#i got stuck at least 10 times it was so many pokes and then searching around for a vein under the skin

[nyckie]

every time i tell doctors that it's difficult to get blood from me, they all seem to laugh at the incompetence of the last doctors, or seem to think I'm exaggerating.

And then I watch their optimism dwindle until twenty minutes of poking later, "Do you maybe want to come in another day??"

[sissyjamieray]

My journey into feminization how did it begin? It is difficult to pin point a specific age, but I would guess I was about 11 years old. Yes, confused by sexual urges and excitement when looking at pictures of pretty girls in magazine ads wearing only panties and bras. Mmm, then 'borrowing' intimate female garments and wearing them. Feelng the overwhelming rush of pleasure and my first orgasm while wearing female clothing. Through the years I've tried to suppress this urges to dress as a woman. Being married was so frustrating as my wife left her intimate garments all over the house. It was like being in a candy store: bras, panties, lingerie all within reach. Unable to resist I would carefully try on bra or nightie when she was out shopping. At one point she mentioned something about one nightie being worn out in the "wrong" places. But she never questioned me. After all why would her man be turned on by wearing panties? Looking back she was very smart, she knew better than to confront me head on, lol. She knew I would not admit it or make up some bullshit story. She was very subtle, one night after making love she asked me if I had any sexual fantasies, my response was no love, none that I can think of. Another time she make the following comment, " I wish I had something to poke you with". Wow, she was so close. I was a bit stunted, didn't have a good response, lol. Several months later during our forplay love making she starts licking my nipples, omg, wtf!! Do you like it she says, with her hand on my growing manhood there was no escape, no denial. You like it don't you? I said yes, grasping for air and moaning as she began to rub the tip of my cock with her finger while continuing to lick and suck on my nipples. Then she slid her hand below my balls and started stroking and messaging the area just above my ass hole. After five minutes or this action she get up, pulls off her soaked panties then leans towards me with panties in hand and whispers in my ear, ' guess what I found in your bag Jim?' I found at least 10 pairs of my panties Jim, wtf all stained with your cum! "So you like to jerk off and cum in my panties, really?" What could I say but yes. I tried to explain why but she was upset? She then took her wet panties wrapped them around my almost limp manhood and said show me how you like you jerk off im my panties! I was so embarrassed, but I was wrong to have taken her things, this was my punishment, Yes? I reached down and started stroking my cock but it was very limp by now, I could not get hard. She saw my problem and whispers in my ear, "what's the problem, sissy panty boy, can't jerk off in front of your hot sexy wife? never touch my things again!, if you do, you will never fuck or cum inside me again. Do you understand me? Yes, hon I understand, good. Now where are my panties, Uh where you put them dear, yes they are yours now. Uh, keep them clean and if you wear these out (giggle) we will go out together and buy you more. Yes, I'll let the pretty sales lady know my size and yours (giggle). One more thing, when we make love, make sure you are wearing a clean pair of lacy pink panties. You are my panty boy husband now (giggle). I guess you better learn to get excited and hard while wearing female panties or you will never fuck me again (giggle): panty boy. Next day I after work I set out the task of hand washing 'my' panties in hope of getting lucky later that evening. Ok, hot water and some laundry soap and a 15 minutes soak, rinse and then toss into the dryer should to the trick right? Right before we went to bed I quickly grabbed my panties and climbed into bed. My wife had been observing my laundry duties activities that evening and I assumed we were cool. My hopes of an evening of

having sex where dashed when she turned the lights on stating: it's panty check time, stand up and let examine your feeble attempts to clean these! Ok, I can still see your nasty stains, what temperature did you wash these in? Hot I relied, she laughed, you idiot you should have used cold, as now you've 'set' the stain and ruined a pretty pair of panties. Oh well I guess we will have to go panty shopping tomorrow. Maybe Victoria's Secret? I understand Nancy, your friend Mike's wife just started working there (giggle), maybe she can let us use her discount? She then put her hand on my softening member and said, 'well give it some thought, panty boy, good night. WTF, now she is straight up trying to sexually blackmail me and expose me really? I got out of bed headed for the bathroom sobbing, how could my sweet wife be so cruel. Fifteen minutes or so she knocks on the door, " Jimmy are you ok"? No I'm, how could I be ok when you want to humiliate me and expose my fetish to my friends? Oh you admit it now that you are little perverted panty stealing panty boy? Her words cut me through me like a knife, but she was right. Stand Jim, look at yourself in the mirror wearing my soiled panties, tell me baby who and what did I fall in love with? Then she placed her had on my limp cock and said, I love you but tell me about all your fetishes now or we are done: confess! I'm not going to play a guessing game with you understand! Sobbing, I began to spill my guys about how was molested by an older boy at 11, my Aunt confessed to dressing me as a girl when I was very young,

dressing my mothers lingerie. Yes, I've have fantasies about being fucked my a man while being dressed as a woman. With years in my eyes I looked at my wife, what she was crying too? Why are you crying I asked? I'm so sorry that so many people have hurt you babe and that you are so fucked up now. Maybe we can both get into therapy, you know get some professional help? But for this moment, let's promise to be more open and honest with our sexual feelings and desires ok? Babe I'm sorry I got do angry with you but you did sneak my panties? I had no idea that my panties turned you on so much to the point that you would willing wear them? She started rubbing my pantied cock as she spoke, you know Jim, have a little fantasy of my own. What she whispered in my ear next blew me away. Jim, sometimes I think about being with a woman, coddling and fondling each others breasts? Jim, I, I think I might be Bi? I sorry I've never shared this with you but you understand right ? At that moment, my cock began to swell, she got her answer. Now pulling my panties down she began licking the very backside tip of my cock, you know Jim, maybe I will be willing to support you, like helping you dress like a lady, apply make up and maybe if you wish be with a man as a woman. With these words I erupted a stream of thick sperm all over her beautiful face. Wow, that was fast hon, you agree with my suggestions? Awesome, now for your first lesson Jamie, lick up all the cum you sprayed over my face. Yes, play the part bitch you need to learn to love the taste of your cum. Yes, your female name is Jamie now, do you like it? That's right clean me up, good gurl. Now it's my turn to be pleasured, now be a good lesbian bitch and eat my sweet pussy, XOXO.

Chapter 2 The List

The next morning Carol, my wife was up early and out of the house without waking me. No breakfast or coffee, man that woman be slipp'in, I thought. Well, what looks good in the frig? Oh man, lookie here, a heart shaped note from wifey. [Hi Jim I went shopping with Margie this morning, not sure when I'll be back but, please pickup the following items at the corner drug store:

tampons, pantyhose, nail polish (pink), eye shadow base & palate, concealer, face primer, eyeliner (water proof), mascara, blush, bronzer, highlighter, lip gloss, cosmetic brush set, foundation, setting spray and pamprin. Jim, if you need help just ask the salesgirl in

cosmetics, you know the one you always flirt with, you know Desiree, giggle. Oh and make sure you are wearing the pink lace panties that I let in your drawer. They are yours now, Jamie. Love Carol XOXO, P.S., I've invited some friends over for dinner so please be home by 4 pm.] Groan, I HATE shopping, especially for girl stuff! Ok, so off to drug store I went, stright to the cosmetics counter, list in hand. There she was, Desiree behind the counter, may I help you, she asked? Desiree was the gorgeous offspring of Spanish and Irish parents, about 5' 9" light green eyes and light brown to blonde hair. Her makeup was always impeccable, skirts and blouse always tight and ample cleavage on display. Carol was right that I did flirt with Desiree in the past, but Carol was always with me. It was different now, I was alone and what she possibly thinking? I mean, Carol had always shopped for her own cosmetics and fem items? Looking into her eyes my mind went blank, dry mouth, etc. I handed her the list and mumbled, my wife needs this stuff and I have no idea. Sure, no problem, I can get these for. Carol is your wife right? Yeah, she was in earlier, something about a need for a change and wanted you and I to help her with a make-over surprise. I can help you with every thing on the list except the tampons, their in aisle 12. Oh, and I'll need your help with selecting the foundation shade to ensure a good color match. Ok, what ever I said, I'll be back with the wifey's tampons in a couple minutes. As I walked away, Desiree's last words, "color matching" stuck in my head... Carol's skin tone was much lighter than mine? Mmm, aisle 12, ok here we go, no idea really what to buy my wife, so many confusing choices. I must have been searching for the correct tampons for at least 15 minutes when Desiree found me. Hi, need some help? Absolutely? I have no idea what she needs. Laughing at my ignorance of feminine hygiene products, explained that Carol would at minimum need pads and most likely will need a tampon for her 'heavy' period flows. My suggestion is get her both. Is so sweet and thoughtful of you to do pick these up for you wife, I'm sure she appreciates it. Now let's go go back to the cosmetic department and I ring up your items? Sounds like a plan, I said. Ok, let's try this new foundation shade shall we? Desiree reached for my hand, this was a new level: physical contact. I could feel my heart beating faster, well if well if you have to I said? Desiree, her hand still gently touchind my hand, looked me in the eyes and said, Jim, it is necessary to be sure we get an accurate match and you do want to please your Wife don't you? Yes, of course I want to make Carol happy. Well good, smiling as she applied the foundation to my hand Desiree said, you know Jim, it's not like anyone's going to make assumptions about your sexuality. I mean, why would a handsome stud like you want to wear make up? Ok, of course your are right, I told her. Oh, awesome Jim, this color is perfect. Carol will love it.

Great what is the final damage for all this, I asked? Sure, your total comes to $75.65. Ok, wow this stuff sure adds up fast! Ok here's $76, as Desiree handed back my change she dropped a dime. Oh, so sorry, no problem I said bending over to retrieve .10 cents and at that moment exposing my pink lace thong panties in full view of Desiree. So humiliating, I was speechless. Desiree with a big smile handed me my merchandise but me close and whispered, I love a man who likes to embrace his feminine side, Carol is so lucky.

Chapter 3 - No Refunds, No Returns

So I returned home with all the cosmetics Carol had on your list. She met me as I entered our apartment with big hug, then said that she had to leave again. No big deal, but asked me to read a letter she had written to me. Ok, problem, writing letters was something we did when we first started dating. Jim, l'll be back in about 2 hours, so please read my little ' love' note before I return. One more hug as she felt up my ass for the outline of the thong panties, still wearing them I see? Good, I so happy you did, it says you respect my wishes. I am going to make you so happy you did. Then she kissed me deeply and left without saying where she was going? Oh well, now where is this letter? I found Carol's letter on my pillow, she started, my Dearest husband, tonight I will make your fantasy of being a woman a reality. Don't deny it Jim. I found your hidden stash of female undergarments, shemale porn, etc. Really, why did you NOT trust me enough with your kinky desires? No matter, I know now and I still you move than you realize. Tonight I will give your fantasy, but know this our relationship will change. The changes will be (giggle) sort of a role reversal? To start: take a nice hot bubble bath, yes use mine girly stuff XOXO. Next, use my sugar rub all over your body to exfoliate your skin and then shave all your body hair, yes lov, your arms, legs, chest, balls and ass. Next raise in with cold water

and gently dry ourself. Next, hydrate your skin with some lotion be liberal with it. Now Jim, you don't have much time left so get started. Oh, once your done with this bathing routine, look in your drawer and closet. Yes I picked out some cute girly things for you to wear love XOXO. Make sure you are wearing each item when I return? If NOT, trust me You will sorely regret it!! But I know you will be a Good girl for your wife, your Mistress now won't you? And don't act like you don't know how to put on a bra, panty hose, corset, or breast forms. Please Sissy, remember I know what you've doing when your alone and I'm at work. You see I also found your pictures lol. Well, no more secrets BITCH! I demand you to be ready for me to apply your make up and wig when I return. No excuses! Yes dear, I will be fully shaved and dressed when return. Ok, good, I will be at 7 pm sharp! Out of fear and excitement I started drawing my bubble bath. While the tub was filling I looked into the closet and drawer to see what my wife had purchased. My sweet wife had filled my drawer will so many pretty panties and bras all different styles and colours. These were all mine, really? Wow, what was in my closet? Just a quick peek, so many cute skirts, dresses and tops, all mine? Ok, time was slipping away and the tub was nearly full now. As instructed, I soaked in the fraguent bubble bath for a half hour so relaxing then scrubbed every inch of my body possible with a sugar exfoliate scrub. I then covered my body with a girly shaved cream and shaved my legs, arms, chest, groin, balls and ass. I then showed in cold water to rinse off the remaining shave cream. As I dried my body off the scent purfume and softness of my now hairless body caused me to feel so girly/ feminine, excited and horny. I resisted my base urges to pleasure myself and pushed on to getting dressed as it was almost time for my wife to return. So many panties so many choices, will of I selected a cute pink lace thong panties with matching bra and garter belt. Slipping the panties on another temptation to pleasure myself. Not enough time, 6:30 pm, still had to put on the breast plate and corset. I secured the 38 D breasts to my chest using the medical grade adhesive. Looking the mirror was a bit of a let down, so much work and I still looked like a man, a man with big breasts and small waist. I was nearly in tears when I heard the front door open, Carol would be coming in bedroom any moment and I was pretty much half naked. I quickly grabbed a blouse, skirt and heels got them on and posing on the bed, just as door opened. Knock, knock... omg Jim, Carol told me to just let myself in, that my make over project would be sitting on the bed. It was Desire, Carol WTF!! I was humiliated once again, I began sobbing uncontrollably, why Carol, why? Desiree gave me several tissues to dry tears. I don't understand, why would do this? She came closer and hugged me. I never been this close to Desiree or so absolutely vulnerable before. She knew just like Carol that I was to be a sissy no denial. Jim, she said, Carol is giving you a gift, this is what you want really. Carol loves you didn't understand or how to help you experience being a girl. I can sweet heart. Yes, Carol may have, did violate your privacy by sharing your sissy feelings with me but I agreed to help you both. She then kissed me on the lips and said go wash away those trears hon and let's transform you into a beautiful woman. Before she applied my make up she asked me to remove my skirt and blouse, something about not getting any make on my clothes, ok made sence? Desiree was wonderful explaining the fairly complicated process of applying the various types make up, contouring, eye shadow, liner, etc. I almost forgot that I was half naked inches away from a gorgeous woman. The scent of her purfume and beautiful cleavage got the best of my unrestrained manhood. Desiree noticed my problem and said, I see you are getting turned on baby? You like it that I'm feminizing don't sweety? Oh of course you do

[escapewithbts]

Wedding Date - Seokjin

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

"I still can't believe I agreed to do this," your best friend Kim Seokjin said from the bedroom next to you.

You chuckled as you carefully applied your second layer of mascara in the bathroom mirror.

"Mmmm have I told you how much I loooove you, Seokjinnie?" you cooed, popping your head out from the doorway to flash him a big smile.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes but smiled.

 "I'm going to need to hear it way more, you know! You owe me big time!"

He turned his body toward you as he pulled his navy blue suit jacket on over top his crisp white button down shirt.

 "So how do I look?" he asked, putting his long fingers out in a heart shape accompanied by a sexy stare.

 "Classic Worldwide Handsome," you replied.

He gave you a wink.

 "Yah! That is what they call me!"

You laughed and looked back in the mirror.

 "Seriously though, Jin, you look really, really good."

You were glad you had turned back to the mirror so he couldn't see your cheeks turn red. The sight of him in a perfectly fitting suit with his dark hair pushed back from his eyes and forehead which showed his beautifully structured face made your heart flutter.

 "Thanks, y/n. I've gotta look good if I'm going to be your pretend boyfriend, you know?"

You shuffled nervously, wondering if this was a good idea after all.

He poked his head around the doorway to look at you.

 "How much longer until you're ready?"

You looked at yourself in the mirror.

 "Umm probably about 10 more minutes. Just have to finish my make up and put my dress on."

Jin nodded.

 "Okay. I'll be in the living room when you're ready."

You sighed and made your way to your closet after you were finished with your make up. You stared at the dresses before you and wondered if it was too late to back out.

 One of your friends from high school was getting married, and after hearing that almost all your other friends from back then were bringing plus ones, the stress of not having one got to you. So you reluctantly asked your best friend Jin, figuring he would say no, or that he had a full schedule that day. He was in one of the world's most popular boy bands after all. But, to your surprise, he was free this day and he said yes with almost no hesitation. It made you smile, how kind he was. He was a great friend.

In fact, it was small gestures like this that made you finally realize your true feelings for him. He was a wonderful person, and the two of you always had a great time laughing with each other. You would never tell him how you truly felt about him though, as you were afraid it would ruin your friendship. Plus, you were pretty sure he didn't feel the same way considering how many girls he has to choose from. Why would he choose you? It hurt your heart, but it was worth it to keep him in your life.

Eventually you chose a long, pink and floral dress made of chiffon, with fluttering short sleeves. Perfect for the Spring time. It had bits of blue in it, too, so it matched Jin's outfit well. You slipped on some nude sandals with heels and grabbed a clutch purse from the top shelf.

  You took one last look at yourself in the full length mirror and actually smiled. Your hair fell nicely around your shoulders and your make up was done but still showed your natural face nicely. You felt confident and ready.

 "Ok, sorry, I'm ready," you said, walking into the living room to find Jin sitting on the couch looking at his phone.

He stood up and put his phone in the pocket of his pants. When he finally looked at you his jaw dropped.

 "Whoa..." he mumbled.

It made you intensely blush and your heart speed up.

He shook himself out of his trance and got a big grin on his face. Suddenly he started humming the chorus to his band BTS' song "Like" and snapping his fingers while stepping towards you.

 "Ohhhh pretty woman... don't wanna be fool, wanna be cool, wanna be loved, 너와의, same looove... Baby I want it"

You pushed him away by his chest, trying to play off how embarrassed and flustered you were. He laughed at himself while you rolled your eyes.

 "Oh my god, let's just go, Jinnie."

*

You arrived at the venue just as the ceremony was starting, so you didn't have time to greet anyone. It was outside in a park next to the Han River. It was a beautiful late afternoon in mid-Spring, the sun was shining, flowers had finally made their appearance after the long winter, and the trees were covered in lush green leaves again.

The ceremony was simple, sweet and short. Once it was over everyone headed to the patio overlooking the river where the reception was going to take place. A large tent was set up for some shade, tables and chairs, a buffet line and a dance floor. Everything was covered in white flowers and elegant decorations.

 "I guess we should find out where we're sitting," you said to Jin, and he nodded in response.

He took your hand in his, which completely caught you off guard. You looked down at your interlaced fingers in shock.

 "We have to at least hold hands, (y/n), if we're meant to be convincing," Jin stated matter-of-factly.

You gulped and nodded in agreement, getting flustered from the feeling of his strong hand holding yours tightly.

The two of you walked to the table under the tent where the place card settings were, informing the guests of which table they were assigned to. While searching for your name, you heard a shriek behind you.

 "(y/n)!? Oh my god, is that you??"

You turned around to see one of your old friends, (y/f/n), coming towards you with outstretched arms.

You smiled politely and returned the hug.

 "Hi, (y/f/n), it's good to see you."

She smiled and turned towards Jin.

 "And who is this handsome man standing next to you?"

Jin stuck his hand out to shake hers.

 "I'm Kim Seokjin, (y/n)'s boyfriend." He wrapped his long arm around the back of your waist as he said that, pulling you closer to him.

 "Boyfriend? Wow, (y/n), you certainly reached out of your league, huh?" She laughed to herself.

You winced at the comment but brushed it off. Jin, however, couldn't let it go so easily.

 "She reached out of her league? No, no, I think it's quite the opposite. Look at her! She's gorgeous! And kind, and smart and funny. You're definitely wrong there."

Anyone who didn't know Jin would think the tone in his response was light-hearted, but being his best friend you could sense the annoyance and anger that was really there.

 "Did you come with anyone?" You asked, changing the subject quickly.

Her face lit up.

 "Yes! I got married last year. My husband, Park Ji-ho, is over there," she pointed to a man standing at the edge of the tent, "He's wonderful, let me get him."

She called his name and waved him over to introduce him to you.

  "Ji-ho, this is (y/n) and Seokjin. I knew her in high school."

He bowed at the two of you and shook you hands. When he looked at Jin he paused.

  "You look... familiar," he said quizzically.

You and Jin exchanged looks. You shuffled nervously.

Ji-ho's face lit up.

  "Wait, I've seen you on the walls in my little sister's room! And on the tv! Aren't you an idol? You're in a group, right?" he suddenly recalled.

Jin gave him a small smile and nodded his head.

 "Yes, 방탄소년단, or BTS."

(y/f/n) gasped.

 "That's right! I knew I recognized you, too! You're a member of BTS!" she exclaimed with wide eyes, "Wow, (y/n) really did reach out of her league."

She turned to her husband and chuckled.

Jin's grip on your hand got tighter in anger, turning his knuckles white.

 "Well, it was nice to meet you both. We're going to our table now." He said shortly, urgently pulling you away with him.

Once you were out of hearing distance from the couple Jin asked you,

 "(y/n) you were actually friends with that girl? She's awful. Who says things like that?"

You shrugged and sighed.

  "We weren't that good of friends, just in the same group. She always has had that... interesting sense of humor."

He scoffed.

 "Interesting? I'd say it's more mean than anything."

You gave him an I-told-you-so look.

  "You see now why I so desperately wanted you to come with me, Jinnie-ah? Imagine the things she would have said if I had shown up alone."

He rolled his eyes.

Just then his phone let out a loud vibration from his pocket. He glanced down at it and rejected the call.

 "So you wanna get some food? I'm starving," he asked, shoving it back in his pocket.

You chuckled.

 "Of course you are. Let's go."

The two of you ate from the buffet, chatted with the bride and groom at your table for a little bit and listened to the live band perform songs. By then the sun had set and the whole venue was lit by the soft yellow glow of string lights stretching across the tent ceiling and out to the patio.

 "So when are we going to dance, (y/n)?" Jin asked after a while with a huge grin on his face. He took the last sip of his beer.

 You raised you eyebrows and shook your head.

 "Oh no no no, I am not getting on that dance floor with you Kim Seokjin."

Jin stood up and started walking backwards towards the floor.

  "Come oonnnnn (y/n)-ah," he pleaded in his endearing whiny voice, "If you don't come with me, I'll go alone and dance like this."

He started flailing his long arms up in the air and shaking his whole body back and forth.

  "Wooooo! Weeee! Woooooooo!" he exclaimed with his motions, causing some people from a nearby table to stare and giggle.

 "Ok, ok, I'm coming, I'm coming," you laughed and rolled your eyes, "Just please don't do that."

He smiled widely at you and took you by the hand out to the dance floor.

It was an upbeat song, and the two of you swayed back and forth in front of each other to the beat. Jin also added in some classic moves, like the sprinkler and the robot. He looked ridiculous and it made you laugh. He seemed so confident and happy, which made you forget to feel embarrassed.

  "Isn't dancing part of your job description??" you yelled to him jokingly over the music.

He continued to wave his arms in the air.

  "Doesn't mean I do it well!" he responded, grabbing your hand and twirling you under it.

You threw your head back and laughed. You were finding yourself having a surprisingly good time, despite originally being nervous to come.

The song ended and then a slow one began to play.

  "Grab onto the person who makes your heart flutter, this one is for the two of you," the lead singer of the band announced.

You and Jin looked at each other shyly. He hesitated, but gave you an adorable small smile. You felt butterflies in your stomach and you looked at the ground awkwardly. Jin didn't notice, he just stepped toward you and put one hand on your waist and the other in yours.

  You moved back and forth together, staring into his dark brown eyes and handsome face. It made you sad almost, how strong your feelings truly were and the fact that you knew he would never be yours. But you quickly pushed those thoughts out of your mind and told yourself to focus on the present.

 "I really do appreciate you coming with me today, Jinnie." you said softly, "You're a really great friend."

He blinked slowly at you in adoration.

  "Of course, you know I'd do anything for you, (y/n)-ah."

Suddenly his phone started vibrating again. He let go of your hand to remove it from his pocket and again hit the reject button. Then he scrolled through a few things.

  "Is everything okay?" you asked curiously.

Jin looked up from the phone at you.

 "Yes, I'm sorry, I'm going to turn it off."

You shook your head in protest.

  "No, don't do that. What if the members need you?" you paused, "Wait, is that who's calling you?"

Jin looked down and scratched the back of his head.

  "Jin, you can answer the phone it if it's important, it's okay." you reassured him.

He shook his head.

  "It's not... really that important, it's fine."

He doesn't look at you, which means you can tell he's lying.

You grabbed his arm gently.

  "Jin..."

He finally looks at you and squeezes his eyes shut in shame.

  "Aiishhh, we were supposed to go over some choreography changes and they want to Facetime me so I can see."

  "Seokjin!" You exclaimed.

Couples around you glared at your sudden loudness.

You dragged Jin off the dance floor and sat him back at the table.

  "You told me you didn't have any work to do today!"

He buried his face in his hands.

  "I know, I know, but skipping one practice will be okay... I think."

You shook your head in disbelief.

  "Oh my gosh, I wouldn't have asked you or let you come if I had known! Why Jin-ah, why did you come with me when you had work?"

You studied his embarrassed red face. He looked nervous.

 "I-I don't know... I guess I just wanted to be there for you."

Your stomach twisted at those words, but you ignored it.

Instead you sighed and looked down at your hands.

  "Well they clearly need you there. So let's get you to them."

You stood up. Jin did too but he grabbed your wrist.

  "We don't have to go, I'm having fun. Let me just call them back really quick. It will be fast, I promise."

  "You sure? I don't want you getting in trouble or the other members getting upset with you..." you worried.

Jin smiled reassuringly.

 "I'm sure. I'll be right back."

And with that he pulled out his phone and walked out of the tent towards the illuminated patio.

You sighed again and slumped back in your chair, twirling the stem of your wine glass between your fingers. You couldn't believe Jin would skip a dance practice to be your date to a stupid wedding. You felt horrible for asking. Why would he do that anyway? The other 6 members were his everything. His job was his everything. His love for entertaining was his everything. As far as you knew, all these things meant so much more to him than being your date to a wedding you didn't even really want to come to.

  "Excuse me, young lady," an old woman with glasses and white hair had come up to your table, interrupting your thoughts, "I just wanted to say what a beautiful couple the two of you make."

She gestured towards where Jin had retreated to make his call.

You felt your face get hot and you chuckled lightly.

  "Oh... well thank you."

She continued,

  "You can tell how in love with you he is just by the way he looks at you."

Your heart thumped in your chest and you put your hands up in protest.

 "Oh, no, no, I don't quite think he feels-"

She interrupted you.

  "Honey, I've been married 54 years... I know a thing or two about being in love. You looked very happy out there, and so did he, especially when he made you laugh. Keep him close, dear, he's a special one. And he obviously adores you."

Before you could protest again, she smiled and gave you a wink before walking away.

She could tell by the way he looked at you? You chuckled to yourself. Clearly she needed a new glasses prescription. You shook her comments off and exited the tent to find Jin before she could come back and fill your head with more wishful thoughts.

You found him alone leaning over the railing, looking out across the river, the city lights of Seoul visible in the distance. You walked up to him and crossed your arms on the railing next to him.

  "Hey." you said, noticing he was no longer on the phone.

He turned from the river view and looked at you. The string lights gave his pale face a warm tanned glow. He looked almost angelic.

  "Hey."

You stared back at the river and fiddled with your hands.

  "How were the members?"

He shrugged.

  "They're good. They just wanted to make sure I was okay with the changes. I told them I am and promised I'd be there with them tomorrow."

  "And they weren't upset with your absence?" you questioned.

He shook his head.

  "Not at all, they understand."

You smiled.

   "Well that's good. They're really great people. You're lucky."

Jin hummed in agreement.

There was a pause when you suddenly realized how chilly it had gotten. Outside the tent and adjacent to the river felt a good 10 degrees colder. You shivered and rubbed your arms.

  "You're cold? Here."

Jin removed his suit jacket and placed it gently around your shoulders. It was warm and smelled like him; an instant comfort.

  "Wow, classic move giving me your jacket," you teased, nudging your shoulder against his, "you're such a gentleman."

He shrugged and chuckled, showing his perfect teeth and adorable eye wrinkles.

  "I try my best."

You looped your arm in his tightly and rested your head on his upper arm.

  "Mmm you're a great pretend boyfriend, Jinnie."

You sighed in content and looked out over the water again, the moon reflecting on it's surface, a cool spring breeze blowing across your face.

  "What if... we didn't pretend?" he suddenly whispered softly.

You felt your heart stop. Had you misheard him?

You took your arm out from his and turned to face him. He was studying your face intensely. His was serious, a rare sight.

 "What?" you managed to squeak out.

He shifted his body so it faced yours. There was hope and determination in his eyes. But also fear. You could feel your heart beat in your ears.

  "I-I," he shut his eyes in hesitation, "I have feelings for you, (y/n). I have for a long time now. I didn't know how to tell you, or if you even felt the same way. You're always referring to me as your friend so I was afraid to tell you... and I didn't, I don't want to ruin our friendship. You are so important to me and I guess somehow I was hoping coming with you here tonight would make you see that, and give me an opportunity to tell you. So... here I am. That's part of the reason the members were so understanding... they knew I was finally going to tell you today," he chuckled sheepishly and looked at the ground, "I understand if you don't feel the same way, really, I don't want to lose you as a friend, but.... I thought you should know."

You felt like you were dreaming. Your eyes teared up at his words and you were thankful he couldn't see you in the soft light. Your heart felt like it was going to burst.

His face looked at yours in concern.

"Jinnie..." You could barely speak.

So instead you stood on your tip-toes and gently pressed your lips on top of his large, pillow-y ones. He kissed you back passionately, wrapping his long arms around your waist and pulling you closer to him. He was so warm, and smelled so comforting and familiar. You felt like you were in heaven.

When you broke away you both had the biggest grins on your face. He rested his forehead against yours and closed his eyes, humming in content.

  "Seokjin-ah," you whispered, burying your face in his chest, "I'm so glad you told me."

He kissed the top of your head and rested his chin on top, holding you against him tightly.

  "And I am so glad I skipped work today."

You both chuckled and kissed once more.

*

Masterlist

[autumnslance]

First Line

Saw some folks doing this and thought why not give it a try.

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

I’m going with actual “stories” or at least longer scenes, not just short blurbs or WIP scenes I’ve also posted lately for challenges/prompts. Also this goes back past FFXIV Write 2020, so going with the more polished works I posted on the free days and skipping those many prompts (much as I like most of them). Also using the Ao3 links for most of these (which means less visibility in search and tags), though a couple are on Tumblr only. The links go to individual works, though many are found in the “Unexpected” compilation thread I have for Aeryn & Thancred shippy nonsense, where they’re more or less arranged in chronological order. Still, direct linking to the specific chapters seemed the best plan.

I think I like best the ones that immediately give environment details, like “The Old Bargain” and “Sandstorm”, though there’s also something about “The First Day”’s first line that works for me.

1) Celebration: “There’s the hero of the hour,” Thancred said as he ambled over. The child Aeryn had been speaking with waved and dashed off, eager to share with his friends whatever secrets the Warrior of Darkness had divulged. Thancred watched him go, smiling, before turning back to Aeryn.

Shadowbringers 5.0 finale and how two warriors of darkness spend it.

2) Aetherytes: Thancred glowered up at the aetheryte. The morning light was obscured by a light snowfall, the blue glow of the device tinting the plaza. The knight handling the fees had a vague eye on him, but Aeryn was keeping the man mostly distracted with pleasant conversation and a thermos of Fortemps cocoa.

Thancred tries to hide his new condition from Aeryn immediately after Heavensward’s 3.1 patch.

3) Food: “Please tell me,” Y’shtola’s voice from behind Aeryn was positively acidic. “That you have eaten more than a muffin and a few pieces of fruit since our lunch.”

Aeryn is in a research frenzy and Y’shtola is annoyed she has to deal with it.

4) Dawn: Thancred hadn’t slept much.

Morning after the ARR 2.0 finale, kind of a sequel to FFXIV Write’s “Clamor”.

5) Flower: “What?” Aeryn demanded, snapping Emet-Selch’s attention down to her eyes; they were the hard grey of steel arrowheads as she glowered.

Emet-Selch has an unexpected memory thanks to Aeryn’s favored hair piece. Shadowbringers.

6) Indecent Whispers: The ceremony was lengthy, the lists and speeches interminable, and Aeryn struggled to not doze off. She shifted in her seat as the sermon continued.

NSFW for dirty language as Thancred quietly scandalizes Aeryn during an Ishgardian ceremony.

7) 15th Day of the 1st Astral Sun: Aeryn stepped through the mirror and into the familiar space of the Ocular, taking a moment to reorient herself after the rush of journeying between worlds. Once the vertigo had passed she left the Tower, the Crystarium guards greeting her as she crossed the Exedra. It took some questioning before she was finally pointed to where Ryne was currently; training with Captain Lyna just outside the city gates.

Aeryn gets a sentimental nameday present from her conveniently absent partner, post Reflections in Crystal.

8) Thancred’s PoV on 15th Day of the 1st Astral Sun: He always marked the day, even knowing that time was moving differently for her back in the Source.

I apparently had to write out Thancred’s perspective first to get the correct feel in the letters Aeryn read.

9) Girl Talk: Lyse and Aeryn fell on their backs onto the palm of Rhalgr, laughing as their early morning sparring session ended in a draw.

During Stormblood’s “Lady in Red” quest, two besties have a chat after their spar.

10) Only a Little Death for Now: He walked through the empty palace, heedless of the dark or cold due to the heated singing of his blood.

NSFW. Zenos having violent thoughts and finding a physical release for them. Shadowbringers patches.

11) Of Porxies and Pardons: “Oh my goodness!” Ryne squealed. “It’s adorable!”

After an off-screen fight post-Eden 8, Ryne and Gaia bully Thancred into talking things out with Aeryn.

12) Restless: Kugane’s lights were strange as they filtered in through the screened window. The little room was comfortable, and gods knew Aeryn was glad to be off the rocking seas and creaking ship, back on dry land.

NSFW. Aeryn’s got a lot on her mind and an annoying physical need to deal with as the Scions arrive in Kugane in early Stormblood.

13) Teach a Warrior of Light to Fish: A lazy day at the lake was exactly what they had needed, Renda thought, stretching on her towel. She rolled onto her stomach as she opened her eyes. Branden had cajoled Nyelbert and Cylva into some sort of ball game in the shallower water, Lamitt apparently refereeing from atop a rocky outcropping, the four of them laughing and shrieking as they splashed around.

Renda-Rae, Ardbert, and his fishing hobby.

14) The Old Bargain (original fic): The wind moaned across the swampy meadows, long grasses and rushes hushing the rattling cart that slowly moved down the muddy road, pulled by a stooped figure in a wide grey hat and long grey coat. The clouds hung low and dark overhead.

A lone figure acts as the go between for the mundane and fae worlds.

15) Realizations: Rhalgr’s Reach slowly recovered from the assault as the days passed. The bodies had been buried and all rites given, the living granted their too-brief time to mourn. Now came clearing the rubble, repairing what could be repaired, and somehow finding replacements for what could not.

Thancred talks to Y’shtola about his feelings for Aeryn in the wake of the assault on Rhalgr’s Reach in early Stormblood.

16) Sandstorm: The wind was kicking up, sand and grit blowing as they rode across the dusty old roads toward Drybone. Thancred looked up at the sky and frowned as the rented chocobos kwehed and shook worriedly. Aeryn looked to him, a questioning expression on her face.

Aeryn and Thancred on the way their investigations into Ifrit in early ARR.

17) The Parley: “We have time before these negotiations resume,” Merlwyb said. “I suggest we stretch our legs and clear our heads before meeting with the Emperor again, now we have a firmer strategy.” The others readily agreed.

Aeryn and Varis talk during the recess during the parley in “A Requiem for Heroes” end of Stormblood.

18) When Everything Changes: Zaine poked at a snail’s shell frozen to the top of the low stone wall. He guessed it had been stuck there before the winter had taken hold, trying to escape the cool rains of autumn. He wondered if the snail had found a new home, abandoning this one. He liked to think so.

Backstory from the pov of Aeryn’s brother, at five years old.

19) The First Day: Ryne had told herself she would not spend the first day sobbing, yet that was exactly what she did.

Ryne the day after the end of “Reflections in Crystal” in Shadowbringers.

20) Unsupervised, Again: “Ah, you’re back,” Thancred said as Aeryn came in the door, carrying a suspicious number of bags, considering the errand she had been on.

Aeryn got distracted while on an errand.

[stradlingmrstradlin]

Steve Riley x Mick Cripps

Requested by: Anonymus on wattpad

Words: 2419

Warnings: Nothing bad really, just the word "Fuck"

It's pure fluff and cuteness, enjoy

Story: Their adopted daughter meets the band for the first time

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

It was a cool, breezy night with a calm sky full of stars. Steve and Mick were sleeping peacefully next to each other while their daughter Bethany was sleeping in the room next door. They brought her home a week ago but she hasn't met the band yet. Mick thought it was a better idea to let her get used to her new environment before meeting those three crazy boys, and Steve agreed. Beth however got used to her new living space quite quickly, already calling Mick or Steve Dad or Dada by accident a few times, but of course, none of the boys minded.

At first, the band was quite surprised when the two announced that they are together but they weren't bothered by it, and thinking back to all the times they caught the two of them cuddling it wasn't surprising either. When they decided they wanted to adopt a little girl it was a long and tiring process, considering that they are two men in a rock band, but with the help of the band and a few family members after more than a year of waiting they could bring home Beth.

Before bringing her home they've met the little girl many times in the park or in the temporary home where she lived, and when they told her that she'd get to come home with them she was shouting and jumping from happiness.

Steve's dreams were interrupted by something or rather someone jumping on his chest and a quiet "sowwy dada, didn't mean to". He glanced at the clock on the wall and it read 10:23 am, might be time to wake up Mick. "Hey angel can you wake up Papa too?", as soon as these words left Steve's mouth Beth was already poking Mick in the face and shaking his shoulders. "Mornin' kid, are you excited to meet our friends today?' Mick asked as he slowly sat up lifting Beth in his lap, Beth nodding her head really fast "wowwy, 'ts making me dizzy" she giggled.

Beth wanted to choose her own outfit, but the dress she wanted to wear was really warm for a summer day, so finally, she agreed to wear a Hanoi Rocks t-shirt with a puffy striped skirt. Breakfast consisted of pancakes and fruits and Bethany made sure to put as much chocolate on her pancake as she can before either of her dads notice, she managed to stuff quite much in her mouth before Steve noticed something was up,

"What are you hiding kiddo?" a muffled "Notin" came back "You sure about that? Because I think there's chocolate smeared around your mouth" Steve said while trying not to laugh. " Maybe 'ts choco, but "ts yummy'' Beth said pointing at her tummy. "Alright kid, I'll let it slide this once, but don't tell Papa about it"

"What shouldn't I know about?" Mick asked when he walked into the kitchen. "Dada said I could eat this choco pancake if I don't tell you" she quickly blurted out making both of her fathers laugh and smile at her adorableness.

After getting ready and putting the dishes in the sink the little family sat in their car to travel to the park. Their plan was that they'd meet the guys there and maybe later for lunch go back to their house and the boys could come if they want and then later, they'd have a concert. Saying Beth was excited could be an understatement, she was jumping up and down in her car seat and when the park came into view, she tried to stretch her neck to see if anyone was there already, but that proved hard as she didn't know who to look for. As Mick parked the car she was ready to get out already and both of her fathers took one of her hands into theirs and started walking towards the playground, her trying to pull them to go faster.

When they reached the playground area with benches one seat was occupied by a long black-haired dude who gave them a wave as he saw them approaching. "Hi, guys. Nice to meet you kid, I'm Tracii" he said while stretching out his arm towards the little girl. "Tracii, that's a girl's name? 'm Beth, nice to meet you." said Beth as she took his arm and jokingly shook it. While Beth played with the chains on Tracii's pants another voice could be heard talking to her parents and then looking at her. "Hi love, my name is Phil" the guy, Phil said with a funny accent. "Beth, you're not from America, are you?" she questioned while standing up from next to Tracii and sitting down next to Phil "No, I'm British, that's on another continent" Phil answered. Beth looked puzzled for a bit but then her attention was on a motorcycle parking in the parking lot and another black-haired guy got down from it. "Wowy, 'ts cool" she exclaimed to no one in particular and then only looked away from the motorcycle when the guy stepped in front of her.

"Hi little one, my name is Kelly, it's nice to finally meet you" Beth thought that the guy was very cheerful "Why do you have a girl name too? Oh, I'm Beth" she giggled and almost forgot to tell Kelly her name. Kelly faked being offended and that only made Beth laugh harder, finally when she calmed down, she convinced Kelly to climb onto the slide thingy at the playground with her, Kelly being...well Kelly he of course agreed with very little persuasion needed.

It proved to be harder than they thought to go down on the slide together because Kelly was taller than the top of the slide and they got stuck at least five times, when they got down Phil was laughing his ass off and the others had a smile on their faces too. "Let's play tag" Beth shouted and then slapped Phil's hand signaling to him that he was 'it'. So now Beth and five men who looked really funny were running around the park, the guys, of course, running slower to let Beth win. After about ten minutes Beth got tired and decided she wanted ice cream, and to her luck, an ice cream parlor was right on the other side of the street from where they were standing. Carefully crossing the street Kelly and Beth were discussing what flavor of ice cream they are going to get while Steve was still wheezing a bit from the game of tag. The little group arrived at the parlor and ordered their frozen treats. Beth ordered her favorite, chocolate ice cream and now probably more was smeared around her face and hands than in her mouth, but she was enjoying herself nonetheless.

After cleaning up they decided that they should probably head back to the house because it was getting increasingly hotter outside and wearing black didn't help much either, plus the guys were getting hungry and the ice cream didn't do much.

When they arrived inside Beth was eager to show her toys to the guys and even invited them to play dress-up with her. She was the princess and decided that Phil will be the prince on the condition that he will let her do his hair. "No, nope, sorry love but no." Phil said and as Beth was looking around she saw Tracii also shaking his head in protest. "Kelly, pwease?" she did the puppy eyes so of course, Kelly was now sitting in front of her while she asked Mick to bring her some hairspray and a comb "I'm going to make your hair pwetty, like Mike Monroe's" Beth cheered as Mick handed her the supplies.

She was not so gentle with the teasing and Kelly tried not to make any noises but the look on his face described everything. When they were done Kelly looked like anything but Michael, more like a bird decided to nest in his hair. But of course, he wasn't going to tell that to the little girl "Thank you kid, I look like a true prince now".

"See Phil, you would look pretty, but you didn't let me do it, you're not pretty now" Beth said half serious half joking while staring at Phil, Kelly tried to at least make his hair a bit less messy while Beth wasn't looking, but to no avail. They played princess for a bit more, but Beth got bored of it and the guys were hungry, so they decided to order pizza.

"Can we play hide and seek? Pweaseee"

"Fine kid, who should seek?"

"You Papa"

"Alright, I'll count to two minutes" Mick said as he closed his eyes and leaned against a wall.

Steve hid under the table, Kelly tried climbing into a closet but gave up and hid in the shower instead, Tracii quickly stood behind the curtain in the living room and Beth climbed under the bed, but she didn't want to be alone, so she asked Phil to go with her. Somehow Phil managed to fit under the bed, but climbing out probably won't be easy.

"Ready or not, here I come" Shouted Mick downstairs. The first to be found was Tracii because let's face it, the curtain only covered him above the knee. Then he found Steve under the table. Kelly was only found because he sneezed and then slipped and Mick heard it, "What in the name of...Kelly, what are you doing on the bathroom floor?" Mick questioned "I, ugh might have slipped?" Kelly said laughing a little

"Beth, Phil, where are you?" Mick shouted, no answer. He was searching for maybe a few minutes when he heard a small whisper from under the bed. "Found you" He exclaimed when he looked under the bed, and to his surprise, two pairs of eyes looked back at him.

"Ah, nice to see you too Mick, now please would you help me get out from under here?" Phil asked after a failed attempt to get out, in the end, he somehow climbed out but swore to never climb under a bed again.

When the pizza arrived it was probably around three in the afternoon and everyone was hungry. Beth was getting increasingly tired, but she acted like she didn't care because she wanted to spend as much time as she could with her new friends. After the pizza, everyone agreed that watching a movie would be an awesome idea. They watched The Little Mermaid as it just recently came out and Beth hasn't seen it yet.

"I'm a mermaid" Beth yelled as she was now running around the living room imagining that she was underwater. Then she decided to draw the guys and herself down, it was basically five black-haired people-shaped things and one smaller brown-haired thing. Steve decided that this drawing would look fabulous on the fridge.

After this Beth had to take a nap because she was going to see them play live tonight and she needed to be well-rested for that. While she was sleeping Kelly combed his hair out with a bit of help from Tracii in the back. When she woke up it was already time to go to the venue, so Steve dressed her up and strapped her in the car, "See you there" she waved to the other three guys.

There were so many people outside when they got there and some noticed them and screamed making the little girl whimper "It's okay kid, everything's okay" Mick whispered as he held her even tighter. Inside was a lot calmer and there were many doors and corridors and people running around setting up everything for the show. The next time Beth looked up she was in a dressing room with her fathers who were teasing their hair and putting on their stage clothes. There was a knock at the door and seconds later Kelly came in sitting down next to the kid "You want to cause some mischief before the show?" He asked with a grin "Yeah, like what?" Beth asked "You'll see kid, don't worry we'll meet you guys at the stage" he said the first part to Beth, the second to Mick and Steve.

"Okay, so we'll hide here behind the door and when Tracii or Phil comes by we'll jump out and scare them, ok?" Kelly explained the plan as Beth eagerly nodded, excited to scare people. They only had to wait a bit before an unsuspecting Tracii came out from the room, they jumped out causing him to yell out a surprised "Fuck".

Beth copied Tracii "Fuck". "Okay, um, kid you probably shouldn't say that or at least don't tell anyone I said it okay" Tracii tried explaining it to Beth before she yells out the word again. Luckily Beth forgot about the bad word in a few minutes and when Phil opened the door and they scared him, he luckily just made a loud gasping sound, no curses.

When the four of them got to the stage Steve and Mick were already there waiting for them "So you'll sit on top of the chair and stay there, okay?" Mick asked, pointing to the side of the stage where a chair was already placed for Beth. "Okay Papa"

She enjoyed the show sometimes standing up and dancing a bit or trying to copy the guitar sounds with her mouth or singing the words... kinda the words, but she tried and that's what matters. She was exhausted when the show ended and almost didn't Phil lifting her up and bringing her to his changing room to let her fathers have a bit of alone time.

"I'm sleepy, I wanna sleep" She mumbled as Phil placed her down on the couch and lifted her head into his lap. He started singing softly and she was asleep in a minute, smiling in her sleep.

Later Phil helped Steve put her into the car and buckle her up before saying goodbye and going on his own way. When the little family got home Mick lifted Beth out of the car and with the help of Steve opening the doors he placed her into the bed, tucking her in and both men placing a kiss on her forehead. "Sweet dreams angel" and with that, they closed her door and went to their own room to take a shower and then snuggle up in bed and also fall asleep.

[trashtheater101]

Prompts

Been meaning to make this for a while: Free list of skele-prompts! No credit needed (although I’d love to read it if you make one, maybe drop me a note?), and feel free to change ANY of the details or ships. This list is meant to ✧INSPIRE✧ not restrict. 

These are largely old ideas that I realize I’m probably never going to get around to writing myself and thought I’d share. Mostly Papcest, but there’s some left open for Fontcest and Sanscest, and you can always change it up. I probably forgot some, so I’ll add to it as I remember them.

RoyalMoney (Poppy/Cash)

Poppy is a wealthy, and unbearably bored Nigerian prince. Kept safe and sound, a prisoner in the castle by his overprotective brother, Poppy is allowed only limited contact with the guards or servants, and nothing at all with the outside world. When a thief breaks in through his bedroom window (captured easily by the Great Prince Poppy! He’s sheltered, not helpless!), Poppy can't help being intrigued… [His brother can shove it; He’s decided to keep this one.]

Fellcest (Red/Edge)

Red is a scientist. Or at least he used to be. He’s studied the wonders of the universe, tested the limits of time-space, and even broken through the divides between worlds. […none of it compared to learning the way his brother reacts to flirting.]

SpicyHoney (Edge/Stretch(Rus))

Edge is a loyal knight, through and through, and Rus is the true heir to the throne. Edge is determined to protect him no matter the cost. Even now that the kingdom has been overthrown and they were barely able to escape with their lives. Even now that they must keep moving, and live in hiding, lest Rus be captured and executed. Even though Rus is used to being pampered and spoiled, and Edge is the only one left to treat him with the sort of devotion and reverence that a true prince deserves. [Originally a Edge x Anyone, but the pouty, stubborn prince kept morphing into Rus, soooo…]

Edge and Stretch are stuck in a car together for a long trip, and expect to bicker the whole time. Unfortunately 5 minutes in one of them accidentally confesses. Neither are prepared for this, and now the car ride is spent dealing with THIS instead... oh dear… 

Stretch needs to get a physical. Cool, no big, even doctors aren’t sure what to do with a pile of bones, so no point in being embarrassed, and—bonus!—most don’t know how skeleton magic works, so he gets to skip the more invasive stuff. Except—wait—this time his doctor is a skeleton? A really hot skeleton?? And since Stretch is missing so much from his chart, he’s getting a THOROUGH exam??? ...great… [Bonus points for Stretch aggressively flirting to hide his nerves, “w-wow doc. i don’t usually spread my legs before the first date, haha. guess you must be special.”]

SpicyBBQ (Edge/Slim)

Edge’s new lamia is a dominant type, strong, and eager to breed him. But Edge isn’t inclined to submit, and he’s pretty sure he knows exactly how to tame his horny pet. [Succeed or fail, both are tasty~.]

MapleBlossom (Slim/Papyrus)

Slim is the lead singer/guitarist/drummer in an up and coming band. Hanging out at an afterparty of one of his shows, some cute little groupie, or a fan, or whatever, catches his attention when they start chatting him up. Slim is charmed, and while he’s got a pretty firm rule about not fucking the fans, he’s gotta make an exception this time. He’s gonna rock this groupies world. [Except that Papyrus isn’t a groupie. Or a fan. He was just invited along by a friend and thought this stranger might want someone to talk to. But boy is he flattered by all the attention! Is this… flirting?!?] 

SweetMoney (Sugar(HT!Pap)/Cash)

Taking his first ever train trip to the big city, Sugar ends up sitting next to a stranger. Cash seems friendly enough on the ride, but when they get off he refuses to leave??? He keeps insisting it’s too dangerous for someone like Sugar to be alone in the city, and that all well and good, but Sugar’s pretty sure he has a stalker now??? Blood had warned him about this… oh well… For a stalker, Cash is awfully charming. 

Edge x _______

Edge is an Alpha. All the Papyruses are Alphas, so of course he’s an Alpha. He is the most Alpha-y-est Alpha to ever Alpha, thank you very much. And as long as he keeps taking his Alpha-supplements, surely no one will be any the wiser. But the supplements can only repress his instincts so much when he’s surrounded by so many fine, aggressively-dominant Alphas. And let’s be real, how long would it really take a group of Alphas to notice an Omega in their midst? [Easily could be one-on-one, but this prompt is feeling pretty gang-bang-y to me~] 

In hindsight I think I may have seen this idea around before (so let me know if it’s already a thing…), but Edge as a Heinz Doofenshmirtz-(Or like MegaMind, Dr. Horrible, fuckin.... Team Rocket??)-style villain! Over the top dramatic! But also pretty ridiculous... But definitely EVIL!!!!! But also is he though??? Red is his henchman. His love interest can be the Hero, but also could be his usual kidnapping victim, or the cute skele from the laundry mat, or I suppose his henchman, or a brand-new unique dynamic! 

Loud Top Edge. That’s really all I’ve got for this prompt. It really didn’t have to be under Edge specifically… you could make it anyone, but I was thinking of Edge. ...as just... a… noisy… really verbal top... yeah...~<3

Papyrus x _______

Someone has been stealing apples from Papyrus’s apple orchard, and he is determined to catch the culprit! [Well, it turns out the culprit happens to be very attractive and that is a whole new, very different problem!]

Papyrus x _______/Sans x _______

Undertale is Universe 0. It’s the base, the original, the one every universe is spun off of. As such, there is some sort of general law of attraction pulling all the copies towards their originals. Or at least, that’s Sans’s theory anyway. That would explain all these Sans’s that keep hitting on him and—don’t think i don’t notice the rest of you making passes at my bro-! are you looking for a b a d  t i m e ? 

Bonus Lamia prompt

[A]’s lamia goes into a submissive heat. No matter what they do, however, [A] can’t seem to satisfy them. A quick google search reveals their lamia is looking to be bred with eggs, but—uh—[A] can’t produce eggs, and neither of them really want kids yet anyways, and—hey, you can buy safe to insert pseudo-eggs!—Don’t worry baby, I’m gonna give you just what you need~ 

- - - - -

A list of loose themes and thoughts. Poke through and see if anything catches your attention. Or maybe mix some together? (Conveniently numbered for a random number generator!) 

1. Bitties

2. Asleep on shoulder

3. Shopping trip

4. Bandaging after sparring 

5. Broken down car

6. Attractive salesman

7. Trapped in a box~ 

8. Good old fashioned temporary amnesia 

9. Is that a dog in your jacket? 

10. “If you touch him I will END you...!”

11. Crossover

12. Lamias

13. The meal was unrecognizable...You eat it anyways. 

14. Classic fairytale, but with a twist! 

15. A more obscure fairytale. (With all the ‘wtf??’s they tend to entail.)

16. “Please tell me you meant to do that...”

17. Ectoboobies

18. “God, you’re so hot… You look hot! SWEATY! Do you want a drink!?!?”

19. “F-FLIRTING? SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS!?”

20. Borrowed pajamas

21. Candle light

22. BEACH DAY

23. Someone not normally collared: collared~! 

24. “Sit down and shut up! ...I’m going to serenade you now.”

25. “What will it take to make you realize I’m no good for you?” 

26. Running out of water

27. Physically shielding from harm

28. Can’t stop staring

29. Broke something important

30. He only ever acted like this when he was covered in dust…

31. Well... people always say you should marry a doctor

32. “I think I’m falling for you” 

33. “Guess you fell for me~” 

34. A bad vacation

35. Missing the bus 

36. A WAY too fancy restaurant

37. Good morning kiss

38. That’s probably a serial killer chasing you tbh. 

39. Lost & alone… 

40. Annoying Dog is secretly a matchmaker

41. A goodbye note

42. Freezing cold

43. A slow dance after the lights go down

44. Exploring

45. Hey! You’re that actor/singer/etc I like-! Why are you grinding on me!?!? 

46. “I failed you…”

47. A non-traditional Heat symptom

48. Soul-bonding: the aftermath. 

49. 2 dudes sittin in a hot tub, 5 ft apart cause they’re very gay and sorta nervous and-gosh-it sure is hot in this hot tub… 

50. Flowey: “Okay, look. I don’t normally give advice but…”

[sweetiepie08]

Rebel Z (Chapter 1)

Invader Zim fanfic

While analyzing Zim’s PAK for weaknesses, Tak discovers strange coding that sends her on a search for answers. The clues lead her to uncover a conspiracy that governs all of Irken society. When the truth sends her on the run, she has no choice but to return to the one place the Tallest would never willingly go: Urth.

Meanwhile, Dib has noticed odd changes in Zim’s behavior. Has the invader simply grown bored of his mission over the last few years, or is there something more interesting going on?

People who asked to be tagged: @incorrect-invader-zim , @messinwitheddie, @reblogstupids, @cate-r-gunn

If anyone else would like to be added to the tag list please let me know.

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3.  Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6.  Chapter 7.  Chapter 8.  Chapter 9. 

[-]

Tak sat on the sidewalk, leaning against Zim’s fence and making sure she stayed out of sight from the security cameras. Her fingers tapped an impatient rhythm on the top of the gift box by her side. She kept her eyes trained on the street, waiting for the SIR unit to arrive home.

It’d been years since she first came to Urth and tried to snatch the planet out from under that undeserving worm. She told herself it was nothing personal. The Irken Elite didn’t get caught up in petty personal vendettas. It was about proving her herself worthy as an invader and proving Zim unfit for even a fake mission. She’d lied to herself then. Not anymore.

She made a few more attempts over the years. Each time Zim and those meddlesome humans thwarted her. Every failure ended with her going off-planet to regroup and examine where she went wrong. After so many defeats, she finally had to admit to herself this was personal. This was about Zim and her fatal flaw was underestimating him.

A whistled tune caught her antenna and she looked up to see Zim’s SIR unit, called GIR, walking toward the base. He was dressed in his dog costume and he carried a bag of groceries. She stood up and put on a fake smile as the robot skipped its way over.

“Excuse me,” she said, her voice gratingly sweet. “Aren’t you Zim’s SIR unit?”

“Hellooo…” Gir sing-songed in reply.

“Listen, I know Zim and I haven’t had the best relationship and I wanted to make it up to him. I got him this present to say sorry for all the times I tried to ruin his mission. Could you make sure he gets it? There’s a jumbo bag of gummy bears in it for you.”

“Okie-dokie!” The head of GIR’s costume opened up and a claw arm flew out of his head. It snatched the gift box and drew it back inside his head’s storage compartment. He then gave her a little wave and scampered into the house.

Once he was inside, Tak got down and army-crawled to the base’s window, careful not to set off any motion sensors. As she peered inside, she could see Zim, sitting on the couch, looking over something on an Irken computing tablet.

“GIR, good, you’re home,” he said, not looking up from his work. “I’ve just finished drawing up the plans for-”

“I got a present for you!” GIR squealed as the gift box popped out of his head.

“Eh? A gift for Zim?”

GIR nodded vigorously.

“Huh.” Zim set aside the tablet and slid off the couch. “Well, thank you GIR,” he said, picking up the box. “Wait, this isn’t full of moldy tacos again, is it?”

GIR shrugged “I dunno.”

“You don’t know?”

GIR shook his head.

“This isn’t from you?”

GIR shook again.

Zim narrowed his eyes and examined the box. He gave it a light shake and placed an antenna on it to listen. Finally, he looked at the tag.

TAk smiled. She could imagine his heart dropping as he read the words.

“Night-night? Tak?” Zim threw the box on the ground. “Computer! Activate defensive maneuver number-”

Before he could finish, MiMi jumped out of the box holding an electrified shocking fork. She jabbed it into his neck. Electricity coursed through his body and he fell to the floor in a heap.

“Master?” GIR gave Zim a poke.

MiMi swept to the door and let Tak in. Once inside, she disabled her human disguise. “He’s napping,” she said, dropping a large bag of Urth candy at GIR’s feet. “Here’s your gummy bears. I’ll take him downstairs to rest.”

The SIR unit began gleefully digging through the bag as Tak grabbed Zim’s ankle and dragged him to the kitchen. MiMi followed close behind. They took the elevator down to the base’s main computer lab and walked over to the control panel. She stuck Zim’s body in the control seat and plugged in his PAK. The computer lit up, showing a log-in screen. She placed Zim’s hand on the identification pad and, just like that, she gained access to the computer network.

“MiMi, restrain him.”

Her SIR until gave a solute, then pulled a roll of duct tape out oh her head and taped Zim down.

Tak turned back to the computer and inserted a programing disc. She grinned as her coding filled the screen. It was her best work yet, a near perfect copy of the Control Brain’s PAK reading system. Only the Massive held such technology. She’d waited three Urth years for this moment. Three years of consorting with shady figures from the back alleys of space. Three years of making deals with backdoor hackers. Three years of trading favors to gain access to the technology she needed. It all lead up to this moment, the moment when she finally learned how to crush Zim once and for all.

MiMi tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned to look, MiMi pointed to Zim and made a slashing motion across her throat.

“No, Mimi, we can’t kill him yet.” It was true. She could easily kill him now while he was vulnerable, but it wouldn’t be satisfying. When she finally claimed her vengeance, she wanted his eyes to be wide open.

The computer dinged, alerting her that the program was ready to run. She turned back to the screen and looked into the wicked eyes of her own reflection. “Alright, let’s see what makes Zim, Zim.”

She swiped her hand across the control panel, opening a starting page. It outlined Zim’s basic information.

Name: Zim

Age: 16.6

Occupation: Food Service Drone

Assignment: Foodcourtia, Banishment.

So far, so good. Now she just had to run the error check simulation. She typed in the command and waited for the program to work its magic. When it finished, the alert sound blared and the word DEFECTIVE flashed across the screen in big, red letters.

“Hmmm… No surprise there, MiMi, but I need more. Let’s get more specific.”

She typed in a few more commands and the screen showed her a list of all of Zim’s defective areas broken down by category. The list was long, too long to go over before Zim woke. Two categories caught her eye: PAK Installations and Irken Traits. These two seemed curious. She opened the file for PAK Installations first. A list popped up.

PAK Installations

·        Perseverance: 89342/10

·        Loyalty: 324/10

·        Penchant for destruction: 352301/10

·        Susceptibility to propaganda: 134/10

Tak’s mouth turned downward as she read over the list. Every Irken knew the PAK boosted certain personality traits to ensure successful service to the Empire. However, only the highest-ranking PAK engineers knew what. Some of these were to be expected. Of course, an Irken must persevere in the face of opposition and remain loyal to the Empire. Those were obvious. And she supposed a soldier must be capable of a little destruction. But susceptibility to propaganda?

She switched off the PAK Installations and looked into Irken Traits. Surely this section would reveal enhancements made to the already superior race. Why else would the PAKs monitor their natural Irken inclinations?

Irken Traits

·        Creativity: 3342/0

·        Personal ambition: 3625/0

·        Need for companionship: 334/0

·        Need for affection: 3420/0

·        Sense of individuality: 4280/0

·        Survival instinct: 4406/2

Tak took a step back as she analyzed what this meant. Suspicion crept through her like a parasite and the truth glared down at her from a screen. Irken traits were meant to be blocked? This couldn’t be the norm. There had to be some mistake. Zim was a defective after all. Perhaps these blocks were just part of his defects. Or maybe his PAK was changed after the mess he made of Impending Doom I. Yes, that must be it. The Control Brains must have tried to take away certain skills to prevent further disasters. But if these blocks were deliberate, why didn’t the levels match up? Surely the Control Brain would have caught these errors during re-encoding. And could she even be certain that these blocks were unique to Zim? To be sure, she’d have to compare his results to those of a standard PAK.

Her hand unconsciously reached back and brushed the top of hers. It was the only PAK immediately available. She hadn’t tested the program on herself before. It would have been the smart thing to do, instead of coming all this way without testing it on a real PAK. She told herself that her ship wouldn’t have enough power to generate a full reading, but that wasn’t entirely true. She could have at least attempted a partial reading, just to make sure.  What stopped her?

She unplugged Zim’s PAK and plugged in her own. Her start page appeared on the screen.

                                                                   Name: Tak

                                                                   Age: 16.9

                                                                   Occupation: Janitorial Squad

                                                                   Assignment: Dirt (planet)

She scowled at her demeaning encoding. It should read “invader” or at the very least “Irken Elite.” She had everything they wanted. She excelled at every training. She passed every testing simulation she took. She made herself the best of the best. The final test should have been a mere formality. If not for the idiot taped to the chair behind her, she would be in her rightful place.

She typed in the command for the error check. Yet another formality as far as she was concerned. It was required to view her own stats. An error reading should be impossible. After all, she was everything the empire wanted her to be. She worked, and studied, and molded herself into the shape of a perfect Irken soldier. There was no way she could be…

DEFECTIVE

              The word flashed across the screen in glaring red letters. The alert sound shook her antenna and the light from the screen burned her eyes. Her mouth fell open and her body broke into a sweat. “No! It can’t be!” She must have gone wrong somewhere, made some mistake. It was the software. That was it.  That was the problem, not her PAK.

              You know that’s not true, her own sinister mind whispered back to her. It was right. The PAKs were designed to be completely secure from enemy tampering. A PAK could only be accessed with specific Irken equipment and software. If there was a flaw in her coding, it should not have connected to the PAK at all. The only way for her to even be seeing this word was if her software perfectly imitated that of the Control Brain’s programing.

              She pressed on, swiping straight to the PAK Installations.

PAK Installations

·        Perseverance: 1344/10

·        Loyalty: 10/10

·        Penchant for destruction: 10/10

·        Susceptibility to propaganda: 5/10

So, at least her errors were not as off as Zim’s. Her loyalty and penitent for destruction were at the ideal levels according to the reading. But her susceptibility to propaganda was too low? And perseverance too high? And these were considered errors? Were these not good qualities to have? There was something strange going on here, to be sure.

She swiped over the Irken traits.

Irken Traits

·        Creativity: 3542/0

·        Personal ambition: 5437/0

·        Need for companionship: 23/0

·        Need for affection: 10/0

·        Sense of individuality: 4281/0

·        Individual survival instinct: 4192/2

A smug smile came to her face when she realized her creativity and ambition outmatched Zim’s, but it quickly disappeared when she saw what her ideal levels were. Zeros all around, just like him. According to the reading, she should have no creativity, no ambition, no individuality… She barely even had a survival instinct. She should be nothing. Was this what the Empire really wanted? Just mindless drones?

This wasn’t right. Something deep down in her gut told her so. These characteristics were assets. They were what helped make the Irken race so great. But if Irkens were superior, why were their natural traits being blocked? Something was wrong, very wrong.

Perhaps the problem was in the encoding. She and Zim were technically assigned to menial occupations when they both had the training of the Irken Elite. Their jobs didn’t match their skill-level. Tak was clearly meant for something greater and Zim… Zim was an anomaly all his own.

But even if that was the case, these stats still didn’t make sense. Did a janitor or food service drone not have the right to see themselves as an individual? Did they not deserve the ambition to aspire to something greater? Or to be creative in their assigned professions? And what did a level 2 survival instinct entail, anyway? Just the wherewithal to get out of the way of a crashing ship? Or the ability to look before falling off a cliff? Nothing about this added up.

Still, she only had the data for 2 allegedly defective Irkens of low rank. If she wanted answers, she’d have to look at a PAK which bore a higher rank. Luckily, she knew just where to find one.

“MiMi,” she said, shutting down her program and removing the disc. “We’re leaving.”

MiMi cocked her head to the side and pointed at Zim.

“Leave him for now. Something more important has come up.”

MiMi nodded and followed Tak out of the room.

After a quick raid of Zim’s fuel stores, Tak and MiMi made their way out of the base. They went to the backyard where she parked her ship. She uncloaked it, revealing a grey, outdated, Vortian vessel. It was all she’d been able to acquire since she was forced to eject from her Spittle Runner. Yet another loss she could attribute to Zim. It wasn’t quite up to the standards of modern Irken vehicles, but she’d been able to modify it to run on an Irken operating system. At the very least, it allowed her to blend in both inside and out of Irken controlled space.

As MiMi added fuel to the tank’s ship, Tak climbed inside. “Computer,” she commanded, waking the ship’s A.I.

“Yes Master,” the robotic voice answered.

She’d never bothered to download her personality into the A.I. like she had on the Spittle Runner. It didn’t feel right. Her last ship was her pride and joy. She’d turned that thing from a pile of scrap metal to a vessel capable of outrunning even the latest creations of the Irken military engineers. That ship was worthy of her mark. What she wouldn’t give to have it back.

“Awaiting orders,” the computer reminded her.

MiMi finished fueling and hopped into the cockpit.

“Computer, bring up the coordinates of the last known location of Invader Skoodge.”

[holdmekhh]

I Like You, Do You Like Me? -Pt.1 (Jealous!Seungyoun / Enemies to Lovers)

Artist/Person : Cho Seungyoun/WOODZ

 Group/Crew : UNIQ/X1

Genre : SMUT/ Semi-Angst/ Fluff

Words : 3.6K

Requested: “ hi can you please write a super jealous seungyoun smut w daddy kink 🥺 i love your writing sm 💕💕”- Anon

A/N; I’m soooo sorry this was posted so late, I was on the road... But enjoyyy!

____

If looks could kill, Seungyoun would’ve been a goner. Her eyes were set ablaze at his grinning face. He stuck his tongue out, laughing obnoxiously when she stuck up her manicured middle finger. “Fuck off, Cho!” She hissed, her friends grabbing at her arms when she started to march towards the boy and his group of friends. “Is princess angry?” He mocked, a fake pout on his lips making her growl softly and fight against her friends’ hold. “Just let it go, he’s dumb.” One of her friends muttered, making the other one nod. “Let’s go get some lunch.” They nodded, glancing to each other and forcing her around as they led her away from the area. “Have fun, princess!” She heard him call to them, making her groan softly. 

“Why do you idiots do that shit? Just fucking ignore him.” Her friend, Kendall rolled her eyes. “You know why.” Her other friend, Erin, laughed as she wiggled her eyebrows. “They’re gonna end up fucking. We all know it’s gonna happen eventually.” The look of absolute irritation took over her face. “Shut up.” She rolled her eyes, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. “But, nevermind that topic, are you guys gonna help me with my art assignment?” She muttered, half focused on pushing the bobby pins back into her hair to keep it neat, but keep them well hidden. “Of course, we’re helping you. The only person I’d let paint my fat ass.” Erin laughed, head falling back.  The three were best friends, all having met in middle school and stuck out together up until now, their second year of college. There was Kendall, a dark chocolate goddess. She was tall, standing at 5 '11, and thin. 100% stereotypical model material but was a complete tomboy, top it off with a genius scientist brain. Then, there was Erin, a gorgeous Mongolian queen. She was average height and was curvy as hell, though she wouldn’t agree with that statement. And, last but definitely not least, there was Y/N. She was introverted and didn’t like many people, and usually looked at people in the light of an art piece. Which isn’t always the best, or healthy way, to look at others when she didn’t fancy them too well. 

“Yeah, stay like that.” She muttered softly, looking at her friends through her camera lense before snapping away. “Turn your right side in just a little more. Shoulder forward. Yes, just like that.” She whispered at the end, adjusting the camera before snapping away for more photos. “Why’re we taking pictures instead you painting?” Erin muttered, raising an eyebrow at Y/N just as she snapped another picture. “Because if I just painted you guys and had y’all standing there, then it would take too long of y’all standing. With pictures-” She moved around and got close, snapping a few more before stepping back to look at the shots on her camera. “I can search through them and find which one I like the best and want to paint. We’re done by the way.” She stated, making the two rush over and look at the pictures. “Ugh, I’m so fat.” “Shut up, Erin. You look good as hell. Like, yo-look at that ass!” Y/N laughed and Kendalls words, nodding along silently as she glanced to her blushing friend. “Alright, go get dressed you two. Y’all can stay here and chill, order food and watch me paint, if you want.” She sat at her desk, connecting her camera to her desktop and transferring the photos. She’d become a master at these motions, getting the pictures transferred and a couple of them printed onto large pieces of photo paper in no time. Standing, she moved to set the photo down on a part of her eisel, against the canvas. “We’re gonna head out. Skype sesh in a few hours, so we can see how far you’ve gotten.” She hummed out in confirmation, looking back as her friends left. Overly exaggerated waves and blown kisses were exchanged until they disappeared, leaving her all alone in her studio.

It’d been almost 7 hours since Kendall and Erin had left, and she still hadn’t gotten to the actual painting. Melanie Martinez was blasting in the room, here eyes focused intently on the canvas as she continued to sketch the body and attire of her friends. She’d decided to make it into a greek renaissance kind of style, draping the drawn figures in soft strokes of silks. She was so into her painting, she didn’t hear the knocking on her studio door until the song ended and left a pause before the next one started. Her head whipped around to stare at the intruder through the glass barrier, eyebrows furrowing. Moving over, she lifted the needle from the vinyl and halted the music. Standing to make her way over, she pulled open the door with a soft grunt. “What?” She deadpanned at male in front of her. Wooseok was his name, he hung out with the asshat Seungyoun, but for the most part never gave her issues. “H-Hey...um, I wanted to ask um- I was told by the professor that you would be a good art history tutor...and I need a tutor for this upcoming test.” He stuttered along his whole speech, cheeks getting redder and redder the longer she stared at him. She nodded softly, “Okay. My pay rate is 10 an hour, so if you’re cool with that, I’m down to help.” Her voice was still emotionless, stable and clear as she stared at him making his stomach do backflips. He nodded, hold tightening on his backpack strap. “Would it be a problem if we did our first session now? It’s okay if not! I don’t want to intrude...I know you don’t really have the best impression of my character.” He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as it heated up. She merely looked at her watch and shrugged. “I planned on being here for a few more hours, so why not.” She opened the door wider and stepped to the side, allowing him in.  

The look of pure wonder took over his face as he looked around the room at all of her paintings. They were masterpieces. Pieces that could easily go for thousands. “You can pull out a chair from over there or you could sit on the couch.” She sat back down in front of her eisel, starting to sketch again. He watched for a few heartbeats, eyes intently watching how she held the pencil and stroked it lightly across the fabric of the canvas. “So, what level are you on? 101, 102?” Her voice made him jump back into reality, rushing to grab his material out his backpack. “U-Uh...101.” He stated, ear heating up in embarrassment, and nervousness. She was one of the top art students, he didn’t want her to look down on him because of his level in the subject, especially because he was a year above her. But, she simply nodded, asking him questions about the topic of the test. She stayed neutral throughout the whole session, explaining things that he needed extra understanding of. She even halted her drawing to give visual examples a couple of times. Then, she looked to her watch and stood from her seat and stretched. “Well, Wooseok, it’s almost midnight and I have to get back home.” She stated, watching the male nod and start to pack his things. Grabbing her bags of books and materials, she led him out of her studio, shutting off the lights and locking the door. “I’ll have the payment for you in cash tomorrow morning, promise.” He smiled after walking her to her car, making her nod as she got in. “Okay, see you around.” She started the vehicle and pulled out, going back to her apartment.

“Oh, look who’s here. Did you miss me, princess?” Seungyoun’s grinning face almost made her regret walking over, but the awaiting payment in Wooseoks hand made it worth it. “As if. I just came to get my money, then I’ll be out of here.” She deadpanned, walking to Wooseok as he slipped it to her with flaming cheeks. “My studio, tomorrow at 6.” She stated, making the blushing boy nod, before turning and walking away to her other class. “And what the fuck was that?!” Seungyoun stared confused as Hangyul started to poke at their friend for answers. “She started tutoring for my art history test…” “Since when?!” “Last night…” Seungyoun felt his face contort into one of disbelief. “Look, my professor suggested her to me and told me where to find her. She said she’d do it, and her pricing isn’t that bad. And, I’m pretty sure I’ll pass with her helping me.” And though Wooseok’s words made sense, Seungyoun couldn’t help the intense feeling of irritation as he clenched his jaw.

“So you do tutoring?” At the sound of the familiar voice breaking the silence that surrounded her, made her huff in annoyance and roll her eyes. “I’m doing work right now. So, kindly, fuck off.” She stated bitterly, keeping her eyes trained on the books and laptop that sat in front of her. But, her eyes squeezed shut as the chair across from her was pulled out and he plopped in it. “What do you want, Cho?” “For you to tutor me.” The laugh that slipped through her lips was genuine as her head fell forward. “Fuck off.” “I’m serious.” He deadpanned, making her raise an eyebrow as she looked at him with complete amusement. “Is this because I’m tutoring your friend?” The chuckle that left her as his ears turned pink was soft. “I’m only tutoring him for the cash. And because it’s easy shit that I know. We’re on the same intellectual level, you and I, surprisingly. You don’t need my help, and even if you did, I wouldn’t help you.” She spoke so softly, he almost didn’t process her words because the tone made his heart flutter. “Now, leave me alone. I have work to do.” 

As expected, the male never left from his spot across from her, but he did stay silent as she worked. She could feel his eyes on her most of the time, but he didn’t speak another word to her. At one point, he’d even started on his own tasks, headphones covering his ears completely as he worked diligently on his activity. When she looked up from her computer screen, her eyes red behind her glasses as they rested low on her nose. Stretching, her lips parted in a satisfied whimper as her muscles pulled and bones popped. Her eyes shut as she rolled her neck and cracked her fingers. She’d been sitting in the same position for hours, working sedulously and unmoving, so the tug and snap of her body was very welcomed. Both to her, and to the male across from her. The soft sounds that slipped from her lips didn’t go unnoticed by him, having stopped the track he’d been working on to add some more things. His heart fluttered and his stomach did backflips as the sounds flowed to him, making his breath catch in his throat. 

Days had gone by, Y/N and Wooseok becoming a bit closer through the process making it easier for her to tolerate him and his friends that sometimes came to pick up their friend. Today was the final tutoring session, ending the two weeks, and to say that Wooseok was nervous was an understatement. Y/N could tell, immediately trying to talk down his nervousness, even getting a few words of encouragement from Seungyoun who’d invaded their session. Y/N didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t interfere because this wasn’t just a hang out, she wouldn’t allow people who weren’t her best friends into her studio just to hang out. She was doing business in the situation, and also helping out an art-ignorant fellow student. “Look, think about it this way… As long as you get a 75, you’re not a complete failure.” She states simply, eyes still focused on her canvas as she slowly stroked her brush over the material. The piece was almost done, needing a few more finishing touches before she would put the finishing gloss on. It’d taken so long to get the piece done, as she had actual work for school to finish between painting sessions. But, the time was worth it to get the perfect result.

“Okay! Well, I have to get out of here. I have night shift tonight.” Wooseok muttered, standing and stretching before packing his things. “See you.” Y/N called over her shoulder, barely pulling her focus away from her art. After the door shut, it was silent for a long time. She’d even reached over and placed the needle of her record player onto the vinyl that rested on the inside, letting the soft jazzy instruments fill the space of her studio. The lights were dim, she had a couple candles lit, and she had incense burning in a small corner of the room where she kept a few gems. Soft hums left her lips as she swayed softly to the tunes, completely in her element. She thought she was alone, until she felt  breathing on her exposed shoulder making her freeze. Slowly turning her head, a loud gasp left her lips as she came face to face with Seungyoun. “What the hell, Cho?!” She squeaked, hand resting over her chest as her head fell back, giving the male an heart fluttering view. “What?” He muttered, smiling gently as he eyed her. “I thought you two left!” “Wooseok did, I wanted to stay back and watch you finish. It’s intriguing, seeing you in your element.” He stated, straightening himself to go look around at all of her works. She was still settling back after the scare he’d given her, merely watching him with shaky eyes. “You’re really talented.” “Thanks.” She muttered, feeling her insides twist as he studied each piece. “Can you explain these to me?” He asked gently, making her stand and walk over. She was nervous, stomach doing backflips as she approached his figure, because no one had ever asked her to explain her art work to them. “Which one?” She muttered, standing next to him as he pointed to a piece of two people morphing into one another. “That one...I did my freshman year, I think. I was going through a really hard time, figuring out who I was at the time and who I was becoming.” The soft hum of acknowledgement made her look to him as he pointed to another one. “That’s my sister...my favorite person. She was reading in the middle of the libary and looked so intrigued with the book she was reading, which peaked my interest and I had to capture the moment. I sketched it and later on resketched it on a canvas and painted it like a greek sculpture.” She chuckled at the end, making him smile as he pointed to another and another before finally turning to her and eyeing her. “And what about your outfit for today? What inspired this one?” The shock was evident in her features as her ears started to heat up. “M-My outfit?” He nodded, “I always notice your outfits are usually dark and very grunge-like. Today, though...seems super sexy and elegant…” She cleared her throat, looking down as her ears heated more. “I had a showing today…” “M’okay...tell me about your outfit. What fabrics? Tell me about the pieces you chose.” Suddenly she felt small under his gaze, clearing her throat again. “So...my top is actually a silk slip dress that I thrifted for like 3 bucks. My skirt is a silk, a vintage piece I got from my granny...and the shoes that I wore with it were a treat to myself, because they were almost 200. Oh! I also wore a cute pinstripe blazer over it, so I could cover all of my tattoos.” He nodded, smiling as he watched her, “You also left your hair out.” She subconciously ran a hand through her afro of curls, humming softly. “I like them…” He muttered, having moved closer to tower in front of her. She gasped softly as she looked up to him. The way he was looking down at her made her stomach twist and heart race; it was filled with such adoration. “Can I kiss you?” He whispered, making her nod without hesitation as he smiled gently.

His hand raised slowly, burying into her curls as he leaned down slowly to gently brush his lips against hers. Finally, pressing their lips together completely, he stood still as he waited for her react. The slight pressure of her pushing her lips closer to his made his heart swell and his other hand to move to cup her waist, pulling her to his body. Her lips were as soft as he imagined, like beautiful, full clouds. And her hair, so soft and bouncy as it curled around his palm. Pulling back slightly, he smiled against her lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that, princess.” The nickname, along with the kiss, made her head go fuzzy. “Princess…” He muttered softly, chuckling when she whined softly. “Stop calling me that…” “Why?” He smiled as she pushed face into his chest. “It makes me tingly…” She muffled out. “Now it does....after all this time.” “Always has.” At that, his chest tightened and his stomach knotted, body stilling as it heated up. “Really?” He squeaked, making her nod as she chuckled into his shirt. “Why were you always so mean about it then?” “Because it made me tingly…” The loud laugh that ripped through him shook her, making her whine.

The days after that were mutually less aggrivation filled, and she’d almost thought that he liked her until she saw him flirting with another girl at a frat party the weekend after. She knew that shouldn’t be so hurt, because they just kissed and everyone just kisses, but she was. Add that to her being high as hell, and petty as hell, it was a big uh-oh moment. Walking up to Wooseok, she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her to the dancefloor. “Woah...you okay?” He asked making her nod, though a soft pout played on her lips. “Is it because of Seungyoun-ie?” He leaned in to mutter in her ear, unknowingly giving her the advantage of seeing over his shoulder slightly. She made eye contact with Seungyoun, a sly smirk finding purchase on her face as she silently nodded to Wooseok’s question. Pulling away to look her in the face, he kept his face close enough for her to hear him. “She’s been flirting with him all night, but I don’t think he’s really interested.”He stated just as they heard a throat clearing, pulling away to turn to the interrupter. And there, in all of his fuming glory stood Seungyoun. “Y/N, can I talk to you for a second?” She shrugged stubbornly, rolling her eyes as he gently grabbed her hand and led her to one of the bathrooms. Shutting and locking the door, he turned to lean against the door. She sat on closed toilet, his low gaze on her form as she looked to him with reddened sclera. “What was that about, princess?” His voice was stable, calm and relaxed. “I don’t know, ask your little girlfriend.” She snipped back with an icy tone, eyes rolling when he chuckled softly. “You saw that, huh?” He pushed off the door, and crouched in front of her. “Is that why you acted out with Wooseok, princess?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes again making him clench his jaw. When she turned her head, he caught her chin between his fingers gently to turn her back to look at him with a couple of soft ‘tsk’s. “Listen, princess, she was nobody. She came up to talk to me, but I wasn’t interested. Wanna know why?” He made her stand up by slowly pulling her to him by her chin. “Because you’re the only one I want.” He whispered, leaning down to peck her lips. “I’m only interested in fucking, kissing, and loving my princess. M’okay?” He muttered, kissing down the column of her neck to latch onto her throat as she whined. His hands cupped her butt, rubbing it gently before gripping it and lifting her up. “You’re so light, baby.” He chuckled, nipping at the skin of her neck softly, smiling when she whined. “So cute…” He cooed, sucking at the skin with a grin. 

Setting her on the sink, he pulled her head back by her hair. “So pretty.” He hummed, staring down at her before running his nose over her jaw. “I bet you taste as sweet as you look.” The growl in his voice set waves of arousal to her core, causing her to whine as she clenched around nothing. “Daddy…” She cried as he tugged on her hair a little, making him freeze. “What’d you call me?” He muttered, feeling his adrenaline spike and heart speed up. “D-Daddy…” She muttered, face flushed and eyes blown as she stared at him wide eyed. His head fell back, eyes squeezing shut, as he growled lowly. “You’re gonna make me ruin you,  princess.” He stated, voice having dropped a couple of octaves in a raspy groan. “Let’s go back to mine?”

[andoqin]

K-Dramas of 2020

Well, like the general mood of 2020, the dramas this year were uh, certainly an adventure. I was going to put all the dramas I watched this year here, but uh. This turned out longer than expected so I’ll guess I’ll separate K-dramas at the very least.

Putting this behind a cut because Long.

Completed:

365: Repeat the year: I barely remember this one, but I gave it 8/10 on MDL, maybe I should lower that, because honestly all I remember are the time-travel meet up set and the main actors.

CHIP-IN: A short who-dunnit, which has interesting characters, although the show was very wise to be capped at 8 Episodes, because the “mystery” was pretty predictable and also starting to wear thin. Still, the younger cast was stellar and I hope we get to see them in more.

Diary of a Prosecutor: The cases in this drama were actually legit interesting to me and I found the politicking surprisingly not bad. People were flawed in very human ways, but the drama gave us enough time with our main characters to enjoy getting to know all of them.

Do you like Brahms: Contender for worst drama of the year for me, good lord I hated the way this tanked its story line, its characters and the romance. Is it believable that the main characters might act this way? ... Debatable. Is it entertaining to watch? Hell fucking no. Don’t watch this one, unless you like stupid misunderstandings and non communication. 

Extracurricular: Short action-y show on Netflix that makes me hopeful for what Sweet Home might be. 

Flower of Evil: Lee Jun Ki gets to suffer prettily. That is All. Okay Moon Chae Won and LJK were great together, but it got almost makjang-y by the end. 

Hospital Playlist: Delightful Slice of Life Medical show, that despite its delightfulness never quite got me. Very enjoyable and at 12 episodes it doesn’t overstay its welcome, but it didn’t stay with me either. 

Hot Stove League: Pretty entertaining and as a drama about sports management seems reasonably accurate? (Not that I’d know of course). 

Hyena: Flawed as heck in some aspects (the lawyer-plotting got lulzy and boring at the same time), but oh my god some of the HOTTEST chemistry this way from sunday. Joo Ji Hoon and Kim Hye Soo just crackled anytime they were on screen together and Joo Ji Hoon as the high powered lawyer who falls head over heels in love with KHS’s character who is more reluctant to act on those feelings is just *chefs kiss*. Also didn’t suffer the Dreaded Plot Denuement of 2020 (DPD2020). Sure the latter half wasn’t as tight as the beginning, but it stuck the landing and that’s all that matters. 

Into the Ring: Weird camera angles and sometimes overly sharp edited shots aside, this had a solid romance, great characters, great romance and almost made me want to get into community politics lmao. 

It’s Okay Not To Be Okay (Psycho But It’s Okay): The first half of this show is just *amazing*, the way the scenes transition is pretty much film-like and the main character trio is stunningly well acted. Sadly the story with the mom is resolved in the weirdest fucking way, but the drama decides to do the smart thing and just forget about it once that’s done and the finale made me cry ;_;. 

Itaewon Class: Sadly also suffered the DPD2020. I was really into the first half, loved the way the characters found support in each other, plus: a main trans character! Handled really well! Also iconic OST. I was one of the few people who was into the romance of the main couple, but the way the latter half of the plot developed was just completely nonsensical and felt like the writer was just trying to tie off the lose ends as much as possible. 

Kingdom Season 2: The first season was stellar and this continues the trend! Although it doesn’t quite reach the highs of the first season I am still so looking forward to season 3! More Joseon zombies please!

Money Game: I... apparently watched this, and looking at the logo there is some vague feeling of “Yeah this is familiar”. But nothing else...

Mr. Heart: Okay-ish BL drama that has it’s cute moments but nothing that made me go “Ooooh”. I am glad SK is getting in on this trend though!

My Holo Love: So all of those Robot/AI shows that came before that I’ve seen and had the premise of “Oh no, I’ve fallen for a ROBOT” when it either turned out their object of affection was either human or actually a robot, but their human counterpart was so shitty that no sane person would like them worked pretty well for me. This one didn’t. From what I remember the heroine does very much fall for the holographic version of this guy, but the human version is *different* and yet whoops the main couple is still human/human. Granted you can’t really do romantic kiss scenes between a girl and nothing, but the switch-over felt abrupt and the way our main lady just transfers her affections to the dude never sat right to me. 

Mystic Pop Up Bar: Quite a few dramas this year went with 12 eps, and were all the better for it. Hwang Jung Eum is incredibly hit or miss with me (mostly it’s miss honestly), but in this one she’s used really well and I liked the way the premise was used!

Private Lives: I recently wrote a longer post about this, but honestly another victim of terrible writing and maybe DPD2020. 

Stranger 2: Love! Not as much as Season 1, but man this writer is *so* good at writing smart and interesting plots and looking at things from many different angles!

Tale of the Nine Tailed: Flawed but man do I ever love the OTP. Like really really love it. Plus it stuck the landing for me in a way few dramas did in recent months.

The School Nurse Files: So weird. So fucking weird. And yet, so very entertaining. Thanks to its short length ( I think) some plot threads felt very much unceremoniously dropped, but it has a canon lesbian couple!

The World of the Married: Makjang to the Nth degree, got kind of exhausting by the end, but Kim Hee Ae is so good. 

Train: Yoon Shi Yoon gets to suffer prettily! 

When the Weather is Fine: Kinda mellow and sweet and I wish I could live like the main character does (just have a bookshop in the middle of nowhere and still no money issues??? The Dream) but for that also not super memorable. 

Where Your Eyes Linger: SK’s first major Webdrama I believe? Cute and as a foray into this genre not bad, but I hope this is just a taste of things to come.

Dropped:

Hi Bye, Mama: So many people loved this, I couldn’t get over the basic premise and the way my brain tried to tie the logic in this together made my head hurt.  The King: Eternal Monarch: Maybe KES dramas just aren’t for me, I didn’t like the plot or the main couple. Woo Do Hwan and Kim Kyung Nam were amazing though and please please I beg both of you do more stuff. 

18 Again: Nope. Lee Do Hyun is pretty, but the setup drove me bonkers and I pretty much liked no one. 

Zombie Detective: Yikes no thank you. Complete mismatch of tones I wanted and the drama gave me. 

Romantic Teacher Dr. Kim 2: Zzzzzzzzz. I found the first one mildly entertaining at least but this one just made me fall asleep immediately. 

Black Dog: Yeah I watched like 2 Episodes of this and lost interest. 

Search: I’ve watched like 6 eps and I know there’s zombies, but I couldn’t tell you much more tbh.

Start-Up: I watched 2 episodes in the beginning, didn’t think I’d want to live watch this and then just popcorned the tag until it got insufferable with the ship wars and this dropped out of my watch list pretty immediately.

Record of Youth: Pretty much the same deal as with Start-Up only in this case there wasn’t so much a shipwar as the tag showing me that this drama would *not* be my bag at all. 

Still Watching: 

Kairos: Hmmmm timey-wimey stuff. The FL is this close to losing me though. The fact I thought it plausible that she would murder someone just based on a TEXT from someone else says it all. (She didn’t, thank god, and seems to have found a few of her lost braincells, but by god she was frustrating). 

Birthcare Center: I like what it’s trying to say and the main character and her husband are very cute, but a lot of the side characters don’t really interest me. It’s only an 8 ep drama, so I might finish this.

The Spies Who Loved Me: Honestly I’m this close to dropping it. Only my intense love for Yoo In Na and fondness for Eric are keeping me going. But she might not end up with Eric and I’m gonna be mad. Honestly if they just went OT3 I’d be really cool with this, but despite the small advancements in dramaland, they aint ready for that yet. 

Lies of Lies: I watched 2 eps and I might continue (the premise seems hilariously makjang and sometimes I’m into that, but it’s *very* much on the backburner)

The Uncanny Counter: Delightful Webtoon vibe, with some great visuals and actually nice action. I’ve only seen 2 eps so far but at least they don’t want to make me poke my eyes out or make me fall asleep. Let’s hope it avoids the DPD2020 plague. 

[tortoisesshells]

me? ditch my hobbies to rewatch a show I literally just watched? doesn’t sound like me.

Signal episodes 1 & 2 under the cut.

I wasn’t kidding. I started tearing up under a minute. At least this time it was mostly just seeing the opening credits again ...

But also: Kim Yoon-jung’s mother standing outside the police station with the same sign for 15 years, asking for action on her daughter’s kidnap and murder, juxtaposed with how “well” Park Hae-young deals with the years between his brother being arrested/killing himself and the present.

Park’s initial confrontation with Cha Soo-hyun after being accused of stalking for going through a celeb’s trash to prove a point seems ... more significant, considering how many plot coupons come from going through the garbage as the show goes on. There’s a metaphor here about the cases the police department discards as not worth pursuing, I’m sure.

The Batman photo. “It’s a bit much”? ohh. oh man. I definitely thought it was a little ridiculous the first time. Hurts much more now.

Flashback to August 3rd, 2000: uh. I missed a lot the first time through: that it’s Lee Jae-han that kid!Park bowls into at the station, that then-Captain Kim Bum-joo makes an off-hand comment about the world being full of bad people & then-detective Ahn Chi-soo reluctantly tells Lee to back off (which Lee, of course, disregards). And what Lee tells Cha: “I think I can sort it out this weekend.” and “Let’s talk after it’s all over.” 

pretty sure they’re referring to Cha’s confession in the ambulance after Lee got stabbed the first time? in 1999?

kid!Park runs away when Lee exits the station; I suppose that makes Park one of the last people to see Lee alive?

Ohhhh, but this is where it gets good: the ticking clocks, both in and out of focus, the quiet of the late night, and then ... 

The Transmission! I’m trying to keep track? It’s the first for Park in 2015, and the second-to-last for Lee back in 2000. remind me to come back and renumber Lee’s after I’m done again.

Honestly, I think Lee’s half of the conversation/actions to get there tell you everything you need to know about him: alone outside a recently shut-down mental hospital, staring at the corpse of a murder suspect who was probably murdered himself, he hears someone or something moving behind him. “Why did you tell me not to come here?” he asks. hmm. 

nb: you can see the yellow sticker at the bottom of the walkie-talkie when Lee’s holding it.

Park and Cha arguing about what the discovered remains mean for the Kim Yoon-jung case is ...  really good. Narrative foils and mirrors! Park, who was dismissed by the police in 2000 even though he witnessed the kidnapping; who watched his beloved older brother be scapegoated and then kill himself because of a crime he didn’t commit, expresses his anger and frustration that the police either can’t or won’t do anything. Conversely, Cha only says that with cold cases, “You don’t even know why and how your loved one died. You can never let it go. It’s like a living hell.” Neither recognize that each other is speaking from a position of personal pain, and they don’t recognize their own pain in what the other is saying. Yet. (they will, of course, realize that Park’s older brother was Park Sun-woo, from the Inju case, and that the cold case Cha can never move on from is Lee’s disappearance.)

Ohh, man. The anxiety to the end of the statute of limitations. my poor fingernails.

[into ep. 2]

I thought I had been anxious! That was before the stopwatch through the last 10 minutes, trying to get Kim Yoon-jung’s (& Seo Hyung-joon’s) killer to confess ... which failed. And honestly, the first time through, I was flabbergasted. The main characters failed? Was the clock wrong? Was that a ploy to get the killer to confess after she thought time was up and she was safe? But, no. Hard lesson of the first case: the protagonists don’t have plot victory armor. 

Public outrage about the inability to prosecute Yoon-jung’s murder (though not Seo Hyung-joon’s) gets the statute of limitations overturned, which seems to neatly side-step a conversation about why such laws exist and who they benefit or privilege. In narrative, though, the major effect is the creation of a dedicated Cold-Case squad, led by Cha and manned by Park, Kim Gye-chul, and Jung Hun-gi, theoretically under the control of Ahn Chi-soo. Because Kim Bum-joo, now a superintendent(?) doesn’t want them poking around in cases that he’s interfered in in the past, they get stuck with the unsolved South Gyeonggi serial murders, which everyone thinks are unsolvable.

at any rate, Park goes to the school where he last saw Kim Yoon-jung to leave a chrysanthemum for her. He sees her ghost, and this perturbs him far less than the transmission from Lee Jae-han. hmm.

meanwhile, Cha goes to visit the murderer, asking if Lee ever approached her back in the initial investigation in August 2000; when told no, she goes back to stare at the files on her desk & the framed Batman photo, which is of course not just Batman, but has Cha’s photo of her and Lee from her rookie days, and the flashback really is ... something to behold. I’m not exactly sure what year it is? Probably somewhere before the 1997 serial killer case? Of note: Lee, disgruntled, telling Cha to pretend that Kim Jeong-jae is a criminal. That aged like fine wine.

Transmission! (#2 for Park, Last for Lee) Park, despite being told the radio is (1) broken & (2) has no battery anyway, believes that the transmissions have a sane explanations and Detective Lee on the other end of the line inhabits the same world he does. This is immediately shaken by Lee, badly injured and expecting to die at any moment, telling him that the transmissions will begin again in the past, and that Park needs to convince Lee to listen in 1989. Before Park has a chance to ask for clarification, he hears a gunshot - and the radio goes dead.

Park is still talking into the radio up to the gunshot; theoretically, Ahn could have/would have heard the transmission in 2000. Would he have recognized Park’s voice 15 years later? Did he even think it was significant? I only ask these things because Ahn’s reaction to the radio in 2015 is one of my favorite moments of the narrative.

Cha goes to get her watch (THE WATCH) repaired. Of course, Lee’s the son of a watch-maker/-repairman. Somehow I missed the senior Lee’s line, “You used to pursue my son with a vengeance”, which honestly would have cleared a lot up for me in the first half of the season, since, from Cha’s words and actions alone, it’s not immediately clear why she can’t let go of Lee’s disappearance - was he that good of a boss and coworker? Did she feel personally obligated in some way? Personally, I suppose I didn’t mind wondering.

ah, but the throw-away line: Lee Jae-han always said he expected someone else would arrest the South Gyeonggi killer. 

meanwhile!

Transmission! (#3 for Park, #1 for Lee) It’s 1989, it’s Lee Jae-han’s first case, and he’s not having a good time. Honestly. Major props to Cho Jin-woong for going from “world-weary man grimly accepting his fate after getting one last word out” to “anxious rookie beat cop tripping over tree-roots in the woods” in the space of hmm... a half hour? At any road, Park still doesn’t quite accept what Lee told him from 2000, that the next transmission would be from 1989, so Park, unthinking, tells him where the next two victims’ bodies would be found - Lee, never having heard this man before, thinks Park is a slightly deranged superior, until they find the next victim exactly where he said she’d be.

Ah, but now Lee knows something no one should: where the eighth victim of the serial killer will be found, and spends most of his off-duty time hanging around there. It helps he’s sweet on a woman who lives nearby?

The scene of Lee following Kim Won-kyung is such a good fakeout, but also ... great foreshadowing? That in 1999 and 2000, Lee follows kid!Park and tries to look out for him; in 1999, he follows Cha because when he didn’t, in 1997, she nearly got killed searching for a serial killer. Lee’s always at a distance, afraid/too reticent/unable to interact with a lot of the people he’s closest to or feels responsible for?

for the first time, THE TIMELINE CHANGES.

Spare thoughts: have I mentioned I love the intro credits? I love them. Unreasonably excited when they’re used as diagetic music in a flashback to 1987.

[thewritewolf]

Eating Habits Chapter 12: A Little Broken

Marinette and Adrien have some troubles at their new apartment, and Adrien makes a long-delayed visit. 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3. 

It was a surreal feeling, being back in her old bed after spending the last few months out of the bakery. Marinette was a little miffed that she got nostalgic so quickly, but after how rough that semester was… maybe it was for the best. A little piece of safety and normalcy in the rough waters she was going through.

Her pencil stilled as she listened to the happy noises filtering up from below her. She smiled to herself, easily picking out the musical tones of Adrien’s laughter. It was that laughter, standing out so starkly against the sound of falling rain and the rumble of thunder, that she remembers most clearly about the day that she fell in love with him. That, and those bright green eyes so full of kindness.

She resumed her sketching, idly committing some ideas to paper. It may still be Christmas break, but that was no excuse to not get a head start on the spring designs. If the end of year show was anything like she was led to believe, then she’d need to do even better than what she had done for the winter show. To her surprise, thinking about all that work didn’t fill her with dread like she had been expecting. Instead, a fire lit in her gut.

“I know that look,” came a small voice beside her. Marinette glanced back at her kwami munching on a cookie as she continued, “That’s the ‘I’m on top of the world and nothing can stop me’ look.”

Marinette snorted and poked Tikki’s belly, causing her to giggle . “I didn’t realize I was so expressive.”

“Of course! You’re a very open person, Marinette. It’s one of the many things I like about you.” Tikki looked around the room with a knowing smirk. “Although that openness with your feelings has taken many forms over the years. Remember when you plastered Adrien’s face all over these walls?”

“Tikki!” Marinette said, mortified. She remembered that most of them were still up by the time she’d gone on her first date with Adrien.

The kwami giggled. “Don’t worry! I’m just saying, when you feel things you can’t help but let those feelings out. It’s nothing to be embarrassed by.”

Marinette relaxed a little. “I suppose… And besides, I’ve traded in the pictures for the real deal. Fourteen year old me would be so jealous of me now.”

“Going to a premier design school, living together with Adrien, defeated Hawkmoth.” Tikki looked at her chosen with a warm smile. “There is a lot for past you to look forward to, isn’t there?”

Marinette leaned her head back and considered what Tikki had said. Rushing from one thing to another for the past two years, and juggling akuma battles with normal life for four years before that, she supposed she hadn’t really considered it like that. Practically every goal she’d made when she was a kid had been met, with the exception of making her own fashion brand. But with how well her online boutique was doing, even that might not be just a dream for much longer.

The smile on her face remained a constant feature for the rest of her stay at the bakery and if Adrien noticed that she cuddled him just a little bit tighter that night… well, he didn’t complain.

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

Adrien let out a big sigh as he stepped through the door to their apartment, taking a few weary steps before plopping himself face first down onto the couch.

From the doorway Marinette giggled. He practically purred when she ran her fingers through his hair as she said, “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“It’s the exact level of dramatic I intend to keep up going forward,” Adrien said, lifting his face just high enough to meet her amused smile. “So you’d better get used to it.”

“Oh, kitty,” she said, “I got used to it a long time ago.” She pulled her hand away and Adrien pouted at her. “We can watch a show or something in just a minute. I need to start some laundry so I can at least pretend to be busy while we goof off.”

Adrien dragged himself into a seating position to call after her teasingly as she walked out of the room. “You know, you might have a problem with having to stay busy all the time!”

“Yeah, yeah,” she yelled back. “Tell me something new.”

“New? Well, now you’ll have me here to help you all the time.”

There was a pause. “Good. Because I think I could use some help. Like right now?” He recognized her tone as the one she used a lot as Ladybug - the one that allowed no negotiation or hesitation.

Curious, he stood up and marched after her. Inside the washroom, he found Marinette frantically pressing buttons as the washing machine made a strange rumbling noise. Soapy water poured out onto the floor and Adrien leaped into action, tossing towels onto the ground to buy them some time.

Marinette glanced at him while he did so. “That’s good, but it doesn’t fix the main problem.” She huffed at the machine, glaring at it in the hopes that it would spontaneously fixed itself. Sadly, it did not. “I’ll call a repairman.”

Adrien thought back to a couple nights ago, when Tom fixed the dishwasher by himself. This was a part of his duties now, right? “No, wait! Let me fix it!”

“You don’t know how to-”

“I might - we won’t know for sure unless I try, right?” At Marinette’s doubtful look, he pouted. “I know I’m not good at a lot of normal person things, but I have to at least try to get better.”

“Adrien…” She looked at his pouting face and sighed. “Alright, go ahead and try.”

“Yes!” Adrien immediately set to work. After tinkering with the washer for a few minutes he’d established two things - first, that it was definitely not working properly, and second that he had no idea where to go after that. After tentatively searching the machine, he found a hatch in the back and set off to find some tools to help him open it.

After making sure the washer was unplugged he began poking around the insides of it, making more realizations. First, absolutely nothing looked familiar. Which was to be expected since Tom usually said that he’d handle it and let the rest of them relax. And the policy while he was living at the mansion was to either call for the help to fix or replace the whole thing entirely. Usually the latter since… well, his father never wanted more people than necessary to be inside the mansion.

Adrien frowned as he started getting distracted by old memories. After an hour of it and a mounting frustration from his failure to get any closer to fixing the washer, he dropped his screwdriver and walked back into the living room. Marinette was at the couch on her phone. He caught a glimpse of what she was looking on as he joined her - Local handyman and their rates.

His shoulders hunched, he asked, “Already knew I was gonna fail, huh?”

She tugged on his sleeve and he obliged, settling his head on her lap. Her free hand combed through his hair and he relaxed into the touch. If he were behind the mask at the moment, he’d have been purring.

“Kitty, you don’t know how to fix it and that’s okay,” she whispered in a consoling tone. “You don’t have to be good at everything to be loved, alright?”

He did his best to cry as quietly as possible while she was on the phone. He smiled through the tears because he knew he wasn’t crying for his lack of affection early in his life, but because of the unconditional love he had now.

The thought reminded Adrien that, with all that had happened recently, it was about time to make another visit soon.

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

Next week, Marinette was visiting Alya for the afternoon which left Adrien alone for the day. It was finally time to make the trip. Adrien didn’t enjoy going much, but he always felt better after he went.

The first stop was to find some flowers. Adrien knew that she would appreciate them. Being in the dead of winter, it was hard to find some Sharry Baby orchids, but he didn’t give up. Four stores later and he ended up having to purchase a bouquet of fake ones. It wasn’t much - they didn’t even have a scent - but he was sure she would appreciate it. Orchids had always been her favorite. A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. Weird how those sort of things had stuck with him.

It was a long walk to the park, but the cold had never really bothered him and it meant that he was mostly alone with his thoughts. On days where he went to visit, he didn’t really feel like being social. There was just him, the crunching of snow beneath his feet, and the quiet snoring of his kwami that he more felt than heard.

Eventually his wandering brought him to the base of a statue and he looked up in the kind but stony eyes of his mother. The sculptor had depicted her staring ahead, her hands folded in her lap as she sat forever on a stone pedestal. After everything that had happened, he couldn’t bear to leave it at the mansion, especially not after he had sold it. His mother’s side of the family had expressed some interest in having it taken home, but no one protested when he decided to donate it to a flourishing park.

Maybe they didn’t fight for it because they knew that was what she would have wanted - not to have her statue stashed away and hoarded like his father had done, but let it sit inside the bounty of nature. She had always loved plants and flowers and taking care of them. It was another thing he was sure she and Marinette would have bonded over. Adrien smiled. Marinette may have decided on a designer and he knew she would go far in it, but she would’ve made an excellent florist too.

His thoughts returned back to the other side of his family. Maybe they let him keep the statue close by because they’d taken his mother across the channel to be buried with the rest of her family, far away from Adrien and Gabriel. After losing her for a second time, maybe they had felt bad for him, and left him the statue out of pity.

Not that Adrien minded, of course. He had long since gotten used to talking with the statue over some grave marker. Much more pleasant scenery too.

Adrien sniffled and pretended it was just the cold messing with his nose.

After putting the bouquet on his mother’s cold lap, Adrien took a seat on the bench facing her and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket to keep from fidgeting.

“Hey, mom,” he began in a whisper. “I know it’s been a while, but things got pretty crazy for a bit. I meant to visit after the anniversary, but, well…” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, it’s been a hectic few months.”

He swallowed, trying to order his thoughts. “Chloe’s back in town. I think the time in America with Audrey really opened her eyes to what she doesn’t want to be. Plus, she got back with Kagami, so I really think she’s getting better.”

The statue didn’t respond.

“You remember Nino and Alya, right? I’ve told you about them a ton. They’re doing great. Super busy these days, but we find time every now to hang out.” He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his legs. “I wish I had what they do. That… certainty of what they want out of life. I just feel… a little lost, you know?”

He risked a look back at his mother’s eyes and found that same kind expression.

“Marinette - I know you remember her, I’ve talked about her enough - she’s been such a huge help, though. She really is my light.” He stared off into space for a moment, a dreamy smile on his face. He shook his head to pull himself out of it. “Uh, anyway. She started university. She was really worrying me there for a while, but she’s doing better now. But here’s the big news - we moved in! Well,” he added after a moment, “we had lived together before, but now we don’t have her parents to worry about and well-” He blushed and coughed.

“I just… It’s good to be surrounded by people I love and who love me back. It’s…” he looked up at her eyes and held her stony gaze. “...it’s been a while.” He sighed.

A soft wind blew through the clearing, gently caressing Adrien’s face. He inhaled and caught the scent of Sharry Baby orchids on the air.

Adrien felt at peace and continued his one sided conversation with a happier heart.

[robot-unicorn-attack]

CHAPTER 02 - NYX

Taglist: @ayzrules​ @bebemoon​ @jay-swagsby​ @interluxetumbra @now-on-elissastillstands @shiftyprincess  @kzombi3 @filthysoulls (written by @kzombi3)

To say that she was excited would be an understatement.

The morning of the first race of the season came upon Team Nyx faster than expected. After the fiasco at Neon Demon and her "confrontation" with Len Widowmaker, in the eyes of the public and what press was present, they had a field day and ate it up. Spinning it into something much bigger and drama laced than it really was.

It's not like the two of them had never had a spat before. Especially in public - she was the villain after all - but it just rubbed Sol the wrong way. Particularly because she really missed her one and only true friend. Still misses.

So, for the last few days after the incident leading up to the day of the race, Allryn's been running around playing firefighter - trying to squash anything that would tilt the scale of the judges and more importantly LAZER before the race. Not that he needed too. Again; villain.

So when Allryn burst through the apartment door, expecting to have to drag the, typically drunk, dark beauty from her bed he was shocked and albeit surprised to find her curled in the window space that overlooked the skyline with a holoscreen opened in front of her. The manufactured glow from the holoscreen reflected off her eyes as they quickly scanned the ever moving tabs that she was throwing around. Making it look as though those cat like eyes of hers were blinking, even when they weren't.

Being as laser focused as she was, no pun intended, she didn't even register the other body that was making it's way towards her in the early morning light that was beginning to fill her spacious loft. Allryn continued to call out to her as he made his way towards her, trying to make his presence known before giving up and just marching up to her. He didn't have time for this. Neither did she for that matter.

Sol absolutely hates it when he sneaks up on her, so what better way to get her attention other than when she's spiting venom at him for scaring her?

"Solana." A last ditch effort resulted in improved results as he poked her bare shoulder. Turning faster than any robot unicorn could, Sol whipped her head in his direction while simultaneously jumping 10 feet in the air and pulling a small black bud from her ear.

"ACK! Allryn you motherfucker!" her chest was heaving as she placed a hand trying to calm herself. The smug asshole was just laughing, clutching his sides as he bent over. Standing back up to full height he wiped the small tears that gathered in the corner of his eyes and tried to catch his breath.

"Ahh, that was well deserved."

"I'm glad you got some enjoyment outta me after all." She cooed from her spot, still curled up and still focused on the screen in front of her. The artificial light was beginning to fade as the sun light streaming in became more prominent.

A small pout took root on his face, though it's not like Sol took notice. "New playlist?" A hum was all the response he received. Sighing he took a seat in the plush chair next to her and took one of her legs and draped it over his lap. A common position that they would find themselves when the atmosphere around them was comfortable as it was in this moment.

"You know you're going to have to start sleeping before races."

"It's never been a problem before. Why break tradition?" Another sigh from the agent.

"It's not good for you. And with the shit stirring up between you and Eleni-," that earned him a quick glare over the top of the screen, "Hey, it's the press' words - not mine," he threw his hands up in defense.

 It grew silent once more. Not as comfortable but still there. "How's Caelia?"

"She's great. Really great actually." A large smile broke through his tough exterior and Sol couldn't help mimicking him.

"And the pregnancy?" at that he might as well have combusted with light he was so animated.

Sol couldn't help it, she was sucked into this vortex of good news as Allryn went on and on about how the baby was growing stronger inside his mother's womb. So much so that Sol saved and downloaded all the music she had been searching for and turned it all off to sit and listen to him ramble on. Happiness oozing from him and thus being absorbed by her.

---

A few hours later and Vespa and Asteria arrived, along with a cheery Eleos to stand guard outside the apartment. Sol rolled her eyes and told him to at least guard from inside. "At least be comfortable," she had commanded. Eleos wasn't one to deny the comfort of a couch and some reading material. Honestly, it's not like she really needs to tell him with how long they've known each other. He just likes to hear that she's concerned. Even if she won't admit it out loud.

As her team flit about her, having thrust many an energy drink into her well manicured hands, they got to work stylizing her in iconic Nyxian garb. Making sure to start with her protective gear first underneath the hyper styled mesh and leather ensemble. Unlike the first time.

Vespa got to work on accentuating those piercing orbs of hers - the gold and black around the eyes really stood out against her attire and she stood back pleased with her work. Claiming it's her finest yet, "That's what you say every time," Asteria called from behind Sol as she made sure the pieces were tailored to perfection.

"So? I'm fuckin' da vinci when it comes to painting faces. Just look at mine baby."

---

The trip to the track was filled with more energy shots to keep her awake, laughter and scripts for what to do, what to say, how to say it etc. etc. The same old, same old. Sol remembers back to her first race and how LAZER force fed her lines through a bug in her ear to make sure she played up her role as the baddest bitch in the industry. After a few lines she ignored their prompting and took the reigns. Ever since no one can deny that that title is still hers to command.

It pulls at her ego, inflating it somewhat - OK a lot - but nevertheless tugs her lips into a genuine smile of pride. She's the one who has got her this far. The only thing she can attribute to LAZER is the opportunity and Uuie.

---

Pulling up to the track went about as expected. Regardless of how early she decided to show up, there was always going to be the paparazzi and press, along with the die-hard fans of course. Sol definitely played up her persona when she stepped out of the aircar, Eleos holding the door and reaching out to take her hand in attempt to help her. She took it like she always does and shot him a "scathing" look that to others looks very on brand for the villainess, but was just an inside joke between the two.

"Nyx! Nyx! Nyx! Nyx!" the crowd chanted loudly. So loud she almost couldn't hear the burning questions that were thrust into her face by the reporters.

"Nyx, who are you wearing?!"

"Nyx what is your srategy for this race?"

"How's it feel to have the home advantage?"

"What's the scoop going on between you and your teammate, Widowmaker?"

"We haven't heard your side of the story! And Widowmaker isn't talking to anyone either!"

"C'mon give us something to work with!"

Allryn was two steps in front of her at all times, pushing others out of the way in order for them to be able to walk through - however, no one made a motion to lay a finger on the Goddess of Darkness. At least no one outside of her masochistic following. Though they probably wanted to.

Turning on a dime when she got to the doors leading into the main hall of the stadium, she spoke in her most dastardly voice, "You'll just have to keep your eyes on the track then, won't you?"

---

Inside was no different as some press with VIP privileges bombarded her with a few questions themselves. The one that stuck out the most was something she was used to hearing. Having the reputation of being someone who sabotages others for the sake of having fun as well as a potential upper hand has always loomed over her. Though it's not like they would be completely wrong. All rumors start with a little truth, don't they?

"Nyx, here early to sabotage some competitors rides?" The question was followed by a group of laughter from the surrounding area. Not like it could be true, right?

A well placed grin and piercing eyes, "Me? Never~" A purr on her lips.

And with that she continued on her way to the stalls where she was able to visit and tinker with Uuie before the race would begin. Not to mention she'd been hearing through the whisperings of others that a certain spider was lurking about. Spinning webs that she definitively wants to get caught up in.

---

Once inside the stalls she glances around quickly for the one she truly wants to see and comes up short. A defeated sigh rings out as she makes her way to Uuie, the skeletal grin of his makes her heart jump in excitement as she begins to think about jumping onto his back and riding outta this place.

"Hello my beautiful, spooky boi~" she scratches - or rather, rubs her hands quickly, up and down the front of his long face. His eyes, er, rather lights, flash and blink like a real horses and she's taken back to when she was younger and a very headstrong Len berated her for thinking that these robotic creatures were anything less than alive. Having worked with machines her whole life it was hard to see past the gears and gas, oil and pistons. But ever since that night she's held a different outlook on the mechanical beasts.

His pistoned legs shifted as his weight did and Sol was dragged from her trip down memory lane. "Hey, hey now. Don't worry. I haven't forgotten~" she sang as she dug around the drawers and cabinets in her stall bay. Rummaging through all the excess parts and cans of oil and grease she let out a squeal of discovery. "Just gotta hook it up and… VOILA!" Noise and tempo began to pulse through the air in waves, finding a home within Sol's body and she couldn't help but twist and curve around as she began to dance to the music. Uuie must have been cut from the same cloth as her because he enjoyed music just as much. But it wasn't always the case.

When they were first introduced he was a little wary of the black beauty. She did run up to him and throw her arms around a skeletal beast. What kind of normal being does that? It was then that they realized how similar and weird the other one was. Their first meeting was a time trial run, something LAZER was adamant about conducting. So there they were in the stall bays getting tuned up - Sol refused to let anyone work on him other than herself - and she had music softly playing. Uuie must have enjoyed the beat because as she was greasing up the gears he began to tap his hooves to rhythm. It's been tradition ever since.

As she's bouncing around, she misses the door opening to area, but snaps at attention when it shuts with a very metallic clang. Her eyes lock onto the being she most looked forward to seeing and her heart flutters in her chest and she wants to run and tackle her, but knows that that's not the best idea, given the circumstances of location. Not to mention she'd ruin her attire and she can only imagine all the shit she'd garner from Asteria and Allryn. She shudders at the thought.

She settles for a large, wide grin and continues to tinker with Uuie, hands moving deftly as if she were born to do this. Which, she kinda was. Oils probably runs through her veins more so than blood at this point. Mouth moving in sync with every word that comes through the airway.

Void whinnies and she smiles a little, picturing Len stroking her side. The small pony wall truly separating their view from one another, especially at the crouched position Sol finds herself in. After the finishing touches to Uuie, she sneaks her way into Len's bay, bumping her hip with the latter, causing her to jolt and drag her out of her thoughts.

"Loosen up, Leni~" she coos, dancing around her, "You look like you're going to a funeral," and she wasn't blind to the twitching at her lips. Not because she was staring at Len's mouth or anything… definitively… not…

Having known each other for so long, it was inevitable that they would develop their own sort of language. It was also bound to happen that with close proximity and Sol being, well, Sol, that the amount of arguments would have been quite a lot. So, in their own little language they developed different ways of apologizing. Not that either of them did of course. No, never. But, in the off chance that one needed to, there was always a sort of manner of which they would. Sol's just happens to be inserting herself in the other's company and spouting off nonsense, in a way of making Leni more comfortable. Her tone and actions always held good intentions so it was pretty easy to pick up on Leni's perspective.

"There is a significant chance I might be," she had quipped back doing that head tilt thing that made Sol swoon. It was just too fucking cute and very on brand with soft Leni from their childhood. The one that likes to get drunk and lean on Sol. One of Sol's favorites. She was so entranced she almost didn't hear her speak again about the ravines being difficult.

Sol can help but let out a cackle that's too on the line to be discernible from Sol or Nyx - but she prays that her friend knows the difference. She seems to with the stare she's giving Sol. "Like you and Void have anything to worry about~" she sang before the song changed to one that makes the list of Len's annoyances. But she doesn't seem to notice, or at least mention it. So, Sol sings along. Any response from Len is a good response in her book.

And the reaction that is elicited from Len is one that Sol did not expect. The short haired spider sings the words under her breath and something in Sol swells with giddiness. "You know the words," she breaths out and hopes to all gods that it came out sounding more leveled than it was.

Leni's gaze turns to her, a brow raised and tone that tries to mask the little playfulness that's clearly there, "I've certainly heard you play the song enough. How is your hearing still that sharp anyways? With how loud you play your music I thought you would've blown out your eardrums by now."

Another cackle but this time laced with a squeal of delight as she claps her hands together, "You filthy liar! You've always gone on and ooooon about how much you hate this song!" She giggles and throws her arms around Uuie neck, nuzzling into his neck. "I thought I would never see the day~"

---

Eventually it was time to begin. Flame showed up in all her flashiness, appeasing to the crowd as the newest and fan favorite. 'For now' Sol thought bitterly. It wasn't like she didn't like the new blood on the contrary, she liked her a lot. She just didn’t like the threat she posed to Nyx of potentially "over throwing" her…

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she pushed on wards. The cheering of the crowd rumbled through the stadium, shaking the stands with the motion of the spectators as they stomped and shook the railings separating them from the track below. The air around them rumbled deep into her bones and she wasn't quite sure if it was the heat from the world around her or from the mechanical beasts that were lined up that caused her  blood to boil over with excitement.

Eye scanning the other racers already at the line and ready, Sol's intense gaze caught the floral presence of Aura, who avoided any and all eye contact with Lava worlder. It would have hurt her feelings had she cared enough but she just smugly placed a well to do smirk that the crowd's cheered for when the hovercams caught it, broadcasting the event to blast on the jumbo-tron screens for all to witness.

"… the ever wicked villainess Nyx in all her glory, with U-800 ready to strike-" the announcer's voice is drowned out by the raucous noise reverberating around her as Sol continues to stare around at the other racers - searching for her latest victim. Ah, there… poor sap, a no name from the citadel above the clouds. She was given explicit directions to not target any of the Big Three, for fear of having a swarm of lawyers crawl up LAZER's ass. And that was just something they could not have. However, whatever happens on the track as a result of her interference can't be faulted to her, or more importantly, LAZER.

So, she may or may not have had a hand in the tweaking of a horse or two. Maybe.

As she walked with Uuie to the start of the line, she made a subtle pass to the tubing in his exposed neck, where his audible sensors were, and tapped a small button there. This allowed Uuie to experience tunes at a very low and soft volume while he raced. Just another idiosyncratic habit the two of them formed over the years. Sol and Uuie, together on the track listening to whatever beat seemed appropriate for the moment.

Sol did however roll her eyes when she caught sight of Leni strapping into her helmet. It was something that didn't sit well with her. Something strange when she learned about all the safety equipment that went into the races upon signing onto a company. Years of running tracks and races without a care in the world, getting seriously injured, like that's part of what makes the races so alluring. It's one of the reasons that called out to Sol in the first place. Her and Leni would always berate the other when either one returned with new cuts and bruises or broken bones, doting on each other, nursing them back to health. Kissing it to make it better. She lived for those little moments.

Though she may roll her eyes at the idea of the helmet, she was so relieved to know that Leni would be safe, cranial wise cause she always knew if she was wearing one while on the tracks. Not to mention she was easy to spot. Aside from her other … assets. Sol tried her hardest to fight the sentimental smile that threatened to spill outwards as she looked at the helmet Widow was sporting. The design was only suppose to be a joke as they sat together drinking at Leni's place. The horns really tied into her Demon persona and Sol joked that it was because she was "Clever as the Devil and twice as gorgeous~"

Standing there as the stoic warrior she is Leni takes a glance at Sol, and through her holo-fitted helmet, she winks at her with eyes that burn with excitement of what is about to take place. Widow nods and even though she can't see her now covered face, she hopes that it has at least relaxed a bit. 'She's no good when she's tense~' Sol muses to herself.

 Climbing atop Uuie's frame gets easier and easier every time and like all the times before, they seem to just … fit. Like missing puzzle pieces. So snug and fitted that it's natural. His lightening mane illuminates her face and features, catching in her molten eyes that match the terrain around them. She can't wait to get this party started. And then, she didn't have too.

---

"The actual fuck?!" Sol snarls as she removes her invisible helm and chucks it into a cart stocked with spare parts and grease rags. Resulting in it crash to the concrete ground below, startling the retainer horses in their bays and stalls.

Quickly storming around the bay area she continued her tirade never once faltering in her anger. "I'm gonna blow up the judges' car." It wasn't a question. Nor was it something that could be swayed from her mind. It was a promise.

"No, Sol." Leni had been right on her heels since the final scores were announced. It was comforting to have her there with her as she was spewing curses at the lot of them. Though, she would have thought she was on her side with this. Leni was just as pissed. Sol could see it in her posture, the way she carried herself. And years with this woman has given her a leg up on everyone when it came to reading Eleni Landry like a book.

"Why not?!" She throws her arms out wide nearly clipping Leni's face as she did so. "What kind of fucking judgement was that? That was bullshit! We had the fastest time, and they put some RISE bitch and the fucking hoity toity Snow Queen at the top? I'm gonna fucking do it. I'm gonna-" though her rantings were cut off by Leni yanking her backwards by the cuff of her top and drags her into an empty room.

A look of seriousness flashes in her eyes as she stares down Sol, "You are not going to blow up the judges' aircars."

"But-"

"Not their shuttles, either."

It was almost comical to see the mighty goddess plop to the ground in all her regalia, and pout because she didn’t get her way when it came to causing collateral damage to those that wronged her. "Leni~" She whines, "that was so-fucking-unfair-," a groan slips past her lips smacking at the floor as if that was going to convince the spider to let her blow something up.

Leni just tightly folded her arms across her leather clad chest, pacing in circles around Sol as she continued to spout off different plans of mass property damage. "They were so clearly biased! They fucking cheated us! We should have been the winners!" Another groan and she went to tug at the ends of her hair.

"You were the fastest on the track, no injuries on our part! I don't understand, Leniiiiiii! Whyyyyy~" She made as if she were going to sob from the frustration.

"We should have won," Sol's ears perked up at the sound of her lover's voice in a tightly wound tone. She was about to go on about how much she agrees with her friend when the spider continued about how there must be something for them to do, how to spin it to emphasize their placements, where they stand.

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Leni, fucking stars. Fucking spin?" She huffed blowing one of the stray strands of hair outta her face. It was her own fault for pulling at it. "Who are you, Allryn? Since when did you care so much about winning a race?" She leaned forward to rest her arms across her knees, mumbling about how the winning portion was never a concern for her friend before but ya know, do you. Sol was way more preoccupied with more important business, like cutting a bitch.

Leni was still pacing circles around the angry black woman and more than once Sol would catch a hand twitch here and there. She would never bring it up to her unless she believed there to be a more serious cause other than angry jitters. But it had to be more than that, right? Leni doesn't just all of a sudden start caring about winning or losing races. Not at the drop of a hat. And especially doesn't talk about "spinning stories" for any type of gain. Sol doesn’t care if it's spider like or not. Leni's always been a straight shooter, well, relatively. Shit, the woman couldn't stand to know about Sol and her family's business so she would conveniently be busy elsewhere. There's even a few times where Sol is dead ass convinced that Leni called the cops on a location where Sol was meant to procure some materials. She's a fucking Robin Hood.

"OH! I could drug 'em with some synth and then watch as they go fucking insane over their poor decisions. Sneak on board their aircars and get their addresses and then strike 'em at home?! And I'm saying, I could do it, personal security systems are jack shit on those aircar models, so - Len? Leni? Are you even listening to me?"

Sol's voice must have cut through a deep thought as she witnessed Leni physically shake herself back to the present. "Don't. You can't do that."

"I absolutely can," Sol was about to go on the defensive and then it would just be another Neon Demon all over again. But the look that Leni's got across her face makes her think twice about that. There's something going on and she's going to find out.

"What the hell is wrong, Leni? What was so important about this race? You look scared and-,"

The moment was shattered when the doors opened with a clatter and Leni jumped in Sol's grasp, eyes darting to the source of the noise. LAZER agents come to grab their prized meal tickets. Their presence only served to fuel Sol's ire as she was still fired up about the outcome of the race and then for the fact that they were interrupting their moment. Not to mention, their arrival didn't seem to make Leni relax in the slightest only served to solidify to Sol that there was something more going on here.

"OUT!" The snarl that ripped from Sol did nothing to deter Allryn, however the woman just looked away and with a clear of her throat announced that they had post-race interviews to conduct in a few minutes. With a sigh, Sol stood from her seated floor position with ease and closed the gap between the two of them. Gently holding onto either side of Leni's face. Their faces mere centimeters, breath intermingling with one another. Sol rested her forehead to hers. She wanted to hold her forever, to reassure her that she was always here and always will be. But Leni isn't the type to get all mushy and tends to reject that Sol when she comes on too strong with the lovey dovey crap.

But it was as if Leni could read her mind, because in an instant, she pulled away and pressed her lips to Sol's cheek. Breath tickling her ears, "I'm fine." She was able to muster. And in that moment she knew she was being lied to. But she enjoyed the warmth that flowed through her at the contact. Something she's craved for what feels like eons.

So when she reached out to keep Len from walking away, she wrapped her arms around her. The leather jacket Leni wore, crinkled and gave under the embrace. And she smelled the same as she does every time they're together. Smoke and gas and leather and sweat and justice. It lasted only a moment and it was over just as quickly as it happened.

She slips the paper she's been carrying since the Neon incident into her slacked hand before straightening out and steadying herself before walking into the interview. Head held high, body swaggered like the Villain should be.

Lights flashed before her and all she could think about is the woman in the other room, and how she misses everything about her. From the way her skin feels under her touch, legs tangled up with one another, laughing about nothing and sitting on a roof as they watched the sky dance around them. Racing without a care in the world, dangers around every corner. Sol coming to Leni when Frankenstein fell on her and broke her arm and the big tough warrior of justice taking care of her.

Sol misses Leni and everything she represents for her.

                                                                                         - home.

[bangtanfancamp]

the Devil wears Gucci-Part 3

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Masterlist

▪︎series Masterlist

▪︎Kim Taehyung x reader(featuring Kim Namjoon)

▪︎1.7k words

•Enemies to lovers au, fashion industry au, loosely devil wears Prada au, f*ckboy au, fluff, romance, angsty banter

As the dedicated personal assistant of the genius mind behind House of RM, the empire that rules the fashion industry, your world is turned upside down the day Namjoon personally asks you to train his newest hire- the eternally insufferable opposite Kim Taehyung.

(Not my photo. Credit to vantaeholic)

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(Tae’s lunch || Tae’s POV)

I used one of my fries to poke the others around my plate, trying to figure out how I’d screwed this up all ready. I know I tend to joke around a lot, but it always seems to put women at ease. Things go better when they’re laughing. And whose day isn’t better for being flirted with?

I just had to work for the one girl who got pissed off by it. Everyone likes me. So what was the problem? Even the women at the cafeteria here liked having me smile at them or tell them how beautiful they were. Women liked that kind of attention, right?

Everyone goes through their day trying to impress the world around them, but everyone else is so wrapped up in themselves that they never even see them. I see it. I see how long the girl who took my order spent trying to cover up her freckles with her makeup, so I told her how cute they were. I saw how tired the woman who gave me my change was so I told her how much her eyes sparkled in this light. I noticed how nervous that cute girl across the office was so I smiled at her. What was so wrong with that?

Why did ____ have to look so disgusted with me all the time? I was just having fun. Life is hard enough anyway. People want to laugh. People want to be told they look good. And so what if I get a date out of it or someone invites me home. We’re all adults and we’re allowed to have fun. No one needs to be that serious all the time. And God, she worships that maniac, doesn’t she?

She got so mad when I mentioned it though. I thought girls liked talking about their crushes, but... maybe ____ is more private than I thought. Maybe I took it too far. It’s just so infuriating how she talks about him. She’s just so wrapped up in praising god Kim Namjoon- she made it so obvious that she had a thing for that egomaniac. I thought she’d finally laugh with me or at the very least blush and elbow me in the ribs, but she looked….i don’t know. She looked hurt. I think I crossed a line I didn’t mean to.

God, it’s barely been a day and I’d wrecked the only good part of this job. I noticed her the second I walked into that office. She got to me in 2 seconds flat. That hair, those legs, the way that skirt hit her curves- it made want to wrap my hands around those hips and bend her right over that jerk’s desk. God. I was already gone the second I laid eyes in her...

But then when she looked at me and I saw her face….she was beautiful. She’s quick and clever and obviously good at what she does. Everyone here seems to get along with her. I like ____. Honestly, she seems pretty cool. She’s just stuck on that douchebag. But hey, some girls are are really into that whole power and authority kink. Who am I to judge?

I just didn’t think there’d be any harm being vocal about things since everyone seems to think I won’t last here very long anyway. Might as well shoot my shot while I can, right ?

I slid my hips down in my seat and raked my hands through my hair. This place would never be my first choice, but it didn’t seem that bad, I guess.

There were things I’d much rather be doing with my time, but I’d do it for my mom. Anything for her. My stupid uncle in her ear caused this whole mess. At the end of the day, all of this was his fault for meddling in my life anyway.

Chin propped in my hands, I looked out the hundredth set of floor to ceiling windows I’d seen today wondering how long I’d even have this view when movement in the corner of the room caught my eye. It was ____. I felt myself starting to smile just because she was here. Maybe we could get on the right foot now and she’d loosen up a li-wait. She looked like- like she’d been crying. The skin beneath her eyes was puffy, and the light she’d had around her earlier seemed.... dimmer. Her teeth were clenched, her chin set extra high as she walked my way, white knuckling the tablet in her hands. She looked pissed. But calmly so, which was honestly scarier.

Crap, I really stepped in it this time, didn’t I?

I quickly scrambled to stand up from the table, but she pulled out a chair instead and sat down beside me. Folding her fingers together on the tabletop, she cleared her throat and looked up at me, challenge and grit lacing her gaze.

“Have a seat please, Mr. Kim.”

For the first time in a long time, I had no idea what to say, so I followed her instructions.

“I’m glad to see you retained enough information from our tour to have been able to find this place. That’s a good sign at least. If you already have the layout down, I’ll brief you on what a basic day here looks like. Tomorrow Namjoon will be returning from a charity gala in Miami. On a typical morning, he is to be greeted with his hot coffee of choice, typically an extra hot hazelnut latte with an extra shot of espresso. Not two shots. Not three. Just one. Trust me, he’ll know. He despises soy milk and has an almond allergy so no fancy milks unless you’d like to be wearing it as an accessory for the rest of your day. Now that is a normal day, however, when he returns from a red eye flight, he expects to be promptly greeted with the first step of the juice cleanse from the Buddha bliss juice bar down on 7th so he is not visibly puffy during any press work for the day….”

She rattled on like this in detail for the next 15 minutes and it finally started to sink in who the real power at house of RM was-_____. Sure Namjoon pulled the big levers, but she made sure he never fell apart and that seemed like a super power all by itself. She knew every like, dislike, allergy, pet schedule, dry cleaner, exercise schedule, person to kiss up to, person to avoid...And she knew every contingency to tweak things for so he didn’t go off the rails and downsize half a department for their assumed incompetency just because he was sleep deprived and jet lagged off a red eye after being dumped by his latest high profile fling.

Not gonna lie- it was extremely impressive. And kind of hot. I don’t know if I’d ever seen a girl that strategic and smart. She really knew what she was doing. How she managed to be three steps ahead of the world's youngest self made man was a fearsome thing to see. The way she analyzed all these situations made me wonder if she was analyzing me too, but I didn't think on that for too long. She didn’t romanticize him this time. I noticed that. Just laid out all the facts as they were and how to troubleshoot for all of them. It was like watching a master explain chess strategies, and I respected it.

But at the same time, it made me wonder. Just how much of a man-sized brat was Namjoon? it was kind of disgusting how much the man needed to be coddled honestly. How easily everyone accommodated his massive ego. It definitely didn’t help me hate him any less.

“So!” She resolved, tapping a stack of papers against the tabletop to level them out.

“I realize that was probably an onslaught, but you have to dive straight into the deep end to stay ahead here. Any questions?”

“Yeah, just one: what time do you get here every day?” I leaned forward on my elbows, searching her face. She seemed caught off guard by my question, quickly trying to rearrange her expression after feeling like she’d been in control for our entire conversation.

“Just before 7am. I try to beat Namjoon here so I can prepare things for the day. It doesn’t always work though. It’s almost like he sleeps here sometimes.”

“And what time do you go home?”

“On paper? 6pm. In reality? I’d say typically 10 on a good night. Somewhere between 11 and midnight on his particularly temperamental days.”

Holy crap. Was she serious? “Last question.”

“Okayyy…” she pulled back from the table, body language screaming discomfort about where I might be going.

“So, if you’re here- how many days a week?”

“Five.” She answered succinctly, tone clipped. “Unless we’re approaching a deadline for a project- then weekends become mandatory too.” Jesus.

“And any holidays?” I add. Her gentle face is steely and guarded. I wouldn’t trust me right now either, dollface.

“Of course not. But there often is more work to be done than that accommodates so I usually come in anyway.”

“Uh huh. Right. So! Let me get this straight- you know what? for your sake, let’s even round down some. Let’s say, you’re here six days a week, working anywhere from 11-15 hour days. At minimum, you’re working well over at least 15-20 hours of overtime PER week with no vacations— which is not only unethical, it’s illegal. All for the glorious empire of Kim Namjoon. So. Riddle me this-when do you ever get to live your own life?”

Silence.

She dipped and furrowed her eyebrows at me. I could see her lashes fluttering as she scrambled overtime to come up with a defensive answer for me. I settled back in my seat, arms draped behind my head, knowing in some weird way, that I had won.

“You’re beautiful. You’re young. This can’t possibly be the way you want to spend all your time. Tell me-When was the last time you slept in til the sun woke you up? The last time you had a Netflix marathon in a grubby old T-shirt with dorito stains on your fingers and a giant glass of wine? Or! even went out on actual date for that matter? Why are you here wasting your 20’s away in this place running Namjoons company for him and getting none of the credit?”

She gaped, beautiful mouth struggling open and shut like a fish freshly yanked out of the water. I couldn’t tell if she was furious with me or just lost. It didn’t look like she’d ever asked herself that before.

“Look, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll do my job here. I’ll do what you ask. But do me a favor and think about that. It’d be such a shame to see so much beautiful potential go to waste.” I pushed off from the table to stand. I felt my chest swell- I had the upper hand again. “Now, I believe you mentioned something earlier about finding me a desk space upstairs. Shall we get started on that? I’ll need a pleasing environment if I’m expected to slug through all of Namjoon’s nonsense on a daily basis. The closer to you, the better.” I started to walk away, not waiting for her but knowing in my gut she’d follow. She wasn’t the only one allowed to have a mic drop moment.

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Part 4

Series masterlist

Thank you guys so much for reading til the end and visiting my little corner of the internet. I am SO excited about where this series is going. I started writing one of the last chapters first and have been going backwards to figure out what happened to get us there and- you guys- I can’t wait for you to see!! Should I try to come up with a regular upload schedule?? Let me know. ✨

[mischief-lupin]

10:45

The platform was as busy as ever with families bustling around from one end of the scarlet train all the way down to the other. Smoke was puffing out of the chimney but it wasn’t thick or cloggy like normal. Instead, it was thin and wispy, dancing over people’s heads and weaving between their legs.

From the platform barrier emerged a boy. A boy with faded brown hair and tired green eyes. He was tall, much taller than many of the other eleven year olds around him. He was however, noticeably thinner and paler than the rest of them almost as if he had not had a decent meal in months. His clothes- looking like they had been sown back together many times- hung loosely off his shoulders and around his waist. Wandering forwards, he stared at the train in wonder, still not believing that someone like himself was being given this opportunity.

‘Don’t mess this up. Just act normal and everything will work out just fine-“

"Remus!” A woman’s voice called behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and only just realised how far he’d gone and left his parents behind. He stopped and waited for them to catch up, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Now remember: be careful, if you have any problems go straight to Dumbledore- no one else-, make sure you follow every rule-” Remus’s mother rambled through her speech once again, ignoring her son’s interjections 'I know, yes, okay’ before pulling him into a tight hug.

Once she finally let go, Remus turned to his father who was shaking his head and trying to hide the grin that was creeping across his face. “Do everything you’re mother said but more importantly: don’t forget to have fun okay?” Remus nodded and waved both his parents goodbye before setting off once again down the platform to climb onboard the train.

A quick search, Remus found an empty compartment and settled down next to the window; resting his head against the glass he listened to the chatter of people outside and closed his eyes, excited to arrive at his new school.

10:50

People were still appearing through the barrier despite the fact that the train was due to leave at exactly 11 o'clock. Many who were arriving at this time were running around maniacally, try to store their cases away and say goodbye to their families.

One person who was not rushing around however, was another young boy. He was of an average height but had an athletic build. Even at eleven years of age, he was quite handsome. And he knew it. He had a head of dark hair that stuck up wildly (even though his mother had spent most of the morning trying to stick it down). Perhaps the most prominent feature of this boy though was his smile; it was a charming smirk that suggested he was planning trouble and lured you in, tempting you to take part in the mischief.

“James! Come and say goodbye!” The boy’s mother beckoned him back towards her. Rolling his eyes, he dragged his feet back to his parents.

“I just want to get on, mum!” James whined, embarrassed at how much fuss his mum was making. After letting his parents hug him goodbye, he made a swift exit and began searching for some people to join on the long train ride ahead.

10:57

The train was almost ready to leave, each compartment filled with eleven to seventeen year olds, buzzing with energy to be starting school again.

With only a few minutes to spare, a third boy burst onto the platform. Scanning around, he tried to find someone who could show his where to put his trunk. There was someone, right at the other end of the platform. Another mad dash and with only a minute to spare, he got his things stored away.

A harmony of closimg doors sounded around him and the slow churning of the engine began to rise through the platform.

He needed to get on the train. Fast.

Just there. A door that hadn’t been shut yet.

“Hey! Hold the door!” He called out as he sprinted over, hoping someone would hear him over the growing noise of the train. Out of the door poked a head. James stuck out a hand and just in the nick of time, the boy grabbed hold and James pulled him onboard. “Thanks” The boy began to straighten himself out, pushing black curls of hair out of his face.

“No problem. I’m James by the way, James Potter”

“Sirius. Black” The two boys, stood next to each other could have passed as brothers- or cousins at least- Sirius was of the same height as James- although more slender than Potter- and both shared the mischievous smirk which instantly cracked across their faces.

“You want to find a seat?” James asked confidently, not bothering to ask if Sirius had anyone to sit with beforehand. Sirius shrugged and nodded. They made their way to the end of the compartment and pulled open a door that was occupied by only one other person. The occupant almost jumped out of his seat, his eyes wide and his loud gasp filled the air.

“Sorry mate, were you asleep?” James checked, sliding into the seat opposite with Sirius following suit.

“No, no, it’s alright.” He shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to make himself more lively.

“I’m James, this is Sirius. You mind if we join?” Before the boy had a chance to answer James pulled off his coat and chucked it on the shelf above his head, getting comfy in his seat and making himself at home.

“I’m Remus, Lupin” Remus, unlike James, was soft-spoken and well-mannered, a quiet one who was more than happy to blend into the back of a crowd.

The three boys looked out the window and watched the city fade into the country; blurred green fields and vast crystal lakes flashed past their eyes.

"You want some?" James' voice broke the silence. Sirius and Remus turned to him and were greeted by his hand, stuck out and holding a bag full of sweets. "Take as many as you want" He encouraged as Sirius reached in and grabbed a handful, dropping them in his lap and happily digging in. "Got into a fight recently?" James joked nodding at Remus's hand; his knuckles were bruised and bandages were poking past the sleeves of his shirt. Remus laughed nervously and quickly retracted his hand. The carriage went quiet again.

Just as the atmosphere began to get uncomfortable, there was a loud crash outside the door, followed by a loud squeal. Sirius leapt to his feet while James and Remus peered curiously at what had just happened.

" 'Scuse me? You alright?" Sirius pulled open the door to see a very small, plump boy picking himself off the floor and dusting off his shoulders. He had mouse-like features; with a long nose and wonky teeth and short, thin dirty blonde hair.

"Y-yeah, just tripped. Th-thanks." Sirius flashed him a smile to say ' you're welcome ' and went to return to his seat when the boy piped up again. "S-sorry, do you mind if I sat with you? All the other carriages are full"

"Course! Come on in" Sirius tapped the empty seat opposite him, welcoming the fourth boy into their group.

After he had settled down, the new boy took in the sight of the others, almost star-struck that they were allowing him to sit with them. "I'm Peter, by the way" The other three introduced themselves and then conversation turned to school. "S-so, what house d'you reckon you'll be sorted into?"

"Gryffindor. No doubt. Easily the best house too." James said, almost lazily as he learnt back in his seat.

"Mum reckons I'll be a Ravenclaw but Dad says I'll be in Gryffindor... Not that I mind either way." Remus explained, yawning mid-sentence. The lack of sleep from a few nights before was catching up to him. He couldn't wait to arrive at the school and get to bed.

"All of my family were in Slytherin-" Sirius stopped as the others silently expressed their dislike for the house. Slytherin, the house believed to create the most evil of people. "I don't agree with my family much. They're values are a bit... Medieval should I say? I would like to be in Gryffindor but if anyone knows anything about the Black family, I'm sure to be in Slytherin."

The train journey stretched well into the evening, Remus had eventually drifted off and James, Sirius and Peter had begun to talk in hushed voices as not to wake him.

"Does he look alright to you?" James asked.

"He does look a bit pale. Maybe he's just under the weather. I'm sure a bit of dinner will perk him up when we get there." Sirius assured, hoping it was just 'new school nerves' that was making their new acquaintance unwell.

At long last, the train pulled to a stop and students began to filter off, most heading right and climbing into carriages that trundled down bumpy roads whilst the rest- presumably all the first years- clambered into boats and floated along the vast lake up to the entrance of the castle.

They were greeted at the tall oak doors by a witch who looked strict, wearing green robes with her dark hair tied into a tight bun. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall and informed the group of first years that they were about to sorted into their houses. A mix of nervous and excited chatter seeped through the first years.

"Hey, whether we're all in the same house of not, we should try and hang out sometime." James whispered to other three, but mainly to Sirius who seemed to be the most worried by the looming anticipation of the sorting ceremony.

Eventually, they were in the hall with the rest of the students and all the first years were lined up as McGonagall went through a long list of names.

"Black, Sirius." The four boys exchanged hopeful glances as Sirius stepped up to the sorting hat. He sat on the stool as the tattered old hat muttered to itself. 'Slytherin... But... No, apparently not... Well then... Must be... Gryffindor!'

A relieved, beaming grin lit up Sirius's face as James and the others cheered loudly, watching him march proudly over to the Gryffindor table.

More names: Ravenclaw, two Slytherins, Hufflepuff, the list went on until...

"Lupin, Remus." James clapped Remus on the back as Peter wished him a quiet good luck. He perched on the stool and once again the hat began talking. 'Well, this is new... Let's see, very clever indeed, however also very loyal and true. But then again, I see a lot of courage in such a young person.'

Remus's sorting seemed to take an incredibly long time until at last, the hat decided and triumphantly cried 'Gryffindor'. Remus eagerly jumped off the stool and joined Sirius at the long table for the Gryffindor students.

A little while after, McGonagall called up Peter. He nervously stumbled up to the stool and sat, timidly waiting for the hat to sort him. And he waited... And waited... For even longer than Remus, the hat debated between houses.

"It's been thinking for almost six minutes." Remus said, looking at his watch, the hat still pondering thoughtfully until finally

Gryffindor!

Sirius got to his feet, clapping wildly as Peter joined their table and congratulating him for making the hat think so hard.

Right after Peter was James. He approached the stool with a calm swagger and waited for the hat to placed on his head. No sooner than it had touched James' head, it was being lifted off again and James was dashing over to the other three. He had made it into Gryffindor.

The four boys, amazed by their luck, celebrated by stuffing themselves full with food, enjoying every morsel that they ate (even Remus seemed to brighten up as he tucked into the feast in front of him).

It was the night that sealed the deal. The four boys; James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew would be inseparable whilst at school.

[ifyougetkilled-walk-it-off]

Quiet Life Chapter 2

Pairing: Steve/Reader (Platonic, eventual Romantic) 

Word Count: 1,786 

Warnings: Hurt!Steve, mentions of blood and wounds

AN: Thanks to @until-theend-oftheline and @blacktithe7 for betaing for me

If you’d like to be tagged at yourself to my tag list 

Catch up on Quiet Life

(Gif found on Google) 

Chinese takeout in hand, you walked down the street to Steve’s apartment. You knew how much food the restaurant gave you, and you knew you couldn’t eat it all by yourself. Naturally that didn’t stop you from making the same order every week.

“Steve, you home?” You knocked on his door and heard movement inside. There was roughly a 50/50 chance you actually knocked. Sometimes you used your key and let yourself in. There wasn’t a rhyme or reason to it. “Okay now I know you’re home.” You weren’t always sure if he was home or off on a mission, but 9 times out of 10 if he wasn’t on a mission, he was normally with you. Eventually, the deadbolt clicked, and the door cracked open. You could barely see him in the dark entrance, and just the side of his face peeked out of the door. It wasn’t like Steve at all to hide. It wasn’t even like him to properly answer the door. He normally yelled or texted you to let yourself in. Curiously, you tried to peek around the cracked door. He was being weird, and you didn’t like it.

“I’ve got food,” you said simply, holding up the take out bag. When he didn’t come out or open the door, anxiety started building. This wasn’t the Steve you knew well enough to barge in on. This Steve was guarded. Guarded was the last thing you wanted him to be with you. Then you really started looking at him. You couldn’t figure out why he was hiding from you other than some superhero thing that he didn’t want you to see. Your imagination ran wild. Maybe he was hiding an assassin or he could be bleeding out with all of his bones shattered. Slowly, you saw the bruises on his face along with the cuts.

“Oh my god, Steve!” You pulled at the door. He didn’t fight you as you opened the door and slipped in.

“I’m fine, it looks a lot worse than it is,” he tried to explain before you could get a good look at him. You reached to the wall and flipped on the light. He was still in his uniform, which you had never seen him in. Of course you had seen pictures, but he was always careful to change before you saw him. He always wanted to keep his lives separate. You had never met Captain America, only Steve. His shield was propped up against the wall with his helmet next to it. His hair stuck up in a million different ways with dried blood flecked through the blond. His lip was split and his forehead scraped up in at least three different places along with different bruises.

“I promise I’ll be fine,” he tried to brush off your concerns but you weren’t having it. You grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him to the bathroom, dropping the food on the kitchen counter on the way.

“Where’s your first aid kit?” you demanded as you set him down on the closed toilet. You gently held his chin still,trying to see what had happened to him. He was more amused than anything else. He indulged your need to protect him or at least try.

“I don’t have one. I’ll be back to normal in the morning. Super soldier remember?” He pulled away from your grasp, amusement dancing in his eyes despite his tire look. You started walking out of the bathroom.

“Fine, I’ll go get mine. Either way you’re getting patched up,” you called loudly as you marched out of the apartment with determination. Your apartment was just across the street and down a few houses. Close enough to be a nuisance, but far enough for running to be effective if you (or Steve) needed to escape from water balloons (that was mostly Steve doing the running). You came back five minutes later with your first aid kit in hand. He had changed from his uniform into a t-shirt and sweatpants.

“Couch,” you ordered, pulling him by the elbow. As he sat down, you pulled the coffee table close and situated yourself between his legs.

“Did you get into a fight with a chainsaw?” you asked, opening the little box on your lap. He smiled a bit as you sat down with a cloth and a bowl of warm water.

“If you sit still and be good I’ll find you a lollipop,” you told him, gently pressing the damp cloth to his forehead. Logically you knew you didn’t need to do this. You didn’t need to carefully clean or put medicine on his wounds or put bandaids on him. But you couldn’t ignore it. About halfway through your nursing job, you ran out of normal bandaids. He looked at you like you were crazy.

“Why do you even have those?” he asked in equal parts awe and confusion as you pulled out the Hello Kitty bandages. He leaned back just a bit trying to subtly avoid the onslaught of pink. You shrugged, not really thinking about the type of band aids.

“Remember when my niece was in town? She fell and scraped her knee so Caleb - you remember my brother-in-law Caleb? You made fun of his hair. Anyway, he went to the store and picked up band aids, which happen to be Hello Kitty. Band aids are expensive, and I’m not going to throw away perfectly good band aids,” you rambled as you plastered his face with the bandaids. With an eye roll, he let you continue sticking kittens on his cuts. Your hand lingered on his cheek, and he leaned into your touch.

“Hey, you’re okay,” you comforted quietly. You weren’t always 100% positive how to comfort him. You didn’t know how to help other than just being present for him. He’s eyes slowly closed as you sat with him. “Come here,” you muttered pulling him into a hug. He stiffened a bit as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders but slowly sunk into your hold. You could practically feel the weight you knew he was holding. You couldn’t carry it for him, but you could hold him up. Keep him steady.

You weren’t sure how long you sat together like that. Long enough for your legs to fall asleep and your shoulders to be sore from reaching up. You wouldn’t pull away. You’d let him fall asleep like this if he wanted, you’d stay like this forever if he needed it. Finally, Steve pulled away, the bruising on his face already clearing up along with some of the smaller cuts. You had never seen his healing powers in action. Curiously, you ran your thumb over where one of the bruises was fading right before your eyes. They called him a miracle of modern medicine. You called him your best friend with a tolerance for pain.

“Would you stop healing so fast? You’re wasting my bandaids,” you asked, and he broke into a smile. It was like the sun breaking out of the clouds after a storm.

“I tried to tell you. There’s a reason I don’t keep a kit,” he joked, and you rolled your eyes. He could go from beat half to hell to joking in the blink of an eye. You knew it was a coping mechanism and that he was still hurting. Not just the pains that come with bumps and bruises, but the hurt that cut to his heart.

Steve dozed off on the couch after you practically force fed him some food. He claimed he wasn’t hungry, but the three empty Chinese food containers said otherwise. The TV had turned from the movie Steve had picked to reruns of Law and Order. You weren’t interested, but Steve had fallen asleep on the remote. The sun had gone down hours ago, and you were ready to crawl into your own bed. It wasn’t easy, but you got out from under Steve’s legs. You draped the blanket across him. You almost woke him. But then again, he wouldn’t be sore for long if he fell asleep at weird angles where you could be sore from sleeping too hard.

The next morning you were over at Steve’s banging on his door again. You could’ve used the key you had, but you had done that once. Steve wasn’t prepared for you to come through the door. You nearly got your head punched off by a super soldier in a towel which was not an experience you were looking to repeat.

He answered the door still in the sweatpants and shirt he had on the night before. He still looked tired, but his face had healed up. He hadn’t taken a shower or anything yet. You could tell because his hair still had dried blood, and the band aids still dotted his face.

“Don’t you have work?” he asked letting you in.

“Don’t you have to shower?” you retorted playfully, and you resisted the urge to poke your tongue out at him. “But seriously, I’m on my way now. I just needed to check on you.” You knew your worry for him wasn’t entirely useful, but logic didn’t stop you from worrying. With a soft smile, Steve leaned against the hallway wall, his eyes dropping from yours. The way he looked at you made you wonder how long it had been since anyone had taken the time to care about Steve and not Cap. You loved his smiles, even the small ones. You wished he’d do it more often, but his life didn’t give him many reasons. You wanted to be the cause of his smiles, even if it was just over kitten bandaids and bad takeout.

“I’m fine, and you have websites to fix,” he assured you, and you responded with a groan, your head falling back against the door.

“Don’t even remind me. Do you know how long it took me to get the bugs out of the search function? Do you know how long it took Myles to break it again?” you ranted as you reached for the doorknob. “Sometimes I think I’d rather have your job and just get punched in the face,” you continued as you opened the door and started outside.

“Rest and feel better!” you finished still walking and talking, the door closing behind you.  

You were the embodiment of chaos, but a peace within chaos. When you were there, you were loud, but you brought calm. When you were there it was intense, and when you left there was a void. You shouldn’t make sense, but you did. The hows, the whys, they didn’t matter. All that mattered was what you did with it.

@until-theend-oftheline @blacktithe7 @kill-the-stereo @lavieenlex @justballoonfishthings

[essiefreds]

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18,  Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22

Word Count: 2687

Tagged: @hotemotionalmess, @hufflepeople, @justtolkienabout, @uservalkyrie, @writing-for-a-chance

Within the next week, you and Tony Stark had worked together, along with lawyers from both Stark Industries and SHIELD, to craft a contract about the use of the Iron Man suit for the Avengers Initiative. You’d done everything you could to suit the needs of both Stark and SHIELD, although in the end, the contract did lean more in favor of Tony. The bare bones were that the suit would only be involved in any necessary work if Tony was also involved. In return, Tony would fund the Initiative, if it ever got off the ground, which he seemed to doubt.

Of course, you didn’t really care what Stark thought, because you’d actually succeeded in completing your task. It was a major feat, considering that you’d managed to create a mutually beneficial bond between Stark Industries and SHIELD. SHIELD itself would not have its official name listed on any documents, since it was a shadow organization. Stark Industries would, most likely, take the credit if anything were to ever come out of the Avengers Initiative.

It seemed like a win-win. SHIELD remained underground, and S.I. was yet again climbing the ladder to world domination, although it would not be able to reach the top without SHIELD’s say-so.

Needless to say, you thought you’d well earned the bonus that was attached to your paycheck the following week, as well as the small celebration that was held in your office. There was champagne and cake involved. You couldn’t remember most of it.

With Stark behind you, your plate was completely empty, just waiting for another mission.

Oddly enough, when you walked into your office the Monday after the final version of the contract had been emailed both to Stark and Director Fury, the only thing that sat on your desk that hadn’t been there two nights before was an Edible Arrangement.

You blinked at the assortment of fresh fruit, some of which was coated in chocolate. It was all organized to look like a beautiful exotic flower.

Confused, and rightly so, you poked your head out of the office, and called to the first person you saw, “Did you see this get delivered?”

“Oh, yeah,” the intern replied. “The delivery guy asked if it was okay to leave it for you, because he had another one to get done within the hour. I said it was fine, because you were getting here soon.”

“Huh,” you said, and you turned around to face the fruit again. Slowly, you approached it, not completely past the idea that maybe there was a bomb hidden inside of the arrangement.

There was no bomb, but there was a card, nestled between a chocolate covered strawberry and a piece of kiwi. Carefully, so that you didn’t touch any of the fruit, you pulled the card free, and opened it.

The message on the inside was simple: I didn’t know what your favorite flower was. Congratulations on the contract with Stark.

You folded the small piece of letterstock back over, and tapped it against your desk, eyeing the fruit. After a moment of consideration, you picked up a piece of pineapple, and bit into it. Why pass up free, fresh fruit, especially when it looked so delicious?

Whistling caught your attention, and you turned your head as Phil Coulson passed by your office. His whistling stopped when he glanced sideways into it, and then he stopped as well, opening the door a bit wider.

“Whoo,” he said, entering the office and picking out a piece of fruit for himself. “Where’d this come from?”

“No idea,” you replied, handing him the card. He read through it, expression thoughtful, and then he shrugged, passing it back over.

“Guess you got something to do today,” he said. He snagged a chocolate covered strawberry and another piece of kiwi, and left.

“Guess I do,” you murmured in agreement, finishing your piece of pineapple, and choosing a strawberry of your own.

You first went down to IT, so that you could do a background search on any orders that might have been placed from SHIELD’s database to Edible Arrangements. There was one, back from the day after you’d finished finalizing the contract, when it had been made official that you’d managed to snag a deal with Stark Industries. No one, aside from a few choice agents, knew about that deal, which narrowed down who could have possibly been the one to send the arrangement.

So, because you did not know any better way to do it, you went and paid all those agents a visit, to ask them about it. Unfortunately, either one of them was a really good liar, or they were all telling the truth, because none of them seemed to have any idea where the arrangement had come from.

That narrowed it down further. Aside from those agents, there was Deputy Director Hill, and Director Fury. Hill had already established her congratulations by providing the cake at the party, and you did not think Director Fury would have sent you fruit.

Besides that, he knew what your favorite flower was. When your father had died, you’d received an arrangement of daisies from him.

In conclusion, you had no idea who the benefactor of your fruit was. And that annoyed you immensely, no matter how delicious it tasted.

With the help of everyone on the same floor as you, the majority of the arrangement was gone by the end of the day. Only a few straggling pieces of fruit remained, and none of them had chocolate coating.

You poked at what was left, finding that you were pretty tired of fruit. After not learning who had ordered it, and after eating it all day, you had little desire to finish the last couple pieces. Still, you did not want to just throw it away; it was fresh fruit.

So, instead, you finagled Coulson out of one of the many tupperwares he kept in his desk, and returned to your office to pack away the rest of the fruit, so that you could eat it as the week progressed. As you pulled the sticks the fruit were stuck on out of the styrofoam on the bottom of the arrangement, you noticed that there was something hidden behind them, as though it had been left there to be found once the entire arrangement was gone.

As though whoever had ordered it had known you wouldn’t throw it away with pieces of fruit still remaining.

Quickly, you finished pulling the rest of the fruit off of the arrangement to reveal whatever it was that they were hiding. You saw what it was before you’d gotten all of the pieces off, and you sighed to yourself. How did I not realize it before?

Hidden behind all of the fruit was a single sprig of lavender, stuck upright from the Styrofoam. It was wilted, a bit, from having sat behind fruit for hours, but the purple of the blossoms was still vibrant. When you pulled it out, and held it to your nose, the scent of the lavender filled your senses, even without you having to inhale.

“Steve Rogers,” you said under your breath, and then you chuckled to yourself, eyeing the lavender. He was… something.

You placed the tupperware of fruit into the small fridge in the break room on your floor, and then you hesitated, glancing between the elevators and your office. You did not think it was a good idea, to go up and see him, but he’d sent you an Edible Arrangement. Those things were fucking expensive, and you honestly had no idea where he’d gotten the money for it.

You had no idea how he knew about the deal with Stark, either, although you had some guesses.

“Just go see him.”

You glanced in the direction of the voice, and found Coulson leaning against a nearby wall, an open file folder in his hands.

“You knew?” you demanded of him, and he lifted his shoulders.

“He came down and asked if I knew what your favorite flower was. Apparently, Fury wouldn’t tell him,” he explained. “I told him, “I don’t have any idea, Cap, but you know what everybody likes? Chocolate covered fruit.” I guess he took it to heart.”

“And you didn’t tell me it was him because…?”

“Because he asked me not to, said you’d figure it out eventually.” He gestured to the sprig of lavender, which you still had in your hand. “Looks like he left you a clue.”

You exhaled a slow breath. “Coulson, I’m trying to distance myself from him,” you said. “I did a terrible job of helping him figure out the 21st century, and I don’t want to… be involved in his life, anymore.” You waved the sprig of lavender through the air. “This is the complete opposite of not being involved. He’s spending money he probably doesn’t have on thirty five dollar fruit arrangements!”

“Let him,” Coulson said, glancing down at his folder again. “It was really good.”

You decided that Coulson had no idea of the gravity of the situation, and that it was time to stop talking to him. “I’m walking away, now,” you said, and turned to do so.

“He just wants to speak to you, Y/LN,” Coulson said from behind you as you headed in the direction of your office. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

He’ll tell me that he’s not in love with me, you thought.

You did not offer a response out loud.

You knew you could not allow the topic of the Edible Arrangement to sit forever. He must have known that you’d found the lavender behind all the fruit, and he must have known that from it, you’d realized it was him, which meant he also knew that you had not immediately sought him out.

You did not know what you would say to him. Thanks for the Edible Arrangement. Sorry I walked out of your life because I was worried I was ruining you. I’m also sorry that I’ve been watching the surveillance footage of your apartment to make sure that you’re doing okay, because for some reason I can’t let you go.

No. That wouldn’t go down well, not for you or for him.

So, you did not think about it for as long as possible, which was about a day. The leftover fruit had disappeared from the break room fridge, which was a relief, because at least someone was going to eat it. You tried to ignore the lavender sprig, which you’d stuck inside a vase on the corner of your desk. You hadn’t wanted to throw it away, because you thought that would be a little too heartless, but you hadn’t known what else to do with it. Apparently, you were going to watch it shrivel up and die.

Unfortunately, you still did not have any new work to bury yourself in. You wondered if that was the direct cause of Fury trying to force you to take Rogers back. If so, it was stupid and childish, and if you’d been a little more willing to stand up to him, you would march up to his office, and tell him off. However, you were a frightened five-year-old at heart, and you remained  in your office instead, silently glaring at an uncomposed email screen to his email address.

You almost broke and went up to Steve’s apartment around midday, strictly because of how bored out of your mind you were. If nothing else, he would at least be a form of entertainment; the two of you had had some meaningful conversations during the months you’d worked with him. If there was anything about that task that you missed, it was those conversations.

You also missed how he approached every new topic that you brought up concerning the 21st century with curiosity. He was genuinely interested in knowing about the new world that he was in, and you appreciated his willingness to work with you. All you’d wanted was to help him learn, and he’d always been ready to be taught.

And, okay, maybe you just missed Steve. He’d grown to be a close friend, someone you’d talked to about things you wouldn’t have normally brought into conversation during work hours. He’d never once refused to laugh at a joke that you made, even when you knew that it was really bad, because he seemed to think they were all hilarious. He’d always held open doors for you, even when you’d gotten to them first; he would pick up his pace just so that he could open the door. That had to be one of the most endearing things about him.

That, and his genuinity. And his sense of purpose. And how he’d cook for you. And how he’d sit through a movie for you, even when it was obvious that he wasn’t enjoying it. And how he’d been certain to ask what your favorites were, when it came to the topics of music, and literature, things that he wanted to make sure he learned about so that you’d have things to discuss.

So, yeah. You almost broke. You almost went up to his apartment.

But you didn’t. Because that would just… make everything so much harder.

The day ended. You returned home. As usual, you ate dinner, fed the cat his dinner, remarked on how the cat had never gotten to meet Steve, tried to pay attention to a TV show and failed miserably, took a shower, and climbed into bed.

For once, you did not toss-and-turn. Apparently, a long day of pining for unfrozen super soldiers could be exhausting, because you were out almost as soon as your head hit the pillow.

Still, that did not stop you from waking up the moment your phone rang from its spot on the bedside table. Fumbling for it, you knocked your water off the table and spilt it across the floor. You ignored the spill in favor of answering the phone.

“Hello?”

Silence. You were wary, at first, and then realization sank in.

“Captain Rogers?”

A small chuckle made it way from SHIELD’s headquarters to your small bedroom via telephone lines. “I asked you to call me Steve.”

Exhaling, you sat up straighter in bed, pushing your hair into a less disheveled state. “Why are you calling?” you queried, doing your best to sound professional. His tone had not given you cause to panic, but that didn’t mean you weren’t concerned. There was obviously something going on, if he’d decided to call you after all this time.

He did not respond at first. Part of you wanted to hang up the phone, and get back to sleep, but that really wasn’t part of who you were as a person. Instead, you sat, patient as possible, waiting for him to say something.

“I just - I can’t... I want - I need…”

You listened to these false starts to a sentence that he was clearly having difficulty crafting, and then you said, “Do you need someone to come to you?”

He was silent again, although not for as long. “I need you to come to me.”

“Captain -”

“Steve,” he insisted.

“- I don’t think me coming to see you is a good idea,” you finished.

“Please, Y/N.” His voice had lowered, and there was a hint of desperation to it, now. Desperate was not a word that you would have ever stuck to Steve Rogers’s disposition. “I haven’t been able to sleep. I don’t - nothing works. I need…” He trailed off, and you waited. “I need you,” he finished. Your heart jumped up into your throat and lodged itself there. “Will you come? Please?”

You swallowed, forcing your heart back down into your chest. It was racing. For a moment, you wondered if you were at risk for cardiac arrest. You stared blankly into the darkness, listening to the two parts of yourself battle.

Eventually, however, one side won out, the side that you’d always sort of known would eventually be victorious.

“All right,” you said into your phone. “I’ll be there soon.”