#hightop's voice wow

[wangtaeil]

😭😭💚

[sparrowofthedawnsworld]

Don’t Stop - Josh Kiszka

A/N: Aaahhh!! It’s the first fic of the 5SOS series! Please excuse any errors. I do my best to catch them all, but sometimes I miss a few. All of these are my own interpretation of the song, so it may not follow the storyline of the song perfectly- However, it will always be very close. This one was so much fun to write! Hope y’all enjoy!

Also, side note- I promise I won’t only be doing smut, this is just my kick right now. I have some sappy, fluffy stories coming y’alls way very soon!

Warnings: 18+!! MINORS DNI, pleaseee! Alcohol, Oral (fem receiving), fingering, dom!Josh, some slight degrading AND praise if you read carefully, protected sex.

••••

It was your 21st birthday and your friend insisted on taking you out to a nice bar in the near by city.

You weren’t much of a drinker, but you couldn’t deny you were excited to let go and have fun for night.

After getting off of work, you went home to change. You picked out a dark red dress and a pair of black heels. You went with light makeup, not wanting it to be a sweaty mess by the end of the night. You were fixing up your hair a bit, when your best friend texted;

Y/F/N: Should I pick you up, or just meet you at the bar?

You pondered her question for a moment, deciding you probably shouldn’t drive. You had no intentions of getting completely wasted, but you definitely wanted to have a good time.

You: Pick me up, please :) I don’t think I’m going to feel like driving by the end of the night.

You sent the text, sitting your phone back down and going back to your hair. Once you were done, you went to grab your shoes.

You placed them on, walking over to your dresser and topping off your look by spraying on your favorite perfume.

After getting another text that your best friend had arrived, You walked downstairs and made your way to the front door.

You locked the door, making your way down to her car as she rolled down her window. “Wow, SEXY!” She yelled out, whistling at you jokingly. You shook your head, striking a goofy pose and you could hear her laughing as you opened the door.

“You look stunning, Y/N! Happy birthday!” She complimented as you got in, pulling you in for a hug.

“Thank you! I’m actually excited to go out.” You admitted to her honestly. “Hey you never know, maybe you’ll meet the man of your dreams tonight, too.” She said, excitement laced all throughout her tone. “Mmm, I doubt it… but maybe. I’m not against it.” And you truly weren’t against the idea, but really you would prefer not to meet the man of your dreams in your city’s bar.

<>

The ride to the bar wasn’t long. You and Y/F/N, could lose all track of time and talk for hours.

Once you were parked, you both got out and made your way to the door. You both handed the bouncer your ID’s, he mumbled a ‘happy birthday’ to you, opening the door.

You walked in, seeing it was quite busy. The dance floor was full of people and all the tables were almost full, except for a couple seats at the corner of the hightop bar.

“Let’s take those!” You pointed, trying to get your voice over the music. Y/F/N only nodded, letting you pull her through the crowded dance floor and to the seats you had pointed to.

“What are you getting?” You asked her, sitting down.

She hummed to herself, looking over all the alcohol on the shelf.

“I think I’m going to get Malibu with pineapple juice.” She said still looking over everything one last time. “What do you want?” She asked. “Everything is on me, birthday girl.” She smiled at you.

You gave her a smile back, looking over all the choices on the shelf. You eyed the fireball, but noticed in a small fridge a bottles of Bold Rock- hard apple cider. Deciding to be just a little bold (compared to your usual White Claw), you made your decision. “I think i’m gonna get a Bold Rock and ask for a shot of Fireball and mix them.” You told her, mouth watering at the thought of your favorite drink combo.

You explained your order to the bartender, she shot you a wide smile, grabbing the Fireball and pouring your shot. “Great choice. That’s my favorite combo, too.” She complimented and You thanked her. Once Y/F/N had her White Claw and you had all of your ingredients, you poured the cider into the extra glass, followed by the shot of fireball.

“What’s the appeal of that…?” She questioned you curiously. A look of almost disgust on her face. “It tastes like Apple pie. Wanna try it?” You slid the glass to her and she took it, still looking skeptical. She took a small sip, her face lit up in delight. “Oh.. That is good. I could get shitfaced off of those.” She laughed handing your glass back. “Yeah, exactly… I’m gonna try not to, but we’ll see what happens. Come on, Let’s dance!” You exclaimed, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the dance floor.

Drinks in hand you both made it to the dance floor. It was still crowded just like before, tons of couples dancing and grinding away. You looked over the room as you started to dance, eyes landing on a group of the most beautiful men you’d ever seen.

Your jaw almost reached the floor and your friend nudged you, “Who the hell are you looking at like that??” She questioned you.

“Them..” you trailed off, pointing to the booth taken up by four boys. “They’re beautiful.” You mumbled to yourself.

“I have an idea,” she started, “Quick, down some more of that drink and be sexy.” She told you, throwing back her white claw, downing most of it in one go.

You took a hefty drink from your glass, swaying your hips with Y/F/N as sexily as you could. Eventually, you had gotten so engulfed in the music and dancing, you didn’t even see the curly headed boy get up, to make his way over to you.

“Whatcha drinkin’ there, mama?” He startled you, pulling you out of your little daze in the music. He chuckled, apologizing.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you like that. I’m Josh,” he extended his hand out for you and you took it. You expected him to shake it, but he spun you around gently, pulling you into him.

“I’m Y/N!” You told him, leaning into him so that he could hear you over the music. “-And it’s fireball and bold rock.” You giggled; glancing at the glass. He smiled fondly at you, pulling you a little closer.

“Well, tell me, what’s got a pretty woman like you out here tonight?” He asked curiously. You both continued swaying to the slower song that was playing.

“It’s my birthday, actually,” you explained. “My best friend wanted to treat me tonight.”

“Happy birthday!“ He cheered. “-And is that your friend?” he pointed. “Over there talking to my brother?” You followed his finger, landing on your best friend, swaying along with his brother on the other end of the dance floor. You caught her eye and she blushed deeply, causing Jake to turn around, probably wondering who she was looking at. He waved at the two of you and focused his attention back to Y/F/N.

“That’s Danny and Sam over there at the table.” He motioned towards the booth where you first noticed them all. “They got tired of listening to us ranting about how pretty you both are… so. now here we are.” He grinned at you, his cheeks taking on the slightest shade of pink. But His compliment made your cheeks heat up, too. “I’m glad you decided to come join me. I was eyeing you, too.” You admitted, both of you sharing a blushing smile.

The song changed and you immediately recognized it. You took his hand, bringing him deeper into the crowd. “You must really enjoy dancing, huh?” He asked, a smirk spreading across his perfect lips. You started to sway your hips more, letting the song take you over. Josh’s hands gripped your hips instantly.

“Having am extremely handsome partner certainly helps.” You compliment him this time. His smirk widened, but a blush making itself slightly visible on his cheeks once again.

You downed the rest of your drink quickly, letting Josh take the empty glass from your hand. He moved you both a few steps, sneaking the glass onto a tray as a waitress slipped by.

You giggled at him, returning to your grinding once his hands returned to your hips again.

“You could get anyone in this bar, looking like that, mama.” He said into your ear. You blushed a deep red. “But you already know that, don’t you?” He questioned, looking into your eyes. They had grown darker than when you two had started dancing.

“I suppose…” You answered, rather shyly. You kicked yourself, trying to regather your confidence. “But I was only interested in you.” You lowered your tone just enough, making the confession come out more sexy than shy.

He started to spin you around again, stopping you halfway through and pulling your back against him.

You took this as an opportunity to test the waters, grinding back on him. His grip tightened and you did it once more, gazing at him over your shoulder with a teasing smile.

“Don’t stop doing that, mama.” He all but begged in your ear. “You’re so pretty, dancing with me like this.” He praised.

You repeated the actions a few more times.

Within seconds, you were being ripped out of your fantasyland by your best friend.

“I know it’s your birthday, but how about let’s all get out of here??”

Y/F/N yelled over the music.

“I think that’s a great idea!” You agreed. You raised an eyebrow teasingly, at her hand interlocked with Jake’s.

“Okay! We have each other’s locations- Have fun.” She rambled out, tossing you her own keys and winking at you as she ran out of the bar with Jake. You turned back to Josh, who had a shocked look on his face- matching yours perfectly.

“What the- well…I guess they’re about to have a good time.” He smirked with a small laugh. “Looks like it’s just you and me now? We can go to yours, if that would make you more comfortable..” He gave you a sincere smile.

You smiled to yourself, pretending to be skeptical about it. Even though he was basically a stranger, you felt safe with him and his honestly and genuine care for you comfort, left you barely questioning your decision.

You pulled him in closer, as he eyed you intently.

“I think i’d like that.” You held up the keys in your hand for him to see. “Let’s get out of here then?”

“Let’s go. But first let me say by to my other two brothers. Can’t have them getting all worried.” He laughed, taking your hand and leading you towards the booth where Sam and Danny were sitting.

“brothers, it’s been fun bu-“ Sam cut Josh off quickly, “Yeah, yeah. Go have a good time.” Sam smiled. “But not too much.” He pointed, faking a stern look and tone.

“Shut up,” Josh laughed.

“Glad you finally stopped being a baby, Josh.” Danny teased, presumably referring to him being scared to come up to you. At this point you had broken down in a fit of giggles.

“The oh-so confident Josh Kiszka getting nervous?!” Sam placed a hand over his chest dramatically. “Who would have thought!” He teased along.

“Okay, that’s quite enough. Bye!” Josh strained a laugh, waving them off as he pulled you away.

“You’ll have to excuse them from now on.” He shook his head laughing. You heart swelling in your chest. Did he mean that you weren’t just a hook up?

‘God, I sure hope so,’ you thought to yourself.

“So where are you parked, doll?” He asked, glancing around the parking lot aimlessly.

“Right there,” you guided him. “This is actually my Y/F/N’s car…” you giggled, getting into the drivers seat.

“She’s in good hands with Jake, just so you know.” Josh started, “Ya know just in case you’re worried.” He gestured. In the little time you knew him, you came to realize he talked a lot with his hands… But you loved it. It made you wonder what else he did with them.

‘Fuck stop, you’ve barely even made it out of the parking lot’ you scolded yourself.

<>

The car ride to your apartment filled with sexual tension quickly. You were more than relieved when you finally laid eyes on the pretty brick building.

“You’ve gotten awfully quiet over there?” Josh glanced at you for a moment. The sun had started setting, but he could still see the pink tint that spread over your cheeks.

He laid his hand over your thigh, his fingertips grazing over the skin teasingly.

“Have I worked you up, mama?” He inched his hand up a little higher, laughing quietly when he felt you tense.

“Josh… Come on, we’re almost there..” Your breathing was becoming uneven and heavy, he knew exactly what he was doing.

You sighed heavily in relief when you finally reached your apartment, both of scrambling to get out of the car.

Josh followed behind you closely, letting you lead him up to your door.

You fumbled with the keys and Josh took them from you, “Here… how about you let me-“ Josh said, unlocking the door and shoving it open.

You pulled him in with you, slamming the door behind you.

Josh came up behind you, picking you up in his arms.

“Josh! What are you doing??“ You squealed, gripping his shirt tightly.

“What i’ve wanted to do all night,” He replied lowly. “Where’s your room?” He asked you, walking towards the short set of stairs- assuming that was where he needed to go first.

“Just follow the little hall to the left after the stairs, my room is at the end of it.” You explained to him, pointing as he walked up the last 2 steps.

He kicked the door open to your room, placing you back on your feet, so he could shut and lock the door.

You slipped over to your bed, giving him a small smile once he turned around to face you again. You beckoned him over with a single finger and he wasted no time walking to you.

You gripped at his shirt, leaning back for him to climb over you.

“Ah, ah-“ Josh stopped you, taking your hand from his shirt.

“Get up and strip.” He stepped back, watching you carefully.

“Josh, I- What?” You jaw dropped slightly at his words.

“Take your clothes off. Think you can do that for me, hm?” The same sinister smirk he had in the car, returned to his lips. His eyes had darkened significantly and his tone was an octave lower than just a few moments ago.

“I can do that..” Your reply came out barely loud enough for him to hear.

“I think you can be louder when you answer me, too.” He pushed, eyes racking over your body as you stood to your feet.

“I can do that.” You repeated for him, louder this time.

“See? I knew you could be a good girl.”

You slid the straps of your black dress off your shoulders, sliding the fabric down your body slowly. You knew teasing Josh wasn’t the best idea, but you wanted to see how far he would let you get.

Once the dress made it down your legs, you stepped out of it, revealing matching dark purple lace bra and panties.

He let out a shaky breath, you could see him straining against his black pants even more than before.

You let him take you in for a moment, before reaching back and undoing the hooks of the bra. It dropped from your arms slowly, revealing your chest to Josh completely.

“Shit, you’re beautiful…” He breathed out. “Lay down.” Josh took large steps back towards the bed, pushing you back roughly.

He wasted no time climbing over you, sealing your lips in a rough, sloppy, needy kiss.

Your hands laced into his curls, tugging lightly, making him groan against your mouth.

He pulled away, going straight to your neck and attacking the middle of your throat.

“Oh, god, Josh…” You whimpered out, the sound of his name falling from your lips only aiding in making him throb against you.

“So worked up already. What am I gonna do with you, huh?” He teased, propping himself up above you.

“Anything. Please, do anything with me.” You pleaded with him.

“Such a whiny, needy girl.” He moved down to ghost over one of your nipples. He was being almost unbearable.

“Don’t tease me.” You demanded, trying to make yourself as dominant as possible.

“I know you’re not talking to me?” He growled lowly, leaning in closer.

“Maybe I am.” You mustered all the confidence you could.

“Do you know what happens to little brats who don’t behave?” He questions, tone dark and lust filled, but dominant. “Look at me when I ask you questions, mama.” He grabbed your jaw, forcing you to look at him.

“No…” You answered weakly.

You whole body was on fire and you were certain there was a wet patch forming on your panties by now.

“Brats don’t get to come.” He warned you, placing a feather light kiss to the shell of your ear.

“I promise i’ll be a good girl for you, please just do something.” You tugged at Josh’s curls, bucking your hips up to meet his.

His jaw tightened and he sucked in a sharp breath. He placed a hand on one hip and pushed it down roughly.

“Touch yourself. Let me see how needy you are, darling.” Josh smirked evilly at you, guiding your hand down to your soaking core.

You did as he wanted, slipping your fingers past the lacey hem and straight to your entrance. The sound of your wetness made Josh groan above you.

“I can already tell you’re so wet for me. I’m not even touching you and you’re already dripping.” He shook his head, but could hardly keep his eyes off you for too long.

You worked over your clit skillfully, rolling your hips into your fingers for anything extra.

“Josh, please- I’m gonna cum soon.” You warned him, wanting him to take over with his own fingers.

“I want you to make me cum.” You could see he wanted to cave at your plea, but he wasn’t giving in so easy.

“You want me to make you cum with my own fingers?” He asked you, reaching down to halt your movements. “Greedy brat, begging me to make you come all over my hand..”

His degrading only egged you on, you could faintly feel the orgasm building deep within you.

Josh pulled the underwear down your legs, tossing them to the floor somewhere. He connected his fingers with your clit right away, ripping a high-pitched moan from you.

“So noisy..“ Josh teased, adjusting to lay between your legs.

He took his fingers away, slipping them inside you and wrapping his lips around your clit.

“Shit- just like that,” the feeling of his fingers and mouth working you were unlike anything you’d ever felt before.

Within minutes, Josh had you nearing the edge, one right move and he was going to send you spiraling into an intense orgasm.

Josh pulled his mouth away, replacing it with his thumb immediately. He curled his fingers inside you, hitting your G-spot perfectly.

“Oh, fuck Josh-“ You could barely stay still. “Please do that again.” You begged.

“What? Does that feel good?” He repeated the action as he spoke, a strained, loud moan left your lips.

“Think you can come for me, brat?” His words were sharp and commanding, his fingers never faltering.

“I can feel you’re close.” He added, kissing his way up your belly, capturing one of your nipples in his mouth.

“Don’t stop, i’m so clo-“ You couldn’t even get all the words out, your high breaking suddenly and knocking the air from your lungs.

You arched your body into Josh’s, your eyes squeezed shut and your mouth hanging open.

“That’s it. Let it all go, darling.” He encouraged through your orgasm.

You came down, shaking in Josh’s arms.

“Please, fuck me now, Josh.” You spoke breathlessly, chest heaving with each leftover wave of pleasure shooting through you.

Josh didn’t say anything, simply pushing himself off you and to his feet. He stripped out of his clothes quickly, climbing back over you.

He flipped you over on your stomach, pulling your ass up to meet his hips.

“Tell me how hard you want it.” He insisted, running his hard-on between your folds teasingly.

You whined, pushing your ass against him for more friction instead of answering. “So eager. I’m not fucking you until you answer me, mama.” He was holding you still against him, leaving you no room to move.

“I want you to fuck me so hard, please. I want you to break me.” You begged him.

“Such a naughty girl.. Asking a stranger to fuck you like that.” He slipped into you inch by inch, struggling with each word as he spoke. An animalistic noise slipped through your lips when Josh bottomed out inside you.

“You’re so- tight,” Josh muttered, trying to keep himself from exploding inside you right then.

Josh finally started moving slowly in you, the sounds of your wetness filling the room.

“You’re so big, Josh i-“ Barely getting words out through your moans, you moved your hips in sync with his.

“What? Can the brat not take it?” He brought his hand down against your ass with a loud smack, forcing a cry of pain and pleasure out of you.

You moaned at the sting of it, only encouraging him to keep going.

“Such a bad girl-“ smack. “Am I fucking you so well you can’t answer me?” He let his hand down against your ass once more, the sting becoming too much, but it felt so good.

“Fuck, Josh. Harder, please,” You begging mixed with cries of pleasure.

Josh pulled out, flipping you over so that you he was back on top on you.

He slipped back in you with ease, propping one of your legs up on his shoulder. He set the same steady pace from before, catching your g-spot with each thrust into you.

Your eyes fell shut, so much pleasure surging through your body, so focused on chasing the growing knot in your stomach, that you couldn’t keep them open any longer.

But Josh wasn’t having it.

“Look at me. I want to see those pretty, fucked-out eyes.” He demanded, holding your jaw in his hand tightly. His free hand going down to rub fast circles over your swollen clit.

“Josh i- I’m so close-“ You warned him, purposefully clenching around him, to bring him closer to his own high. “So am I- fuck, I love that, do that again.” His tone had gone from demanding to pleading.

You did as he wanted, clenching around him again, sending him into his own high.

“Fuck..” He groaned, holding himself up above you. His finger slowed down on your clit, removing it completely. You were slightly disappointed as your second orgasm disappeared. As if reading your mind, Josh spoke up. “I’m gonna make you cum one more time, don’t worry.” Josh assured, peeling away the condom and throwing it in the trash can beside your nightstand.

Josh sat beside you on the bed, reaching over and pulling you on top of him.

“I want you to sit on my face. Think you can do that for me?” You nodded, shakily moving over his face. He pulled you down against his mouth forcefully, his tongue connecting with your clit instantly.

“Oh, god… Your mouth feels so good, Josh,” You praised, receiving a hum of acknowledgment from beneath you.

You were thankful it didn’t take Josh long to bring the ball of intense pleasure,

back to the pit of your stomach.

“I’m so- so close, fuck.” You whimpered out, moans and curses filling up the room as he brought you to the edge.

This orgasm was more intense than the first, making you go limp in Josh’s grip. He eventually let you collapse, pulling you into his chest.

“Not bad for a stranger, right?” Josh joked, kissing the top of your head once he noticed you had settled down.

“Nope! Not bad at all for a stranger.” You hit his chest lightly, smiling up at him.

“I wasn’t too much for you?” His tone became serious and he looked down to meet your eyes.

“Not at all. It was perfect, Josh.” You reassured him. “In fact, I think I’d like it if you didn’t stay a stranger.” You told him honestly, hoping that this wouldn’t be a one time thing.

He let out a genuine laugh, pulling you tighter to his chest. “Wouldn’t dream of staying a stranger, mama.”

[farfromparker]

Erotas - Chapter Three | t.h.

Erotas Masterlist

Pairing: Tom Holland x Female Reader

Summary: You land in Greece and after dinner with some of your family the only logical next step is to get drunk in the jacuzzi. 

Warnings: Cursing, a little (and by little I mean little) bit of steaminess but the smut will pick up in the next chapter

Word Count: 6.6k

A/N: This fic is trope city; fake dating, there’s only one bed, friends to lovers. Warnings will be added as I continue to write! Possibly looking at 7 chapters. 

Special thanks to @worldoftom​  💞💞

Five hours later and you’re standing in the lobby of your hotel, bags at your feet, Tom by your side. You haven’t seen your family yet, which is a relief in itself. Your mum texted saying to get settled and relaxed and that they’d find you for dinner and drinks. 

You rest your chin in your hand on the check-in counter, processing what the receptionist had said. “Wait, what? We didn’t—”

The woman behind the desk glances at your passport again, double checking the spelling of your name one more time. “You did. This is your room, 2 adults for the Venus Suite for five nights.”

Your phone dings. It’s your cousin. 

Get checked in to your suite yet?? 😏 [smirking emoji]

Your mouth pops open and you glance at the woman again. Pressing your lips into a thin smile, you apologize, “Sorry, yes, you’re right. That is our room.”

Tom nudges your shoulder with his, whispering, “A suite?”

You shrug, biting your bottom lip. “Welcome to Greece!”

The woman smiles, finalizing your check-in and hands you the keycards to your room along with a map to find your suite. “To further complement your stay, American Champagne Breakfast will be served each morning in the privacy of your own terrace.”

Your eyes widen, “Oh wow, okay. Thank you.”

Tom nudges you again as you leave the lobby. “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” 

He smirks when you shove his shoulder. “You have a movie line for every situation, don't you?”

He nods. “Oh most definitely.” 

Using the directions the woman gave you, you walk towards your suite. The hotel reminds you of a maze, stairs and turns, the sky a bright blue hanging above you. You can hear the ocean in the distance. You explain to Tom that your nosy family decided to intervene and change your original room reservation and bump you up to a suite. Knowing your cousin, she probably did it the second you left that lunch four weeks ago. 

“How much is this gonna cost?” he asks, hesitant.

“My dad covered it. It’s safe to say my family is over the moon I’m here with a boy.” And it’s hard to hide the drop of venom in your voice. 

You reach room 12, high, white, stucco walls surround you at the end of a hallway. The key is an RFID card and you slide it against the reader, the light flashes green and the lock clicks. You push it open and step past the threshold.  

Spanning out across your private terrace is nothing but the sea and the sky and Thirassia Island. 

The door clicks closed quietly behind you.

Tom stands next to you, bags dropping to the ground by your feet. “Holy shit.”

The exterior portion of your room isn’t excessively large, but the space is amazing. Two chaise lounges overlooking a glass balcony railing, staring out into the Aegean Sea, along with a rather large jacuzzi in the corner. There are French doors behind the hot tub, leading into your room.

You nod slowly. “Yeah.” 

The room itself could be the size of a shoe box for all you care. You just want to spend any free time you have on this overlook. 

Tom picks up his bag, grabbing yours as well that had also slipped out of your grasp when you walked in, and heads towards the doors. He pushes them open and you follow. He sets the bags by the dresser, eyes wide as he takes in the room. He’s smiling, touching everything almost in awe, but you’re staring at the bed. The only bed.

“Oh,” you start, glancing around the room but there’s no couch. The room isn’t really all that big, the king bed taking up the majority of the space towards the back. There’s a fully stocked mini bar to your right and a dresser to your left, along with the TV. The door to the bathroom is on your right as well and Tom has disappeared in there. You can hear him talking, calling your name to come see something. 

When you don’t reply right away, he pops back out, looking at you. “What’s the matter?” and he follows your gaze to the bed. It takes him a second, brows furrowed before he realizes. And he starts laughing, gently, but laughing nonetheless.

“Hey, are you really worried about sharing a bed?”

You feel relieved at the ease he’s expressing. “You’re not?”

He laughs again. “No, babe, we’ve kissed. I think we can share a bed. Especially one as big as that one.” 

You smile. “Okay, yeah, you’re right, sorry. I’m just —”

“Nervous, I know,” he finishes for you, walking over to take your hand in his, squeezing gently. “What time do we have to meet your family?”

You sigh. “Uh, whenever we’re settled, I guess.” You squeeze his hand in return. You contemplate for a moment, “The sooner we go, the sooner it’s over and we can come back here.” 

“And then we can order champagne and get drunk in the hot tub.” 

You laugh. “Let’s just do that now, forget my family.” 

But he convinces you to just go now. Saying that it won’t be that bad, that your family will be so excited to see you. And although you’re sure they will be, you still know it’s going to be exhausting. 

You head to your parents’ room first, room 4. You later find out that most of the wedding party is on the opposite end of the hotel from you. Knowing that makes your room even more of an escape. 

Your mum gushes over you when she opens the door, hugging and kissing you before passing you off to your father so she can do the same to Tom. He takes it all in stride, hugging your mum, shaking your dad’s hand and with him here, the heat is off of you. They want to know about him, how you met, what he does. You barely speak ten words on the walk down to the hotel bar. You don’t feel left out, though, because Tom’s hand never leaves your body, whether he’s holding yours or resting his on the small of your back. He keeps you close, smiling at you as he answers questions about your relationship, about your friendship. 

You find a hightop table outside with a view over the ocean. The breeze is light and warm against your cheek, and you can smell the salt in the air. It’s late in the afternoon, close to five, but the sun is still warm on your skin. 

Your dad pulls Tom along to the bar to get drinks and you’re sure he’s giving him the dad talk. You can only shake your head. 

Your cousin and her fiancé, Ava and Alex, meet the four of you down there soon after. And Ava is the reason you’re here. Yeah, she can be a pain in the ass, but she’s always been more of a sister than a cousin. You’re close in age and grew up together. The secrets you share could bring down the government of a small country. 

She engulfs you in a hug, practically vibrating with excitement. She hugs Tom as soon as you introduce them and while she’s fussing over him, you give Alex a hug as well, taking the opportunity to catch up. Alex couldn’t care less about the wedding, just wanting it to be over with so they can officially be married. Ava, on the other hand, is stressing over every single detail no matter how minimal it may seem. 

And Tom is great with her, offering advice and helping her see things that may not be as important as she's making them out to be, like the color of the tablecloths not being the absolute right shade of white. You can see the relief flood Alex’s eyes as Ava agrees with him. 

“So how have you been hiding him since February? He’s amazing, and really, really cute,” she says, nudging you with her shoulder. 

You press your lips together. “I didn’t want to jinx anything, you know how this family is.”

She nods in understanding, she’s experienced everything you have, albeit secondhandedly, but she’s always been there to help you say fuck them over drinks later in the night. She knows their comments cut deeper than you let on and she’s tried to help as best she can. You’ve always appreciated that about her.

If the wedding itself would consist of only these four people, you could have survived it alone. But your mum fills you in on the rest of the family’s travel plans. Aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents are all arriving tomorrow. The rehearsal dinner is tomorrow night, then you’ve got the next day off to enjoy Santorini before the wedding on Friday. Most of the family will fly out on Saturday. But you and Tom, along with your cousin and her newly minted spouse are staying until Sunday. 

You order dinner but find yourselves talking and drinking more than eating. With more people now, the conversation has broken up into parts and you find yourself talking with your dad, Tom has finished eating and is standing next to your chair now. It’s easier for him to be included in the conversation this way. 

“Having fun so far?” your dad asks. 

You smile. “Yeah, thank you for the room.”

Tom agrees. “Yes, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.”

Your dad laughs, patting Tom on the shoulder. “She doesn’t bring a guy around often, so I figured I would do something special for the two of you.” 

And it would mean a lot to you if that wasn’t all an act. You take a sip of your drink to mask the uneasiness you feel, but Tom doesn’t miss a step. Going into a story about how excited he was when he found out you’d be coming here, about meeting your family, about going on a vacation, someplace so romantic, with his girlfriend. 

“Well, hopefully you two can properly enjoy yourselves here. Get some good use of that jacuzzi, yeah?”

“I think we’re gonna order champagne and get drunk in it tonight actually,” you comment, exchanging glances with Tom. 

Your dad looks between the two of you. “Well, then what the hell are you still doing here? Go! Enjoy yourselves before you get roped into some responsibility for the wedding.” And he practically pushes you out of the bar.

“What if they need me for something?”

He scoffs. “I can’t remember the last time you’ve come to a family gathering and actually had fun. Please do that for me this week. And for him,” he adds, gesturing to Tom. “If something’s on fire, I’ll let you know, otherwise I’ll see you at dinner tomorrow night. Six sharp.”

You can’t stop yourself from mumbling, “It feels like everything’s already on fire.” Your dad doesn’t catch it but Tom does, pressing his lips together to fight off a grin.

Your dad sends you off with a kiss to your cheek and a handshake for Tom, and then heads back towards the rest of your family. You laugh lightly, heading back to the room. 

“I like your dad, and your mum. Everyone tonight was great,” Tom says as you step into your room. 

“Yeah, these are the ones I really like, the shit show will start tomorrow. You just wait. That rehearsal dinner might push me to murder.”

He laughs. “Why?”

“Because you’re going to be the only thing my aunts and uncles and grandma will be able to talk about. You and how she’s never brought a boy to meet the family before.” Your voice goes up several octaves as you impersonate your aunt.

“Should I just kiss you all night so that you don’t have to talk to them?” 

“Oh, they’ll eat that shit up, you’re gonna have to make a dirty joke to shut them up. Grandma’s very religious and she’ll clutch her pearls if you talk about our, quote unquote, sex life.”

Tom hums, nodding along. “Good to know.”

You shake your head. “Anyway, didn’t my dad say I had to have fun this week? Let’s stop talking about my family and go get drunk.” 

“God, yes please. I’ll order room service. You can change first,” he offers, walking over to the hotel phone. You rummage through your suitcase and find your bathing suit, slipping into the bathroom quickly.

The room is empty when you open the door, but you can hear the jets running from the hot tub.

You grab two towels for yourselves and step out onto the balcony. The sun has set, but there are still soft orange hues spanning across the horizon. 

“I got you a towel,” you comment, setting them both off to the side to prevent them from getting wet. “Thanks,” Tom says, smiling as you step into the tub. “Champagne should be here soon.”

You hum, sinking down into the water, letting the jets push against your back and shoulders. Extending your arms, you reach out, resting them against the sides of the hot tub. Your fingers knock against Tom’s as he’s in the same position as you and his fingers twitch. You think he’s going to move his hand away but instead, he threads his fingers with yours, brushing gently against your knuckles. 

You stay like that for a moment, eyes slipping shut as you enjoy the heat of the water, the warm air on your skin and Tom’s touch on your hand. 

The knock on the door startles you both and Tom is quick to get up and out of the hot tub. You watch as the muscles along his back and shoulders work beneath his skin as he pushes himself out. 

The champagne comes in on a cart, half submerged in a bucket of ice with two flutes next to it. Tom thanks the man, offering him a tip on his way out. You reach for the cart, pulling it up next to the jacuzzi as Tom locks the door, coming back to get in next to you. 

You grab the bottle, peeling away the wrapping from the top. You hesitate when you see the wire twist, biting your lip. 

“What? Scared to open a champagne bottle?” Tom teases, taking the bottle from you when you offer it to him, his fingers brushing against yours. 

“They make me nervous, have since I was little,” you laugh, leaning away from him as he gets to working it open. 

“Clearly, you didn’t grow up with a household full of brothers,” he quips, pulling the wire webbing off so he can get to the cork. “Losing an eye was the least of my worries growing up.”

“Yeah? And what was your biggest? Getting punched in the dick?”

He freezes, locking his eyes on you, “Don’t joke about that. That shit hurts. God, I think my dick crawled back inside my body just from hearing you say that. When I still lived at home, Harry would shout nut shot whenever I would get up and stretch so I couldn't defend myself. It’s astounding to this day that my balls aren’t permanently blue.”

You throw your head back, trying to hold back the laugh fighting its way past your lips because sometimes you don’t want him to know how funny you actually think he is. He’s smiling when you look back at him though, like he knows. 

He definitely knows.

Changing the subject is the only escape right now. “Will you just open the bottle, please?”

He does, aiming it out towards the ocean and with one final twist, it pops open, the cork shooting out across the terrace.  

“See?! That’s why I don’t like opening them!”

“Hey, no one lost an eye, so I see this as an absolute win.” He fills the two flutes before shoving the bottle back in its ice bath. He hands you a drink before grabbing his own. 

You extend your arm to him. “Cheers,” you offer and clink his glass to yours.

“Cheers.”

The champagne is sweet and flavorful, bubbly against your tongue. It’s going to go straight to your head. 

Tom settles back into his seat, groaning softly as he moves so the jets press at different areas of his back. “Alright, rehearsal dinner tomorrow, who do I have to look out for?”

You take another sip of your drink. “Everyone.” 

He laughs.

“You think I’m kidding!”

“Oh c’mon, I don’t have to worry about your parents. And Ava and Alex love me. So that's four down.”

“They were just the pawns, the big guns come out tomorrow.” You straighten up, rolling your shoulders and making a show of it, Tom just rolls his eyes. “Alright, we’ll start at the top with Grandma Ruth, Nana. She’s very religious, I’m pretty sure I’m sinning in her eyes because I’m not married yet so she’ll love you. But she’s a pistol. And I’m sure she’ll have Peanut with her.”

Tom pushes his lips together, brow bunching, “Peanut?”

“Her Yorkie.”

His eyebrows raise, eyes going soft. “She has a dog?”

“Satan reincarnated as a three pound dog, don’t let the name fool you.”

He laughs. “Nah, c’mon, how bad can a three pound puppy be?”

“Fine, don’t believe me. But don’t come crying to me when she tries to bite your fingers off.”

Tom just shakes his head, “Alright, Nana Ruth and Peanut, check. Next?”

“Aunt Brigitte and Uncle Joe. They’re the worst and you may not believe me now, but it’s the truth. They’re way more invested in my love life than their own, which is why they’re always throwing snide remarks at each other but also everyone else. She’ll make comments like oh your face is so much fuller now, well at least you won’t get wrinkles as easily when you get older or my dear, you haven’t missed a meal have you? or my favorite well if you weren’t so opinionated you’d probably have a boyfriend by now. And Joe is just an idiot.”

Tom contemplates for a moment, “So should I just punch her?”

You snort, taking a long swig of your drink. He continues, “Because I can, should I defend your honor?”

You have to put your hand over your mouth to stop yourself from spitting champagne across the hot tub. You look over at him and he looks so proud, grinning from ear to ear, he can’t even stop smiling while he takes a drink. 

“Thanks, Sir Holland, but I think I’ll be okay.”

He shrugs, “Well, just know my services have been offered.” 

“Duly noted. Alright, next is my cousin Vinny.” 

And he spits out his champagne, not even trying to cover it like you had, spraying it across the jacuzzi and you start laughing. 

“You have a cousin Vinny? You’re not shitting me?”

You laugh harder. “I’m not shitting you.” 

“Oh my god, can we get drunk with your cousin Vinny? Is he a lawyer?”

“He’s a mechanic, he’d probably be a more successful lawyer than Joe Pesci though. But we can definitely get drunk with him, he’s a good one in the bunch. Doesn’t really give a fuck about anything, which is part of the reason why he’s the best.”

“Cool, so I don’t have to avoid Cousin Vinny.”

“His mum, my aunt Maya, is just as cool as he is. She’s been divorced since Vinny was little, raised him on her own. Nana always gives her a hard time about being single, like she does to me, so Maya’s always been in my corner.”

“I like Maya already,” he mentions, smiling at you, “Wait, so who’s the eccentric uncle? The one I can only talk to about football?”

“Louis. Honestly, you can talk to him about anything except politics. I think my dad would kill me if I didn’t warn you about him. They don’t get along at all. Louis hasn’t been able to hold down a job for over thirty years and it’s mainly because he’s lazy. And my dad has worked really hard for everything he has, everything he’s been able to do for my mum and me. Hence why they don’t jive.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

You twist your lips, spinning the champagne flute in your hands. “But... I think that’s everyone? At least the ones that come with warning labels.”

He chuckles, finishing off his glass and reaching back for the bottle. “Well, good, I feel prepared to defend you in battle now.”

You shake your head, handing him your glass so he can fill it up again, too. “Alright, enough of the defending my honor business. You’re more of a partner in crime.”

He hums, giving you your glass back and burying the bottle back in the ice bucket. “I like the sound of that.”

You glance over at him, watching as he rests back into his seat. The sun has fully set and the sky is dark now, but the soft yellow hues from the lights in the room shine out and span across his face, his neck, the top of his chest. Your eyes travel along his cheekbones, down to the cut of his jawline. His eyes slip close and you take the opportunity to steal more glances. 

Moving along the bump of his collarbones, the bulge of his biceps, his bare chest, he really is beautiful. You think about saying it out loud for a moment, but bite your tongue, worried it would sound weird or that you’d make him uncomfortable. You settle back against the jets instead. 

“How’s work going?” you ask instead, forcing your mind off of that previous thought. “I feel like we haven’t talked about your life much in the past few weeks because of the current dumpster fire I’m living in.”

He opens his eyes, looking over to you, “I think you’re getting by just fine, besides you’ve got me, and I carry a big hose. I’ll put that fire out in no time.”

There’s no stopping the laugh this time, “Oh my god,” you bury your head in your hands. “You’re ridiculous.” 

For a moment, he looks like he’s going to say something, but presses his lips together, suppressing a smile and taking a sip of his drink. “Work is good, it’s always good.” And you know he’s telling the truth, he absolutely loves his job. He works for a nonprofit, a construction company that builds houses for people in need. People whose lives have been turned upside down. He gets to make a difference, and you know there’s a deep sense of gratification he gets from it. 

“We’re working on a house right now for a man that was involved in a car accident, a drunk driver hit him and paralyzed him from the waist down. He’s in a wheelchair now but his current house, he couldn’t get anywhere or do anything.” 

He goes silent for a moment. “I can’t imagine what that would be like.” He turns to you, eyes soft and you set your glass down on the cart, reaching out to take his hand. He squeezes yours in return. “Like your home is supposed to be a safe place, a place that you go to just — be. And this man’s home... suddenly it’s like he’s trapped there, unable to do everything that was so mundane and easy before.” 

He sees a lot of people like this, people so desperately in need but you know they can only do so much. You’ve seen first hand how difficult it is for him. 

They don’t have endless supplies, endless people, endless hours. They can’t help everyone. People are turned away by their selection committee, or moreover, the selection committee picks who they do help. But Tom can’t stop himself from getting attached to the applications he reads, how much he wishes he could do more. He hates the selection process, but knows it’s a necessary evil. 

“And you’re helping him,” you encourage, reminding of the good in his job, the best part. “You’re helping change that man’s life in such a positive way.” 

“Yeah,” he agrees, a soft tone to his voice. He drops his gaze, watching the water swirl around in front of him. “Anyway, my part with that house is done. They’re moving him in this weekend, I think. T said he has the next ones lined up, so I’ll dive into those when we get home.”

You smile, you want to tell him how proud you are of him, but would that be out of place? You smile at him instead. “You’re doing good things, Tom, you’re a good person.”

He returns your smile, eyes twinkling as he looks up at you again. They’re bright, even in the darkness, twinkling under your praise before he bites his lip, shy. “Thank you.”

“Alright.” He rolls his shoulders, demeanor changing as he downs the rest of his glass. You can see the glimmer in his eyes, he’s got something in mind. He sets the empty flute on the cart, noting your glass, and how it’s not empty. “Well, first I need you to finish that,” and he points towards your drink.

You raise your eyebrows, but grab the flute nonetheless. “Bossy.”

He puts his hands up. “Hey, you’re the one who wanted to get drunk in this hot tub, I’m just making sure that happens.”

You finish off your glass with a lick of your lips, setting it next to his. “Okay, what’s nex—” and you cut yourself off as he gets out of the jaccuzi. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll be right back,” he calls over his shoulder. You merely roll your eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile on your lips. You busy yourself filling up your glasses, he was right, you did plan on getting drunk tonight and although you were getting there, you weren’t there yet. 

He comes back as you set the now full glasses on the cart. And he’s got�� an empty plastic water bottle? He climbs back in the tub, raising his eyebrows at you quickly, clearly excited. 

“What's with the trash?”

“Now, love, give it a chance.” He reaches over, fiddling with the dials until the jets stop. The water swirls softly, and the bubbles disappear. “We’re gonna play a game.”

You grin. “Awesome. I like games.” 

He nods. “I know. Okay, so the goal of this game is to avoid the water bottle touching you, but trying to get it to touch the other person. You can’t use your hands, though. And the bottle can’t touch any part of your body or the other person gets a point. First one to 5 wins,” he explains, letting the bottle go, watching as it floats around the tub. You’re watching him instead.

“Can I use my legs? Or my feet?” you ask. “To like, make it move?”

“You can use any part of your body, just not your arms or hands. Oh, blowing is acceptable and encouraged.” And you can tell he’s trying to get you to laugh again. But the champagne is going to your head, and now you want to be the one throwing dirty remarks his way. 

“Oh Tommy, you opened a door for me. I’m very good at blowing.” He doesn’t laugh, just bites his lip and if it weren’t so dark out, you’re certain you’d be able to see the blush sitting heavy on his cheeks. 

He clears his throat. “Then, I guess I’m in trouble.” 

You simply wiggle your eyebrows. You twist your hands together in front of your body, gripping onto your fingers in hopes of keeping yourself from breaking the rules. Tom does the same, the crease between his pecs becoming more defined. You consider how your cleavage in turn must look to him, but consider any mode of distraction a welcome advantage. He’s only human after all, and you’ve got great tits. 

A rush of self-satisfaction washes over you when you watch his eyes flicker down to your chest. Your mind, hazy with champagne, wants to comment on it, wants to let him know he’s been caught, but as you’re about to, he locks eyes with you. 

“That’s not fair,” he whispers, voice breathy. 

You simply smirk, “I’m just keeping my hands occupied so I don’t cheat. Now, ready when you are, Tommy.” And you wonder if he likes the nickname. He never comments on it, and his body language doesn’t suggest he dislikes it, but you’d like to know all the same. 

“We’ll start with the jets off, let you get comfortable,” he continues, counting down from three and you move to the edge of your seat, counting down with him. 

On one, you both move forward, creating small waves that crash into each other and send the bottle off to the right. You stand, walking through the water to follow it, leaning over to get closer to the bottle so you can move it with your breath. Tom angles away, pressing his back into the side of the tub so he can bring his feet up to kick underneath it but it moves towards him, not away. You keep following, keep blowing, getting into his space, but your feet tangle together with his. You stumble, falling forward and your hands automatically reach out to brace yourself. 

Your palms splay out across the middle of his thighs, but your fall was enough to push the bottle forward and it bumps against his chest. You raise your head, smiling victoriously. “Gotcha.”

He huffs, laughing like he’s out of breath. “Fuck.”

You grab the bottle and step away from him, moving back to your seat. You reach over and grab your drink, taking a long swig and he follows suit, downing a good portion of his drink as well. 

You set the flute back down, looking over at him “Ready for round two?”

He licks his lips, moving toward the edge of his seat. “The question is, are you? I was being nice the first round.”

You smirk. “Bring it on, Holland.” 

You count down again, hands grasped together, but he doesn’t follow your lead this time. His arms hang loose at his sides and there’s a devilish smirk on his face. You both say one and as you move toward the bottle, he moves around it, coming to you. He reaches for you, fingers wrapping around your elbow and pulling you into him. Something that can only be described as a squeak leaves your lips, and you untangle your hands to try and get him off you. He’s too quick, though. In the blink of an eye, he’s got his arms secured tightly around your waist, your back pressed tightly to his chest and he’s moving you toward the bottle like you weigh nothing. 

You reach your hands out but freeze, remembering you can’t use them, so you push back against him to get leverage to get your feet up and kick at the bottle to try and move it away from you. But he’s strong, muscles solid and defined from his job in construction, and he’s got complete control over your positioning. Which means it’s not difficult for him to get you cornered with the bottle trapped between your body and the edge of the tub. 

You lock your arms against the side, bracing yourself just far enough away that you’re not touching the bottle, not yet. He’s firm against your back, you can’t move, but neither can he. If his grip loosens, you can slide out and away. The water sloshes with your movement, but it starts stilling as you find yourselves in a stalemate. The bottle rocks gently and you can feel Tom’s jaw on your shoulder. He’s looking down your body, watching the bottle float of its own accord. 

“This has to be cheating,” you say, teeth clenched. 

He laughs, chest rumbling against your shoulder blades. “Nah, the only rule was that you couldn’t use your hands or arms to move the bottle,” he says slyly. “I can do whatever I want with them as long as I’m not touching that bottle.”

His fingers dig into your sides to emphasize his point and there’s a deep swoop low in your stomach. Your eyes flutter for a moment before you force them back open, glancing down and trying your best to ignore the feeling of his arms wrapped around you, of his chest pressed along your spine. The weight of his breath ghosting over your shoulder. You swallow harshly to keep focused on the game. 

The bottle floats towards your stomach and you instinctively push back to get away from it. But pushing away from the bottle means pushing closer to Tom. You feel him, just for a moment, and you’re almost not sure you felt what you think you felt. But he sucks in a sharp breath through his nose and his grip loosens around your waist, and that’s all the confirmation you need. 

You slide out of his grip easily and with a well placed flick of your foot, the water bottle bounces forward and knocks against his arm. He tries to laugh, sinking down so the water sloshes up against his collarbones. 

“Beginner's luck,” he shrugs, but there’s a new tone in his voice. 

“Well, you were more than a little distracted, I’d say.” 

He shrugs, trying to play it cool, but he’s avoiding looking at you directly and his cheeks are so red you can see his blush clearly when he turns towards the lights coming from the room. “I’m 23 and I’ve got a pretty girl pressed up against me. If anything, I mean, it’s your fault.”

And you chuckle. “If I remember correctly, you grabbed me, so you did this to yourself, sweetheart.”

He doesn’t have a smart remark, and he still can’t meet your gaze. “C’mon, it’s probably time we go to bed anyway,” you comment, giving him an escape. 

He nods, “Yeah, big day tomorrow.” But he makes no effort to move with you as you get out. You grab the towels, wrapping one around yourself and he starts to wade over to you. 

“Okay if I shower first?”

He looks relieved, taking the towel you offer him. “Yeah, course, go for it. I’ll clean up out here,” he says, gesturing to the champagne. 

You disappear inside, digging through your bag to grab a baggy shirt and sleep shorts. You close the door to the bathroom, setting your clothes on the counter. Your cheeks feel hot and you can still feel the ghost of his chest pressed against your back. You shake your head to try to clear it and step into the shower, turning the dial down so that the water runs cool. 

You try not to take too long, knowing that he’ll want to shower before bed as well and there’s another weird swoop in your stomach thinking about him naked in the very spot you’re standing. You groan, throwing your head back and stepping further under the water, letting the stream wash over your face.

You dry off and get ready for bed, trying to tidy up a little so the bathroom isn’t a complete disaster when he comes in. You look at yourself in the mirror for a moment, trying to straighten your shirt. But then you glance up, catching your own eyes and you scowl. You were going to bed for fuck’s sake, it shouldn’t matter what you look like. It didn’t matter. You huff, turning on your heel, and pushing the door open.

Tom’s sitting in the chair near the bed, towel beneath his butt, nose in his phone… still shirtless. He looks up when he hears the door and he smiles at you, locking his phone and setting it on the nightstand. 

“You still had a little bit of champagne in your glass,” he begins, standing up and walking over to the dresser where your glasses sit, there’s still a little bit left in his flute too. The bucket sits next to them, the bottle nestled carefully within it. “I didn’t know if you wanted it or not.” 

You grin, walking over to him and taking the glass he offers you. “Yeah, can’t let something this good go to waste.”

He grabs his glass, clinking it with yours. “I couldn’t agree more.” And his eyes sparkle like the champagne on your tongue. 

Soon after, he grabs some clothes and heads into the bathroom. You debate for a moment on pulling the drapes closed, but the thought of the sun shining out across the sea in the morning is a view you absolutely want to wake up to. That’ll require an early morning, but then again, how often are you going to be in Greece to watch the sunrise over the Aegean? 

An early morning it is. 

You turn the lights off by the door, leaving only the lamps on the nightstands on. One jiggle of the handle confirms he's already locked the doors. His phone is plugged in and charging on the right side of the bed so you take the left, plugging in your phone as well before pulling the cord and turning off your light. You pull back the covers, crawling in and as your knees touch the mattress, the exhaustion of the day washes over you. The fact that you were hungover in London this morning feels like days ago, not mere hours. 

You groan loudly as you lay down, stretching out under the blankets and letting yourself sink deeper into the bed. 

There’s a small chuckle, and you whip your head up to the noise. Tom is leaning against the door frame of the bathroom, shirtless, baggy shorts hung low on his hips and it’s an involuntary reaction when your tongue pokes out to wet your lips.

“Should I give you some privacy?” he teases, a smug look settling on his features. 

You roll your eyes, dropping your head back down into the pillow, “I didn’t realize how long of a day this has been until I laid down. And this bed is heavenly.”

He flicks the light in the bathroom off and shuffles over to the bed, pulling the blankets back and crawling in next to you. He leans back, turning his lamp off as well, casting the room in darkness. There’s a soft glow from the sliver of moon in the sky. It’s faint though, you hadn’t even noticed it when you were outside. 

He nestles down onto his side so he can look at you. Your eyes adjust after a moment and you find his gaze easily. 

“Not a bad day overall, though...” he muses, the question in his voice is obvious. 

You turn to him, rolling onto your side so you can face him properly. “Way better than I was anticipating, in large part thanks to you.” 

He smiles, genuine, and you can imagine it reaching his eyes. “I’m just glad I could be here for you.” His hand stretches out across the mattress, you feel it before seeing it because the comforter shifts with the movement. His fingers find yours within seconds, and you thread them together.  

You hum at the comforting feeling, letting your body continue to relax. “I’m glad you were as well,” you murmur, voice soft. 

He squeezes your hand, thumb brushing across your knuckles. “Goodnight, darling.”

“Goodnight, Tommy.”

When you wake up in the morning, his hand is still touching yours.

Taglist (also added a few that enjoyed the first chapters): 

@xximaweirdoxx​ @selfcarecapmain​ @billythebully09​ @cyrusandhiscollaredahirts​ @honeymarvel​ @billieishottttttttt @lovinnholland​ @oh-annaa​ @little-miss-naill​ @holland-in-disguise​ @wordless08​ @multifandomgirl-us​ @tiktok-spideyy @fangirlfree​ @theolwebshooter​ @headlights95​ @thirsttrapholland​ @ablazeofhope​ @hazmyheart​ @let-the-music-take-c0ntrol​ @afterglownights​ @hollandbitch​ @delicately-important-trash​ @parkersvibes​ @averyfosterthoughts​ @mskatharinawho​ @crazyfreaker​ @thsummersoldier​ @lolobxtch​ @peterparkoure​ @hpnjrph​ @likeit-or-leaveit​ @spidxrparkxr​ @caretheunicorn​ @peterpstuff​ @spiderdudetom​ @sltwins​ @loxbbg​ @tomshufflepuff​ @spideyyeet​ @terrifictomholland​ @caturdwy​ @lauras-collection​ @hollandtomholland​ @hollandcreep​ @uncookspaget​ 

[moonlightsolo]

Live Aid 1985

request: She’s in the band (she plays the piano) and on live Aid, Freddie gets the crowd to sing Happy birthday! - @80s90steen

pairing: queen x female reader (platonic)

word count: 1.7k

warnings: fluff, a lil bit of crying, stage fright, anxiety, overall lots of fun & proud moments!

a/n: ok so all the boys supporting their younger girl band member is the cutest thing ever. i kinda made roger her closest band member? although all the boys are close tbh. i hope you like it, i worked really hard on this lol. (maybe i’ll do a backstory pt. 2 to this? leave some feedback)

The muffled music on the loudspeaker in Wembley Stadium gives you goosebumps, you sit in the trailer with the boys relaxing as you try to get your nerves to calm down. You couldn’t get over how Live Aid is broadcasted to billions of viewers across the globe, it doesn’t feel real.

The laughs of conversation of your band mates made you smile as you focus on their conversation, “What are you going on about, Roger?” Your accented voice fills their ears, you reach over to slap Rog’s arm.

“Just makin’ fun of how you’re zoning out, love.” He playfully tells you, that’s obviously not what they were talking about, right? You just roll your eyes at his comment. Although, the peaceful sound of Brian strumming on his guitar makes you feel less anxious.

A knock that sounds on the door of the trailer makes everybody shut their mouths. Jim gets up from his seat to answer it and before he could speak, Brian peeks his head around the corner of the doorway. “Hello, Mary.” He says with a grin.

“Hello Brian. We’ve just come to wish you good luck.” Her soft voice speaks which makes Freddie perk up and waltz over to her to give her a kiss on the cheek. Fred introduces Jim to Mary and David.

You can’t keep your hands still as your fingers absentmindedly ‘play’ the piano keys on your knees, almost like you’re practicing. Roger, being the closest one to you, notices and puts his hand on top of your fidgeting ones. “Calm down, we’ve done concerts before, right?” You just smile and agree. It didn’t really help much though.

Fred and you will be playing as a duo on the piano together for the opening song, Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s what you both always do. You notice Freddie usher Jim to go with Mary and David, leaving the band to themselves.

“What do we think of David?” Fred asks in thought as he leans back in his chair, you and Rog look at each other.

“Nice chap,” Brian says with a small smile as he nods, his curls bobbing along with it. “I think he’s gay,” Freddie says with a smirk. Roger chuckles in response. Everyone chats among themaldives, you join in on some conversations too.

“We’ll be on in about one minute.” The announcer tells the crowd, you can hear them all applaud out there.

Freddie looks over the band, “There’s no need to be nervous, loves. How many times have we done this? I cannot count on my fingers and toes.” He gives the band his famous grin.

He sends a reassuring nod your way when the door is knocked on once again; You just smile at him. Rog gets up as Fred leaves the trailer, taking his leather jacket off to hang to the crew member outside.

When you get up, you check yourself in the standalone mirror next to your seat. You’re wearing a fitted white v-notch neck tee that’s paired with high waisted denim cuffed jeans, layered gold necklaces, and white hightop chucks. “You look great, don’t worry.” Brian chuckles as he walks out after Rog and Deacy.

The crew members walking backstage all focus on the band, starstruck by the five of you. It felt nice to be back in this element. You watch as Fred jumps excitedly, pumping his fists back and forth in the air. John puts an arm around your shoulders as you all walk up the ramp, his own smile is big too. Everyone is so ecstatic.

“You ready, birthday girl?” He asks as you all near the white curtain, a man pulls it back for Queen to walk on the stage; Freddie being the first one out, not wasting any time.

The four of you lose your breath for a moment as you look over all the people, “Ready as I’ll ever be.” John pulls his arm off of you as he walks out to his bass guitar on stage, his hand coming up to wave. You take a deep breath and take a step onto the stage, the crowd screams as Queen begins to set up.

You wave with a big smile on your face, adrenaline rushing through your veins as you look over the crowd and blow kisses to the— Your signature move.

Freddie begins to play some keys on the piano, the crowd dying down slightly as they listen. You slide next to him on the piano bench as he starts to play the main notes to the song. Your hands instinctively play the right notes. You press the keys, creating a beautiful melody as he starts to sing. The stadium roars, you can’t help but get emotional.

Your vocals join in with Freddie’s as you sing, “Mama... Oooo ooo oo,” into the mic with him. His free arm slings around your shoulders as you both double task to play the piano and sing. You smile and lean into him for the last part, “Cause nothing really matters...” You move your mouth towards the mic to sing, catching Freddie’s eyes. You can tell he is so happy.

-

After Bohemian Rhapsody, you move over to the keyboard to play it as Freddie sings and prances among the edge of the stage. Your body bounces with the beat as your fingers press on the keyboard to create sound.

You sing into your provided mic, “All we hear is, radio gaga! Radio goo goo! Radio gaga! All we hear is, radio gaga! Radio goo goo! Radio blah blah!” You sing into the mic as you watch the audience clap.

“Radio what’s new? Radio, someone still loves you...” Freddie sings as he walks up to the drums then back down in front of them. “Loooooves....!” He sticks his tongue out at the camera before continuing, “Yoooooou!” Freddie gets down on the stage floor, extending the mic stick next to his leg.

Your hands pull away from the keyboard when the rest of the instruments cut off, rocking on your heels excitedly your hands pump in the air. Your eyes look over the band, your family. You’ve all come so far from the little pubs in London.

Rog catches your eye as he nods his head towards Freddie. You watch as he walks to the edge of the stage. “Ayo!” His magnificent voice sings. The audience instantly mimicked him making goosebumps stand on your skin.

You looked over at Deacy with a proud smile, he has the same look on his face. Freddie continues having the audience echo him. It is surreal how the audience reacts to him, how he controls what they say. “Alright!” He finishes with a smile, reaching the mic over the stage towards the audience.

“Hey hey hey hey hey! Hammer to fall!” On that cue, Brian and John start to play the guitar part as Roger hits his drums. Your hands go to your keyboard to play again.

-

“Loveys! Before we leave, I have a special request for you all today...” He trails off as he glances back at you, his chest heaving from extertion. The crowd cheers in response. “Before we leave, I have to announce that one of our band members is celebrating a very, very special day. Not only is it Live Aid day but its... her birthday.” He emphasizes the words as he points at you. Your cheeks instantly redden, shaking your head as you grin from ear to ear.

Freddie walks over to the grand piano, his hand expertly plays the tune to the ‘happy birthday’ song without looking. You walk in front of the keyboard as the rest of your band members come to stand next to you. Rog puts his arm around your shoulders with Bri next to you and Deacy next to Bri.

“Sing it!!” He screams enthusiastically into the mic. The audience and the boys sing along with him, “Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday, Miss Y/N Y/L/N...” His dark brown eyes trail to you, your own eyes obviously glistening with happy tears. “Happy birthday to you!” He presses some keys to finish the song before he comes running over to you.

He practically tackles you in a hug and almost lifts you up from the ground. Then the boys join in, you’re surrounded by them all; although it was definitely a very sweaty group hug. “I love you, boys!!!” You say so they could only hear.

“We love you too!” They said in unison before pulling away. You all walk confidently to the front of the stage to bow. Roger’s arm still around you as you both bow in unison. You raise your hand to blow a kiss to the crowd and wave. Roger walks with you off stage, his arm falling from your shoulder to go celebrate with the boys.

Your eyes search around for Freddie, seeing him talking to Bowie near the picnic tables. Your eyes light up as you jog over to them, not wanting to interrupt their conversation but you did anyway.

As you gain speed, you pounce onto Fred’s back and wrap your legs around his waist. A big smooch landing onto his cheek, “You did amazing, darling.” A nickname you’ve grown accustomed to. “As did you, lovely.”

Freddie smiles at your response. “You’ve met before right?” Fred says sarcastically.

“God, Fred... You’re putting me under pressure with that question!” You let out a faux groan. Your smile widened when you saw the pun click in their heads.

Brian comes up behind you three, “Wow, Fred. I don’t get that kind of treatment.” He motions towards you with his hand. “I’m just special.” You stick your nose up in the air with a smug grin.

“Oh okay. Mhm.” Brian has a mischievous smile on his face. Before you could question him, his hands clutch your waist to pull you off of Freddie. Of course, you didn’t want to drag Mr. Mercury down with you so you let go of him.

“Ya twit!” You yelp, pushing him away. You grab the scrunchy off of your wrist to tie your hair on top of your head in a side pony. “You’re gonna get it, May.” You started to run after him like playing a game of tag.

“Even in their early thirties, they still act like damn children.” Freddie scoffs, crossing his arms as he proudly watches you tackle Brian successfully.

“Ha! Even with those long legs, I still caught up to you!” You exclaim loudly, people sitting and some walking around all turn to stare but you couldn’t care any less.

[ambiencespectrum]

dave&rose youtube ghost hunters au let’s go

“we’re technically more gen paranormal hunters,” says the caption at the bottom of the video. it’s in brackets and red comic sans. it disappears as the shaky film pans to a girl with pale hair and darkly colored clothes more suited to a trip to a quaint local bookstore and cafe, rather than standing on a dirt road next to a decrepit fence around an even more decrepit building.

“A bit of a cliche to start the season off with,” says the girl, the video zooming in on her face. she raises an eyebrow, smirking. “But the classics are the classics for a reason.”

“who doesn’t love a creepy old asylum?” says the cameraman, and the video blurs and flips around to be too-close to his face. black shades reflect the lens back onto itself, hair pale as the girl’s blustering in the sudden uptick in wind. “it’s a fucking staple in horror media, has been since the dawn of it. nothing scares the shit out of people like the remnants of their fucked up treatment of the vulnerable and neurodivergent.”

“And ghosts,” says the girl off-screen. “And demons. Though, those could be applied metaphors in this context...”

the camera flips around again to focus on the girl, as the cameraman says, “shit, rose, why not both?”

the girl- rose- smiles in the manner of someone who knows more than anyone else present, is aware of that fact, and is feeling pleasantly surprised that a peer she’s deigned with her presence has grasped even an inkling of her thoughts.

“Both,” rose agrees as a bird call shrieks in the distance and the video cuts it off abruptly. it next shows rose walking in front of the camera and cameraman, leading the way into a semi-dark hall. the walls peeling paint, the floor cracking and lifting. the heels of her chic boots click as she walks, the beam of her flashlight swaying gently.

“A distinct lack of incomprehensible warnings scrawled across the walls,” says rose, shining her light upon an old smear that’s turned brown over the years.

“yeah, kinda kills the total package deal hype of an asylum,” says the cameraman. “like, what’s the point even if you don’t get at least a few death threats or cult phrases thrown your way?”

“Perhaps it will prevail yet, Dave. There is always possibility of poltergeist, or an apparition.”

“been there, done that. maybe some specter will finally have the intangible balls to go corporeal and possess your gothic little heart, raven madison.”

“That reference is vampires, dear heart.”

“tomato potato whatever. but, uh... if they don’t like your hentai octopi buddies...?”

“Then they may attempt to establish a connection with you.”

“haha, yeah, sure. come at me bro.”

the feed cuts again, with static this time as rose turns an amused gaze towards the cameraman. it comes back with a new person standing in the frame; sporting dark sunglasses despite the early evening and shadow filled room. he’s saying, “i swear to god, rose, if you drop my baby i’m making you buy me a whole new rig, sound sampler, mic, lens, custom bitchin’ paint job-”

“Do us all a favor and shut the fuck up, Dave,” rose says sweetly and firmly. he stops rambling, lips tugged down in a frown. rose continues, “Now, let’s get on with the part of the program subscribers click on our video thumbnails for.”

“why am i the god damn ghost nip again.”

“Because the Strider charms are irresistible to the common lingering spirit.”

dave scuffs his shoes on the filthy floor, his sigh echoing off the surrounding room. rusted bed frames litter the sides of it, rotted fabric clinging in places and showing traces of animal habitation. dave’s sunglasses glint in the glare of rose’s flashlight, hair a washed out white. “just ‘cause every ghoul from here to canada wants a piece of strider ass doesn’t mean i have to be bait every time.”

as he says that, a figure flickers into existence behind him, looming with hollow eyes and an overextended jaw. the video cuts as it lunges at him.

it comes back at a weird angle, with more red comic sans appearing on screen. “sorry for the shit footage, SOMEBODY couldn’t bother holding off exorcism foreplay.” purple text is quick to follow it, in comic sans as well. “You’re very fucking welcome for that, you enormously ungrateful asshole.”

the camera is clearly on the floor, giving view of only that and two sets of feet. rose’s boots now have scat stuck to one sole, and a handful of burrs on the back of her tights. dave’s hightops dangle suspended a foot off the ground, laces swaying as he hovers, the rest of him perfectly still in the air.

“Now, I understand it’s been very lonely here, Frederick,” says rose’s voice, “but the body you are currently residing within is already claimed for the remainder of eternity. It won’t be open for new tenants until it is well and gone to dust, I assure you.”

dave’s laces shake as his voice responds, all guttural screams far louder than he has ever spoken before.

“Now there’s no need for name calling,” rose says. “We’re two adults, having a civil conversation. The furthest ring’s heralds and doombringers and mindflayers own our family tree, so even if I wanted to give him to you, I quite literally can’t-”

dave’s voice explodes again in wordless sound, and the video is flipped and rolled. the film only steadies again after the camera has been sent skidding across the floor; now offering rose and dave’s full figures within the frame. from across the room, anyway.

dave hovers in the air, like he’s hanging by the neck and swaying gently on a noose. rose is faced away from the lens, fingers tensed into claws.

“That’s quite enough of that,” rose says snappishly, “he isn’t yours to keep,” and she grabs dave by his shirt collar to haul him downwards. she slaps her palm to his forehead and the video is dragged into darkness, extinguishing everything as its audio devolves into whispers and then speaker bursting howls. the silence that follows immediately after is chilling.

picture is then restored. it comes back inside a van, filled with travel bags, pillows, polaroid photographs tacked to the walls, precarious stacks of books and dead things in jars on top, and two disheveled individuals sitting shoulder to shoulder.

“so,” dave starts, voice gravelly, “turns out ghostly possession makes your mouth taste like death’s ass.”

“I told you so,” rose says primly. she has a bruised cheek, hair like a bird’s nest, and her black lipstick is smeared in the rightmost corner. she holds herself like a dignitary for it.

“fuck off, lalonde,” dave replies, running a hand through his even messier hair. his neck has a blooming bruise around it in the pattern of a rope, his shirt collar is torn at a shoulder seam, and black viscous stains the front downwards. “that was demonic conjuring, totally different field of freaky mindbody highjacking fuckery.”

“You’ll have to forgive him,” rose says to the camera, patting dave’s knee patronizingly, “it’s his first body-sharing experience.”

“i shared my body plenty, shared it in ten different states, i just pre-fucking-ferred sharing it consensually.”

“You, and I quote, said ‘come at me, bro’. In the presence of aggressive, tortured spirits, you might as well have writ permission in neon.”

“wow, wow. some feminist you are, victim blaming me for this. new low for you, rose.”

rose rolls her eyes. “Moving on with our review. The trip over had a decent number of well-meaning townsfolk warning us away from here, notably one who started crying halfway through. Unfortunately, I’ll have to dock points for the lackluster atmosphere of the asylum itself. It wasn’t as overtly foreboding as we’d been promised, and, again, the graffiti from its former residents failed to strike even an iota of fear into our hearts.”

“i got possessed though, which is sexy in theory but shitty in practice,” dave adds in a drawl. “kinda like communism and capitalism. got some sick air while i was at it, but i didn’t crawl on the ceiling even once. i did however get to hear the screams of the lost souls bound to the building and i think my new choker will last a few weeks at least. that’s worth a few points.”

“Agreed,” rose says amiably. “A solid 7.5 out of 10?”

dave shrugs. “about there, yeah.”

the video transitions to blank blackness, displaying with purple text “We are not professionals in any manner of speaking, but our death’s are more difficult to ensure than yours. Do not attempt this at home, do not attempt this with friends, do not attempt this if you value your mortal soul and fragile human psyche.” the message below that is in red text and reads “like subscribe and comment”

[trippydooda]

yeehaw here comes some good ol smut, prepare ur eyes. look at me, writing so much. sniff really brings a tear to my eyes

Rating: M so hard just like it’s M my lord

Word Count: 3,536

Because Jungkook’s life can never stay simple, the boys all invite him (and Jimin) out to a bar one weekend night. 

Jimin is thrilled to finally go somewhere interesting, and Jungkook chokes on the water he’s drinking when Jimin rounds the corner. He’s dressed in a low-cut silk shirt Jungkook forgot he even had, with tight back jeans Jungkook had picked up. Jungkook had frowned while holding them, felt a bit like a pervert when he bought them because he most definitely had a voice telling him Jimin’s ass would like rather lovely in them.

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

In contrast, Jungkook is wearing just a plain red and black striped sweater with his usual beat to shit jeans. Even Jimin’s shoes are better than his—Chelsea boots he had seen when Jungkook and him were at the mall, and his face was too much for Jungkook not to get them. And Jungkook… Jungkook was wearing the same pair of black Converse he has had since he was in middle school.

Jimin frowns at him. “Does this not look good?” 

Jungkook shakes his head so violently it whips some water from the corner of his lips. “N-No, you look good,” he says too quickly before gulping more water, turning around. Even with his back turned he can sense Jimin grinning wildly behind him.

When they get to the “bar” that Taehyung had suggested, Jungkook’s first thought is that it’s more of a club in reality. It’s dark with a heavy bass rippling throughout, and sure there is an expanse where it’s bars and bars and wow how could one place have so many bars? But in the middle there was also a grand dance floor, and it was packed. That’s his second thought: wasn’t this many people in one building a fire hazard?

Jimin stays cramped behind him, pressed tautly against his back as they weave through the crowds. It’s incredibly distracting, Jungkook soon figures out, but he can’t find it in himself to tell Jimin to back off or stop. He is, however, able to breathe easier when they find a space in the cocktail section where they can all sit at a hightop. Jimin, unsurprisingly, sits right next to Jungkook, and Taehyung sits in front of them. Jungkook swallows when he realises this is the first time he’s seen Taehyung since they kissed. Taehyung is eyeing him, no doubt still curious about the whole thing, but Jungkook tears his gaze away.

“How about a round of shots to get things going?” He hears Hoseok cheerfully suggest.

When he looks at Namjoon, his eyes are in the midst of rolling. “Shots and you don’t get along well, Hoseok.”

Hoseok lifts a finger. “On the contrary,” he argues, “They and I get along beautifully.”

“A match made in heaven,” Taehyung leans towards him and says, grin splattered on his face.

Namjoon sighs when he knows he isn’t going to be able to fight them on this, but still opts to get a beer while everyone else has a shot of tequila. Jungkook is all smiles when they are about to take the shot, but he notices Jimin staring at his, like they were caught in the world’s most intense staring contest.

Leaning down where his lips are almost right on Jimin’s ear Jungkook whispers, “Are you okay?”

Jimin, visibly startled, jolts slightly and looks at Jungkook. He looks almost stark terrified and it’s fairly amusing. “I—I haven’t had any alcohol in…” He stammers, making a frustrated clicking noise with his tongue.

“Since before you were a siren?” Jungkook says, voice uncharacteristically low. Jimin nods, so Jungkook takes his hand to rub affectionate circles on the small of Jimin’s back. “Relax,” he assures, “You’ll be fine.”

Jimin was fine. Was very, very fine, in fact. Jungkook thinks they’re all on the fifth or sixth shot, but Jimin’s cheeks are a burning red and he’s constantly caught in fits of laughter. Hoseok has him engaged in a very serious topic revolving around the proper ways to transport peaches and it really seems like Jimin is all ears. Jungkook is glad neither he nor Yoongi have said anything even hinting at Jimin being a siren, despite how absolutely far gone they all are—Hoseok especially. Jungkook has always been a heavy weight, but no one else is in their group, certainly not Jimin as well. Namjoon is the only other one not completely out of his wits (he’s stayed with beer) and he keeps sending Jungkook pleading glances. Jungkook responds by taking another shot.

“I didn’t think there was so much involved,” Jimin gasps, grabbing at Jungkook’s arm without looking at him. He’s no doubt referring to Hoseok’s utter bullshit properties of fresh fruit. 

“That’s how they get you,” Hoseok says, poking Jimin on the nose, resulting with a fit of giggles from both of them.

Yoongi laughs, but tries to play it off by rolling his eyes. “All it means is Hoseok has too much free time on his job.”

Hoseok pouts. “Not true,” he defends, “I never have time to take a piss.”

“Okay, too much,” Yoongi breathes out through his teeth, groaning. 

Jin’s infectious squeaking laugh erupts then, and when Jungkook looks at him it’s quite the sight. Despite being the oldest, Jin was easy to let his adult-facade fall and give way to a literal five year old. It was fine, because both Jungkook and Taehyung relished in it, much to Namjoon’s constant sighs of disbelief. 

A particularly upbeat song comes on and Jungkook feels a tug at his sleeve. When he looks down, it’s Jimin, who has the most pathetic pleading face on. “Jungkook,” he whines, “Can we go dance? It’s been—hic—so long since I’ve danced.”

Jungkook’s head is spinning but he can do little to say no to a face like that. He can feel the most ridiculous smile being etched onto his face when he agrees, sliding off the stool. Jimin follows suit, only he stumbles wildly and falls into Jungkook, laughing loudly. 

“Are you going to make it over there?” Jungkook laughs, stabilising Jimin the best he can.

Jimin absently waves his hand, smiling brightly. “Of course, of course, now come on,” he says, grabbing Jungkook by the wrist and leading the way out to the dance floor. When Jungkook’s gaze immediately falls on the sway of Jimin’s hips as he walks and just how nice he looks in those damn jeans, he thinks perhaps he’s too drunk for this to end well.

If it had been decades since Jimin had last danced, Jungkook sure as shit can’t tell. Jimin’s body moves like a river with the song, his hips dipping and swaying like his body was made specifically to dance to the song. Jungkook doesn’t even dance back, just stares dumbly, his mouth wide open. Jimin seems to take notice and saunters over, wrapping his arms around Jungkook’s neck and standing on his tip toes to reach his collar bone, nuzzling in the space there.

“C’mon,” Jimin says into Jungkook’s neck, hot breath ghosting on his skin. “Come dance with me.” Jimin pulls back then, the most sultry of grins on his face as he delicately spins, taking Jungkook’s hands and resting them on either sides of his hips as he begins to dance again.

And shit. Jungkook is only human. Jimin grinds up onto him, swirling his hips and tilting his head so Jungkook can see just how much he’s enjoying it. Jungkook starts almost moving on his own accord, and as he follows Jimin’s movements he wonders if this is somehow related to the whole “siren” dynamic, but he doesn’t care in this moment. The song changes but it does little to deter Jimin’s dancing, and when he pushes up against Jungkook the friction goes straight to his dick and breathes in sharply, biting down on his lower lip.

Jimin, the absolute shit, seems to have noticed this as well and keeps doing the same movement, even dipping down so he slides back up and right over where Jungkook is getting hard. Perhaps it was all the drinks, perhaps it was the same affect Jungkook has had before, but he’s starting to lose sight of everyone and everything around him, and can only see the pink haired beauty in front of him. He’s almost sure he’s fully hard when Jimin turns to face him again, canines showing in is smile.

Jungkook is definitely too drunk for this.

He tightens his grip on Jimin’s hips to the point that he’s started to untuck Jimin’s shirt. He leans down into Jimin’s face, foreheads touching, and despite all the alarms going off in his head, kisses him. Jimin jolts in a small surprise, but quickly relaxes and sighs into the kiss. Jungkook grips even harder onto Jimin, pushing his erection as far as he can into the smaller man, desperate to show him his need. Jimin gasps into the kiss, brings his hands up to grab hold of Jungkook’s face, and opens his mouth willingly. Jungkook slides his tongue in and licks at Jimin’s, feeling the heat that has begun to radiate off them both.

Jimin has started to grind against Jungkook directly, and Jungkook can’t help but break the kiss to utter a string of obscenities under his breath. Jimin just grabs at the nape of his neck and pulls him back down, eyes blown wide and full of want when he crashes their lips back together. Jungkook pushes right back, grabs at Jimin’s hair as he ruts against Jimin, completely forgetting there are people watching. His friends could be watching, even. He doesn’t care. Not at all.

Jungkook finally breaks the kiss, sees how swollen Jimin’s lips are, and despite himself blurts out, “Bathroom.”

Immediately Jimin seems to understand, and grabs at his wrist again, dragging him across the dance floor. They make their way towards the bathrooms when Jungkooks sees a door slightly ajar, and without thinking yanks on Jimin and swings them in. It’s actually a nice room, walls literally made of full velvet with a lonely leather couch at the end of it. He ignores the implications of it all when he shuts the door, frantically kissing at Jimin again.

“Jungkook,” Jimin breathes in between kisses. 

Hearing his name makes Jungkook’s skin crawl. “Please,” he says to Jimin, not even sure what he’s asking for.

Jimin seems to know, seems to have been waiting for Jungkook to beg, and breaks away from his lips to suck at Jungkook’s neck. Jungkook slams himself so his back is pressed against the door, and tries his best to hide the sharp inhale of breath that would give away his evident pleasure. Jimin releases the skin he had trapped in his lips to lick at the no doubt purple mark blossoming in its wake. Beneath him Jungkook squirms, hand going to grab Jimin at the waist as he tries to contain the little gasps threatening to break from his lips.

With one free hand Jimin reaches down to loop his fingers into Jungkook’s pant line, knuckles brushing against his bare skin. Jungkook shivers, knows what Jimin is getting at, and nods. He can feel Jimin’s lips curl into a smile on his neck when he releases himself, kneeling down to undo the first button of Jungkook’s jeans. Jungkook’s head is throbbing with an intense heat that he almost feels dizzy, watching Jimin unzip his jeans now. He does it without breaking eye contact, and that same golden glow has started to fill his irises. It makes Jungkook feel hotter, more desperate, and doesn’t even realise how hard he was until Jimin slides his jeans down past his hips.

“Jesus,” Jungkook manages to say, hands pressed firmly against the door. 

Jimin’s response is to hum against his erection, still looking directly at Jungkook. He presses his soft lips onto its silhouette and kisses it while Jungkook can barely keep his hips still. Without thinking Jungkook reaches out an unsteady hand and thumbs across Jimin’s cheek, lost in his want. He can barely tell there’s anything past where Jimin is knelt before him, lips on his cock, a look in his eyes that says he’ll do anything Jungkook asks of him.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmurs, surprising himself. Jimin seems taken aback by the statement as well, golden hue in his eyes suddenly gone. It’s quick to return though when he tugs at Jungkook’s underwear line, to which Jungkook helps slip down, sending a small shiver over him when his cock springs free.

Jimin says nothing, just takes his tongue and licks up Jungkook’s length, a sultry hum emitting from him as he goes. Jungkook pulls his hand back, cursing under his breath, and once again uses it to brace him against the door. He can’t take his eyes off Jimin, not when his eyes flutter close as he licks a circle around the head before he sucks fully down. 

In an instant, Jungkook lets out what is no doubt the loudest gasp he’s ever had. It comes out more as a groan really, as he feels Jimin’s nose brush against his skin. His knees slightly buckle underneath him when Jimin slides back up, sucking in his cheeks as he goes, sucking hard on the head before sliding back down. It’s already too much, Jungkook is embarrassingly close already, but he tries his best to contain himself—it feels too good to let go now.

In this effort he squeezes his eyes shut as Jimin steadily goes up and down. He’s sure his knuckles have gone white against his grip on the door, and he’s biting down on his lip to not make noise. Even if he made noise he’s fairly certain no one would be able to hear him anyway, but there was something exhilarating about doing this all in public, and so the idea itself makes Jungkook want to be quiet. It’s certainly getting more difficult to, he thinks, with Jimin sucking on his cock like this, like his mouth was meant to be pulled against him all his life. 

When Jimin makes the most obscene sound as he pops off of Jungkook’s cock, the latter’s knees buckle. When he finally dares to open his eyes, he sees Jimin grinning madly as he uses his hand to continue what his mouth was doing mere moments ago. Sweat beads have made an appearance on Jungkook’s forehead and the back of his neck, and he hadn’t realised he was panting until this moment. He just stares into Jimin’s eyes, the brilliant gold swirling around them, and unconsciously reaches down to swipe his thumb delicately over Jimin’s bottom lip.

“Where do you want it?” Jimin asks, voice hoarse.

Jungkook blinks dumbly. “Wh-what?” 

Shaking his head Jimin sighs. “Where do you want to come?” Jimin explains, voice taking on a sultry tone.

For some reason, Jungkook has the sudden urge to choke. He suppresses it while his cheeks become hot with a new flush that blooms over them. It takes him a few solid seconds to finally speak again, and when he does, his voice is shaking. “I…” He sputters, letting lose a small cough. Beneath him Jimin drums his fingers on Jungkook’s cock impatiently. “You…Your…” He’s getting dizzy when he realises he can’t remember the last time someone gave him head. Under Jimin’s firm gaze he can’t think straight, so he closes his eyes again and says all too quickly, “In your mouth.”

There’s a satisfied and slightly smug hum before Jimin licks up Jungkook’s length again and sucks hard on his head. Jungkook hisses, the pleasure becoming too much, and without even thinking as he flashes his eyes open, he grabs a handful of Jimin’s pink hair and clenches his fist. Jimin glances up as his tongue circles around Jungkook’s cock, making the latter almost whine the need to release.

He tightens his fist in a silent plea for Jimin to continue, and it seems to go over well enough. Jimin complies, picking up speed as he bops up and down with Jungkook forgetting he was trying to be quiet and letting out what are probably the most ridiculous whines and moans. He can feel the familiar tingle building up inside him and knows he’s dangerously close. He watches Jimin intently, his breathing becoming hard and heavy, and when Jimin gags ever so slightly it’s enough to send Jungkook over the edge.

He cries out what he thinks is probably Jimin’s name as he comes, but everything around him becomes muffled out. White sparks cloud his vision as he releases into Jimin’s mouth, and he thinks he might pass out when he feels Jimin swallowing it all down. The moment seems to last forever but not forever enough, and when Jungkook comes back to reality, comes back and sees Jimin slowly pull off, he simply collapses onto the floor.

He doesn’t even bother to fix himself, just watches in infatuated awe as Jimin licks at the corner of his lips, catching a droplet of come that never made it down his throat. They stare at each other, the only sounds that fill the silence are their harsh breathing and the ever present thump of the bass from the dance floor. The golden hue surrounding Jimin’s eyes has faded only slightly, and without a second thought Jungkook lurches forward, pins Jimin to the ground, and takes his lips into a desperate kiss.

He can taste himself on Jimin’s tongue when he wraps his around it, and can’t help but moan at the sensation. In hindsight he probably should be disgusted, but to know that Jimin was that close to him, that this really happened, makes Jungkook not give a shit. His whole body is still hot, he feels like he’s holding embers in his hands when he grabs at Jimin’s wrists, but it’s nothing compared to the pure ecstasy that is pumping through his veins. 

He ignores the thought that tells him this is how he felt when he first met Jimin in the ocean.

“I,” Jungkook breathes between kisses, “Want,” he sucks at Jimin’s bottom lip, “To take you.” He goes to bite harshly on Jimin’s neck, which warrants a yelp in response, one he’s not sure is from pleasure or pain. Maybe both. “Right here.”

Jimin visibly shudders underneath him. “I didn’t think you—ah—could be so bold,” Jimin says as Jungkook kisses and sucks at his neck.

Jungkook growls against Jimin’s skin. “I’d do anything for you,” he hisses.

If Jimin wanted to respond, he never got to. A shrill sound of what was no doubt a ringtone shatters Jungkook’s concentration and pulls back, cursing under his breath. Jungkook clumsily grabs at his back pocket, his pants still pulled down and making it difficult, and catches the call just before it rings out.

“Hello?” Jungkook says, voice low. He runs his fingers through his damp hair impatiently.

“Kookie?” Squeaks Taehyung on the other end. He sounds absolutely wrecked.

“Tae,” Jungkook breathes, willing his heart to stop beating so loudly against his chest. “What’s up?”

He hears the shuffle of fabric and the loud music in the background as Taehyung replies, “Where are you? We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Is everything okay?”

Jungkook sighs. “Yeah, yes, I’m okay. I’ll uh… Meet you by the entrance. You sound like you should go home.”

Taehyung giggles, ignoring what Jungkook thinks are his other friends demanding to hear what has happened. “Okay,” he coos, “See you then.”

When the line goes dead and Jungkook slowly lowers his phone, he finally looks down at Jimin. His face is absolutely red, there are no doubt marks on his neck where Jungkook ravaged him, and Jungkook notices he is completely straddling Jimin. His dick hangs, half hard again, and he doesn’t even think to see if Jimin is hard underneath him before a panic boils up his throat.

He lost himself again, like he did in the fitting room, and flies off Jimin and skids back until his back thumps against the door. He frantically fixes himself as Jimin slowly sits up, pushing himself up by his elbows. He’s regarding Jungkook with an even expression, one Jungkook can’t read, and he can feel bile crawling up his esophagus.

“I—”

“Don’t,” Jimin interrupts, crawling over to Jungkook. “Stop thinking you’ve done something wrong,” he whispers when he’s close enough, cupping Jungkook’s face softly. He rubs his thumb under Jungkook’s eye and smiles. 

Jungkook doesn’t know what to say, just leans into Jimin’s hand and sighs. He’s fully covered again, pants pulled up and zipped, but Jimin still looks slightly a mess. He reaches out to tuck Jimin’s shirt back in, fighting off the sinking feeling in the back of his head. The feeling that none of this was real, that it was just all a spell, and the worst feeling was Jungkook wishing it wasn’t.

“We better get back before they call the cops on us or something,” Jungkook says quietly, trying to laugh. As they both stand, Jungkook swallows emotions he doesn’t even know the name for, opening the door that leads out.

[add-v-bae]

Unreal (1)

Rating: T

Pair: Hightop x Reader Word count: 1,169 Summary: After much wait, the new game Unrealth releases, bringing a new experience of a virtual reality world to your fingertips. For some, it might bring a little more than just that.

Part two |

Warning: Gif doesn’t match what he looks like in story

It was here, it was finally here.

Today, a video game company broke the internet with its release of a new game: Unrealth. A game of virtual reality, based in an incredibly Earth-like world. Technology so advanced you scan your house, yourself, and your pets to use in the game.

And it just arrived in your mail. Due to you practically living at work, you were able to donate an embarrassingly high amount to fund the game, earning yourself a high enough tier to receive the game and additions for it for free when it released.

It was hell to set up, but finally, the lights along the headset were lighting up as it kicked on. After a bit, making sure everything was attached and ready, you slipped it on.

To start, you were shocked with the details. the pre-game setup was incredibly intricate with how in-depth it was, no option left undone. When it came time for character setup, you decided to scan yourself and then make some adjustments, still looking realistic, just a little more like what you were working toward looking like.

The final loading screen ended and you were standing in the middle of the street, pausing and looking around. “Whoa...”

You jumped as another voice came from behind you. “Feels really real huh?”

Turning around, you found yourself looking at a soft faced woman grinning at you. “It is, they really weren’t exaggerating the quality of it.”

The girl shook her head, short black hair swishing around her shoulders. “Not at all, finding where my friends wandered off to, I heard this place is huge.”

You shrugged and moved over to her. “Want me to keep you company while you figure it out? I don’t really have a goal besides exploring”

She smiled widely at you, sounds like a plan. My names Yunha” she said, pulling her phone out and looking through it.

You tilted your head and watched her curiously. “Y/N....hooked your phone up to the game?”

She shrugged. “Kind of, checking Twitter to see if these dweebs have posted anything about where they are.”

You felt an amused smile form on your face, running your hand through your hair. “Dweebs? What makes you call them that?”

Yunha snorted. “you’ll see when we get there. They're in a coffee shop that's about three streets down if you still feel like it. I gotta warn you though, they’re a bit...much..”

You simply shrugged. “I’ve dealt with some wild people, I’m sure I’ll survive it.”

She watched you for a moment, as if assessing how serious you were before grinning. “Alright, lets go!”

You followed her along a few roads, stopping in front of a brightly themed cafe.

Upon walking in, there was a few tables occupied by random people on their phones. It made you wonder which table could have been her friends.

That was, until a guy at a booth with two others, a tall man with bright red hair, jumped up upon seeing the door open. “Yunha! You made it!”

The noirette snorted and made her way to the table, you following close. “Hyuntae sit down, you’re being embarrassing..” she mumbled.

A brunette across from the man, apparently named Hyuntae, furrowed his brow as he looked at you. “Who’s this, make yourself a friend?”

Yunha turned to him and smiled. “This is Y/N, I found her when she spawned in. Oh wait! I almost forgot!” she pulled her phone out, tapped a few things before turning towards you. “There we go.”

You jumped at a ding directly in your ear, not directionally like the noises made from around you, more like a noise made directly from your headphones. 

The others seemed to notice what was happening, the blonde next to Hyuntae smiling in amusement. “She added you, you might wanna check your phone.”

You pulled it out of your pocket and snorted. “You sound like a tutorial.”

The brunette let out a short laugh. “Nah, we just did research since we knew it was going to be a complex game. You didn’t look into the game at all beforehand?”

Confirming the friend request, you turned your attention to him, an awkward smile forming quickly. “Actually..I didn’t have time to...I work crazy hours and overtime on top of that. This is the first proper break I’ve had in two weeks,” you admitted quietly.

Yunha nudged the brown-haired man over, sitting down and motioning you to sit down too. “Wow, a workaholic. Does that mean we won’t get to see you that often?”

You took the seat across from Hyuntae (who’s grown quiet, you’ve noted) and sighed. “I’m going to probably be here anytime I have off.”

Blondie raised an eyebrow at you. “You don’t have friends on the outside? A boyfriend?”

You shook your head. “Nope, all of my friends I see at work, and I don’t have a boyfriend. None of my past ones liked my work schedule, so I’ve just stopped trying” It kind of surprised you how fast you were giving up this information about your life to people that you don’t even know half of their names.

Yunha snickered. “Powerful girl. That’s good, don’t let guys distract you from your passions. I let these boys distract me from mine and I still can’t get rid of them.” she joked, laughing at the complaints from the boys at the table.

You continued to converse with your new friends, having lots of laughs. The blond, who you learned was named Hyungmin, was the first to head out, making sure to add you first. You also noticed how, before he left, he leaned in and whispered something to Hyuntae, to which the redhead promptly shook his head. You were curious what he said but decided against pressing the matter.

Sometime along the way, the brown-haired man, going by Simon, added you, saying he was the one who was going to be on most so if you’re on you should probably track him down.

You stayed a lot longer than you meant to. Soon enough you were rubbing your face and huffing. “I really need to get going, I have work tomorrow... you mumbled.

Yunha nodded, smiling. “That’s fine, have a good day at work, hopefully see you soon!”

You got up and stepped outside, fumbling with your phone to try and exit the game. You had a lot of fun with your newly acquired friends, although there was still a knot in your stomach from the redhead that spent the whole night across from you. He seemed so excited when you and Yunha had gotten there, but then the moment you got closer he went silent.

It made you wonder if it was you, what you did to make him not want to talk to you.

You were about to leave the game when you heard the ding in your ear again.

Furrowing your brow, you looked in your contacts to see you got a friend request

“Lim Hyuntae has added you”

[xxprincessjewelsxx]

A Dangerous Game (Suho Mafia!au fic) Chapter 10 - Cinderella

Warnings: None

Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch. 8, Ch. 9, Ch. 10, Ch. 11, Ch. 12, Ch. 13, Ch. 14, Ch. 15(M), Ch. 16, Ch. 17(M), Ch. 18, Ch. 19, Ch. 20, Ch. 21, Ch. 22, Bonus Chapter

The next morning it was difficult deciding on what to wear, I didn’t want to over dress, but I didn’t want to underdress, but quite frankly...I had no idea what Taekwoon and I would be doing so that didn’t help the situation. In the end I chose a nice pair of black jeans, a nice sweater, and some hightops. Casual but at the same I still looked night for a cool spring day.

Walking to the main living area most of the guys were sitting on the sectional quietly  chatting amongst themselves. Catching me out of the corner of his eye Junmyeon sat back and looked at me. “You just about ready to head out?”

“Why, are you taking me?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied, flatly.

I sighed. “Yes...actually I’m ready to go...”

“We’ll leave in about twenty,” he said, before going back to his conversation.

That twenty minutes went about as fast as waiting for paint to dry. I would thing that ten minutes had passed, it would have only have been two...when it was finally time to go, I couldn’t have been happier at the prospect of being out of there for a whole day.

“Do you have your cellphone?” Junmyeon questioned, as he drove down the street towards the VIXX office building where we were supposed to meet up with Taekwoon.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Is it on?” he questioned.

“Silent....” I stated. At the red light his fingers tapped against the steering wheeling anxiously. “Do you have something else to ask?”

“Nope...” he replied, slowly shaking his head, “Just making sure you have your cellphone just in case you need anything.”

“Well I won’t.”

“Good.”

“Glad we have that squared away.”

“Yep.”

“Light’s green...”

Noticing that I was right, he began to drive silence fell over the car again. It shouldn’t have bothered me how weird he was acting. He didn’t want his insurance policy in anyone else’s care but his and EXO’s...but Taekwoon’s words floated back to my mind.

“He’s smitten with you. He just won’t admit that to you or even himself.”

It couldn’t be true...none of it could. He didn’t even see me as a human being...I should be used to that by now though. On some level I never really have been treated like a human being. But for some reason, on some strange level it hurt that he treated me like that. Maybe it was just I wasn’t used to someone else other than my father treating me in such a manner and I just wanted someone to treat me differently.

Which is why as the blue Lamborghini pulled up outside the VIXX office building I now felt conflicted. Earlier I wanted nothing more than to get out of that penthouse, and now I didn’t even want to get out of the car.

“Midnight,” Junmyeon said, breaking the silence.

“What?” I questioned.

“Cinderella has to be back from the ball by midnight,” he stated, “Taekwoon can drop you off outside the penthouse building...now you don’t want to keep your...date waiting.”

“It’s not a date...” I said.

“That’s not what he thinks,” he said.

“Oh really...and how can you possibly know that?” I remarked.

“Leo acts on cold calculating instinct, he’s a trained killer...but...he let’s his guard down with you. If he didn’t, Hayeon wouldn’t have added this to the bet, and Leo wouldn’t be looking so nervous,” he said. I looked over at the doors of the building; there, stood Taekwoon, trying to look anywhere but towards the car. “You can tell me it’s not a date but it is...now go...I’ll see you later.”

“Junmyeon-”

“Get out!” he snapped.

I nodded and quickly got out of the car. No sooner did the door closer did he take off, leaving me standing there not only confused, but a little upset too.

~Junmyeon~

As he drove away from the VIXX office building he hit the steering wheeling in anger. The last thing he wanted to do was to leave Y/N with Leo; it was a date...that’s all there was too it. Y/N could spin it however she liked; that they were just two people who met at a coffee shop and now due to some particular circumstances that would be spending the day together. But it was a date; she had somehow managed to managed to break through to that cold heart and turn Leo into a pussy-cat.

His thoughts were cut off but his cell phone ringing, the name on the dash monitor making his stomach turn. “What do you want, Kwon?” he questioned, answering the phone.

“Ooooooh, not in a good mood? If that’s the case...we don’t have to talk about the guns you wanted,” Jiyong said, “In any case I would much rather talk to Y/N, she there?”

His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he bit the inside of his cheek. “She is in the middle of something at the moment...”

Jiyong let out a chuckle. “Keeping her to yourself, eh? I would too with a fiance that beautiful.”

Wound meet salt....salt meet wound...

“If the guns are the only reason you-”

“Of course they aren’t,” Jiyong said, ‘I called to see if Y/N could have coffee but-”

“She is busy with somethings that women do when planning weddings and redecorating penthouses...” Junmyeon lied.

“You’re letting her redecorate your penthouse?” he questioned, “You ill?”

Junmyeon sighed. “I will have Kyungsoo call you about the weapons...I have to go.” Before Jiyong could reply he ended the call. The fact that Y/N was out with Leo shouldn’t be affecting him, he shouldn’t be over thinking it...but there he was, now sitting in the parking garage of the EXO penthouse, staring at the concrete wall wondering why the hell he had to go and lose that game.

~Y/N~

“Where do I want to go?” I questioned, looking at Taekwoon in surprise, “I thought you were going to choose.”

“We are going anywhere you want to go today. It can be one place or it can be multiple places...you tell me where and we’ll go,” he said with a small smile.

After thinking about it for a moment, I got a bit shy about what I wanted to say. Rubbing the back of my neck I looked down at my feet. “Well...I guess there is one thing that I’ve always wanted to do.”

“And what would that be?” he questioned.

“Go to an amusement park...” I said looking up at him.

For a moment he looked taken aback by what I said before a smile crept onto his face. “Then the amusement park it is...”

The amusement park was much like that as seen on TV and described in books. Though excited by the fact that I would finally...for the first time in 25 years of life be getting to go to an amusement part....I was also nervous. 

“There are a lot more people here than I expected,” I said as I hung on to Taekwoon’s arm.

Seemingly unfazed by the fact that I was practically koala hugging his arm, we continued walking. “What would you like to do first?”

“Umm...rides,” I said. He let out a small chuckle and I cocked my head. “What? Should we do something different?”

“Of course not,” he said, “You’re eyes just lit up when you said that and I thought it was cute, that’s all...”

‘Cute?’ 

Taekwoon led me through the sea of people from ride to ride, slowly making our way to the big roller coast. “You sure you’re ready for this one?”

“Yes...I’m ready...let’s do this,” I replied, bouncing on my toes.

“I think...you just might be an adrenaline junking,” he said.

“Why do you say that?” I questioned.

“Besides the fact that even after all those rides, you’re jonesing for one bigger and faster?” he questioned, “No reason.....”

“Ah we’re next!” I said as the line moved.

“You okay?” I questioned as a wobbly legged Taekwoon sat down on a nearby bench.

“Wow, that was more intense than I remember,” he said.

“You kill people for a living and that was intense?” I whispered.

“Two different beasts...” he said, “Are we done with rides?”

I gave a small giggle at the seemingly worn out man and he sat arms draped over the back of the bench looking towards the sky. “Only if we get to plat some of the prize games. I want at least one stuffed animal as a souvenir.”

Lifting his head up he looked at me. “That we can do.”

Playing some of the prize games were easy and some of them were a little harder. For the most part Taekwoon let me try and I walked away satisfied with small little prizes. But finally...I found it...I found the stuffed animal that I wanted.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to try for it?” he questioned looking at the look on my face.

“I won’t get that score,” I said, looking up at him.

He chuckled and walked towards the vendor and handed him the cash before taking his place next to a young man who was waiting for the targets to reappear. “It’s a shooting game, you should’ve just asked.”

There was a buzzer and the targets appeared. With scary accuracy Taekwoon hit the targets, not missing a single one. Once the buzzer rang again the vendor looked at me. “Looks like you can get whatever one you want, miss.”

I quickly pointed to the large stuffed lion, the vendor handing it to me.

“Awww I wanted that one,” a small voice said.

Looking over, next to the young man who had been shooting the targets as well stood a small girl around six. “Sorry I didn’t win you a big one sis,” he said, handing her one that was about half the size of my oversized pillow sized lion.

“It’s okay,” she said, taking the stuffed animal from her brother before grabbing his hand.

Taekwoon and I were about to go on our way as well, but I couldn’t. “Wait!” I called out the young man and little girl. They stopped and looked at me and I looked down at the little girl and smiled. “You know...I really like that puppy...wanna trade me for this lion?”

As I said this the little girl’s eyes lit up like fireworks. “Really?” 

“Mmhmm,” I replied.

She quickly nodded and we traded stuffed animals. “Thank you so much miss!”

“You’re welcome...take good care of him,” I said. 

“I will, I promise I will!” she said as she began to dance around with the lion.

“Thank you...” the young man whispered, before grabbing his sister’s hand and leading her off.

“How come you did that?” Taekwoon asked, “I thought you wanted that lion.”

“I did,” I replied looking down and the multicolored puppy I now held, “We all only get one childhood though...and her’s should have the giant lion she really wanted in it.”

Taekwoon reached out and patted the top of my head. “Well you made that little girl very happy, Y/N.”

After the amusement park Taekwoon took me out for a late dinner and since I was sleepy from all the fun and food he drove me home. Standing outside the penthouse building I looked up at Taekwoon and smiled. “Thank you so much, Taekwoon...I had more fun today, than I have in my entire life.”

“I’m glad,” he said, “Anytime you can manage to shake your dogs you are more than welcome to spend time with me.”

“Sounds like a fun invitation,” I said, before letting out a yawn, “Well I should head up there.”

“You still have a couple of minutes,” he said, taking a step closer to me.

“Taekwoon?” I questioned as he leaned in. When his lips touched mine there was a minute where I did kiss him back. But something about it felt wrong...like I shouldn’t be kissing him. Like his lips aren’t meant for mine.

Realizing something was wrong he pulled away and looked down at me. “I’m sorry...”

“It’s uh-”

“Suho will be waiting for you,” he said turning on his heal and walking towards his car, “Goodnight.”

“Night....”

As he drove away I stood there confused as to what just happened. I should have been thrilled that Taekwoon had kissed me. I had had the time of my life, he was so sweat to me, he treated me with respect, but when he kissed me....something wasn’t right about it.

Now standing in the elevator I stared at myself in the mirrored ceiling. A kiss from a man that had no interest me felt right, and a kiss from a man who had been incredibly sweet and kind to me felt wrong?

As the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open I stepped out into a dark room. The only light coming in the room was the lights from the city through the wall of windows. Figuring everyone was away on “business” I headed towards the hall, stopping when I heard a snore.

Curious, I quietly walked over to the large sectional to find Junmyeon looking like he had just passed out on the couch in a pair of sweats, holding a beer. As tempted as I was to just leave him after he yelled at me earlier I sighed. I couldn’t just leave him sleeping there...but I wasn’t going to wake him up either.

Setting down my stuffed animal I went to his room and grabbed a pillow and a blanket from the bed. Carefully I removed the beer from his grasp, setting it on the table before covering him up with the blanket. As he shift I froze hoping he wouldn’t wake up and once he stopped moving again I crouched down and carefully lifted his head and maneuvered the pillow under it. 

After his head hit the pillow he grumbled something before his eyes opened, chocolate ones meeting my own. “Y/N...you’re home.”

“My carriage would’ve turned into a pumpkin if I didn’t get back in time,” I joked. For some reason, looking at him in his sleepy vulnerable state...I didn’t feel any anger towards him. ‘What is wrong with me?’

“Did you find your prince?” he questioned before letting out a large yawn.

“No...” I said running a hand through his hair without even thinking, “I’m going to go down to the park and try kissing frogs next.”

“Sounds disgusting....”

“Well...you never know...love can be found in the strangest places, so I’ve heard...” I said, “Now go to sleep...looks like you’ve had a few.”

He gave a grunt before turning away from me. “Goodnight, Y/N....”

“Goodnight, Junmyeon....”

To be continued...

[vegandoughnut]

PART 3: Meow You've Done It

"Oh hey!" Says Anekke with a bright grin. "Welcome to Furistas Cat Cafe!". Kitt could feel the wave of fake hit her like a bullet. Anekke must be having a really bad day to be masking so hard. The Special Guest walks in with their premade ID tag, looking like a vampire with their shocking paleness, long jet black wavy hair, cat skull sweater under a faux fur jacket, black skinny jeans and hightop boots. It was the lead singer of Kitt's favorite band back in high school.

She felt her entire body start to tremble. Star struck? Kitt? Noooo. But it was happening.

"Here's the catering box you ordered, um, Gary Nygard"

"Thanks a lot wow it's ready fast" he says, his manner much friendlier than his stage persona, something only fans who watch the band's interviews would know.

"Kitt" Anekke calls. Kitt snaps out of her stupor and walks up to Gary Nygard. Pradeep pauses mid smoothie-blend to glare.

"Hey welcome, let's see your tag, oh, yes, we've got a cat you'll love. Sandra, she's a silly one"

"Perfect" says Gary Nygard, with an approving hand gesture. Kitt tries her best to hide her nerves as she guides the goth daddy himself to the big velvet high back chair near the window towards the middle of the cafe. It was a nice private spot that also gives one the view of the whole cafe. Kitt picks up Sandra, a very fuzzy Siamese mix, and hands her over to Gary Nygard who immediately dotes on her, scruffing her fuzzy fur and smiling. It was bizarre to see an otherwise spooky dude melt like butter when handed a cat.

"Sorry" Kitt mutters after realizing she was standing there in front of him for too long.

"Oh don't apologize darling. It's all good fun" he says, before sitting in the chair and reclining with the cat. He shrugs out of his jacket, the sleeves of his sweater oversized and cozy.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Yes actually" he says, looking up directly at her, his icy grey eyes lined with kohl. He was even prettier in real life. Kitt felt like melted caramel. Then he glances back at the chalkboard menu on the wall. "Hmmm.... well" he deliberates, stroking his chin. "Start me off with the Fall Special. I wouldn't mind a few extra chocolate bits and raisins on top. I've never had pumpkin ice cream before. America is full of surprises"

Kitt realizes she lost the ability to speak, nods frantically then darts over to the bar.

"Is it just me, or is it just getting worse and worse in here?" Says Pradeep.

"You feeling okay Pradeep?" Kitt asks.

"Better than ever" he says sarcastically. "What does he want?" He asks.

"Guess!" Kitt says.

"Our Fall Special. That black licorice waffle with the pumpkin ice cream, chocolate chips and raisins on top. The stereotypically halloween themed entrée, right?" Pradeep replies with a smirk.

Kitt bites her lip and resists a huge grin. She gets behind the counter to help.

"Who's watching the cats?" Asks Harper, immediately.

"Carl" says Kitt, more roughly than she intended. "The sooner his plate is ready the better"

A stream of customers enter. Some, the ones in dark clothes and sporting Tumblr hair cuts, are pretending not to glance over at Gary Nygard. Their faces look curious or desperate, but show no signs of recognition. Kitt notices this and chuckles to herself.

"Dweebs" she says under her breath, as she closes the lid on the black liquid batter in the waffle maker.

Stephen walks onto the cafe floor in his slacks, tucked shirt, suspenders and newsboy cap, his authority easily palpable in the room. Someone turns up the calm jazzy music on the speaker.

"Ah, finally, some crowd control" Anekke mutters to Kitt.

"It's about time" says Kitt.

"Maybe I should sneakily stay for a whole shift. I need the money. Maybe Stephen forgot I was supposed to go home. Maybe today will be worth it. I want to see how this sh*tstorm unfolds" Anekke says, preparing a smoothie for a guest. She blows some of her blond bangs off her forehead like a kid in a movie. Humbert hands a guest their smoothie and salad.

In moments, Kitt has the Fall Special order in her hands on a grey, cat-head-shaped ceramic plate, and brings it over to Gary Nygard. She carefully sets it on the dark chest table next to his chair, moving the copy of Emily The Strange there out of the way.

"Such attention to detail" says Gary Nygard.

He swipes his card as fast a mouse on the clerk tablet. Kitt avoids looking at the screen.

"Thank you, sweetheart" he says, his characteristic Scandinavian accent and deep voice rumbling through Kitt. A chill sets into her bones, setting off a contrasting fiery feeling. She returns to taking orders from seated customers while Carl greets incoming guests and gets more and more red in the face trying to keep up with the name tags and the cats running around.

Stephen is locked in an animated but quiet conversation with someone near the door.

Carl sighs heavily with relief after seating and cat-pairing the last guest to walk in. He watches Stephen speak with an unknown man by the door. Uh oh. What's going on?

He steps over the Kitt.

"Hey, uh... Keisha"

"Who in the hell is Keisha?"

"Sorry, K-"

"I'm Kitt. You okay Carl?" Kitt asks, eyeing him as though he had just sprouted a worm. She tucks a loose burgundy dreadlock behind her ear from which an Egyptian cat goddess earring dangled. What was that one called again?

"Um. Do you think I'm doing okay? I mean, I see Stephen talking over there. Who is that guy he's talking to? Just kind of self conscious...."

"You're doing great actually. And I don't know who that guy is. Probably some company person or licensor. I don't know. Could be someone from inspection. In any case, you should greet our Special Guest every few minutes" Kitt says, tugging the sleeves of her dark grey cardigan to cover her hands so that only her long delicate fingers stick out. Carl snap's out of zeroing in on her metallic copper manicure.

"Okay, um, weird question. Don't freak out--" he begins, feeling his face redden with every passing second. He scratches at his small beard. A nervous habit.

"Please, nothing HR worthy okay?" Says Kitt, loosening the scarf around her neck as though it had just gotten warmer in the cafe. "What is it?"

"Do you happen to know if there are.... like....sanitary napkins...."

Kitt's eyes widen with shock, her whole face looks taken aback before dissolving into a gentle expression of understanding.

"You know I would've never known--- I" she shakes her head, scattering her locks. "I'll be right back"

Carl watches her walk to the back of the cafe and down the stairs to the storage and lockers. He gets back to tending to the cats as the jazzy music plays over the speakers, the music slightly unclenching the knot that formed in his stomach. He wondered if lowkey outing himself to Kitt was a good idea.

At the counter, Pradeep dries a washed ceramic mug using an organic cotton kitchen towel.

"Did you see that?" He asks Anekke.

"What? Carl talking to Kitt? Are you jealous?" She replies, rolling her eyes.

"Jealous? That guy's about as interesting as a thumb tack"

"Weird analogy but I guess it works. Did you get that one from Carl too?"

"Enough with that name, you two. It's making the tea cold" Humbert cuts in, appearing next to them like a sneaking gnome. He wiggles his eyebrows, winks and grins. Pradeep and Anekke paste on twitchy, disingenuous smiles quickly before Humbert can make things anymore awkward and creepy.

TBC

[meltedmagazine]

AN INTERVIEW WITH DEL WATER GAP

      “IN THIS WIDE AND PERILOUS ALL-TOO-BIG WORLD DEL WATER GAP WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR BEING CLOSE.” Close through their music, close through their emotionally raw lyrics, close through the heartfelt voice mails piling up on the band's answering machine. If there's one thing the trio isn’t, it’s far away. Grounded in their own blend of folk rock and the occasional trumpet appearance, they’re always just a phone call away according to their new EP title: 1 (646) 943 2672. I had the opportunity to talk to lead singer Holden Jaffe about the EP, the good ol’ days, and voice mails.

_____________________________________________________________

What's the significance of the place Del Water Gap? You guys are from New York so how did you end up with that name?

     Good question, I admittedly have never been to the Del Water Gap. However when I was 16 or so I was in a noise rock band called Great Blue Heron that was based out of New Jersey, Morristown and so I ended up driving around that area a lot and saw a lot of signs for DWG and one day we were driving and I was sitting shot gun and I saw it written on a box truck and it was written in sort of like primitive handwriting, it looked like it was scratched in and I just thought it looked really cool so I added it to my growing list of band names cause I was trying to start my own band and it ended it up at the top of the list and it has remained!

You put a phone number as the title of your newest EP and you can call it and leave a message, what was the purpose of that?

    We were turning in the EP and I had a few names and I was really stressing over it trying to come up with the right name. The EP had to come out soon and I started thinkin and I was like i don’t know the names of any EP’s, I know some album names but the bands I like the most as far as EP’s go I don’t know the names so I was like okay maybe we can do something different here and right around that time I lost my phone. I left it on a plane and it was in rural New Hampshire and I felt very off the grid and I didn’t have my phone for the first time in years. I didn’t have a computer and I realized in trying to get in touch with my parents I didn’t know their phone number anymore and I didn’t know anyone's phone number and I was like wow this is really interesting we’re living in this time where you don’t need to know anyone's phone number which was probably a really intimate thing to know at one point, you know the 1950’s you probably knew everyone's phone numbers, all your best friends your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your parents, your grandparents. You had to so I was like yeah you know that's such a gesture to give someone a phone number right and know it and I think in the era in music right now where's there's so many bands and there's spotify you're constantly being exposed to bands and it's sort of a blur and i thought it would be an interesting gesture to sort of offer access to me and the rest of the group and sort of as an experiment too to see if people would reach out. People have reached out so.

Any really unique messages?      Yeah I have. I decided that I wasn’t going to pick up the phone unless I’m in my room because I didn’t want to take the phone outside because I was like if I lose this phone like you know so I’ve gotten a lot of messages, I get about 20 a day. I try to go through them and I’ve been sort of collecting them and listening to them. A lot of them are really interesting, a lot of them are people being very genuine and sweet and calling from all over the world and just sharing messages about finding music at a certain time in their life when it meant a lot and a lot of people very surprised like ”wait what this actually works.” A lot of stoned people on spotify calling. I picked up the phone once, I’ve only been there once for an actual phone call, I picked it up and it was a kid from Nova Scotia and he said “hello” and I was like “hello” and he was like “who is this” and I was like “dude you’re calling me who are you” and he was like “I’m so and so I saw this on spotify and thought i’d call this” and I was like “yeah dude whats going on” and we just talked for a bit. To me it sort of proved my experiment was a success I was able to connect with some stranger and it was a really pleasant and he texted me later and was like “yo I love the record,” it was nice.

Song off the EP that means the most and why?

    There is a song, the last song on the record that's really special to me, it's called “Love Song For Lady Earth” and I’m really proud of it as a song but also I just wrote it at a really formative time for myself. I was staying in Charleston with my mom, in Isle of Palms, it was like the off season, not the tourist season so there wasn’t really anyone there and it was really cold and I was dating this girl at the time and we weren't really getting along and we were cooped up in this house and she flew back to New York and I was there with my mom for another week and a half and I just wrote a lot over that 2 weeks for whatever reason. Some of the best songs to this day, something about just being holed up there and not being able to leave and feeling sad but in a really comfortable way, and I ended up writing that song and it's just one of the few songs I never edited, it just sort of came out well and yeah it feels good, it feels like a good summary of a few years of life into a few minutes.

What was it like to play your new songs at the Sofar session you guys did a while back? What was the emotional change to play it live?

     It’s funny because I sort of cut my teeth as an acoustic singer/songwriter boy, you know doing a lot of acoustic guitar and vocals just playing shows by myself playing guitar and singing. Once I started playing in a rock band I sort of realized in a lot of ways bands can be a crutch as far as what you can get away with, how clean you have to be with your playing and your signing and I just find it much easier to talk in front of a room with a band behind me and that's nice but it's also nice to be reminded that you know you have to treat it as a craft. At Sofar sounds and those types of shows, it's a good opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone. I really like playing Sofar, I’ve done a few of them and it’s always been a good experience and it  reminds me which songs are actually good cause you know everyone's sitting there staring at you reacting in real time which isn't always true at venue shows, people are always talking and texting and it's whatever but at Sofar the expectation is that you engage.

What is it like to be an artist in the 21 century?

    You know it's obviously changed everything about our society and it’s had the equal effect on the music industry. It’s changed more in the last 2 years then probably the 60 years prior. The main thing I’ve seen in being a band in the era of social media or whatever you want to call it is image. It's obviously really prevalent in music and affects people's willingness to click anything in this age of content it's so based on image so it’s obviously challenging but it's also a challenge in that we have to create content that's a little more challenging and innovative even within its own world. Like if you’re going to be another white guy making guitar rock then you need to do it well and I think it’s a healthy thing but there's definitely times when it can be distracting. There's been periods of time for myself and I can speak for my friends in bands where the music falls behind to a lot of other work and it needs to maintain a certain level of presence in the social sphere.

So for “Hightops” and “Vanessa” you used a zoomed in part of the picture that you used for the album cover, what's the significance?

    Well actually there's a really interesting story behind the photo so I’m just going to tell you about that first. I was on reddit and there was a subreddit called ‘old school cool’ and I saw a photo and was like this is a really completing photo, something about that, the red gloves right in the middle, the look on this woman's face, this is a really cool photo. Naturally I was looking for content so I messaged the user and was like “hey shot in the dark I was wondering if you own this photo I was wondering if I could license it from you for my album cover” and I get this email back within 30 seconds and it's this guy like “yo this is so crazy i'm 14 years old I live in the mountains in china and yes this is my mom she’d be honored if an american band would use her for your album cover” and I was like what? It was such a funny and immediate response but he was like yeah the one thing is he wanted his dad's name on the album cover because he took the picture and I was like “ah i don't know if we can do that I don’t know if I can put your dad's name on the front but I can credit him.” I had that picture and I was thinking about how to put together the singles and I just thought about the idea of what it would look like to have 2 single album covers and then the full album cover together in a line because the way they’d present visually as a package as if they were 2 sort of 7 inch single sitting on a self and what would that look like and so that's what I thought would be a good angle.

So “Hightops” was the last song released before the full EP. What was it about that song that made you want it to be the last thing people heard before the release?

   The few people I played it for thought it was special so naturally I was like okay maybe this is special. I wrote it with a  guy who I really admire named Michael Tighe, who was Jeff Buckley's guitarist, and he’s just a reallyseasoned musician, he’s played on a lot of great records.  I met him and became friends with him and this was the first song we wrote together and it was very indicative to me personally of this friendship and mentorship so that obviously affected it and it seems a little different than the other songs I structure, the writing was more classic and it just felt right

That song as well as “Be My Own” stuck out to me, can you tell me a little bit more about that one too?

    “Be My Own” is on the record we put out 2 or 3 years ago and that song I wrote in Hawaii.  I was in Hawaii with my best friend and at that time he was living in this very open lofty house and his sister's bedroom didn't really have walls, well it had walls but it kind of ended 2 feet before the to of the ceiling, so we were in the kitchen hanging out trying to be quiet in case she was sleeping there. We were just sitting on the floor and I was messing with this song and I was with this girl at the time who I really liked and she was sort of the first girl I brought home to my parents so I was like ‘wow so romantic the idea of domesticity like wow isn't that romantic like you can have breakfast and make the bed together wow you know.’  I’ll never forget just sitting there with him writing it and he was helping me out and finished it. I wanted to put it on that record and it was my freshman year of college and I was living in this dorm room with the sweetest guy but he was always in the room. I said “hey what's up dude you're still here you know I’m trying to record a little bit.” I actually recorded, I made myself get comfortable with recording when he was in the room. I was like “hey just be quiet for like 3 ½ minutes, it’ll be chill” and so I recorded that song and he was walking in and out of the room and I just managed to get through a take without him ruining it and that was the one that ended up on the record so once again very indicative of the time and the living space.

What's the NYC music scene like?

     Well I went to NYU so I’m very much apart of the NYU scene which is very mixed. I went to this school for Clive Davis and it’s a very pop centered program, so there's a lot of bands that were in my class that are really doing impressive things in the pop world and equally there's a lot of indie bands and rock bands like Del Water Gap who play shows here and tour constantly and go to college. It’s a good place to be for music. 

LISTEN TO DEL WATER GAP HERE

interview by SAMANTHA SULLIVAN

photo by CAITLIN MESSINGER

[lit-works]

Heroes For Hire: The Gang wars trilogy

Chapter 7: a day off or an off day? --cont.d

A few weeks earlier it had been a lovely evening in the end of summer. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage had nestled under a blanket together on the couch in the living room of their house. Danielle contentedly played with her toys and cooed. The happy couple cuddled as the newest Pixar animation played on their television screen. At the perfect moment the two locked eyes and began to lean in for the sensual intimate kiss…

“Bullshit! Bullshit! Bull bullshit!” Danielle began yelling and laughing.

Jessica exasperatedly sighed and caressed Luke’s face, “Luke, i love you sweetie but you have got to do something about all your swearing.”

-

“Wow, Jessica keeps you on a short leash.” Danny Rand commented.

Luke had parked his wives van down the street, and Danny and him got out to walk the rest of the way into Greenwich Village and the Sanctum Sanctorum. Civilians and children all excitedly snapped pics if the two walking down the street together on their phones and gossiped excitedly amongst each other. Danny waved as he walked along in his basketball jersey and skinny jeans, with a pair of hightop nikes.

“We’re not talking about the relationship between me and my wife, we're talking about the fiddle-faddle favor I’m committed to.”

“Bet you can't say fiddle-faddle favor five times fast!” Danny chuckled.

“Could you stop annoying the fiddle-faddle out of me? Could you do that?” Luke laughed.

“So, what am i supposed to ask Dr. Strange about again?” Danny asked seriously.

“A Madman's mutterings.”

“You keep saying that like I'm supposed to know what that is.”

“It's some book with mystical powers.” Luke surmised.

“If this Madman's buttcheese has got mystical powers how come i don't know about it?”

“What?! It's called A Madman's mutterings. Why are we having this conversation?”

“I’m the poster-child of mystical powers. I fart mystical powers-- That’s how much I've got mystical powers on lockdown.”

“You fart mystical powers?” Luke stood still for a second and just gave Danny a judgemental look. Then continued walking. “See, this is why we ain't partners no more.”

Eventually the Luke and Danny came to a stop in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum. The home and hospital of Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme and ultimate collector of mystic artifacts. The small manse sat plainly between ornate office buildings of various tech businesses. It was red brick, with jade trim, and onyx slat roofing. The windows were large and circular taking up half walls, but were curtained by broad tapestries. Doctor Strange had been the most successful, wealthy, and genius neurosurgeon in North America. Following an unfortunate accident he lost the use of his hands to severe nerve and psychosomatic damage. After spending his entire life's fortune on experimental procedures and treatments to no avail he sought out the spiritual healer of myth the Ancient One. From him Doctor Strange was taught the mystic arts of magic. He eventually came to be chosen as the Sorcerer Supreme of our world by Agamotto.

“Why are we here again?” Danny asked.

“I keep telling you. The book has some kind of mystical powers. We need to know what kind of powers those are so we can deal with them.” Luke repeated himself.

The golden-gilded front door opened to the Sanctum Sanctorum and in the threshold stood a small hunched older man of asian descent. He wore green robes with a golden sash and his body and head were completely bald. Danny Rand recognized the man as Dr. Strange’s personal servant and closest confidant Wong. “The doctor will see you now.” Wong beckoned for them to enter.

They began walking up the steps, when Luke slowed. “Danny, Did you call and tell them we were coming?” Luke asked.

“No. I don't have a cell phone. They disrupt my chi.” Danny said.

“Man, i hate mystical fiddle-faddle. Gives me the creeps.” Luke said under his breath as he then followed Danny up the steps and into the sanctum sanctorum behind Wong.

Wong then led the two through a large mansion and expanded hallways that could not seemed to have fit in even the large mansion from the outside. All sorts of art and weaponry and curiosities sat on display all throughout the estate. Strolling down the hallways they passed many doors, most locked and others slightly ajar. Some hardly visible except for vague outlines that disappeared when you looked directly at them. Finally they entered a sitting room full of rugs, a diamond-encrusted hookah, and bean bag chairs. The infamous Doctor Strange sat cross-legged levitating in mid air in the center of the room. Doctor Strange had short black hair with premature gray that faded i to white at his temples. He wore a neatly trimmed goatee, and a long flowing red cape fastened about his neck in a clasp bearing a large eye medallion. The Eye Of Agamotto, a relic of great mystical power. He wore a simple blue and teal shirt and loose chinos, with dark moccasins on his feet. “Luke, Daniel, by the omnipotent Oshtur, it is a pleasure to see you gentlemen. Please make yourselves at home while Wong fetches some Darjeeling tea. I am glad to see that word if your reunion is true.” Doctor Strange spoke in his domineering voice.

Luke leaned against a bookshelf while Danny plopped down into one of the bean bag chairs. Wong somehow brought in the tea and served Luke and Danny that quickly. “We’re not really--” Luke began.

“Oh cool, you had some kind of mystic vision that we were gonna get back together as a team?” Danny interrupted and asked the doctor.

“No, i saw your post on Twitter, Daniel, as well as that picture you posted of you two together on Facebook.” Doctor Strange corrected. He slowly lowered magically onto a bean bag chair and grabbed a hose from the hookah. “Now how may i be of assistance, gentlemen?”

“Long story short--we’re looking for information about a book. It’s titled ‘A Madman’s Mutterings’. We think it has magical powers, we just wanna know what so we can deal with ‘em.” Luke explained.

“A Madman's Mutterings you say?” The doctor asked and stroked his chin as he exhaled a dense cloud of smoke. “It was written by a man by the name of Bartholomew Jacobs, a known practitioner in dark magic. He was burned as a witch at the stake in 1692. It consists of a Hodgepodge of myths about the supernatural to the untrained eye, to make it a tedious and confusing read. But, it was actually inscribed in a secret code. Which when deciphered may reveal to summon the gruesome monsters that have been attacking the city. That is what you are investigating, yes?”

“Yeah.” Luke answered.

“What?! Monsters?!” Danny sounded ecstatic.

“Yes, Bartholomew Jacobs had been known for summoning creatures from the spirit world and the dark dimension as a former holder of the Darkhold. Unfortunately, i do not know much more about this book. But, given the dilemma i will study this more in depth and report to you anything more useful i can turn up.” The Doctor confirmed.

-

The Roaring Twenties was a legitimate business. The bar was opened every evening from 5 pm to 1 am except for Sunday. However, it was owned, operated, and frequented by none other than Hammerhead’s branch of the Maggia crime family. But, during business hours it seemed to be filled with people just out for a good time. The speakeasy themed bar was decorated with 1920s era furnishings. Many of the patrons and staff dressed in attire appropriate to the era. Even Black Widow in her black and red pinstriped skirt-suit who smoked a strawberry cigarillo and observed the room. With her trained eyes she saw alot. She saw how the mirror behind the bar was really two-way. She also saw how the only visible entrance to the room behind the bar was a solid steel door beside the bar, and by the bathrooms. A large thug sat on a stool beside the door, and occasionally someone would approach him. They would talk, and after consulting some kind of list or sheet in his pocket he would turn them away. Denying them access into the room. Underneath bar, on the opposite side of which she sat there was a safe, that she had also seen. Its contents were approximately $200,000 and a handgun.

A small band began to play music appropriate for the period on the small stage, and the bar’s hired “flappers” went to dancing frantically. Black Widow listened closely to the three thugs in a nearby booth.

“...yeah the boss sure is steamed. Just wait till he finds out who…” Thug 1 was saying, his voice hardly audible over the blaring rag-time horn.

“I hear the poker game's been moved to tonight.” another participant of the conversation stated.

“Yeah, i ain't gonna make it. 10 o’ clock’s too late to start a game for me. Besides, the boss don't like to lose, and im a damn card shark.” thug 1 boasted.

“Some big wheel from Chi-Town’s gonna be there. I gotta pick him up from La Guardia. His flight is in at 9.” the second thug complained.