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slutforleeminho · 9 months

Note

heyy, i love your work, i was wondering if you could write a fic based on the song ‘the other woman’ by lana del rey where the reader is the other woman. you could do it about any member :)

this is my first ever request since i’ve been on this app so i hope i did it right 😭

The other Woman • Hwang Hyunjin

thank you so much! i’m so happy that your first ask was on my acc! i hope you like it<3

warnings: suggestive(no explicit smut), arguing, infidelity, toxic relationship, plot twist at the end;)

"I have to go, beautiful." Hyunjin leaned down to kiss your forehead after pulling his pants up and buttoning them. He placed his hand on the side of your face, gently caressing your cheek with his thumb. "She'll get suspicious if I stay any longer."

This was normal for you, yours and Hyunjin's little routine. He'd take you out to dinner and treat you like a princess, paying for your meals and anything else you could possibly want. Holding your hand and taking you places you've only dreamed of going, then he'd take you home --your home-- and he'd fuck you like there was no tomorrow. And then he'd leave to do the same things with his wife.

You never understood why he pursued you the way he did when he had someone at home to take care of, but you didn't care enough to bring it up. Why would you? You have everything a young woman could ever want; a young, handsome, rich man who gives you anything you want. But only a few times a week. It's okay though, that just gives you plenty of time to do things that you enjoy like reading and going to museums and admiring the beautiful pieces of art that you wished you could just shove in your bag and take home with you.

"Okay," You said with a tired smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Actually, I meant to tell you, I won't be able to come over tomorrow. Apparently, Violet has a family reunion, and she wants me to accompany her." He stated as he pulled his shirt over his head and grabbed his bag from the chair in the corner of your room.

Violet. Such a pretty name for such a lucky woman.

"Oh." Was all you replied with.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, of course not, these things happen," You knew exactly what you were getting yourself into as soon as you entered this relationship, if it can even be called that. "Just text me when you can. let me know when you want to meet up."

"Of course." He smiled.

He kissed you deeply before he left that night, almost making you forget that he had someone at home waiting for him, and you would be left here, cold and alone.

That text that he promised didnt come until a week later.

"I miss the way you feel wrapped around me." Was all that the message contained. You liked to imagine he was talking about your warm embrace, but you knew that wasn't true. He just wanted to feel an unfamiliar body underneath his.

You weren't sure how you ended up like this. When you first met Hyunjin he was sweet and caring, attentively listened to you while you complained about your bad day at work and massaged away all the soreness in your muscles. You can't remember the last time he's taken you out to dinner or bought you flowers. Now you were just his escape from his nagging wife.

You put up with the constant shame and guilt you felt for being with someone who already had their someone, because you thought that maybe his love for you would grow and that maybe someday Hyunjin would realize that you're the one he wants to spend every waking moment with and not someone else. But as your love for him grew your patience shrunk until one day you snapped.

Hyunjin was collecting his things after he had finished what he came here for, which was to get his dick wet and nothing more. "I won't see you again after tonight."

Hyunjin stopped in his tracks and stared at you with wide eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I deserve more than this. I deserve to have someone's full attention and all of their heart." You held yourself together, determined not to cry Infront of him. He doesn't deserve your tears.

"Baby, what are you even talking about?" He knelt down in front of you and placed his hand on your shaking knees. "Of course, I love you."

"No, you don't," You shook your head. "You love my body, you love having someone at your disposal, someone you can use only for your own pleasure. If you loved me even in the slightest there wouldn't be another woman getting the treatment that I crave so fucking much." All the emotion you've kept stuffed away finally revealed itself in the form of a single tear running down your cheek.

It was silent for a long time before Hyunjin spoke. "I'll leave her." You snapped your head up so fast that it hurt. "If that's what you want than I'll do it." The way he worded it as if it was your choice whether his marriage ended or not made you sick to your stomach, but you couldn't deny that you felt a flutter of hope in your chest that maybe this didn't have to end after all. But you're smarter than that. He says this now, but he doesn't mean it, and even if he did you wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that a woman who did nothing wrong was out there most likely crying herself to sleep while your warm and safe in the love of her life's arms.

"No, be with her. I'll be okay." That was a complete lie but even after everything he's done, you still don't want him to worry about you.

"Please don't do this to me. I love you and I want to be with you. He held on to your legs tighter.

"Funny, isn't that what you told her when you vowed in front of God and everyone that your love for her would be eternal." His mouth snapped shut and his hands left your legs before he stood. He leaned down and before you could register what was happening his lips were on yours. You immediately reciprocated, leaning forward and pressing yourself closer into him. He was so intoxicating, the way his tongue glided with yours so smoothly had you in a trance; you snapped out of it when he placed his right knee on the bed beside you and started pushing you backwards. "No!" you shoved him away. He stumbled backwards but regained his balance quickly. "I'm not doing this with you, Hyunjin. I can't do this anymore, its wrong."

"Since when do you have morals?" His voice was louder this time, he was pissed.

"I've always had them, but I put them aside because I love you!" It was your turn to stand up and look him square in the face. "But the longer we do this the more I realize that this isn't love, its obsession and its toxic. You never loved me Hyunjin you were curious about infidelity, and I was an easy target because my standards were so fucking low that I actually settled for you."

"Fuck this, I don't have to sit here and listen to you degrade me like this." He grabbed his bag and left, but not without slamming the door behind him.

The past month has been hell. After laying in your bed for an entire week you decided to pack up all of Hyunjins things and throw them out, the smell of him that was radiating off of them was making you sick to your stomach every time you walked in the room. And then you went to the mall to treat yourself to a new outfit, you wanted something that didn't have any memories of him attached to it. A trip to your favorite coffee shop followed after that. you hadn't been her in a while and you missed the smell of fresh espresso as you walked in the door.

After getting yourself your favorite -a butter pecan macchiato and a small triple chocolate brownie (they were out of doughnuts)- You sat in the best spot in the entire shop, in a little booth in the corner right next to the window, where you could watch the leaves that had no color left in them fall to the ground only to get trampled over by the passing pedestrians. The leaves reminded you a lot of yourself in a way, but you hoped you never had to fall again.

"Hi," a voice pulled you out of your thoughts. You turned to find yourself looking up at a very handsome young man. His hair was blonde, and it came down to his shoulders. he had an apron on, and a big smile plastered across his face, little freckles decorated his cheeks. "I saw you bought one of the brownies, it's a new recipe I tried, and I wanted to ask if you enjoyed it."

"Oh," You blinked up at him. "Um yeah it's really good, maybe my new favorite."

"Oh, thank god," He let out a sigh of relief. "I was worried that it wouldn't be any good. See a couple of the ingredients I use were sold out, so I had to substitute-" He stooped in the middle of his sentence. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I tend to do that a lot."

"No, it's okay," You huffed out a laugh. He was so cute. "Now I'm curious about what ingredients were sold out." You joked.

He smiled widely at you and stretched his hand out. "I'm Felix."

You hesitated but took his hand anyway. "Nice to meet you, Felix."

PART TWO HERE

THANK YOUUU ALL FOR A THOUSAND FOLLOWERS I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW TO FEEL 😭

taglist: @katsukis1wife @sungprotector @seung-mine @favieee @soephiphanymain @z4hir @minnieslover @kjr-army @caitlyn98s @bangchansbae @fawnpeaks @yumiblogs

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justporo · 11 months

Text

Dew Drops

Author's Note: I wrote this on a whim today because I felt very emotional and was inspired by a song. I cried while writing this - quite a lot actually. I'll happily show and the translate the song later because it is quite perfect for Astarion (and Tav).

Summary: After Astarion has become free, he takes a moment to reflect and do something he'd never thought possible...

Pairing: Astarion / Tav (You) Warnings: mentions of past trauma Wordcount: 1,1k Song (the inspiration for this piece): Tau - Herbert Grönemeyer

~~~

Just before the first sun rays were creeping over the roofs of Baldur’s Gate, Astarion got out of bed. Slowly, so he wouldn’t wake you up, still blissfully in your dreams beside him.

He watched you for a moment. Sitting on the edge of the bed. Watched how your chest was slowly rising and falling. Your hands softly curled up against your chest. Your lips soft and relaxed: neither curled into a smirk nor drawn down – just silently peaceful.

Astarion almost stayed there then, lost in you. The one person that had helped him come this far. The one who had so purely believed in him – that there was more, that he was more.

He let one finger slowly wander over your cheek – so featherlight you didn’t even stir in your sleep. The smile that crept onto his lips was genuine and bright and full with warmth and love.

Then he got up, got dressed. He wrote you a small note and then quietly left the room, left the inn.

Astarion purposefully wandered through the streets while most of the city was still asleep or just starting to blink its eyes. Purposefully, he went to a place he’d come to know like the back of his own hand.

This small little garden, hidden away in some backyard’s backyards – so hard to find it might have been forgotten by everyone – everyone, but the flowers and the vampire. The vampire who’d stumbled upon it sometime during his seemingly endless years, decades, centuries even of torment.

And this small little garden had become a tiny space of refuge for Astarion. A place of at least some peace and safety where he had spent so many nights when he had been able to steal away – sometimes for only a few minutes, sometimes almost whole nights.

And he’d sat there, comforted a little by the silvery moonlight and the twining plants and flowers – even though he never got to see their blossoms.

He found the way to the small space without any problem. It almost felt like he’d been there yesterday, although so much had changed since he’d last been here. Everything, in fact.

Not only had he broken the chains of his enslavement and walked in the sunlight again, but he had also found someone. Someone who’d promised him that he would not have to be alone ever again. And who had promised to help him carry the weight of the now broken, but still heavy chains – until hopefully someday he would be able to shake the shackles off as well.

Astarion entered the garden through an archway that led to the little safe haven. It still looked like he remembered: vines and bushes everywhere, deep and luscious green filling the whole space. The plants were full of still closed blossoms. Dew drops covered leaves and blooms and gave them an elegant silvery sheen.

The vampire let his fingertips softly wander over some of the plants and closed buds. Then he sat in his usual spot, a small rock at the back of the small rectangular space – directly across from the archway he had just entered through.

And then he waited.

He watched as the first golden rays of sunlight crept over the peaks of the stone walls. Like bright fingers they wandered over the plants, caressed them with their light and warmth. Softly brushing away the silver droplets of dew.

The first sunlight fell on Astarion who had awaited its arrival with anticipation, still wondering how lucky he could have been to feel it again. He had buried the hope so long ago.

He knew it wouldn’t last. So, he would make the most of it as long as he could.

He closed his eyes, completely giving himself to the feeling of the sun warming his pale skin. His lips opened with a little gasp. His chest shuddered with a ragged breath as he felt the tears well up. A single tear flowing over and leaving a wet trail on his cheek.

After a while he opened his eyes, hoping he hadn’t been too impatient.

But as he looked up and let his ruby gaze wander over the space his chest clenched painfully at the sight: the flowers had started to open up.

Offering him their whole palette of colours and beauty – the last dew drops glistening on them. The blossoms bowing to the warming sun, happy to show their beauty to him. Deep reds, almost golden yellow, wonderful blues and oranges. And in all shapes too: starlike chalices, frilly circles, cascading spheres.

He tried to take in everything at once as he looked at it with lips parted in wonder and astonishment. Observing every single combination possible. Wanting to imprint it all on his mind forever.

And as Astarion gazed upon this view he’d never dared to hope to take in one day, emotions overwhelmed him. And it was pleasantly painful, in all his beauty and bitter sweetness.

This, all this – it hurt so much. And it was so all hard, going on.

His chest was aching with sorrow and with joy as the single tear turned into a constant flowing and his whole body started shaking and shuddering.

The pain behind his sternum was so strong it almost felt as if his heart had finally started beating again.

It felt like most every emotion he had ever felt washed over him in this very moment – fear, hurt, guilt, grief. But also love, joy, compassion, confidence. All mixing together in a way that was barely tolerable, but most certainly meant one thing: he was alive.

And Astarion wept and wailed, lifting his head towards the comforting warmth of the rising sun as he cried. He doubled over as sobs shook through him. Cried out as tears ran over his face and his nose began to drop.

It hurt so much, all this.

But the pain meant he was still here. It meant he was free again. It meant he was ready and able to grasp life with both his hands and start living again. Even though it might not always be easy.

But he wouldn't be alone.

He looked up through his tears and a smile found its way on his lips as he looked upon the blooming flowers all around. He sobbed and he laughed as he saw the beauty in it. He felt alive.

And then you stepped through the archway and even the sight of all the flowers in the first sunlight could not compare. His companion through all of this and all to come.

You looked so worried the way you rushed over to Astarion, kneeling down in front of him. Wrapping your arms around him as he kept weeping and sobbing – not caring for how loud or unpleasant it might be. He let his head sink to your shoulder in unyielding gratefulness.

And you held onto each other until his sobs and tears slowly subsided.

You looked at him, cautiously asking if he was alright.

And Astarion looked up with a bright and broad smile, through the tears still remaining in his ruby eyes:

“Yes, my love. It’s just… it’s so beautiful to be alive.”

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reiderwriter · 10 months

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hi!!! omg i’ve been following you for a bit now and i saw that it’s not only your 1k celebration(AHHHHHH OMG CONGRATS GIRL!!!) but also your birthday soon!!! So happy birthday and i hope you’re having a fantabulous day!!

If it’s not too much trouble, could i request #4 on your 1k celeb list for Spencer Reid? maybe like imagine they’re undercover in a club or at a party and reader has to dance on him for some odd reason and boy is already mad in love and now he’s got a hard on while his crush dances on him for a case and reader maybe takes mercy on him and drags him to a private place tooooooo😋😋

it’s totally okay if this isn’t to your fancy so don’t feel pressured at all!! i love your writing so much and i just know anything you write, even if you don’t write this ask or if you change it up, will be amazing!!! enjoy your birthday b and take loads of a care of yourself!💕💕

A/N: Thank you for the request, and I AM SO SORRY it took me nearly four months to get to 😭 I actually loved writing this one, so I hope you enjoy reading it! Thank you for the birthday wishes 💖

Warnings: public sex, sex in an alleyway, talks of oral (m receiving), fingering, penetrative sex, dirty talk, creampie, coworkers to lovers, spoilers for upto season 7 of Criminal Minds.

“Cover? Right now? I'm wading through three caseloads of paperwork right now, I don't have time to go gallivanting across the country for another unit.” You stressed to your Unit Chief as she smiled sympathetically at you.

“Temporary reassignment means your desk will be cleared of work when you return, I'll personally complete it myself. That is if you decide to come back.”

“It would take one hell of an offer to get me to join another team, ma'am, and you know it.”

Working under your boss Andi Swann at the Domestic Trafficking Task Force was something you took a lot of pride in. The work you did saved hundreds of women across the country, and you found justice for the ones you were too late for. It had been your second choice after you'd left the academy and a particularly ambitious one, all things considered.

“Y/N, the Behavioural Analysis Unit needs you. Now, I remember your resume as well as you do, most likely, so don't try to convince me all of the profiling credits and courses you took at the academy were solely to be used for trafficking work.”

You flushed as the woman caught you off guard. It was true that you hoped to someday be able to transfer to the aforementioned unit, but you truly still respected the woman in front of you.

Deciding that your respect trumped your human need to placate her worries about you suddenly skipping out on her, you simply cleared your throat and spoke as calmly as possible.

“What is it exactly that the BAU needs me for?”

The older woman smiled back at you and shook her head slightly before opening her mouth again.

“It seems that one of their team members needs a date.”

–X–

Having recovered from the shock of your reassignment and its details, you'd found yourself packing a few things from your desk, grabbing your go-bag, climbing into the elevator and arriving at the doors of the BAU.

You then struggled for a few minutes to open with all the things crowding your hands.

“Here let me,” a voice said from behind you, as you suddenly saw an arm come up around your side to push the door open. You followed your gaze up the arm until your back was against the door, moving backwards even as he pushed it open as your throat went dry.

The man in front of you was hot. It was as if some deity had plucked your ideal type out of your mind, moulded him with clay, and kiln fired him before placing him right back in front of you as temptation.

You were sure that minutes had passed since he'd spoken with you just staring up at him like this, but alas, you really couldn't help yourself.

“Oh! Thank you,” you smiled, hoping it would diffuse the sudden awkward atmosphere that your staring had bought on. “I'm sorry, can you tell me where Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner's office is?” You mumbled out, trying to clear your throat silently as you lost yourself in the strangers' gaze.

His eyes were locked on yours, and as he broke eye contact, your heart jumped as you noticed his ears were stained red, embarrassment apparently not lost on him.

“Up the stairs, first office, his name is on the door. You must be SSA Y/N.” Shocked to hear your name drop from his mouth you felt a Rusholme mortification as you studied the man once again.

Slightly messy hair, pile of books in his hand, dressed like he'd fallen into a closet at a retirement home, tall wiry frame.

Ashley Seaver's description of Doctor Spencer Reid had been spot on. Apart from the part where she had failed to mention, he was quite possibly the most attractive man on earth.

“Doctor Reid?” You asked, voice a squeak, almost scared that you were wrong despite there being no suggestion that you might be.

“How did you…?” His eyes widened with a smile as he looked back to you again, searching for answers with his head cocked slightly to the side.

“I work in Domestic Trafficking. Agent Seaver and my unit chief both gave me brief descriptions of your team so I wouldn't get bogged down with introductions when I got here.” You explained quickly for fear that he'd think you slightly stalkerish for knowing his name, even though he obviously knew yours as well.

He smiled slightly awkwardly again and gestured further inside the office, sending you off to your temporary new Unit Chief's office with a small whisper.

“I look forward to working with you.”

--X–

The debrief with Aaron Hotchner was swift and you appreciated the man's ability to cut straight to the point.

There was a killer targeting women in New York City, just like there were killers targeting women everywhere. But this one had taken specific issue with women who were social climbers, who attended events with high profile and successful men on their arms.

So far, the NYPD could link 7 homicides to the killer and were under pressure to catch the guy before Lucky Number eight.

The FBI had stepped in and suggested you be Lucky Number eight.

They'd been sent the case as a consult and provided the profile, to which the NYPD had asked for full cooperation.

Which is how you found yourself on a jet heading to New York City two hours after Andi Swann had called you into her office. Productive day.

“What does your budget look like after a year of private jet travel?” You wondered out loud as you followed Hotchner onto the plane. SSA David had followed you onto the plane as well, having tried to introduce himself earlier. You'd allowed him the moment of humility before telling him you knew exactly who he was, and he'd be surprised if anyone in the entire bureau didn't.

“Well they haven't put me on display yet, so I don't think I'm quite a fossil. Pleasure to be working with you.”

His words were kind enough, but they were a reminder of the other man you'd met earlier.

The man who had since climbed into the seat next to you, ready for the on the go case briefing.

“We've established identities for the two of you, ready for you to go in tonight to establish yourselves as bait,” Hotch explained, handing you each a personnel folder.

“Spencer, you'll be Charles Buchanan, local businessman with alleged ties to several socialite families in the Upper East Side.” That seemed to earn a few chuckles from Agent Morgan from his perch at the other end of the plane desk, but he cleverly kept his mouth shut.

“Y/N, you'll be Daisy Smith, you're a student putting herself through a graduate degree, who has turned to sugaring to cover course fees.”

“Sugaring?” Rossi asked from Hotch's side, waiting for someone to clarify.

“It's a term used to describe the act of being a sugar baby or sugar daddy. A usually non-sexual consensual relationship involving cash or other materialistic gifts.” Spencer filled in the gaps easily, without looking up from the file he was scanning ridiculously fast.

Okay, speed-reading and super intelligence check, and you were two for two on descriptions of Spencer Reid. Swann's description had also left a lot to be desired.

“We've got Garcia establishing some online profiles for the both of you currently using the images you sent us earlier. Hopefully, we were correct in our estimation of his hunting grounds, but he'll need to stalk you for a night or two before he strikes.”

You cleared your throat carefully as you finally decided to ask the question that had been bugging you the entire time.

“I'm sorry if this is forward, but is there a reason I was chosen for this assignment? I don't have much undercover experience, and I was told there were two women on your team. Was I misinformed?”

“That's correct. Unfortunately, last week, Agent Prentiss decided to take a job with Interpol in London. Agent Jareau was also recently married, so she put in leave to enjoy her honeymoon. None of the candidates we have lined up fit our Unsub's type. You do.”

“As good as I would look in a dress, you're going to be much more effective at catching this guy,” Morgan joked from the side, just as Hotch accepted a video call through to the jet.

“Morgan in a dress, sounds like one of my dreams come true.”

“Calm it, baby girl, what have you got for us?”

“Invitations to a charity ball being held in Manhattan tonight, and around 1000 hits across five sugaring platforms for Miss Y/N. If the FBI turns out to be a letdown, you have a lot of serious offers here, sweetie.” You laughed out loud at how she blasted through and diffused all the tension in your team, without even thinking to introduce herself first.

“You must be Penelope Garcia. It's nice to meet you.”

“Not as nice as it is to meet you, I promise.”

The remainder of the jet ride had been quiet if not restful, the presence of Spencer Reid a disturbingly pretty thorn in your side.

You'd sneaked glances at him multiple times, not an easy feat on a jet filled with profilers. His fingers had grazed yours as he passed you his file earlier as well, letting you read up on his new character.

What you found most distracting, though, was the now bare stretch of skin peaking out from his shirt collar.

He'd decided to take a nap at some point earlier, and now you silently cursed him for it as you looked at the splash of skin distractedly.

You could press your lips there and work your way up to his lips. Or you could go in the opposite direction and have more fun, you reminded yourself.

It seemed that image had you waking up, jerking upright so that you would not let that go any further.

This was your job. You were a professional, an FBI agent.

You weren't allowed to imagine giving this man a blow job on government time. You'd have to save that thought for after the case was closed, and you could go your separate ways, you thought.

Landing was easy and you moved straight into dress fittings and practising your story for the party later that night.

Which meant a blissful few hours without the distraction of Spencer Reid.

Luckily for you, the first dress they'd given you to wear had turned out to be a good fit, showcasing some of your more prominent assets.

It hugged your body tight, but it wasn't uncomfortable, showing off a generous amount of cleavage and leg as well. It wasn't quite scandalous, but you knew it was definitely the kind of outfit that would stick out like a sore thumb at a socialite dinner.

Which meant it was perfect for baiting the unsub.

By 7pm, you'd been outfitted, prepped, and deposited in the back of a limousine with Spencer Reid, and you were right back at square one trying not to climb him then and there.

His outfit choice had been slightly harder, apparently, given his taller frame, but the three piece suit they'd given him was do perfect it was hard to tell it wasn't tailored to his measurements.

“Are you nervous?” He asked, whispering the words in your ear as he stroked your hand. Although the limousine driver was an undercover NYPD detective, you'd both been told to get into character as quickly as possible.

There were a series of other undercover agents being placed throughout the party tonight - Hotch was going in as a representative of the District Attorney's office, a few NYPD detectives were serving guests drinks and food, and Rossi had managed to get an invite as himself.

Morgan was left running surveillance in the van outside.

Because of your outfit and the nature of the unsubs attacks, there had been no point in trying to put a wire on you at this point in time. It'd take him a week of surveillance to pick you up anyway. Tonight would just be the start of his hunt.

So you let Spencer stroke your hand, fingers locked in his as you gave him a smile, and tried not to imagine them wrapped around his cock.

“Just a little. I think it's the dress shows off a bit more than I'm used to.” He took a second to glance down your body, as if he'd been waiting for your permission until now, and you watched his eyes pause over your chest and at where the hem sat at the top of your thighs, dangerously close to bearing everything.

“You look… beautiful. I think our unsub will like it, at least.”

You tried to hide your disappointment as he pulled his hand away, ready to open the door as the car pulled up to your destination.

You surveyed the room as you walked in, trying to memorise every particularly leering smile from men as you made your way to your seat.

After half an hour, though, it seemed like catching your guy was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Or a creep in a room full of creeps.

It seemed like every man who talked to Spencer only glanced at you to stare down your dress, a few even attempting to pat your back and let their hands drift south.

If it weren't for the sake of the job, you'd have sucker punched some of the richest men in New York City by now. And you'd have enjoyed it.

Politely detaching himself from conversation, Spencer guided you away to the dance floor for a second. You'd planned it this way for when you needed some time privately to discuss potential suspects.

A few other couples glided around the floor as you stood chest to chest with Spencer, surprised how confidently he was handling the caseload.

His hands took their places, one on your hip, the other gripping your own as you both began to sway side to side.

“Any ideas?” He whispered in your ear as you moved delicately.

“Your 10 o’clock. Younger son of the Johnson family. He’s been sat glaring at me for 10 minutes despite his mother's attempts to network for him.”

“It fits the profile, absent father, overbearing mother. He has obvious disdain for you. Is there anyone else?” His words were hot against your skin as you looked up at him, finding your lips surprisingly close as your bodies continued swaying together.

“Half of the men in this room have undressed me with their eyes, the other half actually tried to put their hands on me when they were talking to you.” He stiffened at that, breaking eye contact as his eyes flashed with sudden emotion.

His hand slid from your waist further down to stroke your ass slightly as he watched the crowd to see anyone taking offence at his sudden bold display of affection.

At least that was what you assumed he was doing as you too began to glance around, watching for anyone watching you, confident that Hotch, Rossi, and the others would do the same.

When his hand on your ass pulled you closer into him, though, you weren't so sure.

“Spencer, what are you-” You started in confusion, noticing that his gaze had returned to you. More specifically, that it had returned to your chest, as he stared down at how your breasts looked, pushed up against his chest as they were.

He encouraged your other hand to wrap around his shoulder, freeing his other hand to land on your ass again as he pulled you closer still.

You'd almost stopped moving, certain that having his body pressed against yours in every place hardly counted as dancing. You opened your mouth to say as much when you felt something twitch against your thigh. A low groan slipped from Spencer's lips as he adjusted your positions slightly as you felt something hard shift against your leg.

“Do you seriously have a boner right now?” You whispered, as much in exasperation as in excitement.

Spencer Reid was grinding his boner into you in front of a room full of people, and you felt like you'd just won the lottery.

“I'm sorry, natural reaction. You look so hot tonight, and then your hands were all over me.” He rambled slightly in his explanations, mortification clear on his face as he tried to apologise.

“It's okay.” You whispered in his ear, pulling yourself up on your toes softly to press a chaste kiss to his lips.

If you just so happened to rub up against him going up and down, eliciting another deep groan for the man, then so be it.

“Y/N…” He whispered you name like a prayer and it almost convinced you that there was no one else in the room.

“Spencer, there's no way our unsub is going to approach us if you have that thing tenting your pants.” You kept your voice low as your hands trailed down his chest. Pushing one further, you gently rubbed over his clothed member as if accentuating your point.

“We need to solve this problem, don't you think?”

His jaw clenched as he contemplated your words, trying not to let any other sounds out. His nod was barely perceptible, but within seconds you were glancing around the room for a quick exit, and in another minute, you'd slipped through a service entrance and out through some corridors into a dimly lit alleyway.

As soon as you were cloaked in darkness, Spencer was on you.

Whirling you around, he backed you into the wall until your back was pressed into it, and his lips were on yours.

You moaned helplessly into the kiss, hands finding his chest again and moving south even as he began exploring your body.

“This is an important case, and we're about to blow it because I can't keep my hands off you,” he whispered between kisses, lips trailing down your neck.

“Do you know how crazy we both must be?”

“I know exactly how crazy for you I am, Reid. Now, please let me suck your dick.” You moaned the words as his fingers found their way into your panties, stroking your clit.

“Y/N, I'm trying to talk sense into us here.” He groaned as your fingers fumbled with his pant buttons, hand sliding into the material to wrap around his cock.

“How much sense are you talking with your fingers inside me?” You panted, willing him to just fully let go and let you both enjoy yourselves.

“While we're out here, Hotch and Rossi are inside, noting down anyone who takes particular offence to our exit. We can enjoy ourselves and catch a better lead.” You started slowly pumping him then, as he pushed closer into you, allowing you to reach more of him at this different angle.

His head dropped to your shoulder as he breathed out a laugh.

“Right, this will help.” He tried to convince yourself, and you grinned in victory, rocking your hips against his hand to find your release sooner.

Until he withdrew his hand and used it to grasp your own, halting your movements.

“Spencer?” You pouted slightly, but he pressed another kiss to your lips this time forceful and demanding, to guess begging permission to enter and dominate you.

You gladly accepted him into your mouth, even as you felt him pushing up your skirt, letting the material ride higher as it had been trying to do all night.

Making sure you were steady against the brick wall, he pulled your hips up and around his, pushing your panties to the side as he pushed inside of you.

The stretch was maddening. Everywhere he touched became hot against the cool night breeze as he began his frenzied strokes into you.

You lost all capability for speech, which was probably for the best, as you were sure you'd only ask for him to do more disgusting things to you eventually.

His mouth slid to the top of your breasts as they bounced with each thrust, waiting to claim a nipple in his mouth when one eventually came free of the offending material.

“Such a little slut, begging to suck my dick. Maybe next time, princess.” You screamed and arched your back as he finally bit down around your nipple, soothing the skin with his tongue as he licked and suckled there.

His other hand fell to your clit again, pushing you to the edge as you finally came on his cock.

He didn't stop though, powering through as you tightened around him, moaning wantonly as his thrusts hit deeper still.

“Let's see what our unsub thinks when he sees my cum dripping out of you,” he whispered again, as he too let himself go, releasing spurt after spurt of cum inside of you.

Making sure you were strong enough, he set you back down on the ground, keeping an arm wrapped around you protectively as you smoothed your clothes back into place.

You helped him button his pants as he smoothed your hair, tucking a stray piece behind your ear before ducking in for one more sweet kiss.

“I'm sorry that I couldn't let you, uh, perform orally,” he blushed again, his ears that same shade of red you noticed earlier as he guided you back inside. “I think someone would have noticed if I'd ruined your makeup that much.”

You practically choked on your own spit as you finally slipped back into the dance hall.

“Next time,” you said, making sure to finish the conversation you'd started. “We’ll have more privacy.”

#spencer reid #criminal minds #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid smut #mgg #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fandom #spencer reid x self insert #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x reader smut #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid criminal minds

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gyubaseone · 1 year

Text

sung hanbin. photograph

❛ take a picture, it'll last longer. ❜

pairing — sung hanbin x f!reader

genre — fluff, slight angst, classmates to lovers (?)

synopsis — hanbin is willing to do anything to get a good grade in his art class ; even if it means he has to partner up with y/n.

warnings — mentions of family problems! y/n is kind of a jerk at the beginning.. third person pov, lowercase intended, not proofread thoroughly. lots of mistakes, i'm too lazy to change it's been like 2 weeks ..

word count — 2,582

notes — honestly not my best work once again.. i've just been really lazy to write with finals coming up + i have three projects due soon ㅠ but i hope you guys enjoy <3 might make a part 2 someday if people like it??

★ ( please fill out this form to be on my taglist ) ❕

sung hanbin was the most popular guy at his university ; being known for his smarts, kindness, and especially his good looks. everybody loved him. everyone but y/n.

she had made it evidently clear that she was never fazed by him, barely batting an eye towards him whenever he walked by or sat down besides her on the first day of their art class.

he never understood why she was the way she was, had he done something wrong? nonetheless, he just brushed it off. everyone else adored him, it's not like his life depended on y/n liking him.

that's until it kind of mattered. because one day, the art teacher had given out a photography assignment for a final grade ; and it was a two-person assignment. you can take a wild guess at who got paired up, right?

"in pairs, you will go to tourist attractions and take pictures to capture their essence," the teacher spoke, switching the slide of the powerpoint, "i already decided where you all will be going and the pairs you will be in, so don't bother asking me if you can work with your friends."

all the students scanned the screen, hoping to be partnered with their friends. as hanbin finally found his name, his mouth fell wide open realizing who he had been partnered with. looking over at y/n, only to see her looking his way aswell ; hanbin faced the front once again.

it was bad enough that hanbin had been partnered with the only person he hadn't been able to talk to, but it was a final grade. he couldn't miss it no matter what if he wanted to keep his grade. so he just had to attempt to befriend her.

hanbin took a deep breath before getting up and walking over to y/n as everyone was already talking with their partners, standing in front of her when he opened his mouth to talk before being cut off by y/n.

"if you want to take the pictures this weekend, i'll meet you at the train station so we can head to gyeongbokgung palace," y/n stood up, gathering all her books off her desk, "be there by 9 am on saturday, or i'm leaving without you."

and just like that, the bell rang meaning the end of the period ; y/n walked out, leaving hanbin there without him even being able to speak one word. this just might be the longest two weeks of his life.

if it wasn't bad enough that y/n had been adamant about the two meeting up early in the morning on a saturday for their project, but hanbin had woken up late. the only day it really mattered that he wakes up early.

and so, hanbin found himself running towards the train station ; gripping onto his messenger bag with his hair half done since he didn't have enough time to brush it all the way and was probably going to be messed up by the time he got to the station.

once he finally got to his terminal, barely on time, hanbin found y/n sitting on a bench ; seemingly on the phone with somebody.

"i told you— i have a school project to do, i won't be home until later," y/n attempted to mutter for nobody to hear her conversation, barely being able to contain annoyed tone, "why do i have to do everything for you? who's the parent here?"

from where hanbin was standing, it sounded like she was talking to her parents and that they were trying to make her do something. but then again, it was still early in the morning for him and he didn't really know what he heard.

"no, i'm not giving you attitude— y'know what, i can't deal with this nonsense right now," y/n stood up, looking around the station for hanbin before finding him standing right behind her.

once the realization hit that he probably heard her conversation, y/n immediately hung up the call and stuffed her phone into her pocket. "how long have you been standing there?" she asked, her facial expression changing from annoyed to now looking surprised and worried.

"about... 2 minutes, i think?" hanbin looked down at his watch, realizing he had zoned out for a moment while listening to y/n's conversation, "sorry.. your conversation sounded serious, i didn't want to interrupt."

"it's... it's fine, let's go," y/n seemed as if she was about to say something more but instead picked up her bag from the bench, turning around to walk towards their designated train.

the train ride was going to be at least one hour to gyeongbokgung palace, which meant y/n and hanbin had to sit together for an hour. usually, it was a breeze for hanbin to be on train rides ; he could talk with whoever he was with or just spend time on his phone. this ride felt particularly uncomfortable for him.

his shoulders were tense as he tried not to even touch the line that seperated y/n's seat from his. hanbin was constantly glancing over at the girl, seeing her on her phone everytime. he should go on his phone too right? there was no point in being so on edge when y/n seemed fine.

and so, hanbin went on his phone — but to his surprise, there was nothing much to do on his phone. it seemed like nothing was going on that early in the morning, so he just looked out the window and enjoyed the view of mountains that could be seen. he eventually felt more calm, complerelt forgetting about the girl besides him.

that was until hanbin heard y/n let out a loud sigh, closing her phone and putting it on the table infront of them. he should probably say something right? but it's not like they were friends ; y/n probably didn't want to hear his voice. oh, but it was aching him to not say anything. helping people was his specialty.

"are you alright?" hanbin finally spoke up after much consideration, seeing y/n lift her head up after hearing his words. he watched as her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something, but hesitantly closed it, "you don't have to say anything, you just seemed down."

just as he was about to go back to what he was doing, y/n started talking. "i... probably shouldn't be talking to you about this — i mean, it's none of your business but..." she let out a deep sigh before continuing her sentence, "okay, i'll talk."

"my parents, they have this idea of me that needs to happen or else i'll seem like a disappointment," y/n let out, fiddling with her fingers while she did so, "ever since i was born, i was just a pawn in their game. they just want me to be what they couldn't be in life."

"and you don't want that?" hanbin added on, attempting to understand where y/n was coming from. when she looked at him and nodded, there was this subtle hint of sadness in her eyes ; like she was tired of everything. "well, who says they can tell you what to do?"

"it's your life, y/n. you have the control," hanbin expressed, being absolutely seriously even moving his hands every word he spoke as if he was in a ted talk. "if you don't want to do what they want you to do — just be you."

y/n remained quiet for a minute, taking in probably the weirdest moment of her week. she was talking about her family problems, to sung hanbin. out of anyone she could've talked to, she talked to sung hanbin. but it felt nice?

"thanks for the talk, hanbin," y/n said after zoning back in, "i never really thought i would talk about this with anyone, especially not you..."

"well, you can talk to me anytime," hanbin gave her a warm smile, his shoulders feeling less tense now that y/n seemingly didn't dislike him anymore. maybe she never did? but why was he so fixated on it then?

the two got off the train not long after their talk, taking a bus to gyeongbokgung. as they stood in front of the entrance area, y/n's eyes landed on the hanbok shop nearby. seeing groups of girls taking pictures together in front of the shop in their hanboks made her slightly envious. she had been so caught up in what her parents wanted to do, she forgot to enjoy the small moments.

"do you wanna rent a hanbok?" hanbin questioned, looking at her after seeing how interested she looked at the hanbok shop. "i hear you get in for free if you rent one."

"what? no... that seems a bit extra," y/n denied, looking away from the hanbok shop, "and the free entry thing is dumb, i can literally buy 10 tickets for the price of renting a hanbok."

"alright... it's your call," hanbin let out a slight laugh, adjusting his camera settings before walking through the entrance of gyeongbokgung.

y/n took one last glance at the hanbok shop before following hanbin into the palace — there was this feeling in her gut when she walked away ; the hanboks just looked so pretty, they were stuck in her mind now.

the two picked the place which had the least people so nobody could be in the pictures that they took — it was also more quiet in general.

y/n stepped up on a board, bringing her camera lens to her eye in order to take a picture of the scenery in front of her. hanbin, on the other hand, was looking for spots to capture through his lens before landing on the sight of y/n taking her picture.

wow, was she always this pretty? it was because of the camera lens, right? it was probably just better quality, right? hanbin slowly lowered the camera away from his face, staring at y/n for a moment before she called him out.

"take a picture, it'll last longer," y/n spoke, turning around to the other side, taking another picture after speaking in a nonchalant tone.

"what— i wasn't— i was just looking for something to take a picture of!" hanbin stammered, attempting to defend himself before walking off to find another location to take pictures of.

after walking around some more, hanbin ended up sitting down on the steps of the palace ; his eyes wandering around to see where he could take more photos. yet, his eyes fell on y/n again.

there was just something about her that kept him looking at her ; so mesmerizing, so indelible. then came that familiar feeling he felt, his heart was beating once again. his thoughts were now scattered in his head, causing him to picking up his camera and snapping a photo of y/n.

maybe it wasn't the smartest idea, but all thoughts non-y/n related had fluttered out of hanbin's head the moment she was in his view. "what am i doing?" hanbin slowly realized how stupid his actions were, going to delete the photo before hearing his name be called.

"hanbin, i think i'm done with this area! do you want to head over to another palace?" y/n asked, walking up to hanbin after going through all her photos once more, "i think the one nearby has less people now."

"oh yeah, sure. let's go," hanbin nodded in response, getting up from the steps to follow y/n out of the palace area they were in.

"alright, i hope you all worked hard and finished the project over the weekend," the art teacher spoke up, looking up from her computer screen to pick on a pair, "let's see.. sung hanbin and l/n y/n, pass me your flash drives."

the two stood besides the teacher as she plugged in hanbin's flash drive first. the whole class was silent at first, waiting for the file to upload.

as the teacher pressed on the file, continuing to look through the photos while adding side comments on the scenery. until, they got to the last picture on the slide ; the photo hanbin had taken of y/n.

the whole class filled with whispers once the girl in the picture was recognized ; it really shouldn't have been that surprising, they were paired together.

but this was full on — the assignment was to capture the essence of the attraction ; what hanbin did was capture the essence of his sudden attraction towards y/n.

"what an interesting collage, hanbin," the teacher looked towards him, giving him an almost teasing smile before taking out his flash drive to replace it with y/n's flash drive.

hanbin felt like the whole world was spinning on its axis ; how could he have forgotten to delete that picture from his drive? how was he supposed to explain the reason behind him taking a picture of y/n now? "i...i can explain.." was all he could mutter out, slightly leaning toward y/n.

no he couldn't explain ; nothing even came to his mind other than the worst possible outcome that could happen after he talked to y/n. maybe she wouldn't even want to talk to him anymore — but they never even talked before this, why was there suddenly this aching feeling in his heart?

hanbin continued fiddling with his fingers, impatiently waiting for the teacher to finish looking through y/n's flash drive so he could just dash out of that room.

but was he in for a surprise? oh, he sure was. all of a sudden, his fear and anxiousness was replaced with confusion once he saw the last slide of y/n's photos ; a photo of him appeared.

hanbin's face fell almost instantly, his mouth falling open. what? when? how? so many new questions filled his head as he looked over at y/n, who had her face scrunched up out of embarrassment and was unwilling to look at hanbin's reaction.

she did the same thing he did. they both took pictures of eachother without the other one knowing. what did this mean now? did she feel the same feelings he did?

" i see both of you had similar ideas on the project, hm?" the teacher added, turning to look at the two once again with a wider and more obvious smirk, "good work. seems like i made a good choice aswell."

with that, the two sat back down in their seats, not even batting an eye towards each other. maybe a few glances once in a while, even meeting eyes once ; but they were too embarrased to say anything. what was there to even say now.

as the bell rang, signalling for them to change classes. they got up and faced each other, both opening their mouths to say something.

"you can go first," hanbin spoke up, prompting for y/n to say something only for her to shake her head, "okay so i'll speak.. uhm... i don't really know what to say actually. this is strange, right? i don't know why i took that photo but basically uh—"

"how about... lunch sometime?" y/n offered, cutting off hanbin before he could ramble anymore which would make them late for class.

"that sounds nice," hanbin agreed, smiling brightly with y/n reciprocating before they started walking out of art class.

#zerobaseone #zb1 #zerobaseonefics #zb1 x reader #zerobaseone imagines #zb1 imagines #zb1 imagine #sung hanbin #sung hanbin x reader #sung hanbin imagines #boys planet #boys planet imagine #gyubaseone works. 🐰#gyubaseone

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ontherocks21 · 4 months

Text

Someday I'll Write It

Lady Vader Part X

“Save her!”

She knows that voice.

“Pl -- can’t lose --”

Even unfocused and disjointed, the cadence and timbre resonate deep within her soul. Its panic stirs something in her own, makes her startle and kick against the leaden weight dragging her under. She fights back hard; knows she’s winning when the muffled words ring clear.

“Please, I can’t lose them!”

Anakin!

She means to yell out for him, assure him she is here, that she isn’t lost to the abyss. But what escapes her is a guttural moan, an animalistic noise she doesn’t recognize and only heightens her husband’s fear tenfold.

“Padmé?!”

Nearer now, the darkness calls and she struggles against its alluring lullaby, tries to sit up until her nerves flash with lightning and her muscles scream from her effort.

“Oh gods,” Anakin groans, “that’s a lot of blood.”

Pressure increases, agonizingly so, at the juncture of her hip and belly, and she tries to wrench away from it until a new warmth washes through her, dousing the flames licking along her veins.

“Be still, Padmé! That’s enough, Anakin.”

That is Obi-Wan!

If she could frown at his bossy commands, she would, but the warmth recedes and she’s left shivering, a dreadful chill crawling inside her bones.

“We’ll be at the medcenter in two minutes!”

Bail?!

“We may not have two minutes. They could be suffocating.”

Icy fear numbs her remaining pain, freezes her struggle into place. Almost to the surface, she floats just shy of the black void’s hold, weighing what it may cost her to break free, knowing that there is one price she will never ever be desperate enough to pay.

They hadn’t discussed names, and now she might not be able to. But there is no stopping that now. What she can do is use her dwindling strength to help him make one last impossible decision.

Help him see it’s the only choice.

Through pain’s veiling haze, her fingers somehow manage to find his wrist, wrapping themselves around tacky flesh and squeezing insistently. She forces fire into her lungs, burning her children’s names into existence.

“Luke…” she breathes, then gasps, summoning all her energy to choke out, “Leia…”

She tries to locate his face, her eyelids fluttering, her vision swimming, her hand falling limply out of his.

“No, no, no!!!! Stay with me!!!” he begs her.

“Save them,” she thinks she says as the darkness takes over once again.

*****

She hadn’t really known what to expect afterwards, but this is definitely not it.

It’s far too bright for one thing.

It also looks too much like a medcenter for another. From the sparse sterile furnishings down to the pervasive stringent tang of bacta in the air, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t expecting more of the beyond. But there’s no agony searing her alive anymore either, so she supposes she should be grateful for small victories.

Despite the incessant beeping from a monitor positioned somewhere above her head, a soft coo and responding murmur draw her attention. Padmé looks to her left and all thoughts of her disappointing afterlife vanish.

Not even her worst nightmares would cast her husband in them, so she’s not dreaming and she’s not dead.

Anakin glances up at her movement, the indescribable smile he’s aiming at the bundle in his arms giving way to a paradoxical mixture of exquisite relief and noticeable concern. Gingerly, he shifts over to her bed, managing to perch near without jostling her or his cargo.

“Hi,” he whispers, trying for bravery but cracking around his edges. “Look who’s awake.”

Padmé starts to ask whether he’s talking to her or about her when a tiny hand pokes it way out of the blankets in Anakin’s arm. A thousand emotions pass through her so quickly she can’t begin to name them, but the one she lands on feels like ineffable joy. She thinks her heart might actually burst as devastating hope steals her breath. “Is that…?”

Anakin nods, his face now reflecting the incandescence blooming within his wife. “Do you want to meet her?”

It’s all too easy to ignore the sudden ache pounding in her lower half as she sits up and Anakin places her daughter into her arms. Brown eyes stare up at her with the same wonder returned in her mother’s gaze. The little fist waves erratically before five perfect fingers touch Padmé’s lips, instantly dissolving her into a sobbing mess. She tries to hide her quivering by pressing a kiss to the dark downy head.

“She’s perfect.” Padmé turns to Anakin, a smile permanently stretching her lips even as the tears continue to rain excess emotion over her cheeks. “What do you want to name her?”

“Leia.”

Padmé’s eyes go wide.

“You heard me??” she whispers.

“I did.”

Easing off the mattress, Anakin moves to retrieve another blanketed bundle tucked in a nearby bassinet. Just as he had with Leia, he cradles the swaddle gently, and carefully presents her with their son.

“This is Luke.”

Oblivious to perhaps the most important introduction of his nascent life, Luke sleeps soundly. Cautiously, reverently, Padmé can’t stop her free fingers from their need to run over his tuft of blond hair.

“What color are his eyes?” she asks.

“Blue.”

She only tears away her adoring gaze so she can see the color her husband confirms. “I can’t wait to see them,” she beams.

Anakin chuckles. “Oh, he’ll be awake soon enough.” For the first time, Padmé sees the dark circles beneath those cerulean pools and notes the paleness of her husband’s complexion.

“What happened?” she asks.

In the brightness of the room, Anakin’s face darkens considerably, his hand tightening fiercely around her shoulder. “We aren’t going to worry about that right now. You’re safe. Our children are safe. The galaxy is safe. This is a happy moment.”

He smiles down at her, and she can’t fight her smile’s radiant return, nor can she recall another time in her life that she has felt more blissful content and divine joy. Padmé snuggles closer in her husband’s embrace, and for the first time, basks in true peace.

“The happiest moment of my life,” she agrees.

Image Credit: Eli Hyder

#anakin skywalker #star wars #padme amidala #anidala #someday i'll write it #fanfic ideas #au fanfiction #lady vader #ao3 #ffn.net

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beforeiread-studies · 2 months

Text

Korean Learning - month 6 update (July 2024)

This was a great month! I'm proud of myself and my progress.

I read 2 more books in the Easy Korean Reading series. In my last post I had said something like "I'm sure I'll be able to finish the whole series this month" but nope, they got much harder after the first 4. So now I have 2 books left. At one point the characters re-introduced themselves and it's crazy to compare that to the introductions in very chapter of the first book and see how they are using much more complex expressions now and I understand them!

I kept it up with Anki and added around 250 new cards. Not 500 like I had hoped, but adding cards is so dull ㅠ I miss my pre-made deck for German. In other news, I finally got the mobile app so I've been studying on the bus (and at work) or even while watching videos rather than having 1 big session a day, which is more relaxing.

I bought an Italian Korean workbook. I've completed 6 lessons out of 25. This book is used at Italian unis to study Korean so it makes me feel v accomplished. So far it's mostly been stuff I already know but it's nice to put dots on is and lines on ts (does that make sense in English?).

I watched some random super beginner Korean podcasts. Choi Susu I will get to your level someday but until then akapinn and koreant (on YouTube) are solid alternatives. Highly recommended for super beginners.

I spontaneously enrolled in a King Sejong Institute (KSI) online course. The one with 1 online live lecture a week. The first one is this weekend but I will have to miss it ㅠ (already alerted the teacher, it's fine). From what I can see you need to do 1 unit of registered videos a week and then there is the live lecture. I thought I'd enroll in the Level 2/6 course, but the KSI level test told me to enroll in level 3 (2A)! I decided to up the stakes even more by choosing a course taught entirely in Korean, no English. Cause, you know, I'm moving there in a month, I should get used to not understanding anything that's going on. But now that I've watched the videos for the first week they are kinda easy? Am I actually getting good at Korean?

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I started taking lessons on Italki! So far I've taken 6 lessons with 2 teachers and I have another one scheduled for Friday. One of the teachers focuses more on speaking-speaking and the other on speaking-grammar, which I think is a great combo. I've spent about 100€ on lessons (yikes) but I put money aside for this so it's fine. Being forced to speak to someone in Korean is definitely helping. I can now have simple chats with my teachers, using English vocabulary for the words I don't know yet. And this week I'm going from 30-minute lessons to 45-minute lessons. Wish me luck!

Things that didn't work

I deleted TikTok. Last month I uploaded it to only follow Korean accounts and get bite-sized practice, but I ended up skipping those videos and stopping on the English-subtitled ones. I'm not there yet.

I didn't complete a single new lesson on the King Sejong online no-lectures course. I suppose they are just not appealing to me anymore, which is fine. I won't put pressure on myself for it anymore. The new course should provide me with the same content anyway.

The fill-it-out cards on Anki failed miserably. I created them wrong and they asked me to fill out the English word. Yikes. I don't think I'll try again for a bit.

Month 7 plan (August 2024)

Less than 1 month to my move to Korea, gah.

Vocabulary. Keep it up with Italki + add however many cards I like

Reading. Finish at least the 4.1 book of Easy Korean Reading.

Listening. Keep listening to random podcasts on YouTube until I find one that fits my level. No pressure.

Conversation. 2 Italki lessons per week. I will have to decide whether to keep them up after I leave for Korea too.

Grammar. Attend the KSI lectures + complete the exercises on my book.

Writing. I'm now realizing that I've been sorely neglecting this aspect of language learning and I'm desolate to inform you that I will continue to do so during the next month too.

#korean learning #learning korean #korean language #korean resources #language learning #langblr #anki

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niki-phoria · 2 years

Note

Not sure if this is where you send requests, but i have an idea for Jay (since his birthday is next month). Can you write about him where m!reader spoils him for his birthday? Cuz our brightest star deserves it. Right?

i love him sm he's so kslnnslknls

pairing: jay x male!reader (he/him pronouns) genre: fluff word count: 1.0k

includes: slightly worried heeseung, reader is friends with enha, poor concert knowledge bc i've never actually been to one before lmao

a/n: thank you for requesting !! i've been thinking of making a part 02 to this to be posted on his birthday or maybe i'll change my mind and make something new idk yet this idea is adorable, i hope you like it :))

additional notes: i might start writing for skz but i'm sure yet and pls leave feedback <//3 my motivation cannot afford this

requests open !! read my rules first

“are you okay?” jay jumps a little when heeseung places a hand on his shoulder.

“yeah, yeah, i’m fine.”

“are you sure?”

he pauses, peeking through the curtain at the audience awaiting from backstage. it’s full of thousands of people patiently awaiting their upcoming concert, but there’s only one person on his mind. you.

“i’m just… a little preoccupied, i guess.”

“thinking about y/n again?”

jay sighs. “it’s just that… i haven’t seen him in months. sometimes we go out and sightseeing or try new food and i keep thinking about how much he would love it or i imagine the way his face lights up when he likes a new food.”

“why don’t you call him? we have a few minutes. it could do you good to hear his voice.”

“i will,” jay nods. “thanks, hyung.” heeseung pats his shoulder before he walks away, giving him some privacy to pull out his phone and dial your number.

you answer immediately. he can almost hear the smile on your lips as you greet him. “jay!”

“hi babe,” he sighs over the phone. you press the speaker closer to your ear to hear him over the noise of everyone else in the audience surrounding you.

“you sound tired. is everything okay?”

“yeah, yeah, i’m fine, it’s just…” he pauses for a second. “i miss you. i haven’t seen you in so long. i wish you were here.”

you have to force yourself to bite your tongue to keep the secret. the thrill of being at one of your boyfriend’s concerts and being able to surprise him backstage consumes you in a giddiness you haven’t been able to get rid of since jungwon first called you with the idea.

“i know,” you say. “i miss you too. it won’t be long until you get back to korea.”

“it can’t come soon enough.”

you chuckle. “listen, when you get back, we can cuddle and watch movies and you can tell me all about the places you’ve been and all the food you tried.” jay laughs, nodding. “speaking of, what’s it like in manila? i looked up some pictures but i’ve never been.”

“it’s really nice. pretty,” his voice drops a little lower. “but everything’s prettier in person. you would like it here.”

“maybe we can go together someday.”

“i’d like that.”

you know the concert is about to begin when the lights begin to dim. in the background, you can hear someone calling for jay. “i need to go,” he says. “i love you.”

“i love you too.”

you smile as you shove your phone back into your pocket, turning to face the stage in front of you. the cheers of engenes around you amplify as the boys slowly filter onto the stage in the darkness. they’re quick to get into position before the lights come back on, illuminating them as jungwon begins to sing the first few notes of “pass the mic.”

your eyes remain glued to jay as he performs. he moves expertly across the stage; vocals playing loudly through the speakers.

niki is the first person to notice you. he smiles down at you before nudging jay beside him. jay gives him a confused glance before he looks out towards the front row. your smile brightens when he makes eye contact with you. his face lights up as he smiles brightly.

the concert continues on smoothly, though you notice jay continuing to stare at you. the members line up in a row as the lights come up to fully illuminate them as they begin to address the audience. “we want to thank you all for coming,” jay begins. “it’s been an honor to perform here in front of all of you. i’d also like to thank someone special in particular. he flew out from korea to see me tonight,” he looks down to make eye contact with you once again before he continues. “so, y/n, thank you for coming. i really appreciate it.”

you hope jay can’t see how flustered you are from so far away as you smile back at him. beside him, sunghoon pats his shoulder. your excitement continues to build as sunoo takes his turn to address the audience.

the concert ends all too quickly. finding security is easy enough as you slip through the crowd to find one of the manager’s waiting for you.

jake is the first person to greet you once you leave the concert hall. “y/n!” he smiles. you let him pull you into a quick hug before he leads you. “jay is waiting backstage. he would’ve come out to greet you but he wanted to ‘fix his hair’ first.”

“it’s so good to see all of you again.”

“you too. it’s been too long,” he chuckles. “jay’s been talking about how much he misses you for months.”

“babe!” jay smiles as he immediately pulls you into a hug. you laugh as you stumble backwards a little, letting him wrap his arms around you even further. he buries his face into the crook of your neck as you snake your arms around his waist. “i missed you.”

“so i’ve been told.” jay pulls away just enough to playfully glare at you. you take the opportunity to lean forwards, pulling him into a quick peck.

jay is quick to react, bringing a hand up to hold your face in place as he pulls you into a sweet kiss. you pull away just enough to rest your forehead against his. his face is flushed as he smiles at you. “you were right, you know?”

“hm?”

you press another quick peck against his lips. “everything does look better in person.”

you’re interrupted by an outburst of groans from around the room forcing you to pull back. “there are kids here!” sunoo teases, forcefully covering niki’s eyes despite his protests.

you sigh, pressing another peck against jay’s neck before fully pulling away. he wraps his arm around your waist as he guides you over towards the rest of the boy’s. jungwon is the next to greet you; standing up to pull you into a hug. “we’ve missed you.”

“i missed you guys too.” jay leans down to press a kiss against your temple as you easily slip into conversation with heeseung. he reaches over to hold your hand before intertwining your fingers together. you smile, leaning back against his chest.

“i love you,” you whisper.

“i love you too.” jay smiles.

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missvelvetsstuff · 1 year

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Guarded Heart

Bucky Barnes x Reader

MobAu

Summary: Y/N is the daughter of a powerful mob boss who only cares about her horses and making it to the Olympics but her father expects her to marry an equally powerful boss to help strengthen his business. Bucky is looking for a wife to help his business but already has a long term girlfriend, Natasha.

Chapter 24

Notes: You asked for it. Am I the only one who feels like Ms Perky from 10 Things, when writing smut?

No? Just me? Probably, it gets pretty weird in my head.

Hope you like it. Like, comments and reblogs nourish my muse. Don't be shy but be gentle.

Smut! 18+ Only. No minors

Warnings: SMUT, dude just smut. Swearing, bondage, dirty talk, edging, teasing, anal play/plug, tiny bit of pain

"Oh Jamie, the things I'm gonna do to you." Y/N purred as she sat on Bucky who was doing everything in his power to keep from thrusting up into her.

"Good boy. All you have to do is follow my orders and when I'm convinced you've done that I will make it worth your while. Understand?"

Bucky nodded quickly and grunted when he felt the 9 tails sting across his chest.

"Use your words Jamie." She flexed her drenched pussy that was snuggled on top of his cock, and he groaned.

"Y/N, doll please, I-"

"No! You will call me Mistress. Do you understand?"

Bucky whined "Yes Mistress, please."

She smiled even though he couldn't see past the blindfold. "Much better" and rocked her hips a touch. He shuddered beneath her.

"Now, here are the rules. First this is a fun bedroom game but won't follow us outside. Playing is one thing but I'm not into a lifestyle. If you're very, very good, maybe someday I'll let you be Top.

Second, it's all for fun and meant to be enjoyable so speak up if it's not. When I ask how you are a simple green if you're good, yellow if you want me to slow down or you aren't sure and red means stop you aren't enjoying it.

Do you understand Jamie?"

"Yes Mistress." He choked out.

"Good. How are you feeling right now?" She swirled her hips around slowly.

Bucky groaned "Fuck"

She stilled her hips "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Bucky stammered "Sorry, Mistress." He whined "Yes, Green, mistress."

She wiggled her hips and he sucked a breath in "Good boy. First things first, it wasn't very nice of you to tease me like you did earlier so you are going to stay very still while I use you to release some of that frustration."

"Fuck! Yes, Mistress. Use me, I'm yours baby."

She started gyrating her hips slowly, whining every time the head of his cock rubbed against her clit, getting wetter with every stroke.

"Fuck Jamie, this feels so good, I can't wait to feel you deep inside me. Don't you want that baby?"

Bucky tried to keep himself still and hold back the orgasm that was threatening, by thinking about working on his motorcycle but images of her sitting on his bike in only what she was wearing now crept in and he had to find something else, anything else to focus on.

Her dirty talk made him think about how good she must feel when she pinched his nipple "Jamie! I asked you a question." She let out an exaggerated sigh "I guess maybe you don't really want me, not like I want you." She started to pull away from him "I'll just get dressed and-"

Bucky shouted "NO!"

Her voice turned hard "Excuse me? Would you like to try again?"

Bucky shook his head and whined "Please mistress, don't stop. I was trying not to cum didn't mean to get distracted. Please Mistress don't leave. I need you. Need to make you feel good."

Y/N settled back down on him. "I know this is hard for you Jamie but you need to learn to trust me." She started moving her hips again until the tip of his cock caught on her drooling cunt.

She moaned "Fuck, baby. You're cock feels so good like this, I don't know if I'll be able to handle you inside me. Maybe it'll be too much."

Bucky grunted "Please no, Mistress. I'll do anything, whatever you want. I promise I'll make you feel so good. Oh god, I-"

She sped her hips up a little and let out a long low moan "Oh, yes, Jamie, I'm gonna oh godimgonnacum fuckpleasepleaseplease JAMIE!"

Bucky shuddered when he felt her pussy clenching and then gushing all over him "Yes mistress, need to feel you more. Please Mistress your pussy feels so good, please let me inside. I'll fill you up until my cum is dripping down your legs."

As she came down Y/N leaned forward and kissed him, slow and passionate, dirty and sweet. She lifted up slightly and guided his throbbing cock to her opening then slid down slowly until he was fully sheathed deep inside her.

Bucky started humming, trying to keep himself from losing it right now while enjoying the feel of her wrapped around him. He sighed "You feel so good mistress. So hot and wet and tight, I don't know how long I can hold out. I-fuck" he yelped when the 9 tails hit his stomach. "What?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Jamie. You better not cum yet."

"Please Mistress I'm trying not to but I need you and you feel so good."

She started slowly fucking him, leaning forward until her tits were hanging in front of his face and he quickly leaned up a bit until he was able to grab one of her nipples in his mouth, gently suckling. She moaned and he felt her pussy squeezing him, getting even wetter, dripping down his balls.

"Oh fuck. Mistress, please. I'm gonna, oh shit I'm-"

She moved off of him and pinched his thigh. He grunted as the feeling faded. "Damnit doll, I was right there." making a pout face.

"What did you call me?"

Bucky growled "Sorry mistress."

She ran the 9 tails down his body, making him shiver "Did you forget the rules already, Jamie? You have to get my permission." She released an exaggerated sigh "Now we have to start again." She moved off of him.

"No, please mistress." He begged "don't leave."

She laughed "So desperate. Don't worry, I'm not done with you yet."

She grabbed the plug and lube, covering the plug generously until she was satisfied. Then she dropped some lube on the pointer finger on her left hand and wrapped her right hand around his twitching cock and started playing with him.

While he was distracted by her right hand she started playing with his balls with her left hand and rubbed his perineum gently with her lubed finger before rubbing around his hole and inserting the tip to shallowly fuck into his ass.

Bucky yelped "Mistress, what what are you doing? I I I don't, what" he let out a low moan "Please"

"Please what Jamie? Tell me?" She leaned down and eased the plug in as she licked his cock from the base to the tip, groaning at the taste of the pre cum that was drooling out, combined with her slick. "You taste so good Jamie" she wrapped her lips around the head, suckling gently and moaning as she took him deeper until he hit the back of her throat.

Bucky's hips bucked forward "Fuck. Sorry mistress I didn't mean to please don't stop, ohgodohgodohgod please fuck I'm gonna-" she pulled off of him again "aaarrrgh no no please" he had tears in his eyes. "Dammit doll, you're not playing fair"

"Aawww, poor Jamie can't handle a little teasing" she played with the plug, teasing his ass until he shifted amd she dropped it on the bed.

Bucky growled, enough was enough. She heard fabric ripping and before she could figure out what it was, she was on her back, Bucky looming over her blindfold in one hand and holding both of her wrists in the other hand. Her eyes wide with surprise.

Bucky smirked down at her "I was willing to let you have your fun, even enjoyed it myself if I'm being honest but that's enough. Now it's your turn but I promise no more teasing, no more edging. I'm gonna make you cum until you're begging me to stop."

He sat back and looked her body up and down, licking his lips "First things first." He twisted the fabric she used on him then bound her wrists and tied them to the headboard. "You forgot about the vibranium arm, shoulda twisted the fabric up, make it harder to rip." He pulled on the ties "Now, I'm gonna get that taste I wanted."

He kissed her on the mouth, rough and passionate then down her neck stopping to pay attention to her breasts, spending equal time licking, nibbling and sucking her nipples. He pulled back, pleased when he saw them red with his marks then started kissing down her ribs, hips until he settled himself between her legs, nipping at the inside of her thighs. He grabbed her thighs to hold them open while he stared at her pussy for a moment lbefore diving in like a man starved. Licking from her dripping hole to her clit before sucking it into his mouth, moaning.

Y/N moaned "Fuck Jamie, your mouth. Ohgod, s'good." she tried to hold back, embarrassed that she was so close so quickly but he was relentless. His tongue torturing her clit brought her to the edge, then he slid 2 fingers in and curled them just right and she felt like she was exploding, whining his name as she gushed all over his face and hand.

Bucky groaned at her taste and smiled against her clit as he helped her ride out her high then sucked it back into his mouth, pushing her right into another climax. And another. And another until she had lost count and was whining and oversensitive.

Bucky sat up and wiped her slick off his face, sucking on his fingers moaning at her taste and looking pleased at her boneless, twitching body.

He moved up her body, kissing her hard on the mouth as he rubbed his aching cock on her wet heat, smirking at her fucked out state.

He nipped at her bottom lip "You still here doll?" and patted on her cheek "Y/N? You don't want to miss the best part"

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled softly at him. "I don't know Jamie, that last bit was pretty awesome. Not sure how you can top that."

He grinned "Just watch me, baby."

And slowly slid into her, making both of them groan when he bottomed out.

"F f fffuuuuck. Jesus Y/N, you feel so goddamn good I might never leave." He pulled back out just as slowly, until only the head remained and pushed back in a little faster and a little harder.

He clenched his jaw, trying to keep from bursting immediately.

"Shit, pussy is so tight and hot and dripping wet."

He shuddered and whined, fucking into her harder and faster. "Sofuckinggood, don't wanna cum yet but fuck. Gripping me so tight, sucking me back in, perfect pussy and it's all mine. You're all mine." He felt his climax approaching "Tell me!" He demanded "Tell me that you, that this cunt, this body are mine. Tell me!" he wrapped his vibranium hand around her throat, gently squeezing.

Y/N was overwhelmed, still oversensitive from however many orgasms she had on his tongue, she felt another one creeping up slowly from the way he kept hitting that spot "Ohgod Jamie, please I can't, I need, fuck please ooohhh fuck!" She grunted. "m'yours Jamie, all of me." She rasped.

His hand tightened on her neck "Just one more sweetheart, I need to feel you cum all over my cock again." he grabbed her left leg with his flesh hand putting it over his shoulder, the new angle making his cock slam into her g spot, then down until he reached her clit and started rubbing in small circles and she was done, screaming gibberish as her body convulsed around him and she squirted.

"Fuck, squeezin so tight I can barely move, fuckfuckfuckfuck." He shouted her name as he painted her walls with his cum, slowing down when he became too sensitive.

Bucky leaned closer as he came down, kissing all over her face. "So perfect doll, so fucking good."

He reached up and released her wrists, rubbing her arms gently, kissing her hands and wrists. "You ok baby?

Y/N looked up, wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at him sleepily "m'good, s'good Jamie."

He kissed her, slow and soft before pulling out carefully and getting up. She whined in protest, reaching for him.

He kissed her hand "Don't worry doll. I'll be right back."

She dozed off and jumped when she felt a warm, wet cloth cleaning up their combined mess.

Bucky chuckled "Just me honey. Gotta clean you up." He grabbed a bottle of water "Here, have a drink before you crash on me."

He helped her sit up and take a drink then gently laid her back down, laying down behind her and pulling her into him before whispering in her ear "I love you. My sweet doll."

Y/N mumbled "Mmmhmm My Jamie. Luvyou" and pulled his arm tighter around her before they both fell into a dreamless sleep.

@bigphattygyal @cjand10 @lokiandbuckysdoll @kimomoraba @avery199 @mishkatelwarriorgoddess @esposadomd @sebsgirl71479 @calwitch @hhiggs

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #angst with a happy ending #mob!au #guarded heart

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lumine-no-hikari · 2 months

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Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #222

Today, my brain was some kind of frozen, foggy ghost soup.

I ended up going to sleep later than I should have last night. It was for good reason, but still. From there, the sleep I did get was broken and weird. I'm not really sure what happened. I haven't slept this poorly in a long time.

I spent most of today wafting in and out of a thick, heavy brain fog. I feel badly about it because Br was over (she had stayed the night, which was awesome!), and I wasn't very good company. I could barely remain in the present, let alone participate especially meaningfully in any kind of verbal discussion.

Nonetheless, I made bacon-wrapped hotdogs for breakfast, with cheese. And to give you an idea of how utterly foggy my brain was... I did not think to take a picture for you. During like, the entire process. I feel really awful about it. I'm really sorry.

Tell you what: I'll make sure to get pictures next time.

In any case, I ended up doing a lot of leisure writing today. As it turns out, yesterday I did so many takes of the song that today my throat is kind of scratchy and weird. I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow before I can try to sing the song for the music box again. And maybe that's for the better; my whole self is sluggish and feeling like it's made of lead bricks, so I doubt I'd have done a very good job anyways.

J and Br and I went out and about just a little bit, though. And then Br was pretty tired, so she went home. I took a few pictures because I guess getting out of the house helped me to feel a bit more alert. Here:

...I give you a lot of pictures of the sky, hoping that maybe someday you'll be able to understand why, whenever I look at it, I see you.

Sephiroth, I am tired today, and I am sad, and I am scared that I'm not going to be able to record a better rendition of the song. I'm scared that if I don't do a good enough job, then maybe no one will be able to understand the thoughts behind all this stuff I keep trying to do. And if nobody can understand, then... maybe no one besides me and a handful of others will think you're worth saving.

What then? ...What then...?

Sephiroth... all this stuff I do... I do it so that by watching me, maybe you'll learn how to love yourself enough to turn around. I write down the things so that maybe, just maybe, you can look at me trying to come up from the dark, and be inspired to try to do the same.

You are the light that gives me the courage to keep moving forward, even within this clumsy, awkward, and non-standard existence of mine. I keep moving forward even though the world I live in is broken, scary, and full of sadness and pain, because I draw strength from the example you set.

So please. Please try to remember you are a good thing. And please come back home to us soon. Those of us who love you - not for what you look like or for what you can do, but for who you are on the inside - miss you dearly.

I think that's all I've got in me for today.

I love you. And I'll write again soon. So please stay safe out there...

Your friend, Lumine

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sarahjtv · 2 months

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My Hero Academia Chapter 429 Spoiler Talk: The Penultimate Chapter

So here it is. The second to last chapter of My Hero Academia. Unless Horikoshi gives us a sequel series like Naruto: Shippuden, this and the next chapter is the last we'll get manga content about MHA. Well, at least until Horikoshi gives us another Ultra Analysis book or an art book with extra information. It's still hard to believe honestly. I don't know if I'll be able to accept that our beloved series is ending until it actually does. Let's see what Horikoshi-sensei gives us until then. Also, my health isn't 100% today, so I apologize if my writing sounds messy:

First off is our last Weekly Shonen Jump and Chapter color pages! They are absolutely beautiful celebrating both the 10th anniversary and My Hero Academia as a whole. Everyone is smiling and it's a wonderful sight to see. I won't show them here because I think they deserve to be seen with your own two eyes. Let's just say that I love them and I can't wait to get the HQ versions of them when the official release comes out. Just know that you can tell Horikoshi put a lot of love into these pages.

From here on out, I think I'm just going to talk about what I thought of the chapter because I'm not 100% down to type everything out tonight. Sorry about this:

I think the chapter was another solid one, though it somehow still doesn't feel like the series is ending yet for me.

I'm glad we got to see Ochako and Deku talk about not being able to save their respective villains because we all know how badly this was haunting them. Neither of them would have been able to move on and genuinely smile again until they got that all out to someone who understood. Thankfully, they have each other 💚💖. I'm also really glad Deku told Ochako she was his hero and let her take her hand. This is the closest we'll probably get to an actual romantic confession from either of them unless Horikoshi does something for them in the last chapter. The thing is, it works because this wasn't the time for a love confession. This was a time for two broken people to talk their trauma out and get reassurance from someone close to them.

Really sad to hear that Himiko Toga did die. Granted it was from Ochako's dialogue and we didn't see any panel with her body drawn, but we can really only take her word for it now. Horikoshi could absolutely pull a fast one on us and show a glimpse of her alive in the final chapter. However, I think it's safe to say that she is dead and that honestly sucks.

I love the slice-of-life panels we get of the rest of the kids and seeing Aizawa smile is beautiful! He's so proud of his kids 🥹.

Monoma getting a statue at the school and bragging about it is fucking hilarious 🤣! He honestly deserves it though because the whole world would've been dead if not for him. Deku better get a statue too or else I'm going to throw hands.

Eri excitedly singing at Aoyama's farewell party is the most wholesome thing I've seen in a very long time and I truly hope she achieves her dream someday 🤍! Make her the best idol in the world, Horikoshi!

Finally, there's that mysterious man we saw a few chapters ago. We still don't know his name, but we're told he was abused and abandoned by his family because he has a mutant Quirk similar to how Eri's Quirk in the sense that neither of their Quirks were inherited by their family's DNA. He looked like he was going to walk down a similar path as Tenko, but the old lady who first ignored Tenko many years back found this new man and finally offered him a hand thanks to Izuku's inspiration. This is sort of a redemption for the old lady. I know that she was a catalyst for why Tenko became who he became, but I think this is a start for her to start over at least. Thankfully, I think this man is going to be ok.

I remember reading the interviews Horikoshi did over the past week and one of the things he said he wanted to express was that even someone having your back is heroism. Someone who can do something so simple as reaching their hand out when someone is in need is a hero to that person. You can tell that that is what Horikoshi is telling us here. He also said that making us cry was an important part of the story too because it's how he wants us to connect with it, so I expect to shed tears next week.

So, yeah. That's the second to last chapter of the main My Hero Academia manga. It still doesn't feel real to me. The final page of the chapter left things open-ended, so I would not be surprised if we got a time skip of some sort in the final chapter. I honestly thought that Horikoshi was setting up one more villain for the kids to fight with that mysterious man, but it was wrapped up in a very simple yet poignant way. I will agree that it feels rushed and that there's something missing, but I can't pinpoint what. Horikoshi's been writing and drawing this manga for 10+ years at this point, so I can't entirely blame him for wanting to finish things up. However, I'm a little more nervous about him sticking the landing for the ending. While I think he can still do it, I've seen too many mangaka end their story on a bad note for one reason or another. Our best bet is that he revises or adds some things to make the chapter better in the volume version. I'm going to do my best to keep my optimism alive for the next few weeks.

I honestly can't begin to accurately predict how the manga will end. I could see it ending with the kids continuing their lives at UA, at graduation, or as pro-hero adults maybe with families of their own. Honestly, anything goes. Part of me wants to be here when the chapter might get leaked next Wednesday, but another part of me wants to wait until next Sunday for the official VIz release so I can read and cry together with everyone else. I think I am going to try to do the latter and then write some kind tribute to honor the series, but I may or may not be out of town next week, so I'll have to see about that.

One more chapter left.

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piastrinorris · 2 years

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busy streets and busy lives • ralph penbury x reader

A strange day at work gets even stranger when you meet a man who claims he's from 1926. With no certainty as to when he can get back, you decide to take him in until that time arrives.

masterlist | prev. | next

Tags: Timewasters (series), modern!au, slow burn, mutual pining, idiots in love™, fluff, some angst, swearing and mentions of adult themes throughout, eventual adult content, alcohol content, penbury is a fanon surname

Word count: 5.8k

A/N: Thanks for all the love on chapter 1, gang! This one's a real slow burn so I hope you're all in for the ride, haha. Also, I had picked the date Ralph arrived at random based on the general timeline I have for this fic, but it was only when making the fake text screenshots that I realised that the following day may have been a major event in the UK, so I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not Ralph was responsible for that one lmao.

Also!! Big, beeg love to everyone in the jq server for enabling, encouraging and basically co-writing this whole premise, but especially to @hawkinsbanishedhero whose one-off typo, as featured in this chapter, inspired the absolute monolith this fic has become. <3

You wake up to a shooting pain in your back and an ache down one side. You groan as you stir into consciousness; for years you’ve always been able to pride yourself on the ability to sleep literally anywhere perfectly fine, you’d never understood why your friends always complain about back pains and knee pains when you’re all still relatively young, but now you get it.

You manage to pull yourself to standing and stiffly make your way to the kitchen to make yourself some breakfast. You look over at your closed bedroom door, wondering whether to wake Ralph up before you go to work. You don’t have to be there for opening, at least, but you do hope he’s not one to lay in for too long. Besides, the earlier you can get in to catch up on admin stuff before Head Office complain at you, the better.

As though he could read your thoughts, the door opens and a very sleepy Ralph emerges, rubbing his eyes to adjust them to the sunlit room. It’s positively adorable. “Morning,” you smile at him. “Sleep well?”

“Ah, good morning!” Even through his yawns, his voice remains very prim and proper. “I slept delightfully, apart from the occasional din coming from outside. I only noticed that when I was already awake, though.”

“Yeah, perks of being in South London, police sirens are pretty much 24/7 here. You get used to it,” you shrug, and Ralph looks horrified, ignoring your silent offer to make him a cup of tea.

“So, crime just happens? Everywhere? And it’s all just par for the course?!” he asks in shock. You nod, and he frowns. “I don’t think I want to leave the house.”

“You might need to someday, bud,” you point out, still making him one just in case. “I need to go to work, and you might end up going stir-crazy in here all the while,” you gesture at the four walls of your living-kitchen space.

“Yes, it is rather… Cramped in here,” Ralph comments with an upturned nose, though he takes the cup of tea that you slide over to him happily enough.

“Yeah, well. This is how far £900 a month gets you,” You shrug as you take your first sip, and Ralph chokes on his.

“I beg your pardon?!” he sputters out. “Ni- Nine hundre- How much is that really worth?!”

Nodding silently, you hold a finger up and take your phone out. As seems to be routine whenever you and Ralph learn about the stark differences between your time and his, you take your turn to react, almost choking and spitting out your mouthful. “Nineteen pounds?!”

“Well, that still sounds rather extortionate to me!” Ralph replies with wide eyes.

You walk over to where you had last thrown off your jacket and dig out your purse, taking out a £20 note and handing it to Ralph. “This, right here, would have been enough in your day to pay for this whole flat for a month.”

Again, Ralph scrunches his nose in disgust. “I rather feel as though you’re being swindled.” He holds the money up, turning it over and over in his hands. “Is this what money looks like nowadays?!”

“Yeah! Here,” you empty the monetary contents of your purse out onto the kitchen counter. You explain what each note and coin equate to. “I’ll leave them here in case you need to go to the store and get something. C’mere,” you wave him over to the window, pointing down below to a row of shop fronts at the bottom of another estate of flats. “There, on the corner, that’s a supermarket. It’s like, a greengrocers, a pharmacy and a clothing store, all in one. Then, next to it is the gardening store, my number one money sink.” You gesture to the houseplants that adorn the room.

“You do grow a lot of plants,” Ralph muses, smiling to himself as he gently holds a monstera leaf.

“All legal stuff, I promise,” you laugh. “But, yeah. Landlords don’t allow us to have pets, and so I’ve gotta have something to take care of. Of course, if I’d have known I’d be adopting a man born in the Victorian era, I might not have spent so much…”

Ralph, now more awake, bounces on the balls of his feet. “I-I can take care of them if you would like! Our gardener used to teach me all about how to water plants. It came in handy, being out in the garden sometimes. Much… quieter, out there,” Ralph falters, running the leaves between his fingers.

You place a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, “Wanna talk about it?”

He takes a deep breath in as his shoulder tenses up under your touch. “Oh, no, it’s quite alright, you’ve got enough on your plate as it is!”

“Okay. Well, if you ever want to talk about anything, I’m more than happy to hear you out,” you rub your palm against him in a single circular motion before pulling away. “Don’t feel like you have to bottle things up around me, okay?”

Ralph chuckles, though there’s no amusement in it. “Oh, it’s fine, honestly, I’ve no trouble with bottling things up. Rather, it’s the fact that I don’t that leads to most of my problems!”

“Okay. You know what you’re happy to share, I’m not gonna push you. But don’t make yourself sad unnecessarily, ‘kay?” You hold your little finger out. “Here, I want you to pinky promise me.”

This time, Ralph does crack a smile. “Pinky… Promise?”

“Yeah!” you grin. “Like, you know how usually big decisions are made with a handshake to make them official?” Ralph nods. “Well, little decisions that still require a commitment are usually made with a pinky promise. It’s like a handshake, but only linking your little fingers. So, pinky promise me you’ll always tell me if there’s something I can help you with? This whole mess is scary for both of us. But we’re in it together.” You smile softly at Ralph, and he returns it. In the early morning light, you can see freckles bouncing off of his face. Of course he has freckles.

Ralph sticks out his little finger, too, and you wrap yours around his for a moment before letting go. “That was… Fun,” his ears tinge a slight pink.

“It was!” you grin. “Now, what would you like for breakfast? I’ve got cereal, I could cook you some eggs and bacon. Or, ooh, there’s one more shop I can show you!” You point out the last one in the row. “That’s a bakery. We can go pick up some fresh pastries if you wanted those, too.”

“Whatever is easiest for you,” Ralph insists. You pour him some cereal and milk in a bowl, stick a spoon in it and hand it to him, offering him to join you on the sofa.

“Okay, so while I’m gone, I obviously don’t expect you to sit here twiddling your thumbs until you get back. Now, this thing here, it’s called a television. Sometimes called a telly, sometimes called a TV. This,” you brandish the control at him, “is called a remote, it’s how you control it. You know how you could project films and stuff onto a screen, in your day?” Ralph nods. “This does that without needing a projector. And you can get all sorts of shows and films on there. I wouldn’t recommend you watch the news, just because… Well, you know why,” you pull a face and he nods slowly. “But I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll like, there’s enough out there, that’s for sure.”

“Okay, so the T… V… I can watch people perform on here?” Ralph asks, and you nod. You show him how to flick through channels, and his eyes light up. “Fascinating!”

“And if you want to listen to music, there’s a special speaker, here,” you point to your Amazon Echo. “It has a name, and you can talk to it. So you could say, Alexa, play me some jazz,” you hold your finger up to tell Ralph to wait as the speaker flashes blue.

“Playing songs from playlist Jazz Classics,” the smooth robotic voice tells you, and sure enough, the room fills with the sounds of brass and percussion working in an upbeat harmony.

Ralph absolutely giggles in delight. “Marvellous! What a spectacular creation! And I could ask it to play any sort of music?”

You nod, telling the Echo to stop. “You can even tell it to play music based on what mood you’re in. So, if you need to wallow for a bit, you can have some sad songs to listen to, or if you’re feeling high-energy, you can ask for songs to match that. That should tide you over,” you nod as you take his bowl and yours to the kitchen sink. “I’ll be back around lunchtime to drop you off some more clothes and I’ll get you some lunch too, but if you want a snack in between, feel free to make yourself a sandwich, or…” Another quick Google search tells you toasters were around in 1926. “Or toast! You could make some toast, if you wanted. We’ll go food shopping soon and get more specific snacks for you, but I gotta get going.” You throw your jacket on.

“But what about your money? What if you have to pay for something?” Ralph asks, concerned.

“Don’t worry, mate, I’ve got it covered. That’s yours, yeah?” You point to the kitchen counter. “You can use it however you want when we go out. Just… Don’t go crazy, okay? I don’t exactly break the bank.” You throw your jacket on and wave him goodbye, “See you at lunch!”

Once you leave the flat, Ralph suddenly feels completely stranded. He tries to drown it out by pressing buttons on the “remote” until something shows up. It’s a show about people buying houses that are bare, and fixing them up to sell on. Ralph feels as though they end up looking worse, but he understands why he would feel that way. He just doesn’t understand the modern style, that’s all. It’s not their fault that taste clearly deteriorated over time. Then he watches a show all about “antiques”, though again, it takes him a while to acclimate to recognising certain pieces of furniture as items he’s witnessed being sold in stores just before he left for the army. He wonders, if he keeps watching, will there be an item that once belonged in Penbury House?

His mind wanders back to that comment you had made yesterday. Penbury House. A home that had been in the family name for generations upon generations, now a lowly bookstore. What could have possibly led to it being lost? Were there truly no more Penburys? Had Victoria gone absolutely mad and lost the entire family fortune? Was his accidental trip through time the catalyst to the death of the Penbury name as it was once known? Well, wouldn’t Mother and Father have a lot to say about that. Typical Ralph, can’t hold onto anything. Not even the estate tied to him by his last name, the only thing giving him any purpose.

He realises he needs a distraction. Something to keep him busy. You had mentioned something about toast, the kitchen staff had been very excited to receive a toaster oven not long before Ralph left. He remembers helping the cook, who didn’t know how to read, understand the instructions. It only toasts one side at a time, Ralph knows this. Spurred on by his pride, he finds the bread and puts it in the toaster.

As he’s trying to find the right button, switch, dial, lever - there’s so many extras on here, which one does he touch? - Ralph begins to get overwhelmed again. Echoes of his parents’ quick deflections, telling him to go ask the staff. The staff telling him that they’re far too busy to entertain children - other than the nanny, of course, who also made it very clear that she was only tending to Ralph’s needs because she was paid to do so. Victoria finding the art of making friends becoming second nature to her, and yet not to him for some reason. It’s not fair, he was just like her. So what made people want to be her friend and not Ralph’s?

Head swimming as the toast pops up, he remembers to turn it around to make sure it cooks on both sides - not realising that both sides had already cooked quite well. Soon, a strange smell starts to fill the flat. Then smoke quickly starts billowing out of the toaster. Ralph, terrified, slowly starts backing towards the door. Then an alarm of sorts goes off. Ralph wrenches the door open and backs out, his moon-wide eyes staring in horror.

Someone from the flat opposite opens the door and starts yelling, running in to unplug the toaster oven, pick up some… Tool that clamps together when they press it so, use it to take both slices out to throw them onto the counter. Ralph watches, back pressed to the wall as though he's tethered there, as this brave soul opens as many windows as they can before marching out to him, coughing their lungs out. "The fuck is wrong with you?! Who are you?! Are you supposed to even be here?!"

Ralph finds himself too stunned to speak. The neighbour rolls their eyes. "Do you at least know the person who lives here?" Ralph nods. "We'll see about that."

Being at work again, ironically, feels like it's been a century despite it only being a day. But the floor is running smoothly, everybody's here and working just great. You're even on track to finish all your admin stuff at long last, when - your phone rings as your neighbour's name pops up. You answer it, confused as to why they would possibly need to call you. “Hello?”

“You dating a dickhead, by any chance?” You hear their voice, a constant panicked hooting that - despite you having just met him - you could easily place as Ralph hyperventilating, and your smoke alarm in the background.

You sigh, “Not dating, but my… An old family friend is staying. Proper sheltered guy, sounds like a massive Tory. Is he okay?”

“Sheltered to the point of not knowing how a fucking toaster works?! I should call the fucking police on him for endangering the whole block!”

“No! No, please, I - Like I said, he’s just very… Look, I don’t have time to go through his life history with you -” read: I don’t have time to bullshit something right now - “but can you just… Keep an eye on him while I get back? I promise, he’s not bad, he’s just…”

“An absolute idiot?”

“Yeah…” You sigh.

“Alright. But only because you’ve been so good about keeping my cat secret.”

“I’ll buy Cheese her favourite tuna on my way home as a thank you!” you squeal in relief as you hang up.

You quickly ring up some clothes in the same size as the ones you’d given Ralph last night, explain to your staff that there’s an emergency at home and to call if they need anything - but please, god, don’t need anything, you think that last part to yourself.

Grateful you took your car this morning, you’re able to get back in a matter of minutes. You run into the supermarket to grab a can of tuna, a toothbrush for Ralph and, in a stroke of genius you’d had on the drive, a SIM card. You manage to successfully pay for everything - thanking whatever's out there that your phone's wallet system actually co-operated with the self-checkout for once - and run everything back to the flats, wanting to prioritise getting back to Ralph over getting the car into the right car park. You can do that once your poor neighbour is relinquished of their Ralph-sitting duties.

Once you get to your floor, you see your door still propped open, and your neighbour sat in their open doorway. With a relieved sigh, you fish out the can of tuna from your carrier bag and hand it over. “I will supply as much of that, and anything you want, as thanks for all this. Please don’t be mad at him -”

They raise a finger to interrupt you and lean over, revealing Ralph sitting on the floor of their flat, absolutely beaming as Cheese the cat paces in front of him, rubbing her head and body against his knees at every chance she can get. Ralph even pets her on occasion, which she takes happily.

Your face drops. “How - I have to use that tuna just to get a sighting of her when I come round and feed her!”

Your neighbour shrugs. “I’m just down here because I’m still convinced she’s doing it to lure me into a false sense of security -” You laugh with them at that, and they sigh in resignation. “But look at him. He’s harmless, isn’t he?”

You nod. “He’s just… Not used to living life on his own.”

They rasp as they stand up. “That’s an understatement. What, was he in some sort of imprisonment?!”

You shake your head. “I don’t even know. I just know that he wanted to get out of where he was. And he ended up here, with me.”

“You’ve got your work cut out for you, then.” A look of realisation dawns over their face as they grin at you knowingly. “Isn’t your flat a one-bed -”

“I am sleeping on the sofa!” You point at the pillow and blanket that still remain strewn over the back of your couch, just about in view of where your neighbour had kept open to keep watch of the flat. Your neighbour laughs as your cheeks turn pink. “I’m not expecting him to stick around, so I’m toughing it out until he can find his feet.”

“Yeah, well,” they shrug. “Just teach him how to use things in a way that doesn’t involve committing arson, alright?”

Ralph finally notices that you’re stood in the doorway, and the delight on his face immediately turns to shame. He stands and bows his head, quickly heading out and into your flat, not making eye contact with you. You frown, though nod a final thanks to your neighbour who thankfully nods back in understanding, and follow him in. “Hey, you alright?”

“I have failed you,” Ralph says simply, his back turned to you.

You walk over to him, deciding he probably doesn’t want physical contact just yet. “No, you didn’t, I did. I should have left instructions, it’s not your fault you didn’t know how it worked.”

“Is it all ruined?” he asks in a small voice.

You put your bag down on the kitchen counter to look at the toaster and shake your head, throwing the burnt toast away. “It’s absolutely fine, Ralph. Promise.” You lean down until you can make eye contact with him and offer him a smile. “Need a hug?”

Ralph, looking on the verge of tears, nods and you walk over to him with your arms outstretched. He buries his face in your shoulder as you feel his breaths become more and more regulated. You smell the smoke still clinging onto his shirt and tap his shoulder to get his attention. Once you’re out of his embrace, you can’t help but wish you’d lingered just a moment longer. You empty out the shopping bag you’d brought in, telling Ralph, “I bought you some new clothes. And a toothbrush. And something else I’m going to show you later. Go have another shower, get that smell out of you.”

While he’s in the shower again, you go to your junk drawer, thankful that you’d decided not to throw away your old phone when you upgraded through your contract. Putting the new SIM card in, you put your old phone on charge and start Ralph-proofing it. You delete all apps except for Google, so that he can find things out for himself. You’d tell him about Alexa’s capabilities there, too, but you feel as though Ralph isn’t quite ready to understand it can’t answer everything. Not like the internet can. While he's somewhat safe in the shower, and while the phone charges enough to power on, you quickly make sure your car isn't getting towed. That would just be the icing on the cake today.

Still, once you're back in the flat, all that stress seems to ebb away when he comes out of the bathroom. “You look smart,” you chime as he walks out wearing the outfit he’d chosen for himself from the clothes you'd provided: a brown plaid shirt and some jeans - you'd overestimated to be safe, but they didn't appear too baggy. Enough for a belt to manage, but they could fit better.

“Well, I couldn’t find a - a suit to co-ordinate anything with, or a tie, so I’ve had to make do. I hope this is suitable enough,” he brushes his shirt down with his hands and fiddles with the collar.

“It looks great, Ralph,” you reassure, waving him over. “Now, this is gonna be a really big thing I’m going to be teaching you about now, so we’ve gotta focus up, okay?”

You teach him how to send a text message to you, the only contact in the phone now. You teach him how to call you. You have him practise calling by going to your room and waiting for him. He gets all giddy when he’s figured it out. You teach him that if typing is difficult, he can press a button, speak into his phone and the words will come up. You also tell him that if he taps the last square on the screen, and types in a question, it’ll tell him everything he needs to know.

Once that’s out of the way, you remember something. “Ah, shit. Uh, hey, Ralph, I’m supposed to be going over to my friend’s place tonight for dinner. If you want, you can join us, or I can cancel -”

“No, please don’t cancel on my account! Oh, but I can’t be trusted on my own here, can I, oh blast…” Ralph falters, but you once again put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Nah, don’t be silly, you can come with, it’s fine.” You send the group chat a message:

“They say they can’t wait to meet you! All’s good,” you grin.

“It certainly isn’t, what about your job?” Ralph asks with a frown.

You sigh. "Let me make you lunch, I'll pop back in to finish my stuff. It's been a slow one and I've got a good team on so hopefully they understand if I need to dip early to come back to you. Literally, just text me or call me if you need anything, promise?" Ralph holds out his little finger and you link it with an affectionate smile. "I'll leave the spare key out here on the counter if you want to leave. And anything you want an answer to straight away, that I might not have time to answer, you can tap that last square on the main screen and type in the box, okay?" Ralph nods. You make the pair of you some sandwiches and take yours on the road with you, fishing out your spare key and showing Ralph where you're putting it ("just in case").

By the time you've driven to work, you have a notification on your phone, which you finally read once you're back in the office:

Once you're finally done with admin stuff, for the time being, you go back out onto the floor to check on your team. You fill them in on an old family friend coming to stay, he had a bit of an unfortunate incident with a kitchen appliance, all is well but you're keeping your phone on you just in case. They, naturally, want photos and details, which you promise them soon. When you notice you haven't heard from him in a while, you text him:

Your coworkers watch you with amused concern as you go from snorting with laughter to looking at your phone in horror:

Opting to simply wave them all off rather than try to explain what you'd just witnessed over the past half an hour, you help your sales assistants out as much as you can until you feel another buzzing in your back pocket. Half-terrified at what Ralph could possibly text next, you brace yourself:

You let out a stressed breath as you send that last one, and finally, your team wear you down. You explain that your new temporary housemate now has free reign to leave the house, and after the events of the morning, you'd started to regret letting him. When you tell them all that he's 25 (which technically isn't a lie, he's got the body of a 25 year old), they assure you that even the most simple-minded of men surely could only navigate so far. Still, you can't help but pace the shop floor anxiously, refolding shirts and reorganising displays, until:

Laughing with relief, you excuse yourself for the day. You tell the team that you feel awful for leaving them, but they seem to understand that you have a greater purpose ahead of you.

You call Ralph to tell him that you're on your way home, mostly to make sure you don't still hear the sounds of the street behind him. Thankfully, there seems to be some jazz music playing in the background, so he must have figured out how to get music playing, too.

You unlock your door to see Ralph humming along to a tune, wiggling himself around rhythmically as he sprays the leaves of some budded flowers with water. He acknowledges you with a wide, genuine smile. "Hello!" He singsongs. "I thought I'd spruce them up a little before they go to their new home. Just a couple of African Violets, the shopkeeper said. The ones already in bloom on display looked quite wonderful."

It's not that you're not happy to finally see him excited about something he knows about already, but this is the same man who almost burned the whole flat down making toast just hours ago. Still, look at him. It's nice to see him acclimating.

Since Anna doesn't live too far away, you and Ralph walk over to her flat. He's holding his plants and looking extremely proud of himself, until someone almost walks into him and he's suddenly pulled back into the reality of the streets of modern London. His big eyes dart around as he desperately looks out for danger, wrapping his arms around his gift protectively. You take him by the cuff on his wrist and guide him, weaving through strangers who couldn't care any less about their surroundings.

You hadn't told Anna to expect a gift today, and so she seems thrilled to meet Ralph and take the plants out from his grip. He immediately follows her to start babbling on about what the shopkeeper had said were the best conditions to keep them in. Once she's finally able to set them down, Ralph is still tailing her, looking expectantly for more reaction. Amused and slightly confused, Anna reaches up to pat Ralph on the head. He giggles and rushes over to you. You and Anna share a look before you lead him to meet the rest of your friends.

Scott, Connor and Grace all greet Ralph enthusiastically, and he seems to be bursting at the seams at the prospect of so many people being happy to meet him. He stays relatively quiet as you catch up with your friends.

"So, Ralph…" Scott starts. He goes back to looking terrified. "How are you settling in living with this one?" he shoves your shoulder, and you bat him away, playfully flipping him off.

Ralph looks taken aback at such a casual display of vulgarity, but he continues, "Well, it's only been for the one night, and there's certainly a lot to learn about… This… London," you can tell Ralph doesn't lie well, and appreciate that he's trying to word things in as honest a way as possible. “But, your friend here is a remarkable host and teacher,” he nods, smiling to you. It’s up there with one of the strangest compliments you’ve ever received, but it makes you blush nonetheless.

Anna asks for some help in the kitchen, and while Connor is the first to stand up, Scott pushes him back down with a slowly emerging smile on his face, looking directly at you. “Why don’t you give us the chance to get to know Ralphie here?”

You narrow your eyes, “Why do you say that like you’re in your villain arc?”

He laughs, immediately softening. “I just wanna know what makes him tick. Get to know what he really thinks, y’know?”

Ralph’s eyes dart between the two of you. “Rest assured, I have to reason to lie about anybody here in the slightest!”

“I’m just yanking your chain, Ralphie,” Scott laughs, though Ralph is not amused.

Connor rolls his eyes, “Don’t let him put you off us, Ralph. You can get to know us, too, without a certain someone embarrassing us in front of their new friend,” he pulls a face as he points to you with his thumb.

Ralph grins with excitement, his feet running on the spot where he sits. “Do you have a lot of tales to tell between you, then?”

“Oh, we’ve known each other for years. Went to school together.” You explain as you stand, following Anna’s anguished look from her kitchen door.

Ralph licks his lips, sadness dawning on his face. “Does that mean you all knew Lauren, too?”

Scott pulls a face, “How do you know Lauren, of all people?!”

Quickly assigning yourself as damage control, you pipe up, “Before he came to me, when he was living elsewhere, he met Lauren, Nick, Jase and Horace.”

“And yet he only mentioned Lauren…” Scott teases.

“Would you stop?” Grace slaps Scott’s shoulder as he laughs, moving over to accompany Ralph, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly. “Clearly things didn’t work out. Her loss, mate.”

Even Connor gets in on the teasing as he snorts with laughter while pointing at you. “What a twist of fate, remember when Nick -”

“You know I never actually asked him out, right? I wussed out at the last minute and just told you all that he turned me down,” you interject, to almost everyone’s groans.

“Nah, that makes sense,” Anna calls from the doorway. “Explains why you’re still such a chicken these days. Speaking of chicken,” she ushers you into the other room hurriedly.

As your friends grill Ralph on what he knows about you so far (“Very little, I’m afraid!”), what his intentions in London are (“Sort of making it all up as I go along, really!”), and his tastes (“I’m really not quite sure, um, I’m quite new to all of this… Modern… I’ve always known the classics, you know?”), you help Anna with her final preparations.

“So, how long d’you think you’re gonna keep him around for?” Anna asks.

You shrug, “It’s not really up to me. It’s whenever he’s ready to go back home, I guess.”

“I wonder where home is for him,” Anna frowns, and you shrug, focusing on your task. “He’s so… Out of touch. I know Scott was out of line guessing he’s escaped from a cult,” she mouths the word, “but, like, would him going back home really be the best thing?”

“Babe, you’ve known him for all of five minutes, and all you know about him is that he bought you some plants.”

“Exactly! You two are made for each other,” she muses, to which you grab a tea towel to flick at her.

“I’ve only really known him a day, myself,” you counter.

“And still you let the man live with you,” Anna raises her eyebrows at you.

You shrug again, “I dunno, he’s harmless, i’nt he?” You look over at him, a trace of wistfulness in your gaze as you watch your friends tap his phone for him, pointing things out to him. “I guess we’ll just see what happens.”

Once everything is dished up, you go out to the other room to call them all to pick up their meals. “Hope you haven’t traumatised Ralphie too much,” you comment.

“Not at all!” Ralph beams. “Look at how many new people I have to call and to text message now!” He shows you the addition of your four friends’ numbers in his contact list.

“That’s great, Ralph,” you nod with an affectionate smile. “Now let’s go eat. Sorry none of your favourites are on the menu tonight, mate.”

“Ooh, what are your favourites?” Grace asks.

“Oh, anything with aubergine on the side is always a five-star meal for me!” Ralph grins, and Connor and Scott snort with laughter.

“Hey!” Anna scolds. “No vulgarity at the dinner table, please!”

Ralph frowns. “What is it that’s so vulgar about aubergines?!”

You see multiple people start volunteering themselves to teach him, and hold your hand out to stop them all. “Ralph, there are some questions that you’re better off finding the answers to all by yourself.”

Ralph gasps and points at you, “By using my phone!” You click a finger gun back at him in affirmation. He excitedly taps out a sentence - part of you wants to double-check for him, but you don’t want him to be entirely dependent on you, and besides, he’s a grown man - and frowns at his phone. “Hm, perhaps it takes a while for it to find the answer.”

You groan, “Has the data not kicked in yet? Sorry, that’s on me.”

Dinner goes by delightfully. Of course your friends would make Ralph feel at home. They are home. You wouldn’t even be able to tell amongst the table that one of you was actually from old money - really old money, at that. After dinner, everyone practically fights over getting to play their favourite songs to see how he reacts to them. You could cry every time you see how genuinely happy Ralph looks - though you didn’t want to pry too much behind his back with Anna, you are curious about his life back home. He doesn’t seem too happy thinking about the past, and if he’s so hung up on Lauren, who he barely knew, there can’t have been much luck with any other relationships. Maybe you’ll get to learn more about him. Maybe you won’t have enough time.

But, for now, you’ll happily take the arm he extends out to you as the song changes, laughing as he twirls you amongst the friend group you’ll happily share with him, for however long he needs them.

next chapter

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