Batman and Robin, but Nightwing takes centre stage.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1998594/1/Following-Orders

DickRobin, but mostly on his own.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8619739/1/Juvenile-Delinquent

Big brother to the rescue, but mostly very not-soft, imo

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12218801/1/What-Century-is-This

This is a novelisation of a Batman/Nightwing comic where the art is so ugly some people can't read it.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9843954/1/Bloodborne

I hope you find something you like! Here’s also a recent post with some favourite writers of mine, but admittedly, there is a fair amount of fluff in there too.