#i mean i can check in again in a few months when the theatre excitement Might be waning but tbh

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

Got shown around a different position by another gal at work today who's been there for years and we got talking, I mentioned the productions I'd worked before. Mentioned that I genuinely love both the opera and the 300 yo play that a majority of people find incredibly dull even the first time around (and lbr a very long opera after the third time isn't that different). I had to tell her five times that no, I'm not joking, I'm being serious, no sarcasm, I love both productions and I love seeing them again and again and again, I'd happily watch them another ten times in a row, yes, genuinely. I fucking love my job I was born for this I think

[amorhedera6]

((this turned out longer and more in depth then i meant for it to go, tw for abusive families, suicidal ideation, mentions of death, grief, and dismembering of a body))

headcannon that steph and max were best friends as kids. his dads an important man, one that solomon wanted on his side. so he pushed steph to spend time with his son. max was a super happy kid, very exciteable, loved musicals. they were on their own a lot, since neither of their parents really gave a shit, so they’d spend a lot of time at starlight theatre, watching all the different shows and things going on. max would tell her about how shitty his dad was and she’d do the same in return.

when they got to the 7th grade, steph got really depressed and pushed max and everyone else away. and max was little, they both didn’t really know what was going on. after that, they weren’t ever really close like that again. she got on the middle school football team and was deemed a prodigy, got popular, started getting all these friends that would do whatever he said. things with his dad got worse, and without steph to help him he started bullying to corral his emotions. steph knew what he was doing, but also knew it wasn’t serious. he pushed a few people around a little, that’s all. she didn’t think she had to be worried about her friend and now that he was super popular, she needed other people to spend her time with.

she also became cool, just because he said hi to her in the hallways, so she found herself in with his group. but she never truly felt she fit in, skirting along the edges. in high school, her friends all joined the cheer squad as she joined the smoke club and stop giving a shit about school. she never made sense in the “popular kid” crowd, but she assumed they kept her around bc she was the mayor’s daughter and pushing her out wouldn’t fly. it was actually max, making sure she got an invite to every party.

steph sort of floats through high school disassociatedly, in the my-home-life-is-terrible-and-isn’t-gonna-get-better-until-college-so-i-don’t-give-a-shit way, so she doesn’t see the escalation of max knowing no one will stop him doing anything, getting a total god complex, and ruling the school with violence, until pete. she’s probably the only person in hatchetfield high that doesn’t know, but it surprised her so much. bc max? the boy who would geek out over tech production of the musicals? the kid who let her be the captain when they were pirates bc he thought it was more fun to be the first mate? who’d stay up late with her when she had a bad day to read the books their moms were had promised to read to them? that boy is this horrible bully, and she didn’t even know it? it just doesn’t make sense.

she says she’ll go to the principal bc that’s the first instinct one has about this shit, but people started doing that in 8th grade, and all that happens is max has to go to an anti bullying thing every few months. she wants to talk him down, figure out what made him go this far, but she already knows it’s his dad. he wants to be the big impressive football star that his dad wants him to be, so maybe he’ll actually give a shit. he wants his dad to notice and tell him to stop, because then it would mean he was paying attention to what he did. daddy issues recognize daddy issues, and steph sees it in max, even if she did have prior knowledge. she goes along with grace’s plan bc she thinks it’ll be a good ego check to bring him down, but then. then.

she goes home and cries herself to sleep, feeling responsible for the death of her first real friend. she gets sick for weeks with flashes of her dismembering his body with the others, and while every one else’s seems to think the school’s getting better, all stephanie can think is “did no one else fucking care about him? even a little?” all his friends, the football guys, even her friends on the cheer squad, seem to not care about max’s disappearance as much as they care about his missing spot on the field. she starts to skip more until she decides to hang out with pete instead. he must be guilty too, be haunted by these images, but then he says “everything is objectively better.”

which she gets. people are free from his torment, they can do what they want, talk to who they want, etc. the hallways are brighter, people are happier, whatever. but max was still a person. steph wonders if the plan had gone right, maybe he would’ve come back down from his god complex and been more like she remembered him. if he would’ve done the spring musical like he’d always wanted to do but never felt like he could. if he would’ve hated her for it forever. she’d rather he hate her forever than her have helped kill him.

when they have to start talking about what happened, she tries to call him jägerman, tries to disconnect her friend from what happened, because he truly was drastically different, but it was hard. after richie and ruth, shut goes crazy and max is back, but he’s not really max. she feels like the worst friend in the world when she think “he looks like his dad”

because mr jägerman has always been a being full of rage and anger, not one to hide in his own home. she’d seen him scream and yell at max for being a regular little kid, not special at all. not the perfect son he wanted. max, this weird spector of max, is all rage, no heart. even when max was at his worst, he had some heart. he kept her in the “cool group” even though she made no sense there, let grace go unbullied bc he had a crush on her. this wasn’t max. this was a personification of his dying moments, the only thing the waylon place did was preserve, and maybe further his anger.

she wants to beg pete to kill her the way he begs her to kill him. she started all this, even if she denied it at beanies, it’s true, and she is probably the only one who could have helped max stay a regular guy instead of the egomaniac ruler of the school he became. but she can’t get the words off her tongue. so long she’s been thinking about how easier everyone’s lives would be if she just killed herself, and now she can’t even do this. he gets on his knees in the football field, she raises the gun from twenty yards away, and thinks about how many people this thing that isn’t really max has killed.

she forces herself to pull the trigger.

max stops the bullet.

grace fucks the ghost, and all is well. except she’s met gods who seem like they want to eat her, and now her father’s dead too. he was an asshole, he never really cared about her, but she sobs for hours n the big empty house on pinebrook, and wishes desperately that she had made pete do it.

she and pete check on each other, because he also lost two people important to him, and they hold each other up. get each other through it. help each other mourn. she meets his older brother, he helps her clean out her father’s office. they go to funerals together and hold hands, and don’t talk about it.

it takes her a little while to realize his homecoming offer is still up, since things are technically different now. she buys a dress and tells him only the color, and he wears a matching bow tie. it’s such a ridiculously peter thing to do, and it makes her laugh for the first time in a while. they laugh together a lot that night, and she helps him breathe through a panic attack in the bathroom when ruth’s favorite song comes on.

she tells him about the images she can’t get out of her head, maxs body in pieces, the blood everywhere, that she burned the clothes she wore that day bc she couldn’t get the smell of blood and bleach out no matter how often she washed it. he tells her that he’s having flashbacks like that too, and that he wishes he could talk to his therapist about it without being sent to jail or a mental hospital.

she talks to detective shapiro and gets her to send a letter to peters therapist that he’s not gonna be arrested so pete can talk his shit out. at least the non-ghost and demon stuff. the dismembering a guy stuff, though, he can talk about.

it gets her thinking about therapy and getting some. she’s 18, she’s got more money than is necessary from her father, and she thinks she’s going crazy. she looks into it and finds one, starts going once a week. he tells steph he things she has adhd, sends her to a psychiatrist who confirms the diagnosis. she gets some drugs to take, and she feels weird about taking them. she’s done drugs, but like the cool ones. she knows not to do drugs you’re unfamiliar with when your alone, and she feels like she’s a lot of that.

homecoming was fun, but she and pete still haven’t out any label in their relationship. they haven’t said i love you, even though everything that went down means the both know it. she wants to be his girlfriend, but she doesn’t want to ask. wants him to ask. she tells her therapist as much, and then complains that she’s paying him bc she’s got daddy issues and trauma, not to hear about her high school drama.

but miraculously, he does ask her to be his gf. and then they’re dating, and it’s great. she spends more time at his apartment with his brother, less time alone in the big empty house just thinking about max and her hand in who he became. he and her therapist together convince her to start taking the meds, and it helps with some of her problems, but not all of them.

she forces herself to keep living, even when she doesn’t want to, because that’s what max (her best friend, the kid who was too scared tontry out for the musical, the asshole, the boy she knew better than herself, the adult she apparently hardly knew, the spector she could only half recognize) would want from her.

[assbutt-writes]

The Forest Chapter 3

Chapter below cut

[RECORDING CONTINUES]

SASHA: Jon? What do you mean?

JON: I had him put away the slime we found on the tape recorder and now both it and him are gone. I just read a statement about its abilityto eat people, and I think it ate him.

SASHA: Are you sure?

JON: He said it tried to eat him before, Sasha, and I sent him to it again anyway. He’s dead, and it’s my fault.

SASHA: No, are you sure it ate people? I remember seeing a statement a while back about a ghost that dripped the same green goo, and it didn’t kill the people it took. It just took them to its realm.

JON: Where’s the statement?

SASHA: I don’t know. Maybe somewhere in the archives? I think it was given in late 2010.

[A BUTTON ON THE TAPE RECORDER CLICKS AND ANOTHER RECORDING STARTS WITH ANOTHER CLICK]

JON: [TIRED] It’s been almost a month since Martin disappeared, and I think I found the statement Sasha was talking about in a box filled with other statements referencing this green goo. I don’t know why I wasn’t told about it, but that is beside the point.

Statement of Elliot Holt, regarding the disappearance of the ghost that befriended him when he was a child. Original statement given February 15th, 2010. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

My sister said that you guys listened to her about what she saw during the fire, so I thought that if anyone can help me get Molly back, it would be you. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with when I met her.

It all started at a magic show. I think I was about 8 or so, and I don’t remember where it was, only that it was supposed to be in an extremely haunted hotel. A guy that used to perform at the theatre I acted at was doing a magic show, and my mom wanted me to go and support him. I wasn’t all that thrilled about watching a magic show, but my little sister Allison was, so I went along anyway. The show ended up being pretty cool. They did the trick where they saw somebody in half, and I really liked it, and they also did a few escape tricks that were really good. All things considered, I had a pretty good time, at least until I went to the bathroom.

There I saw this girl that looked to be about my age. She was this see-through dark-green colour, and she was wearing this dress that was a lighter green than the rest of her. She seemed to be flickering, and I immediately realised that she was a ghost. I was really excited to meet a real-life ghost, and I said hi to her, and she said hi back. She introduced herself as Molly, and I asked her what it was like being a ghost. I don’t really remember her response, as this was around 7 years ago, but I do remember that we kept talking for what felt like ages.

Eventually my Dad got worried and came to check on me. I tried to introduce him to my new-found friend, but he couldn’t see her. He got this funny look on his face before telling me that the show was over and it was time to come home. Molly followed us, and for the next 9 years, she followed me around. I admit, it was nice to have a friend that no-one else could see or hear, because she could help me make other, alive friends and cheat on tests. She did seem to age, which I thought, and still think, was weird. I mean, ghosts are supposed to be ageless, right? There was also this book that Molly gave me that looked like a copy of the first Percy Jackson book. She said that it was her favourite book and to make sure to keep it safe, so I took it everywhere with me to make sure no harm came to it.

Every once in a while I would notice a small pile of dark green slime, the same colour as her. Other people could see it, and whenever someone other than me tried to touch it, it burned their skin, but when I touched it, it felt as cold and slimy as it looked, completely harmless.

Anyway, almost 6 weeks ago our school caught fire, and during the fire, I noticed something was off with Molly. She seemed to be panicking, asking me where the book was. When she asked me that, I realised that in my haste to leave the school, I had left my backpack containing it on my chair. I told her this, and she only got more frantic. I noticed that as the school burned down, she started to speak in a language that I had never heard before, her normally forest-green features turning ash-grey.

When she crumbled to ash, there was a piece of old, yellowed paper in her place that read “Vale, Elliot. Numquam te obliviscar. Quaeso me vel ne obliviscaris.” I looked it up, and it’s Latin for “Goodbye, Elliot. I will never forget you. Please don't forget me either.” I brought the paper with me to show you guys, but I’m not going to give it to you, and it doesn’t show up on camera, so I don’t know what help that will be. I’m sorry I can’t do more.

The school ended up burning to the ground, and Hannah Ellis and Travis Boyd died in the fire. When I went to the classroom to get the book Molly gave me as a reminder of her, I found that all that was left of my backpack, and it, was a pile of ashes. I didn’t tell Allie, but I have a feeling that whatever she saw during the fire is somehow related to what happened to Molly. Her note didn’t make it seem like she died, though, so I think that there has to be a way to get her back.

JON: [TIRED] End statement. This is… I don’t know what to make of this. I don’t know how this could help me find Martin, but it does shed some light on what the note that Benjamin and Daniel found could mean. If I remember correctly, “Libre Saltus” translates to “Book of the Forest.” I managed to track down Carmen Books and Records, and at exactly 12:00 am on April 11th, a dark green hole appeared on the floor, appearing to be above a dark forest. I have a feeling that these two events might be connec-

[THERE IS A KNOCK ON THE DOOR]

JON: Come in, Mart- [THERE IS A PAUSE BEFORE JON SIGHS] whoever you are.

SASHA: Hey, Jon? I think I found something you might want to see some- [PAUSE] Holy shit, you look awful. When was the last time you slept?

JON: It’s not important. What did you find?

SASHA: Okay? I remember you were talking about a “Libre Saltus”, and I think I found a statement that talks about it.

JON: [VOICE STILL TIRED, BUT MORE ALERT] Give it to me.

[THERE IS A SHUFFLING AND THEN A LONG PAUSE]

JON: Thank you. Is that all?

SASHA: Well, not exactly. [PAUSE] Look, I found the book it talks about, but-

JON: What? Where is it?

SASHA: Jon, let me finish. It’s a very, very dangerous book. The last person to have it went missing, and-

JON: Yes, yes, I know, I read the statement. Where is it?

[SASHA SIGHS]

SASHA: It’s in artefact storage.

JON: Okay.

SASHA: Look, whatever is going on with the book, I think you need to stay as far away from it as possible. I know I am.

JON: I- [THERE’S A PAUSE, AND THEN JON SIGHS] I can’t. I need to find Martin.

[SASHA SIGHS]

SASHA: Okay. Just be careful.

JON: I will.

[THE DOOR OPENS AND THEN CLOSES, AND JON SIGHS]

JON: [QUIETLY] End recording.

[A BUTTON ON THE TAPE RECORDER CLICKS, AND THE TAPE WHIRRING NOISE ENDS]

[jade-parcels]

👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕

The bunnies’ other jobs!

From my bunny cafe au

((I am so peeved :((( I had this all written out!! And I deleted it by accident!! Darnnnnn!!!))

Anon asked “You mentioned that some of the bunnies have day jobs so do they all have jobs outside the cafe or just a few?” (Something along these lines…again…I deleted it by accident 😔)

👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕

Diluc/‘Angel’

After his father got bored with the wine industry, he passed the whole company off to Diluc on his 18th birthday in order to shift his focus to mining. Diluc found himself swamped with all kinds of business decisions while just barely being an adult. He expanded the company and hired some very trustworthy people to handle things for him so he could finish college

When the business was given to him, Diluc and Kaeya had an explosive fight over it. Kaeya felt like he deserved to have some say in what happens to the business, he’s still a part of the family! But Diluc refused to let him in on any decisions so Kaeya packed his bags and left (not before cussing him out in front of their father, staff and business partners). He was just in a silly, goofy mood. They’re fine now, not on the best terms but they do chat and meet up for lunch on occasion.

He is filthy rich, he couldn’t spend all of his all of his money if he tried, so he doesn’t really need the job at the cafe! Kaeya got him the job because he knew his brother was stuck in a weird, antisocial funk and needed some fun in his life

Diluc loves this job, he has a great time, but it isn’t his main job. His priority will always be the family business!! If he has to quit his job at the cafe, he would in a heartbeat

👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕👯‍♂️💕

Kaeya

Kaeya was going to go into the police academy but was scouted out by a modeling agency. They had seen him at Ragnvindr company events and thought ‘well damn’ so they gave him a pretty generous deal

Kaeya makes a good living off of modeling, the tips and paycheck from the cafe. He rakes in cash pretty quickly just cause he knows how to get it. That, and his dad sends him checks every other month as well. Kaeya thinks of it as ‘I’m sorry’ money. He isn’t wrong

He doesn’t travel much for modeling, which he doesn’t mind, so he kinda just hangs around the city with a lot of free time on his hands between photo shoots. That’s why he got this job at the cafe! It gives him something to do and it’s fun as hell ;)

Albedo

Bedo is one busy bunny. He finished college early and is getting his masters degree online. He works most days at the cafe and on the weekends, he tutors other college students in bio/chem/science related subjects

(He was actually Xiao’s tutor back when he was failing chemistry!! Xiao is very thankful for Albedo’s help!!)

His dream is to become a biochemist, he’s always been interested in cells and what makes up living beings. So having a career in that field would make him the happiest man alive

His mother and sister live outside the city in a more rural area so he spends a lot of time FaceTiming the two of them! Klee is always so excited to hear about Albedo’s experiments or the people he’s met while working in such a bustling, fun city :)

Zhongli

Zhongli is a simple man! He’s a bunny waiter and an artist

He creates intricate pieces based on folklore from different cultures, focusing mostly on dragons. His favorite medium is paint, he loves painting on glass and layering the panes in order to create a 3D piece

He sells his works to galleries, shops and anyone who wants them! As long as they appreciate the story behind the artwork. Sadly…He undersells his work. He could def be making more money but he just does not desire money or material goods the way others may

So he got his job at the cafe in order to help out his dear friend Ningguang, not for money, he only planned on working there for a month or two until she got more bunnies but…he ended up really loving the people he works with :’) he looks forward to working with them now and texts/calls them outside of work to meet up for lunch or bowling (such an old man thing to do omfg)

Dainsleif/‘Sweetie’

Dain was a bouncer at another bar before leaving to come to Celestia’s! He’s good friends with Beidou, they belong to the same motorcycle club so when she was talking to him about the lack of security at the cafe/bar, he stepped in to help out

Little did he know…he’d actually become a bunny…And like it

This is his full time job now, he doesn’t have another for the time being. While he is a bunny at the cafe, he still keeps an eye out for any threats to his coworkers and has access to the offices upstairs (Ningguang’s office and the security office)

When he isn’t waiting tables, he’s upstairs in a tank top and sweatpants keeping an eye on the security cameras and talking to the other security guards through their ear pieces

Ajax

Ajax is a student who doesn’t really have much time on his hands

He mows lawns in the summer and he’s quit his job as a cashier to come work at the cafe! He mostly works night shifts his cause he’s still going to school aaaaaand he’s on his college’s swim team! He’s about to graduate so he works close with his coach to help train the others on the team

He doesn’t really want his family knowing that he skips around in a skimpy bunny outfit and fucking customers most nights but I mean…They’re bound to find out if they see him in pictures people post

Xiao/‘Tofu’

Xiao is an art student!! He wants to be a tattoo artist :)

He’s already got one sleeve of tattoos, it’s unfinished but you can’t really tell just by looking. When he isn’t at the cafe, he’s either in class or shadowing Ganyu, his best friend and tattoo artist. Their art styles greatly differ, she focuses her craft on cutesy, colored tattoos, but she is skilled. And Xiao looks up to her

Xiao admires Zhongli too, they met at the cafe and when Zhongli found out Xiao wants to be a tattoo artist he told him that once he’s licensed, he wants to get a tattoo from him :’)

Baizhu/‘Honey’

Baizhu is a (mostly) full time pharmacist, hence why he isn’t usually at the cafe

He also has a niece, Qiqi, who he babysits often. He loves her very much so he has no problem watching her! Baizhu will even bring her to the pharmacy with him when he’s swamped with work. In the break room, he has a play kitchen, coloring books and a bunch of puzzles to keep Qiqi occupied while he works :)

When he’s not at work, he’s at home resting. He has chronic pain flare ups in his back and shoulders that can make life miserable :( he has plenty of good days that outweigh the bad! And as a pharmacist, he has access to any medicine he needs to make his life easier!

Dottore(Alain)/‘Doc’

Alain’s an oral surgeon who’s a little bit….too into his job

He isn’t phased by blood or gore so he’s easily able to conduct procedures that would make other squeamish. He’ll pull teeth, put in dental implants, remove rotten tissue, any of that without even flinching

Outside of that, he works at the cafe. He wears a mask in order to avoid being recognized even though at his job as a surgeon, he’s usually wearing a medical mask anyways. It’s just a precaution

This has nothing to do with his career but he used to be a tap dancer and actor so he’d join in on local theatre shows! He helped build sets when he wasn’t rehearsing. He doesn’t have time for that anymore (which kinda makes him sadddd) but he has all kinds of theatre playlists on his phone and in his car that he’ll sing along to

Scaramouche/‘Boss’

Scara’s job at the cafe is his main job! His side job is something you may not expect from such a grump

He works at an animal shelter! In fact, he brings cats home to train so they have an increased chance of being adopted. Someone is more likely to adopt a potty trained, socialized cat than a feral cat who doesn’t know what a litter box is. So Scara brings them to his apartment for some one-on-one socializing, training and cuddling

One time he offhandedly mentioned working at an animal shelter while he was working at the cafe and sure enough, three separate customers from the cafe came by to adopt!!! Only one actually took an animal home but he was still surprised that those people had listened to him and cared enough to come by

Scara is a jerk most of the time but when he’s at home…by himself…With a lil kitten sleeping in his lap while he plays games on his PC…Yeah, he softens up a bit

So as you can see, we have a very diverse group working at the cafe! They’ve all learned a lot from each other, come to appreciate each other’s friendship and come to help each other out when one of their coworkers is in need or upset.

[kookicrumbs]

╰ pink love

pairing: jungwon x fem!reader genre: fluff word count: 2985 warnings; like one super minor curse word (hell)! just some cutesy stuff for ya today! summary: jungwon and y/n go on a build-a-bear date! a/n: i really wanted to do something sweet beacuse i love fluff a whole lot, so please enjoy c:

“Are we there yet?” I pout, tugging on Jungwon’s sweater. I attempt to sway him with my best puppy eyes, but he continues walking, pulling me along with him.

“This honestly reminds me of a movie,” He laughs out, “Since when did asking a million times get us there faster?”

I’m not actually that annoyed, but it’s fun to tease him. “What if this is all a movie? Ya think we can break the fourth wall?”

“I don’t know, I’d consider us powerful enough to. If this is a movie, I’m obviously the main character. Since you’re my girlfriend, you can be my sidekick!”

“Ohh, ha, ha, ha. If I’m the sidekick, pigs can fly.”

He puts on a shocked expression, pointing up into the air. “Did I just hear an oink all the way up there?”

“Shut up!” We giggle, shoving each other with our shoulders. Our footsteps match each other as we pad through the open-air mall. Warm sunlight drifts down, encasing us in a soft bubble of relaxation.

“Hey look, I think that’s it!” Jungwon tightens his grip on my hand and we take off towards the familiar shop. As we run, the eyes of other passerbys follow us, but I don’t take the time to feel embarrassed; life’s too short for that.

My legs are shorter than his, so I nearly trip several times. The universe is totally watching out for me today though, because we manage to arrive at the store’s entrance without suffering from a single scratch or bruise.

The Build-A-Bear logo passes overhead as we make our way inside. We are still glued together, buzzing from the excitement of our date. We’re going to make bears for each other! With any other guy I might have found it cheesy, but when Jungwon suggested we do it, my heart fluttered in a strange way.

“Hello! Welcome to Build-A-Bear Workshop! My name is Kiana,” A sunny looking lady welcomes us with a large smile on her face. The cute bobble headband perched on her hair seems to wave at us as well. “Will you two be needing any help today?”

Jungwon throws one arm over my shoulder and presses me tight to his side. His dimples peek out playfully as he responds. “I think we’re okay right now, we’re gonna make some bears for each other. This is my girlfriend!” He looks so proud as our eyes meet, and my stomach twists. Even though we’ve been dating for one and a half years now, whenever he looks at me like that, it feels like the day I first met him.

We’d been at the movie theatre, not together, but coincidentally there on the same day. Jungwon was sitting in the seat in front of me with a couple of his friends, while I was there with my own. His buddies were being idiots and throwing popcorn and other snacks at each other, when a whole bucket came flying at me. Being my easily scared self, I screamed and jumped backwards, simultaneously kicking my legs out and up. It took a few seconds to realize that my feet hadn’t collided with Jungwon’s seat, but instead his head.

I’d been absolutely mortified, and my friends’ muffled laughter didn’t help with that. I’d expected a huge tantrum from him, considering his friends seemed the type to start a huge fight over it, but his reaction was the complete opposite. In fact, he was apologetic and blamed it all on the buffoon who launched the snack at me.

I immediately caught feelings when he laughed and complimented my kick; apparently he knew taekwondo, and he thought I’d be good at it. He got that from a poorly done, unaimed kick to his own skull. To this day, I think I knocked something out of place there, but what can ya do.

Regardless, we ended up exchanging numbers, which is something that confused the hell out my friends and I. A month later, we started going out. I’ve dated some questionable people, so getting the chance to be with someone like Jungwon is a dream come true for me. Another plus, I finally get to check “Build A Bear date” off of my date idea list!

“You guys look adorable together!” Kiana gushed. My cheeks heat up, but not in an awkward way. “We have all our plushes over there. You can take a look and pick one, and then we’ll get that all filled up for you.”

“Thank you!” Jungwon and I say at the same time before strutting towards the plushies.

“We should split up so our bears, or whatever we pick for each other, stays a surprise! Okay?” I’m already looking at each option, and I begin to wonder how I’m ever going to pick just one.

“Since it looks like the queen has already laid claim to this particular piece of territory, I’ll go browse the accessories so I can get your plush decked out in a gorgeous outfit.” He winks and makes his way to the rows of plushie-sized clothing.

The variety of options is amazing. There’s the classic bears, but there’s also other cute things, like lobsters, giraffes, and seals. I’m a sucker for the classics, so I want to pick out a bear for Jungwon.

Two specific bears are in a fight for my love. One is a simple vanilla color with rainbow sprinkle accents, and the other is a pink bear with heart shaped ruffles. Oh god, do I just… buy both? No, that’s be stupid. Eeny meeny miney moe, a classic just like the bear.

I’m not disappointed when my finger lands on the pink bear, meaning I made the right choice and won’t have to switch to the vanilla bear out of a previously hidden lust for it. Awesome.

I peek my head around the aisle and still see Jungwon sorting through racks of outfits. In the time I’d spent picking a plush for him, he grabbed a basket and began filling it with stuff I couldn’t make out. Comfortable with the fact that he isn’t looking, I sneak over to the filling station, the pink bear clutched tightly in my hands.

“Hi! I’d love to get this guy filled, please!” The man working at this station has a name tag that reads, “Jordan”, and he looks equally nice as Kiana.

“Good choice,” He leads me to a filling spot. “Are they for you or for someone else?”

My chuckle causes the worker to smile. I reply while he gathers a few items. “My boyfriend and I came here for a cute date, so it’s for him! This one is super cute so I had to get it for him.”

“Aww, I’ll have to write that down. I'm sure my partner would find it a great idea too!” Jordan sweeps his arm across in a grand gesture, showcasing the variety of hearts and other button-looking objects that sit before him.

“Would you be interested in adding a sound to your bear? You can pick from any of these or you can record your own.”

I pick quickly, sure of what I want to do. “Mm, I’d like to do a recording, if possible. Make it extra special, right?”

“Of course, let me grab that for you and you can record your message!” He gets the heart and let’s me know what to do. Once again making sure Jungwon is not nearby, I record my message and hand it back to Jordan. He puts it in the bear, a small smile playing on his lips. Did he hear me?

“Alright, perfect. Any scents or are you ready to stuff?”

I choose a sweet raspberry scent and get the bear stuffed. It’s fun to push the pedal and see the stuffed animal become plumper, until I finally fill them all the way up. Hugging it feels like hugging a cloud.

I thank Jordan and hide the bear behind my back as I go to the dressing area. Jungwon seems to have moved on, as I spot him at the plushie picking station. I wonder what he’ll get me. Knowing him, it’s going to be adorable.

His eyes meet mine and I suppress a squeal, making sure the bear is out of sight. My strange salute makes him smile and he turns back to picking a plush for me, but not before making sure I won’t look while he gets one.

“So, what would you wear…” I whisper to the pink bear. He seems fashionable and needs something that fits his personality.

Each outfit makes me want to curl up and scream. They’re all so cute and tiny, and I can’t help but want to grab a whole bunch. I create outfits in my head, imagining each on the plushie. Letting the bear try them on seems like a step too far. Instead, I pick up a white button down shirt, pressed pants, little shoes, and a pair of heart shaped sunglasses from my pile and get to dressing.

Putting everything on the pink bear proves to be a struggle. “Come on… tuck in your tummy!” The bear’s legs don’t want to squeeze into the pants I picked. Looks like Build-A-Bear needs more size options. After a somewhat graphic commotion involving lots of pulling, pushing, and whispered yelling, he is finally clothed.

“Jungwon better like what I picked because I don’t think that’s ever coming off.” I brush off my shirt and hope that no one was watching my heated argument with an inanimate object.

I swiftly finish up the washing part of the process, which consisted of pressured air being blown at my plush. I enjoyed seeing the bear’s fur waving around luxuriously. It really fit his vibe. I end up having to consult an employee about what to do next since my amnesiac brain likes to forget simple things: it’s naming time.

After I scan the pink bear’s tag, a naming screen is brought up. I’m given suggestions like Mr. Cuddles, Tiny, and Snuggles, but I choose to make his own name. What do I name you?

Maybe Love? Too plain. Bear? Way too basic. Pink? Pinky? I clearly don’t get around to naming things very often. If it hadn’t been for my siblings, I would have named our dog Cat.

I rack my brain for anything. At this point, the next thing that pops into my head is gonna be his name. No turning back. And my brain provides. Sir Loves-a-lot is inexplicably forged in the depths of my mind, and it shall be the name of this honorable bear.

I imagine a knighting ceremony for Sir Loves-a-lot and enter his name into the computer. It goes through and I get a printed certificate with his name on it. I’m extremely excited to give him to Jungwon and see his reaction.

Jungwon seems to be finishing up at the washing station, so I pay and wait near the entrance of Build-A-Bear. I swing around my finished bear, which is tucked neatly into a bag so Jungwon can’t see it yet. Our date is soon to reach its peak: when we get to see our finished products.

“Hey! Look what I have!” Jungwon skips over to me in a playful manner. His joy envelops me as he gets nearer. His eyes are alight with what looks to be the same thing I’m currently feeling. Is it love?

I show off my bag, my competitive side instantly coming out. “I’ve got yours right here too! If you want to see it… you’ll have to catch me!”

Adrenaline shoots through me as I take off running, Jungwon quickly shifting into a quick runner. My laughs impair my speed as I hiccup and yell, Jungwon’s voice matching my own. We both giggle like idiots while our shoes run thin on the hard ground and our bags crinkle with the whip of the wind.

“Got you!” Jungwon takes care not to throw me onto the ground, instead grabbing my shirt and pulling me to his chest. He lets out an umph as I knock into him full force, still reeling from the sudden shift in direction.

“Jungwon!” A shriek of laughter explodes out of me as we tumble to the concrete with a soft thump. No one is around as we breath off our fit of giggles, still in a heap.

“Looks like my bear made it.” He lifts up his unscatched bag. “Can I say the same of yours?”

A strike of fear hits me, but quickly dissolves when I see my bag looks fine. “I am pleased to report that Combat Bear Number 2 has survived.”

“Combat Bear Number 2? Don’t tell me that’s his name. What a mouthful!” He puts a hand to his chest and sighs dramatically.

“Don’t be stupid, I named him Sir— wait! Don’t try and cheat!” I softly whack him on the shoulder, earning a look of faux-sadness.

“Ouch. But you named him Sir… something. What a noble name! Of course, nothing but the best can come from you.” He holds out the Build-A-Bear bag. “But I’m actually dying to exchange these, so swap?”

“If that isn’t the most relatable thing ever.” I hand him my bag and he gives me his. “You can open mine first!”

“Ooh, don’t mind if I do.” He eagerly opens the bag and pulls out the tissue-paper wrapped bear. The material easily comes off and he holds it up. His eyes seem to glow with delight.

“Oh my gosh.” Jungwon swipes at Sir Loves-a-lot’s fur, fascinated by the heart-shaped ruffles. “He’s so cute! His clothes are... so tight,” His face betrays his confusion, and I snicker as he speaks, “but he looks hella fashionable! I really hope mine will live up to these standards.” He seems to get nervous so I hold his hands to try and calm him down.

“What do you think I named him?”

His mouth shapes into an “O” and he pulls out the certificate. His previously timid face transforms immediately as he reads it.

“Sir Loves-a-lot? Why?! So cheesy but so good!” He crumples onto himself, his head coming to a rest between his knees. I’m overjoyed by his reaction and I press forward to hug his side.

“I love him so much. I’ll cherish him forever.” He looks at me pointedly, almost like he’s trying to tell me something. He switches course though, gesturing to the bag that lies at my feet. “Now open yours!”

I cross my legs to get more comfortable, and I open the bag, wondering what he made for me. My heart dances when I see what he chose. It’s a blue bear with stars in her fur and white wings protruding from her back. I didn’t even see it when I was picking my bear for him.

“Woah…” I hold her up, noticing a soft scent coming from her fur. When I lift the bear up to my nose, I can detect citrus. “Jungwon, you made her smell like lemons! I love lemon… and—and look how pretty! All the stars, and the color… she’s perfect.”

I look at the certificate, all bright and new, and see her name: Mrs. Lovey. Mrs., not Ms.

Jungwon looks at me innocently. “What do you think, am I making my point clear? The future is never far away and I—”

I can’t help but turn away as I feel a prickle in my eyes. Never will I ever cry on a date.

“Awww! Don’t cry, you’ll make me cry!” Jungwon leaps towards me, catching me off-guard. I end up falling backwards with a yelp, but he throws his hand under my head and catches me before I can slam into the concrete.

We stare at each other for what seems like hours but is in actuality only seconds. The silence is loud, but Jungwon slices right through it when he whispers to me, “Is this a kdrama?”

“And… off!” I sit up, hugging my bear closer to me. I’m overwhelmed by Jungwon’s confession. He wants us to really stay together. As in, I’d be his “one”.

“Is—is that what you want too? It’s okay if not, I’ll understand if you wouldn’t be ready, even in the months it would take to get there, unless sooner is better, and I—” He rambles, more emotional than I am, before I put a finger to his lips.

“Yeah, it’s what I want too. I think we should go with your plan, um, wait a little longer since we’re so young and I don’t want to scare my parents.” That earns a laugh out of us both. “But the answer to “would I want it?” is definitely yes!”

Jungwon hugs me tightly, squealing in my ear. I squeal right back, suddenly lighter than ever.

“Dude, I want to say something. Yep, here I go. I— I love you!” Jungwon yells out to me, loud enough to wake up everyone half-way across the world. My heart expands when he says it. I want to scream it back and kiss him under the blue sky, but he continues speaking.

“Okay, look, even though I would have totally respected you for saying you wouldn’t want what I want, I’m feeling so relieved right now. Like whooh! I could jump off a plane! Ride the biggest wave! Sir Loves-a-lot here would come with me, wouldn’t you?” He high fives his bear.

I’m confused when his eyebrow raises. “Did you put a sound in him? Why didn’t you tell me?” Truthfully, I’d forgotten too. However, I smirk as I remember what I recorded.

“Press it.” I urge him to push on the bear’s paw, and he does, putting it near his ear so he can hear it better. The clear sound of my voice comes through, bringing waves of pink, soft love to both Jungwon and I.

“I really, really love you.”

[just-call-me-the-intrusive-thot]

Soulmate September - Day 10

Day 10 - You are born with a birthmark, similar to a tattoo, that is shared by your soulmate.

Pairing(s): Romantic Anaroceit, Romantic RemSleep, Ambiguous Poly Glasses Gays 

TWs: Swearing, Remus being Remus, animal death metions briefly, implied sexual mention once I think? 

–

Why was it so difficult to simply bring together two handsome, obnoxious soulmates?

How could grown men be this dense?!Virgil had been trying for MONTHS at this point to get these idiots to date, yet for some reason 

Instead of wanting to date each other, they both seemed far more interested in someone else.

In him.

Why, why did this have to be his life? Tormented by such stupid, handsome men?

Okay, maybe he had a teeny crush on both of them but Virgil was getting ahead of himself.

Working at the local theatre was doing some real good for Virgil; being a techie meant he was mostly out of the spotlight - so no chance of any performance anxiety - and it meant he had to actually wake up and be a functional human being but was flexible enough that he could call in sick pretty easily if he needed a mental health day. 

Thankfully, things had been going well until Virgil looked down from the catwalk to note that the two best actors in their troupe, Roman Prince and Janus D. Lyre, both bore each other’s soulmate markings. Both on the backs of their necks, all too easy to miss. Ever since, Virgil had been trying to subtly get them to realise they were soulmates. Of course, given the intimacy of the soulmate marks, it would be entirely outrageous for Virgil to simply tell them they were soulmates; social etiquette wasn’t his forte, but his anxiety really didn’t want the possible shunning he might receive if he broke that rule. Knowing that Janus and Roman were often together for rehearsals and were similarly self-obsessed, Virgil assumed getting them interested in each other would be a piece of cake.

And yet. Somehow. The man they were both interested in was Virgil himself.

Every time he tried to get the two talking, Virgil wound up being flirted with or found himself stuck between two arguing idiots. If anything, Virgil wondered if his interfering had made things worse. Now instead of kidding and being perfect and gorgeous together, they were absolutely straight up enemies. Janus did his best to interrupt - and one-up - Roman’s stellar attempts at flirting, and Roman often tried to out shine Janus by giving Virgil anything from his favourite chocolates to gothic black roses to new headphones.

Not that Virgil didn’t secretly love being the object of their mutual affection, if anything it gave him hope that perhaps whoever his soulmate was would dote on him just as much. But just like his non-existent soulmate mark, this just wasn’t meant to be. He still wasn’t sure why he didn’t have a soulmate mark like everyone else; even his ace and aro friends confirmed they had soulmates too, so why was he skipped over? Probably because no one would ever want to be his soulmate.Yeah. Probably.

Virgil was lost in that downward spiral when Remus leapt off of the set he was painting and landed just shy of crushing the poor emo.

“Wow you look like shit,”, the trash rat greeted, sitting and slinging an arm around Virgil before he could protest, “Are the girls fighting again?”

Virgil tried to stifle a snicker. It’s a stupid meme reference, Virgil, don’t laugh.

“Of course it fucking is, when is it not?“

Remus nodded, though he looked more bored than sympathetic, “Well, how about I offer you some advice, my good bitch?”

Virgil squinted at him in both annoyance and suspicion. “If it’s going to get me arrested, it’s a solid ‘fuck no’.”

“Relax, asshole, it’s totally legal and requires zero body bags and or falsified witness statements!”

Well. That’s about as good as they’re going to get. Virgil huffed, “Fine, give me the deets, Ratman.”

Remus snickered at the old nickname; A decade had passed but still the memory of the two of them graffitiing their high school gym with their tags on their last day still lived on.

“Alright, Stitch Bitch, here’s how you do it,”, Remus ignored Virgil’s eye roll and continued, “Ask them both on a date, same place and time. Talk about your interests, since you’re probably not gonna actually have that much in common, then you can just reject both of them! They’ll be driven into each other’s arms, or some shit. You know what they’re like, they’re dramatic as fuck. It’ll be perfect.”

Virgil wasn’t amused, “But what if they don’t? What if I just end up breaking both their hearts and they wind up all depressed and-?!”

“Then it solves your problem anyway, dipshit.”, he rolled his eyes, “Jeez, you’re worse than Roman with the dramatics! Think of the middle ground, you turn them both down, they go home sulking, but they’re big boys! They’ll get over it and get together some other day! Big deal!” Remus affectionately ruffled Virgil’s hair and didn’t stop until Virgil all but threw him off, “Alright, alright, fine! I’ll try, but if it all goes wrong, you’re helping me pack to move across the fucking globe.” “Ooh, alright! Or I can hide your body if it goes REALLY badly! I know how to make sure the police never find it, after all! Did you know you just need to bury it vertically and put a dead animal on top-”

Virgil tuned him out, already trying to narrow down locations for dates in his head. He’d need to pick somewhere both Roman and Janus would agree to go. He didn’t exactly doubt either of them would turn him down, but he needed to be sure they’d both attend. Perhaps the local restaurants would be a good place to start? It’d be easy to Mrs.Doubtfire that shit. Minus the clothing change, of course. Maybe the Golden Palace might be a good idea? It’s bougie enough for Roman, classy enough for Janus, and if Virgil got lucky enough, perhaps they’d both be the ones to pay for dinner.

“...And so I told Roman about it and then Roman tells me “Remus, you dunce, you got arrested because you were caught carrying a dangerous weapon in Starbucks” but I personally think that cop was just an asshole. I mean, it was just a baseball bat for fuck’s sake, so WHAT if it had a few nails in it-”

The techie noted that Remus was still babbling to himself so he clicked his fingers just shy or flicking him in the ear,

“When’s Roman free? I know Janus is pretty flexible-”

“I’ll bet.”, Remus snickered. “Dude. You have your soulmate, don’t be a dick.”

“Hey, that doesn’t mean I can’t mentally rank every guy here on how bendy I think they’d be in bed-”

“THAT ASIDE.”, Virgil interrupted, rubbing his temples like it would squeeze out the horrible mental image and several questions he never wanted answers to, “I’ve nailed down the where, I just need the when. Janus is free most days, but Roman’s pretty enigmatic about that shit. Do you know if he’s free tonight? Might as well get this shit over with.”

Remus mulled it over, “He should be. But you should probably just ask him first then Janus. Y’know, save yourself the trouble.”

Ah. That did make sense. Virgil tried not to let it show that he hadn’t thought of that and nodded, “Right… Okay. Just, if I fuck up talking to either of them, be ready.”

“With the car or a shovel?”

“Both.”

The trashrat snickered and let Virgil stand up, giving him an ‘affectionate’ jab in the back of his knee just to get a reaction out of the techie. Virgil wasn’t sure why Remus did that sometimes, he figured it was just another one of the demented twin’s eccentricities.

Inhaling deeply, Virgil sought out Roman, careful to avoid Janus’ line of sight as he tapped the flamboyant twin on the arm. Roman spun to face him, his expression lighting up in a way that made Virgil shamefully wish that he was his soulmate. That he was worthy of all his doting.

“Virge! What can I do for you, my dark and stormy knight?”

Stop being so fucking charming perhaps?

“Uh, it’s kind of an embarrassing request, so bear with me.”

“Of course! What’s up?”

Just ask him, ignore the butterflies, he’s not your soulmate.

“I was wondering, if you’d want to go on a date with me tonight-”

Roman positively swept the emo off his feet, his beaming smile could have burned itself into Virgil’s eyes.

“YES!! YES, I’D ADORE-”

“YEP! Okay, that’s great!”, he shushed him, trying to keep things as quiet as possible, “Listen, I know you’re excited but I’m really anxious about this-”

“Nothing new there.”, Roman chuckled affectionately as he put Virgil down.

“Oh shut up,”, Virgil smirked, pushing down the sunny feeling that chuckle brought out, “Look, I’ll text you the details so can you just keep this between us? I don’t want anyone gossiping. Not that I’m ashamed of you or anything I just-”

Roman carefully halted his word vomit with a gentle caress of Virgil’s cheek, “It’s alright, I understand. After all, with such an honour, I’d do good not to betray the trust of my charming prince.”

Virgil flusteredly averted his gaze, “Hmph. What happened to your ‘dark and stormy knight’?”

“Well, if things go well, I’d hope to promote him.”

The wink Roman shot Virgil should be illegal, that thing could have killed him. The techie just gave him an attempt at an ‘oh fuck off’ smirk that came out more as a ‘fuck I have a crush’ shy smile.

No time to dwell on it, he had another stupidly handsome man to ask on a fake date. 

Virgil checked with the stagehands and made his way over to the backstage dressing room area, finding Janus sat on one of the makeup tables while their dramaturg was busy going over some directions for their next rehearsal. Upon looking up and noticing him, Janus smirked - another expression that should be outright banned for it’s lethality - and politely requested the dramaturg ‘bother him another time’. They did exactly that, leaving Virgil and Janus alone to talk,

“Virgil,”, Janus purred with a voice like sweet honey, “what brings you here?”

Don’t think about that sexy voice, don’t think about that sexy voice, don’t-

“You, actually.” Play it cool, Virge. Be suave and charming. “I wanted to ask you out on a date.”

Janus’ eyes widened slightly in surprise. Virgil felt pretty proud to have finally stunned the silver-tongued gent, though he knew it’d only be a fleeting victory. If anyone would out-smooth even the most flirty person alive, it would be Janus.

With a snake-like fluidity, Janus slunk off of the table and made his way over to Virgil; whereas Roman was only an inch or two taller than him, Janus had a whole six inches at least. Virgil found it semi-intimidating, but that just made the taller man more attractive if he was being honest. Janus softly ran a hand through Virgil’s purple-dyed hair, 

“That’s rather a bold request, Virgil. What brought this on, if I may ask? Not that I’m complaining..”

Virgil had to work extremely hard to resist the urge to nestle into the warmth of his palm. Not your soulmate! Stop it! “I uh, I figured I would take a risk for once. It’s alright if you don’t wanna-”

“No.”, Janus interjected, the hand in Virgil’s hair sliding under his chin to lock their eyes, “I’d very much like to go on a date with you. When and where?”

Virgil swallowed nervously, “The Golden Palace, tonight? I’ll um, I’ll book the table and text you the time-”

“Perfect.”, Janus smirked, gently releasing Virgil. He hadn’t realised how much he’d been subconsciously leaning into Janus’ touch until he almost felt himself sway. “I’ll be sure to wear my best suit for you. Really give you something to blush over.”

Shit.

Virgil had no rebuttal, he simply nodded and hastily headed back to his usual breakspot to work out just how he would survive tonight…

--

It turned out the answer was simple; he wouldn’t.

Thankfully Virgil had settled on an outfit that was just the right mix of fancy and casual; his black leather jacket hugged his shoulders which his dark purple button up sat under. He’d gone back and forward between his options for bottoms, but in the end, he preferred his black short pencil skirt and a pair of sheer black tights that matched his black ankle boots. It was a bold choice, but Virgil felt far more powerful in that combination. Like he could kick ass and get away with it.

Virgil needn’t have bothered, however, as the second he showed up at quarter to seven to meet Roman, any semblance of confidence in his ability to control the situation went right out the window. It should have been illegal to look that handsome. A white waistcoat and pants bearing gold trim, combined with a burgundy button up shirt with the sleeves rolled? How dare Roman look that beautiful-

Oh god, now he’s smiling at him from across the room. Too late to back out now. 

Swallowing nervously, Virgil returned the smile and headed over to the table he’d booked; far enough from the door for Roman to miss Janus arriving, and out of the way enough so that they wouldn’t see each other too soon. If he wasn’t so nervous, Virgil would have pat himself on the back for the trouble he went to securing two tables over the phone, but the last thing he wanted to focus on was the person on the phone’s sassy remarks as he did so. Instead, he focused on Roman politely getting up to pull out his chair for him.

“You look stunning, Virge! Did you change up your eye shadow too?”

Virgil gave an anxious nod, “Yeah, I thought maybe I’d try the purple instead of solid black like usual. Do you like it?”

Roman’s grin could’ve smothered him in the night and he’d have thanked it for the priveledge, “I love it!”

While keeping an eye on the time, Virgil let himself roll into conversation with Roman; he was surprised by not only how smoothly the conversation went, but how much they had in common. Sure, there was a tiiiiny heated exchange as to which Disney movie reigned supreme, but their mutual love of Nightmare Before Christmas and the artistic pursuits made for some wonderful discussion. It was a shame Virgil had to remind himself of just why he was doing this. 

He was supposed to be making his rejection of Roman easier, not more difficult.

Finally, as 8 O’clock rolled around, Janus walked in followed by a few other smartly dressed patrons. Of course, Janus very much stood out among them wearing a black dinner suit with an obsidian waist coat and golden coloured button up underneath. His usual bowler hat had been replaced for a much fancier one with a larger brim that held a marigold flower. The sight was so enticing, Virgil had to will himself to stop staring as he got up from the table,

“Excuse me, Roman, mind if I go use the bathroom?”

Roman gave a nod and Virgil made haste towards the restroom area; thankfully he’d planned ahead and knew he could use the corridor that went along behind the bar to emerge on the other side of the room without being detected. However, a new obstacle proved to be a challenge; Janus hadn’t taken his eyes off of the door since the moment he’d walked in and removed his suit jacket. 

Damn. Virgil hadn’t anticipated that. 

Luckily, one of the men who’d come in behind Janus - a man adorned in an off-black suit wearing a beanie, a pair of sunglasses, and a face mask - had just come out of the bathroom door behind him. Without the time to let his social anxiety kick in, Virgil stopped the man and asked quietly, “Hey, sorry to be a bother, but if you can distract the handsome guy at that table for a couple  minutes,“, he began, gesturing to Janus, “I’ll give you ten bucks, how’s that sound?”.

The man seemed to stare for a moment behind the shades then silently gestured with his hands in a motion of “more”.

Of course.

“Okay, uh, fifteen?”

More again. This asshole..

“Ugh, fine, twenty! That's as much as I can spare!”

The man shrugged and nodded, gladly taking the money and, to his credit, doing exactly as was asked. Virgil watched him approach Janus, asking for the time if the way Janus took his attention and turned it to his watch was an indication. It bought Virgil enough time to ‘arrive’ just as the man gave a thank you nod to Janus.

“Sorry I’m a little late,”, Virgil apologised, taking his seat, “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting?”

 “Not at all,”, Janus assured him, smirking delightedly in a way that made Virgil’s knees feel weak even in a sitting position, “You look beautiful, Virgil, if I’d known you’d look so good, I’d have picked out an even better suit.”

This fucking guy, oh my god. “Oh shut up, you look handsome as is.”, Virgil shot back, doing his best to remain calm even as Janus leant in close to strike up conversation.

--

“I’m telling you, babes, he’s either a cheater or he’s crazy.”

Remy aimed the stirrer he’d been using to push back his cuticles towards Virgil and Janus, then trained it on his stoic co worker, “Look, he’s got two gorgeous guys here and neither of them have noticed yet.”

The aforementioned co worker rolled his eyes, “Remy, you have once again utterly misread the situation for the sake of needless dramatics. It’s rather obvious what’s going on here if you take the time to pick up on subtle body language clues.”

“What’s this about clues, Logie Bear?”, questioned a rather eager waiter carrying a tray of glasses back behind the bar. “Are you playing Sherlock again?”

“Patton, please, refrain from the pet names during working hours, I’ve told you before-”

“While they’re perfectly suitable and welcome at home, we must remain professional at work.”, chimed in another bespectacled man who was manning the till, “It’s fine Logan, honey, let them off the hook this once, okay?”

Patton put down the tray and wrapped their arms around the man who’d just spoken, “Emile’s right! C’mon Logan, you can’t deny it, you like the name too-”

Logan cleared his throat to throw off the peachy blush that threatened to give away his adoration for his soulmates, ”As I was saying before, it’s obvious as to what this rather anxious individual is up to. His body language isn’t that of a cheater, Remy,”, the server flipped Logan the bird, “In fact, I’d hazard a guess that the poor lad is simply attempting to work out which man is his soulmate. I read a fascinating journal that talked all about this phenomenon where some soulmates are unable to see their soulmarks and thus rely on a technique comparable to sensing one’s aura-”

“Okay so like, you think he’s trying to get a read on these two to narrow it down?”, Remy interrupted before Logan could further explore his tangent, “Well then, it’s obvious which one he’s gonna pick.”

Remy gestured lazily over his shoulder at Roman, who was currently twirling his fork between his fingers, “It’s gonna be Tall, Dark and Dumbass over there, babes.”

Logan scoffed, “Falsehood. Clearly the gentleman he’s sat with currently is a much more appropriate option.”. The server nodded his head in their direction, “All factors point to the man in black not only being the more suitable option, but his body language is far more open and receptive to our subject.”

“Subject. Christ it’s like I’m back in science one.”, Remy groaned, but continued to argue, “Besides, you’re ignoring how he’s like, totes more comfortable with my boy in white, sweetie. Look at him, he can’t wait to get away from your boy in black.“

Sure enough, Virgil had gone to switch partners again, returning to Roman with a sweetly shy apologetic gesture.

Patton piped up, “What if they’re like us, Logie Bear? Y’know, more than one soulmate?”

Logan shook his head, “Ridiculous, it’d make no sense to have such a date if that were the case.”

Remy nodded in agreement for the first time, “Yeah, either way, you’re wrong on this one, Logan. Trust me, I know what a fellow morosexual looks like.”

Emile and Logan both sighed at that one while Patton tsk’d, “Remy, come on, thats your soulmate you’re talking about! You shouldn’t be mean!”

Remy quirked an eyebrow at Patton, “Babes, have you met Remus? I love the big sap but he’s a certified dumbass with a heaping dose of cryptid.”, he opened the drinks cooler and took out a lemonade bottle, not giving a shit that the three soulmates behind him were absolutely unamused. ”Anyway, if you’re so sure over who our ‘subject’ will end up with, how about we bet on it? Loser has to work two weeks of overtime and the winner gets thirty dollars or some shit. You in?”

Patton and Emile both declined, both more focused on their work and simply enjoying the dates being had, while Logan agreed wholeheartedly, “I do hope your next two weeks are free, Remy...”

--

He couldn’t take much more of this.

The longer Virgil kept going back and forth between the two of them - using his anxiety to buy himself time without too much suspicion - the more he was getting tangled up in feelings he knew he couldn’t indulge. Every second with Roman made him smile, even when trading verbal jabs. Every second with Janus made him feel more bold, able to flirt back every once and a while. But this wasn’t right. Janus, Roman, they were made for each other. Not for him.

He wouldn’t get to curl up next to Roman on a cold night, watching Disney movies, baking together, or following along to Bob Ross tutorials only for one of them inevitably would start painting on the other until they were both paint splattered, cackling messes. 

He wouldn’t get to dance quietly in the living room with Janus while their favourite music plays, swaying softly to his favourite Jazz music, or lazily draping himself over Janus’ lap while they read their favourite books long into the night.

Virgil stared into the bathroom mirror; his ‘dates’ had been so sweet as to compliment him, but all he could focus on was how much of a mess he felt. He’s going to break their hearts beyond repair, all because he couldn’t just tell them they were soulmates. Social etiquette be damned, why had he let it go on like this?

Feeling his chest constricting, Virgil quickly grabbed his phone and texted Remus.

V: [help. Having a panic attack. Distract me]

He tried to remember his breathing exercises, chewing his free hand’s thumbnail anxiously until he got the text notification;

R: [Cool. Did u  kno rabbits eat their babies when they’re stressed?]

…. Virgil heavily regretted asking Remus to distract him.

V: [Horrifying. Thank you.]

R: [Anytime, Stitch Bitch. Now what happened?]

V: [Dates backfired.]

R: [U caught feelings didnt u]

Virgil groaned and kept typing.

V: [fuck u]

R: [fuck me urself coward.]

Well at least that got a laugh out of him. Remus followed up that text before he could reply:

R: [Just go out there and tell them the truth]

V: [nope, no way, they’ll hate me]

R: [Bitch they’re both smitten w/ u it’ll hurt but they’ll live, they’re sat there worried about u]

V: [how the fuck do you know that?]

R: [Remy’s on shift tonight, he and Logan are taking bets on how things will pan out. They’ve been texting me non stop.]

That did explain a few things. Namely the one server with the sunglasses and sassy attitude who gave him and Roman extra desserts “for like, the cutest couple in this bitch”, and the other more stoic server who brought him and Janus a bottle of champagne “to celebrate a wonderful partnership”. When would his life stop feeling like a goddamn circus?

Virgil was pulled from his thoughts as his next text sent his blood running cold,

R: [u might wanna get back to em, they’ll be worried about u by now]

Dammit. Virgil had just left the bathroom to be met with a worried Roman, “Virgil, are you alright!? You were gone so long, I thought something had happened!”

Stomp down that affection you’re feeling, Virgil. It’s just gonna hurt more.

“I’m fine, its just my nerves-”

“Virgil?”

Both men turned to spy Janus entering the hallway with an expression of shock and disgust upon seeing the two of them. He promptly strode over and with surprising gentleness moved Virgil to his side,

“It’s bad enough I can’t avoid you at work, Prince, but I’ll not have you ruining our date night.”

As Janus went to lead Virgil away, Roman held onto Virgil’s hand, “Actually, Lies and Dolls, he’s with me tonight, so kindly take your delusions and leave.”

Oh my god, why did he trust Remus’ plan in the first place?! Janus smirked dangerously, “Or what, you dramatic hack?”

Roman took exception to that, and while Janus had the height advantage, Roman still knew how to be intimidating when needed, “I’ll make you leave!”

Before either of them could come to blows, Virgil got in between them. He might as well come clean,

“BOTH OF YOU STOP!”

Janus and Roman faced him, sporting stunned but ever attentive expressions. Ugh, this was gonna hurt.

“I can’t do this anymore! Yeah, I did ask you both here, and yeah! You’re both wonderful but you’re not meant to be with me! You’re meant to be with each other! Ugh, this was a mistake! I can’t-! I can’t be here, I’m sorry-!”

Virgil wrenched himself from between them, making a beeline through the tables and just getting out of the door before the two caught up to him. In the back of his mind, Virgil assumed the serving staff that followed behind were either desperate to see this unfold or just making sure this wasn’t going to be a dine ‘n’ dash scenario.

“Virge, come on, you’re not making any sense! I’m not meant to be with Janus,”, Roman assured him, rolling his left sleeve up the whole way and revealing Virgil’s soul mark, “I’m meant to be with you! You’re my soulmate, Virgil! Surely you knew-”

“That’s,”, Janus interrupted, “That’s not possible, because Virgil is my soulmate.”

Both Roman and Virgil turned to face him, watching Janus roll up his right sleeve to reveal Virgil’s soul mark in the exact same place as Roman’s had been. 

To say Virgil was confused was an understatement, “W...Wait, no, that’s...”

Roman and Janus stared at each other’s soul mark then looked to Virgil, “You… really didn’t know that I- that we were your soulmates?”

Virgil shook his head, ”I don’t have your soulmarks though! It doesn’t make sense...”

He turned away, grasping his arms as he tried to make sense of all this. All his life, Virgil had looked in his mirror and wished - God, how he’d wished - to find just one mark. Something to prove that he was indeed someone’s soulmate. That the universe hadn’t forsaken him. And now he had two of the most wonderful men he’d ever met sporting his soul mark while he had nothing to reassure him this wasn’t some cosmic fluke?!

Janus and Roman stood in awkward silence, the latter giving the servers an apologetic look and pulling out his wallet to pay when the former noticed something about Virgil that had him squinting to get a look. “.... Virgil, do forgive me for this.”

Without hesitating, Janus whipped out his pocket knife - why he brought it on a date, Virgil had no idea - and cut a hole in the back of Virgil’s tights, careful to avoid his skin.

“What the FUCK, Janus!?”, came the obviously horrified reply, only for Janus to take a picture with his phone and hand it to Virgil, rendering him speechless.

Sure enough, there on the inside of his right knee joint was Janus’ soul mark. 

“I just happened to spot the same shade of yellow showing through and, well….”

He didn’t need to finish, Virgil was stunned to silence. All this time, how could he have missed it!? 

Well, it wasn’t in the easiest to see area, and come to think of it, his mirror was a little too high off the ground for that kind of angle, and with the marks being so small..…..

The revelation was met with a shocked gasp from Roman.

“... Virgil, may I-”

“I’ll just take them off, fucking hell!”

Both men turned away to let Virgil remove his shoes and tights in peace. When he gave them the all clear, Roman was ecstatic to note his own soul mark adorning the left knee joint. Virgil glanced towards his two soulmates, letting out a soft sigh of adoration at their delighted faces. He was feeling a whole rush of emotions, but right now? The last thing he wanted was to waste any more time.

“Gimme a second to pay these guys,”, Virgil gestured to the gaggle of servers set in various expressions of celebratory delight, “Then we can go back to my place and have a movie night.”

Roman and Janus offered sweet smiles to their soulmate; that sounded like the perfect end to a wild night.

---- Bonus (Because I got attached to this universe, fight me) ----

With the cafe clearing out aside a few stragglers, Remy sighed distantly, “Well, it’s a good thing we both won, babes, I didn’t wanna get stuck with all that overtime.”

Logan gave him a perplexed look, “Actually, we both lost, therefore we both should work overtime.”

Remy pulled down his shades to glare at Logan, “.... Are you fucking kidding me? Bitch, we WON, and we get to keep our money, babes. What part of that makes you think “nope, overtime sounds better”!?”

Logan was about to go into the technicalities when he chanced a glance back at his soulmates, watching as Patton excitedly gushed over the night’s events, stimming excitedly with their apron while Emile folded his own and put it away for the night, glad to listen to Patton’s bubbly rambling. Logan couldn’t deny, the idea of staying late while his soulmates were home without him wasn’t an appealing idea. Maybe this once he’d spare Remy a lecture.

“.... You know what, you’re right. Excuse me.”

With that, Logan went to join his soulmates while Remy stifled a fond smirk and went to go ask the last patron to leave. He wanted to just go home and collapse into Remus’ arms. Ugh, he just hoped this dude wasn’t going to make a fuss. He wasn’t sure what kind of guy combined a suit, a beanie, shades, AND a face mask, but Remy just hoped he wasn’t here to rob the place.

“Alright sweetie, you gotta go. We’re closing and I wanna get home to my loveable dumbass. Let’s go-”

The man gestured to his ear. Ah. Remy rolled his eyes and leant down to speak closer,

“I said-“

The man quickly pulled down his face mask and stole a peck from Remy, a grin spreading across his face that curled excitedly to match his moustache.

“You gotta get home to meeeee~.”

Remus took off the sunglasses and beanie, revelling in the surprise that painted itself over Remy’s face. He stood up, wrapping his arms around Remy’s waist as his soulmate tried to form a sentence, “How long have you just been sitting here?!”

“Ever since I figured it’d be funny to watch Virgil realise he was trying to set up his own soulmates-”

“You- Wait, Virgil!? That’s the guy you’re always telling me about?!”

“Yep!”, Remus grinned.

Remy wrapped his arms around Remus’ neck, unsure if he wanted to strangle him or hold him closer, “...Did you know he-”

“Had two soulmates? Yep~!”

Remus chuckled and kissed Remy’s cheek, “Virge and I used to have gym together. He kept saying he couldn’t find his soulmarks, I’m surprised he never got my hints...”

Sighing annoyedly at his soulmate, Remy pulled him in for a proper kiss before he could go on more of a tangent. Once they broke apart, Remy poked Remus’ chest, 

“You made me lose thirty bucks, y’know.” 

Remus grinned harder and pulled out twenty dollars  “Well then, I better take this generous donation from my best friend and treat you to a milkshake on the way home then...”

-----

It’s finally doooone!!

This was a long one for sure, but sue me, I got super into this one!!

I’ll be playing catch up for a while so get ready for Day 11, I ended up with a last minute change and it’s gonna be a tear jerker. @tsshipmonth2020

Taglist: @somehow-i-got-an-account @cateye-glasses @fandomsofrandom

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Let’s talk: the Vmin “no on screen interaction = no bond” Paradox

by Admin 1 & 2

One of the reasons that are usually stated for why people are so insistent on their claims that Jimin and Tae supposedly aren’t close anymore, that their friendship is nothing but PR for Friends, and that the whole “soulmate agenda” is fake as well, boils down to the statement of “we rarely or never see them interact on screen, no touching, no talking, nothing”. We find this both misleading, since it isn’t true, but also disrespectful, since it means that the only way in which some are able to accept closeness between the members as real and valid is if they see it, nothing else. So, just because you don’t see it through grand physical touches, hugs and whatnot, does that mean if they speak about each other, for example, that doesn’t count? 

You could argue that the power of pictures is greater than that of words, but to that I would like to ask: do they owe us visual proof of their closeness when we already have so much that shows how truly close Jimin and Tae are, how much they care about each other and how much work across years they’ve willingly and eagerly put into their bond for it to grow as deep and beautiful as it is?

As a way to showcase how misleading the screen time = friendship/closeness argument is, especially in connection to Jimin and Tae, I’d like for us to look at two different instances: Black Swan MV (the MV Sketch as well as the “opera” b*omb and the basket ball b*omb) and the Jingle Ball 2019 EPISODE.

Let’s start with the videos surrounding Black Swan below the cut:

Around that time I saw a lot, and I mean a lot, of chatter (mostly negative) about vmin since a very loud portion of the fandom were very up in arms after we got Friends. Not only did it solidify their preconceived notion that they are just friends, because the song is titled like that and none of them really cared enough to check the lyrics, but also because it opened up a whole new discussion about “but like, are they really friends?” To which, of course, their answer was mostly “no”. It’s just PR, they actually don’t really like each other, they barely interact, we see nothing of them, both interact way more with the other members, you know the drill. So when the MV Sketch for Black Swan came out it was, once again, like more “am/munition” for their arguments.

The thing we find laughable though is this expectation of “ship moments” in a video that’s literally about the filming of their music video, most of the scenes showing said filming happening though there’s also a few scenes of the members interacting. But, at the core, this isn’t like a bangtan b*mb of them hanging out backstage waiting for something or another where it makes sense that we’d see them interact a lot and be silly, instead it’s a video in which their focus (as well as ours should be) is on filming and giving the best performance they can so the MV turns out amazing, which it did. They are doing their work, not enjoying their free time. When you’re at work, do you really spend the majority of your time playing around with your friends? No, you do your job, the thing you get paid for doing.

The first few times I watched the video, I was so captivated by the theatre and their dancing, their mindset and performance, I didn’t even really notice any of their interactions or pay attention to who interacted with who or who did not. Guess my priorities and expectations are simply a bit different when watching a music video being filmed...

So what was the conclusion people drew? While Jimin and Tae are both close to JK and the other member, they are not close to each other, they don’t even particularly like each other. It was a narrative I saw repeated across various sns and, really, while it made me sad, I also wasn’t surprised. It’s nothing new that people treat vmin in such a manner.

Then, months later we got two Bangtan B*mbs from the same time and surprise, surprise Jimin and Tae did interact, a lot even, in ways that show how attuned with each other they are, how easy it is for them to fall into one of their role-plays or just be silly together, how gentle and thoughtful of the other they are, and how much they enjoy doing something together, regardless of what it is.

The first, posted October 1st 2020, showed Tae playing basket ball while Jimin and JK sat off to the side and watched him. Like you can see in the above pictures, eventually Jimin joined Tae and they played together for most of the video. Since the sun was shining at them, Tae stood before Jimin and raised his hands so the shadow fell onto Jimin’s eyes and he could see better, later on doing the same for Tae. It’s a small thing and yet it shows they care about each other. At some point Jimin pretended that he’ll be leaving, twice, and yet he stayed and they played some more. Toward the end of the video Namjoon joins them and eventually vmin leave and Namjoon stays behind and plays with Seokjin before the video ends.

Based on all that you’d assume the people who, seven months earlier, claimed vmin are essentially estranged and barely even like each other would reconsider, but of course not. Despite the focus being largely on them across the entire video, many comments by non-vminies (and non-namjinists) I saw on sns were about Tae playing on his own, Jimin and JK sitting off to the side together, and Namjoon playing with Seokjin. 

The second video was posted October 24th 2020 and began with Jimin pretending he’s an opera singer, which Tae noticed and immediately joined in, since we know this is the sort of thing Tae enjoys doing, even occasionally turning their own songs and lyrics into opera style to make the other members laugh. This sets off this entire sequence of Tae and Jimin singing different things, JK also joining in for a moment, and then vmin ending on that sweet moment of Jimin standing behind Tae with his hands covering Tae’s eyes before concluding that “it’s hard to play with him”. And yet, even if it’s hard, can we talk about these two screenshots of Jimin fondly watching Tae and looking like he can’t wait until his stylist is done so he can go join him? Adorable.

But again, even here while the focus is on vmin for a large portion of the video, this fact was largely omitted and instead people zeroed in on moments in which Tae was alone, Tae or Jimin interacted with JK, and Tae singing with Namjoon and Seokjin. It seems to me like the council of “how valid is a friendship” decided on their opinion months prior and stuck with it even if it meant, as always, to just ignore vmin interactions in favor of other things while at the same time spreading the “vmin are not friends because they don’t interact” agenda to anyone who’ll listen.

Generally I don’t really care all that much for all the chatter happening among parts of ARMY, but seeing these comments belittling and erasing the bond Jimin and Tae have, regardless if you see it as platonic or potentially romantic, is just really hard to read sometimes. Not even because I’m a vminnie, but simply because they are erasing something that is so important to both Tae and Jimin, this bond they have with each other they themselves spoke so much about, showed so much of, and yet people refuse to accept it, like they have any right to make such judgements about their bond.

The second example I’d like to show is Jingle Ball 2019 in LA and how deceptive, paradoxical and misleading the no screen time = no bond agenda really is.

For context, the Jingle Ball happened some time in December 2019, the same month as when we got the vmin “let’s take a half bath together” while holding hands during Seokjin’s birthday vlive happened, meaning a time when Jimin and Tae were just as close as ever, even occasionally giving us glimpses into their bond, giggling together and being all smiles. Also the same month as the famous holding hands because we think no one sees us anymore moment at the airport.

On July 22nd 2020 we got the EPISODE showing the behind the scenes of the Jingle Ball performance. It’s 11 minutes long and includes the BWL performance with Halsey, but largely shows the members getting ready, practicing their English and being excited to perform. If we focus solely on vmin then sure, I’ll agree that there were no interactions between those two whatsoever, not a usual or out of the ordinary thing, and not something I see any kind of problem in. They don’t owe us interactions in every piece of content. And yet, as always, it just added fuel to everyones favorite agenda that vmin are not close, ignoring all the prior time frame context we established previously. But who cares, they didn’t interact in this 11 minute video therefore they definitely didn’t interact at all and now hate each other.

Jokes on those people because of course that isn’t true.

Excuse the rather mediocre quality of those pictures, I tried my best with the screenshots taken from a video taken by a fan (one of many) who got to see BTS behind the scenes before going on stage from the stands further up. There’s this video on twt that shows just vmin and then I found a longer version in this person’s vlog (around the 7:25 min mark and onward). You can check both and confirm that it really is vmin in those screenshots. Also, as memory refresher, Jimin was the only one with a black collar and shirt along with blond hair. Namjoon stands further away and can be seen in the three lower pictures.

So, what does this tell us? Easy--just because it wasn’t shown in a condensed and edited video it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Just because Jimin and Tae don’t show us things on screen, or the editors don’t use scenes where it can be seen, it doesn’t mean that it’s an accurate representation of their actual, real life bond. They weren’t in the EPISODE but hugged and walked together off camera.

Notice how this agenda merely applies to vmin, how their bond, their soulmate status and closeness is the only one that gets questioned at every possible moment. When Seokjin said that Yoongi feels like his soulmate nowadays in an episode of In The SOOP no one questioned his words and accepted them as true, because he said so himself and we should believe their sincerity when they say these things. And yet when it comes to vmin, the rules are entirely different.

This was a post brought to you by Admin 2 coming across yet another thread on twt filled with ARMY claiming outlandish things about vmin and their bond and getting annoyed.

[koko-bopp]

Touchy-touchy

park seonghwa x male!reader

word count - 1.3K

genre - Fluff / Kinda suggestive

warning(s) - lots of gay panic, mentions of sex

synopsis - You didn't even realise but you had an obsession with touching Seonghwa's thighs, and unknowing to you, he'd become beyond flustered by your touchy behaviour.

You and Seonghwa had really only been together for three months.

What's there to do in three months?

Not gonna lie, you two were taking it kinda slow, just to see what temperatures the waters could get to.

It had started off with the barista at the cafe close to both your workplaces mixing up your order.

It confused you that there were genuinely psychopath who drink plain black coffee, why would someone do that to themselves? Willingly?

Then you found out that he doesn't drink coffee, or bitter things in general, and the only reason he step foot into a cafe that's known best for their coffee was because he lost a bet and needed to get a black coffee with no sweeteners. You couldn't help yourself to laughter when he was telling you that he'd probably die drinking it, and that he'd at least want your number before then.

A few days had passed and you'd eventually forgot about the handsome coffee-hater, you didn't think he'd actually call you.

Turns out he's a dancer; a dancer with a busy schedule.

A month later you had gone on many dates with this man;

One was at a theme park, it was a themed event so you two definitely took the time to dress up and enjoy yourselves. The date had you two exploring different cusines, shooting water into balloons, winning prizes, and going on a Ferris wheel; you'd made a joke about reenacting the Love, Simon scene, he was going to before chickening out last minute and kissing your cheek instead, it was cute, you didn't mind.

Another was going to see one movie but sneaking into another theatre to watch a second movie, you two were so tired after having sat down for three and a half hours in a dark four-walled room that it had taken all of your strength not to sleep on the train ride home.

He was a pleasure to be around, he really was, you two clicked beyond well and the company of the other was becoming a crave at some point.

"Do you.. wanna meet my roommates?"

Roomates?

"They're like brothers to me, and it would mean a lot to me if you met them," Seonghwa grinned and explained.

That's right, he was living with seven other people.

There were times where you two would be on the phone with each other, talking about whatever and then you'd hear a scream in the background followed by things falling to the ground.

Other times you and Seonghwa would go on a date, as you're enjoying the time with each other, his phone would chime and he'd ignore it, you wouldn't think anything of it until towards the end of the date when he actually checked his phone.

"Something happened?" You asked.

Seonghwa shakes his head, carefully putting his phone back into his pocket, "It's just the guys, I think they burnt the kitchen."

"You think?" You repeat, a chuckle leaving your lips.

Seonghwa laughed too, "They sent a video of the frying pan lit on fire to the group chat," He sighs, "It'll be fine."

However, you told Seonghwa that you'd be honoured to meet his friends, considering how close they are, you thought that he would consider it to be an important aspect in this relationship; to get along with his friends.

And you're at the centre of it now, sitting next to Seonghwa with a hot chocolate in your hand made by his friends. You're getting along best with Mingi, but not to say the rest of the boys aren't fun too.

"No way! You did that?" You turned to Seonghwa, placing a grip on his thigh; granted, he had placed his one leg in between both of yours while you two were sitting next to each other, his hand around your shoulder so he could be close to you but not uncomfortably close.

Seonghwa wasn't going to admit it until the topic came up, but your whole subconscious obsession with his thighs was definitely ego-filling, but also beyond the point of control.

At the Ferris wheel date you'd gripped his thigh out of excitement, which at first he didn't mind until you started squeezing it and Seonghwa, frankly, didn't want to get hard on a third date that was also in public, so took the courtesy to replace your grip on his thigh to holding his hand.

Oh my god, and at the movies. You're both queer, there's no sitting straight on chairs, but you who had gone to see a horror movie so at any given jump-scare your hand would fly to his thigh. The action happened so often at this particular date that it really took all his man power not to ask you to 'give him a hand'.

"Er, baby?" Seonghwa chuckled nervously, moving his leg so it was now directly next to his.

Hongjoong's eyes widen, "You guys are already at the nickname stage?"

Seonghwa ignored Hongjoong for that moment, his eyes on you as he gulped, "Could I just er, talk to you in the kitchen for a sec?"

You nodded, a bit concerned, as you worried that you may have said something wrong or done something that upset Seonghwa. You couldn't think of anything, but his request was making you nervous.

You two got up, making your way over the kitchen, away from earshot from his friends. Seonghwa turned to you, leaning against the stove as he looked at you, "Don't take this the wrong way. Please. I'm sure it just an accident but there's only so much of it I can bare before I, I don't know, go poof," he spoke.

You blinked, trying to think of what you could've possible done, "Was it something I said? If it was–"

Seonghwa shook his head, chuckling a little, "No, no, you're great to talk to and the guys love you, it's just," he paused, ready to sound ridiculous, "Could you... maybe avoid touching my thighs? It.. It really makes me flustered.."

You didn't know why, but a laugh couldn't stop itself from leaving your lips. You'd noticed Seonghwa's cheeks turning pink at the request, but you spoke before he could, "Oh my god, I really thought you were gonna tell me you didn't want to see me again."

His eyes shot up, and he shook his head immediately, "No! I like you way too much for that, it's just... I guess you accidentally made me realise I have a thing for thigh gripping and... I don't know," he mumbled towards the end, folding his arms over his chest as he looked away, pretty embarrassed.

This,,, was definitely a suprise to you.

You smirked softly, walking over to Seonghwa, closing the space between the two of you and placing your hands on his waist then carefully but slowly dragging them down to the place he was so embarrassed about, "You don't want me to do this?"

He stopped you from touching his thighs, holding your wrists to halt you going further down, a warning smirk of his own staring at you as he spoke, "Sweet Cheeks, I'd love you to if this was a convenient place for me to fuck you," he snickered at your surprised expression, never hearing him talk like this before.

You turned your wrists so you could place your hands in his instead, your face reading that you're still kinda shocked, "Damn, Seonghwa. We better be going to my place after this."

"Promise to keep your hands off my thighs in public?" He winked.

You nodded. Though definitely keeping the kink as a mental note.

[thepointoftheneedle]

Fragment

I’m really enjoying the fragments (and I freaked myself out with that word count thing so I’m taking some time off from writing....note to self -NEVER look at the stats page.). Anyway I keep trying to write this little soulmate thing but, without me intending it, it always becomes an academic paper on the philosophy of colour perception.  And I can’t imagine anybody but me is interested in that!

Below the cut anyway....(I guess this should have been for Friday but what the heck...)

His eyes fluttered open as he awakened but, feeling the warmth of the sleeping girl by his side, he closed them tightly.  He wanted them to have this experience together.  Nothing would ever be the same for them again.  It was a special moment for a couple and he wanted it to be perfect.  He had installed the app on his phone so he fumbled for it, knocking some loose papers from the nightstand and cursing gently.  She mumbled and stirred so he put his hand over her eyes.  “What the hell J?  What’re you doing?”  

“I’m opening up ‘Soul Truth.’  We can look together.”

“Oh J, no, don’t do that,” she moaned softly, beseechingly.

“Ssh, don’t worry.  It’ll be great.”  He kissed her gently, voice-activated the app and removed his hand from her eyes.  She was looking at him, not the screen so he gently turned her head and looked down as she did.  The screen was a uniform blue.  His stomach lurched.  It must be a glitch.  “Wait, wait a second,” he muttered, clicking the app closed and reopening it.  Solid blue.  He looked at her and saw the sadness in her beautiful dark eyes.  Sadness but not surprise.  

She reached out a hand and stroked his cheek softly, “Hey, I’m sorry J.  I didn’t want to disappoint you but I already knew.  I just didn’t feel it last night.”

“Jeez Rox, I’m so sorry.  I can do better, you just have to tell me what I did wrong.  I know I can be what you want. I thought you’d…I thought I felt you...”

“I did, Jughead, of course I did.  Listen.  It was great.  You were great.  So tender and kind.  It was beautiful and I really had a good time but it wasn’t…I don’t know.  It wasn’t whatever soul mates have.  You’ve heard Fangs talk about it.  It’s next level.  Transcendent.  What we had was great sex, but it was just great sex.  No angelic chorus.  You had to feel that?” She was normally tough and streetwise but now her voice was gentle, trying not to hurt him.  There was a painful lump in his throat.

“I thought it was transcendent, you were anyway. I think I’m falling in love with you Roxie.”  His voice was quavering.  He was ashamed of his weakness.  “It has to be a mistake. It’s the app.  It has to be.”  Abruptly he was up and heading down the hallway before she could say another word.  “Fangs, “ he yelled.  “You in there?” He stood waiting, shivering, in his boxers, while disgruntled groaning emanated from the room, until eventually the door opened a crack and Fangs peered out at him.

“Jones, the building better be on fire.  We didn’t get in til four.  What time is it?”

“Just after eight.  Look, is this broken?”

Fangs looked at the proffered screen blearily then a small smile appeared on his face.  “Aww cute bunny.”  Jughead snatched the screen back and swiped up.  An image appeared in his visible spectrum of a cartoon bunny rabbit holding out a carrot.  The legend underneath read “I wuv you.” 

“Uggh, why don’t they have something with a bit of gravitas?  Shit.  Fuck it!”  Jug turned around just as Fangs understood the situation.  

“Oh my god Jughead!  Did you and Rosaline finally do the do? Oh shit…you can’t see that can you? Oh Christ man, I’m so sorry.” 

Jug swallowed down his disappointment, just like he had been swallowing down his anger and sorrow and guilt and sadness for most of his life and shrugged at Fangs.  “No biggie.  Apparently I’m destined to die alone.  Whatever.”  He stalked off back to his own room only to find Roxie already getting dressed. “Roz, shit, can’t we talk about this?  Don’t go. Maybe it’ll happen later, perhaps it’s not always instant?”

Her voice was low and mournful when she spoke. “J I really care about you, you’re my good friend, but we’re both searching for something that we’re never going to be able to give each other. Let’s just take some time apart.  Maybe in a few months we’ll be able to go back to being pals again.  I’m really sorry that you’re disappointed.”  With that she was gone in a whisk of magenta hair and Cabotine perfume.

He sat on his bed and stared into space.  He’d been so sure.  She was a dear friend, she understood him, laughing at the same things, enjoying the same movies.  There was never any stress or conflict with her.  It was easy. She indulged his bad moods and cajoled him out of sulks with food and silly jokes.  He knew enough to leave her well alone when she was getting into one of her rages.  Then gradually, as they worked together on the documentary project, he found himself wanting to touch her hair, wanting to hold her tiny body against his in a protective embrace, wanting to make her feel good with his touches.  She’d seemed uncertain but he’d persevered, wooed her really.  Then finally, excited and giddy after the showcase where their documentary project had taken first place she’d kissed him and whispered, “Do you want to go back to your place?”  He’d been so happy as they’d crunched back to his apartment through the first snow of the winter.  He’d wondered if it might happen when they finished the film.  While sex tended to be the main way that a soul bond was revealed, a lot of soul mates actually bonded on completion of some other kind of shared project.  It hadn’t happened then but he’d been so sure that, if they made love, it would click and the missing shade would be revealed to them.  And then it hadn’t happened.

The app was pretty new.  Before the advent of the smart phone, folks would have a painting or a poster in their homes.  To those who were not matched it would look like an ordinary scene but once a soul bond was formed, the missing colour in the spectrum was revealed, and the soul mates could read the message in the image.  It was a little like a magic eye poster.  You looked at it for a moment or two and then the missing colour reconciled itself into words or an image.  Originally they had some gnomic inspirational quotation.   The one in the trailer he grew up in had, his mom said, had the Rolling Stone’s lyric, “You can't always get what you want but if you try sometime you find you get what you need.” Ironically FP and Gladys had been neither what the other wanted nor what they needed.  Later it would turn out that FP had lied when he stood in front of that poster and told the innocent, love-struck young girl, wrapped in the sheet from his bed, that he saw it  for the first time too. Actually he’d already bonded with someone else, someone who had no intention of getting tied up with a guy in a gang from the wrong side of the tracks.  He must have thought it was his lucky day, a second chance for happiness, when the beautiful girl he’d been romancing excitedly admitted that she could see the colour for the first time.  He’d nodded enthusiastically, said, “Yeah, me too,” and whisked her away to a world of damp trailers, drunken arguments and angry guys repossessing their truck, or the tv, or the kids’ toys.  She’d stayed because she believed he was her soul mate.  She thought she had no other options until, in a drunken rage, he’d revealed that it had always been a lie. She snatched up her daughter and left him.  And left the boy too, unwilling to take a kid who looked so much like the man she had been fool enough to trust and who had ruined her life with his lies.

The fact that scumbags with no moral scruples lied about this shit had led to the development of checking apps like Soul Truth, “the truth, the soul truth and nothing but the truth” according to the tag line.  You both looked at the screen and noted down what you saw, then swiped up and the image was revealed in ordinary unbonded colours.  It made it harder for predators and perverts to take advantage of young innocents while their good sense was overwhelmed by romantic dreams.  It also revealed that about ten percent of bonds were unreciprocated like Jughead’s parents, one of the couple bonded and the other didn’t.  Those couples had to decide if they would make that work, aware that one was more invested than the other, or if it was better to simply part, the bonded still feeling that desperate pull to their mate even decades later. Jug guessed he should be relieved that he hadn’t seen the colour that morning since, clearly, Roz was just not that into him.

He’d been sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the rug like that for thirty minutes when Fangs tapped softly on the door.  “Not now,” he snapped but Fangs ignored him and pushed open the door.

“Ok Jug.  I know you’re upset but it just means you haven’t found her yet.  She’s still out there and if you go into one of your epic sulks you’ve got less chance of meeting her.  What classes have you got today?”

“Nothing I can’t cancel.  Everyone’s cramming for Finals.  I was supposed to meet the princess to go over the final layout for the literary magazine.  She can do it on her own.  She’ll like that better anyway.” 

Now Kevin joined his boyfriend in the room, both of them making him feel self indulgent and guilty with their solicitousness.  “You shouldn’t shut yourself away and mope, Jughead.  Go and edit like a champ and then come by the theatre for us and we’ll go for burgers. We’re striking the set but we can take a break.  Our treat.  What do you say?”

Jughead pondered for a moment.  Nothing was going to change if he sat here, the princess would  be unbearable if he blew her off, and burgers on someone else’s tab were his favourite kind of burgers, so he grudgingly allowed himself to be persuaded.  

An hour later he was in the midst of a heated argument with the princess about his perfectly legitimate decision to kill a terrible poem about the fall which she, inexplicably, had marked for an already overcrowded page four.  “You can’t just take things out without consultation Forsythe.  We’re an editorial committee, we make decisions together.  It’s supposed to be a collaboration.”

“What, you want to keep this pile of third grade horseshit do you? And you’re just calling me that to make me mad. Don’t think I don’t know.”

“I didn’t say that.  It’s terrible.  It obviously has to go.  But you can’t just do it unilaterally. And you can’t call me Princess and not expect me to retaliate.  You know my name.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake Princess... sorry, my humblest apologies, for fuck’s sake Betty.  What the hell are we arguing about if we both think it’s bad and needs to go? And why is it even in here in the first place?”

“It’s in there because we were waiting on your egregiously late piece of sub Lovecraftian geek porn.  I was filling space.  Since you finally got your ass in gear we don’t need it anymore. So spike it.”  She had this way of making him feel like he lost, even when he won an argument.  It was infuriating.

They worked on pagination for another couple of hours with surprisingly little conflict, and then he wrote kickers for a few of the longer submissions, hoping to tempt the reader to give a story a chance.  She made sure the submissions were correctly attributed and that the running heads and page numbers and folios were in place.  Finally it seemed that they were done.  He clicked back to the front page, checked the position of the artwork and the masthead and looked over at her with a questioning expression to see if she was satisfied. She nodded her approval and, at last, under the words “Joint Editors”, he typed "Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones.”    As he clicked ‘save’ something shifted in his field of vision.  He was alarmed, pushing back from the desk and looking around, meeting her startled eyes.  Her green eyes, which weren’t green anymore.  He couldn’t describe what colour they were, there were no words.

“What just happened?” she whispered, obviously badly frightened.  

“Does…does anything look different to you?” he replied, hesitantly, reaching for his phone.

“Yes, everything.  What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure. Look at this.” He pulled up the app.  On the screen he could see, without difficulty, a cartoon cat, Pusheen maybe, its paws deep in some dough.  The caption read “I knead you.” As he read the words in his head, she said them aloud. “Fuuuuck,” he murmured.  “I think we’re soulmates, Princess.”

[imagine-a-life-like-this]

Was It You? Ending A (K.TH)

Warnings : mentions of cancer, mentions of a car accident, memory loss

Word Count : 2677

Synopsis : after losing all but one of her memories, she makes it her mission to find the boy in her memory. fate seems to do her work for her, but is he really who she’s been looking for?

Author’s Note : this is going to have 2 endings. ending b will be posted tomorrow. i hope you enjoy!

“Happy Birthday!” He exclaimed with a wide smile on his face. I met his eyes and felt content now that he was here. “I got you a present.” He pulled out a small box with a pink ribbon tied into a bow on top. I carefully took it from his hands and opened it, my smile falling into a pout when I saw the plastic ring inside; a yellow star.

           “I don’t like yellow.” I pouted up at him and he just smiled at me, taking a seat beside me, and taking the ring from the box.

           “You remind me of the colour yellow. So happy and always bringing me light. And you’re the star in my life.” I looked to the ring in between his thumb and pointer finger and in that moment I never saw a prettier piece of jewelry. “Let’s get married when we get older.” I met my best friend’s eyes. We’re only ten, not sure what love is, but I want him in my life forever.

           “Okay.” He slid the ring on my finger the way we’ve seen in movies.

           I opened the same small box from my memories, the ring that no longer fits sitting in the box just as beautiful as that day. “Y/N, are you ready to go?” I turned towards my bedroom door to see my mom standing there with a small smile on her face. I nodded, closing the box, and putting it back in the drawer it always sits in before making my way towards her. She placed her aging hands on my cheeks before kissing my forehead. “Happy birthday, sweet pea.”

           “All the tests look great. I think we’re in the clear for now.” My mom and I exchanged excited looks as the doctor relayed my latest test results. Tears welled up in my mom’s eyes and she took my hand with a smile.

           “Does that mean I can go back to Korea?” I asked hopefully, wanting to return to my hometown and find the boy from my only lasting memory.

           “I don’t see why not. You will have to continue with check ups there, but I think we’ve done all we could here for you.” I squeezed my mom’s hand in excitement, ready to get my life back after all these years.

           It was only a week later that we were packed and ready to go home. I took one last walk around the house we called home for the last 15 years. “Let’s go or we’ll miss our flight.” We grabbed the last of our bags and slid into the cab that was waiting for us. I’m not sure how I’ll find that little boy who is surely a man now, but I’m making it my mission to find him; my childhood best friend.

 3 Months Later

                   Days went by faster than I was used to. I had a part time job I worked at when I wasn’t in class. Mom told me to take it easy as it hasn’t been that long since my last surgery, but I felt on top of the world being around people my age again. “Hi, Kookie!” I greeted as I walked into the coffee shop for my shift. He waved excitedly as I headed to the back. “Busy day?” I asked when I came up front and took my usual spot at the register.

           “Not really, but it’s bound to pick up now.” The two of us made small talk and jokes in between customers. Jungkook was the first friend I made when I returned to Korea. He helps made the lonely days a little less lonely. I’ve had zero progress finding my childhood best friend, even with all the information my mom could give me. I had hoped being back would help jog some memories, but the doctors did warn me that it was possible the memories may never return.

           The bell chiming above the door signalling a new customer has arrived pulled me from my thoughts as I greeted him with a smile. When he smiled back I felt my heart pick up pace. Jungkook chuckled as I stumbled over taking his order. “I took matters into my own hands, since you’ve always been a chicken shit.” He whispered into my ear, though he never explained just what he meant.

           I found out later that night when I had a new text from an unknown number claiming to be the cute boy from the coffee shop. I smiled and shook my head as I texted him back, apologizing for my co-worker and friend.

 No need to apologize. I’m glad he gave me your number. I stared down at his text, my smile growing wider at the implication that he wanted my number.

 Me too.

           We spent the rest of the night talking when I really should have been studying for my upcoming exam. But getting to know the cute boy, Park Jimin, seemed a lot more important than my grades.

           The days passed as I continued to text Jimin and get to know him. We started hanging out whenever we both had free time and I found myself growing fond of his company. I had the same feeling in my heart as I did on my tenth birthday. It made me wonder if fate had done my work for me and brought him back to me. “This is going to sound insane.” I told him as we walked along the beach while the sun set on the horizon. I explained my memory loss. I told him about my only childhood memory; my tenth birthday. About the promise with my best friend.

           “Oh my god, you’re that Y/N?” He exclaimed, something clicking in his mind as he gave me a once over, his eyes studying every part of my body. And then he threw his arms around me. “I thought I’d never see you again.” It was all I needed to hear to confirm my suspicions. I allowed my heart to be given to him as he pressed his lips to mine for the first time.

           A month after we officially started dating, he asked if I wanted to go to a movie with him and his best friend, telling me to bring Jungkook as well as he wanted to officially meet him and thank him for getting us together. Jungkook and I met Jimin and his best friend at the theatre. Jungkook was staring at his phone as I looked around for my boyfriend, smiling when I saw him walking my way. “Hey.” I smiled as he leaned down and gave me a quick kiss.

           “I’m Kim Taehyung.” His friend greeted, holding his hand out for me to shake. I slid my hand into his as I introduced myself. Jungkook did the same, and the 4 of us went to get our tickets and snacks. Jungkook and Taehyung immediately hit it off, laughing about who knows what, while Jimin wrapped his arm around me, saying he missed me.

           After the movie, we hit the arcade and Taehyung and I bonded as Jimin and Jungkook got super competitive with each other. “I learned to never play against Jungkook the hard way.” I joked, remembering the day he was teaching me to play some of his favourite video games.

           “I learned that about Jimin too.” Taehyung laughed. We were just aimlessly walking around the arcade when my eyes stopped on one of those machines you put a coin in and get a plastic ball with a small prize inside. My eyes scanned the different prizes, smiling when I saw it had plastic rings; one that had a yellow star. “I remember loving these when I was a kid.” Taehyung laughed, scratching the back of his neck as if he was nervous. “I actually got my first crush a ring from one of these.” I looked up at him with a smile.

           “Jimin got me one for my birthday when we were ten. I actually still have it. He told me we should get married when we’re older.” I looked across the arcade to see Jimin and Jungkook walking over to us. “I didn’t think it would happen, but I’m starting to really fall for him.” I could see Taehyung’s face fall as I spoke. I turned away from him, pretending I couldn’t feel the new tension in the air and wrapped my arms around Jimin’s torso.

           After that day, the 4 of us became almost inseparable, spending all our free time together and making new memories I would be sure to remember for a lifetime. Though, Taehyung seemed to avoid me as much as possible. I tried not to let it bother me and just continue on happily.

           It wasn’t until my birthday that things seemed to change. Jimin said he worked that afternoon but would pick me up that evening for a romantic birthday dinner. Jungkook came over to help me waste time until then. I had just finished getting ready when the doorbell went off. Thinking it was Jimin, I rushed to answer, my smile faltering when I saw Taehyung on the other side. “I need to talk to you.” He spit out in a rush, grabbing my wrist and pulling me into my own house. We sat beside each other on the couch, but he got up and started pacing as he tried to get his words together. “Jimin isn’t the one who got you that ring for your birthday.”

           “What do you mean?” I asked as confusion took over my features.

           “It was me.” He stopped pacing and just stared at me as he said that. “A plastic ring with a yellow star. I told you it was because you remind me of the colour yellow, that you are my star. I lied. I tried to get you the one with the pink heart, but I ran out of change. I practiced that lie the entire walk to your house.” I stood from my seat on the couch.

           “Jimin has no reason to lie to me, Tae. Can you please leave? He’ll be here soon.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but I just walked away from him, not wanting to hear another word. I sat on my bed, thinking over everything Taehyung told me in my living room. Jimin wouldn’t have lied to me all those months ago, would he? Why would he lie? The doorbell ringing once again pulled me from my thoughts, and Jimin was on the other side this time.

           “Happy birthday, angel.” He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss, and I let Taehyung’s words go. Or at least I tried to. They distracted me all through dinner before I just couldn’t take it anymore. I set my cutlery down, causing Jimin to look up from his plate.

           “What did the plastic ring look like?” I asked, needing to know. Say yellow star. Please just say yellow star. I pleaded in my mind.

         “It was pink, because that’s your favourite colour.” He smiled before setting his own cutlery down. “Why are you asking, love?”

           “Why did you lie to me, Jimin?” I stared at the man in front of me, unsure if I really knew him. He blinked a few times before sitting back in his chair and looking out the window we were sat next to.

           “I just, you seemed so happy when you thought you found him in me, and I didn’t want to let that go.” I scoffed, sitting back in my own seat, thinking back to the words I practically spat at Taehyung earlier in the night. “I just wanted you to like me.” He leaned forward, trying to take my hand in his, but I pulled it back.

           “Did you really think I wouldn’t like you just because you weren’t my childhood best friend?” He sat there, seemingly unable to answer. “I liked you long before I thought you were him, Jimin. And I would have liked you still if you just told me.”

           “I’m sorry.” I shook my head, standing up from the table and grabbing my purse. “Don’t go. Let’s work this out.”

           “I can’t stand liars, Jimin.” Was all I said before walking out, calling Jungkook to pick me up. “Do you know where Tae lives?” I asked as I got into his car, not bothering to explain.

           “I’ll take you there.” Was all he said, knowing I’d tell him everything tomorrow. I was on a mission and I needed to talk to Taehyung.

           “What are you doing here?” Taehyung asked as he opened the door.

           “Why now? Why hide this from me when you knew?” He stood there, confusion turning into realization as he stepped aside and let me in. If this was a different scenario, I would have taken the time to look around, take in the way he lives. I would take in his décor and the random, half finished paintings strewn about, abandoned for another.

           “You seemed so happy with Jimin, but I just couldn’t hold it in anymore. I wanted you to know the truth.” I nodded.

         “So you’re my childhood best friend.” I said out loud, to no one in particular. I turned around to finally take in the apartment he lives in. “I wish I could tell if you had changed or not, but I don’t really remember who you were.” He chuckled and took my side, gesturing for me to take a seat. He disappeared into another room for only a minute before emerging with a photo album.

           “Here.” He handed it towards me as he took a seat beside me. I slowly opened it to be met with two smiling babies. “Our dad’s were best friends growing up. Their wish was for us to become just as close.” He explained, pointing to another picture where our parents stood around laughing. “Our mom’s used to joke that our dad’s would leave them for each other if they could.” I chuckled as tears welled up in my eyes.

           “My mom never talks about my dad, or your parents. What happened?” Taehyung told me about the accident. How our dad’s were going on their annual bro trip and got hit by a drunk driver. How our mom’s stopped talking after that, really only being friends because their husbands were close.

           “But we stayed close.” He told me. “We went to the same school and were always together.” I smiled as he flipped the page, pointing to a picture of us in our uniforms, smiling widely at the camera.

           “You told me that you got the plastic ring for your first crush.” I pointed out and watched as his cheeks went pink and he smiled shyly.

           “You were always beautiful to me.” He shrugged. “And you always knew how to make me laugh. Even after the accident when I thought I’d never be happy, you stuck around and did everything you could to see me smile every day.” I playfully shoved him with my shoulder.

           “I’m glad I was that for you.” He pointed at some other pictures, explaining backstories, and telling me all about our childhood together.

           “And then you were gone.” He ended, closing the album, and setting it on the table. I took his hand in mine, causing him to look at me.

           “I got into an accident, Tae. After waking up from the initial surgery, I was told they needed to do tests as they believed they found a tumour in my brain. My mom moved us to America after finding a world-renowned doctor who could save my life. I had many surgeries, that’s why I can’t remember my childhood with you. But I held on to that ring and the memory of my tenth birthday, promising myself I’d come back to you one day. I’m sorry it took so long.” He just stared into my eyes before bringing a hand up to my face, cupping it gently before closing the space between us; kissing me softly.

[maggies-scribblings]

2) "How long have you been standing there?" If you're willing, I'm thinking this would be interesting with Marichat post season 3. 😊

“How long have you been standing there?”

Of all the responsibilities Marinette inherited as Guardian, that cursed Grimoire was by far her biggest headache.

Well, Master Fu did leave a USB drive with the scanned pages of the sacred book, and a password-protected file with all the discoveries he’d made with her help: the power-up potion recipes, the story of how the Miraculous came to be, the descriptions of each jewel’s powers…

Unfortunately, his work was left incomplete by his forced retirement, leaving Marinette to painstakingly decipher almost everything Master Fu could not. However, there was still a very important part that eluded her after four years — the ritual that had to be performed in order to summon The Wish. Not because she wanted to use it, rather to be able to identify any peculiar ingredients or locations she could use to trace Hawkmoth.

The cypher on this section was even more complex than the rest: not only were the glyphs more intricate, the illustrations were so bizarre she couldn’t tell whether they were allegorical or instructional.

It was a race against Hawkmoth, who had recently cracked the code on the copy he had stolen from Master Fu. This had been evident a few months ago, when a fire-powered Mayura, together with a flaming akumatized villain, had attacked an old theatre full of people attending a concert.

Repeatedly, Hawkmoth had shown to be playing around with the power-ups, prompting Ladybug to keep a stockpile of potions so that everyone in Team Miraculous could use them in an emergency.

Approaching the subject as methodically as her chaotic life allowed, Marinette reserved her Wednesday nights to work on the Grimoire. On this beautiful evening, she decided to move the studies to her balcony, reclining on her lounge chair. At least her muscles could relax a little. Her nerves? Not so much…

“Goddamn mystical book!”

She was holding the tablet on one hand and taking notes on the notebook on her lap with the other. She’d been on this very page for weeks, with no progress.

“Aaaah!” Marinette screamed, “are you sure you can’t help me, Tikki?”

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” the little god replied from her favourite flower pot. “You know us kwamis can’t know the secrets of the book.”

Another few minutes passed in silence, before Marinette let out a frustrated huff, slamming her stuff down on the reel that served as coffee-table.

“I give up! I will never break the stupid magic code on the stupid magic book.”

“Is everything okay here?” A familiar voice asked, quizzically.

Looking for the source of the voice, Marinette yelped as she spotted the unexpected visitor, perched on the wall just behind her.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked, as she tried (and failed) to conceal her reading materials.

“I heard a scream,” Chat Noir replied evasively, “I simply wanted to check on my favourite civilian. After all, this city is littered with danger!”

“Oh. I didn’t realise I was so loud.” Marinette blushed in embarrassment. “Sorry to alarm you. I was just having trouble with some homework.”

“Can I help you?” he plopped down beside her. “My wits are as sharp as my claws.”

Marinette snorted involuntarily, only to try and cover it up with a fake cough.

“No, thank you. It’s… kinda personal.”

The notebook with some of the symbols she’d copied was still visible, despite Marinette’s attempts to hide it. She watched in panic as his eyes landed on it, head tilted sideways in curiosity.

“Oh, I recognize some of those characters.” Before Marinette could swipe it from view, he picked it up.

“Hey, that’s priva— wait… you know these symbols?”

“Not exactly… Why are you writing this?”

“Oh! It’s a—a…” Marinette scrambled to find an excuse. “It’s copied from an old document, from my mother’s side of the family. I don’t even know what it is.”

“They look like Thai characters, only… in an ancient form…”

“Thai? You know Thai!?”

“Oh… I’ve been there for— for work. I saw something similar to this in an old museum.”

Reluctantly, she allowed him to see the rest of her notes. She was pushing her luck, really. Then again, Chat Noir had never seen the Grimoire, had he? And who knew, maybe he could help.

He flipped through the pages, studying the copied symbols intently.

“These drawings, though... they don’t look like anything I’ve seen before… except…”

Marinette noticed the change in his countenance, from curious excitement to perplexed recognition. “Uh-oh!”

“Oh, never mind, then.” She forced a laugh and waved dismissively, trying to pry the notebook from his claws. “It’s probably an old recipe or something like that.”

“Where did you say you got this?” Was his voice actually trembling?

“My—my mother’s uncle— great-uncle. He’s no longer around.”

“Not around, huh?” Marinette felt the way he was studying her face. “You mean he died?”

“N—no… he— retired.” Even with the risk of discovery, she couldn’t bring herself to lie. “A—abroad.”

“Hmm…” he mumbled again, flipping the pages of the notebook until he found a particular figure. “This one certainly rings a bell.”

He showed her the pages where she had reproduced the diagram of the wish. “Crap, I forgot I had doodled that!”

“You’ve seen that image before?” she gulped nervously.

“Just once, briefly. In a book I borrowed from my father then lost.”

“You? Y-you borrowed then lost it?”

“Hmm-hmm. It was mysteriously returned a few days later. My father never told me who found it.”

“And this book… belonged to your father?”

“It was a present from my mother. He was very upset about me losing it.”

“Upset?” Marinette was barely able to speak coherently, the way her head was spinning.

“Yes. So upset he was— never mind.”

Chat Noir put the notes down on the table, the movement lighting up the tablet screen Marinette had forgotten to lock.

It was impossible not to see the scanned page, complete with balloon notes and the title “Miraculous Spellbook Translation — V.2.34”. Marinette smacked her own forehead. “Why didn’t I lock the screen? Why didn’t I change the name of the file?”

She couldn’t stop him from picking up the tablet and flipping through the pages, exact reproductions of Gabriel Agreste’s book, down to the wear marks and ragged edges.

There were a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, where it seemed like both were putting two and two together and coming up with a square.

“Whe—” his voice came out cracking, so Chat Noir cleared his throat and tried again. “Where exactly did you get this, Marinette?”

“I— I told you already…”

“That great-uncle of yours… his name wouldn’t happen to be Wang Fu, would it?”

Marinette grimaced — there was no going back now.

“Y-you knew my uncle?”

“He was Master Fu to me… but of course, you know that very well, don’t you?”

Chat Noir’s frown turned into that mischievous grin he sported when he had a trick up his sleeve.

“So, would you say you can’t make heads or tails of this book… Bug?”

Marinette smiled back playfully, flicking his nose in an affectionate gesture.

“I’d say we’ve only just scratched the surface, Kitty. What do you say we work on it together?”

Prompt: “How long have you been standing there?”, Marichat, post-season 3.

For @miraculous-elcie. Thanks to everyone on Discord who chimed in!

[celosiaa]

Submission by @entitynumber5: Hi Connor, I hope you’re having a WONDERFUL birthday and that you get to take a break from studying to do the things you enjoy and just have the lovely day you deserve!!! For this morning’s “write what I like” sprint (trying a new method of getting it all out before I have to put the brain into study mode), I wrote a lil something about 🎃 spooky season birthdays 🎃set in the Emmaverse… which turned out kind of long and a bit sappy. So there is no pressure to read it! I just love these characters :’) the working title is “Martin and Jon get proven wrong by an adorable five year old”.

Content warnings: brief mentions of blood, alcohol and minor injury (in relation to Martin working a Halloween paramedic shift); food.

Emma is obsessed with birthdays. Just not her own.

She turned five in May, and no matter how special they tried to make the day—with rainbow layer cake and carefully-selected presents and a visit to the roller-skating rink with her best friends—she didn’t seem half as excited as when it was someone else’s birthday. She would hardly sleep the night before friends’ parties. She spent hours wrapping the presents she picked for them with ribbons and bows and even confetti stuffed inside the paper. The only time they could encourage her to practice the piano for her weekly lessons was when she played the Happy Birthday song over FaceTime for her friends’ birthdays that were during school holidays.

The only thing Emma seems to have held onto from her own birthday is the notebook given to her Georgie and Melanie. Martin seems to remember there being two: one with little cartoon ghost drawn in the front by Georgie and the other with a scribble of the Admiral by Melanie. But Emma only carries the one around with her everywhere, and Martin is starting to doubt his own memory about there being a duplicate.

She has it with her now, as they sit outside the lecture theatre where Jon is currently teaching. In the too-big chair beside the door, her legs swing as she holds the notebook very close, staring intently at its pages while she wriggles her fluffy purple pen in thought.

“Daddy,” Emma says, in that voice that means she has a Very Serious Question, “When is your birthday?”

Martin is still a little dazed from nearly a week of night shifts. It’s the first time in six days that he hasn’t been working or sleeping at this time in the afternoon, and while walking with Emma to Jon’s work to surprise him at the end of the day seemed like a nice idea in practice, he really wishes he was lying on the sofa. They could be watching Peppa Pig for the thousandth time. Or getting started on dinner, which he isn’t going to let Jon make after a long day of teaching. He’s been mentally calculating how many hours it is until he can go to bed, how many tasks he has to do before then.

This feels like a selfish thought, though, and he pushes it aside quickly in favour of smiling at Emma. “My birthday?”

“Yes,” Emma replies, still very grave, “That’s what I said. At school today, Miss Jones made us all put stickers on the big calendar on the wall for our birthdays. I wrote down all of my friends’ birthdays.”

“That’s nice.”

“And now I want to write down yours.”

“Okay, well, my birthday is next month.”

Emma frowns. “Next month. That’s…” she counts on her fingers until she seems to reach the answer she’s looking for. “October?”

“It is!” Martin grins. “Well done.”

Emma’s little frown doesn’t ease. “What day?”

“Well, do you know how many days are in October?”

Emma thinks. Shakes her head.

“There are thirty-one days in October,” Martin tells Emma, “And my birthday is on the very last day.”

Emma nods and returns to her notebook, slowly enunciating the words as she writes them down: “Oc-to-ber three-one.”

Martin wonders if Emma realises his birthday coincides with Halloween. Besides birthdays, she still doesn’t seem too interested in dates, no matter how many times her teacher makes her write them at the top of every page in her workbook. And during previous years, they celebrated Martin’s birthday the day before or after Halloween itself, so they can separate the two events, although perhaps she doesn’t remember.

Before Martin can ask, the door of the lecture theatre opens and students start filing out. Emma puts away her notebook and pen, her frown of concentration replaced by a glowing smile as she waits, bouncing excitedly in the chair, for her Baba to notice them waiting just outside.

*

“Jon,” Martin whisper-shouts as he tiptoes into the house after his shift, hoping he doesn’t wake Emma—but that his husband knows it’s urgent. “Jon, Jon, Jon.”

Jon emerges from the kitchen, wearing a pair of yellow washing up gloves dripping soap suds and a look of alarm. “What’s wrong?”

Martin ushers him back into the kitchen and shuts the door as quietly as possible, hoping it won’t wake Emma—or, worse yet, the cats, who will sit outside any closed door and cry to be let inside no matter what activity they were engaged in before.

“Martin,” Jon says, “What’s going on?”

“They just released the shifts for the next few weeks,” Martin replies, “And I’m working.”

“Well, good. I should hope so.”

“On my birthday.”

Jon’s expression merges into one of comprehension: Emma. And her newfound obsession with birthdays. “Ah.”

“Yep.”

“I don’t suppose you could swap shifts with someone?” Jon asks.

Martin sits down at the table, lowering his head into his hands. He wants to shower, change out of his paramedic uniform, but he knows he won’t be able to focus on anything else until they’ve had this conversation. “No one’s going to willingly take a Halloween shift. For a start, Andrew is terrified of clowns. And people are usually drunk, and it’s actually really hard to tell the difference between real and fake blood.”

“We could celebrate the day after,” Jon says, taking off the washing up gloves and sitting opposite Martin. He reaches across the table to take Martin’s hand. “I mean, you were born five minutes before midnight. It wouldn’t be a lie so much as a… slight shifting of the truth.”

“Jonathan Sims.” Martin gapes across the table at him. “Are you suggesting we lie to our daughter?”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“No, Martin,” Jon says again, “I’m simply suggesting we separate your birthday from Halloween, as we have done every year, and not draw attention to the fact because our daughter is currently obsessed with other peoples’ birthdays.”

“And it might upset her if she knew we were actually celebrating on the wrong day.”

“Exactly.”

Martin sighs. “I don’t know. It feels… sort of wrong.”

“Apparently, children under the age of seven have no concept of the passing of time and—”

“Did Tim tell you that?”

“No.”

“Oh, god. It wasn’t Helen, was it? Please tell me you haven’t been having philosophical discussions about parenting with Helen again.”

“Martin,” Jon interrupts, “It was in the parenting book you gave me.”

“Huh. I don’t remember that chapter. Oh, god, maybe I should re-read it. The whole thing. Beginning to end. I—”

“Martin.” Jon squeezes his hand. “You deserve a day of your own. Tim and Sasha already agreed to take Emma trick-or-treating on Halloween. She will be focused on that for most of the day; she’s already talking about how excited she is. Let us spend the day after that treating you to all the wonderful things you deserve on your birthday—and every day.”

Martin manages a small smile, although every instinct inside of him is telling him not to accept Jon’s proposal. Not because he is worried about the ethics of manipulating their daughter’s concept of time—although this is a concern, too—but because he doesn’t want Jon to feel like he has to do any of this. To make a whole day about him, even if he takes great pleasure and care in doing the same for Jon on his birthday.

“Thanks, Jon,” Martin murmurs.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Now, why don’t you go and have a warm shower? I’ve put the hot water on so it shouldn’t run out while you’re in there this time.”

Martin smirks. “Are you saying I smell?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” Martin presses, teasing now. “Because I did have to treat a farmer who’d been kicked by one of his cows this evening.”

“Okay, alright, yes. Yes, you smell. Please go and have a shower.”

Martin laughs and gets up from the table. “I’m going, I’m going.”

“That really is disgusting, Martin.”

“It’s actually a pretty funny story. About the farmer, I mean. He’s fine, by the way. I’ll tell you about it when I’m out of the shower.”

Jon shakes his head. “Why today, of all days, have you abandoned the notion of showering before you sit down at the dinner table?”

“I had something important to tell you!”

“Fine. Alright.” Jon shakes his head again. “Now please have a shower. For your sake as much as mine.”

“Love you,” Martin sing-songs as he exits the kitchen. He hears Jon’s gentle laugh chase him into the warmth of the bathroom, where Jon has put on the radiator and left him a fresh towel. He smiles, feeling his love for Jon balloon in his chest, and settles into the sensation being home.

*

Martin’s Halloween—and birthday—shift is so busy that he barely has time to check his phone. Tim has sent an album of photos of him, Sasha and Emma out trick-or-treating, dressed as Mike, Sulley and Boo from Monsters, Inc. Jon has been updating him on the number of trick-or-treaters who have visited their house (fifty-four, as of ten thirty p.m.), and how Iris and the cats are holding up with the constant ringing of the doorbell.

On his break, Martin quickly texts Tim to watch his glucose levels and not to forget his insulin (to which Tim replies yes, sir with a number of yellow heart emojis). He also texts Sasha to say she can take home any of the Skittles they get on their expedition, since they’re her favourite but Emma hates them. He tells Jon he loves him and to give Iris a pet on his behalf and that there’s some spare sweets under the sink, if they’re running low. Then it’s back to work.

The shift passes quickly, in the end. There is so much to do and no time to think about anything other than their patients. He does get given a toffee apple by someone dressed as a Minion at a student house party, and he narrowly avoids getting his face painted by twins who are the same age as Emma while his team are checking their mother’s twisted ankle after a fall trying to get to the door in time for a last-minute delivery of sweets. It’s not an awful shift, but it is, like always, exhausting and difficult in the same measure as it’s rewarding and hopeful.

By the time he gets home, all he wants to do is sleep. Emma is tucked into bed, fast asleep, while her nightlight projects solar systems onto the ceiling. Jon, too, is sleeping soundly with the cats for company. Iris barely looks up from her bed when he comes inside, but she gives a little wag of her tail each time he passes down the hallway to shower or get a drink of water. There’s a plastic pumpkin full of Emma’s sweets on the table, next to the empty bowl that had once been full of treats to hand out to their visitors.

Martin’s smiles—it looks like a night well-spent for his family—and this thought carries him through an exhausted shower before he crawls into bed next to Jon. Jon must be tired, too, because he doesn’t stir. Martin makes a mental note to check his joints aren’t playing up from all the getting up and down from the sofa during the trick-or-treat visits.

Sometime later, Martin wakes to the soft click of the door as it opens. He squints against the light bursting around the edges of the still-shut curtains, expecting to see Jon tiptoeing to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Instead, Emma is creeping inside, holding a tray of pancakes while Jon follows behind, balancing two cups of tea.

“Happy birthday!” Emma says, as she places the tray down on the bed next to Martin. “We made spooky pancakes!”

Martin rubs the sleep from his eyes and sits up fully. He glances at the alarm clock next to the bed: 11:42 a.m. He’s been asleep for just over six hours, but it somehow feels longer and yet not enough. “It’s not—”

Jon clears his throat.

“Oh. Oh, thank you, Emma! These are wonderful.”

The pancakes are, indeed, spooky. Emma has used a pumpkin cookie cutter to shape them and then drawn on funny faces with fruit and syrup. No longer responsible for balancing the tray, Emma looks at Jon, a little uncertain, and Jon nods in encouragement as he places their cups of tea down on the bedside table.

“I made you a present,” Emma says almost shyly.

Martin smiles gently at her. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you, Emma.”

Emma pulls something off the tray. It’s the second notebook, the one Martin thought he’d imagined, wrapped in a glittery silver ribbon and some confetti streamers. She offers it to Martin, and he takes it carefully, holding it as if it might fall apart in his hands.

“You can open it,” Emma tells him seriously.

Martin unwraps the ribbon. Emma takes it from him, along with the confetti, perhaps to reuse for another present. Slowly, Martin cracks open the notebook to the first page. There is Georgie’s ghoulish sketch, alongside a new inscription in Emma’s handwriting: Sorted Poems By Emma K. Blackwood-Sims. For Daddy’s Birthday. October 31.

Martin feels something tender and soft unfurl in his chest, until he’s certain he is going to cry. He begins to flick through the pages, but Emma says: “Wait!”

Martin stops. “What is it?”

“Look.” Emma climbs on to the bed, elbowing her way into the space next to him, and reaches across Martin to open the notebook on the first page again, where her inscription is. She points at her name.

“It’s meant to say assorted poems,” Jon says, “But neither of us were sure how to spell it.”

Martin laughs, the sound a little wet and shaky with the tears he can feel building. Jon hates spelling. It’s his least favourite type of homework to help Emma with.

“Look,” Emma says again, “I wrote my name like yours!”

Martin smiles. “Blackwood-Sims? But that’s your name, too.”

“No,” Emma insists, “Emma K Blackwood-Sims. Like you! Like a proper poet.”

“Oh,” Martin murmurs, “Oh.”

He’s sure he and Jon will laugh about this later. Martin doesn’t actually have a middle name. Emma does, but it certainly doesn’t begin with K. But right now, he feels tears on his cheeks as he takes in his daughter’s hard work.

Emma reaches for his face, patting away his tears with the palms of her hands. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I promise,” Martin replies, sniffling in an attempt to draw back the tears, “I’m happy. And I love you so, so much.”

Emma frowns. “Will pancakes make you feel better?”

“I’m alright, Emma. I promise. These are happy tears.”

“Pancakes always make me feel better,” Jon announces, climbing onto the other side of the bed and sliding back underneath the covers. He settles Emma down in the middle of them, handing her a mug full of juice. She doesn’t drink tea yet, but she doesn’t like to be left out when they do, so she has her own mug.

“These look wonderful,” Martin tells them, arranging the tray so they can all reach. Emma takes a plate and hands it to Jon, then does the same for Martin, before grabbing the final one for herself. “You’re getting very good at pancakes.”

“Baba said we can learn French toast next,” Emma says.

“Wow. That’s big.”

Emma nods. “It’s more difficult than normal toast.”

Martin chuckles. “It certainly is.”

They distribute the pumpkin-shaped pancakes between them. While they eat in bed, they tell each other stories about their Halloween night. Jon talks about the costumes of the people who visited their house, how many compliments they got on their pumpkin carving skills. Emma narrates her trick-or-treating adventure with Tim and Sasha. Martin shares the safest tales of his nightshift, the funny costumes he saw and the extravagant decorations at the parties they visited.

Martin is exhausted again by the time they’ve finished the pancakes. Jon insists on taking their empty plates back to the kitchen and making them another cup of tea, while Emma snuggles against Martin’s side. She rests her head on his shoulder.

“I know it’s not your birthday, Daddy,” Emma whispers.

Half-asleep until now, Martin grunts himself awake. “What was that, sweetheart?”

“I know it’s not really your birthday,” Emma tells him, not moving from where she’s clinging to his arm, “Your birthday was yesterday. On Halloween.”

“Oh, Emma, we—”

“It’s okay,” Emma says, “It’s like when we had a party on Saturday even though my birthday was on Wednesday because I had school.”

“Yeah.” Martin stokes his hand through Emma’s hair. “It is a bit like that.”

“I still get to say happy birthday.”

“You do.”

“But can we have a party on the right day next year?” Emma asks.

“For your birthday?”

“No, for your birthday.”

“Oh.” Martin laughs. “Yes. It might not be a party, if I have to work again, but we can do this. This is lovely. Thank you for being so thoughtful. And I’m excited to read your poems.”

“Baba said they were good.”

“Well, that’s high praise indeed.”

“It was fun.”

“That’s good. That’s what matters most when you make things.“

Emma wriggles around until she’s grinning up at him. “Can I read your poems now?”

Martin sighs, barely supressing a laugh. This isn’t the first time she’s asked. “Emma.”

She sticks her bottom lip out, pouting in a way that breaks Martin’s heart to the point where he can never turn her down when she’s looking at him like this. “Please.”

“Alright,” Martin gives in, “I’ll read you one tonight. Before bed.”

“Yay!” Emma’s grin grows even wider. "Thank you, Daddy.”

“Thank you. And I love you very, very much.”

“Love you, too.”

They settle back down. Martin dozes a little again, a smile on his face, as he thinks about telling Jon later that their daughter very much does understand the concept of time. There really are some things parenting books don’t prepare you for—like the way his love seems to grow with each day he gets with Emma and Jon, even when he thinks it’s impossible, that he already loves them more than any person can.

Some things are gifts even when they are not given as such, and Martin is beginning to allow himself to think of his life with his daughter and his husband as one. He didn’t ask for it with words or lists. He doesn’t know, even now, if he deserves it. But it’s his. And he will treasure it always.

Not featured: Martin realising what he’s agreed to and frantically trying to find a non-angsty poem he can read to his five-year-old daughter. Jon thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

<3

[ouiouipparker]

~You Said You loved me~ R.B

Ricky Imagine-

In Which: Y/n is dating E.J. Caswell. Y/n realizes romance is just a fantasy but little does she know someone she didn’t expect to love her, loved her too

This is taken off of my wattpad account (ouiouipparker) so go check it out for more imagines

Word Count: 

Warnings: Slightly depressing, but mainly just fluff from our fav lil bean Ricky

Happy Reading!

You were always the type of person who loved romance. Whether it was Romance novels or Romantic comedies you were a fan.

So when you got your first boyfriend, you always wanted to do cheesy romantic things.

Ricky always teased you about it. He said you were too much of a 'Romantic' whatever the heck that meant.

Ricky was your best friend. He had been since you were in kindergarten.

You'd had a crush on him for a long time. Before you met E.J. who was your current boyfriend, you'd always imagine what it would have been like if you had told Ricky your feelings sooner. Before he developed feelings for Nini.

Nini Salazar-Roberts.

She was your other best friend.

You didn't tell her your feelings for Ricky because you knew she also had a crush on him. You didn't think you stood a chance.

You were right.

They got together a few months after Nini told you about her feelings.

And you knew he was crazy about her.

So you did what you had to.

You moved on.

That's when E.J. came into your life.

You two had gone to theatre camp over the summer and you really got to know him.

You being the romantic you were, developed a crush on him.

Somehow he liked you too.

Call it a summer fling but you knew there was something more. You two shared something that you had only ever felt with Ricky.

It wasn't like the other mini crushes you occasionally had when you tried to get over Ricky.

You'd fallen for him.

And you fell hard.

Things escalated quickly and you started dating E.J before the summer ended.

When September rolled around, you were finally happy.

You met someone new, someone that wasn't Ricky and you had finally moved on from Ricky and all the drama from last year.

You were optimistic about this year. Junior year was going to be your year.

You finally got a lead in the fall musical, you had your first boyfriend, and everything was good between you and Ricky.

That's all you wanted.

You prayed it would stay that way. But with your luck, you knew it was a matter of time before something got screwed up.

That's how it always happened in the Romance novels you were obsessed with.

The first few months of school had passed and you suddenly found yourself in the lunchroom with your friends.

You had been involved in the theatre program since you were a Freshman. So you had gotten close with a lot of the reoccurring members. Ashlyn had become one of your close friends.

She was throwing a party tonight and she had invited the cast from the fall musical.

You were excited to go and have fun with your friends.

E.J, however, wasn't excited.

He knew Ricky would be there, and he didn't trust him with how close you were with Ricky.

You assured him that you were just friends but he was still skeptical.

So he tried to convince you not to go to the party.

"Come on Y/n. Can we just stay home and watch movies on your couch please." E.J begs

You shake your head.

"I'm sorry E.J we can't. Ashlyn asked me to go to the party. Plus E.J you know how much this party means to her."

He sighs kissing you on your forehead.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just want to stay in and cuddle." E.J sighs.

"It's okay. We can watch movies next week alright?"

"I'm fine with whatever, as long as it's with you."

"You're so cheesy." You tease going on your tiptoes to give him a kiss.

"Says you. You're the one who's into all the romantic things." He smirks accepting your kiss.

'Okay but you love it."

"That is true."

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

After school, you went over to E.J's house and started to help Ashlyn set up for the party when you got a call from Ricky.

"Hey Rick! You coming to the party tonight?" You ask enthusiastically.

"Yeah. I know if I say no you'll drag me over there anyway." He laughs.

You smile even though he couldn't see you smiling.

Ricky knew you were though. He knew you too well.

When he broke up with Nini, he realized he dated the wrong girl.

Sure Nini was great, but she wasn't you.

His feelings for Nini went away when he realized he wanted to be with you.

He loved you and only you.

So he broke up with Nini, hoping you felt the same.

But of course, you just had to date E.J.

He knew he had missed his shot.

And he messed up with you and Nini.

But you were happy with E.J.

He didn't want to be the person that messed up your happiness.

So he shoved his feelings away. Just like you had done when he started dating Nini.

He vowed one day, he would tell you how he felt.

Because he knew you were the only one for him.

After a minute or so, it got quite on Ricky's end of the phone call.

"Ricky? You still there?" You ask.

"Hm, yeah. Yeah, I'm here."

"Okay. Um is there a reason you called or something. I mean I want to talk and all but I'm helping Ashlyn set up so um."

"Oh yeah, should I bring anything to the party?"

Before you could protest, Ashlyn took your phone.

"Just bring yourself, whatever games you have and whatever you want to bring is okay. Except for Alcohol or anything illegal."

You laugh taking your phone back from her.

"So um I'll see you at 6?"

"Yeah. I'll be there. See you soon Y/n."

You smile and hang up the call to continue helping Ashlyn.

"Thanks so much for helping out Y/n."

"Of course Ash." You smile.

"There are just a few things I still have to do but I think Big Red should be here soon so he can help me. E.J is in his room so you can just go in there whenever. I just need to bring these towels upstairs."

You nudge her when she mentioned Big Red. You knew she had a crush on him and you and Ricky had been trying to set them up ever since you two found out they liked each other.

"Shut up Y/n." Ashlyn laughs nudging you back.

"Here let me take those for you. I'll put these upstairs." You smile as you take the towels and start to head upstairs.

As you walk upstairs you hear voices coming out of E.J's room.

"You haven't told her!" You hear shouting.

"Nini, please. Don't say anything. I promise I'll tell her soon just, please. Don't tell Y/n. Let me do it."

"No E.J. You said you would tell her. I can't keep lying to her. She's my best friend."

"I know. Just, please. Do this for me. She shouldn't find out from someone else."

"Tell me what?" You ask.

E.J and Nini jump.

"Hey, babe. Um, its nothing. Right, Nini?"

You see E.J nudge Nini in the side and you knew he was hiding something.

Nini groans walking out of the room hugging you as she did.

"Yeah, its nothing. I'll see you downstairs." She smiles as she exits.

"Is everything okay E.J?" You ask once Nini had left.

"Everything's fine." He smiled motioning you to come over.

You sigh realizing you were just overthinking everything and hopped onto his bed.

He brings you to his chest and you get into a comfortable position

"I love you." He mumbles.

"I love you too E.J."

And you really did.

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

The party had been going well. You were having a lot of fun with your friends.

It had been an hour or so since you last saw E.J. You didn't want to be the clingy type but you wanted to be with him for at least some of the party.

You go upstairs to his room trying to find him and you knock on his door before entering anyway.

You freeze.

He was kissing some other girl you couldn't see.

Until they turned around and saw you in your heartbroken state.

E.J scrambles to get out of his bed.

And you saw Gina in his bed.

"Y/n, please. I'm sorry don't leave!" E.J says as he tries to go to you.

"You said you loved me E.J." You say softly.

"I'm sorry, please just hear me out."

"You lied to me!" You shout.

"Please Y/n-"

"How could you E.J." You choke out as tears drip down your cheeks.

You suddenly feel someone's presence behind you.

It was Ricky.

"What's going on?" He asks.

You shake your head running out of the door.

"Y/n please!"

But you were already out the door.

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

Although you were a romantic, you knew that reality always came crashing when you least expect it to.

That's how all your love stories had ended.

That night, was the night yours had ended with E.J

You knew you couldn't trust him again, not after what he did.

And what's the point on continuing a relationship if you can't trust the other person.

So you did what you had to do.

You texted him one more time and ended it, blocking his phone number and all your social media accounts in the process.

You drove home and then you cried as soon as your head hit the pillow.

Maybe it was the music playing in the background, or what had just happened to you, but that night you realized fundamental things about love.

As you cried, you realized happily ever after was never real. It would never happen to you.

You realized you had set your expectations too high. Romance was never what it seemed. It wasn't real.

You hear footsteps, and you saw the shadow of your best friend at the corner of your eye.

"I guess you found out.." She says softly.

You were too hurt to say anything so it stays quiet for a few minutes.

"Was this what you were going to tell me today." You ask.

She nods.

You start crying and she held you as you cried

You went to bed that night crying shutting everyone out.

It had been a few days since you found out E.J cheated on you.

You hadn't left your room, Ricky and Nini being the only ones allowed inside your room.

Currently, Nini was there sitting on your bed as you binged an unhealthy amount of RomComs and ate ice cream out of the pint.

"Y/n I have to tell you something, but please don't be mad." Nini blurts out randomly.

"What is it Ni?" You ask.

"I found E.J kissing Gina in the theatre a few days ago and told him if he didn't tell you I would. I know I should have told you earlier I'm sorry but there was never a right time to tell you-"

You squeeze her hand which was your way of saying you weren't mad at her.

"I'm not mad at you Nini. I haven't been honest with you either."

"What haven't you told me Y/n?" She asks.

You sigh scared to admit it out loud.

"Before I dated E.J and before you dated Ricky, I liked Ricky. I liked him for a few years but I didn't do anything about it because I knew you liked him too and I didn't want to hurt you by telling you. But apart of me never fully got over him. E.J helped me get over him temporarily and now that this happened, I don't know how long it will be before those feelings for Ricky come back." You confess.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Nini asks.

"Because Ni, you liked him. So much. And I knew if I told you, you would give up your chance with Ricky for me even though I never stood a chance and I would have been the reason why you got hurt. I never want that for you. So I hid my feelings."

Nini groans out in frustration before smacking your head lightly.

"Ow! Nini, what was that for?" You ask.

"Y/n, you know I love you but I swear, you're so stupid sometimes." Nini laughs.

"Hey!" You pouted.

"Did I ever say why Ricky broke up with me?" She asks softly.

"Because he couldn't say I love you." You respond.

She nods.

"Yes, because he didn't love me, he loved you."

"Wait, that can't be true. He never loved me, it was always you-"

"He loved you y/n. I think he still does. That's why he could never say it to me."

"That's impossible."

"Okay fine. The next time Ricky comes over, I want you to ask him if he ever loved you. If he says yes and I know he will you owe me $20." Nini says.

"Fine, deal In fact I'll call him right now to come over just to watch you lose."

"Okay. Watch him say 'of course, anything for you Y/n'."

You stick your tongue out at her childishly.

You pick up your phone to call Ricky.

You hover over his contact and he picks up after the second ring.

"Hi, Ricky. Um, can you come over, please? I need you."

That was true. You needed him.

"Yeah, of course, I'm on my way, is everything alright?" He asks.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm sorry I know this is last minute, I just really need you, Rick."

"Of course Y/n. Anything for you."

Nini smirks as you stick your tongue out at her.

"I'll be there in 10." He says

"Okay. See you then."

Ricky hangs up.

"Of course, Anything for you Y/n." Nini mimics.

"Shut up Ni." You laugh

"I'm getting my $20." Nini cheers.

"That doesn't mean anything. There's no way Ricky loves me." ***********************************************************************************

"Look Y/n, I love you. I love you more than a best friend. It's always been you."

It had been 20 minutes since Ricky came over.

30 seconds since he said the words you wanted him to say for 4 years.

You waited for him to say those 3 words for so long and it was finally happening.

You were shocked, to say the least.

He sat on your bed, his fingers running through his hair.

You were scared to admit you loved him too. Because he could leave you any second.

He could hurt you like E.J had.

You were terrified to give Ricky that side of you. To let your walls down again.

"I know its bad timing with what E.J did to you but I had to tell you. Before I lost my chance again."

You're still speechless. So you did what you had been wanting to do since 8th grade.

You kissed him.

"I love you too Ricky Bowen. Always have always will. "

"Ha pay up Y/n!" Nini shouts.

"Shut up Nini." You laugh before going to kiss Ricky again.

"Can we do that a thousand more times?" Ricky smirks.

"Who's the romantic one now?" You tease him.

He rolled his eyes.

"Shut up and kiss me."

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

Thanks for reading my first imagine on this account!

xx

-ouiouipparker

[cipheress-to-k-pop]

Hospital Visit

Pairing: Sam Alexander x Reader

Word Count: 2.3K

Warnings: None

Summary: Peter’s doctor is a total babe, according to Sam, the perfect reason to pursue her, even if that means faking an injury.

Author’s Note: This would’ve been posted sooner if I could think of a good title. I still don’t think it’s that great but I can’t have this in my drafts any longer or I will scream.

As a medic in training, you were only allowed to treat the agents who had superficial injuries on your own. It helped you gain experience and also gave you the confidence to treat someone if you were faced with a situation where there were too many patients for the senior healers to handle.

The lack of responsibility was of course because of your age. Being sixteen, people didn’t really think you could handle yourself or do anything beneficial for a patient. But you had seen more bloodshed as a child that you knew how to handle many things in an operating theatre.

S.H.I.E.L.D. found you when you were barely through puberty, working as a medic in your father’s underground fight club. You treated a lot of the fighters and they were surprised at your level of skill for a young girl.

They gave you an opportunity to live a life, which was more than your father had. To him you were always just a nurse, but S.H.I.E.L.D. gave you an opportunity to go to school, even make a living from working on the Helicarrier. You were a child in their eyes and it had been a while since you felt so.

You didn’t have to go through the stress or difficulties that a doctor went through on a regular day. However, there were those days where the lights began flashing red and it was all hands-on deck while patient after patient passed through the door, being injured in an alien attack. Or a super-villain attack. Or a corrupt-organization-that-was-trying-to-destroy-Nick-Fury attack.

It was never just a case of the common cold.

But I guess that’s what would make your job interesting. You couldn’t speak for the spandex-clad, super-powered, adrenaline junkies that called themselves superheroes but your job had enough excitement for you.

So much so that you swore one day they’d be treating you for a heart attack.

However, you learned to be less surprised whenever there was a sudden need for medics. Of course, you were more likely to treat those with the superficial wounds, that usually consisted of the superheroes and you were usually in charge of Spiderman, who you had grown comfortable with to call your own patient.

The other medics knew this and so they would always send him your way, unless it was bad, which it never was. Spiderman was reckless, but luckily for him he never got badly hurt.

That was such a case today, the team had gone after the sinister 6 and quite frankly gotten their asses handed to them, landing themselves in the medical bay.

“Hey Peter.” You smiled at the boy lying on the bed once you came in, looking at the clipboard in your hand. He was pretty lucky, he came out relatively unscathed as compared to his teammates, only with a few bruises and cuts, but luckily nothing was broken.

You couldn’t imagine how. Especially when they were getting thrown around like rag-dolls.

“Take off your shirt and we can get to the stiches; I’ll be right back.” You told him, heading to get your cart.

“Psst, Web-head!” Sam called from the bed beside him and Peter turned with a raised brow.

“Switch with me!”

“What? Why?”

“Cuz your doctor is a total babe.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that. (Y/N) really doesn’t like it when something messes up her flow.” That was a total lie. You usually just went with the flow, but Peter saw no advantage in telling him that.

Sam rolled his eyes in response, leaving his bed and bringing the medical report along with him, “I’ve been wanting to talk to her for a month now. You have to let me have this.”

“What’s in it for me?” Asked Spiderman, folding his arms in a smug way and leaning back against the pillow.

“I’ll do your share of next 10 mission reports.”

Peter practically leaped from the bed, “Sold! Good luck lover-boy!”

The two switched quickly before you had returned, swapping medical reports as well and you returned with your medical cart, setting it up without realizing that your patient had changed.

“Okay Pete, let’s see what—You’re not my patient.” You blurted, slightly confused and you rechecked the room, confirming that it was in fact the cubicle you were assigned.

“Where’s Peter?”

“Oh, he asked for another doctor.” Sam explained, watching your brows furrow in concern. A brief wave of insecurity flashed through you. Were you not competent enough?

“It’s not ‘cuz of you!” He was quick to explain, “He just though the other doctor was hot.”

With a raised brow you looked down the aisle and locked eyes with Spiderman who grinned and waved at you.

“...He thinks Dr. Sanders is hot? Does Peter know he’s married? And straight?”

Sam just shrugged innocently and you sighed, grabbing the report and doing a once-over. Nothing too bad, a bruised rib, and a few shallow cuts that needed dressing.

“Alright, hum, Mr. Alexander, I need you to take your shirt off so I can dress your wounds. Would that be okay with you?”

You didn’t miss the way his face turned red at your words and you almost chuckled. He shyly began to take off his uniform and you turned away, giving him privacy and began taking out the dressing and antiseptic.

“You can call me Sam, we’re around the same age anyway.” He muttered, face still alarmingly red and you nodded, sending him a reassuring smile.

The two of you sat in silence as you dressed his wounds, telling him to come back whenever the bandages have gotten soiled so you can re-dress them.

“You might want to lay back on the physical activity for a week or so, to let your rib heal and make sure you don’t open any of the cuts. You can come back after a week and we can see if it’s healed enough on its own or if we’ll have to interfere.” You told him, taking off your gloves and discarding them, along with some other waste.

“If you have any pain or trouble breathing then come see me and I can give you some pain medication or assign you some respiration therapy.”

He nodded carefully and whatever doubts you had of him not listening faded and you smiled, pulling open the curtains that surrounded the bed, “Well then, nice meeting you Sam, I hope you get well soon.”

His eyes widened. That’s it? That got over way too soon! He never even got the chance to make you fall for his undeniable charm. He had to think of something. Fast.

“W-Wait!”

You halted in your steps, turning around to face the hero, “Do you need anything?”

“Um, yeah! I have a pain! Like a really bad pain, right here.” He said, pointing vaguely to his chest and you frowned, looking at the report once again.

“Your CT doesn’t show anything about an issue with the heart. If it’s with the mudcle then why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“I thought it would go away so I didn’t say anything but it’s, um, become a lot more painful.”

“Okay, let me have a look then.” You said, pulling on a pair of gloves and coming closer to him. His ears started turning red just from your presence.

Sam had the biggest crush on you ever since he saw you the day the Helicarrier had gone down. You were rushing to gather whatever supplies you could, knowing you’d have to treat the survivors after the attack of Zodiac.

He had tried to get you out of there but you refused, trying to gather whatever you could and stuffing it into your bag before you absolutely had to leave.

“I’m trying to save you!” He had shouted at you, frustrated that you kept struggling in his grip, and told him to get the others out.

“And I have to save countless others! But I can’t do any of that without supplies!” You replied, not even taking a second to stop your work. He sighed but eventually listened, rushing to help all the other agents out of the Helicarrier. The Helicarrier had turned on its side by the time.

You shrieked, losing your grip and you slid down. You tried to hold onto something, anything but it was all in vain as you eventually dropped towards the bottom.

You took a deep breath and shielded your head, trying to angle your body into a safer angle before you felt yourself floating.

Your eyes slowly fluttered open, you hadn’t realized that you had screwed them tightly in fear but the first thing you saw was a blue glow and then you were moving so fast you couldn’t see anything.

Before you knew it, you were on the shore. You couldn’t afford to be discombobulated and instead to opened your bag, getting to the nearest patient and handing the supplies to your senior who had been doing First Aid.

“I never did get to thank you.” You whispered, trying not to startle him suddenly as you gently pressed your fingers to where he was saying was hurting. 

He froze before relaxing, “I didn’t think you remembered.”

“Of course, I would. You saved my life.” You argued, brows furrowing when you didn’t see any reaction from him as you pressed down onto the muscle. He didn’t so much as flinch.

“And you’ve saved countless others. I should be thanking you.” He replied and you were grateful that he wasn’t looking at you so he couldn’t see your cheeks turn red.

“It’s nothing compared to what you do, I don’t think I’d ever be able to have enough courage to run around fighting villains. You’re very brave.”

He shook his head firmly, “Don’t sell yourself short, you have enough confidence for other people to put their lives in your hands.”

“I don’t do much.” You murmured, embarrassed. You had long forgotten that you were supposed to be checking for any injuries, instead focusing on his chest and your eyes settled on his muscles.

He wasn’t anything too special but it certainly wasn’t didn’t hurt to look either.

“You do a lot, more than others and that’s what’s important. You don’t have to be a superhero to be a good person.” He said and you found yourself stilling. He was right. You didn’t really expect something so deep to come out of his mouth since, according to peter, he could have his head filled with air and nothing would change.

“I guess you’re right,” You said, peeling off your gloves, “There isn’t anything wrong with you, Sam. I don’t know why you were trying to feign an injury but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Your teasing tone brought a smile to his face when he thought he might end up in trouble. It didn’t stop his face from turning red.

“Would you, um, want to hang out with me sometime? Like a date?”

Your face turned and his heart sank, “As much as I would, it’s unprofessional for a doctor to date a patient.”

“And if I were to switch back with Peter? And never ever get treated by you again?” His face was so hopeful and vulnerable at the same time. The smile you sent him was enough of an answer.

The grin he sent you had butterflies erupting in your stomach.

“I’ll be right back!”

In the end, Sam had to do 20 of Peter’s mission reports, along with 20 of his own, but they were all worth it when he saw the smile you sent him as you exchanged numbers.

Oh yes, it was all worth it.

5 YEARS LATER

“Sam would you calm down? You look like you’re gonna jump to the ceiling.” Peter said, amused as Sam’s eyes continued to dart around the airport like a meercat.

Peter was completely taking advantage of today. Sam was so distracted that any comments he had completely flew over his head, giving Peter the freedom to spit as many insults as he wanted.

Sam wasn’t the least bothered. He was too distracted. His eyes locked onto the gate where he saw all the passengers leaving and he bounced on the toes of his feet trying to see above the damn crowd.

Who was he waiting so anxiously for? Of course, it was his girlfriend who was coming back to New York for summer. Her university had generously given 2 months of vacation before the next year and he was going to take full advantage of those 2 months.

You had gone to Medical School to get officially certified so you could perform operations and other such things legally, unlike how you had been doing so the past few years.

It was only a few more years until you were completely qualified (in the eyes of the law) to perform trauma surgery, which was the field you were going to specialize in.

Between you studying non-stop and him saving the world non-stop, you never had the time to see each other. That didn’t stop him from flying out sometimes, for coffee dates.

But this time you would be coming home and he would have 2 months of your undivided attention. The mere thought of that had a grin forming on his face, so wide that his cheeks hurt.

As soon as he saw you, his heart leapt out of his chest as he waited for you to make eye contact with him. Sure enough, your eyes did scan the crowd and you did manage to overlook him a couple of times due to the crowd but once you caught sight of him there was nothing stopping you from bolting towards him.

It was kind of awkward because you were lugging your suitcase behind you but that was the last thing you cared about once you were enveloped in his arms and you sighed in the feeling of home.

“I missed you so much.” You muttered, holding onto him tightly and he did the same. Maybe you were causing a scene but that was hardly any of your worries as you burrowed yourself closer to him.

“Right back at you.” He said breathlessly, pressing kisses to your clothed shoulder. It felt so good to be home.

“Are you two gonna move anytime soon? Cuz I have a movie to catch.”

You groaned, “Piss off, Parker!”

This is the second one-shot where I ended it with Spidey getting yelled at...maybe this is just gonna be my thing?

[chocolatemin]

LIGHTS, CAMERA, OFF-SCRIPT!

note: so hello!! i'm officially back at writing after a six-month long hiatus, special thanks to my friend who supported me and now i finally over came my writer's block!! also, thanks to that spongebob episode that inspired me to write this!! and also, i can't insert the keep reading button, it doesn't work )):

word count: 4.0k

synopsis: You were part of the university’s theatre club since freshman, you used to act and perform on stage until he came, you were on your mid semester during your second year in college. You suddenly turned down all the roles offered to you and chose to work as part of the scriptwriting and stage directing team. You thought no one would notice, but boy, you’re mistaken. Now that the other lead is sick, who will act in her stead? And one more thing, you don’t hate him, do you?

Ever since Beomgyu joined the theatre club, you stopped participating on acting. You always get chosen for the lead roles and you often refused, opted for supportive roles instead. There was only one time that you only agreed to do the lead role because the play was focused on mystery more than romance. The play was very successful and you are glad you didn't have to do those overly romantic and intimate scenes. But now that he's in the same club, you started to reject all the acting roles.

You were there on his audition as part of the judges and you saw his potential and talent. All your co-judges were convinced that he will be a great lead for acting. Not only he has stunning looks but he delivers the lines well and he has great facial expressions; in short he became the star of the theatre club.

Meanwhile, you shifted to be a part of the backstage. You worked in the scriptwriting and stage directing. It's not like you hated him, but you wanted to avoid being his lead. You were afraid that you might end up being paired up with him, now that you agreed to be a lead role even if it was only for one time. The president of the club told you that she wouldn't let you refuse the lead roles anymore. The theatre club became more popular because of you and the president wanted to return your help by giving the roles that will suit you perfectly- being the lead.

Let's just say that Beomgyu caught your attention since your freshman year. He wasn't very popular that time but you always noticed him. He always stood out in your eye and maybe, earned a tiny bit of crush on him. You were afraid to make mistakes while acting on rehearsals and on stage just because you were nervous having him around.

Not until this time.

You are all gathered in the backstage to prepare for the play that is set on the next few hours. The final rehearsal took place last night so that everyone wouldn't have the need to carry all the props, costumes and make-up again today. You had finished checking if there is missing on the belongings of the club that were left at the backstage last night.

Everyone is busy setting up. You were helping the props men to carry and set up the props on the stage. You returned to the backstage to see a commotion. The crews are panicking while the actors and actresses look confused.

"What is this commotion all about?" You asked in a loud voice enough for everyone to hear. Everyone turned their heads to your direction, even Beomgyu, but you were quick to avert your gaze.

"We have a problem! The lead actress caught a fever due to exhaustion and she won't be able to make it today!" The president told you with phone in her hands and visibly shaking, "What are we going to do now? Our play is within an hour and a half! We don't have enough time, we are-" You rushed to her side gave her shoulders a rub that helped tense body relax. "Jia, please calm down. We'll see what we can do." You mumbled softly while rubbing her back slowly and turned your head to the others, "And please, everyone, get back to preparing. We'll take care of this." Everyone went back to their own businesses as if nothing happened. While you and the other directors dragged the president towards the backdoor.

"We have to find a substitute to Wendy." The vice president spoke in as-a-matter-of-fact manner.

"We need someone who can act and sing," the Artistic Director calmly stated, "And someone who can memorize the lines easily." You can feel the tension between the four of you as your chest started to rise and fall. Your breathing started to get heavier each second that passes.

"What are we going to do now?"

"But what if we get someone who is already familiar with the lines, someone who actually knows the dialogues of that character..." You all looked towards the president. Your eyebrows knitted in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" You asked.

"Oh, wait! I know someone!" You looked to your side and saw the Artistic Director filled with excitement, she looked as if she just won a billion-dollar question.

"I know someone too," the president trailed her eyes on you, "Do you know someone who might be able to substitute Wendy?" You tilt your head to the side, eyebrows still knitted and confusion visible on your face.

"Uhh, I don't?" Your eyes searched for answer in their faces and they seem to have one.

"It's you." The president spoke, "You know the lines since you were in the scriptwriting team."

"But we don't have time to rehearse!" Your breath hitched as you spoke,"I can't-" Yeonjun, the vice president, interrupted your sentence, "You DON'T need to rehearse, it's you who wrote that character's lines. You should know the feelings and how to convey it properly."

"I am afraid I might make mistakes!"

"You used to act in front of the whole school, you were even the lead on the play that made our club more popular and loved. It's not like the audience would notice that, right? It will only get noticed by the audience if you let them." The Artistic Director argued, "We know you can pull that off."

The president stepped in front of you and held your hands, "Please, you are our only hope..."

You bit your lip, having no choice, "Fine. Just let me scan the script before the play starts."

"Thank you so much!" She hugged you and tears started to pool in her eyes, "I'm so glad you agreed." She wiped her tears as she spoke, "Let's get back to work, shall we?" And you all nod.

You head back to the backstage and saw the actors busy rehearsing their lines, without actions. The backstage is noisy but they all noticed that the four of you are now walking back towards the backstage.

"What happened?" One of the stage crew asked as soon as you reached the messy room.

"Well good news! We already found someone to replace our lead." The producer, also the president, happily made the announcement. "But we don't have time to do a dry run!"

"We don't have to do a dry run." Yeonjun answered.

"What?!" Everyone is shocked by the Yeonjun's words. They all look confused as their eyes darted towards the four of you and silence filled the room.

"Who is going to replace Wendy then?" Beomgyu asked quietly out of nowhere, his deep voice echoing loudly in silence and he added, "Is there someone who can memorize all the lines within an hour? And the play will run for almost three hours."

"Beomgyu is right. The play is quite long and so is the script." One of the actors supported.

"There is someone who knows the script and had it memorized." The Artistic Director answered, emphasizing on the words someone and knows, "All we need to do is to try fitting the costume."

"Who is it then?" Beomgyu asked.

"It is..." The president trailed off, and the three directors pointed at you. Beomgyu's eyes widen and everyone landed their gaze on you. Their stares instantly made you nervous and gave you goosebumps.

"May I ask why?" One of the actresses spoke.

"Well, she is the one who wrote that character's lines. She had it memorized. So we don't have to worry about that."

"But like Jay said, we don't have time to dry run."

"Of course, she knows how to convey the lines, she wrote the script; She used to be one of our actresses before, right? Of course she can act." Tension filled the air as everyone looked skeptical about having no dry run with the new lead.

"Please, trust Y/N and our decision."

"Okay, then let's start the fitting now." One of the members of the costume design team went over to you. Eventually, everyone went back to minding their own businesses.

"Please follow me." She smiled at you before picking up the costumes on the clothes rack and followed her. She ushered you the fitting room for girls and quietly closed the door behind you. She scanned you from head to toe, as if a robot memorizing your physique in an instant. "So, as I took a look on your figure, yours and Wendy's size don't seem to be that different from each other, however, you still must try fitting these clothes to see if we need adjustments."

"Oh, alright."

You finished fitting all the clothes and exited the room. Yena dragged you to the make up table and asked you to sit down, "Since we don't need to make adjustments, I will apply make up on you now. The costumes fit you perfectly so we don't need to worry about that." You nod and she started doing your make up. She applied the cosmetics carefully on your face. She took pauses between and squinted her eyes, checking if she put too much. Soon, she started doing your hair too. After a while, "You're all set now! Let's get you changed into your costume."

On the other side, Beomgyu can't help but to feel nervous and excited at the same time. Finally, his dream is slowly becoming true. He wanted to be your lead actor that is why he auditioned for the theatre club. Every time he watched the theatre club's plays every year, he can't help but to notice how stunning your performance were, even if they were supporting roles only. Until one time, when you played the lead role, he watched you in complete awe. You definitely stood out during the play; you were so beautiful, mystifying and alluring. You played the character very well, as if you were born to be on the stage. He was very jealous of the male lead, wishing it was him instead. That made him determined to join the club.

This experience for him is very nerve-wracking, not only because the play is different from the usual but also because his long-time crush, since freshman year is finally his lead. He can feel the blood rushing to his cheek due to excitement. He borrowed a mirror to one of the crews and checked his face. They didn't apply too much make up on him since his face is naturally glowing, and from the mirror, he can see that his face is flushed and his ears are as red as cherries.

"Beomgyu, are you okay? You seem bothered..." Soobin, one of the supporting characters, and the one who used to be your male lead, asked him.

"I'm fine, it's just that I'm so nervous..." Beomgyu spoke quietly, afraid that someone might hear him. He looked around to see if anyone is paying attention to them. But Beomgyu looking at your direction for several seconds longer didn't go unnoticed by Soobin.

"Ah, I see. I know you can pull it off, especially that Y/N is your lead." Soobin teased, he enjoyed how the younger reacted. He smiled as he saw how Beomgyu's eyes widen. "So that's why."

"Please don't tell anyone-" "that you're nervous because of Y/N?" "Yeah- no! That I'm nervous, you know, I'm not usually like this, the play is just so different from the previous ones. And this is just my second time being the lead, I am used to being the supportive role." Beomgyu started rambling which made Soobin laugh. "Why are you laughing?!"

"You look so funny. I promise, I won't tell anyone..." Soobin raised his right hand beside him and looked like he is taking an oath while Beomgyu relaxed a bit, "that you like Y/N." Soobin trailed off before laughing and Beomgyu threw him a dirty look, "I didn't say anything, how can you jump into conclusions like that?" Soobin just shrugged and patted the younger's shoulder before walking away towards the producer. A heavy sigh escaped Beomgyu's lips as he took another glance at your direction. You looked so gorgeous even with your hair just halfway done. He looked down and shook his head. There's no way he wouldn't get nervous.

"Thirty minutes left!" The producer announced startling everyone with her loud voice. Thirty minutes seem to pass quickly and soon the play started.

The show is now nearing its end and your last scene is next. You are on the backstage walking in circles until you are stopped by Yeonjun. "Why are you so nervous?" You turned to look at him in the eye, "It's been a while since I last performed on stage. I'm nervous that I might make a mistake at the end."

Yeonjun took your hand and rubbed circles on the back of your palm. "Come on, I know you can do it."

You smiled at him, "And oh, Y/N, are you ready for the kissing scene?" "Yes, of course- what? Kissing scene!?" To say that you became more nervous is an understatement, your hands are literally shaking against Yeonjun's and your face is all red. "Yeonjun, I don't know how to kiss!" "What?!"

"What is the problem here? Why are you two shouting?" The president stepped closer to the both of you. "We are NOT shouting; we are simply shocked." Yeonjun rolled his eyes.

"Y/N doesn't know how to kiss!" Jia laughed, "and what is the problem with that? Beomgyu can lead!"

"No! Beomgyu and Wendy did not rehearse the kissing scene because they were too nervous during rehearsal. Plus, I think they don't look good together so it's fine that they did not do it." Jia elbowed Yeonjun's side, "What are you talking about? I didn't ask for your opinion on Wendy and Beomgyu!"

"Sweet cupcakes, what do I do now? It's the next scene!" You are shaking, you do not want to mess up, especially at the end of the play, and also not with a scene with Beomgyu.

"Y/N, please standby. You'll be on stage in five." The crew behind the curtain reminded you.

"Y/N, I have an idea." Yeonjun blurted out, a grin creeping up on his face. "What now?"

"Practice it with me!" Yeonjun winked at you shamelessly, raising his brows to tease you more. "What the hell?" Jia exclaimed, "that's disgusting, Yeonjun. Go kiss Soobin instead!" You sighed, not knowing what to do.

"Y/N! It's your turn now." You nervously looked at Yeonjun and Jia and wore your mask before heading to the stage.

"We wish you luck Y/N..."

"Mademoiselle, you came." Beomgyu, who is sitting on the bench on a garden, looked at your direction. He stood up and took slow but big strides towards you. He offered his hand to you and you gladly took it.

"If it wasn't for the prince." You smiled at him, "So what is it that you want to tell me privately, my Prince?"

"I have something for you, Mademoiselle." He put his hand inside his pocket and pulled out a ring, "This is for you, Milady... If you'll let me?" You nod and he raised you hand, putting the ring on it. The ring perfectly fits your finger. He knelt to the ground and kissed the back of your hand. You stared at each other's eyes, full of emotions that you weren't able to tell to each other. He stood up and took his mask off; you can't help but to stare at how gorgeous he looks after he removed the mask that hid his beautiful features. Beomgyu leaned closer to your ear, "Now, Mademoiselle, will you please close your eyes?"

You closed your eyes and felt his hand remove the mask that covers your face. This isn't part of the script! You thought to yourself. The only thing you can hear is your heart beating loudly inside your chest. You became more nervous each second that passes and you felt his breath fanning near your lips. You feel his hand snake around your waist, pulling you closer and a pair of soft lips touched yours. Your eyes shot open as a reflex and you saw Beomgyu with his eyes closed. You were quick to act and closed you eyes, bringing your right hand on his chest and your left on his nape. This is not part of the script either. You felt his lips moving and you tried your best to reciprocate the kiss. Never did once it crossed your mind that your first kiss will be like this.

You pulled away just as your eyes fluttered open and stared at Beomgyu's pretty eyes. You were blushing furiously, you can feel it, and everyone can see it- so does Beomgyu. You can see that his ears are red and his cheeks are tinted with pink. You both smiled to each other and you thought to yourself, is this still part of the script?

Beomgyu is having the time of his life. Sure, he is nervous but as soon as he saw you walking back to the stage, he immediately gained confidence. He knows he will not embarrass himself in front of you. He feels like his heart is going to jump out of his chest, he is too happy. Not only he get to be your male lead, but he also get to hold your hand, dance with you and even kiss you.

All of a sudden, a sweet orchestral music started playing quietly, as if it were from a ballroom hall near the setting. Beomgyu knelt to the ground looking like a real prince, offering his hand to you, "My lady, may I have this dance?"

"Of course, my Prince." You took his hand and he stood up, pulling you closer towards his body. He wrapped his arm around your waist and his other hand holding yours. You put your free hand on his shoulder and you started dancing. Fortunately, you were thought waltz as part of joining the club. It is necessary for the actors to know the basics of singing and dancing, especially ballroom.

Beomgyu and you danced, oblivious of the audience, as if you were the only ones in the auditorium. You danced and twirled around the stage forgetting that you were still onstage, you looked at each other with adoration and love; which are the two things you can't say to each other. Everyone went off-script as they realized that you are lost in each other's eyes and there is no way the play is going to finish by itself. The president started to narrate and the technical team lowered the volume of the music. You heard Jia's voice and you realized that you and Beomgyu were dancing for too long. You are both quick to pick up what is happening and continued to dance for a little while before stopping on the middle of the stage, still holding each other, exactly just as Jia finished narrating.

Beomgyu smiled at you, his eyes twinkling with happiness, "The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

You are baffled, to say at least. You are literally grinning from ear to ear. "I can die happy."

You heard the audience cheer and applaud. The lights on the stage turned off and everyone gathered for the curtain call.

After the play, you and Beomgyu couldn't even look at each other and kept distance. You can't believe that you just confessed on stage, and everyone in the club knows that it is not part of the script. They cooed as soon as you entered backstage. They all gave you knowing looks; you were annoyed and embarrassed at the same time, especially Yeonjun, he kept on teasing you. The officers asked for a group photo with the different teams, the actors and the last few photos including all the members of the theatre club. The professors entered the backstage to congratulate everyone for the successful play.

The play is far the most successful one and for the theatre club's record, you beat the most successful play, which was the first ever play that you participated as the lead role. It started trending on the university's page within minutes just after the performance.

"Hey Y/N, don't think I am just teasing you because of the play and how you went off-script. Did you know that because of you two, we all went off-script too! Also, don't think that I didn't know your crush on Beomgyu. You literally avoided him everytime, I just don't know why everyone doesn't notice it. Since Beomgyu joined the club, you started working backstage which is very sudden." Yeonjun flashed you a smirk. You heave a heavy sigh, defeated, "Yeah, you're right. I like Beomgyu that's why." You admitted, there's no way Yeonjun would let you live either.

"Yes! I knew it!" Yeonjun laughed loudly attracting everyone's attention. You smacked his arm lightly, telling him to stop.

From the other side of the room, Beomgyu has been staring at you two, he is annoyed at himself, for not being able to bring himself to talk to you. You looked at his direction causing you both to blush and quickly averted your gaze at the same time. Yeonjun noticed it and smiled to himself.

"Y/N and Beomgyu sitting on the tree-" Yeonjun started to sing in a childlike voice which annoyed you and made you blush even more. You covered his mouth with your hand and apologized, "Ah, please forgive this annoying old man. Please don't pay attention to him, he doesn't know what he's saying."

You gave the guy beside you a glare. "By the way, we have an after-party tonight at 10! See you everyone!" Everyone cheered on Jia's announcement. She shoot a wink at your direction and you are thankful for Jia's save. You all continued packing up and returned the things to the theatre club room.

The after party is held on Jia's house, just like the usual. Jia's house is big enough to handle a big club like yours. Everyone is having a blast while you, still cannot get over on what you did at the end of the play, is sitting alone at the kitchen eating your pizza. You sighed and shook your head recalling your confession. You were so absorbed in yourself that you didn't notice the footsteps coming from the living room.

"Y/N?" A gentle voice came from behind you. You looked to see who it was and immediately regret your decision. "Oh, Beomgyu. Hi." You started fidgeting and you became uneasy, there is no way you can look at his face after what happened. "I wanted to talk to you..." His voice is shaky and almost inaudible, you can feel that he is nervous. "About what?" You finally locked your eyes with him. "About the thing I said earlier."

Beomgyu is nervous, his hand is shaking and he tries to hide it from you. Silence fall upon as he mustered up all the courage and spoke confidently, "I mean it and I like you."

"Oh, uhm, I was actually- I like you too." You mumbled quietly but enough for him to hear. After hearing those, his confidence became overflowing and he feels proud of himself, taking steps to close the distance between the two of you, "I figured out you do too, based on your response at the end of the play."

"Well, uhm, I-" You stuttered and couldn't bring yourself to create a sentence, Beomgyu thought you looked cute in a flustered state. "I'm sorry, it's just I didn't know how I'm going to face you after the kiss..." You spoke, words getting softer and softer each time. "Oh, was it your first time?" Beomgyu had a smug look on his face as he put emphasis on ‘first time’, "Uhm, yeah..."

"Don't worry, it's mine too." He grinned at you, he looked so adorable and handsome especially up close.

"I have one more thing to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Will you be my star?"

[amalia2003sstuff]

For Forever

 Day six of Soulmate September . @tsshipmonth2020

Prompt: “When your soulmate is injured you will experience pain in that area.”

Vampire AU

Pairings: Romantic Royality, platonic Moxiety

Warning: Blood, gore, death.

First - Previous - Next

Patton Williams was born on the 15th of January 1889 in a small town close to New York. He lived a fairly normal life, other than the fact that he could never feel his soulmate’s physical pain like everyone else he knew. So yeah, his life was mostly normal. 

Until one faithful night. 

Patton, now 21, returning home from work late at night, when he got pulled in an alley way by an unknown person. Patton had no idea what happened in that alley, except that he felt a small pain on his neck, and then he woke up on the cold ground, feeling like he just got ran over by a horse.

He got up, his head spinning, and walked the rest of the way home.

The next morning when he woke up, all he could register was hunger. So so much hunger. He walked downstairs and grabbed some food. A lot of food, only it didn’t help with his hunger at all. Actually, it made him sick. 

His mother walked into the kitchen, and that’s when Patton blacked out again.

When he came back to his senses he saw something that made his stomach turn. His whole family was on the floor of their little home, pale and cold, and his hands were covered in blood.

He let out a strangled sob. He did that. He’s a monster. So he ran. He ran as far and as fast as he could. 

Somewhere along the way he found someone like him. Someone who explained to him what he was. He was a vampire. A being that could only feed with blood. Patton let out more sobs and cries that night, and begged the other person, Virgil, to just end him. He didn’t want to have to hurt more people.

Virgil wrapped him in his arms and sushed him, explaining to him that he didn’t have to hurt people, that animals could do just as well for food. 

Patton resigned himself to his faith. For the next 30 years, Patton and Virgil were inseparable. They lived together in Virgil’s house. They had been drafted into the first world war together, and survived that, not without all the trauma that comes with war, but they did. Now they were one year into the second war, when something that would turn Patton’s life for the worst again happened. 

Virgil was shot in the chest. Something fatal, even for a vampire. 

Patton mourned for years, even after the war ended. He just lost the only important person in his life.

So he ran again. Ran away from the place he and Virgil used to share, and for the next 39 years he was always on the run. He would never stay in one place for more than a few days. 

Until something changed. For the first time in his long life he could feel pain that wasn’t his. That could mean only one thing. He had a soulmate. So he spend the next two decades searching. 

The year was 2014 when he found him. 

He was a tall guy with tan skin, red hair and beautiful green eyes. 

The way Patton found him is quite funny actually. He literally bumped into him, causing the guy to fall down, which Patton felt. He felt his pain. The only thing Patton could say was “It’s you.” To which the stranger gave a very confused look. So Patton had to rephrase. 

“Hi, I’m Patton, and I think I am your soulmate.”

The guy gave him a look. “Prove it.”

So Patton pinched himself on the arm, in a very visible spot, and the man’s eyes widened. “You’re saying the truth… Hi. I’m Roman. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Nice too meet you too.” Patton gave him a bright smile.

Roman pulled out a small marker from his pocket. “Look, I have to go, but here is my number so you can call me later.” He scribbled something on Patton’s arm. “There. Now I really should go. Bye.” And with that he left.

Patton smiled. Maybe he could turn his life back around.

Patton bought himself a small apartment in the city with the money he earned over the years and got himself a job. His life was starting to go better.

He and Roman started dating a few weeks after they met. A few months into the relationship, Patton came clean about what he was, which went a lot better than he expected. Instead of getting angry, or scared and leaving him, Roman looked like an excited puppy, asking Patton if he could become a vampire. Which Patton of course refused.

It wasn’t that Patton didn’t want to be with Roman forever, it’s just that he couldn’t put Roman through that kind of life.

Well, looks like he didn’t have a choice.

—-

They had been dating for 3 years. Roman was now 28, while Patton still looked 21.

Patton was at work, when he felt pain on his neck. A pain that brought him back to that alley, all those years ago. Something bad happened to Roman.

Patton took his lunch break earlier and ran from the bakery where he worked. Roman was supposed to be at work, so that’s where Patton was going.

Minutes of searching later, Patton found Roman layed down on the ground in the alley way behind the theatre where he worked. He looked very pale, and his breathing was barely there. Patton checked for a pulse. He did find one, but it was very weak. Some other vampire fed off of Roman and left him to die from blood loss. If Patton didn’t do something right now Roman would die, even if he called an ambulance.

So Patton did the only thing he could do. He bit Roman, turning him. Then he picked Roman up and carried him to their apartment.

When Roman woke up, Patton was there to explain everything to him, holding out a few blood bags - which he got from the secret blood banks for vampires-  that Roman hesitantly took and drank.

“Well,” Roman said after a while. “look on the bright side, Patty. Now we can be together for forever.”