#i don't wanna see him in romcoms ever again

[khaopybara]

I think Kant would have gotten far less criticism or hatred if KantBison were not being shoved into our throat. Like, clearly the showmakers want us to root for KB, everyone from Style to Cop Chris saying how Kant has fallen for Bison yada yada but at the same time Kant casually talks about Bison, the supposed love of his life, getting shot dead or spending his entire life in prison....without any sign of pain in his voice or face...like he's talking about mildly uncomfy weather.

This is clearly a narrative problem but it does make viewers frustrated and Kant's character has to bear the brunt of this narrative folly. I am very sure if the narrative made it clear from the start that KB are not, under any condition ending up together, the situation would have been different....but of course gmmtv has to sell their cp (by which I mean cp merch and stuff). The showmakers already have a pair (FadelStyle) that are hitting all the right spots for how a romantic pair should be and they can be easily shown to be having a happily ever after. Ideally they should have kept KantBison 'lovers to enemies' actually ending up as enemies...but well....cp 😒

i'll start this by saying this is the one and only ask with hate for kant/kantbison that i will answer because from your oh so many words, i can already tell you fit into the exact category of people who already made up your mind about the character and nothing i say will change your perception. but bc i'm not feeling like being the bigger person, sure, you wanna talk about this, let's talk about this.

first of all, i wanna talk about your apparent hatred for cps (or maybe it's just fk, we never know) and gmmtv's system, and you know, that's so funny because that's, and i know it'll shock you, their thing😯. so maybe if you didn't want to see that, you shouldn't have started watching the show, even after knowing that the two couples would end up together in the end because guess what, this was advertised as a romcom. and we what do we get with romcoms? exactly, happy endings. a travesty.

i find it so funny when people say fadelstyle are hitting all the spots for a romantic pairing, because that's what's supposed to be (again, a romcom), they are the more traditional romantic storyline (or as traditional as you can get with a killer and a guy who only started hitting on him and continued to do so because he wanted a car) so they are supposed to be hitting those spots. it's their storyline.

see, kantbison hooked up that very first night they met, clear attraction, kant was besotted by his one night stand and was calling him a ghost because bison up and ran before they could wake up together. their first interaction together and it had nothing to do with the police, or lying or manipulating, so maybe it's not a narrative problem that kantbison are "being shoved down our throats" maybe it's just a you problem if you didn't notice what they were being set up to.

and many people have talked about this already, and if you cared to read either liz's or lauren's meta about kant, you wouldn't have come to my inbox complaining about kant not being expressive when he clearly can't let himself feel the things he wants because his priority will always be his brother (just like fadel will prioritize bison always) in contrast to style who doesn't have to carry the responsibility of raising and caring for a younger brother on his shoulders.

and darling, if you started this show thinking at any point, from the trailers, pilot or official, promotional photos, osts, novel, press, anything, that kantbison would not be a thing, again, it's not on them, it's on you and your poor observation skills. there are plenty of people way more qualified than me to talk about this and how kant actually cares for bison, and how he's torn between his heart and his brain, but you don't really care, so why bother.

[conlocura]

This was so hot of him 🥵

[whipped-for-kpop-fics]

Naive - L.C

💡Who: Lee Chan (Seventeen) x female reader 💡What: Best friends to ??? Angst. Thriller. Soft moments. Dark themes (please check warnings). 18+ 💡Word count: 11.5k 💡Warnings: Profanity. Stalking. Nonconsensual voyeurism. Nonconsensual photos. Cheating. Major injury (Not Chan or reader). Mentions of a car accident. Mentions of sexual harassment. Mentions of panic attacks and almost panic attacks. No smut, but suggestive content, some dirty talk and mentions of sexual acts. Very morally dark character. Drugging. Kidnapping. Restraints. Chan calls reader angel a lot (mostly because I don’t wanna use y/n), and baby in the second half.

Summary: Breakups are always painful, but at least you have your best friend by your side to make everything better. Right?

Minors do NOT interact, which means reblogging and/or commenting on this story. I WILL block any account that interacts without an age indicator in their bio.

-2024 Masterlist-

A/N- I know nothing about flower meanings, it all came straight from Wikipedia so don't blame me for inaccurate meanings, it's just a fic.

“It’s okay, he’s in the past, he’s not worth your tears,” your best friend soothes as you cry into his chest for the third night in a row.

“I-I should’ve li-listened to you,” you sob, gripping his t-shirt tighter and curling up smaller.

“It doesn’t matter now; what matters is you ended it and never have to deal with that asshole again.”

“A-asshole is too kind.”

Chan chuckles and tilts his head against the top of your head yet says nothing more and simply continues to hold you until you run out of tears for your cheating, pervert of an ex-boyfriend. Proving once again that Lee Chan is the only man you can ever trust to be good and honest.

Over a year ago, you met Lee Chan while in the gardening section of the bookstore. It was a cliché romcom moment where you both reached for the same book and your hands met before your eyes did. He smiled at you with a soft little chuckle and said something like “guess we both want to know what Victorian people thought flowers meant”, which somehow led to you both buying a copy of the book on the Victorian language of flowers to take to the nearby coffee shop with the intention of reading side by side. Though very little reading happened, and you found yourself sitting there with Chan for hours; laughing and talking as if you’ve known one another for years. It was like he was made to be the other half of you, designed with only you in mind.

At first, you thought maybe it was true; that Chan was your romantic soulmate. But you were seeing someone else at the time and pushed the thought of Chan being anything but platonic entirely out of your mind.

It’s a year and multiple failed relationships later, while you’re out shopping on a rare day off, that something changes.

“What do you think of this one?” Chan asks, drawing your attention to where he’s a few racks away donned in the black, leather biker jacket he just found on the men’s sale rack.

“Oh,” you murmur, suddenly hit with the realisation that your best friend is ridiculously attractive.

It’s not that you’ve ever thought Chan is ugly; in fact, you first paid attention to him in the bookstore past a glance because of how handsome he is. But that was over a year ago and your thoughts have never moved on from considering him the same kind of beautiful as you would a piece of art that you see in a store, yet easily move on past without looking back.

Yet now, you’ve noticed and suddenly can’t draw your eyes away from him.

“Hello?” Chan laughs, waving his arms to bring you back to reality when you do nothing more than stare at him for almost a full minute. “You alright? Getting hungry?” He pouts at you teasingly. “Does the baby need num nums?”

“I hate it when you say that” you remind and stick your middle finger up at him, making him laugh while you turn back to the sale rack you had been looking through.

“I know, why do you think I say it?” He cackles and bounces over to prod you and gain your attention back. “You didn’t say what you think? Do I look sexy?” He wiggles his eyebrows at you while posing in the jacket. “Should I get it?”

“Yeah,” you answer with a nod after taking his body in once more and turning away.

“Was that yes to getting it, or that I look sexy?” He murmurs from suddenly behind you with his mouth right by your ear. You jolt in surprise having not heard him approach, then turn to whack his arm while he cracks up laughing. “You think I’m sexyyy!” He sings loudly, just to annoy you.

“Why are we best friends again?”

“I took pity on you and your bad taste in men.” He definitely deserves the hit this time, even if he’s right.

Ever since you’ve known Chan, you’ve had nothing but terrible luck with picking men to date. You always think they’re okay at first, but then the red flags start popping up and begin waving manically in the hot air spewing from their mouths.

You really thought you had run out of bad luck and finally picked a good one with your ex. He was kind and endlessly attractive; a hard worker, yet always made time for fun and relaxation; and his parents loved you.

It lasted a whole seven months before you found another woman’s underwear in his car, and you realised you should’ve listened to Chan’s gut feeling about Kyle from the start. Finding a stack of polaroids of various women getting changed when you were emptying his apartment of your belongings that same night only made the heartache worse. Not only did he cheat on you, but he also likes to take photos of unsuspecting women through windows and cracked doors.

Upon turning your back on him three weeks ago, you decided to give up on men and always listen to Chan’s gut instincts from now on.

You don’t need a boyfriend; you just need your best friend.

Just when you’re about to leave your apartment building to meet with Chan for lunch one day, you come face to face with your ex. He looks, frankly put, like shit. He used to be so well put together, never to an obsessive degree but he was always well rested and tidy, but now he looks like he hasn’t slept or eaten in at least two days with his hair sticking up a little as if he’s been running his hands through it repeatedly. He’s still wearing nice clothes, but they’re creased, and his shoes aren’t even properly tied.

“What are you doing here?” You hiss while glaring at the man and trying to step past him, but he gets in your path with his hands held up placatingly; he even doesn’t attempt to touch you or get in your personal space.

Vaguely, you think how weird it is of him to respect that boundary yet have polaroids of you half naked in the changing room at your gym. A completely separate gym to the one he frequents too, which somehow makes it even worse; that he went so far out of his way to take the photos you never consented to.

“I just want to talk to you, please? Just a few minutes and I’ll go, and you’ll never see me again,” he pleads. The genuine desperation in his eyes makes you relent and nod. “Can we go somewhere a little less public? I’m not asking to go somewhere isolated, just not the middle of the building lobby.”

Again, you relent and move to the side of the lobby out of the light foot traffic; still perfectly in sight of others yet far enough away to have a private conversation.

“Thank you,” he breathes out gratefully and relaxes a little as you lean one shoulder against the wall with your arms crossed over your chest.

“What is it? I’m going to be late to meet Chan.”

“Right, how is he?”

“Good, it’s Chan. He’s always good.” The words are a little pointed, designed to hurt, and the way his features flinch at the jab sends a little surge of satisfaction into you. Though there’s something in you aching at that same hurt in his eyes; it looks too real.

“Yeah, he’s a good guy,” he agrees softly, and you hum. “So uh, I just…I can’t stop thinking about what happened.”

“Cheating on me or taking photos of women without their consent?” You question, glaring again at the reminder of why you want nothing to do with this man before you. This pathetic, sad eyed, mess of a man.

It’s funny how far he’s fallen in so little time. Strange how a man who cheated on you in the backseat of the same car he often pulled you into with shared giggles, can break so much at being called out on his misdeeds.

You really thought he would just move on to the next conquest and forget all about you for good, just like he did while with the other woman. Or women. You never asked how many there were.

Yet the man before you doesn’t seem to have moved on at all.

“I didn’t do either of those things,” he repeats the words he had said to you a little over a month ago. You didn’t believe him then; you were so full of anger and betrayal as you tried to cradle the pieces of your shattered heart and hoped he hadn’t stolen any of the pieces leaving you unable to stitch it back together again.

Now that you’ve let go of most of your anger and Chan has helped you in putting the pieces back together to the point that your heart is almost whole and healing, you can see through the pain and tears and notice that this man in front of you looks genuine. He’s looking at you without any attempt to look aside or shrink away. He isn’t hiding.

“I found underwear in your car Kyle,” you point out, holding your ground even if you suddenly realise that something here doesn’t feel right. “And those photos in your apartment.”

“I know, I know, and I’ve been trying to figure out how the fuck they got there because it wasn’t me.”

“You live alone and don’t share your car.”

“I know!” He exclaims, hands flying up in frustration, though it doesn’t feel like it’s aimed at you, especially as he steps back to make certain that he doesn’t accidentally hit you. Kyle’s always been considerate like that; always made sure to give you a wide berth when he flung his arms around in play or frustration. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be a cheating pervert. A man can be against physically harming his partner and still betray their trust so deeply.

“Then only you could’ve put them there.”

“No, no, I didn’t though,” he steps closer while lifting his hands between you, though he brings them to his own chest instead of touching you. “Look me in the eye and tell me I have ever done a thing to make you think I would cheat on you or take photos without consent. I never even asked you for pictures; you were the one who offered and asked if you could send me pictures months into our relationship.”

The thing is, he’s right. Although you did have sex regularly and he would send you dirty texts when he was in the mood, Kyle never asked for nudes. You had to be the one to bring it up and ask if he was against that kind of thing.

Now that he brings it up, you can vividly recall him telling you that does enjoy nudes and would certainly enjoy seeing photos of you like that, but he also knows how dangerous they can be to send and receive because of hacking, losing phones or breaking up. He had been so genuine about it and triple checked that you were comfortable with it entirely before giving you consent to send him photos whenever you wanted.

“You had those polaroids, you didn’t need me to send you any,” you reason in a mumble. You don’t even know if you believe what you’re saying at this point, or if you’re just trying to explain the behaviour away. Something isn’t sitting right in you.

“Why would I want polaroids of random women I don’t even know when I have you?” He asks, eyes silently begging you to understand.

“There were photos of me too,” you answer.

“What?” He frowns confusedly. “I didn’t see those, just the top ones before you took them all away.”

“You know I was in there, at the gym changing rooms.”

“I’ve never been anywhere near your gym!” He puts his face in his hands. “I don’t understand what the fuck is going on. I swear I have never been to your gym.” He looks at you imploringly as his hands drop. “And you know I keep my car clean, there’s no way I would’ve failed to notice that underwear; so if I did cheat on you, do you really think I’d miss the evidence and leave them somewhere you’d see them?”

You open your mouth to retort automatically, only to realise there isn’t a single word ready to roll off your tongue. He’s making far too much sense and that doesn’t make sense.

He cheated on you. He’s a pervert who takes photos of unsuspecting women in vulnerable situations. He’s a terrible person.

At least, you thought he was.

Maybe Chan is right and you’re just naïve when faced with a handsome man giving you big puppy dog eyes.

“I need to go,” you decide after a few long moments of trying to form some kind of reaction other than staring at him with furrowed brows. “Chan’s waiting.”

“Right,” Kyle lets out a disappointed sigh, yet nods resignedly and steps back as if giving you space to leave. He hadn’t been in your way in the first place but it’s a silent sign that he won’t try to stop you. “I guess I can’t say anything else to convince you that I didn’t do those things, and I never would. I…I wanted to marry you, you know?”

“What?” You whisper in shock, eyebrows lifting as your eyes turn wide. “Marry me?”

“Yeah,” he lets out a soft, humourless laugh and runs one hand through his hair while looking aside, a shy flush creeping onto his neck and ears. “I was in love with you.”

“You were?”

“Yeah, well, no, actually, that’s a lie.” He looks at you and catches the way your face falls into a frown hearing him admitting to lying to your face like that. “I’m still so fucking in love with you that I can’t function properly knowing you hate me. I’m not asking you to come back to me; I know that won’t happen. I’m just…asking you to really think about it, about us, and me. I never lied to you, never showed you a false me. You know me better than anyone else. Do you really believe I did those things?”

“What took you so long?” Chan pouts at you when you sit down in your usual seat opposite him at your usual table in your usual café. “Angel?”

“Uh, so Kyle was at my apartment,” you inform, picking up your mug that’s been waiting for you for ten minutes already thanks to Chan always ordering for you both. Usually you arrive minutes before your food and drinks arrive, but today you’re late for the first time.

“What?” Chan’s face drops so drastically it throws you off for a second. You’ve never seen such a dark expression on him; you’ve never seen him so entirely void of any light. He doesn’t look like your best friend. “Your apartment? Did he force himself in? Did he hurt you?”

“No, no, I meant the lobby and no, he’s never hurt me. He wouldn’t do that.”

“He cheated on you, took fucking creeper shots of you in your gym and you think he’s above putting his hands on you?” He scoffs, shaking his head a little and pushes the salt across the table to you. You hadn’t asked for it, but you will before you start eating.

He’s always doing thoughtful little things like that for you, but you’ve never really noticed it until the last weeks. Silently noticing what you need and giving it to you with a smile.

But he’s not smiling now. He looks concerned now, rounded eyes locked on you and head tilted down a little as he frowns, almost looking at you through his eyelashes. “I don’t want to be mean or anything, but he fooled you before, angel, he’s clearly trying to do it again. I don’t know what he said to you, but you’ve got that lost look you get when you don’t know what to do.”

“He made good points, Channie,” you reply as you salt your fries before putting the shaker down. Chan doesn’t even look at it past a quick glance before sliding it back to its home out of the way.

“What good points could he have for cheating on you?”

“He said he didn’t do it-” Chan sighs heavily, cutting you off.

“Angel, he said that before, remember? Why do you suddenly believe that piece of shit?”

“Because…he looked honest.”

Chan stares at you for a moment before he sighs and reaches over to hold your hands. “I say this with all the love in me, but you’re not the best judge of character, angel. You’re naïve, innocent. I love that you see the good in the world and everyone, really, I fucking love it; it’s really sweet and cute. But it’s going to get you hurt all over again if you let him fool you like this.”

You look down at your hands in Chan’s, then back up at his face. His gaze is entirely open; big eyes and soft, naturally pouting lips. Your heart skips a beat.

You look away while nodding in understanding, silently telling him that you’re listening to him as you free your hands so that you can pick up your fork.

“Good, I really don’t want to see you hurt again like that. It broke my heart,” Chan says, relaxing as he picks up his own fork to stab too many fries onto the prongs, which he then points at you. “If you break my heart again like that, I’m stealing your TV.”

“My TV?” You sputter in surprise before laughing. Chan grins around the too many fries in his mouth and nods. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You love me though,” he sings around his mouthful while stabbing more fries.

Even with the view of his partially chewed food in his mouth, you can’t really deny it.

“No! Stop it!” You giggle while trying to block Chan from entering your kitchen behind you. “It’s not ready!”

“Just tell me what you’re doing!” He replies, laughing along with you as he tries to dart around you.

“Not yet! Just wait, you impatient shit!”

“No!” He wraps his arms around your waist to pull you away from the doorway and spin you both, so his back is to the kitchen now instead of yours. “Ha!”

“No!” You gasp and reach out, grabbing fistfuls of his t-shirt and in a panic, you yank him closer harshly, unintentionally making him stumble into you.

“Shit, are you okay?” He worries once you’re both steady and he’s holding your upper arms to nudge you back just enough that he can look at your face. You’re frowning, though he can only see your furrowed eyebrows thanks to your hand being over most of the bottom half of your face to cup your nose as his shoulder had collided with it. “Oh, did I hurt you?”

“Asshole,” you murmur while nodding, even if it doesn’t hurt that much; you just honestly like being doted on by your best friend to the extent that you are willing to play up minor injuries to gain his gentle touch and attention.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he apologises, frowning at you as he carefully tugs your hand down. “Let Doctor Channie see.”

“You’d be a terrible doctor,” you reply, moving your hand down to let him cup your face so that he can tilt your head into the light coming in through the windows and see your features better.

“What? I’d be great!” He defends, pouting at you offendedly.

“You thought the uvula is what you pee from.”

“It’s not my fault!” He blushes a little at the reminder of his innocent mix up. “Nobody told me that dangly thing isn’t tonsils! And the pee pipe thingy starts with a U too!”

“Urethra.”

“Exactly, they’re so similar! They should name them differently. Anyway, that doesn’t mean anything, I’d still be a good doctor.”

“Yeah, until you try to catheter someone’s throat.” His expression turns unimpressed, and you can’t help but giggle. He rolls his eyes as his lips turn up into a smile.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” he murmurs, turning his attention back to your slightly red nose.

“Mm, so what’s the verdict doc?” You tease, poking at his stomach and trying not to focus on the physical reminder that your best friend has abs under his baggy clothes.

“I think you’ll be okay with the right treatment.”

“And what treatment is that?”

“The best thing for a boo-boo,” he replies seriously, and then visibly nearly breaks into a laugh at the almost glare you land on him. “What?”

“I’m not a baby.”

“Yes you are. My baby,” he coos and taps his thumbs to your cheeks. You hope he doesn’t see or feel the way they warm at his words. “I specialise in baby angels, I know this.”

“You’re seriously ridiculous.”

“Mm, so, are you consenting to Doctor Channie’s effective boo-boo treatment?”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “You haven’t told me what it is yet.”

“You know what the treatment for a boo-boo is, angel,” he chuckles and tilts forward to press a soft kiss to the tip of your nose. “Like that.”

“I didn’t consent to that treatment, I can sue you,” you mumble, trying to distract from the growing pink on your cheeks. Chan’s eyes glide over your features, lips turning up into a soft smile. “Stop smiling at me like that!” You whine, slapping his waist so gently that it can’t even be classed at a slap, more like you’re just putting your hands on his waist with a little force.

“But you’re so fucking cute,” he reasons, smiling wider. “My cute baby,” he murmurs lowly and brushes his nose against yours gently. Your breath hitches at the tender action while your fingers curl reflexively to loosely grip his t-shirt. “Do I have consent to administer treatment, angel?” He whispers, lips so close to yours that you can almost feel them moving as he talks.

“I…” Just as you start to nod, your phone starts to ring in the kitchen, making you jump in surprise and jolt away from Chan in a natural reaction to the unexpected noise. “I should get that.”

“Right,” Chan mutters, dropping his arms to his side with a disappointed frown as he watches you scoot around him to enter the kitchen.

When you pick up your phone from the counter, you’re more than just a little surprised to see your ex’s mother calling you.

You haven’t heard from her since the breakup when she messaged you to say that she doesn’t know what happened, but she hopes that you and her can still be friends as she values you so highly. You hadn’t responded then; you hadn’t wanted to interact with anyone who you knew through him, even if you had regret ghosting her afterwards because she genuinely is such a lovely woman who always treated you lovingly.

Still, even with the period of no contact between you, you pick your phone up to answer the call. “Hello?”

“O-oh thank goodness,” the still familiar voice sobs in relief.

“Auntie? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Kyle, there-there’s been an accident.”

Just over an hour after receiving the call, you’re tucked up in between Kyle’s parents on the couch of the private room with their arms around you, both of them crying for their son as you do your best to comfort them while feeling numb yourself. You’re too in shock at the sight of the heavily injured man laid unconscious on the bed to process it.

When you had arrived with Chan right behind you, the pair had just about managed to tell you through their tears that Kyle had been driving to work that morning when another vehicle had violently run him off of the road.

It had been on such a quiet road so early that nobody else was around; no witnesses to give details of the other car, nor to run to his aide or call for help. By the time someone found the wreck in the ditch, it had been long enough that too much damage had been done.

And now, even after hours of surgery, there’s no knowing if Kyle will make it through the night, let alone wake up again. There’s only waiting.

So, you wait.

“They’ll call if there’s any sign,” Chan reminds as he helps you out of your jacket. “You spent two days by his side, angel, there’s nothing more you can do for him. He’s not your responsibility or person to care for anymore. His parents and sister are there, and they promised to call you.”

“I know,” you reply, moving woodenly as Chan leads you through your apartment to the kitchen with his hand in yours to keep you moving.

He flicks on the light and falls still at the sight of the mess you left on the counter from leaving so quickly three evenings ago to get to the hospital. He never learned what you had been refusing to let him see until now. “Cake,” he murmurs, noticing the half decorated cake on the counter, surrounded by all the items you had been using to decorate it.

“For your new job,” you reply with a shrug. “It’s no good now. Sorry, I’ll buy you a replacement tomorrow.”

“No, no, you don’t have to. Just knowing is enough for me,” Chan assures, turning to bring you in to hold against his chest where you melt against him with an exhale. “I appreciate the thought and effort you went to, angel; that means more than a store bought cake ever could.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t finish it.”

“It’s not your fault. Let’s order something for dinner and while it’s on its way, I’ll clean this up while you go shower.”

“Do I smell?” You mumble against his shoulder.

“Like sadness,” he retorts with a joking edge to his sombre tone that makes you jab your fingers into his waist in scold. He yelps and contorts away from your fingers without releasing his arms from around you. “And meanness.”

“Meanness,” you repeat, scoffing a short laugh and leaning back from his shoulder to look at him.

“Yes. It’s mean to take advantage of my weak spots.”

“You do it to me all the time.”

“Yes, but you’re the nice one, my angel,” he coos, pinching your cheek before he lets you go to nudge you out of the kitchen while you try to recall just when it got so normal for Chan to call you his.

Since becoming best friends with Chan, it’s not unusual at all to return home and find him in your apartment as if he owns the place. Honestly, you genuinely think he spends more time in your apartment than his own, especially the past couple months. The couch is practically his bed at this point.

What is very unusual however, is to arrive home to find the door slightly open and hear another voice talking with Chan from inside your apartment.

“Chan?” You call in a cautious, soft voice as you nudge the door open and peer around it.

“Hi, angel, welcome home,” Chan greets, smiling at you and motioning you to join him opposite the two uniformed police officers standing and talking to him in the entrance hall.

“What’s going on, Channie?” You ask as you stand at his side and cling to his hand while remaining just a little behind him and away from the officers. They’re both taller than you and Chan, with one of them being thick with muscle and rather intimidating. Though when he smiles at you in polite greeting, most of the fear melts away.

“This is Officer Choi Seungcheol and Officer Chwe Hansol, they’re here to talk to you about Kyle,” Chan explains, motioning to each man in turn.

“Is there news on who ran him off the road?” You ask, looking at the two men with hope in your eyes and chest. It’s been over a week since the incident and there hasn’t been any more information about who put Kyle into such a devastating condition.

The last you heard, they had managed to get sight of a damaged SUV in the general vicinity from CCTV a handful of roads away, but the plates turned out to be stolen from another car across the country over a year ago and the windows were blacked out so there’s no way to tell who was driving the car. Whoever it was clearly knows the streets well enough that they escaped the CCTV quickly and the vehicle hasn’t shown up since. Nor has one matching the description been scrapped or sent to be fixed.

“That’s not our department,” the intimidating officer, Seungcheol, replies while giving you another gentle little smile. “I’m afraid we’re from the sexual crimes division, ma’am.”

“Sexual crimes?” You whisper in shock. “Wh-what?”

“We’ve received reports that Kyle has sexually harassed and stalked multiple women over the past year.”

“No, he-he wouldn’t-” you argue, shaking your head as your hands start to tremble ever so slightly, so you hold onto Chan’s hand tighter with both of yours to try and cease the shuddering movements. “You’re wrong.”

“I understand that it’s hard to hear these things about someone you thought you knew, but we have to follow up every lead we have to get all the information we need to press charges.”

“He’s in a hospital bed!” You baulk and let out an incredulous laugh. “You want to charge a man who might not even wake up? What kind of a person are you?!”

“It’s not our choice, ma’am. We’re just doing our jobs and trying to get justice for the victims.”

“I’m not having any part in this. I have nothing to say to you. He never did a thing wrong to me. Get out,” you insist, pointing to the door. “I’m not going to let you bring these accusations into my home without proof.”

“We have proof,” the other officer speaks up, earning a slightly disapproving look from his partner, but he isn’t stopped. “We saw proof ourselves; photos of women taken from outside of windows and other positions that clearly show a lack of consent. And a hidden, digital diary alluding to the acts that match up with statements we received from victims.”

“Photos?” You repeat disbelievingly.

“Yes ma’am, and I’m afraid you were in some. Based on the angle and quality, we believe the photos were taken from a roof into what we can only assume is your own bedroom.”

“My bedroom?”

“Yes ma’am. May we see your room and take photos for comparative purposes?”

“My bedroom…” You can only repeat, too in shock to do anything else as you stare dumbly at the two uniformed men in front of you.

“I think she needs a moment,” Chan says while putting his arm around you to support your gradually weakening body.

“Of course, we’ll wait right here,” Seungcheol agrees in a gentle tone and nods understandingly.

Chan carefully takes you to the living room to sit you on the couch and kneels in front of you. “Baby, breathe, come on,” he encourages softly as he holds your face. “You’re going to have a panic attack if you don’t copy me, come on.” He starts to take exaggerated breaths; big inhale, hold, slow exhale.

You blink at him unseeingly for a few of his breaths before your eyes drop to his mouth and you naturally copy the man who has helped you level your breathing more times than you can count the past year.

“That’s it, that’s my girl,” he praises. “A few more for me, you can do a few more for your Channie, right?” You nod so he smiles and takes a handful more deep, steadying breaths, each of which you obediently copy. “Good, well done.” He leans forward and kisses your head. “I’ll deal with the cops, okay? You just sit here and let your Channie handle it all. You just relax, angel.”

There isn’t a single part of you that wants to face the officers and their accusations again, so you simply nod and let Chan tuck a blanket around you as you curl up against the back of the sofa, before he turns on the TV just loud enough that when he goes back into the hall to talk to the two men, you can’t make out their low murmuring voices.

Throughout the remainder of the visit from the two officers, you don’t move, just sit staring blankly at the cushions in front of you as your mind whirls.

You don’t know what to believe. When Kyle had visited you that day, you really did believe him. Even now, there’s a part of you that struggles to believe the sincerity in his eyes and voice to be nothing more than a clever act to fool you. He has never laid a hand on you, never forced you to do anything or kicked up a fuss if you rejected his advances. Kyle was good.

Or maybe not.

If the police aren’t lying to you, then they have proof; more photos, even though you took the ones you found that time and burned them all, and witness accounts, or well, victim’s statements would be the correct term.

You know it’s possible to spend your entire life with a person and never truly know them, but you truly had thought that you knew Kyle. You had been so close to falling in love with him; that’s why it had hurt so much. You truly had believed that one day, you’d fall mutually in love with him, with a good man, and have a happy life together.

But all this; the accusations, the proof you had found yourself even if you still struggle to accept it at face value, it just goes to show that you never really know a person.

“They’re gone,” Chan’s voice breaks you from your thoughts. You turn your head to watch him cross the living room to sit at your side and invite himself under the blanket. He puts his left arm on the back of the couch in a silent offer that you readily accept, shuffling closer to tuck up under his arm and settle when it’s around you securely.

“Was it my room?” You ask, not really sure if you want to know the answer. But you need to.

Chan lets out a breath that sounds like a reluctant sigh. It’s almost answer enough, yet you need to hear it. “Yeah, angel, it looks like it was your room. They took photos and are going to go to the roof of the motel opposite to take a photo from there to see if it matches. I’ve given them my number to keep me updated and so they contact me if they need to, not you. I told them about the photos you found too and that you burned them so no-one else can have them.”

“Should-should I have reported him then?” You wonder, suddenly worried that you had potentially endangered women by not stepping up.

“Maybe,” he replies in a way that you just know means he thinks you should’ve, but he doesn’t want to upset you.

You curl up smaller and turn your face into his shoulder to let the familiar, soothing scent of his cologne and laundry detergent ease you.

Chan tilts his head on top of yours and holds you that bit tighter. “At least he can’t hurt anyone else anymore.”

The words are supposed to be comforting, but they don’t comfort you at all.

The news comes only a few days later.

It didn’t take long to gather evidence to support the accusations against Kyle. The warrant for his home turned up the photos and a hidden memory stick containing a written diary with documents matching dates of some of the statements, though many more entries without a woman to match to the words. The police just had to confirm the evidence and talk to some people before moving forward with it, like they did with you and Chan.

If it wasn’t for Kyle’s condition, the case would’ve been closed only two days after the police visited you, and he would’ve been sent off to prison. As it is, the man still hasn’t woken and the doctors aren’t confident that he ever will, so he can’t really be held accountable for his actions.

When Chan tells you the news, you feel bad that for the first time, you’re glad that Kyle is unconscious and likely to never wake up; at least this way, he won’t have to face the accusations which a part of you still can’t believe are true.

What you are finally letting yourself believe though, are all the times Chan called you naïve.

“Delivery for the cutest baby angel to have ever existed,” comes the greeting from behind the massive bouquet of flowers almost shoved in your face the very moment you open the front door of your apartment to see who has been insistently ringing the bell.

“That is an obscene amount of flowers,” you murmur while eyeing the bouquet.

It lowers and your best friend’s head appears as he pouts at you cutely. “Don’t you want it?”

“Gimmie,” you encourage, making grabby hands. Chan grins and hands you the bouquet, which is literally three times bigger than your head, before stepping into the apartment while you wander off, happily admiring and sniffing the multitude of flowers.

It’s not unusual for Chan to bring you flowers at all; rather, it’s unusual for your home to not have flowers gifted to you from your best friend. Even if he can’t visit you he sends you flowers at least weekly, and the ones he sends tend to always be more extravagant as if he’s making up for not giving them to you in person.

Every single bouquet is always handpicked by Chan; he always chooses which flowers to give you, not based on their colour or scent but for the meaning.

One of the things that helped you and Chan bond when you first met was your shared love of flowers and their meanings. You both know the meanings of a vast array of flowers, and he always includes yellow roses in his bouquet to symbolise your friendship.

Today is no different; there is an abundance of yellow roses in the bouquet, but there are a mixture of other flowers often in yellow themes, as it seems rather common for yellow flowers to symbolise friendship and happiness.

But sometimes there’s other colours; a little pop of pink tulips to show he cares, white carnations with a cheeky wink as he calls you baby angel, fragrant lavender to remind you of his loyalty to your friendship. Every bouquet is carefully crafted as a message; to tell you that Chan is your best friend and will always be there to love and support you.

And today, right there amongst the usual flowers, a handful of light pink roses.

You run through your mental list of flower meanings. Pink roses tend to mean grace, dark pink for gratitude and light pink has a few meanings just like many flowers. Many of the flowers Chan gives you have multiple meanings, but when put together the bouquets he gives you all mean the same thing. However, light pink roses aren’t used to symbolise friendship, innocence, or care. They mean youth, energy, passion, desire. None of those really blend with the rest of the bouquet’s meaning and it throws you for a loop.

“Did they put in the wrong flower?” You ask, pointing to the light pink roses as you look over at Chan puzzled. He walks over to peer at the bouquet and where you’re motioning, before shaking his head. “But they don’t mean friendship,” you mumble confusedly and look at the flowers again as you try to decipher their reasoning.

Chan doesn’t say a word, just leans his left hip against the counter, left palm on the surface and right hand fiddling with the unused belt loop on your jeans as he waits.

“Wait!” You turn to face him while pointing an accusing finger at him. “Is this you calling me a baby again? Light pink roses for youth?”

Chan chuckles and shakes his head, sliding two of his fingers into the loop now you’re facing one another and letting his palm settle against your hip. “No, it’s not that, though that’s a good one, I should’ve thought of that.”

“Then what?” You tilt your head a little, pouting naturally with your innocent confusion.

“You know. I know you know this one, angel,” he encourages and tugs you closer.

“Joy of life?” You offer, too used to him leading you around and being physically affectionate to really register how close he has you, or how his thumb is gradually tugging at your t-shirt where it’s tucked into your jeans.

“No.”

“Well it’s certainly not energy, you always say I lack energy. Or are you trying to like, manifest energy for me?”

“No, but once again, that’s good, I’ll make you a manifestation bouquet one day soon.”

“Then what? I’m confused, Chan.”

“Want me to tell you?” You nod in confirmation. “What if I show you?”

“What?”

He smirks a little, then pushes off of the counter and cups your jaw with his left hand. “Should I tell you, or show you, baby?” He murmurs, voice pitching low in a way that sends shivers up and down your spine. He leans in closer, brushing his nose against your cheek and nose in a teasing manner, but he doesn’t do anything more. “Well?”

It takes a few seconds for you to react; your heart is racing with anticipation, and you need to swallow a few times. He pulls back and notices your gaze slide down to his lips. “Show me,” you say in a voice so soft and shy it’s practically a whisper.

Chan doesn’t need to be told twice; he darts forward to slot his lips against yours for the first time. There’s no hesitance in his movements, no gentle teasing and dancing as he eases you into it; he kisses you passionately from the first moment, guiding your head to tilt in the perfect angle to deepen the kiss to a filthy degree when he coaxes your mouth open only seconds after his lips touch yours.

You never expected this from Chan; never imagined he’d kiss in such a manner that you feel like he’s consuming your heart and soul in the best of ways. He’s only been kissing you for a few seconds, yet your knees are weak, and you have to cling to him to keep yourself upright.

The moment your hand grips the back of his neck, Chan groans in pleased approval against your mouth and pins you roughly against the counter; his hips pressed against yours and his right hand giving up being subtle about his wants as he yanks your t-shirt out of the waistband of your jeans so that he can slide his hand underneath and run his palm against your bare skin.

Of course, a kiss that passionate can’t go on for too long, you especially need to catch your breath as you hadn’t been prepared at all for the intensity and keep forgetting to breathe as your lips and tongue move with his.

Though when you press against his chest and turn your head aside slightly to try and catch your breath, Chan doesn’t stop kissing you, he just relocates his focus, leaving a trail of hot, open mouthed kisses over your jaw and down your neck.

“Wanted you for so fucking long, angel,” he admits, voice thick with arousal and sounding unfairly in breath even if his chest is heaving too. He drags his teeth over the crook of your neck making you gasp and grip him tighter. “Driving me crazy, ‘m so hard. Can I have you? Can I take you to bed and drown in your pussy? Fuck you so hard I owe you a new bed?”

“Fuck,” you breathe out and grab a handful of his hair to drag him back up. His eyes are so hooded that you’re not certain he’s even looking at you. He looks so far gone and it does dangerous things to you. “Y-you do so much for me, Chan.”

“What?” He blinks away some of the lust dazing him to peer at you confusedly, and a little offended and the out of place comment. “What are you talking about all of a sudden? I’m trying to take you to bed, and you say that? You can just say no, not do some weird speech.”

“I’m not doing that,” you assure and move your left hand off of his shoulder, down his torso and under his oversized t-shirt to find the button of his jeans. He looks down in surprise, then back up at you with desire flooding back into his expression and eyes as you skilfully get his jeans open. Neither of you care that they immediately drop to the floor around his ankles with the jangle of his keys in his pocket, as you get your hand in his boxers. “Let me do this for you.”

“Fuck, yeah, yeah, whatever you want angel,” he approves before leaning in to seal your lips back together.

After your tryst in the kitchen, which lead to half of the bouquet getting destroyed when Chan bent you over the counter chest first into the flowers, sex is suddenly on the table for the two of you. Often literally. It seems as if that encounter opened the floodgates of a year of repressed desire from Chan and alerted you to the fact that his passion is more than just a little reciprocated.

Of course, you’ve known for a while now that you’re attracted to Chan; ever since the realisation that day in the store thanks to the leather jacket, which he is often prancing around in, especially since he’s realised how much you like him in it. Sometimes he’ll even turn up at your apartment, open the zip of his jacket and reveal that he’s wearing nothing but your marks underneath, leading to you pinning him to the closest surface to expand on the collection.

What you hadn’t known is just how deep your attraction runs. That at some point within you, the lust starts to morph and before it reaches your chest, it turns to a love which squeezes your heart a little every time he slows down to press a soft kiss to your lips, or you find him looking at you with eyes sparkling with adoration.  

You never imagined that you would fall for your best friend, yet here you are, weeks into your relationship turning sexual, and falling asleep naked in his arms more often than not while not wanting the morning to come because you know he’ll leave before you’re awake so that he can go home and get ready for work.

There’s a part of you that has, on more than one occasion, almost blurted out that he should just bring his work clothes over; you’ve already made space in the wardrobe to hang his shirts and space in the drawer for his trousers. But you don’t.

As much as you’ve come to understand and accept that the love you feel for Chan is no longer purely platonic, you aren’t ready to move on from your ex. There’s still a piece of your heart in Kyle’s hands, even if they are limp in his hospital bed and your heart should’ve been released back to you months ago.

You’ve tried to move on; you thought it would’ve happened naturally thanks to your recently developed feelings for your best friend and the regular sessions of getting fucked dumb into various surfaces by the man.

Still, Kyle remains, and you don’t understand why your heart won’t let you love Chan entirely.

You hope that Chan is happy with this; that he’s content to spend spare moments between your usual hangouts and your thighs. You don’t want to have to tell him that you’re not over Kyle; you know that Chan doesn’t like the man. Although he never voices his displeasure in you still visiting the Kyle in the hospital, you can always see it in his eyes when you leave and how he fucks you that bit harder when you return.

Hope, it seems, is still stubbornly stuck in the bottom of the box, and has no place in the real world, especially not yours.

“You have a key,” you point out flatly when you open the door having expected the takeout you’ve ordered for dinner for yourself and Chan, yet find the man himself on the other side of the door with his hands behind his back and still wearing his work clothes. “What’re you hiding? Please tell me it’s dinner; I thought you’re the delivery man you know?”

“It’s not dinner,” he chuckles, then brings his hands around to reveal this week’s bouquet. Tulips; red, yellow, and orange. Love.

“Chan…” you trail off, not sure what to say and expression downturned when you look up at him. You can practically see the moment you break his heart.

“Oh, I guess I misread this,” he smiles embarrassed and awkward, even with the pain evident in his eyes. “I thought that you might return my feelings finally, but I guess not.”

“You’re not wrong,” you confess softly. “I just…I’m not over Kyle.”

“What?” His features scrunch in bewilderment. “You’re not over the man who would be arrested for sexual harassment and stalking right now if not in a coma? Am I hearing that right?”

“I still can’t connect that to the man I knew.”

“He really fucked with your head, didn’t he?” His arms lower defeatedly.

“No, he didn’t. He was just…good to me.”

“He cheated on you, angel, he wrote about it in his diary and other women have said as much too. What’s it going to take for you to accept that and move on?”

“I-I don’t know, Chan. I’m sorry but I just can’t do that. I’ve tried to get over him, but it hasn’t happened.”

“Well…I’m not going anywhere,” he declares and steps forward to offer the bouquet. “You may not be able to love me and be with me the way I want, but I still love you, with everything in me and I’ll be here for you all the same.”

“Won’t that hurt you?”

“Baby,” he chuckles and tenderly cups your cheek in one hand, the other still holding the tulips you’ve yet to accept. “I’ve loved you since the moment I first laid my eyes on you; I’ve been by your side through all of the assholes you gave your time to, even if they didn’t deserve it. This one will pass too.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“It will,” a flash of determination appears in his eyes as he smiles at you. “You’ll be mine soon enough, I promise you that, angel.”

At first, you had been cautious with Chan after his confession. You don’t want to hurt him and make him suffer at your side, so you pulled back on the affection and stopped the sexual aspect of your relationship entirely. Chan hadn’t been very happy and pouted at you when you turned him down the first time, but he didn’t push it and accepted it. Though he still reaches out to pull you close to hold and well, you don’t really want to quit him truthfully, so you let that happen.

After a few weeks, it’s as if the month of mind-blowing sex never happened and you and Chan are back to being nothing more than best friends. He keeps to his word and remains by your side as he always has, with no pushing or attempts to get you to reconsider and accept his love wholeheartedly.

Maybe that’s why one day when you’re laid side by side on a picnic blanket looking up at the stars with the snacks and drinks, which Chan supplied for the stargazing session, contently settling in your belly, you look at him and for the first time, you don’t feel as if your heart is missing a single piece.

“What?” Chan asks, side eyeing you amusedly when you’ve been staring at him instead of the sky for a few seconds too long. “Are you about to tell me that the stars in the sky don’t sparkle as bright as the stars in my eyes?”

“Where do you even come up with this stuff?” You laugh and nudge him playfully before sitting up. “Whoa,” you murmur when your head spins, eyes slamming closed and hands flying out to try and balance yourself.

“Angel, what’s wrong?” Chan’s hands are on you in seconds as he sits up to support you.

“M wobbly,” you slur, trying to look at him as your hands grip him tight. “Channie,” you start to panic as the dizziness doesn’t subside at all, if anything it feels like it’s getting worse as he starts to multiply before your eyes. “S-something’s wrong.”

“Shh, it’s okay, Channie’s got you, lay down angel, Channie’s got you,” he soothes, gently laying you back down on the blanket and propping himself up on his right elbow as his left hand cups your cheek. “You’ll feel better soon; just close your eyes and let your Channie look after you.”

“Chan…” You’re finding it harder and harder to move your body with every second. It feels as if your muscles are turning to sludge and bones rubber. You try to lift your arm from where it flopped to your stomach when he laid you down, yet you can’t lift it.

Chan watches the panic fill your eyes and strokes his hand over your head, then back to your cheek again. “You’re okay, my love, I’ll never let anything happen to you. Your Channie will always look after you.”

You can’t even open your mouth to respond. A choked sound leaves your parted lips as your vision starts blurring darkly around the edges.

“I will do whatever I need to, to make sure that nobody can ever hurt you again, my angel,” his voice is taking on a strange otherworldly quality, fading in and out every other syllable.

It feels as if you’re becoming one with the ground under you. It’s still hard against your back, yet it feels as if you’re melting into it, like every point of contact is rapidly ceasing to exist as you fight to keep your eyes open.

“Close your eyes, baby,” Chan’s warped voice meets you. He says something else, but a buzzing appears, overlapping his muffled words until the high pitched sound is all you can hear.

You feel something touch your forehead and brush down gently, forcing your eyes closed. You don’t have the strength to open them again.

It’s pitch black, only the ringing for company until suddenly, it leaves.

There’s barely time to register the pure silence before your consciousness melts into the ground to join the rest of you.

Everything comes back to you all at once.

Your body jerks awake as your eyes fly open. The soft, natural light around you is too bright on your sore eyes and the gentle sound of the birds outside singing their morning song pierces your sensitive ears. Instinctively, you close your eyes and lift your hands with the intention of pressing your palms to your ears to block out the noise, but something stops you from raising your hands more than a few inches.

Panicked, your eyes open and look down to find thick, padded straps around your wrists and buckled in place with a chain connecting each to the wooden frame of the bed under you. You tug, but they don’t give. You try to move your legs, but your ankles are bound in the same way; even if you don’t look at them to check, you just know you’d see the same binds there.

“Breathe,” the voice is familiar, is the one that you’re so used to listening to that you find yourself listening and taking some deep, stabilising breaths without even thinking about it. “Good girl.”

After a few seconds, you realise that Chan is in the room; the strange room where you’re cuffed to a strange bed. You have no idea where you are; the walls look wooden and it smells kind of musty, like it hasn’t been used in a while, but the familiar scent of Chan’s laundry detergent meets your nose from the soft, clean pillow under your head when you turn your head to try and find the man.

He’s sitting in a rickety old rocking chair near the closed door of the small room.

There’s nothing else in the room; no curtains on the window on the wall, which the right side of the bed is pushed against; the window is cracked open, letting in fresh air but even from where you’re laid, you can see bars on the outside. There’s a bulb hanging from the centre of the ceiling emitting a redundant, soft orange glow. And nothing else.

Just you, the bed, the chair, and the man you thought was your best friend looking at you as he gently rocks back and forth, back and forth, the chair creaking with every movement.

For tense moments, minutes maybe, you just stare at Chan in horror. This is not the man you’ve spent the past almost two years side by side with. This is not the man you had been seconds away from telling that you finally loved him with everything in you.

Your Chan is beautiful inside and out; with bright eyes always shining with mirth and adoration when they find you, and a smile that could weaken the toughest of hearts. He was love and happiness. Your love. Your happiness. You don’t know where that’s gone.

This Chan terrifies you. His face is flat, no smile, no sparkle in his eyes. He’s looking at you with an expression so dark and haunting; something similar to the way he looked when you told him that Kyle turned up at your apartment building all those months ago in the café, yet somehow so much worse.

For the first time since meeting Lee Chan, you look at him and you want to be as far away as possible, and then further. This isn’t a man you want to be near. Yet, you’re left without a choice.

“Wha-what’s going on, Chan?” You stammer.

“This is your fault, you know,” he informs matter-of-factly. “If you had just said yes to me that day, if you hadn’t held onto that fucking asshole, then this would’ve never happened. We could be at home, in bed; I could be buried deep in your pussy and filling you with cum again and again until you’re round with my baby. We could’ve been happy; had our family, gotten married,” he huffs a dry laugh and abruptly stops rocking. “We could’ve had the perfect fucking family, baby! We could’ve been perfect. But no! You had to cling to that asshole!” He gets to his feet, flinging his arms up in the air as his lips start to split into a disbelieving smile.

He doesn’t even seem to notice that you flinch and try to move further away from him as he steps closer. He seems entirely caught up in his own monologue as he starts to pace the short length of the room to your left.

“I’ve done everything I can to win you over! I studied you for fucking months before showing myself to you. Changed my hair, changed my style, even changed my fucking interests to suit your tastes!” He wheels around and stalks closer to put his right hand on the headboard above you while he stares down at you with eyes wide. “I fucking hate flowers, you know? Hate those stupid fucking things, yet I read every fucking book I could find to learn about them. Learned how to grow them from tiny little seeds all for you,” he points at you. “And what thanks do I get?” He laughs and pushes away from the bed to turn and take a few steps away. “Nothing! Okay, no, no, that’s not fair to you,” he concedes.

Chan turns to face you with his hands and features settled so suddenly into something so placating that you wonder if you had imagined the unhinged mess he was seconds ago.

“I got to taste that pretty little pussy and feel it around my cock, your mouth too. Fuck, baby, I could’ve held out longer if you hadn’t ended that but you, you little cock tease, had to give me a taste of heaven and rip it away from me.” He tuts disapprovingly and gives you an exaggerated pout. “You’ve really broken my heart, you know?”

“Th-then let me go and you never ha-have to see me again,” you try to reason, but he laughs; a full, loud, rolling laugh while leaning over with his hands on his knees as if you’ve told the best joke he’s ever heard.

“Oh, angel!” He exclaims as he straightens up, clapping his hands amusedly. “That’s good, really good. You’re so funny, baby, it’s one of the things I love most about you. You’ve always made me laugh.”

For a few seconds, he looks at you so tenderly that he looks like your Chan again; the Chan you fell in love with, the Chan you wish you had realised was a trick from the start. It makes sense that he always called you naïve when he knows from experience how easy it is to fool you.

“You’re mine now, ‘till death do us part and all that. Sorry I don’t have a ring for you, I’ve never been one for accessories.” He lifts his bare hands to wiggle them at you.

It’s only now that you realise he isn’t wearing a single piece of jewellery, something you thought wasn’t possible for your Chan. His clothes aren’t baggy and hiding his form, and hair no longer shaggy and in his eyes. He’s wearing blue jeans like usual, but these ones are straight legged and show off his thick thighs and ass; his plain white fitted t-shirt is tucked into his jeans neatly, showcasing his slim waist and strong upper body; with his hair neatly styled back in a casual, yet neat, manner. You’ve never seen him like this; he looks older this way, less playful.

It's another reminder that he’s not your Chan. He never truly was.

“I wish it didn’t come to this; you know?” He comments while walking over to sit on the edge of the bed by your waist and brush the back of his fingers over your cheek, entirely ignoring the way you flinch away from this touch, even if it is painfully tender. “You’re so beautiful; I’ve wanted you from the moment I first laid eyes on you, even if you never saw me.” He sighs dramatically and gets up to stand beside the bed. “Even back then you looked anywhere but me. It’s funny though,” he muses, pacing a little as his lips start to lift and bring back that manic smile he earlier wore.

It scares the shit out of you.

“You never once questioned your bad luck,” he quotes your own words with a mocking tone, trying not to laugh as he does so. “Or how it only appeared once I came into your life. You really are fucking naïve, baby.”

“What did you do?” You whisper, horrified at the realisation that Chan had been the reason that all of your relationships have failed.

Now that you think about it, he had always warned you away from them all for some reason; some kind of claim of a bad feeling, a rumour, seeing them kissing another woman. You never questioned how he always had something to say about every single man you showed interest in, or seemed to know things he shouldn’t really know. You put too much trust in the man from day one and now it’s come back to bite you in the ass.

“Whatever I needed to. It was all so easy too, like you wanted a reason to leave them all. I really thought it was because you wanted me,” he laughs darkly and pins an equally as dark look on you as his smile drops. “And then Kyle came along. Fucking Kyle. Perfect Kyle with his clean record and respect and giant, squishy heart. Well, it’s extra squishy now I pushed him off the road,” he laughs, eyes lighting with twisted delight.

“No,” you choke out. “You- no- you didn’t- tell me you didn’t do that to him, Chan,” you plead desperately.

Chan laughs and walks over to lean over you again, his left hand braced against the headboard and the other playing with the strands of your hair on the pillow beside your head. “If only you had believed me. If you hadn’t let him talk to you that day; if you had just kicked him out and come right to me like you were supposed to, it would’ve never happened, angel. You had me right there waiting for you and you picked that asshole and now guess what?” He looks at you with a bright, manic smile, eyes wide and shining with mirth you wish doesn’t exist. “He’s never fucking waking up, baby!” He beams, looking so proud of himself. “I made sure of that!”

You feel sick to your stomach.

It must show on your face because Chan’s own falls and he frowns at you. “Don’t look at me like that. This isn’t my fault.” He scoffs and backs up from the bed as that terrifyingly haunting look returns to his features. “I didn’t think I’d have to go this far; I thought you’d accept all those rumours and evidence I spent so much time, money, and effort planting. I bribed and blackmailed so many people the past months. Got the asshole fucking convicted and you still refuse to pick me.”

Chan sighs heavily, as if it really does pain him, before he pivots and walks to the door to open it, though he turns just enough to look back at you.

“I can’t tell if you’re too smart to believe all that or fucking stupid to still want to be by his side after all the accusations. Maybe he did brainwash your naïve little self.”

He stares at you for an unnervingly long moment as if he’s trying to figure you out and wondering what exactly Kyle did to earn your loyalty, and how exactly he can mimic it to make you his.

“Oh well,” he decides with a shrug, making you jolt at his sudden voice. “Not that it matters anymore because I’m not letting you leave here. If you’re not going to be mine on your own terms, we’re doing it my way.”

He closes the door after him, and you break with the sound of the lock clicking into place.

Tears roll down your cheeks and temples, soaking the soft pillow under your head as sobs tear from your chest. You keep tugging at the binds holding you down, yet they don’t budge.

You’re stuck here.

Even if you somehow escape your binds, there are bars on the window and a lock securing the thick wooden door.

You’re stuck here. For good.

Forever.

Stuck with the man you had trusted to look after you, to be by your side for a long time. You just never expected it to be like this. You as his prisoner; his little plaything to do with as he pleases until he gets bored of you and then… you don’t even want to think about it.

The sun slowly rises higher and higher into the sky and finally, you stop pulling at your binds, stop crying; out of energy and tears with your whole body hurting, yet nothing in comparison to the pain in your heart where it’s stomped into the wooden floorboards and covered in Chan’s footprints.

You dread the moment he returns. Dread having to live your life like this.

But you know you don’t have a choice. You’re his now, to do with as he pleases. You no longer have a choice in how your life goes.

The click of the lock disengaging sends fear racing through your tired body, adrenaline pumping, yet there’s still nothing you can do as Chan steps into the room with a tray in his hands and a smile on his face.

“Hi baby, it’s time for food! I made your favourite.”

As you watch him approach wearing that same cute smile that first drew you to him, all you can do is curse yourself for being so fucking naïve.

Don’t forget to reblog if you liked to help spread the story and let others read it too! And don't be shy to leave comments or send an ask so I can see your thoughts 🥺 💖

Permanent taglist: @okiedokrie @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @tusswrites

[golden-moony]

king of my heart | pt. 4

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

------------------------------------------------------

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, carlossainz55, landonorris, and 74,922 others!

yourusername life lately 💌

user1 swiftie, romcom lover and f1 fan... she's really one of us🩷

user2 and that's why she's the girlies' bestie

user3 QUEEN WE MISSED U SO MUCH

user4 as pretty as always 😍

user5 i'm probably reaching here but posting THAT movie feels like a statement's being made 👀

user6 right?? after all the drama she goes and posts that movie title and i just don't know how to feel user7 user6 thank god she just posted the title cause if she'd posted the "you can't lose something you never had" line, i would've lost my mind 😥 user8 or maybe yn just likes the movie??? user9 user8 THIS!! people act like there's a secret meaning to everything and i'm tired of that crap

user10 i'm a simple girl: i see yn and taylor swift in the same post, i like

user11 so what happened? were you starting to lose relevance and decided to come back?😂😂

user12 she needs to pay the bills somehow 😂 user13 girlie came back to keep playing the victim lol user14 y'all need to get a life asap.

user15 YOU DROP THIS QUEEN 👑

carmenmmundt gorgeous woman 😍

yourusername you are💗 user16 OMG MY FAV GIRLS INTERACTING user17 carmen please please please stay away from this problematic woman😕

user18 soooo are we gonna talk about lando liking the post or what

user19 girl i can't do this again user20 can't believe lando is back again with this bitch😒 user21 user20 wtf??? it's just a like omfg chill.

user22 yn please don't leave us again 🥺

📞 calling Pato

[yn; normal] [pato; cursive]

"Hi-"

"I'm not gonna lie, you are either very brave or very stupid for calling me right after the videos of your little date with Lando are going viral. Did you get tired of hiding your relationship?"

"...Guess I deserve that."

"[sights] What do you want, yn?"

"I swear I won't take up much of your time. I just want to talk... well, apologize, actually. I'd prefer to do it face to face rather than over the phone but I know that right now I'm probably the last person you wanna see. At least this way, if you don't wanna keep listening to me, you can just end the call."

"Well, I'm very tempted to end the call right now."

"Pato, I-"

"However, I'm also very curious about what you have to say."

"So...?"

"So I'll give you a chance to talk. But I promise you yn, if I hear any lame excuses, I will hang up and block you. Are we clear?"

"Hundred percent clear."

"Then talk."

"Well... first of all, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I promise it was never my intention to hurt you, even if I ended up doing it anyway. I should've told you from the beginning the kind of relationship I had with Lando and I should've been honest with you, especially when my feelings towards you changed to something deeper. I kno-"

"Hold on. What?"

"What do you mean what?"

"What did you just say?"

"That I'm sorry I lied to yo-"

"No, no. The part about your feelings."

"Oh. Well... you heard me. And I don't know why you sound so surprised. I mean, what happened between me and Lando in Spain was a stupid and terrible decision I made, and I should've known better cause my feelings for you were getting stronger."

"Then why did you sleep with him?"

"I... [sights]. I've thought about it a lot in the last few weeks, you know? I was trying to put all the blame on Lando when in the end I was the one who took the initiative. We were just going to talk to end that situationship once and for all, and then I kissed him. And instead of stopping him when he was going for more, I just let it happen cause in my head it was a form of goodbye. Clearly I ended up feeling guilty but the damage was done. And when I could've made things right by telling you the truth about what happened, I didn't. I was embarrassed, but mostly scared of losing the best man I've ever known... but that ended up happening anyway, and I'm to blame for that."

"..."

"Pato?"

"Did you love him?"

"No. We started out as friends and one day I realized I was attracted to him, one night one thing led to another and we became friends with benefits ever since. He didn't want a relationship at that time and neither did I. But in the last few months that changed for me. I wanted a partner, a committed relationship. Lando wasn't that and I was tired of being just a "casual thing". So no. I liked him, but I never loved him."

"So what was that date night about?"

"Just us being adults and having a real and necessary conversation. I had things to apologize for and so did he. I think Lando and I finally found common ground and are ready to move forward... not with each other, just to be clear. Just friends and nothing else."

"For real this time?"

"For real this time. My priorities and my heart are elsewhere."

"Oh, really? Where?"

"I could tell you or I could show you. To be honest, and if you let me, I'd rather show you. You know, actions speak louder than words."

"Yeah, I've heard that. You have any idea?"

"It depends. What are you doing on Friday?"

pacers

liked by elbaoward, tyresehaliburton, arrowmclaren, and 43,942 others!

pacers We had some motorsport representation in the house tonight!

user1 ynpato being hard launched (again?) by the pacers was not on my bingo card but i appreciate it🫶

user2 this is so random and i love it!! user3 the pacers earned my respect after this 🫡 user4 pacers stonks after this hard launch📈📈📈

user5 YNPATO BASKETBALL DATE? WE WON FR

user6 this is like straight out of a movie 😻 user7 THEY'RE SO ROMCOM CODED

user8 NOOO PATO NOT HER AGAIN 😫😫

user9 right? my week has been ruined. user10 keep cryin' haters 😘

indycar Hi yn and pato!! 👋

user11 basket date a few days after her post? she's an icon AND the mastermind fr 💅

user12 context?? user13 user12 her last ig post included a pic of "how to lose a guy in 10 days" and some people were speculating it could mean something, now yn goes with pato to a basketball game just like in the movie 😂 user14 SHE MANIFESTED IT AS THE QUEEN SHE IS🙌

user15 real question is: yourusername did Pato get you a soda?

patriciooward of course i did! 🙄 yourusername not only that but he also got his head in the game😏🏀 user16 I'M LIVING FOR THIS REFERENCES

user17 they make such a beautiful couple omg🥹

user18 are y'all forgetting she was in a date with lando just a few days ago????

user19 she belongs to the streets fr user20 the day y'all understand yn can be friends with lando or anyone is when you'll finally grow up.

user21 not related but she always slays with her outfits🔥

user22 fashion icon for real 🤩 user23 i want her wardrobe so bad😩

user24 YNPATO CONFIRMED 🚀🚀🚀

user25 i just wanna know if pato can fight 🤺

user26 i wanna be her so badly 😩

user27 same girl, same

yourusername posted to their story!

yourusername

liked by arrowmclaren, oscarpiastri, frosenqvist, and 79,889 others!

yourusername And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for. King of my heart, body and soul 🧡

user1 MOM AND DAD ARE THRIVING 😍

user2 and we love to see it! user3 this is their world and we're just living in it

user4 yn is stronger than me cause if Pato looked at me like in the second pic... 😳😳

user5 IKR??? I'M DEAD user6 i was not ready for that, i'm currently on the floor user7 i meaaaan she's dating him, she already won in life

user8 THE CAPTION???? omg they're so cute🥹

user9 YNPATO AND TAYLOR GANG WE WON

user10 relationship goals for real ❤️‍🔥

user11 tired of being a spectator, I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE😭

landonorris if you three weren't that cute i'd try to steal Norbi from you

patriciooward back off, Norris 🤺 landonorris watch out, O'Ward 🤺 yourusername oh hell no mclaren arrowmclaren may i have permission to ground these kids? mclaren you may proceed 😉 patriciooward WHAT landonorris THE BETRAYAL user12 i used to pray for interactions like these 😭😭 user13 user12 we've come so far 😭 user14 WAAAAR IS OOOOVER

user15 yn's living her best life and i'm so happy for her 🤧

elbaoward I don't appreciate being left out of the photo, but I love you lovebirds anyway 💘

yourusername imma post a dump of just beautiful pics of you😘 love u elbaoward i'll be waiting then ☺️ patriciooward i also want a photo dump🥺 yourusername no 😚 user16 i want to belong to this family so bad, do you need a nanny for Norbi or anything?

user17 atp I'm just waiting for the engagement announcement

user18 same but i don't think i'll survive it user19 CAN U IMAGINE? OMG

user20 tag yourself i'm Norbi in the last pic

patriciooward te amo, preciosa ❤️

yourusername love u more, handsome 🥰 user21 AND I LOVE YOU BOTH

taglist: @drunkinthemiddleoftheday @evie-119 @evans-dejong @minkyungseokie @noneofyourfbusinessworld @bernelflo @eiaaasamantha @ijustgomessitupx @honethatty12 @daemyratwst @f1fan65 @littlexscarletxwitch @sheslikeacurse @charlottejpg @lichterfee @callsignwidow @phantomxoxo @stinkyjax @rubywingsracing @willowpains @urfavsgf @biitch-with-wifi @lightdragonrayne @illicitverstappen @herebereblogs @tvdtw4ever @nataliambc @norwayxo

author's note: AND THAT'S A WRAP! Thank you so much for giving this story a chance💖 To my Lando girlies, don't be mad! He was a jerk in this story but I'll post another one where he gets the love he actually deserves. And to my Pato girlies, stay tuned! I plan to post more stories with him cause it's what our lovely man deserves. And if you want me to write about some other driver, feel free to send me a request! I'll see what I can do🧡 See y'all soon!

[jolalibrary]

iii - just say that you need me

javier peña x f!reader | chapter three of late night texts

summary: It's the year 2000. Javi is minding his own business on the porch of his pop's ranch when a text from an unknown number vibrates his phone. The only problem is, no one knows he has a phone and no one has his number.

chapter warnings: fluff. flirting. continuous romcom vibes. an: the amount of people who look forward to tuesday's makes me grin. for those who are new, i don't have a tag list. wordcount: 2.6k.

text key: bold is you/reader | italics is javi

You should say yes more. 

to you or to my pop 

To your pop. I know you wouldn’t say no to me. 

you sure about that 

I’d bet my next paycheck on it. 

for you I’ll say yes to him once

Good. Now we have that out the way answer what the worst date you’ve ever been on was

shit. going with the hard hitting questions today

Just getting you to share, open up

probably when I first came back from colombia someone from my town where I live

They a bad host, bad dinner guest? Gimme more Javi cmon. You said you’d entertain me.

baby, im trying to entertain you but you told me to stop

I said stop flirting while I’m eating and answer the question

she wouldn’t stop asking me for details on escobar

Ah. Yeah I can see how discussing that would be a mood killer.

yeah didn’t wanna go in the first place either

So if we ever meet, do not ask about your Colombian experience. Got it. 

you can ask, doesn’t mean I’d tell you 

Ha! Good to know. I wouldn’t though. If you wanna tell me, I think you will. 

thanks, what’s yours?

Well I was stood up when we first began texting. Think that’s pretty bad, enough.  

he’s an idiot because only an idiot would stand you up 

You haven’t seen me, remember 

statement still stands 

Stop being so charming.

you still eating

No.

then I can flirt

Most of the time, he ignores the mail. 

Lets it pile up on the entryway dresser until his pop makes another reference to it. Unlike his pop, he is never in a rush to open them, knowing no good comes from the contents inside.

The same people contact him. The bureau being one. Sipping his coffee as he glares at the usual federal sign on the envelope, wondering how many more times they’ll try asking him to come in for a chat.

This afternoon, though, the envelope isn’t brilliant white, but rather off-cream. 

Peeling a bit, thumb digging in as he drags it across, the ripping sound filling the small space. It’s only as he opens it does he realise who it’s from. 

His eyes stare at the letter, taking in the number—the one in triple digits with his phone provider logo in the top corner. The number which is making him feel sick, the more he stares at it over and over again. 

“Fuck.” 

Folding it, he swallows. 

Shit.

Motherfucker.

He stuffs it away, tucks it under magazines and other leaflets, as though by keeping it out of sight, it’ll go away.

But it's there.

The edge of it sticking out. He even blinks, and the number is there, tattooed on the back of his eyes. Taunting him—the price of speaking to you. 

It's not that Javi can't afford it. He’s had a chunk of money sitting, gaining dust, in his account since he came home. Only able to force portions on his pop as and when he felt he could get away with it. 

But this was a lot. More than he’d bargained on, more than he even knew he could spend simply by replying to someone. 

There's a chance your day won't be done just yet—his day beginning far earlier than yours even began—but he pulls his phone out, fingers pressing into the keys.

so apparently talking to you is costly  Oh, you've had your bill. I feel I should ask whether I'm worth it? 

It’s instant—the way you make the nauseous feeling vanish. How you force it to slide back to where it came from, and in its place, warmth spreads. All accompanied by a smile on his lips. 

He doesn’t want to show his hand too much. Better at concealing, playing the long game when standing face to face.

This requires a skill he hasn't yet gained. Simply focusing on not sounding ridiculous, or over the top. Unnecessary. Like some of the desperate men, he's happened to arrest over the years.

Even if his chest flutters and his mind screams, of course. Wants to ask, isn't it obvious? But he chooses something easier, uncomplicated.  

yes just didn’t expect it  I had my phone bill the other day. I get it.  did your heart fall out your ass No. But I will be eating ramen for the next month.  We can stop texting so much though, if it’s costing too much.  would rather my bill be double than stop talking to you  You’re such a flirt. 

He drains the rest of his mug, leaning back in the chair—hearing the sound of approaching boots from his Pop’s side of the house. Fingers typing, all hurried and determined 

Don’t forget I’m out for drinks and a movie.  I remember don’t worry 

He remembers as soon as you remind him.

Realising it's the reason you're able to reply right now. You’d been telling him almost every night for the past week. All worried, as though hating the idea of breaking the nightly tradition the two of you have concocted. 

In a way, Javi should have assumed the bill would be high with the number of texts the two of you have been sending. How frequent it’s been—how nice it’s been. 

Nice things do usually come with a tag. 

you decided on sweet or salty  Verdict is still out. You sure about waiting to do the crossword?  if we don’t do it tonight, we’ll do two the next day  You sure? more than sure have a great time 

“Y’sure you don’t fancy coming with me, Jav?”

He thinks of it, tapping his phone against his palm as he thinks of your text the other night. The one about him trying to say yes—something curling in his chest as he realises he’ll be alone, alone if he doesn’t. 

A sentiment he didn’t mind on paper, but now confronted with, rather despised. 

 “Alright, yeah. Can—can I get changed?” 

Mid-grabbing his own jacket, his Pop turns, surprise knitted into his wiry brows. “Y-yeah, sure, I’ll….”

“I’ll meet you at the truck?” 

And he does. All without complaint. Plaid shirt on, a smile being forced as soon as the truck pulls off the drive. He doesn't even complain about the radio choice or the fact his Pop always takes the main roads when he could cut down the dusty roads. 

When he arrives, he doesn’t mind how many hands he shakes, one after the next. He tries not to grit his teeth as each person says the usual things, they’re proud, he’s grown, when is he settling down? Each time he laughs it off. Spanish rolling from his tongue as he smiles and winks. 

It’s performative. 

The old version of him coming out from a hidden place. 

Always there, ready, as his hand shakes another person's hand—one he’s already forgotten the name of. Someone he’s sure he’s met before, too. 

It always happens. The small-town boy who took down drug cartels has become somewhat of a celebrity tale. A thing to gawk at when he visits the store. Chucho's boy who ran away to Colombia and now hides away on the ranch.

For the amount of time it's been, he'd foolishly expected it to die down—but it hasn't. Not enough, anyway. 

After enough time, he excuses himself, sneaking down the corridor near the bathroom. Leaning against the wall, fingers trying to rub out a knot that hasn’t yet appeared in his skull. The one pulsing, threatening to build behind his eye.

He’s unsure what he wants to do, what he needs. Retrieving his phone, just clicking around, before finding himself on your texts—feeling better for it.

Reading them back, smirking at some, smiling wide at others. A shape forming in his head, little details he’d amassed to make up you. A person he was pretty sure meant more to him than evening company, but it seemed tricky to delve too far into it. 

That is until his phone vibrated. 

Just wanted to tell you I miss you. Even if that’s weird. 

His fingers hover over the keys, a retort quick—there in his touch.

Slowly he presses it out, hearing the click even over the bar’s music as he double and triple taps each button he wants, until it forms what it is he thought:

not weird, you drunk I’m tipsy, not drunk. Still mean it. good cause i miss you too

you never said how the movie was

As someone who flies a lot, I shouldn’t have watched it.

that bad

Will probably have to hold the hand of my seat mate the next time work makes me fly. 

I’m sure they won’t mind 

Depends on the length of my nails I guess. 

some people don’t mind nails clawing in certain situations

You trying to tell me you like nails down your back, Javi? 

if the situation is right, yes 

What about in your hair?

now who’s being a tease 

I’m learning so much tonight. 

and your putting images in my head 

I’d love to know what I look like in it, since you haven’t seen me.

beautiful, you look beautiful 

My face is burning. 

your day been ok

Yeah, was fine. Work has been rough. 

you want to talk about it

Not really, it’s stupid anyway. Plus, would rather do the crosswords and hang with you.

you do have two to make up to me

Best get giving me the clues then, Javi. 

four letters, begins with f 

Is this a Javi crossword or a real crossword 

baby, cmon 

Fuck?

fork 

someone’s in a dirty mood

You’re such a dick. Give me a real clue. 

There's not a point in time where he can track how his thoughts went from nothing to you. But, he thinks about you all the time.

Has been doing so constantly for the last two days, at least—the occasional vibrations from his phone making his lips twitch and his mind wander. Javi’s brain exploding with wonder at what your reply could say. 

Sometimes, he tries not to check immediately. Test—see—how long he can go before he does. It’s not been going well.

An excitement dashing through his veins that fills his chest, warms his neck and makes a ridiculous grin appear (one he’s caught accidentally in the mirror).

The back and forth has been quicker—for as costly as it was—outside of routines and work. His fingers have even improved in the speed of tapping the same key to get one single letter.

Each text makes him feel like he learns a new nugget about you, gathering a new piece of the puzzle—an idea of you forming in front of his eyes. One he likes—craves more of—wishing for other tidbits similar to how you like coffee after breakfast, not before. 

That you don’t care for birthday cake, but love cookies. 

morning hermosa hope you managed to grab the coffee

He doesn’t expect to hear from you.

Remembering that your time management in the morning isn’t to be admired. You are someone who is either awake too early or too late—never in the middle.

But, when he finishes. Sweat clinging to every muscle, he’s surprised to find nothing.

Even a little disappointed.

finished up for the day, unsure whether to lounge around on the porch or push the boat out and lounge in the barn

You’ve become such a part of his day, his shoulders sink when he steps out of the shower to see nothing.

His heart slips down inside his chest, resting unsteadily on his ribs as he checks and checks. His fingers fluff his hair as he runs his fingers through it before finding a strand, twisting, and twisting.

I’m probably worrying about nothing but just let me know you’re ok

A part of him had worried this would happen.

That he would allow the attachment to grow—ropes and threads wrapping around him—and it would be taken from under his feet.

He has a history of becoming hooked—usually combining itself with his need to help, to make someone’s day better, easier.

And on paper, he knew it was odd. To care for someone he hadn’t ever even met. But he cares all the same.

Copious amounts, in fact.

Far past an, ‘I miss you’—something else entirely, not that he’d admit as much.

hermosa I’m really getting worried now

He doesn’t want to call.

Doesn’t want to invade your privacy, your space. But it’s knotting inside of him. The things he’s seen, rushing to the surface, pecking away, making him overthink.

His mind conjures ideas that you’re hurt, wounded. That you’re crying, alone. Each flash of his past has the curated blob-of-a-face he’s created for you, written over it.

His fingers twitch, hand moving to his pocket before remembering there are no cigarettes to be found there. He quit. Ages ago. Felt better for it—for the most part—until now.

Now when all he wants is to focus on the taste, the way smoke swirls with the warm Texas air—

Hey, I'm so sorry, I had a bad day. Just didn’t check my phone.  shit hermosa, you scared me.  almost called you.  Really? yeah  Would you? what call you Yeah?

[Dialing number…]

you declined  I did

His heart sinks, crashes, and plummets. 

Then a new vibration, one that travels down his fingers to his wrist, suddenly staring at an instruction: Give me your landline number, be cheaper. For both of us. 

Glancing into the living room, he taps the number in for you. Hating each precious second he wastes by having to delete a letter that should be a number.

Pushing the chair back, hearing it screech as he hovers. Nervousness thumps through him, making him shake, vibrate. 

Staring, willing the phone to ring.

Even as he tries to collect himself, his mind has already begun running away from him. Hearing his pulse thump in his ear, thump, thump—

And then it’s ringing—you’re ringing. 

His voice shouts out he’ll get it as he picks up the phone from the hook. 

“Javi… that you?”

Grinning, he laughs, light and airy. “Hi. Yeah, it’s me.” 

Silence blankets his ears and the air, thumb circling a knot in his forehead. 

Smiling, he changes the phone to his other ear. “Knew you’d sound pretty. You have a nice voice.” 

“Shut up, Javi. I’ve said three words.”

“And a few more.”

He hears you suck in a breath as heat rushes to his ears, feeling the edges of his lips curl into a smile.

“You wanna talk about it or talk about something else?” 

He hears you take a breath another breath. Different this time, all accompanied by a shuffling sound from your end.

“Something else. If that… that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Alright, lemme… lemme think for a second—“

You clear your throat, “You have a nice voice, too, by the way.”

Pausing, he bites the inside of his cheek. “Like you imagined?”

“Better, honestly.”

“I could have called you. I have this additional thing on our plan—so my Pop could call. When I was away.” 

“From when you were in Colombia?”

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he nodded. “Yeah…” 

“Well, if this conversation goes well, you may get a new number to add to your phone book.” 

“That so? Who’s flirting now.”

You laugh, sweet—fluttering its gorgeous wings down the phone to his ear as he readjusts the phone.

Dropping his voice, he turns more to the walls. “So, what you wearing, baby?”

“Oh my god, Javi.”

He doesn’t even mute his laughter, just lets it flow from him—rushing through the house. Not even caring if his Pop can hear him in the next room.

"I'm wearing nothing."

"Hermosa, you tease."

You laugh, and it's different. It's rich, and makes the room glow around him, without you even being here.

"I'm not really, I'm in a baggy t-shirt."

"Not as sexy, but I'm sure I can work with it."

You snort, "Javi, stop."

He wonders if your cheeks are warm. He hopes they are.

Leaning against the wall, he smirks, if only to himself. "I like how you say my name, Hermosa."

an: thank you so much for all being wonderful, i heart you

[obsessivestar]

'What If It's All A RomCom?' - a Ted Nivison x Reader

{{-I'm back! Thank you so much for your patience, I'm doing a lot better and I've got a lot of ideas stirring up in my brain. Hopefully this is the last hiatus I need to take. Y'all are an amazing community and I'm glad to be a part of it ♡-}}

//General Warnings: 18+ Fix (MINORS DNI), Reader is implied to be afab and under 5'5.

Chapter Warnings: Flirting, maybe angst? Hmmm\\

Word Count: 3.8k

☆▪︎▪︎▪︎Taglist!▪︎▪︎▪︎☆

@k-k0129 , @callsign-scully & @limecorpse

☆Love Ya To Death!☆

Chapter 16: Guess (Guess)

As usual, I find myself waking up pressed against Ted's chest, both of my arms loosely wrapped around his bare body. I already know he's awake, I can feel his fingers running little patterns on my back. Before I let him know I'm up, I concentrate on his touch, trying to see if I can guess what the shape is. I feel his chest hair tickling my cheek a little, our legs intertwined under the covers, his weight shifted a little so he wasn't crushing my left arm. Little hearts. He's drawing little hearts on my back. This guy....

"Wakey wakey..." Ted whispers to me in a sing-song tone, making the little hearts he's trailing on my back a little bigger to get more of my attention. Either he's been urging me to wake up little by little, or he's already aware I'm awake. God, he's the sweetest. I can't believe there was a time where I wasn't waking up in his arms. I don't think I ever wanna go back to waking up alone...

"For real, though, we gotta be downstairs in like...15 minutes.." Ted clears his tone, using the full palm of his hand to rub my back up and down, urging me more to wake up. I can't help but let out a little laugh, pulling back from his chest slightly so I can look up at him, taking in his handsome features while I still can.

"What, we can't--" My sentence is cut off by my own voice cracking, my throat dry as ever. An amused chuckle leaves Ted, stretching away from me for a moment to grab his water bottle, returning to my side after to hand it to me.

"Mine was bad when I woke up, too.." Ted spoke with a smile, watching as I take his water from him to take a good, long sip. I can hear Ted let out another low chuckle as I drink up over half of his water before finally pulling back with a heavy exhale. Fuck, I didn't realize I was so thirsty until now. I guess I should've had more to drink last night. I give Ted a thankful smile as I hand his water bottle back to him, watching him set it aside again before facing me once more, both of us now sitting up a bit in his bed.

"There, you were sayin'?.." Ted gestures to me with a smirk. I can tell he's amused with all of this, not just from the water, but from me being in his room. It's a nice change. He looks proud, he looks confident. Honestly, his mattress feels better than mine, though I'm probably only feeling this way because he's in it, for once.

"I was going to say 'we can't lay together for a bit?' but I think I can guess why.." I admit with a smile, adjusting myself so I wasn't pushing all of my weight down on my elbow.

"Oh, you can guess, huh?" Ted raises a curious brow at me, his confident smirk still spread along his blush toned lips.

"Yeah, I've got a good guess.." I return with a confident, but flirty tone, smiling back at him.

"Go on then. Guess."

"Yeah? You want me to?"

"Yeah. Guess."

"You turned our alarms off again, didn't you?"

"I absolutely did."

My guess being correct makes me lean my head back and laugh, adjusting myself so it was now my hand holding me up, pressing down on Ted's mattress. "Why?!" I laugh in disbelief, playfully furrowing my brows at Ted. "Why do you keep doing that?? We have a job to do, Teddy!"

"I-I like you gettin' your beauty sleep, babe!" Ted raises his hands defensively with a devilish little grin, shrugging slightly. "Ya needed the rest! I could tell!"

"I don't need beauty--why do you call me babe now?"

"I've called you babe before, why are you surprised?" Ted tilts his head a little and narrows his eyes. "You've got that babe vibe, I was thinkin' about it earlier. You've got the 'tude of a babe."

"The tude? Like the attitude?"

"Yeah."

"The attitude of a babe?"

"Yeah!"

"I thought I was a princess?"

"You can be both."

"I get 2 pet names now?"

"Yeah, you can have many names. Babe, Princess, pain in my ass, kindofalittlewhoorreee..." Ted purrs.

I playfully roll my eyes as Ted lists off some 'pet names', watching him leaning in slightly. I can't help but shake my head a little, a huff leaving me as my eyes meet Ted's once more. "Yknow, I was perfectly fine before you corrupted me.." I speak, loosely crossing my arms in front of my chest, still completely bare from last night.

"Corrupted you? What?" Ted narrowes his eyes again at me, lightly gliding his tongue along the ends of his top teeth. "What does that mean?"

"Before you made me this way, this--this--I.." I try to find the right words, but my mind immediately blanks out once Ted moves in a little closer, the tip of his nose lightly brushing against mine. It's like his every move is sucking the words out of my head. He knows it, too. He's got that stupid smile on his face again. He knows what he does to me.

"Wow, I really get you goin'.." Ted purrs, lowering his voice a little on purpose. I roll my eyes again, lightly frustrated at how effortlessly he makes me breathless.

"Stop trying to seduce me for like 5 seconds, I'm trying to compliment you." I let out a breathy chuckle as I speak, fixing up my hair a little.

"Can't help it, you're just really easy to seduce now.." Ted gives a casual shrug, his gaze flicking down to my lips as he speaks. "Now I can kiss ya whenever I want, it's hard."

"Kissing me's hard?"

"Not kissin' you's hard."

Ted gives me a small peck on the lips and gives me a little smile. I see a longing sparkle appear in his dark eyes as he meets my gaze once more before flicking down to my lips again. I can read him clearly. He wants more. He always wants a little more...

Ted's hand rests on my cheek as he leans in to properly connect our lips in a warm, wanting kiss. I return the kiss, allowing our lips to move together slowly, intimately. I feel lighter, I feel like we've risen up above the clouds, our lips cupping one another, hugging, enjoying, keeping us above the rest of the world. I feel like this everytime we kiss, everytime he gives me exactly what I'm longing for; what I'm thinking about. Nothing else compares. Not even pot comes close to getting me as high as Ted does. It's maddening. He's maddening. I'm sure I have the same effect on him.

"Told ya.." Ted breaks the kiss briefly to speak, a dry snicker bubbling out of his throat when I reach to place my free hand on his bare shoulder, moving in a little to lose myself in his embrace once more, until we're inevitably interrupted yet again...

I'm suddenly reminded of where we're supposed to be when I hear Joe and Tanner speaking to each other out in the hall, their conversation becoming quieter as they move downstairs for the day. Their voices cause me to break away from the kiss completely, my gaze going over to Ted's closed door. I keep forgetting that there are other people sleeping here every night. I'm sure Joe would've complained if anyone's actually heard Ted and I by now, but still, it makes me feel weird. I feel bad.

"Well, there it is.." Ted smirks, pulling away from me to move out of bed for the day. He grabs a pair of boxers for himself first before he tosses my pajamas over to me one by one. "Duty calls, princess.."

A bashful chuckle escapes me, moving my body to sit at the edge of Ted's bed so I could properly get dressed. I'm gonna have to go right into my room to change into something else, but I'm not takin' that walk naked. "Y'know, I'm starting to think we should slow down a little.." I admit with a shy smile, standing up off the bed as I slip my pajama pants back up.

"Slow down?" Ted repeats, his confidence wavering ever so slightly. "If this is about last night, I did offer my face.."

I stop and look at Ted, furrowing my brows. His face? What is he talking about? Last night we--

Oh.

"Wha--oh my god, no--" I sound completely embarrassed. I am embarrassed--

Right.

"I'm saying slow down because there's other people that sleep here every night, not because you didn't eat me out last night." I laugh a little, moving over to stand by him.

"M'kay, I was about to say.." Ted chuckles lightly, flicking his tongue side to side in his mouth as he looks at me. I could never get tired of the way he looks at me after we wake up together. It's like he's admiring his work while planning the next project. Is he always thinking about sex? Well, he is a guy...

"Are you still freakin' out over us leavin' the window open?" Ted asks, gesturing over to the window by his bed. Fuck, I had almost forgotten about that.

"I wasn't until now, thanks for the reminder." Another breathy chuckle leaves me and I put my hand on my hips, my gaze going to Ted's closed door again. I start to think of responses or excuses I could give out if Tanner, Joe or Dan start asking questions. No way am I gonna tell the complete truth.

'Oh don't worry about it, Ted and I were only smoking weed and fucking in his bedroom, just the exact thing you don't want us doing, nothing to fucking worry about there.'

I guess this is the part where I proclaim that it's all for love, but realistically I think I'm just a horrible friend. Sorry, Tanner.

"Guess we'll have to find other places, huh?" Ted speaks up to snap me out of my thoughts, nibbling a little on his lower lip. Oh god, I don't even wanna unpack what that could possibly mean right now, I gotta go get dressed. Still, I can't help but smile. Being with this man is so thrilling. I place both of my hands on Ted's chest and lean up to give a gentle kiss on his lips, grinning softly up at him.

"Get dressed, Theo.." I hum pleasantly, patting his bare chest a little before pulling away completely to exit his room, smiling like a big, proud idiot to myself. I hear Ted chuckle to himself as I close his door.

It doesn't take long for me to change into new clothes and do my usual morning routine, minus doing my makeup, we got a team for that after all. I'm out of my room in about 5 minutes, getting downstairs just in time to watch some of the team clearing out more of the living room. More ballroom dance training, probably. It's the biggest scene of the film, after all. It's gotta be perfect, or close enough.

Dan's helping some of the crew move some of the furniture outside while Tanner and Joe are in the living room with some breakfast and coffee. I watch their reactions closely when they spot me, they don't seem...uncomfortable or anything, though I'd be surprised if Tanner specifically heard anything, his A/C would've tuned out any noises, I'm sure. It's Joe I'm worried about. I walk up to them as they happily beckon me over. They seem eager to talk to me, it must be about the film.

"Hey, there's my favorite lead!" Tanner points at me, a genuine smile lifting his chubbier cheeks. I can instantly confirm that he knows absolutely nothing about last night. Good.

"Good morning.." I give a small smile, moving around Tanner to grab myself a bagel to put in the toaster. I might even make myself a coffee later, I feel a little tired now that I'm out of that room and among other people. "How's everyone feeling?"

"Pretty good. I'm actually getting used to these mattresses." Tanner admits, moving back a bit to give me some room on the kitchen counter. "Slept pretty well."

"Of course you're sleeping well, you've been sleeping on an actual bed 'the last week.." Joe smirks at Tanner, crossing his arms.

"I sleep in a bed otherwise." Tanner adds back, his tone dipped in amusement.

"You sleep on a futon that you've never actually spread out, you just keep it as a couch." Joe spreads his arms as he replies. "You literally sleep on a couch."

"It's a good couch."

"It's older than you are."

"It's reliable."

I'm definitely entertained, but I decide to interject. "I'm surprised you two didn't get married.." I speak up, moving around Joe to grab a plate from the top cupboards. "You bicker every morning.."

"At least we're bickering about couches this time." Tanner replies with a shrug.

"Yeah, we could go back to clitoris-es again." Joe adds with a humorous smirk, sweeping his hand through his mullet.

"Man, that reminds me, I can't believe it's been over a week already." Tanner spesks genuinely, turning his head to look at Joe. "We've been here for over a week.."

How does that remind Tanner of?--y'know what, not even gonna think about it. Tanner's Tanner.

"And we're basically almost done, right?" I ask, moving around the kitchen as the conversation continues. "Did you book us for 3 weeks just in case, or?.."

"Yeah, we're basically halfway done, technically. We're already over halfway done filming." Tanner admits, pulling out his phone to go over his notes.

"We've filmed all of the scenes with the extras during the first 4 days, we've filmed three out of the seven kiss scenes, we've filmed all of the establishing shots, we got the conflict scenes out of the way...it's honestly just a few more scenes and then the dream sequence and then we're done."

Wow, that was wild to think about. We've really been at it for the first week. I remember first walking into this place with Tanner like it was yesterday. I hadn't even noticed Ted until Conner had canceled on us. I mean sure, I met Ted, but I hadn't really noticed him. That's so strange. That's so strange to think about.

"Damn.." Joe speaks up, basically summarizing my thoughts aloud. "I'm proud of you, Tanner. You've worked hard on this."

"Awe, thanks Joe." Tanner's touched by Joe's compliment, setting his phone down on the counter behind him.

"Yeah honestly, I'm proud too man." I speak up as I take my bagels out of the toaster, smiling back at Tanner briefly. "I'm happy you let me be a part this. I love working with you guys."

"Thanks, (Y/N).." Tanner smiles at me as well, giving a little nod of agreement. "It's been so fun, I can't wait for you guys to see the final product. Everything's been literally perfect."

"I mean, it has me in it, it's gonna be perfect." Ted speaks as he comes down the stairs, now sporting a plain white shirt with a comfortable, multi-colored cardigan and some basic blue jeans. I have no idea how he can wear so many layers in California. I guess he's been here long enough to be comfortable with the heat.

"Hey! There's my other favorite lead!" Tanner points out at Ted as he approaches the kitchen, slipping his hands into his jeans pockets. "That's crazy! You're here too!"

"Yeah, it's almost like I'm supposed to be here.." Ted playfully side-eyes Tanner, joining in on the bit. "Some guy ate bad chicken and now I'm supposed to be here, like, every day.."

"You would've been here regardless." Tanner narrows his eyes a little at Ted.

"Yeah, but I'd be behind the camera." Ted adds with a smirk. "Wouldn't have to try on 50 suits to be behind the camera."

"Maybe you would've. Maybe I would've made you try on 50 suits."

"You would've made me try on 50 suits? For what?"

"Yeah, maybe, for Conner. He probably would've needed help."

"I can't believe he did that, man.." Joe speaks up, slowly shaking his head as he presses his finger and his thumb into the bridge of his nose. "This entire thing almost didn't happen because Conner decided to get KFC at 12 in fucking the morning--fucking, Conner.."

"It's kinda funny." Tanner adds with a light shrug, smirking slightly.

"It is kinda funny.." Joe immediately agrees with a little point to Tanner, cackling out some. "But it's only funny because Ted saved your asses, let's be real.."

"I'm glad I stepped in but I'll admit, it's weird not bein' the one directing.." Ted smirks, moving to stand at my side as I spread butter along my bagel. "I went to film school to direct, not act."

"You're surprisingly good at it." Tanner adds with a genuine smile. That would probably sound sarcastic if it were coming out of anyone else. "Oh! That reminds me. Ted, I wanna get your opinion on some of the shots from the other day."

"Yeah, sure, we goin' upstairs?" Ted asks, pointing back at the stairs. As they continue to speak, they begin moving over to head upstairs, leaving Joe and I in the kitchen.

"Yeah, your room okay?" Tanner asks, placing his hand on the railing as they move up.

"Yea--oh, uhh..." I hear Ted stammer nervously, giving me a knowing glance. "We, uh, we could look at it in your room.."

"...Why?" Tanner sounds genuinely confused. "You have the better setup."

"Yeah, but..." Ted pauses again, moving slower up the stairs. "...everything's gonna be edited on your PC anyways, right?..."

"...Yeah, alright. Makes sense."

Phew.

I turn my attention back to my breakfast, only to see that Joe is giving me a look. Oh boy, here we go.

"You two aren't even subtle anymore.." Joe speaks with a smirk, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I...have no idea what you're talking about.." I feign ignorance, playfully turning my nose up at Joe. Honestly, I have no idea how to handle this situation gracefully. He clearly knows something, but I don't know how much he knows. I feel him move to stand more beside me, leaning back against the kitchen counter with his arms still crossed.

"Oh you don't?" Joe speaks up after a bit of silence, turning his body to face me completely. "You sure about that? Because I can smell the strain on you."

I pause what I'm doing, furrowing my brows in genuine confusion. Huh? "Strain?" I repeat, turning to look at Joe fully.

"Yeah, the strain I got for Ted the other day? The one you two smoked last night?"

My first instinct, for some reason, is to laugh. I cover my mouth to hold back my laughter, a humorous frown forcing the corners of my lips down. I'm not even upset that Joe has caught us. Of course he's the one that gave Ted weed, I should've seen it coming. Joe doesn't even seem to be mad either, at all. He starts having to hold back his own laughter, shaking his head at me.

"You guys are fucking bad, man." Joe crosses his arms again, a slight snicker slipping out. "Tanner smelled it when we passed Ted's room. I had to tell him there was a skunk outside last night!"

"Okay to be fair! To be fair--" I start to speak over Joe a little, still trying to contain my laughter. "I didn't plan to smoke with him! He started smoking before I even went in there!"

"You were in there with him before though."

"Yeah, to record his podcast, not to smoke with him! The smoking came after."

"After you had sex?"

"No, before we had sex, but I had a good reason!"

"Oh my god, (Y/N)..."

"I had a good reason!"

"Of course you did.."

"No I'm serious!"

"I'm sure it was a great reason.."

"Joseph!" I laugh, playfully swatting at him. "I mean it! Okay I know it's gonna sound bad, but the reason's good, I swear!"

"Oh I know, (Y/N), I'm well aware.."

"He--oh my god, Joe--We talked about your wedding!"

I expected Joe to look relieved, but if anything he looked...frustrated, maybe even a little upset? I could feel the entire vibe of the conversation shift. It starts to make me feel uncomfortable. The tension is heavy, and I'm not sure why.

"He finally told you what happened?" Joe asked, finally uncrossing his arms. "He had to get you high to tell you what happened?"

"Okay when you say it like that, it sounds bad." I shrug a little, letting out a chuckle to try and difuse the strange amount of tension in the room. "We're not teenagers, Joseph. I can handle myself. I was fine."

"You're fine?.." Joe repeats, narrowing his eyes at me. His visible frustration shifts into concern. I watch him shift a bit against the counter, his eyes looking me over, like he's looking for something. "...I figured you'd be more upset."

"Why would I be upset?" I ask with another little chuckle, crossing my own arms in front of my chest. "Because he originally went with his girlfriend? Why would that make me upset?"

"No, I just..." Joe's cut off by the sound of Ted and Tanner coming back down the stairs, glancing back briefly before turning to me again.

"So Ted told you everything last night?" Joe asks me, raising a brow at me.

"Yes." I answer simply, giving him a nod.

"Everything?"

"Yes! I'm not upset, I'm flattered, if anything.."

Joe seems to process my answer, but he doesn't look relieved. I watch as he turns back to look at Ted, who's getting his ear talked off by Tanner. Ted's gaze moves to Joe and I, his smile fading a little. I can't see what look Joe is giving him, but it's making Ted look a little uncomfortable. What's going on? What's the big deal? I thought Joseph would be happy for us. Ted clearly had a hard time telling me the truth last night, but he ultimately did. I'm happy he was able to open up, whatever it took.

Joseph turns to me again, the concern and frustration in his face completely gone. Maybe he's just upset that Ted had to get us high to tell the truth, but that's better than hiding it, right?

"...Alright, if you say so.." Joe sighs, taking his coffee off the kitchen counter. "Rehersal is in 20 minutes, if you're gonna make some coffee, do it now, and you might wanna go shower.."

"A-Alright.." I nod a little, watching Joe turn away and leave the kitchen. That was odd. I know I haven't smoked in years, but I'm not a teenager anymore, I can handle a bit of marijuana. I don't plan to smoke with him again, it was just for fun.

That can't be what Joe's so upset about, can it?...

__________________________________

Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 (smut) || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9 || Chapter 10 (smut) || Chapter 11 || Chapter 12 || Chapter 13 || Chapter 14 (smut) || Chapter 15 || Chapter 17 || Chapter 18 (smut) ||

[majycka]

Hello!! I just wanna drop by and say i enjoyed your Utahime thoughts! And i wanna share s couple of my cents if that's alright? Here we gooo

So I'll start by saying that i have nothing against anyone that ships gjhm, that's the beauty of fandom and aus and stories. however, i have tried to see the appeal in a realistically speaking sense within the context of the actual story and i just cannot. for the life of me. Like it's pretty evident that Utahime does not like Gojo, and that he's very disrespectful towards her, however, there is the trust they share because of their roles as teachers and their ideology. it's not that Utahime is an unreasonable person that would turn down an offer that would put her students in harms way right? but the thing is, I don't think the story ever set up any sublots for them to like each other you know? And I don't wanna be a killjoy when i say this altho i probably am, but rather that it's just not something author has envisioned for them?

i do think Gojo likes Utahime, but just not in a romantic sense, and this sort of dynamic is really reminiscent of that i would find in siblings, where one is endlessly annoying and the other wants to strangle the younger. i think if the story went the other way instead of the one it went now, Utahime and Gojo should cooperate and be understanding of one another as in good colleagues/friends? but given how Utahime was written and her limited appears in the story, luckluster and underwhelming sometimes, it's nearly impossible, and it's mostly on gege because all these characters have so much potential yet he only utilizes them as plot devices, in short it's not about the characters unfortunately.

and frankly i can't blame people for creating aus, in fact go ahead, it's what makes shipping so great! like i love to ship gojo too, mostly with geto or sometimes shoko heck i even like to pair him with ocs or readers too! but idk why i just can't picture him and Utahime ever being in a relationship at least within the story like context. again i don't wanna undermine anyone who loves this ship, i am all supporting but i just wanted to get out how i see it. Hope this wasn't confusing!

I see what you're coming from, Anon! People have varying preferences/opinions, and that's the beauty of it! I know Gege wouldn't draw out a romance plot line because he stated he ONLY sees it for mutamiwa. I can be delusional with gjhm BUT realistically, I’d never trust Gege EVER to handle a romance plot line cuz it will probably end tragically lol.

Imma try to speak from gojohime pov and give some insight why I personally love the ship.

I think the gjhm fans that I've seen doesn't ship them just because its ability to be canon but instead the dynamic that gjhm offers. Like you said Utahime does hate him while Gojo seems to like her, and the most funny part for me is that Gojo genuinely believes her "annoyance" is a joke between them. The way I see it, it offers this a slowburn romantic comedy potential with Gojo learning to get over himself, step up, and have this massive realization of falling for Utahime. I had this convo with my moot ola and moot said how basically Gojo just went “shit, she CAN fix me!” with Utahime (Because ya know how Utahime is everything Gojo isn’t) thus he continues to bug her xD

There's just so much to "play" with their dynamics honestly if you take them out of the canon story. You'd think that a slow burn romance would be two people earning each other's trust then doing all the slowly loving/liking part, but since the story already has set up that gjhm have each other trust because they share the goal of teachers fostering the new generation of sorcerers plus their decade of familiarity with each other, it makes you think what's more to this slowburn romcom?

Well, the way I see it, their opposing teaching beliefs can help them learn from each other and be better teachers. Gojo will be forced out of his emotionally constipated ways. Utahime's strength in her patience and ability to connect with other will be highlighted. They can be such a fun colleagues to lovers slowburn romcom type of story ya know which I honestly find hilarious xD So yehhh thats basically why I ship these two fuckers :^)

[mxtantrights]

the chemistry read

this is a snippet from the famous dc!au that started with The Greatest Hits [read here] you don’t have to read it but a lot of things would make sense if you do! hope you enjoy.

Admittedly, you shouldn't give into peer pressure. It does nothing for you in the end except show others that you can be bent to their will. But that will being your fan base is a whole other thing.

You had to prove to your fans that you could deliver right?

"What are you planning over there?" Jason asks.

You look up from your phone. He's sprawled out on the lounge seat by your side. God he looks good but you've told him that when he woke up this morning and when he was making your breakfast. His ego could go an hour before being inflated again.

So you shrug your shoulders.

"A couple of people are saying we don't have chemistry." you answer.

You watch in real time as Jason gasps and gets up from his seat. He walks over to you with a dumbfounded look on his face. There he stands in front of you with his hands on his hips.

"We? Us? You and me? The co-stars of a big blockbuster romcom? That we?" he fires off.

The laugh works its way up from your belly to your chest.

"Yes, us. I was just trying to figure out a way to prove them wrong." you explain.

Jason bends down and the action confuses you. Until his knees hit the end of your lounge chair and he crawls his way up to you. For the love of everything holy you know the two of you haven't gotten intimate yet but you can just tell he is a master of foreplay.

As he hovers above you know you don't know what to think. You can't think. There are no words in your head except for Jason's name.

"I think I've got something." he says.

It's barely above a whisper. You don't know why. The two of you aren't in the country right now. An impromptu weekend vacation to a beach house down the coast. It's just you two here.

You go to speak but stop yourself when Jason grabs your phone. He holds it out for you to put in your passcode, even shuts his eyes when you do it. Then he takes your phone and sets up the camera to video mode.

"Chemistry read. Right here, right now." he speaks.

You look at him incredulously. A short laugh tumbles out first and then you realize that he's not joking. You smile again and set your phone against the chair side table. The camera catches you and Jason from your chests up.

"What script are we working with here? I'd like to be professional about this Mr.Todd." you ask.

"All of them. We're doing best romcom lines ever." Jason answers.

You reach over to your phone and hit record. Jason takes this time to roll back his shoulders and crack his neck. It makes you yelp and cackle like an animal. He has to reel you back into the moment.

He goes first. And boy does he make a show of it. He looks at you intensely It's the way his eyes aren't just one color that throw you off focus. Sure you couldn't think about lines before but now? Definitely not.

"You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on." he repeats.

Your eyes widen and your hand clamps over your mouth. Jason laughs right along with you. You clear your throat and try to calm yourself.

Then you lean right in. You and Jason just a foot away from each other. You see the smirk on his face.

“Just shut up! Here... I wanna marry you because you're the first person I wanna look at when I wake up in the morning, and the only one I wanna kiss goodnight. Because the first time that I saw these hands, I couldn't imagine not being able to hold them. But mainly, when you love someone as much as I love you, getting married is the only thing left to do. So, will you, um, marry me?” you spurt out.

Jason lets out a gasp. You dust your shoulder off with a bashful grin on your lips. Nodding you head to your choice of rom com.

Then Jason leans in so that your noses are touching. You can't help the way you take in a huge breath. Or the small noise you make that Jason is eating up by the way.

“You jump, I jump, remember? I can’t turn away without knowing you’ll be alright.” he says.

Titanic? No way!

You have to one-up him. You can't let him win this hypothetical challenge you've set for yourselves. No way. Realistically he reads English lit so he's going to have an advantage. But you would be damned if you went down without a fight.

“You were my new dream.” you reply.

“You complete me.” he shots back.

“You had me at hello.” you respond.

Jason lets out a warm breath and you feel it against your face. Did he just let you win? You cock your head to the side. But sure enough Jason cradles the side of your head with his hand, his thumb rubbing back and forth on your cheek.

Yeah he let you win. But you think back to the way he crawled up the chair to you and you think to yourself that you have already won twice. Three times if you count the fact you woke up next to him this morning.

Why not let him get a little something for his troubles?

You turn your face inward to his open palm and place a kiss to it. As you do your eyes never leave his. His eyes go wide and then soft, a downturned smile on his lips.

"Think we need to shut the camera off now."

“Why?”

“I mean I’m okay with PDA but some things are meant to be private.” he explains.

“Some things like what Jay?” you ask.

You know good and well what he’s talking about. You actually love teasing him. It’s the better part of each day you spend with him. The way he reacts.

"Things like my tongue in your mouth.” he says with a smile.

You nod your head along, “Get the camera pretty boy.”

His eyes do the thing again and he’s reaching over for the phone to hit stop.

“Yup. Got it. Got it. Getting it.” He says stretching over you and fumbling with the phone.

He hits stop and record a bunch of times. You know you’re going to find several two second videos of you and him sitting like this. You don’t care though.

All you can think about is savoring this moment. He looks hot to the touch with the sun behind him. His sunglasses in his hair. Shirtless in tropical designed swim trunks that you don’t think anyone could pull off but him.

And he is all yours.

[sleep-y-avi]

Kai and isabella's

~Bachelorette party

(Isabella's Bachelorette)

Isabella and the girls decided on Hawaii for the Bachelorette party (yay)

Viviana leaving Josie with Luca and Leaf much to Dantes discontentment...he wanted to take her (both) with him :(

Dominic (reluctantly) letting Alessandra go with the girls during her pregnancy

(after reassuring him a thousand times + Isabella swearing on her life to not go feral on the trip)

Isabella threatening telling Sloane that she will throw her phone off the jet if she checked it one more time

Them actually having a well deserved rest and enjoying their time in hawai

Going to beaches , sunbathing, binge watching cheesy Hawaiian romcoms (Sloane insisted) , renting yachts (and a cruise later as Isabella insisted)

Playing drinking games ( Alè drank mocktails) dirty games (ifykyk) male strippers (this idea was shot down before it could leave the owners mouth)

and ofc reviewing isabella's ever famous dildos and other weird sex toys that only she could have.

All in all isabella's Bachelorette was a weirdly successfully therapeutic vacation for the girls

(meanwhile Kai's Bachelorette)

Ok..right of the bat ,me and you both know that ain't no one wanna be here

they're all Billionaires with a capital B and have things to do that are better than this crap (as said by some of the men)

But..they also have wives/girlfriend/fiance

That means if Isabella and friends are having a bachelorette party

then Kai and friends (?) will also have to have a bachelorette party

Kai very depressingly enthusiastically decided on London for the Bachelorette party.....yay...so.. innovative...

So now here they are sitting in one of the most luxurious penthouse in London doing..... nothing... :D

(they are doing something but it's boring as fuck)

Dominic drowning himself in work ! Who would have thought that !

(also him Calling alè hundred times to check on her but her not being able to because of the " don't pickup calls from husband for one week")

(him looking at the ultrasound and literally counting down to when Alè and their baby will come back)

Dante on a 4 hour video call with Josephine seeing her draw... something that is so out of the box ! that he had to brainstorm for 2 hours on what exactly was it that his daughter was drawing with green and red!!

(he also tried calling Vivian but she had to also follow the "don't take calls from husband for one goddamn week" rule)

Kai trying to translate that one book that Isabella said he couldn't translate in Latin ever. ( It was Kamasutra ರ⁠_⁠ರ )

(giving up after the 1st chapter because he wanted to bleach his eyes ")

(not him also calling Isabella who blocked him btw (bcs she set the rules duh it was girls vacation dum bish)

And finally Xavier (who was forced into this trip because Sloane thought that he needed to hang around "decent" people once in a while )

(Also he missed her too much to stay in the same house without her...London was a great distraction....maybe 😃)

Xavier doing sad single things that people do nowadays....

I can see him going "what do un-single people do nowadays ?!.... Other than responsibly being in a relationship ?!"

Not him giving up and just binge watching cheesy romcoms...feeling single again....sad golden retriever :(

Being the sly fox he is he decided to text Sloane..which she texted him back to....it continued for a while until Isabella found out.....need less to say Sloane now has a new phone and number 😀...

DONE.

[outsidersstuff16]

The outsiders x male reader (req! by: @massivecreationdinosaur)

Just a request from my no.1 pookie this will include:

Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dallas and as always in that order, I love y'all thanks for reading!

Ponyboy-

1.Ponyboy is the type of guy who immediately wants to introduce you to Darry and Soda. He loves to watch you interact with his big brothers and if they like you, he brings you over all of the time.

2.Ponyboy loves, loves, loves to show you off all of the time. You were introduced to Cherry and cannot shut up about you he's always like; "he is so hot, he is so sweet" and it actually makes everyone happy to see him excited for something for the first time.

3.when someone is being really homophobic, he's gonna comfort you and love on you so much and he'll also roast the shit out of that person for anything and everything.

4.He loves to take you to the movies with johnny and sometimes Dally. You guys almost always watch a romcom movie together. You two always tell Johnny that he's next to find the love of his life.

5.when you are sick, he's all buddied up with you and reading gone with the wind to you with you in his arms all bunched up in blankets. He's constantly giving you kisses on the forehead and just loving on you, he also makes you drink your water.

6.When he is sick you let him lay on your lap and make him drink his water and take his vitamins. When he's sick you guys are attached to the hip. He's always trying to get up and you're like nuh uh buddy, lay back down. You and him give forehead kisses to one another. You cuddle all day it's actually so wholesome.

7.you two are so in love it's actually pretty crazy. You guys cannot keep your hands off of each other and when you're just wearing basketball shorts he passes awayyyy like get this man a coffin bc he just died of a heart attack

8.if we're being for real if this was modern y'all's song would so be boy bi or see you again because once again the level of love y'all have for each other is insane and I'm honestly here for it

9.You guys are always being asked if your best friends, but you look at them and interlock your fingers and say sorry, we're a couple and very much in love and when you do it in front of the for the first time Dallas was like damn Pony, you ate man.

10.You and Ponyboy have match bracelets you guys wear all of the time. when you guys are together you make sure you are twinning your bracelets.

Johnny-

this man will give you all of the love in the world and be so proud to be dating you. He tells Dallas all about you and how he can get enough of you

Johnny gives you the biggest hugs ever. He squeezes you so tightly in his arms and will make you feel so much love. He gives you so so so many kisses and just loves you.

Your Guyses song would so so so be My love is mine all mine like tell me I'm wrong. He will for real just love seeing your masculine body and face. He totally will run his hands through your hair.

When you are sick, he'll just hold you and run his hands all on your body and give you massages and give you OJ, and water until you are better and another thing, until you are all better Dr. Johnny has you on bed rest until you are all better.

When he is sick oh man, he's all like, get away from me man I don't wanna get you sick too, Handsome. He doesn't want you to see him vulnerable but instead of listening you are taking the most care of him.

when you two are on a date together you guys argue over who's the 'man' and who should pay for the meal. He's like well we're both men, Rock, Paper, Scissors? and whoever wins pays.

Johnny always comes to you for comfort after his parents give him a good beating. You always take him out for ice cream after nights like these ones.

You and Johnny want to adopt a kid, but Johnny is really scared to end up like his dad. Johnny wants to give his kid the world and in his mind if he doesn't he failed his kid

johnny would also be SO loyal for real he'd always wait for you like if you're a jail bird he's waiting for you to get out. On a trip? Waiting patiently for you to return.

Johnny would be way protective of you. He'd always have your hand in his and if you're upset Dallas is getting involved. Convince me otherwise. I'll wait.

Dallas-

This man would be kind of Distant but still love you he's always complementing you, Like; Damn, baby boy, you look so fucking handsome right now..

This man won't hold hands often, but he will for sure kiss you in public whenever. If someone starts talking shit about you; Say it with me folks: They are FUCKEDDDD.

You two will go to the drive in often, You two like to sit in the back and make fun of how corny the movie is. After the movie you two like to wrestle around in the park and kiss and it's so fucking cutee

He likes to take you to rodeo's really often and sometimes even drag races. You will walk around in loops before the event and will steal kisses from each other, you once kissed him too hard, and he started to chase you around. He eventually tackled you and he just gave so many kisses. It was the best night of your lives.

He loves to pick you up and carry you around his back. I'm convinced that he lets you play football with him and the gang. Y'all get so rowdy but that's all good. You guys go to the dingo right afterwards lol

You guys are veryyyy competitive against each other just cause its how y'all showing each other like "I love you you flippery fuck."

If you are like in pain and shit he loses.his.shit. and it's actually really funny.

[minefield-of-a-ninja]

BLACK TIE OPTIONAL: PART THREE

Summary: The last time we saw Vanessa, she was swooning over Dean’s lasting impression. Now, we fast-forward a year to see what she’s up to.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x OFC Vanessa Martinelli, (eventual) Sam Winchester x OFC Emma Olsen

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, HBO RomCom bullshit, male modelin' sonsabitches, schmoop, "one thing about Dean Winchester is, if a Toddler handed him a toy phone, he'd answer it"

Words in this part: 3K

Author's notes: Follow-up to Plus One.

Thank you, @brrose-apothecary and @stusbunker for the read-throughs and greenlight.

Prologue | Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Final Part

PART THREE

Her alarm goes off at 8:30 AM. As she blinks her eyes open and draws a deep breath, she acknowledges the unfamiliar signs of a good night’s sleep. She’s rested and ready for a day of bridesmaid duties in a way she’s never been.

Before she can focus on any single point in the dim room, her body instinctively burrows into the warm, solid figure curled around her back.

Dean mumbles behind her, tucking his hips against her and sliding a knee between her thighs. Vanessa’s eyelids flutter, and her breath stutters.

She’s never considered herself a cuddler. She likes her space and doesn’t like being restricted. She finds it hard to sleep soundly with another person in the same bed.  

But Dean is different.

“Mornin’,” he mumbles, nuzzling the side of her neck and dragging his lips across one shoulder.

Vanessa clasps a hand over the one palming her belly. “How’d you sleep?” She reluctantly rolls to face him, not wanting to break the bubble of bliss, but loving the reward of his beautiful face.

“Good,” he mutters, rubbing one eye while keeping the other on her. “You snore. But like a cute li’l motor purr. Lulled me right to sleep.”

Vanessa scoffs. “What? No one’s ever told me that.”

Dean chuckles and reaches for her, and her insides flip. “Everybody snores, don't they?”

She gives up being offended or questioning what it means that she was snoring and lets him pull her close. He rolls to his back, dragging her across him, and her knees easily slot on either side of his hips. He gently smooths away the hairs that have escaped the hair tie before arching up to kiss her.

Vanessa doesn’t flinch from morning breath or the sticky heat striping the insides of her thighs. She revels in the feel of him strong and sound under her as his hands trail her shoulders and down her back to trace the seam and curve of her ass until he’s grasping the backs of her thighs. 

“Nice and snug,” he whispers against her ear.

Vanessa hums and rests her head in the center of his chest. Her eyes follow the tip of her finger as it outlines his tattoo, and she wonders if he’ll ever tell her how this occultist-looking symbol has anything to do with his family’s private investigation business. She wonders, not for the first time, how he got all his scars.

“What time you gotta be somewhere?” He drags his fingers up over her ass and back down, and his dick twitches hot at her slick opening. 

“Eleven. But Emma and I were talking about going down to the gym before we have to be at the salon.”

Dean grunts. “Might wanna check in with her first.”

Vanessa chuckles, pushing up to look him in the eye. “What d’you know?”

He smirks, gripping her hips to grind up against her. “Got up at four for some water, she was making all kindsa noise. Sammy, too.”

“Fucken-A, good for her.” She lets Dean roll her to her back and knee between her thighs, reaching down to guide himself inside her. They both groan and Vanessa lifts her knees to wrap her legs around his hips.

“Fucken-A, right, good for him, too.” Dean swivels his hips before giving her a heavy thrust and dropping his forehead to the pillow beside her head. “I love morning sex.”

“Me, too,” she whispers, nestling against his cheek before he rises up again to set that slow and steady pace she’s dreamed about for the last year without him.

--

“Gotta admit,” Emma pauses for the makeup artist to finish her lips with gloss, mumbling ‘thank you’ before continuing her confession to Vanessa. “I was unconvinced by your claims that Dean Winchester had somehow revolutionized the way you see other men and sex, but...”

She glances around the salon to the other bridesmaids before leaning into Vanessa.  

“If he’s anything like his brother, my god.”

Vanessa nods, thanking the woman putting the finishing touches on her own lips, then turns to Emma. “There’s something to be said about the fuck of your life, no lie.”

“No fuckin’ lie.” Emma settles back into her spa chair, reaching for the remote control to activate the massager. “His hands... size is officially a kink for me now. Hands, shoulders, his dick, Vanessa.”

Vanessa laughs out loud, handing her a fresh bottle of water. “Hydrate. And pace yourself. If you recall, I was in a fucking daze for weeks after my last encounter with Dean.”

Emma accepts the bottle with a tilt of her head. She snaps the cap open, studying her friend as she scrolls her phone and waits for the next professional beautifier to start on their pedicures, recalling those weeks with clarity.

She’s known Vanessa since college. They were in a sorority together with Nicole, Katie, and Toni. She and Vanessa went to nursing school after college, and for the last five years, she’s spent every Happy Hour, brunch, and birthday party with her. Vanessa’s always been even-tempered, consistent, and predictable. Emma’s never known her to get hung up on much of anything. 

Then, last summer, after one night with Dean, she spent the next six weeks distracted and disorganized. Emma and Katie talked about confronting her, but Nicole and Toni said they should give her space. She finally got back to her old self, but Emma definitely wouldn’t forget those weeks.

“How was your night?” she asks, slightly changing the subject.

“Good.” Vanessa’s head bobs. “Chill, ya know, pacing myself.” 

Underneath the 16-hour make-up, Emma can see her cheeks flush with emotion. She doesn’t want to pry, so she takes a sip of water and leaves what Vanessa isn’t saying to filter in the air.

“Good. Chill’s good. Anyway, not to be dramatic, but it’s not just big. OK?”

Vanessa snorts and busts into a fit of giggles, and Emma’s happy to oblige.

“Just big could be a potential disaster. Remember that Croatian I took home from Tao two summers ago? What a dolt. I was sore for a week and not in a good way. But Sam can do anything with that thing. I could just sit and admire it for hours and be in tears.” 

Vanessa cackles. “Paint still life art.”

“Still life art!” Emma hollers.

“Jesus Christ, you two are traumatizing the entire city block,” Nicole hisses from across the room.

Emma and Vanessa roll their eyes, and Katie chuckles beside Nicole, patting her arm.

“What’s the matter, Nic, not gettin’ the good dick lately?” Toni mutters from the main chair before wincing painfully. “Ow! Why did I agree to an updo?”

“Because you liked my wedding hair, Tenderhead, but I warned you,” Nicole answers.

Emma snorts, comfortably warmed by the easy camaraderie of her circle of friends. When she glances sideways at Vanessa, the best of the bunch, Vanessa’s staring dreamily at her phone.

“What’s Hottie #1 up to?” Emma asks.

Vanessa squirms a little and bites her lip, and Emma feels that swoon in the depths of her soul.

“They went to DMK for burgers.” She turns the phone to show Emma a picture of Dean, looking like Shaggy Rogers with a double triple-decker sandwich and a mile-wide grin. “Dork.”

Emma chuckles. “Cute and funny on top of looking like that and being a gentleman? Dangerous.” 

Vanessa tenses before placing her phone face down on the side table. “He’s pretty great.” She focuses on the nail technician as he takes a seat in front of the foot bath, chewing the inside of her lip with a furrowed brow.

Emma’s quiet for a while. She really doesn’t want to pry, but she also can’t stand to watch her friend deny herself the possibility of something amazing out of fear. Another pedicurist sits at Emma’s feet, and once they’re each into their work, she tries a new tactic.

“Do you remember that guy Nico from freshman year in the dorms? Before we rushed?”

Vanessa turns her furrowed brow to her friend. “I think so. He worked in the fitness center, right?”

Emma nodded. “We went out once.”

“I didn’t know that!”

“Nobody did.” Emma shrugged, looking down at the man quietly trimming her toenails. “I never told anyone.”

“Why not?”

“At the time I thought it was because I was embarrassed that he was so rough or whatever. Like he was all tatted up with that mohawk, but like...” She looks back at her friend and shakes her head. “The way he made me feel scared the shit outta me.”

Vanessa blinks then slides her gaze to the man working on her feet. 

“Then I told myself I wasn’t ready, then I met Josh.” She shrugs. “I sound like some old maid tryna distill my wisdom to you, but I’m just calling it like I see it.”

Vanessa sighs and rolls her neck one way then the other. “He’s 10 years older than me, Em. And I don’t even know what he does for a job. We barely know each other.”

“Bullshit. He knows you better than you’re willing to admit. Who cares what the family business is?”

Vanessa arches a brow in her direction.

“Yeah, Sam has the same tattoo. Plus, Van, he’s like 37.”

“How do you know that?”

“I ask questions and can do basic math.”

Vanessa shakes her head, and her phone vibrates again. She picks it up and swipes it open to look at the new image she received. When she shows Emma her phone screen, she’s treated to an image of Sam taking a large bite of kale and chicken salad with Dean’s thumb pointed down in the foreground.

Emma makes a mock pout. “Oh, Sam — the burdens of maintaining that beautiful body.”

Vanessa laughs again as she turns her camera to snap a shot of herself and Emma to send back to Dean.

“What if they’re in the mafia or something?”

“Like we’ve never dated anyone related to the mafia, please.”

Vanessa rolls her eyes. “That’s my point. But I’m kidding, I don’t get that vibe from them, but what’s with all the scars?”

Emma shrugs. “Sam has ‘em, too. I dunno, but have you ever felt so safe with a guy?”

Vanessa shakes her head. “That’s what I mean. I don’t get the possessive tough guy vibe, just... badass. Kind, generous, gorgeous badass.”

“Right. So do you really wanna let him walk away again?”

Vanessa sighs, dropping her head against the backrest before playfully glaring at her friend. “Why can’t you be a bad friend for once?”

“Not in my nature.” 

They both laugh.

--

After Vanessa and Emma left the hotel for their spa appointment, Dean couldn’t stop thinking about the night before. He doesn’t know what happened in Vanessa’s past to convince her that he’d reject her so easily, but if things were different for Dean, he’d do the exact opposite and hold her close.

The night they met, she asked him to make a scene, and he did. He wants to do it again, but in a different kind of way because she deserves everything she wants.

“Sammy!” Dean adjusts his tie and pockets his wallet. “Meet ya downstairs; gotta get Baby from valet.”

“Be there in five,” Sam calls from his and Emma’s room.

Dean holsters his Colt inside his waistband at his back. They haven’t seen any trouble since they arrived yesterday, but he isn’t taking any chances. Before he walks out the door, he slides into his suit jacket and settles his shades in place.

He and Sam arrive at the church a respectable 30 minutes before the ceremony, dressed to the nines. They hang around outside with the rest of the guests until the doors are opened. Several guests stare at them, and it makes Sam uncomfortable.

“What’re these people staring at?”  He fidgets and tries to make himself smaller.

“We’re a coupla handsome sonsabitches, Sammy. They can’t help themselves.” Dean drags his attention from his phone after checking messages. “Still no news, by the way, so I guess we can relax.”

“Is that why you brought your .45?”

Before Dean can answer his cranky baby brother, the doors to the church open and the guests begin filing inside.

“Can never be too careful, now, shut up and get inside.”

In the foyer of the church, the wedding party is greeting the guests. Dean spots her within a second and stops in his tracks, pulling his sunglasses off to get a better look at her. She’s wearing a full-length, dark brown silk gown. It’s sleeveless with a high neck and a low, open back. She’s laughing, and Dean’s heart picks up its pace.

Emma appears at her side, also in a long silk gown of a different color, and Vanessa scans the crowd. When her eyes land on Dean, they go wide, and her jaw drops. Emma turns to see what Vanessa’s looking at and soon her expression is matching.

Dean impatiently waits for the other guests to get out of his way so he can get his hands on her.  

“Wow.” Vanessa shakes her head in awe once Dean is in front of her. “You look—”

“Nah.” Dean hooks an arm around her waist to pull her in for a quick kiss. “I’m just tryna keep up with you.”

Vanessa murmurs, “If I had even five extra minutes, I’d take you to the nearest closet and be on my knees.”

“Mmm, careful, Nessa, I gotta go sit in a church pew for the next 45 to an hour.”

“Break it up.” Emma smirks, looping her arm through Vanessa’s to untangle her from Dean’s arms. “Time to line up, Van.” 

Vanessa whines and practically stomps her foot, and Dean chuckles, watching Vanessa and Emma hurry to catch up with the rest of the party. 

“Damn,” he mutters as they disappear down the stairs of the church. 

“No kidding,” Sam agrees. “Talk about a couple of good-looking people.”

“Did you hear what she said to me?”

“I didn’t. But it couldn’t have been better than what Emma said to me.”

Dean shoots his brother a look of surprise. “Well, look at you, little brother.”

--

“This day has been filled with the longest stretches of time we’ve been still in... ever.”

After the very long, sobering ceremony, Dean and Sam are waiting outside for their dates. It takes longer than they expected, but Dean doesn’t mind the downtime. 

“Yeah, I kinda like it.”

“Since when? You rarely even sleep more than four hours a night.”

“I dunno, man, since Amara, maybe? I just... I could get used to this normal shit once in a while is all I’m sayin’.”

Sam puzzles over his brother’s assertion until he spots Emma and Vanessa descending the stairs toward them. He’s taken aback once again by how beautiful Emma is and how she makes him feel normal. That realization is a bit of an a-ha moment for him regarding what Dean just said.

“Hey,” he greets his date with a smile.

“So,” Emma begins, twisting her fingers in the lapels of Sam’s jacket and pulling herself into him. “We can either follow the limo on a bar crawl, or you can take me back to the room right now, and—”

“What a lovely ceremony!” An older lady appears at Vanessa’s side, holding the hand of the flower girl, interrupting Emma’s most certainly obscene proposition. “Wasn’t that lovely?” 

“Silvia, how are you?” Vanessa greets the woman and then crouches down to address the little girl. “Oh, my goodness, Ari, you did such a good job with the flowers! How old are you now?”

“Four,” the little girl answers, awkwardly showing Vanessa four little fingers before peeking up at the man behind Vanessa. “Who’s that?”

“Oh, umm,” Vanessa follows Ari’s line of sight to see Dean squatting down beside her.

“Hi, Ari. I’m Dean.” He extends his open hand to her as an introduction, and Ari drops her plump little fist into his palm. Dean smiles, gently curling his hand around hers to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hi,” she says, blushing and twirling where she stands, and holding onto his hand. “Do you like my dress?”

Dean fixes his expression with affected surprise. “‘Course, I do! It’s bright and beautiful, just like you.”

Vanessa is captivated by the ease with which he interacts with a preschooler. Just like the night before after her slip-up with Toni’s mom, he takes it all in stride.

“What do you say, Ari?” Silvia asks.

“Thank you,” the little girl mumbles before turning and hiding in her grandmother’s skirt.

Dean chuckles, and he and Vanessa rise to stand. He wraps an arm around her waist as Silvia explains the reason she has Ari to herself is because her son had to work unexpectedly.

“So, no Daddy-daughter practice dance for Ari tonight. Well, we better get going, Ari. We need to get you something to eat. We’ll see you all at the reception, huh?”

Silvia says her goodbyes and walks away. 

“Where’s her mom?” he asks, watching the woman and her granddaughter cross the street to the parking lot.

“She left right after Ari was born. No one’s seen her since.”

Dean winces. “Poor kid.”

“Hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Nicole sighs as she saunters toward them, looking anything but contrite. “Antonia wants the entire wedding party to be on this pub crawl, so no hotel room quickie or whatever you had planned during the cocktail hour.” 

She somehow succeeds in side-eying Vanessa, Dean, Emma, and Sam all at the same time. 

“Of course, that doesn’t preclude any of you from hand jobs in the Batmobile.”

She rolls her eyes and chuckles as she turns on her heel to the limo where Zach is waiting for her. He waves over her head at the four of them and calls out.

“We’ll wait for ya to pull around behind us and follow!”

Dean nods back before sliding his shades on. “Alright, kids, let’s hit it.”

He offers his elbow to Vanessa, and Sam does the same for Emma before they follow in Silvia’s footsteps to the parking lot. 

Final Part

Series master list | Dean Winchester Masterlist | SPN Masterlist | All Fic Masterlist

[fategoflatass]

So, I posted not to long ago my honest surprise to this whole endeavor that delevoped right before my own two eyes. Wanted to post my thoughts (?) on it earlier, but today's the day my Internet company decided to be crappy once again, so yeah.

Just as a heads up: I ramble a lot, and I love writing. Beware of that.

As he said those first lines, let me tell you: I was screaming. Albeit not too much, since I'm used to these kind of scenes to be interrupted rather sooner than later, so I kept my expectations where I could see them. Even then, I was enjoying myself quite a lot.

It's just, them, you know? Like, there this trope (?) that I love where a character whose true self is restrained due to reasons gets to be themselves around this one person or these group of people. Trope that, clearly, applies with these two losers. No wonder I'm so attached to them, huh? I also love losers, but that's beyond the point.

The moments where Jinshi gets to be himself whenever Maomao's around always give me such fuzzy feelings in my chest. Is like reading snippets of a high school romcom's script, you know? And I love high school romcoms! They have that tad of awkwardness proper of their age that always makes me go aw. Or at least the good ones do.

Something that happens to me with this LN is that, and I don't know what the author does but, I always feel like I'm part of these scenes? Like, I'm present. And it can be endearing, but turn awkward as soon as things go wild like here. Nothing wrong with that though: he's a twenty-year-old dude whose teenage hormones have never been satisfied, being the closest he's ever been to his first love, you know what I mean? He's wilding, and I'm not here to judge him on that.

But yeah, my man's head over heels and here he either falls on the most comfortable mattress or crashes against the concrete floor.

At this moment, I had already banished from existence. Her finally realizing (or allowing herself to realizing) his true feelings is something I've been waiting for for so long it's insane! Now, that doesn't mean that what awaits us from now on are butterflies and rainbows—they're angsty, so it could get worse. Call me pessimistic, I don't care. I won't believe in the progress I so long for until I see it.

Now, I talked before (and I'll do it again later on) about her denial on their situation, the possibility of them being a thing and all that, so let's focus on loserboy instead.

I get it that he's just so damn tired of this bullshit, yet I highly doubt this is the proper way to deal with things? Either way, he seems to have enjoyed it way too much. Could this be considered a kink awekening? Because if so, he and his European toad should be sent to horny jail ASAP. He's too much of a menace for anyone to handle, I'm telling you.

I've nothing to say here, unless you wanna hear me scream for the tenth time?

I mean, can you blame him? Even when he's such a popular guy among the ladies (as she mentioned earlier in the epilogue), none of them can satisfy that rooted need that he has—to have a person by his side who seems him for who he truly is and doesn't judge him for that. Someone who's able to see beyond his looks, even if they're so blindingly attractive is humanly impossible.

And once he believed to have found that someone, of course he never let go. He couldn't care less about their difference in status, because what's so wrong to want to be genuinely happy for once in your life? Is it so wrong if they don't share something so insignificant when it comes to love with you?

Maybe not for him, even thought that'd bring him the discredit of his peers (not like he cares that much about that, though)—but for someone who's constantly avoiding trouble and thus would like to pass as unnoticed as possible? Yes. A lot, may I add.

Not like he cares much, though. His intentions are clear: he's gonna jump on a pool that at first seems dry as hell, hoping for some water to make its presence and muffle his fall.

I'm sorry, but that last line sent me.

But even then,

‼‼‼

BRUH IT HAPPENED

LOVED THIS VOLUME 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND

[graygiantess]

Hi! ❤️ I love hear you talk about writing so if you wanna share, I'd like to know (especially in relation to devil's minion but anything goes, really): 1) What is your favorite fanfic trope to write and/or read? 2) Is there a trope you love but would (probably) never write, and if so, why? 3) What is your favorite fic that YOU have written?

Hey Nonny!

Thank you so much for your questions! I love talking about (my) writing so that works out nicely. 😊

1) One thing I really love about Armandaniel is the fact that they're super powerful immortal x just some guy.

Just the idea of Armand being like "THIS IS MY BEAUTIFUL BOY, HE IS THE SPECIALEST OF BOYS" and then it's...a 69-year-old sarcastic asshole who can't find his glasses.

Conversely, Armand being really intense and/or hyperfixated and Daniel just going, "Uh-huh, that's nice, honey" and sort of begrudgingly enabling him or allowing Armand to drag him all over town.

They're such an odd match but they're also perfect for each other (if, you know, you take away the fact that Daniel wants the one thing Armand can’t give him and Daniel can never understand why Armand doesn’t want to give him that and there's resentment and drama and their lifestyle is literally killing Daniel and they generally just have a fucking miserable time because they live inside TVC 😅).

I also really love writing them just being incredibly married, be it bickering or just domestic fluff.

2) Don’t judge me but I really fucking love fake dating. 😅 It's so silly but I gets me every time. But I just don't see how I could fit that to any of the TVC ships without going romcom AU, which idk if I'll do again after finishing What, Like It's Hard?

(I've also never felt the urge to write fic for any other fandom and I don’t know if I ever will, so I don't have any other cast of characters I could use this trope on.)

3) Tbh, I love all my fics. I'm probably not supposed to say this, but I think I'm really good. 🤭😅🙈 There's only one fic I'm kinda meh about.

I think Silver Lining is probably my best fic. And Issues is my special little baby. It's only around 700 words and I think people tend to skip it because of that, but it really dives into Daniel being a total monsterfucking weirdo and I just loved exploring that.

Thanks again!

[k-white]

A very personal rating of the Our Skyy2 episodes, in airing order cuz I am doing it weekly, if you stumble upon this list it is my personal opinion! if I rated your favourite episode low don't take it personally, we all love different things and maybe my favourite was the one you liked the least

Now here we go:

NLMG: 8/10 I really liked it, I liked the og show fairly enough more by the end than the start, but the special? I liked it a lot, I am a sucker for time traveling and period pieces so it played with my heart strings, I had some issues with the pacing and story but overall I liked the more romcom feel to it that to me PP are perfect for, bonus points having Pawins character score a bf! also it looked amazing! I love Jojos directing and the colorgradiants he used here

SIMM: 5.5/10 It was fine, nothing that bad, I onestly liked the first episode more than the second only cuz the pranking made sense, Maitee and Sean were being annoying and deserved to heve their asses handled to them, also the possible side couples played a big role on my liking this, they could have made SM or TM, but they didn't, tho WS are cute I can give them that, it didn't make much sense but ok, tho the major downside was the plotlessness and ok it is a 2ep special but they could have done more, just KN being sikeningly cute doesn't cut it for me, also News directing style is not for me

THE ECLIPSE 9/10 Ok I might be biased, you take a look at my profile you can see that I love FK and the Show, I didn't give it a 10 cuz the first episode had some issues mostly on how Aye acted torwards Akk, but this second one? Basically perfect! they were the sweetest and most loveble ever! all the kissing? The popsicle scene?? The bar scene??? The last scene???? PERFECT so I gave it a 9 cuz of ep1

VICE VERSA 5/10 ok so I wasn't the biggest fan of VV when it aired, but I wanted to go on this with an open heart and it was broken! and again I wanna say: FREE TALEY! Puen and his supposed best friends manipulated him! Using a CHILD! It was cute at the start, I still like JimmySea, but they had to go and ruin it, if the kid was actually Tess's child I would have been a lot more happy even tho Taley would have been a victim yet, better than being manipulated tho still chosing to be with Puen and satying friend with them! Sorry but this continue to not be my thing, saved by the cute cast!

MSP 6/10 It was all way too rushed, they wanted to combine all of 12 episodes in 2 and the result felt rushed and staged, like a bad movie that the characters produced, plus the only characters that were actually convincing were Tinn Por and the moms, the others felt stiff and too similar to their original character, the MV was cute but the sang was average at best, Tinn liking Gun since 10th grade(or at least it is implied) doesn't align with ep1 unless Tinn was lying the whole time, the ending scene was a bit confusing I don't know if it was made like that cuz they hope for a s2 but I didn't really get it, if the ending was either Tinn or Gunn waking up it would have been a good twist, anyway it was fine

ABAAB 5.5/10 Ok I did go in a little biased with this show cuz I really didn't like it, tho the first episode of OS2 was actually not that bad I did enjoy it but then the swap "bet"(it was basically a bet right?) happend and I got reminded how much I don't like this 2 people! and I feel bad cuz I do like ForceBooks interactions IRL but Gun and especially Cher I don't like them and I feel like they wrote them episode after episode without a clear idea on who they are cuz they act according to the plotline of the episode! Also I didn't like that we never got a resolution for the little fight ThreeZo had!

BBS×ATOTS 7/10 I changed the score cuz that last episode deserve a 9 if not a 10 it was perfect with pacing story and acting, but the rest didn't work for me especially the 2 crossover episodes, they sacrifaced the story to just make a mix and match of the 4 main characters! in the crossover they spend more time apart and with somebody else than with eachother and the time spent lost was too much, it didn't progress the story at all! if they did 2 eps dedicated to each couple amd then 1 only ep crossover maybe it would have worked better, also as I said Longtae was nowere to be found and not even mentioned and I am bitter and pissed about it still, I also feel like the characters especially Phupa were kinda ooc

Am I very biased with The Eclipse? YES INDEED!(but it is very obvious from my blog so do I even need to specify it?) the others I am more objective, tho mind you! NLMG wasn't one of my faves but I really liled the OS2 ep!(but I saw that people that liked the show didn't like the OS2 ep and vice versa)

So we arrived at the end of this journey, this thing was in my drafts since week 1 so 8 weeks can you believe that? anyway I have to say that I enjoied this show overall, it wasn't perfect and production was clearly rushed but it still worked and people enjoyed it so that is all that matters!

[cosmo-lexies]

Midnight rituals - 4. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Rosemary:

Lucas and I entered the vision room from there we could see the X room. Atticus got into the room where Fenix was sitting. Although his domination cannot force Fenix to say the truth, doing that he lost control of his body would be enough to scare him.

"Well, we want information about the incident," Atticus rolled up his sweater in a sexy way, or at least for me it was a sexy way.

"I want to ..." then Fenix interrupted him.

" ♪ ♪ ♪ It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious

If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious ♪ ♪ ♪" he sang at full volume.

"I want to ..." Atticus tried again.

"♪ ♪ ♪ Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I

Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I

Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I ♪ ♪ ♪"

"get up and jump."

He tried one and another, even Lucas was looking confused because the situation was bizarre. Atticus's skills weren't the best, but this was another thing.

"What happens?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know," I answered.

After some try Atti was frustrated and he showed pushing the metal table.

"Why are you so frustrating?" he asked, Atti was calmy most of the time but even he have limits.

"I have the same question, we could speak like normal people," Fenix answered.

Atticus looked at us through the black window and showed his hand as a sign of surrender.

"C'mon Lucas, now go us," I said.

"Good cop bad cop," he said signing first him and then me.

I went to the door "I have a better idea, bad cop and man-eating monster."

Lucas:

I didn't wait to end my Friday night in this way. My plan was video games and maybe some alcohol that my father had hidden in the garage. I didn't want to scare poor Fenix.

"Rose, maybe we could stop." She turned back, crossed his arms, and looked at me with an intense glance. I gulped. How she is so intimidating measuring a head less than me is a thing that I'd never understand, "I said be-be-because, okay, he's a weirdo but he doesn't de-deserve that we tor-r-tortured him." I stuttering.

She turned forward and said "We'll erase his memories. You don't fill your pretty head with nonsense."

I signed. It had happened to me again. I am not nervous usually, I'm a super-hot nice werebear who came out of the closet at nine years old. Shit, I'm self-confident, but the stuttering thing always happens to me in this kind of moment. Verbal confrontation is not my thing.

We entered the room when Atticus came out, he had a swollen forehead vein. I thought of making a joke but he wasn't in the mood. Rose put her hand on his shoulder, and both of them looked at each other. Wow, that was more than a crush, they were really in love. I have seen romcoms whose characters have less chemistry than them.

I looked at Fenix. I hadn't spoken with him for one year at least, he was more tanned than the last time. He smiled at me and I looked away. Rose sat down in the unique seat. She was so sweet as ever.

"Well, Fenix, why do you make things so complicated?" She asked.

"I dunno what you mean, you're who is making this complicated," he smiled showing all his teeth.

I think he wanted to be funny but playing with Rose is a very bad idea. Even though she hadn't all her powers at this moment.

She made a villainous smile and said "If you wanna play, we play. Lucas," I looked at Fenix with sorrow and started the turning. Today I wore orange loose track pants and a white striped tank top, fortunately, because other clothes don't resist my changes so well.

I approached my mouth turned almost into jaws to him. He didn't look scary.

"I don't want to be impolite, but your breath smells awful," he said.

I stayed frozen, I dunno how to react. Then the door opened with a strong bang. My dad looked at us, he was trying to figure out the situation. He wore his police uniform which was wrinkled, he may have been in the gym when the mayor called.

"Hi, Mr. Garcia," Fenix said raising his hand a little.

Dad looked at me again and said "What is happening here? and where are your shoes?" I turned into my normal self meanwhile the sensation of I would be punished for a long time ran through my body. He took me by the arm and led me out of the room.

Fenix:

It had been a very strange day. I had repaired a witch ritual; I had been dominated, sounds better than really is, now that I think about it; my crush had interrogated me. A good day if you ask. However, I was playing a very dangerous poker game.

Rose looked at Lucas and his father while they left the room. Then she concentrated on me again.

"I'm starting to be angry, and you don't wanna me angry," she said with an intense look.

She was with little magic, I mean, her hair and makeup spells almost didn't work. She had changed from a super-model to a pretty high school girl, she looked like a real person in this way. However, I couldn't trust she wouldn't curse me in a few hours when she'd recover. I had to be intelligent.

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"I want to know like an average boy modified a powerful witch's spell, how you resisted the domination, and who you are in general."

"First, ouch, I consider that I'm above average. I only repaid the error in the spell with a few small irons bars."

"I don't make mistakes," she got up.

"The orientation was wrong, the obsidian was toward the magnetic north, not the real north," I corrected her.

Se sit again and looked at me with interest. "The book doesn't say anything about this."

"Well, the book which you read is wrong,"

"I'm hearing," I had gotten her attention.

"I will tell you everything, but it has a price," she remained impassive, "I want a fairy magical contract in which the foundation promises not to erase my memories and not retaliate against my family or me. I have important information that is of your interest."

She didn't say anything and left the room. I was screwded.

[obsessivestar]

'What If It's All A RomCom?' - a Ted Nivison x Reader

{{-Here's Chapter 9! Sorry for the delay, next Chapter will be spicy to make up for it, promise ;^) enjoy y'all-}}

//General Warnings: 18+ Fic (MINORS DNI), Reader implied to be afab and under 5'5

Chapter Warnings: Lots of flirting, sexual thoughts, hints of Dom Teddy, Smash Bros mentioned (the game LMAO)\\

Word Count: 4.2k

☆▪︎▪︎▪︎Taglist!▪︎▪︎▪︎☆

@k-k0129 & @callsign-scully

☆Love ya to death☆

*gif made by me*

Chapter 9: Hey Baby

Ted and I eventually got out of the pool so we could dry off enough to film the next scene. Putting on his white hoodie honestly made this one of my favourite scenes to film, strictly because it smelled like him. Pine and vanilla. It was such a distinct but subtle smell and the warmth of the hoodie felt like he was giving me a gentle hug. I couldn't stop smiling but I had to keep my cool in front of the film crew, I didn't want them knowing about Ted and I just yet. I'm not even sure if I'll ever want them to know, if I can help it. It's not really any of their business. However, one of the members of the wardrobe team seemed to notice that there was a difference in my demeanor around Ted, commenting on how I had grown more comfortable in scenes with him. I didn't mind it, I don't think they were implying anything. Even if they were, Ted didn't seem to care, so neither will I.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly after that, mostly because Ted and I needed to be completely dried for the next couple scenes, only to have to get right back into the pool for another kiss scene once the sun had set. They had given him some some funny looking swim trunks and gave me a full one-piece bathing suit, so at least we'd be in the proper attire this time. We were filming quite late at night, the only thing lighting the area were the bright blue lights in the pool and a few LED panels Tanner had set up by the cameras. It was a simple but very romantic scene. Ted would swim over to me and pull me in by my waist near the shallow end. I'd loosely wrap my arms around his neck and we'd share an intimate, longing kiss. Ted let out a content hum in a particular retake of the kiss, his thumb caressing my skin under the water. That wasn't for the camera, that was for me. It made my heart flutter.

When the night ended, the crew helped dry off Ted and I one last time so we could turn in for the night and change into our PJ's. I had a quick shower to wash out any chlorine that might've been in my hair, then moved into my room to change and settle into bed. I'm sitting in bed, still sort of drying my hair with a towel when I heard a knock at my door. I look over and furrow my brows in confusion. Who could that be?

"Come in." I call out to the door, sitting up a bit more and setting the towel aside.

It's Ted. Again, in a white tank top and some dark, loose pajama pants. "Hey, you're never gonna believe this.." Ted's giving me a cheeky smile, leaning a little against my door frame. "Tanner fell asleep in my room again.."

I raise a brow at him, giving a suspicious smirk. "Oh yeah? He took your bed again?"

"Yeah, he did." Ted confirmed without hesitation, keeping his hand on the doorknob.

"Really?" I let a little chuckle escape me, crossing my arms. "Two nights in a row?"

"Yeah. And my laptop is still in here."

"Mhmm, yes it is."

"So I could...do more work in here."

"You could do more work in here?"

"Yeah."

"Just work?"

"...maybe a little more. Can I come in?.."

I give him a knowing smile and roll my eyes. Last night I believed him. Tonight? Not so much. "So Tanner's in your room right now?" I ask, pointing down a little.

"Yeah. Fast asleep." Ted confirms again, toying with my door a little.

"So if I were to..get up and go check your room, he'd be in there?"

"Oh, you wanna check out my room, princess?"

"To see if Tanner's there, yes. I--"

"If you'd rather go in my room, that's perfectly fine. Mine's got cleaner sheets."

An annoyed groan leaves me as I lean my head back, smiling and rolling my eyes. This motherfucker. "Fuck you, I replaced my sheets earlier and you're not ruining these ones.."

"Ok, I didn't ruin them, you did." Ted gestures over at me with a confident grin. "I'm not sayin' I'd deny a second round if you wanted it, but that ain't what I'm here for."

"So what are you here for?"

"My laptop. To do some work."

"But you can't go in your room to do it."

"Well, If you wanted to go in my room instead, I could arrange that."

"I thought Tanner was in there?"

"I could kick him out for you."

I sigh deeply, looking over Ted's self-assured smile before shaking my head, patting the empty side of the bed with a defeated chuckle. "Get over here, you moron.."

Ted's grin widens as he steps into my room, closing the door behind him. I thought maybe he would reach for his laptop that was under the bed and sit down next to me, but he comes right for me instead, climbing onto the bed to crawl over top of me somewhat. I feel my cheeks burn up, moving my hands back to hold my body up when he'd go in for a kiss, a nervous hum leaving me in response.

"I thought--" I talk into the kiss, causing him to move back a little with a curious tilt of his head.

"Mmm? That's new for you.." Ted teased with a purr

"Shut up.." I try to resist the urge to smile, but I fail big time, looking away from him for a moment. "I thought you were getting your laptop to work..."

"Oh, that thing? Nah, it's dead. I'll charge it tomorrow. I'm here for you."

"Oh you motherfucker. I hate you.."

"You don't hate this.."

Ted brings his hand to lightly grab my jaw, forcing me to look his way once more so he could kiss me again, holding himself up with one of his arms. I let out a flirty chuckle as I kiss him back, loosely wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him more into the bed. We don't go all the way tonight, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to. Just being close to this man like this causes all kinds of me to purr. We made out for a good little while, at one point I had nearly straddled his thigh, but we had an even earlier morning tomorrow and couldn't risk doing any more, so we fall asleep in each other's arms once again.

The next morning was still a drag, even with the good sleep I got. Waking up in Ted's embrace again was nice and all, but I was grumpy for most of the morning and he wasn't making it any easier. Ted is definitely a morning person. Me? Not so much. He was all bubbles and sunshine once we got downstairs. I was the complete opposite. Besides some groggy 'goodmorning's, I didn't say a single word to anyone until I got that first cup of coffee and even then it was difficult to film some of the bright and early scenes with him. He'd speak a line perfectly, I'd completely forget mine and he'd tease me about it with this big, stupid smile on his face. It's like he knew something about today that I didn't and he was toying with me. He was purposely trying to get on my nerves without crossing any lines.

"Look...I...I like you and all, Ted, but I--"

"You just called me Ted again."

"...Fuck me, did I? I did?" I look over at Tanner and the film crew with a tired smile as they start snickering and laughing. Poor Tanner gives me a quiet nod, a chuckle leaving him as well. "What the fuck is your name supposed to be again?" I ask with a weary cackle, trying to rub my eyes without smudging any makeup.

"Mason." A bunch of people speak out his character's name at the same time, including Ted. After pouring a second cup of coffee for myself, we were able to get through the scene. As much as I tried to power through it, it was not a good morning.

It got a little easier once I was given an early break to go over the script and brainstorm some ideas with Tanner in the kitchen while the wardrobe team brought Ted over to that little tent in the living room I went in yesterday.

"Is it Ted's turn to wear 10 different brands of foundation?" I joke with Tanner, sitting at the kitchen table with my legs crossed.

"No, he's going through different suits." Tanner explained, leaning back against his chair. "We're kinda torn between a couple outfits for the ballroom sequence. The team wants to see what aesthetic fits him so we can decide on the era."

"I thought you guys already had an idea?" I ask, taking a peek at the script. "We were gonna go with fantasy, weren't we?"

"We were, when it was you and Conner. I just don't think fantasy fits Ted. We're shooting for realism this time. More...50's-60's era. Maybe a little older."

A knowing smile spreads along my lips, taking a sip of my second cup of coffee. That's actually kinda perfect. Ted and I are essentially going to be cosplaying one of my favourite eras of the real world.

"You guys wanna see Ted in his first suit?" Joe peeks into the kitchen with a big grin on his face. "We need help with voting.."

Tanner and I look at each other with excited expressions, for our own reasons of course, before immediately getting up and moving into the living room to watch this little fashion show. Joe and Tanner moved the couch back a little so Ted could simply step out of the clothing tent to show off whatever he had on

"Did you bring fucking everyone over here, you asshole?" Ted curses at Joe from behind the dark partition, peeking up passed the top of it. He was taller than the damn thing so we could always see his hair and some of his forehead behind it, unless he squats down.

"Of course I did! You need voters!" Joe chuckles, sitting down on the couch next to Tanner and I.

"They're just different colored suits!" Ted chuckles, holding out a bundle of different colored suits in one hand. "What's there to vote on? They all look the same!"

"I mean, some of them are different colors..." Tanner added, pointing at the bundle of suits Ted was holding out.

"Ted if you wrinkle up any of those fucking suits, I swear to God.." Joe huffs, getting up to swat Ted's hand away. "They're meant to represent different decades of history. Put one on."

"Is that why one of these have a duck flap in the back?"

"Is that the one you have on right now?"

"Yeah."

"Then come out and show it already!"

I hear Ted let out a little huff, stepping out from behind the partition to show off the first suit. It looked like a normal black and white suit, fitted with a blue and white striped tie and a sleek black jacket with a longer section in the back. He looked...a little goofy.

"I feel like..." I pause, leaning forward a little as I look over the suit with my eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"I feel like it's missing something." Tanner finishes my thought for me, giving the same slightly confused expression.

"He could wear a top hat. We could get him a top hat." Joe suggested with a little smirk, but no one really liked the idea. Tanner and I shake our heads.

"I look like I belong in a Panic At The Disco music video.." Ted chuckles with a little shrug, looking at everyone's visible disapproval.

"Alright fine, next suit." Joe huffed, playfully pushing Ted back behind the partition so he could change into the next suit.

The next hour was spent waiting for Ted to change into the next suit so he could come out and show them off, always getting mixed responses regardless of what he was wearing. He came out in a light brown plaid suit with a dark brown tie, Joe liked it, Tanner and I didn't. He came out in a baby blue suit, Tanner liked it, Joe and I didn't. He came out in an all white suit, I kind of liked it but Joe and Tanner weren't impressed and finally, he tried on a dark brown suit and none of us liked it, Ted included. It started to feel like we were putting too much thought into this.

"Why don't I put on just the regular fuckin' black suit we have back here?" Ted asks from behind the partition, tossing the brown suit jacket to the side.

"I just--" Joe sighs, sitting back down on the couch with Tanner and I "I'm worried it's going to look boring."

"Black suits aren't fuckin' boring, Yo-seph." Ted replies, glancing over the partition at Joe. "They're only boring if you make them boring."

"I feel like it depends on who's wearing them.." I add, crossing one of my legs over the other. "Like, Tanner could probably wear a grey suit and look great."

"Awe. Thanks." Tanner gives me a genuine smile. "I could probably wear a grey suit and look great. I think Joe would look good in the baby blue suit."

"Maybe. I liked the lighter brown one.." Joe admitted with a little shrug. "I might steal it when we're done. Are we allowed to steal stuff from set?"

"I mean..." Tanner pauses, glancing up as he thought about it. "Probably, as long as the college doesn't yell at me about it, take whatever you want."

Our conversation is cut short by the sound of Ted stepping out from behind the partition one last time, showing off the next fit.

🎶Hey baby, hey baby, hey!

Girls say, boys say

Hey baby, hey baby, hey 🎶

Ted comes out in a simple white button up shirt with a loose black tie attached and black slacks held up by a pretty black belt, holding the black suit jacket over his shoulder with one hand with his other hand in his pocket. Joe and Tanner have completely perked up, talking with Ted with excited smiles. I can't focus on anything they're saying, my eyes completely fixed on Ted's attire. I don't know why, but this outfit did something to me, REALLY did something to me. I felt my body physically react when he first stepped out, my eyes lingering over the outfit. I had to cross my legs. The sleeves were rolled up a little, and the shirt was tucked into his pants nicely. The entire fit looked comfortable. My gaze wanders along Ted's hairy arms and electric watch, noticing his hand fidget in his pocket. My eyes fix onto his belt for a moment until I can hear my name being repeated, a light blush appearing on my face when I realize Ted's been looking at me. If he caught me staring at his belt, I'm gonna kill myself.

"I think they like this one.." Joe's giving me a knowing grin, raising his brows at me when I look at him.

"Oh yeah, she's lost in it. This is the one." Ted snickers a little, adjusting his round glasses on his face.

"Don't--" A nervous chuckle leaves me, tucking a little of my hair behind my ear. "Don't patronize me, he looks...he looks fine. It works."

"This is literally just the outfit I wore for my barbie video, minus the jacket." Ted admits, hooking the suit jacket over the top of the partition.

"I mean, if that's what you want to go with, that's perfect for Mason. Glad to see everyone approves." Tanner smiles and gives a single clap, standing up from the couch. It seemed like Tanner had no idea why Joe and Ted were teasing me, he was just happy we had all finally agreed on something.

"Should I change out of this?" Ted asks, picking at the front of his shirt a little.

"Do you want to?" Tanner asks, raising a brow at Ted. "You're done filming today, so you could.."

"Oh yeah, I want to." Ted smiles with a little nod, glancing at me briefly. Oh he knows. He knows.

"Sure. Go right ahead." Tanner shrugs and nods back before gesturing Joe to help him move the couch back.

Ted may have been done filming today, but I wasn't. I worked alongside Tanner and Dan during the rest of the afternoon with more silent establishing shots where I was supposed to be thinking and stressing about my character's relationship with Mason, pacing around the living room in some scenes while sitting and thinking by the kitchen counter in other's. Fitting, somewhat. Ted was there to watch every take, keeping his eyes on me throughout all of it. Every now and then, he'd do little things that would catch my attention. He'd slip his hands into his pockets, he'd sway a little in place, he'd glide his tongue along the inside of his mouth and check me out. Whenever Tanner and Dan weren't paying attention, I'd shoot Ted a glare or even flash the middle finger. I was trying to show that his silent flirting wasn't doing anything, but God was it hard not to swoon.

I don't even know what was happening to me. Ted showed us the barbie video a couple nights ago, I've seen this fit, it didn't affect me at all before. Now, I find myself taking any chance I can get to look at the belt he had on when he isn't looking. I think about how it'll sound to unbuckle it, I think about his hands being in my hair, grabbing my jaw, caressing my cheek, praising or even demeaning me. I'd kill to get this version of Ted in my room.

Man, am I fucking ovulating or something? What the fuck is wrong with me?

The moment it got really bad was closer to the end of the night. Everyone was packing up the wardrobe tent in the living room while I made myself a cup of tea in the kitchen. I was fully facing the counter so I couldn't see anything going on behind me, my attention fixed on my phone. I thought I heard someone walk behind me, but I figured it was Tanner or something just trying to walk by me. Boy, was I wrong.

I feel something slightly press up against me from behind. "Watcha watchin'?"

I hear Ted's low purr in my ear, and my face immediately heats up, quickly turning myself around to see Ted was right there. Right in front of me.

"Y-You scared the shit out of me.." I huff, slipping my phone into my pocket. "It was just TikTok.."

"You feelin' alright? You've been all over the place today.." Ted gives me a confident smile, leaning in a little more to rest his hand on the counter behind me, slipping his other hand into his pockets.

"T-Ted.." I feel my face heat up a little more, trying to lean away from him. He had me cornered once more, though this time we weren't alone. "Th-The crew is still here..."

"What about em'? We're just talkin'." Ted shrugs casually, glancing down at my lips. "Nothin' wrong with talkin.."

"You're not lookin' at me like you wanna be 'talkin''" I glare at him, resting both of my hands back on the edge of the counter.

"Oh, I definitely don't." Ted doesn't hesitate to agree. "I don't think you wanna be talkin' either.."

"What gives you that impression?"

"The way you've been lookin' at me."

"I haven't been looking anywhere." A chuckle leaves me and I roll my eyes. "I've been doing my job today, Ted."

"Mmm, and staring at my pants was part of your job today, yeah?"

I can't hide the heavy blush that spreads along my cheeks, locking eyes with Ted with a defeated sigh. I hate this man. I hate what he does to me. "I was looking at your belt, actually..." I corrected, giving him a small smile.

"Ohhh, you don't even deny it this time.." Ted purrs at me again, his hand slowly moving from the counter to inch closer to mine. "You wanna help me take it off later?.."

Ted and I are interrupted by the sound of Tanner calling out to him from the living room, asking him to come help with packing away the camera's. Ted let's out an annoyed huff and pulls away from me, slightly trailing his hand along mine briefly. "Oh we ain't done here, princess.." Ted looks me over one last time before finally moving out of the kitchen to go help Tanner, giving me a chance to breathe properly.

Once the crew had gone home, Tanner, Ted, Dan, Joe and I were hanging out in the living room, sitting together in the same spots we were the night we played Jackbox, which meant Ted was right next to me, still wearing that stupid fucking hot ass formal fit. Since everyone here knew we were seeing each other, he wasn't afraid to sit close by and rest of one of his arms behind me, occasionally moving his hand to touch my shoulder and caress my upper arm when he knew no one was paying attention. It was driving me nuts. The only real break I got from all the little looks and gestures was when Tanner suggested we play Smash Bros. Ultimate, making Ted sit up more so he could focus. Ted and I bonded over our love for the series, often having to fight for 1st during every match, though Tanner, Joe and Dan weren't half bad at it either. I wouldn't say any of us were competitive levels of skilled, but we were all good enough to put constant pressure on each other.

"I swear to god, if you spike me one more fucking time.." Ted grumbles at me, the only other sound in the room besides the game being the clicking of our respective controllers.

"Just don't get spiked, Ted." Tanner teases him with a big smile.

"Yeah Ted, don't let them spike you." Dan joins in with a little chuckle, looking over at how focused Ted and I were on this match.

"I'm gonna chokeslam you two if you don't shut the fuck up." Ted growls playfully with a big smile on his face.

"No guys, keep going, distract him for me.." I laugh a little, leaning forward to focus on the match. There was a good minute or two where we couldn't get a single hit on each other, continuously shielding, dodging and parrying attacks like our life depended on it. Truthfully, I just wanted to beat him as a way to punish him for teasing me so much, and boy did I work for it. I lost a whole stock to set up the perfect spike off the edge, and when I got it, I was so proud.

"YES!!!" "FUCK!!!"

Ted and I both shot up from the couch as we shouted. I can't help but start laughing happily, raising my controller up above my head as the others start excitingly talking over each other about the match. I point and laugh at Ted as he sits back down, glaring playfully at me.

"You fucking bitch.." Ted curses at me with a grin on his face, playing his hands in his lap. "You little cunt.."

"Get fucked, Teddy! Get shit on! Get absolutely dogged on!" I gently throw my controller onto the couch next to him, moving my hands into my hair as I try to catch my breath. God, that felt good.

"You're gonna fuckin' pay for that, mark my fuckin' words, princess." Ted shakes his head and points at me, ignoring the others as they start to clean up. "Watch your ass.."

"I can't hear you over my fuckin' victory, Ted." I wiggle my fingers at him in a flirty wave, sticking my tongue out.

"Yeah yeah. Just you wait.." Ted mumbled under his breath, standing up off the couch to help Tanner bring everything upstairs.

We all split off for the night, this time I got to see Tanner actually walk into his bedroom and close the door. No way could Ted make the same excuse 3 nights in a row. I move into the bathroom to wash the makeup off my face, taking a moment to look at my reflection with a smirk. I take a deep breath as I look into my own eyes, running a little mini experiment. I think of the most random things, keeping a close look on my small pupils. When I allow my thoughts to shift to Ted in that formal fit, I watch my pupils enlarge quite a bit, smiling to myself with a slight chuckle. Yeah, I'm down bad.

I exit the bathroom and move into my bedroom for the night, sort of nibbling on my lower lip as I turn around and slowly close my door. When I feel the door shut, I don't immediately turn around, keeping my hand on the doorknob for a moment. I smile to myself. I had a feeling this was going to happen.

"I tried to tell ya, princess.."

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Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 (smut) || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Chapter 10 (smut) || Chapter 11 || Chapter 12 || Chapter 13 || Chapter 14 (smut) || Chapter 15 || Chapter 16 || Chapter 17 || Chapter 18 (smut) ||