#i really like how their designs turned out

[cosmicmunsonwrites]

mean!rafe slowly getting soft for reader but she realizes what sort of sick person he really is so she leaves him and now rafe is the desperate one (this would be really appreciated pretty!!!)

i loved, i loved, i loved you

mean!rafe cameron x desperate!fem!reader

cw — talks of murder, stalking, manipulation

summary — after overhearing a conversation between your boyfriend and his best friend, you begin to rethink your decisions.

authors note — can be read as a standalone but is apart of the mean!rafe series. part 1 is “i just wanna be one of your girls” and part 2 is “but i’ll do anything for you.” i’ll probably make a masterlist for this cause it’s probably going to end up turning into a series tbh so lmk if i should do that! please request more!!

do not copy or post my work anywhere else.

“baby?” you heard him call out from the living room as the front door shut. he shrugged off his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack then followed the smell of food into the kitchen where you stood all pretty. you had a cute little pink sundress on, a white apron with a ribbon adorning the middle, and your hair was perfectly curled. “you look like a fucking dream.”

he walked over to where you were standing and pulled you into him with his big hands lightly squeezing at your hips. “thank you, rafe. i made your favorite,” you replied with a smile on your glossed lips as you rested your hands on his shoulders. “how was work?”

a sigh left his lips and his body tensed. “same thing as usual. nothin’ for you to worry your pretty little head about,” he said with a kiss to your temple. “i missed you, angel.”

you frowned slightly and hugged him. “i missed you too, rafe.” you nuzzled into his chest deeper and he held you close, taking in the delightful scent of your shampoo. you pulled away a little sooner than he would’ve liked and pulled out his designated chair at the table. “why don’t you eat before the food gets cold?”

he nodded and sat down, laying the napkin over his lap and unraveling one pack of utensils you spent your afternoon packaging up to look professional. you sat across from him in your own seat and waited for him to take his first bite before beginning to eat your own.

he wrapped up some of the noodles on his fork and placed it carefully into his mouth while you sucked in a breath and waited for his validation. “it’s amazing, sweetheart,” he praised while getting more onto his fork. “you always prepare the best, you know that.”

you smiled to yourself and glanced down at your own plate, a red blush spreading across your cheeks. you began to eat as you two sat in a comfortable silence and enjoyed the pasta.

once he finished and was getting ready to get up and place his dish in the sink, you stood and beat him to it. “i’ve got it,” you said softly. you knew how long and draining his work days were and you’d do anything to make the rest of his day better.

“thank you, angel,” he replied gratefully while standing and brushing past you with a loving squeeze to your hip. “i’ve gotta finish up some stuff on my laptop. i’ll be in my office if you need anything.”

you nodded and began to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen. once you were all finished, you neatly folded your apron and placed it in the closet in the living room before heading up the stairs and to the office to see if he needed anything. before you could even knock, you heard a loud bang, which you assumed was his fist against his desk.

“goddamnit barry! i fuckin’ told you that i had it handled,” he spat into his phone. “i took care of him, alright? they got rid of the body, the evidence, all of it and now you’re over here screwing it up.”

the body? you placed a hand over your mouth to cover the sob threatening to slip past your lips. you pressed your ear closer to the door and waited for him to speak again.

you heard him curse under his breath and laugh angrily. “it was all going to plan and then—“ he paused. “get rid of him. do whatever you have to do, just fuckin’ get rid of him. i’ll do it myself if i have to.”

a tear hit your hand and you quickly backed away from the door and quietly walked into your shared bedroom. you immediately began throwing clothes into a bag until you heard the office door open. you shoved it under your bed and sat at the edge of it.

he came in and immediately made his way over to you, kneeling in front of you and holding your hands in his. “hey. what’s wrong, sweet girl?”

you just shook your head and faked a sad smile. “i jus’ miss you, rafe,” you lied as convincingly as you could.

he sighed. “i know, baby. and i’m sorry,” he mumbled softly. “look. i gotta go handle something really quick but we can spend the whole night together the moment i get back, ok? i promise.”

a shaky breath left your lips as you nodded and allowed him to kiss you then your forehead as he stood and made his way out towards the front door. the moment you heard it shut, you packed everything you could and sprinted out towards your car. you didn’t know how much time you had until he got back.

you were quick to disable your location on everything and turn on do not disturb before speeding off towards your parents house an hour away. you hoped it would be far enough and undisclosed so he’d never find you.

and only 30 minutes into the drive, you had 72 missed calls and 101 texts from rafe.

[herrscherofmagic]

I'd like to add to this, though it's a bit tangential — there's also some pretty fundamental skills that exist in both STEM and humanities, and being able to make the connections between how they exist in these separate fields can really help your comprehension in either or both categories.

I'll have to apologize in advance because this post got way, way longer than I intended, and it's a fair bit messy and all over the place. But I do try and tie it back in to this original post, even if it takes a hot minute to get there >.>

.

I'm no longer in STEM at the moment but I did take a handy amount of both STEM and humanities courses, and ultimately chose the humanities route. Despite focusing on the humanities, there's definitely some STEM ideas that I found really useful in life, and by far the #1 has probably been the idea of abstraction.

For instance, when you say "abstract" there's a lot of things that can come to mind, with a common example being abstract art, right? Everyone knows the "crappy modern art" that's "overvalued" and "nonsensical" and whatnot. The funny-lookin' paint splatters on a canvas, or the giant blocks of solid color. That sort of thing.

Well, the word "abstract" is meant to represent the idea of something which exists separately from the real world. In contrast, the real stuff is described as being "concrete". The thing is that there's a spectrum of this stuff, with some things being more concrete but still a little abstract, and vice-versa.

Turns out that this is a REALLY important idea in computer science. Because computer chips work with 1s and 0s, and our silly primate brains ain't optimized to add a bajillion 1s and 0s. So instead, we use abstraction to describe collections of operations with these 1s and 0s: from the fundamental machine code that's binary operations only, to the "assembly language" that bridges the gap between binary numbers and human-readable characters, then to the higher-level programming languages.

We use highly-abstracted programming languages and write code like "a + b = c" but that has to be translated down into a more concrete code, the assembly language, and then that gets translated even further into the actual *real* operations happening on the transistors, the 1s and 0s.

And within a programming language we also use abstraction, such as in Java, an object-oriented programming language. You might take a block of code that has many different uses and describe it in a simple form as a class, then extend subclasses and give more concrete and specific definitions to that superclass.

A common and easy-to-understand example of this is Minecraft, with it's mobs, programmed in Java. There's a lot of things called "mobs", which are mobile entities that move themselves around and can interact with the player (and which the player can interact with). But some are aggressive, some are netural, some are passive— so how do you code all these different types of mobs?

What you can do is create an "abstract" class (not necessarily a literal "abstract class") for "mobs" in general, defining the most fundamental and simple traits (health bars, movement, dimensions, etc.) and then extend that class into specific examples. You might create a subclass for the "Passive mobs" that defines how they react to being hit by a player, with their frantic running around.

But then the "Hostile mobs" subclass has a separate and unique bit of code to describe how these mobs deal more damage. And then you can extend the "Hostile mobs" subclass into a "Skeleton" subclass to define ranged attacks that other mobs don't have, and so on.

You can work with varying levels of abstraction in your code, in order to meet different needs. By working at high levels of abstract you define wide and simple principles readily understood with less effort, and which can be more widely applied, and then begin to narrow down the code into more detailed sections for specific circumstances.

It turns out... that's EXACTLY how abstraction works in art. All the stuff you see in art exists on a spectrum from "abstract" to "concrete" and artworks are often made at some point on that spectrum to serve a specific purpose.

For example, you might want to visually depict a bird. On the most concrete level you have the human eye's vision of a bird, though even that is subjective: it's based on the physical health of one's eyesight, and the cultural expectations of what a "bird" is.

Then you have the photograph, which is still nearly exact concrete (hence "photorealistic") but still not 100% there. Then you have photorealistic art, and realistic, and then you go more and more abstract. You might move towards impressionistic art and pointillism, and then surreal art, and eventually you might arrive near total abstraction.

For instance, take this lovely photo of a Florida Scrub Jay (a very, very specific type of bird). This would be a rather concrete representation of a bird, and not just any bird but a particular species. Not a robin or raven or raptor, but a Florida Scrub Jay and nothing else!

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Since that is a photo, it's pretty concrete to begin with. So to make it more abstract... I'll draw a quick study of it!

It's dirty and messy but gets the job done, I'm not making a 3-hour painted study for a tumblr post about STEM and humanities (and apparently birds, now). This took like... idk half an hour, 45 minutes? 15 minutes? I forgot to keep count and i've already put in like one and a half hours towards making this post by this point...

The drawing is still quite recognizable as being a Florida Scurb Jay, despite how messy it is, and you can also see the resemblance with the reference photo. It's farm from photorealistic, but it still has a strong level of concrete representation to it. It's far from true abstract art.

We can simplify things further, though, still staying representational but inching just a weeeee bit closer to the abstract:

First we do away with the background, stick with some simply bold lines, and use big broad shapes with solid color. Then we simplify it even more, using only a few lines to indicate major forms, and using just four colors. No tree branch either. You can still recognize it as a Florida Scrub Jay though... right?

BUT WAIT! Another competitor has entered the ring! in the corner with the steel chair, it's...

the Blue Jay?!

(Once more, photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Turns out, we've abstracted far enough away from the original photo reference, that now our bird doodle seems to resemble BOTH the Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) and this lovely Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata).

After all, both are birds which are white and blue, and have a roughly similar body proportion. The tails and wing feathers are both blue, and the heads both have blue. Most of the differentiation comes from details, like the rings of black on the Blue Jay's tail, or the white tuft of feathers atop the Florida Scrub Jay's head.

Well, guess what, folks? We can abstract even further!

First, let's do away with all those pesky colors. We only need the one blue, right? After all, both the Florida Scrub Jay and the Blue Jay can be called "blue birds" so why do we need white or gray?

But that's not a very attractive blue, is it? So... maybe we brighten it up a bit?

Aha! Now we're talking. But this pose is a bit... meh. Now that we've abstracted away so much detail, you can hardly tell it's a bird! especially with the wing tucked in and the tail overlapped with the leg.

Maybe we can just flip up the wing and tail? And let's open the beak for good measure, too, just to emphasize that it's a beak and not a sideways ice cream cone!

Hmmm... That's looking better. Say, our original photo was of a bird standing on a branch, but we don't have the branch anymore, and birds fly right? So why not just get rid of the legs entirely?

And for some reason I feel like this would look really, really nice if we flipped it horizontally. Maybe clean up some of the shapes too?

Wait a damn minute...

Fuck, it's Twitter!

Achievement Get: Reinvent Graphic Design

Of course... there's still one last step of abstraction to take.

"Behold, a bird!-" Diogenes, probably

To make this a bit easier to understand, I've compiled it all into a handy-dandy chart (which I made before the aforementioned Minecraft chart, just fyi):

Representation isn't a singular possibility. That is to say that there's no one "true way" to represent a given bird, or in this case the Florida Scrub Jay. There are varying levels of concrete and abstract representation, and these serve different purposes.

Heck, even once we get to the level of abstract, there's different ways to abstract.

For instance, by abstracting to color, we get just a single shade of blue, not a random shade of blue but rather a specific shade that's derived from more concrete representations of blue birds.

But instead of abstracting to color, we can abstract to lines instead, and get a few vague lines that hint at the form of a bird flapping it's wings.

It's that sort of abstraction-to-lines that's useful in things like animation, where using simple linework to emphasize seemingly abstract concepts like "rhythm" and "movement" in a more tangible way can help make the figures feel more alive:

(Image taken from the Barnes & Noble listing of the book Gesture Drawing: Dynamic Movement and Form, by Michael Hampton.)

This is why I've grown to appreciate abstract art, even if it's not the primary thing I draw or my #1 form of consumed art. Because ultimately, abstract art can (though doesn't necessarily have to) serve a purpose: to explore the underlying visual themes throughout countless forms of art.

Explorations of line, color, value, shape, form, etc. have their merit in allowing us to contemplate these ideas in simple abstracted ways that do away with the messy distracting details. And once you get a better understanding of these fundamental art concepts in a more abstract sense, you can use that abstract understanding to reinforce your more concrete representational works. Shapes in underlying compositions, gesture lines in figure drawing, and so on.

Going back to the concrete-abstraction bird chart, you'll notice a little detour on the right-hand side of that chart. That's because I didn't draw my study directly from the photo; instead, I took multiple steps to get there:

A quickly and roughly-traced line sketch, then a value sketch (setting aside the photo instead of drawing over it at this point), and then adding the colors by eye, along with a few crisp lines to help indicate important edges.

THIS is the whole point of this rambling essay.

This is the crux of the matter.

This notion of concrete vs. abstract is one of the most important tools I have as an artist, because it allows me to divide the process of creating art into various stages with different intentions and different tools.

Instead of one continuous process from start to finish, from beginning to end, from concept to realized image... it's a messy back-and-forth between different processes that jump between simplification and complexity, from abstract to concrete.

It's that back-and-forth and decision-making which makes each and every artwork unique, and which helps add a tremendous amount of meaning.

And naturally, this applies to writing as well.

I don't want to drag this on any longer than it already has, so I'll wrap things up by going back to the very original post. To quote:

"I can instantly tell when someone in one of my STEM classes didn’t pay attention in English class in high school because they can’t read scientific articles without feeding them through ChatGPT."

Yeah. This is EXACTLY why I despise ChatGPT and almost every other form of "generative AI".

Even setting aside the environmental aspects,

Even setting aside the blatant stock manipulation and technocratic bullshit,

Even setting aside the plagiarism...

...ultimately, these statistical models cannot truly replicate the human process of creation.

They simply aggregate values associated with keywords, associations which are algorithmically trained via a dataset, and then spit out some randomized combination of these values. Regardless of whether these values are words or pixels or sound waves.

Letting these generative models do your "thinking" for you?? that can only be utterly devastating to one's own critical thinking skills. I'm quite frankly terrified by how desperately these companies push these "tools" because literally nobody on this godforsaken planet truly benefits from these things excepts shareholders.

Note, this isn't a dig at all forms of machine learning; there's an AMAZING wealth of possibility from machine learning as a whole.

This "AI" stuff just ain't it.

And this is why, ultimately, it's so important to study both humanities and STEM to some degree. These are different fields of knowledge that often have similar underlying skills involved, and learning about these different fields and identiying these common skills will strengthen your ability to use these skills in all sorts of scenarios.

To use an analogy with exercise, swimming and running are two very different forms of exercise. Just because a person is good at athletic running doesn't mean they're good at athletic swimming, and vice-versa.

However, both running and swimming require muscle movements, and the action of muscles requires energy. These muscles consume energy we get from nutrients, but importantly, they need *oxygen* to facilitate this process. And we get oxygen by breathing, right?

So folks learning to do exercise often need to learn to breathe well, too. We breathe almost effortlessly in daily life, but breathing purposefully helps you maximize your oxygen intake and CO2 outtake, making sure your body has enough oxygen to keep its muscles running optimally and for longer. Taking deeper and longer breaths while swimming, for example, can help you dive deeper for longer.

But guess what? Exercise ain't the only thing that needs good breathing. It turns out, when playing woodwind instruments like flutes, where you blow air out into or past the instrument to make sound... breathing is a handy thing as well.

So, all else being equal, a good swimmer will probably be better at breathing when they start athletic running than someone else who is also just starting to practice athletic running.

And, all else being equal, a good swimmer will probably have a better lung capacity and thus be better-equipped to play long passages when they begin learning to play the flute, compared to a different novice flautist who hasn't done any sort of exercises to practice their breathing technique.

Ultimately, there are still differences between breathing for swimming, and breathing for running, and breathing for playing music. But they're ALL still forms of breathing.

Likewise, the various critical thinking skills you learn in various STEM and humanities fields are all different and unique in their applications, but still have fundamental similarities.

Nobody needs to master everything, but to overly neglect STEM or humanities in favor of the other? That's going to hold you back, and make you vulnerable to being unable to handle various types of problems in life.

A lack of science knowledge might make you susceptible to misinformation about science, a lack of historical knowledge makes you susceptible to misinformation about history.

A lack of basic math skill makes it more difficult for you to handle logic problems in real life, and a lack of basic artistic ideas makes it more difficult to derive greater meaning and enjoyment from the plethora of arts in our daily lives; and so on and so forth.

The thing is that I think many people already have a greater deal of "basic knowledge" in various fields than they give themselves credit for. Even —or perhaps especially— when they're young!

Unfortunately, however, education systems (at least where I live, in the good 'ole US of A (derogatory) ) often separate these fields, and struggle to put them in the context of each other. To make it worse, once they're separated they're often further diluted to the point of near uselessness. History becomes rote memorization, art becomes algorithmic, math becomes overly formulaic, and so on.

If they can't be engaged with the educational material, they'll try and disengage. Especially if there are external circumstances such as bullying, chaotic or harmful domestic environments, malnutrition, etc.

And when time limits and testing standards are enforced atop all of this, naturally people turn to whatever "tools" they can to try and take back some of their time for their own interests.

Once upon a time these students would do things like write down the formulas for a test on the inside of their socks, or something. Now, of course... we've got ChatGPT.

There's so, so much to be said on the woes of education, but long story short, we're reaping the unfortunate harvest of decades of neglected education systems.

It's a damn shame, ain't it?

I cannot stress the importance of paying attention in language classes in high school. Maybe the reason why your English teacher taught you about unreliable narrators is because a lot of the media around you is written by unreliable narrators posing as reliable. Maybe they gave you assignments on interpreting texts so you could draw your own conclusions about news articles. Some of you clearly thought English classes were useless in high school and now are unable to engage critically with media.

[kiszjuli]

LOVE BET .ᐟ

✸ bestfriend!jisung x fem!reader | genre. fluff | w.c. 2.5k | ♡

↳ synopsis. you and your bestfriend jokingly make a bet that whoever doesn't get a valentine has to pay for dinner at you guys' favorite restaurant, which is quite expensive. as valentine's day approaches, you both realize that you don't exactly like the idea of the other person going out with someone..

↳playlist. love - keyshia cole. lucky girl - red velvet. affection - between friends. like we just met - nct dream. better than gold - nct dream. off my face - justin bieber.

it was currently february 1st, meaning all of the bright pink and red decorations were already decorated around your campus. you found yourself in the, abnormally loud and chaotic cafeteria, you were waiting at your designated seats for your best friend, jisung, and as you waited you looked around. Glancing from the pink flyers to the red heart shaped balloons, and everything else in between. jisung plopped down with a sigh in front of you. "it looks like cupid threw up in here," you muttered, opening your pack of cookies. jisung's lips quirked up into a boyish grin as he settled in his seat. "what, jelous of all the love in the air?"

"it's not that," you said offering him a cookie, which he gladly took. "it's just...valentine's day is so overrated. why spend one single day to prove your love when you could just like─not suck the rest of the year?"

laughing, jisung spoke again. "god, you're such a romantic, no wonder you're still single," rolling your eyes you glare at him. "you're one to talk. when was the last time you tried to talk to someone you like?"

jisung's face flushed a little. "hey, i talk to people!"

"not what i asked," you say flatly, then lean across the table. "name one person you've flirted with in...the past year," you say thinking for a second.

as if really trying to think, he furrows his brows and looks at the table. "exactly," you laugh. "alright, how about you then? i don't remember hearing about you having a valentine," he raised a brow, challenging you back and sitting up in his seat.

your confidence wavered a little, but didn't let it show, "oh please, i could get asked out if i wanted to,"

"oh yeah? could you?"

you reached for a fry on your tray and threw it at him. he tried to block the fry, it falling to his lap as he laughed at you. "i'm just saying," he shrugged. "all this big talk, yet you're in the same boat as me,"

a smirk spreads across your face, as you get an idea. "fine, you know what? how about, whoever doesn't get themselves a valentine, has to buy the other dinner at our favorite restaurant. deal?"

this time it was jisung’s turn to falter a little. “are you seriously betting on this?”

you shrugged. “why not? scared of losing?” you teased.

those words were all it took for his competitive side to kick and and he straighted up once again. “fine. you’re on.” he reached out his his hand and you took it firmly. “prepare to lose park jisung,” you smiled your gaze locked on his. “i’m about to eat so much pasta,”

he smirked, his hand lingering in yours for a second longer than necessary. “we’ll see about that.”

little did the both of you know, that stupid little bet was about to change everything.

—

it’s a quiet afternoon, after school. you and jisung were hanging out at your favorite café. the place was a little busy with people, but you are just enjoying the usual, comfortable silence. that is, until a guy from one of your classes walks in. you notice him immediately. he was a generally friendly guy, always talking to everyone. he notices you and walks over to your table.

“hey!” he says, making his way over. “what’s up? haven’t seen you around lately.”

you stand to greet him, talking easily as you always do. you’re genuinely enjoying the conversation. he was funny, charming, and always has something interesting to say—never really an awkward pause. you laugh at a joke he tells, and just for a second, you forget jisung is even there.

jisung, however, hasn’t missed a thing.

he watches from his seat, his grip on his cup tightening just slightly. the way you and the guy are laughing, how easily you two got along. it was too comfortable. jisung tries to focus on his phone, but his eyes keep flicking back to you. there’s something in the way the guy looks at you, a little too interested, and jisung feels a pang in his chest. trying to brush it off, he settles with the fact that it’s because you might be winning the bet; for now.

jisung was trying to focus on his phone, scrolling through something meaningless, but the smile on your face. the way you leaned in a little closer to the guy as you talked. it was starting to bother him more than he’d like to admit. it’s dumb, he knows it’s dumb, but he can’t help the flicker of frustration in his stomach. you’re supposed to be just friends. but suddenly, the idea of someone else being interested in you feels… wrong.

he feels like he can ignore him and focus on his phone until the guy laughs again—louder this time, with a hand on your shoulder. he feels his blood start to simmer.

“so, uh, i was thinking about going to see a movie this weekend. wanna go?” the guy asks, his tone light, like it’s no big deal.

you smile, looking a little surprised. “oh, uh, sure! sounds fun.”

jisung’s fingers tighten around his phone, his knuckles almost turning white. the guy’s eyes flicker over to him, then back to you, and jisung doesn’t miss the way the guy raises an eyebrow, sizing him up. it’s a subtle look, but it makes jisung’s jaw clench. he new what the guy was doing, and so did he.

the guy turns to leave, his attention shifting away from you, but before he walks off, he looks back one last time. “see you later, yeah?”

“yeah, definitely!” you call after him, still smiling.

as soon as the guy walks away, jisung can’t hold it in anymore. he stands abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor louder than usual. “i’m gonna get some air,” he mutters, as he begins to step away.

you glance at him, a little startled. “wha-? jisung, what’s wrong?”

he shakes his head, brushing you off. “nothing. just need some air.”

before you can say anything else, he’s walking out of the café, leaving you behind. you stare after him, confused and a little concerned. what was that about?

you sigh and lean back in your chair, a little unsure of what just happened. you know jisung, and you know that wasn’t just about needing air. you weren’t even doing anything to provoke him. but something about the way he left makes you feel like maybe he’s… bothered.

you pull your phone out, sending him a quick message:

hey, u good?

a few moments later, he replies.

yeah, i’m fine,

but you can tell something’s off. you don’t press him right now, but the conversation with the guy you just had lingers in your mind. was it just your imagination, or did jisung seem…jealous?

—

the following day, you seem to ironically have a similar experience.

you walk into the library after second period, expecting to find jisung buried in his usual corner, headphones in and his nose buried in a textbook. but instead, you stop in your tracks when you see him sitting at a table with a girl from your class, one you’ve seen around but don’t really know. she’s leaning over his shoulder, pointing at a page in her notebook, and jisung is explaining something, his hand moving across the page to help her with the assignment.

hesitating for a moment, not wanting to interrupt, something in your chest tightens when you see how naturally they’re talking, how comfortable she looks in his presence. she was pretty close to him, her shoulder brushing his as she leans in. it feels like your heart sinks a little, and you swallow the lump in your throat.

the way jisung is smiling, the way he’s so focused on her… it’s the same way he looked when he helped you with schoolwork, but this time, it’s different. this time, there’s something more, something you hadn’t expected. the sight stings, even though you know it shouldn’t. it’s not like you have any claim over him, and he’s probably just being a good friend, but the nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach won’t go away.

you stand there for a moment, not sure what to do. a small part of you wants to walk away, pretend you didn’t see it, but another part of you, feels like you’ve been punched in the chest. you had no idea why.

just like jisung had felt the day before when you laughed with that guy at the café, you feel that same pang of jealousy now. and it’s so much more than you were expecting. maybe you understood his reaction a little more now.

after what feels like an eternity, you turn around and walk out of the library before you can let any of those feelings show. you tell yourself it’s ridiculous, that you have no reason to feel this way, but the image of jisung laughing with her sticks in your mind, making it impossible to shake the feeling.

—

it was now valentine’s day, and when you got the text from jisung asking to come over and talk, you assume it’s about the bet. about how he didn’t find the valentine he kept claiming he find. and you would tell him the same, that you were both valentine-less. you figured you’d laugh about it and go about your days. everything would go back to normal and you wouldn’t have to see him around talking to other girls and feeling that awful sting in the pit of your stomach.

but as he arrives to your place, the look on his face making you nervous. he sits on your couch and you follow him, cradling your legs to yourself as you sat.

the soft hum of the city outside the window barely audible as you sit together in the living room. despite the seemingly comfortable silence between you two, there’s something else in the air—a tension neither of you has been able to shake for days.

jisung’s, hands fidget in his lap, his eyes darting around the room like he’s searching for something, trying to find the right words. you could tell he’s been holding something back, and it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore the way he keeps glancing at you, like he’s trying to figure out how to speak what’s been on his mind for so long.

“hey,” you say softly, breaking the silence, “is everything okay?”

he glances at you, but his gaze is distant—like he’s caught between saying something and not saying anything at all. you wait for him to respond, the anticipation weighing heavily in the room.

“i’ve been thinking a lot,” he begins, his voice quieter than usual, which spikes your curiosity. he exhales slowly. “about everything… with the bet, with us. and i’ve realized something. something i think i’ve been running from for a really long time.”

you sit up a little, your heart beating faster as you focus entirely on him. his tone was serious, the vulnerability in his voice making your chest tighten with both concern and curiosity.

“i’ve been… avoiding it,” jisung continues, his words coming out in a rush. “for years. i kept telling myself it wasn’t anything. that we were just friends. that it didn’t mean anything. but the truth is, i’ve been denying it for so long because I was scared... of what would happen if i admitted it. if i admitted that i’ve felt something more for you than just… friendship.”

your breath nearly catches in your throat. the words are unexpected, and yet, they make your heart race. you swallow, unsure of what to say, but jisung keeps going.

“i thought if i ignored it long enough, it would go away,” he admits, his eyes locked on yours now, raw and open. “but it never did. and i realized that i couldn’t keep pretending. i couldn’t keep pretending that i didn’t feel something for you. i don’t want to see you with anyone else. i don’t want to watch you go out with someone and not be the one standing next to you.” his lock onto yours.

you can feel your heart pounding in your chest, and you’re not sure whether to be shocked or relieved that he’s finally saying this. all the years of hints, all the quiet moments between you two, all of it makes sense now.

“i’ve wanted to tell you for so long, but i was too afraid,” he confesses, his voice breaking slightly. “i that it would ruin everything. that maybe you wouldn’t feel the same way, or worse—that it would destroy our friendship. but i can’t keep denying it. i’m… in love with you, y/n. and have been for so long, and i can’t pretend i’m okay with the idea of you being with anyone else.”

for a moment, you’re speechless, processing the weight of his words. years of feelings, years of quiet longing—suddenly all of it is out in the open, and it feels both overwhelming and relieving at the same time.

you swallow, your voice barely above a whisper as you look at him. “jisung… i never wanted anyone else. i don’t think i ever did. i’ve been scared too. scared of ruining what we had, scared that you wouldn’t feel the same. but… i feel the same way.”

his eyes widen at your confession, and something in him shifts. like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. his shoulders slump, a sense of relief settling over him.

“really?” he asks, as if he can’t believe you’re saying it too.

you nod, voice steadier now. “i never wanted to go out with anyone else. but i was too scared to risk what we had. i didn’t know how to tell you i… felt the same. i wanted to be with you, but i couldn’t say it.”

jisung ran a hand through his hair, letting out a breath he’s held too long. his expression softens, and he moves closer, hand gently touching yours, hesitant but tender.

“so… we’re both idiots then, huh?” he says with a nervous laugh, the humor light but relieved. “all this time… and we were both too scared to admit it.”

you laugh, the tension breaking. “yeah. but i think we’re finally getting it right.”

his smile is genuine, the softest you’ve ever seen. “so…will you be my valentine?”

you squeeze his hand, a smile tugging at your lips. “well… only because i don’t have anyone else that asked,” and maybe, just maybe, i’ll let you take me out on a real date. not because of a stupid bet, but because i want to be with you.”

his eyes light up and he chuckles at your words. he smiles softly, cheeks a little rosy. “that sounds perfect.”

and just like that, all the hesitation, all the silent feelings, fade away. you’re both free from the weight of denial, starting something new. together.

and in your book, you still won’t the bet. you knew you weren’t gonna pay for the dinner from the start, and you were right. you also got the best valentine, and soon boyfriend, anyone scouts ever ask for.

—

⁀➷⊹ ࣪ ˖~ THE LA LA LOVE SERIES .ᐟ

taggies(open) ↳ @kittydollzz @huffnpufffck @completelyjae @lovesuhng @nae-vm @ayibdorrt @chocoriki @yomaman @yukisroom97

(i’m sorry this one’s a little late you guys)

[lanf1an]

DREAMS lando norris pt.4 When your childhood bestfriend Flo had convinced you to get the fashion design job at her brother's company Quadrant, it finally paid off when Louis Vuitton was announced as the new sponsor for F1.

pt.1 pt.2 pt.3

The café was one of those cozy little places tucked away on a quiet street in Monaco, far from the usual chaos of the race weekend. You, Max and Keegan had agreed to meet up for coffee today before the whole sleepover fiasco, the three of you now quietly nursing your coffee, the late morning sun streaming through the windows. It was a slow, easy moment—the kind that had become rare with how busy things had been lately, reminding you of old times in London.

Keegan was scrolling through his phone, probably looking at memes, while Max stretched lazily, his sunglasses slipping down his nose. “I’m glad you and Lando get along well now,” he said casually before taking a sip of his drink, not letting his suspicions of the last night when you were at the apartment for your keycard go.

You blinked. “Do we?” You replied casually. 

Max shot you a look, amused. “Well, yeah. I mean, you used to talk about him like he was your worst nightmare during Quadrant.”

“That’s dramatic. He just always wanted to review my designs that we had already agreed on.”

“Is it?” Keegan cut in, grinning. “You hated the guy.”

You scoffed, leaning back in your chair. “Okay, maybe I wasn’t his biggest fan. But I still wouldn’t say we ‘get along well’ now.”

There had been a shift. He had been texting. Not just about work, but little things. A funny picture from a shoot, a comment about a jacket he knew you hated, a random ‘What’s your coffee order?’ text that had caught you off guard. You had chalked it up to him being Lando—charming, friendly, probably like this with everyone. 

“He’s just—” You searched for the right words. “I don’t know, being normal?”

Keegan snorted. “For Lando, that’s basically flirting.”

You rolled your eyes, but your stomach twisted a little. Because you’d felt it too—that slight shift, the underlying current of something unspoken. And you weren’t sure what to do about it.

Then, a small smile tugged at your lips. “I do have something fun planned for him at the event tonight, though.”

That got their attention. Keegan finally looked up, intrigued. “Oh?”

Max narrowed his eyes. “What kind of fun?”

You just grinned, leaning back in your chair. “You guys will see.”

-

The event was big. Formal. Typical McLaren. It was their Monaco opening. A sea of sharp black suits, starched white shirts, and carefully curated ties. It was the kind of night where image mattered—where every driver, team principal, and executive looked like they had stepped straight out of a luxury menswear campaign.

Except Lando.

He looked good, of course. He always looked good. But instead of a suit like every other man in the room, he was dressed in a perfectly tailored business-casual look: an expensive white knit, sleek navy trousers, and—just to really drive the point home—pristine white sneakers.

Not a blazer in sight.

You watched from your seat in the audience, biting back a smirk as he stepped onto the stage beside Zak, Oscar, and Andrea—all of whom were dressed to the nines in proper suits. Lando barely had time to shake hands before he turned his head, scanning the crowd like he already knew exactly who was responsible. You were easy to find because Max and Keegan next to you had burst out laughing as soon as they saw him.

When he spotted you, sitting comfortably with Max and Keegan, his brows lifted in a silent really? Gesturing to the outfit.

You just smiled sweetly, lifting your hands to applaud like nothing was out of the ordinary. Keegan was the first to crack, letting out a low whistle. “You actually did it. You made him look like he’s here for a tech startup pitch instead of an F1 event.”

Max, already grinning, leaned in. “Wow, you’re an evil genius. How’d you get away with it?”

You shrugged, feigning innocence. “I have enough pull at Louis Vuitton now. They trust my vision.”

On stage, Lando shook his head slightly, fighting off a smirk. Then, ever so subtly, he lifted a hand and gestured at you—one of those small, exasperated motions that said this is your fault.

You just gave him a little wave in return.

He exhaled a laugh, running a hand over his face before focusing back on the event, because, well—he had to. But you knew this wasn’t over.

The event wrapped up smoothly, filled with speeches, applause, and a little too much formal pleasantry. You didn’t see Lando immediately after, but you knew it was only a matter of time.

And sure enough, just as you were slipping past the backstage area—maybe heading toward the afterparty, maybe just trying to make a quiet exit—he found you.

“Undress me. Now.”

His voice was low, but his words were very clear.

You turned, arching a brow as Lando stepped into your space, still looking unfairly good in the outfit you had put him in. “Excuse me?”

He gave you a pointed look. “You picked it. You put me in this. Fix it.”

A slow smirk tugged at your lips. “Didn’t realize you had a problem with it.”

“Oh, I don’t,” he said easily, tilting his head. “It’s the part where everyone else was in suits and I looked like I was about to give a TED Talk, that’s the problem.”

You hummed, feigning deep thought. “Well, maybe I just wanted you to stand out.”

Lando exhaled a laugh, shaking his head. “You knew what you were doing.”

You shrugged, gaze sweeping over him. “And yet… you still looked good.”

For a second, he just watched you—like he was weighing his next move. Then, he leaned in slightly, voice dropping lower. “I’m serious, though. Fix it.”

You swallowed, pulse kicking up.

Because suddenly, this didn’t just feel like him joking around anymore.

“Fine,” you said, steadying yourself. “But I’m not undressing you here.”

Lando’s smirk widened. “Dressing room backstage”

You exhaled sharply, giving him a look. “I’ll get the suit”

He chuckled, stepping back just enough to let you breathe. “I’ll be waiting, stylist.”

And with that, he walked off—leaving you standing there, heart racing, already knowing this wasn’t going to be just about a wardrobe change.

-

The door clicked shut behind you, the distant thump of the party muffled by thick walls.

Lando turned to face you, a smirk playing on his lips. 

“Well?” He tilted his head, voice a quiet challenge. “You started this.”

You looked at him questionably.

‘’Was this your plan all along? Finding a reason to undress me?’’

You rolled your eyes, but your fingers itched to touch him. “You are such a—”

He took a step forward, crowding you against the wall. “Go on,” he murmured, voice dropping. “Undress me.”

He grabbed your wrist, leading it to his waist.

Your breath caught.

You reached for the hem of his knit sweater, fingers skimming the warm skin underneath. Lando inhaled sharply, his hands finding your hips as you tugged the fabric over his head, revealing toned muscle, golden skin.

He watched you, gaze dark, waiting.

And then he was kissing you—deep, insistent, no hesitation.

No pulling away this time.

No one disturbing this time.

You felt yourself melt into him, hands sliding over his bare chest, his fingers slipping beneath the straps of your dress, pushing it down slowly, deliberately. He didn’t wait for you to undress his pants.

His lips moved down your neck, across your collarbone, down your stomach, lower, leaving a trail of heat. He paused just long enough to meet your eyes, teasing. Worshipping.

“I love your clothes,” he murmured against your skin, voice rough. “But without is even better.”

-

You smoothed your hair in the mirror before stepping back into the party, the energy buzzing around you. Lando, as always, looked effortlessly unbothered, like he hadn’t just had his hands all over you.

You were less successful at hiding it.

Max and Keegan noticed immediately.

“Oh, finally,” Keegan muttered, nursing his drink. “Took you long enough.”

Max smirked, raising a brow at Lando. “Have a nice wardrobe change?”

Lando rolled his eyes, but his smirk betrayed him. “Much needed”

Keegan snorted. “Right.”

Max leaned toward you, still grinning. “You really got him with the dress code thing. Brilliant.”

Keegan nodded. “Never seen him look so much like a finance bro.”

Lando groaned. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Then he turned to you, gaze lingering. “You’re lucky I still look good in anything.”

‘’Glad you two are working well together now.’’

You felt your face heat up, but Lando, the smug bastard, just smirked.  “Oh, yeah, great team effort.”

Max and Keegan burst out laughing again, but you barely heard them—because Lando was still looking at you, that same glint in his eye.

WN: Hope you guys like it! Let me know! All suggestions are welcome. I hope to be updating more regularly, already have many fun chapters for this story.

tl: @freyathehuntress @linnygirl09 @sarx164 @joannaln4 @widow-cevans @444-leqz @laneyspaulding19 @mayax2o07 @n3versatisfied @anayaverse @tvdtw4ever

[aris-has-a-paracosm]

Currently revamping my Tango designs. I really like how these turned out :) To the FinFault readers, how we feelin’ about this one? 👀

Default Tango’s outfit is not set in stone yet. I was mainly focused on face and hair design with these sketches.

(That is redstone, not blood !)

[keodraws]

i don't think i'll ever get well about them at this point...

[sapphicides]

call me crazy or gay but i genuinely think the writers, directors, and hell, even the actors knew what they were doing when it came to how they portrayed shauna and jackie's relationship in the pilot. watching it for the first time, i went in completely blind, with no exposure to the fandom, the ships, or anything beyond the core premise of "a group of teenage girls get stuck in a nightmarish lord of the flies/lost scenario after a plane crash and do crazy shit to survive." i fully anticipated any romance in this show, if at all, to be straight. yet i still saw how they established shauna and jackie and immediately thought "my god, these bitches are gay"

from the very first scene we see of jackie (almost) by herself being her faking an orgasm with jeff, clearly implying that she's disinterested in her own boyfriend, to the very first scene we see of shauna and jackie alone together starting with this rom-com esque image of jackie stepping out of her house while music plays in the background and shauna goes from resting bitch face to all smiles

from the longing stares they give each other in their school gym, to shauna responding to tai's "freeze allie out" proposal simply with, "jackie wouldn't like it"

from the scene of shauna dressing with jackie in her room before the party, her snapping at jackie when she merely suggests that shauna sleep with randy and jackie looking genuinely hurt and apologetic by it, to the infamous party scene where shauna looks on at jackie and jeff longingly– except, she's only really looking at jackie, because the entire shot is framed around jackie. for the majority of that scene, jeff is barely even in frame, a faded blur in the background, until he puts his arms around jackie and physically puts himself in shauna's line of vision

the way she immediately takes a pained sip of her beer after

the way she turns around to randy flirting with her, only to turn away with a look of disgust on her face (just like how jackie looked disgusted during jeff's attempt at getting her off)

the way she can't pull her eyes off jackie even when jeff is dropping them off, even when she knows she's about to fuck her boyfriend once she's gone

the way she says goodbye to jackie, tells her she loves her, and jackie doesn't say it back, so she asks jeff to say it to her when they have sex

the show sets up their dynamic to be one that feels inherently romantic to first-time viewers, only to flip it on its head when its reveled that shauna's true interest is in... jeff. she's really in love with jeff? the guy who's face we see maybe a couple of times total, that jeff? the guy who's basically a background character the entire episode, that jeff? yeah, i don't buy it

you could argue that the show places so much emphasis on jackie because it's trying to convey that the affair is eating away at shauna. to some extent, i agree with this, but i really doubt that it's only this. it would explain shauna's snappy and, at times, cagey behavior around jackie, but it doesn't explain the way that jackie is framed by the camera, music, or even some of the writing choices. whenever we see jackie through shauna's eyes, the camera is always focused directly on her, often times with her face illuminated brighter than anyone else. the music that plays behind her is shauna's kind of music (both supernova by liz phair, which shauna chooses to listen to in her car's tape deck, and miss world by hole, which undeniably fits her grungey music taste). she's joined at the hip with shauna, even in scenes where she's with jeff– seriously, there's only one scene where she's completely alone with jeff without shauna, and it's that one. and the same goes for shauna

for the entirety of the pilot, they are in a constant state of push and pull with each other, almost all of their actions being dependent on one another. jeff feels like a plot device at best, a character designed to come between them and to be thrown away once they realize who each other's real love interest is. even upon several rewatches, it still feels this way. even in the adult timeline, it still feels this way. we barely see adult jeff, but we feel both jackie's literal absence and her metaphorical presence in the form of shauna's collection of porcelain bunnies

there is so much foreshadowing and detail packed into the pilot that i have a really hard believing that this was just an oversight or mishandling of their relationship on the show's part. do i think there's going to be any kind of big love confession from shauna any time soon? no. but do i think they intentionally laid the groundwork for her to realize the feelings she had for jackie at some point? yes, i really do

[w1w2]

Drinks or Coffee

Rosé x Fem!Reader

Word Count: ca. 9k

Req by Anon

Notes: It's rushed af, and I'm not proud of it, BUT I couldn't do anything better with the time I had.. SORRY HBD to my number one girl 🫶🏻

Rosé - drinks or coffee "We're just friends, it's okay Kinda weird how my night changed"

English isn’t my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

♡ Enjoy! ♡

The party was nothing but noise and flashing lights. A swirl of expensive perfume, designer outfits, and clinking glasses filled the air, creating an atmosphere that was both dazzling and exhausting. Conversations overlapped, a constant murmur of pleasantries, forced laughter, and industry talk that held no real weight. Music pulsed through the venue, too loud to ignore but not quite loud enough to drown out the superficial exchanges happening around her.

Y/N shifted her weight from one foot to the other, balancing a half-empty glass of champagne between her fingers, pretending to be engaged in the conversation happening in front of her. A senior executive was speaking, something about an upcoming collaboration, or maybe a tour, but Y/N wasn’t really listening. She had perfected the art of nodding at the right moments, offering small smiles, and laughing politely even when she didn’t fully register the joke.

It wasn’t that she hated these events. She understood their importance, knew they were a necessary part of the industry, but tonight felt particularly draining. There was nothing here for her, no real excitement, no real connection. Just people trying to impress other people.

Her gaze flickered toward the exit. If she left now, she doubted anyone would notice. She could slip away, maybe go home and curl up with a book, or even just sit in the quiet of her dorm, free from the noise. It wasn’t like she was adding anything to the energy of the room.

She sighed, fingers tightening around the stem of her glass. “One more hour,” she told herself. Just one more.

And then—

A laugh. Warm. Familiar. Effortless.

It cut through the noise like a melody she had memorized by heart.

Y/N’s body reacted before her mind even processed it. Her head turned instinctively, eyes scanning the crowd, drawn toward the sound as if it had called her by name.

And then, there she was.

Rosé.

Standing beneath the golden glow of the chandeliers, her head tilted back in laughter, eyes crinkling at something Jennie had just said. She was radiant in a way that made the rest of the room fade into the background. Y/N barely noticed the people around her anymore. It was just Rosé, effortlessly captivating, pulling her attention without even trying.

"Standing in the corner of a crowded place, this is boring 'til I heard your name."

Y/N exhaled, the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding slipping past her lips.

The party no longer felt so unbearable.

Rosé stood across the room, deep in conversation with Jennie, her expression alight with amusement. The golden glow of the chandeliers softened her features, casting a delicate shimmer along her cheekbones. Even in the dim, ambient lighting of the venue, she seemed to glow, as if the world had conspired to make her the brightest thing in the room.

Her hair cascaded in soft waves over her shoulders, framing her face in a way that made her look effortlessly elegant. A few strands had slipped out of place, yet instead of looking messy, they only added to her charm. She was dressed in something sleek and understated, nothing overly extravagant, but still stunning in the way it fit her, hugging her form in all the right ways. The fabric caught the light with every small movement, making it impossible not to notice her.

She wasn’t even trying.

She wasn’t standing under a spotlight, wasn’t performing, wasn’t singing with that breathtaking voice of hers. She was just… being herself. Laughing at something Jennie had said, head tilted back slightly, her eyes crinkling in delight.

And yet, Y/N couldn’t look away.

For a moment, she felt ridiculous. She had known Rosé for years. They had spent so many hours together, backstage at award shows, waiting in green rooms, sharing snacks in the hotel after long schedules. They had been each other’s company on quiet nights, texting about everything and nothing until one of them inevitably fell asleep mid-conversation.

Rosé had always been beautiful. That wasn’t new.

So why did it feel like Y/N was seeing her for the first time?

"Is it just me startin’ to see you in a different light?"

Y/N swallowed, a strange warmth creeping up her neck. She blinked, willing the thought away.

And then, as if drawn by some invisible thread, Rosé’s gaze drifted through the sea of people and landed on her.

For a second, Y/N forgot how to breathe.

There was something in Rosé’s eyes, surprise, maybe or something quieter, something unspoken. The conversation she had been having with Jennie momentarily faded into the background. Y/N swore she saw the tiniest flicker of hesitation, as if Rosé wasn’t just looking at her but seeing her, in a way that mirrored exactly what Y/N was feeling.

Then, slowly, Rosé’s lips curled into a smile.

Soft. Familiar. The kind of smile Y/N had seen a thousand times, yet suddenly, it felt different.

Y/N’s heart stumbled over itself.

Rosé lifted a hand and waved, a small motion that somehow carried the weight of the entire evening.

She tilted her head slightly, an unspoken invitation in her gaze, and just like that, leaving was no longer an option.

Y/N found herself moving before she even decided to. It was as if her body knew something she hadn’t quite admitted to herself yet, an invisible pull, a force guiding her straight to Rosé without hesitation. The music and the crowd faded into the background, becoming nothing more than a blur of movement and sound.

The moment she stepped closer, Rosé turned to her with an easy smile, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Finally,” she said, crossing her arms. “I was wondering how long you were gonna sulk in the corner.”

Y/N scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I wasn’t sulking.”

“Sure,” Rosé teased, tilting her head slightly, her blonde hair slipping over one shoulder. “You looked like you were planning your escape.”

Y/N opened her mouth to argue, but.. well, she had been planning her escape. So instead, she just shrugged. “The party’s boring.”

Rosé smirked, leaning in just a fraction closer. “Not anymore, right?”

There was something in her voice, light, playful, but beneath it, something else. Something expectant. The way she looked at Y/N made her stomach flip, like she was waiting for an answer to a question she hadn’t asked out loud.

Before Y/N could analyze it too much, Jennie, who had been casually observing their interaction, cut in smoothly. “You two should just stick together. You’re the only people I’ve seen tonight who don’t look like they want something from someone.”

Rosé let out a soft laugh, the sound effortless and familiar. “Sounds like a plan.”

Jennie’s eyes flicked between them, like she was noticing something neither of them were ready to admit yet. But she just smirked knowingly before stepping away, leaving them in their own little space amidst the chaos of the party.

The conversation flowed easily after that, as it always did between them.

They talked about everything and nothing, complaining about their exhausting schedules, reminiscing about the funniest behind the scenes moments, making quiet jokes about the over the top fashion choices at the party. But underneath all of it, there was something different.

The space between them was less than it should have been.

Every time one of them shifted, the warmth of Rosé’s arm brushed against Y/N’s, sending tiny sparks of awareness up her skin. It wasn’t intentional, at least, Y/N didn’t think so, but neither of them moved away.

Then, without thinking, Y/N reached for a drink from a passing tray.

Her fingers unintentionally brushed against Rosé’s. It was barely a touch. A fleeting moment. But it was there.

Neither of them pulled away immediately.

Y/N swallowed, her pulse thrumming in her ears. She told herself it was nothing. Just a touch. Just a moment.

But then Rosé looked at her. Really looked at her.

And for the first time, Y/N wasn’t so sure it was nothing at all.

The warmth of Rosé’s fingers against Y/N’s lingered, even as the moment passed, even as they both slowly withdrew their hands and pretended like it hadn’t happened. The touch had been brief, fleeting, barely more than a brush of skin against skin. And yet, Y/N could still feel it, like an imprint left behind, delicate but all-consuming.

The air between them had changed.

The conversation continued, but Y/N found herself barely paying attention. She nodded at the right moments, let out small hums of acknowledgment when necessary, but her focus was elsewhere.

Because something was different now.

Rosé, standing impossibly close, her presence overwhelming in the best way. Rosé, whose perfume, light and floral with a hint of vanilla, was something Y/N could recognize anywhere. Rosé, who was quiet now, no longer filling the space with playful words, but instead watching Y/N in a way that sent something warm curling in her chest.

It wasn’t just her imagination.

She could feel it, this pull, this tension simmering just beneath the surface.

Rosé leaned in slightly, her voice just above a whisper, intimate despite the crowd around them. "Wanna get out of here?"

Y/N blinked, caught off guard.

Before she could respond, Rosé tilted her head, a teasing glint in her eyes.

"We could get drinks, or we could get coffee."

Rosé’s tone was casual, too casual, like she wasn’t fully acknowledging what she was asking. Like she was testing something, waiting for a reaction.

Y/N arched an eyebrow, smirking slightly, an attempt to keep her voice steady. “Since when do you drink this much, Rosie?”

Rosé shrugged, effortlessly cool, but Y/N caught the tiny flicker in her expression, the way her lips twitched like she was holding back something more. “Maybe I just wanted an excuse to take you somewhere else.”

Y/N’s breath hitched.

A second passed. Then another.

Neither of them moved.

Rosé was still looking at her, the same way she had been all night, like she was seeing something new, something she hadn’t fully allowed herself to acknowledge before.

And maybe Y/N was looking at her the same way. The weight of the moment balanced on a knife’s edge.

Then, as if making an unspoken agreement, Rosé reached for her clutch, her movements smooth, deliberate. Y/N followed suit, setting her barely touched drink on the nearest table.

They didn’t say anything else, there was no need to.

Without another word, they slipped through the crowd together, leaving the noise of the party behind.

The city air was crisp when they stepped outside, a welcome contrast to the stifling heat of the party. The cool breeze nipped at Y/N’s skin, carrying with it the distant scent of rain on pavement and something floral from a nearby storefront. She inhaled deeply, letting the quiet settle over her like a balm.

Neon lights flickered against the wet pavement, stretching into long, fractured reflections with each passing car. The city was still alive but softer now, distant laughter from groups of night owls mingling with the low hum of traffic. It was the kind of night that felt endless, like anything could happen.

Rosé didn’t say where they were going, and Y/N didn’t ask.

She simply fell into step beside her, their shoulders brushing with every few strides. Neither of them moved away.

A comfortable silence stretched between them as they wandered through the quieter streets of Seoul, where the flashing signs and bustling crowds gave way to cozier alleyways and familiar corners. It wasn’t the first time they had done this, sneaking away after long events, walking without a real destination, enjoying the rare moments of peace their schedules didn’t often allow. But tonight felt… different.

Eventually, they turned down a quieter street, and Rosé led them toward a small, tucked-away café. The warm glow from inside spilled onto the sidewalk, the golden light inviting against the cool blue of the night.

Y/N smiled as recognition dawned. They’d been here before.

Hidden from the prying eyes of cameras and fans, this place had become something of an unspoken sanctuary, a little slice of normalcy in a life where normal didn’t exist.

But somehow, tonight, it felt different.

As Rosé pulled open the door, Y/N hesitated. "Are we really doing coffee at this hour?"

Rosé smirked, tilting her head slightly. “Since when do you care about time?”

Y/N huffed out a quiet laugh, stepping inside after her.

The café was warm, the rich scent of roasted beans and vanilla hanging in the air. Soft music played from an old speaker near the counter, blending into the occasional clinking of ceramic cups and the quiet murmur of the few other late-night customers. It was nothing like the party, no flashing lights, no suffocating expectations, no noise that drowned out the thoughts in her head.

Just them.

As they settled into a corner booth, Rosé ran a hand through her hair, shaking off the slight chill from outside. Y/N watched as she glanced at the menu with mild disinterest before resting her chin on her hand, eyes flickering up to meet Y/N’s.

“You’re stalling,” Y/N teased, placing her own menu down.

Rosé hummed, tapping her fingers against the table. “Maybe.” Then, after a beat, “What do you feel like?”

“Tea,” Y/N answered easily, lifting an eyebrow. “And I know you’re not about to order coffee. You hate drinking it late.”

Rosé’s lips curled into a knowing smile. “Maybe I just like the company.”

Y/N rolled her eyes, but her heart betrayed her, skipping a beat at the effortless way Rosé said it.

They placed their orders, tea for Y/N, something herbal for Rosé, before settling into the quiet lull of the café.

The dim lighting cast soft shadows over Rosé’s face, highlighting the curve of her cheekbone, the slight downturn of her lips as she stared into her cup, stirring absentmindedly. Her fingers wrapped around the ceramic as if grounding herself, but there was a thoughtfulness in her expression, something unsaid resting at the tip of her tongue.

Y/N didn’t speak. She simply watched, taking in the way Rosé’s brows knitted together slightly, how the flickering candle on the table reflected in her eyes.

The café was quiet, not an empty kind of quiet, but the kind that felt safe. Unlike the party, there was no pressure to be anything but themselves here.

And yet, the air between them still carried a charge, an unspoken tension, something lingering just beneath the surface.

Y/N traced the rim of her cup absentmindedly, watching Rosé over the rising steam of her drink.

There was something mesmerizing about the way she carried herself, the effortless way she curled her fingers around the handle of her mug, the way her thumb absentmindedly smoothed over the ceramic surface as if lost in thought. She wasn’t fidgeting, not exactly, but there was a quiet kind of movement to her, a rhythm in the way she tapped a delicate pattern against the side of the cup, her mind seemingly elsewhere.

Y/N had seen Rosé like this before, deep in thought, lost in the quiet corners of her mind. But tonight, something about it felt different.

Maybe it was the lighting, casting warm shadows over the soft contours of her face.

Maybe it was the way her eyes flickered up to meet Y/N’s every so often, as if making sure she was still there.

Maybe it was the silence, charged, heavy with things unsaid, lingering between them like a question neither of them had dared to ask.

And then, before she could stop herself, the words slipped out. "This night felt pointless until I saw you."

Rosé stilled.

Her fingers tightened slightly around her cup, her posture shifting just the smallest fraction. It was subtle, barely noticeable, but Y/N noticed.

Because Rosé always moved with a certain grace, always carried herself with an effortless fluidity, and yet… something about the way she froze in that moment told Y/N that she had caught her off guard.

The words hung between them, suspended in the air like something fragile, something that could shatter if handled too carelessly.

For a moment, Rosé didn’t respond. She just sat there, her lips parted slightly, eyes searching Y/N’s as if trying to find the meaning hidden beneath them.

Because they both knew those words meant more than they should.

"I know we can't say what we mean, but I'm happy that you're here tonight."

Rosé opened her mouth, as if to say something. Y/N could see it, the hesitation, the thoughts racing behind her eyes, the weight of a response she was unsure if she could give.

She stopped herself, instead, she simply smiled.

Not her usual bright, camera-ready smile. Not the charming, practiced expression she wore for flashing lights and adoring fans.

This was something else. Something smaller. Something softer. Something private.

As if Y/N’s words were something she wanted to keep.

After that night, something changes.

It isn’t sudden, there’s no grand moment of realization, no spoken confession that shifts the world around them. But it’s there. Subtle and persistent. A slow unraveling, threading itself into the fabric of their everyday lives, too quiet to name but impossible to ignore.

They start spending more time together.

More than before. More than what could be written off as coincidence or simple friendship.

It starts small.

Rosé starts texting first.

Not because she has a reason, not because there’s anything urgent to say, but just because. Because she wants to, because something about Y/N’s name lighting up her screen makes the dullest parts of her day feel lighter.

And Y/N texts back, always. Sometimes with teasing responses, sometimes with sleepy voice notes at ungodly hours, her voice groggy but affectionate.

And then there are the calls, ones that start as quick check-ins but stretch into hours, their voices growing softer, quieter, like neither of them want to be the one to say goodbye.

Then come the meet-ups, slipping away between schedules, finding hidden places where no one will bother them. There’s something different about those moments. The way Rosé’s fingers toy with the rim of her cup, the way Y/N’s gaze lingers just a little too long. The way neither of them rush to leave.

The nights stretch longer.

More late-night conversations, more laughter, more stolen moments in places that feel like they exist outside of time. Y/N finds herself memorizing the way Rosé’s eyes flicker when she’s talking about something she loves, how she bites her lip when she’s deep in thought, how her voice softens when she says her name.

And then there are the touches. Small at first.

Brushed fingers when reaching for something at the same time. Rosé’s hand on the small of Y/N’s back when guiding her through a crowd. The way Y/N’s fingers linger on Rosé’s wrist when she tugs her closer, like she’s waiting for something.

It’s brief. Fleeting, but it’s enough.

Enough to make Y/N’s breath hitch. Enough to make Rosé’s heart stutter.

Rosé tells herself it’s nothing. Except… It’s always something.

She catches herself staring when she shouldn’t.

During rehearsals, during interviews, in moments where she should be focused, but instead, she’s watching her. Watching the way Y/N moves, the way she laughs, the way she tucks her hair behind her ear absentmindedly.

And every single time Y/N looks back at her, catches her in the act, Rosé’s pulse races.

It’s fine, she tells herself. Completely normal.

But if that’s true… Then why does it feel like something she’s not ready to admit?

Why does she find herself searching for Y/N, even when she’s supposed to be focused on something else? Why does her chest tighten when Y/N walks into a room, why does the absence of her presence feel palpable in a way it never used to?

It follows her everywhere.

During rehearsals, during interviews, in moments where she should be fully present but instead finds her thoughts drifting, always back to her.

And now? Now they’re here again, another schedule, another long day in the industry’s endless cycle. But this time, Rosé doesn’t just feel Y/N’s presence.

She sees her.

The backstage room hummed with the familiar chaos of a live broadcast, producers adjusting earpieces, stylists making last-minute fixes, camera operators calling out to one another. The low murmur of voices, the shuffle of footsteps, the faint whir of a curling iron in the background, it all blended into a steady, predictable noise.

But Rosé barely noticed any of it.

She was seated on the worn leather couch, waiting for the next segment to begin, her body angled slightly toward Y/N without realizing it. The space between them was negligible, their legs nearly touching. Too close to be accidental. Too familiar to be deliberate.

Y/N was speaking, her voice low and warm, her words laced with something teasing. Rosé wasn’t entirely sure what she was saying anymore, something about the interview, or maybe a joke about how long the day had been, but all Rosé could focus on was the way her voice curled around the words. The way her lips twitched in amusement before she even finished speaking, like she already knew Rosé would laugh.

She should move. She should.

But she didn’t.

A staff member passed by, flipping through a clipboard, their voice cutting through the air with an amused lilt.

"You two are always together." The words landed too heavily.

It was casual, offhanded, thrown into the conversation without a second thought. A passing comment meant to fill the silence.

But Rosé felt it like a spark.

Y/N, as always, was quick to respond. She let out an easy laugh, one of those effortlessly charming ones, leaning back against the couch as if the statement meant nothing at all. "Guess she’s stuck with me."

The staff member chuckled and walked off, the moment already forgotten.

Rosé should have laughed, too. It was a joke. Just a joke, but her face burned.

It shouldn’t have meant anything. It shouldn’t have sent a sudden, unsteady rush of heat creeping up her neck, shouldn’t have left her fingers curling subtly against her lap, pressing into the fabric of her dress as if grounding herself.

But the thing about the joke was that it wasn’t really a joke at all.

They were always together.

She could feel Y/N’s gaze on her now, lingering in that way that made Rosé feel seen in a way she wasn’t sure she was ready for. It was subtle, a flicker of attention, a silent question in the way her eyes softened at the corners.

Rosé kept her own gaze forward, pretending to be focused on the ongoing conversation happening across the room. If she laughed too much, it would be obvious. If she didn’t laugh at all, it would be worse.

So she settled for something in between.

A quiet exhale. A half-smile. A sip of water that did nothing to cool the warmth still spreading through her chest.

The conversation moved on. The moment passed, but the thought stayed.

Later, after the interview was over, after the cameras had been turned off and the crew had started packing up, Rosé found herself walking down an empty hallway beside Y/N. The distant hum of voices and laughter from the other rooms faded as they stepped further away from the noise.

It was just them now.

No cameras. No audience. No need to pretend.

Rosé spoke without fully thinking, the words slipping out before she had the chance to swallow them down.

"Maybe they have a point."

Y/N, who had been mid-step, paused.

She turned slightly, just enough for Rosé to see the shift in her expression, the way her amusement dimmed into something quieter, something unreadable. She didn’t speak right away, didn’t offer another easy, teasing response. Instead, she just looked at Rosé, really looked at her, like she was searching for something in her face, waiting to see if Rosé would take the words back.

She didn’t.

Y/N tilted her head, considering. Her voice was softer when she finally spoke. "Do they?"

It wasn’t playful, it wasn’t teasing. It was a real question.

Rosé swallowed, suddenly feeling the weight of her own words.

She could still hear the echo of the joke from earlier. Could still feel the heat of Y/N’s gaze lingering on her, waiting for an answer.

And she could lie. She could laugh it off like she always did, could throw back a simple of course not and pretend like her pulse wasn’t hammering in her throat.

But she didn’t.

She just stood there, staring at Y/N, feeling everything and saying nothing.

Because maybe... Maybe she already knew the answer, and that’s what scared her the most.

And yet, the weight of that unspoken truth didn’t fade with time. It followed her in the quiet moments, in the spaces between conversations, in the way Y/N’s absence felt too loud even when the world around her was filled with noise.

Days passed, then weeks, and still, Rosé found herself caught in the same loop—avoiding, pretending, wanting, running.

She told herself that the tension would dissolve, that if she kept her distance, whatever this thing between them would fade into something manageable. But the distance only made it worse.

So when the invitation arrived, just another industry gathering, just another night of routine smiles and polite small talk, Rosé didn’t expect anything different.

She certainly didn’t expect her.

A private gathering, tucked away from flashing cameras and the ever-watchful eyes of the public. The kind of night where the air is thick with laughter, where drinks are passed between friends, and where time feels just a little more forgiving. Music hums softly from a speaker in the corner, blending into the low murmur of voices and the occasional clink of glasses.

Rosé isn’t drunk, not even close, but there’s a lightness in her limbs, a warmth curling in her chest that has nothing to do with the wine she’s been sipping. It’s the kind of night where everything feels easier, where reality seems softer at the edges, where thoughts she normally keeps locked away start to slip through the cracks.

Somewhere between conversation and quiet, between the flickering candlelight on the table and the sound of her own heartbeat, she feels her.

Y/N is close. Too close.

Rosé hadn’t even noticed when it happened, when the space between them had disappeared, but now? 

Now, she’s hyper-aware of everything. The warmth of Y/N’s body beside her, the way their legs brush beneath the table, the faint scent of her perfume mingling with the evening air.

And then Y/N shifts, just slightly, and Rosé barely has time to react before she’s right there.

Her breath, soft, warm, ghosts against Rosé’s skin, impossibly near, and a shiver runs down her spine before she can stop it.

Her mind goes blank.

The conversation around them, the music, the laughter, it all fades into static, into something distant and insignificant.

There is only this. Only her.

Y/N’s voice, when she speaks, is barely more than a whisper. "If I kissed you right now, would it ruin everything?"

The words ignite something in Rosé, like a spark catching dry kindling, like something waiting to burn.

A slow inhale. A heartbeat too loud in her ears. A heat creeping up her throat that she doesn’t know what to do with.

She should say something. Do something, but she doesn’t.

She can’t.

Panic grips her chest before she even realizes it. A second stretches too long between them, thick with the weight of what’s been left unspoken for too long.

And Rosé? Rosé laughs.

Too quick. Too forced. As if that will erase the weight of what was just said.

"You’re just tipsy." It comes out light, dismissive, as if she can brush this off like nothing, like it’s not the most real thing she’s ever heard.

She shakes her head slightly, as if that will make it not real.

But Y/N isn’t tipsy. She isn’t swaying, isn’t slurring her words, isn’t drunk on anything except whatever this is between them.

And Rosé knows it. She knows it in the way Y/N’s expression flickers, just for a second. The way something flashes across her face, too quick to catch before she masks it.

But Rosé saw. She felt it.

The sharp sting of disappointment. The flicker of something wounded, something Y/N won’t let herself hold on to.

And Rosé’s chest tightens in a way that feels unbearable.

Because for the first time, she realizes that she doesn’t want Y/N to stop asking.

The morning after that night, Rosé wakes up with a sinking feeling in her chest.

For a moment, in the hazy stillness of her bedroom, she lets herself pretend everything is fine.

That nothing has changed. That her heart isn’t tangled in something she doesn’t know how to name.

But reality settles in too quickly.

She blinks up at the ceiling, the remnants of last night flickering behind her eyelids, the warmth of Y/N too close, the whisper of her breath against Rosé’s skin, the question that still lingers in the air between them like an unfinished song.

"If I kissed you right now, would it ruin everything?"

Rosé exhales sharply, pressing the heel of her palm against her forehead.

She tells herself it’s exhaustion, that the weight pressing down on her chest is just from too many late nights and back-to-back schedules.

But she knows better.

She knows it has everything to do with the way Y/N had looked at her. The quiet expectation in her eyes, the way her voice had softened, like she was offering Rosé something fragile, something she had been holding onto for too long.

And the way Rosé had run.

From her, from the truth, from whatever this thing between them was turning into.

So she does the only thing she knows how to do. She avoids.

The first message comes in before noon.

She sees it, her screen lighting up with Y/N’s name, but she doesn’t open it.

An hour later, a second message follows.

Rosé glances at it briefly, long enough to see the words "Are we okay?" before she locks her phone and shoves it face-down onto the nightstand.

The third message arrives sometime in the afternoon.

It sits unread in her notifications for hours, a quiet reminder that Y/N is still waiting for something Rosé isn’t sure she can give.

When her phone vibrates with an incoming call, she doesn’t even let herself hesitate, she just lets it ring.

Following days she tells herself she’s busy. That their schedules don’t align, that she’s tired, that it’s better this way.

But when Jennie corners her in the practice room later one day, arms crossed, her gaze sharp in a way that says she already knows the answer, Rosé falters.

“You’ve been weird,” Jennie says, not bothering with subtlety. “What’s going on?”

Rosé doesn’t look up from where she’s absently scrolling through her playlist, pretending to search for a song she isn’t really paying attention to.

“Nothing.”

Jennie scoffs. “Right. So nothing is why you’ve barely said two words all day?”

Rosé forces a laugh, but even she can hear how hollow it sounds. “I’m just tired.”

Jennie studies her for a moment, expression unreadable. “Does this have anything to do with Y/N?”

The name alone is enough to make Rosé’s breath hitch, to make her fingers clench around her phone before she forces them to relax.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says, too quickly, too stiffly.

Jennie doesn’t press. She just sighs, shaking her head slightly. “Whatever it is, you’re not handling it well.”

And Rosé knows that.

She knows it every time she catches herself opening Y/N’s chat in the dead of night, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, over the words "Are you okay?", over the words "I'm sorry."

But she never types them. Never sends them.

Because that would mean admitting that this, whatever this is, means something, and she’s not sure she’s ready for that.

So she keeps running.

And Y/N? Y/N pretends not to notice, because if Rosé is going to run, she won’t chase.

But ignoring something doesn’t make it disappear. Rosé learns that the hard way.

No matter how much distance she tries to put between them, no matter how many unanswered texts or avoided glances, she still feels Y/N, like gravity, like a pull she can’t escape.

So when another event comes around, another event with the same people in a different venue, another night of rehearsed smiles and carefully curated interactions, Rosé tells herself that this will be just like any other.

That this time, she won’t let herself look for her.

But the moment she steps inside, the moment the lights and laughter and music blur into the background, she does.

The room is a blur of movement, a dazzling display of expensive gowns and crisp suits, of practiced smiles and meaningless conversations spoken over the hum of music. Laughter rises and falls, champagne flutes clink together in rehearsed toasts, and somewhere in the distance, cameras flash, capturing moments that will be dissected by the media in the morning.

Rosé stands near the edge of the crowd, her fingers curled loosely around the delicate stem of a wine glass, the cool press of glass grounding her.

She tells herself she isn’t looking for Y/N. She tries not to, but it doesn’t matter, her eyes find her anyway.

Like they always do. Like they always will.

And when they do, something sharp twists in her stomach.

Y/N is across the room, wrapped in conversation, her body angled toward someone Rosé doesn’t recognize. She’s smiling, bright and effortless, the kind of smile that makes people lean in, makes them stay. She laughs at something they say, head tilting back slightly, the sound clear even over the noise of the party.

She’s good at this. She always has been. She knows exactly how to make someone feel like they’re the only person in the room, and Rosé hates it.

Because tonight, that person isn’t her.

A bitter taste lingers at the back of her throat, something that has nothing to do with the wine she hasn’t touched in minutes.

She grips the glass a little tighter, eyes locked on the way Y/N leans in just slightly, the way her fingers graze against the sleeve of the stranger's suit, light, fleeting, but there.

It’s nothing. It’s probably nothing, but it doesn’t feel like nothing.

Then, as if sensing something, Y/N’s gaze shifts.

Just for a moment. Just long enough for their eyes to meet across the room. Long enough for Rosé to wonder if it was intentional.

But before she can figure it out, before she can read whatever might be hidden in Y/N’s expression, Y/N looks away.

And Rosé feels something crack inside her.

"Feelin’ so good at a bad party."

She exhales, turning away sharply, lifting her glass to her lips in an attempt to distract herself. The wine is smooth, expensive, but it does nothing to ease the tightness in her chest.

Jennie’s voice, dry and amused. “You look like you’re about to shatter that glass.”

Rosé stiffens. She barely has time to fix her expression before Jennie steps beside her, moving slowly, deliberately, sipping her drink as she watches her carefully.

Rosé forces a small laugh, one that feels unnatural even to her. “I’m fine.”

Jennie hums, unimpressed. “Right. And I’m the newest member of TWICE.”

Rosé exhales through her nose, loosening her grip on the glass. “It’s nothing.”

Jennie doesn’t respond right away. Instead, she follows Rosé’s gaze across the room, to her.

Y/N, still laughing, still talking, still not looking at Rosé.

Something shifts in Jennie’s expression.

Then, without missing a beat, she turns back, raising an eyebrow. “If you don’t want her to move on,” she says, voice softer now, words deliberate, “do something about it.”

Rosé swallows. Her throat is dry. She doesn’t respond.

Because she doesn’t know how.

The party is still alive beyond the walls of the bathroom, laughter spilling over the bass-heavy music, muffled conversations buzzing like static. The distant hum of it all presses against the thick wooden door, but in here, there is nothing but silence.

And them.

Rosé barely has time to react before the door swings shut with a soft click. She grips the edge of the marble sink, fingers tightening until her knuckles turn white.

She doesn’t turn around. She doesn’t have to.

She knows who it is.

The energy in the room shifts, the air thick with something suffocating, something heavy, something inevitable. The bathroom lights cast a dim glow against the mirror, reflecting back the face of someone who looks far too composed for how fast her heart is beating.

Behind her, Y/N stands motionless, but Rosé can feel the weight of her gaze, pressing against her back like a question waiting to be answered.

"Why are you acting like I don’t exist?" The words are quiet, but they land like a punch, knocking the air from Rosé’s lungs.

She inhales sharply, but it doesn’t steady her. She wasn’t ready for this.

She thought she had been avoiding a conversation, but the truth is, she was delaying it, and now, there’s nowhere left to run.

Her stomach twists violently. For a fleeting second, she thinks about lying. Thinks about brushing past Y/N, making up an excuse, slipping back into the party like none of this is happening.

But she can’t.

Slowly, she turns to face her.

Y/N is standing a few feet away, arms crossed, not in defiance, but in frustration, in hurt. She looks exhausted, like she’s been carrying the weight of this conversation for far too long.

Rosé swallows, her throat dry. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Y/N scoffs. Not in amusement. Not in mockery. It’s a sound of disbelief.

Of disappointment.

“Don’t do that,” Y/N murmurs, shaking her head. Her voice is softer now, but it’s laced with something tired. “Don’t stand there and pretend like you haven’t been ignoring me.”

Rosé looks away, but it doesn’t help.

Because the silence that follows confirms it.

She has been ignoring her. She’s been avoiding her, dodging texts, letting calls ring unanswered, keeping her distance like it would somehow fix this, like it would make everything that happened between them disappear.

But it hasn’t.

And now, the distance feels more suffocating than the closeness ever did.

The silence stretches, growing heavier.

"We can’t be like this." The words slip out before she can stop them.

They hang in the air, raw and exposed, before Rosé even fully understands what she’s just said.

Y/N flinches.

It’s slight, barely noticeable, the way her lips part slightly, like she wasn’t expecting it, like, even after everything, some small, stubborn part of her still hoped Rosé wouldn’t say it.

She exhales, running a hand through her hair, letting out a quiet, bitter laugh.

“Right,” she murmurs, shaking her head. “Of course we can’t.”

Rosé clenches her fists, nails digging into the skin of her palm, hating the way her chest aches at the sound of Y/N’s voice.

She should say something else, something softer, something that doesn’t sound so final.

But she doesn’t.

Y/N looks at her, and suddenly, Rosé feels like she’s standing at the edge of something dangerous.

A precipice she isn’t sure she wants to step away from.

"Then stop looking at me like you want me." The words come out sharp, cutting through the thick silence between them like a blade.

Rosé flinches. Because Y/N isn’t wrong.

And the worst part? She doesn’t even try to deny it.

She just stands there, silent, frozen, drowning in the weight of everything she hasn’t said.

And that, Y/N realizes, is answer enough.

The silence stretches between them, heavier than anything Rosé has ever carried. She watches as Y/N exhales, her expression shifting—not angry, not bitter, just... tired. Like she’s finally reached the end of something she never wanted to let go of.

And Rosé hates it.

She wants to reach out, to say something, to fix whatever this is before it slips through her fingers completely. But no words come, and when Y/N finally steps back, putting space between them, Rosé doesn’t move.

She watches as Y/N walks away, disappearing into the noise of the party.

And Rosé doesn’t chase her.

They stop talking, not gradually, not in the way friendships sometimes fade over time.

No, this is different. It’s sharp and immediate, like a door slammed shut, like something breaking just beneath the surface but never making a sound. Like a final breath before drowning.

Y/N tells herself she’s done waiting. She tells herself that if Rosé wants to pretend nothing happened, if she wants to ignore her, to act like Y/N doesn’t exist, then fine.

She won’t chase her. She won’t sit around hoping Rosé will finally stop running.

But it still hurts. More than she thought it would.

It hurts when she catches herself glancing at her phone, expecting a message that never comes. The stupid reflex of checking her notifications first thing in the morning, only to be met with silence.

It hurts when she hears Rosé’s voice in an interview, that familiar, melodic tone, speaking casually, laughing like nothing is wrong. Like she isn’t tearing Y/N apart in the quiet spaces between moments.

It hurts when she sees her across a room, standing with the same effortless grace, her fingers curled around a glass, her posture poised and unreadable.

Like they never meant anything at all.

Y/N tells herself she doesn’t care.

She throws herself into her work. Rehearsals, performances, interviews. She smiles when she’s supposed to. Laughs at the right moments. Flirts just enough to keep up the illusion that she’s fine.

That she isn’t falling apart. And for a while, it works.

Because when she’s on stage, when the lights are bright, when the music is loud, she can forget.

She can ignore the quiet ache in her chest, the way her thoughts always seem to drift back to Rosé when she isn’t paying attention.

But then the nights come.

And suddenly, there’s nothing to distract her. No flashing lights, no cameras, no endless noise to drown out the thoughts she doesn’t want to have.

She comes home to an empty room, kicks off her shoes, stares at the ceiling, and wonders if Rosé is doing the same thing. If she’s lying in bed somewhere, wide awake, thinking about Y/N the way Y/N is thinking about her.

She should let it go. She should.

She wants to.

But then, on a night where the loneliness is unbearable, when the silence feels too loud, when the weight in her chest feels too heavy, she reaches for her phone.

Her fingers hover over the keyboard, hesitation settling in her bones.

She shouldn’t. She knows, but before she can stop herself, before she can talk herself out of it. She types out a message.

"Drinks or coffee?"

The words stare back at her, small and simple, but somehow carrying everything.

She doesn’t expect an answer.

She tells herself she’s just doing it for closure, for something final. A message sent into the void, never to be answered.

She leaves the screen on anyway.

Watching.

Waiting.

Rosé is half-asleep when the message comes in.

Her phone vibrates softly on the nightstand, barely enough to stir her from the fog of sleep, but somehow, somehow, she feels it before she even registers the sound.

With a sigh, she shifts under the covers, eyes fluttering open just enough to see the dim glow of the screen casting a faint light across the room. The brightness stings, blurring her vision as she squints at the notification.

She almost ignores it. Until she sees the name.

Y/N.

Her breath catches, sleep vanishing instantly.

Fingers trembling slightly, she swipes at the screen, blinking hard as the words come into focus.

Her stomach drops.

For a long, paralyzing moment, all she can do is stare.

Y/N’s name on her screen feels like a ghost, like something she hasn’t let herself think about in weeks, like something she’s spent too much time trying to bury.

She thought she was doing the right thing. She thought if she pulled away, if she ignored the way her heart ached every time she saw Y/N, it would go away. That the distance would make it easier.

But it didn’t. It never did.

Every single day without her felt like walking through a world that had lost its color.

She felt it in the quiet moments, the ones where she reached for her phone, fingers hovering over Y/N’s contact, only to talk herself out of it at the last second.

She felt it in the laughter that didn’t reach her eyes anymore, in the way the world seemed too quiet without Y/N’s voice filling the spaces in between.

She felt it in every song she sang, in every lyric that hit too close, in every interview where she forced a smile and pretended like she hadn’t been unraveling piece by piece.

She missed her.

More than she wanted to admit, more than she could admit.

And now, here Y/N was.

Reaching out. Giving her a choice.

Drinks or coffee? It wasn’t just a question. It was an offering. A last chance. A lifeline.

A way of saying, "Are you going to keep running, or are you finally going to face this?"

Her heart slams against her ribs.

She could ignore it, she could keep pretending, she could let the silence stretch on forever, let the distance between them turn permanent.

And maybe Y/N would finally get tired of waiting. Maybe she would move on. Maybe, one day, Rosé would see her across a room, laughing with someone else, looking at them the way she used to look at Rosé.

The thought makes her stomach twist violently.

The air in the room feels suffocating, thick with the weight of everything she’s refused to say.

Her fingers tighten around her phone.

And then, before she can stop herself, before she can talk herself out of it.

She moves.

Rosé throws off her blankets, the chill of the room hitting her skin, but she barely feels it. Her body moves on instinct, faster than her thoughts can keep up, like some part of her already knows what she has to do.

Her hands shake as she grabs a jacket, as she shoves her feet into her shoes, as she pushes open the door and steps into the night.

The cold air bites at her, sharp against her skin, but it doesn’t matter.

Because all she knows is this.

The rush in her chest, the certainty settling into her bones, the desperate, aching need to move.

Suddenly, the thought of losing Y/N feels unbearable.

The café is nearly empty when Rosé arrives, its golden glow spilling onto the dark, rain-slicked pavement, a quiet sanctuary tucked away from the noise of the world outside. The soft chime of the bell above the door rings out into the stillness as she steps inside, breathless from the cold, her lungs burning as if she’s been running for miles instead of the short, frantic sprint from the station.

Her pulse is hammering, each beat echoing in her ears, but she forces herself to move forward, to look.

And then, she sees her.

Y/N is exactly where Rosé knew she would be, sitting in the farthest corner of the café, curled into the same spot she always claims whenever they come here. The table in front of her holds a half-empty cup, long forgotten, her fingers wrapped loosely around the ceramic as if the warmth of it is the only thing keeping her tethered to the moment. Her gaze is unfocused, staring out of the window into nothing, lost in thoughts Rosé can’t begin to guess.

There is something different about her.

Something about the way her shoulders are set, the way the usual spark in her eyes is missing, the way her lips are pressed into something softer, something unsure.

She looks lost, and the sight of it nearly destroys Rosé.

She swallows against the tightness in her throat, her steps hesitant as she moves toward the table. Her entire body feels too warm, too unsteady, as if the moment she speaks, the fragile thing between them will shatter completely.

Y/N doesn’t look up right away.

She only notices when Rosé finally slides into the seat across from her, exhaling shakily, the weight of weeks of silence settling between them like something heavy, something unspoken.

For a long, stretched moment, neither of them say a word.

The quiet hum of the café surrounds them, the occasional clink of porcelain, the low murmur of an old jazz song playing through the speakers, the hushed voices of the only other patrons lingering near the entrance.

But at their table, there is only silence.

Rosé stares down at her hands, clenched into fists against her lap, trying to steady herself, trying to gather the courage to say what she knows she needs to say.

"It’s not just you," she whispers, the words tumbling from her lips before she can stop them, before she can convince herself to stay silent for just a little longer.

Y/N’s brow furrows slightly, the smallest crease forming between them, as if she isn’t sure she heard her correctly. Her fingers twitch around her cup, but she doesn’t speak.

Rosé inhales sharply, then exhales just as quickly, feeling the rise and fall of her chest, the way her heart seems to ache with the weight of what she is about to admit.

"I’ve been thinking about you every day." Her voice is quiet but steady, and once the words start, she doesn’t want to stop. She can’t stop. "Yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

She forces herself to meet Y/N’s gaze, forces herself to let the words exist, no longer hidden in the safety of silence.

"Is it so wrong I’ve been thinking ‘bout you all day?"

The air between them shifts.

A moment ago, it had been heavy with uncertainty, thick with all the things they had been too afraid to say, but now? Now, it feels different.

Y/N stills, her fingers flexing around the ceramic mug, her breath catching ever so slightly, her lips parting like she wants to say something but can’t quite bring herself to speak yet.

For a second, a terrible, agonizing second, Rosé wonders if she’s too late.

If she’s already ruined this beyond repair. If Y/N has moved on.

But unexpectedly, Y/N smiles. 

Soft. Knowing. Like she understands, like she’s been waiting for this, like she’s been waiting for her.

She leans forward just slightly, her eyes searching Rosé’s, voice gentle but firm when she finally speaks. "Then stop running from me."

The breath Rosé has been holding finally escapes, her chest rising and falling as something inside her, something that has been knotted up for so long, finally breaks loose.

And this time? She won’t run.

The morning light spills through the sheer curtains, casting golden ribbons of warmth across the duvet, illuminating the soft folds of fabric as Rosé stirs beneath it. The world feels quieter in this moment, gentler, as if the universe itself has shifted ever so slightly overnight, tilting into something softer, something lighter. The weight she hadn’t even realized she’d been carrying feels a little less suffocating, her breaths a little deeper, her chest no longer as tight.

She stretches lazily, the warmth of sleep still clinging to her limbs, fingers curling against the pillow as she blinks away the last remnants of dreams she can’t quite remember. There’s a peaceful stillness in the air, the kind that only exists in the early hours of the morning before reality fully settles in, before the demands of the day creep in to steal away these fleeting moments of tranquility.

Then, her phone buzzes against the nightstand.

The sound is quiet, almost insignificant against the hushed hum of the waking world, but it reaches her all the same, cutting through the fog of sleep.

With slow, clumsy movements, she reaches for it, fingers swiping blindly across the screen, still sluggish from sleep. The brightness of the display stings her eyes, and she squints against the glare as she reads the notification.

Y/N.

"Drinks or coffee? Just call me"

For a moment, Rosé just stares.

The words blur slightly in her vision, not because she’s still waking up, but because something inside her stirs, something deep and aching that she hasn’t fully allowed herself to feel until now.

A slow smile tugs at the corners of her lips before she even realizes it, the kind of smile that starts small but spreads, blooming into something uncontrollable, something real.

She reads the message once.

Then again.

And suddenly, she’s wide awake.

There’s no hesitation this time. No doubt creeping in to make her second-guess herself. No fear holding her back, telling her to stop, to run, to pretend like this doesn’t mean everything.

Just certainty. A kind of clarity she hasn’t felt in weeks.

She doesn’t waste time typing out a reply, doesn’t sit there searching for something witty or teasing to send back. Words aren’t enough. They never have been.

Instead, she presses the call button, the movement instinctive, as if her body already knows what her heart has only just allowed itself to accept.

The line rings once.

Twice.

"Morning, sleepyhead."

Y/N’s voice comes through the receiver, warm and familiar, laced with the soft amusement of someone who already knows Rosé too well, who can probably picture her sitting there, tangled in her sheets, phone clutched tightly in her hands.

Rosé exhales, her smile widening, the last remnants of sleep disappearing entirely.

"Morning." Her voice is still hushed, still laced with the gentle rasp of sleep, but there’s something lighter there now, something unburdened.

Y/N hums on the other end, the sound threading through the quiet like a melody Rosé didn’t know she’d been waiting to hear. "So? Drinks or coffee?"

Rosé laughs softly, the warmth in her chest spilling over, impossible to contain. She’s already sitting up, already reaching for the first jacket she can find, already moving before she’s even fully aware of it.

"Neither."

There’s a pause, and she can almost hear the curiosity in Y/N’s silence before the response comes."Oh?"

"I just want to see you."

There’s another pause, longer this time. The kind that stretches, that means something. Rosé can hear Y/N shift slightly on the other end, can imagine the small smile forming on her lips, the tilt of her head, the way she’s probably biting back some teasing remark, drawing out the anticipation just to make Rosé wait.

"Then hurry up, Chipmunk."

Rosé laughs again, this time louder, freer. And for the first time in a long time, she knows exactly where she’s meant to be.

[lieutenantbatshit]

CHAPTER 09 - once you go in, there's no turning back (hwang in ho x reader)

>> MASTERLIST

previous chapter | next chapter

----

You cupped your hands under the cold stream, letting the water pool on your palms as you brought it up to your face. The coolness sipped into your skin, a brief moment of relief as the tension in your temples eased. Droplets ran down your cheeks as it traced on to your jawline. You looked at yourself in the mirror as you dried yourself up, seeing Jun-hee behind, much to your surprise.

"Jesus, you scared me," your breath hitched as you rubbed the water away from your face using your shirt.

Jun-hee chuckled as you motioned to the side, awaiting her turn as she bowed to you. She moved forward to the sink to check herself in the mirror, then splashed some water on her face. Your skin felt refreshed, though you wished you had your skincare products with you to make you even feel better.

You went behind Jun-hee as both of you walked out of the bathroom, making your way towards the labyrinth of stairs down to the dormitory. You noticed Gi-hun, Jung-bae, Dae-ho, and In-ho already packing the beds, but the mattresses were being placed beneath the bedframes.

"Lights out in ten minutes," the voice said on the speakers. "Please prepare for bedtime."

"Pass it to me," you heard Gi-hun say as you walked near them, seeing them arranging the mattresses like a fort. The mattresses seemed clean, but its dust plumed into the air much to your sneeze as Jung-bae swatted his hand away from the dust.

"Bless you," Jung-bae said to you as you wiped your nose/ You sniffed, feeling the dust still lurking somewhere in your nostrils, only for you to sneeze again.

"God," you complained, turning away from the mattresses. "Please, excuse me."

"Excused," In-ho muttered. His voice was almost low but still audible for you, yeet you chose to ignore it.

"Is this really necessary? I don't like sleeping under there," Jung-bae complained, looking at the mattress being put under the bed with disgust.

"Once the lights go out, somebody might attack us," Gi-hun explained, his eyes fixed on the mattress he was arranging.

"What? Who?" Dae-ho asked, placing a mattress in front as a blockage, while Jun-hee held out the blankets.

"The prize money still goes up if we kill each other," Gi-hun said, his voice dark. "It's part of the game they designed."

"Seems like it," you said, nodding to Gi-hun in agreement. "This wasn't about the games anymore. They clearly want to see us fight up there. Some sort of a test for humanity, something like that."

In-ho scoffed from behind. "I think you're overreacting here. Even if that were true, people wouldn't do that."

As you were about to retort, Gi-hun turned away and faced In-ho, his expression dark but fearful. "In the previous games, dozens of people killed each other at night," Gi-hun pointed to the ground, his words pronounced every detail. "Right here." He sighed deeply as he continued. "You have no idea how people can change in this place."

In-ho looked away, sighing in defeat as he gave a small nod. "All right. I guess I didn't know what I was talking about. I'm sorry."

You raised an eyebrow, sensing his words with no hint of sincerity, as if it was perfectly memorized. Like it was an automatic response. You went back to your senses and listened more to Gi-hun, whose back was turned on In-ho. "Once it's lights out, we need to take turns keeping watch. I'll take the first watch. You should decide the order for the rest."

"I'll take after Gi-hun," Jung-bae raised his hand, then he looked at you and Jun-hee. "Both of you should get a good night's sleep for the rest of the night. It would also be better if you sleep at the bottom for your safety."

"I can handle myself," you assured, waving your hand as if to dismiss the idea. You turned to Jun-hee and gave her a small smile. "You can sleep for the rest of the night, Jun-hee."

Jun-hee nodded as she made her way to the mattress, seemingly wanting to sleep. She needed a lot of rest for her to get ready for the next games, hopefully to make it out in the end.

"I'll take watch after brother Jung-bae," Dae-ho said, giving a salute to Jung-bae, to which he returned. The two marines exchanged handshakes.

"That leaves me then," In-ho said, then he looked at you. "You can take watch after me."

You nodded and proceeded to get your blanket and pillow along with Jun-hee's, deciding to sleep beside her at night to accommodate her needs. You weren't knowledgeable on how to care for a pregnant woman, but you should at least try. You felt a sense of protectiveness for her, tucking her in.

You positioned yourself on the bed, placing a blanket over you. The lights dimmed as the piggy bank's light illuminated around the area. You could feel your eyelids drooping, growing heavier with every passing second. The world around you blurred, the edges of reality softening as your body sank deeper into the mattress. You could feel every muscle in your body ached with fatigue. No matter how hard you tried to stay alert, your body had already decided - there was no fighting it anymore.

----

Sleep had barely settled into your bones before something stirred you awake. Your eyes cracked open sluggishly, your mind swimming through the heavy fog of exhaustion. The world around was still wrapped in darkness, the dim lighting from the piggy bank overhead casting eerie shadows along the bunk beds. Your limbs felt weighted and slow to respond, and cold air stung against your exposed skin, making you shiver.

You slid out of the mattress, careful not to wake Jun-hee up. You rubbed your eyes as you blinked, sluggishly adjusting to reality.

And then, you saw In-ho.

He sat a few feet away, his back straight, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond the sleeping bodies. He barely moved, barely even blinked, his silhouette rigid against the dim glow of the room. The sharp angles of his face were softened by darkness, but there was something unnerving about how still he was.

You moved slowly and quietly as you approached him, only for him not to react much. He didn't even flinch, didn't turn his head, but you knew he was aware of you.

You hesitated before lowering yourself onto the floor beside him, mirroring his posture - leaning back against the bunk, legs stretched out, knees barely grazing. The silence between you was thick, but not suffocating. Not yet, anyway.

"You can sleep," you spoke up as his eyes flicked towards you. "It's my turn to watch."

"The lights will open in a few hours. It's no use to sleep now," In-ho replied as he returned his eyes to the shadows ahead.

You nodded, letting the quiet settle again. You closed your eyes a bit as you could still feel a bit of sense of grogginess, but fixed yourself up when you felt dozing off again.

The room was steeped in silence, save for the occasional rustle of bodies shifting in sleep. The longer you sat there, the more the exhaustion sank into your bones, making your mind wander to places it shouldn't. Your fingers absently traced the fabric of your pants as your thoughts had already slipped somewhere else. Before you could stop it, the memory surfaced - your father.

The same silence. The same kind that used to stretch between you and him, late at night, when you'd wake up and find him sitting alone in the living room, a bottle of beer long gone cold in front of him. He would watch a movie while drinking, enjoying the rest of his night with a cigarette on hand.

You would watch the same movie to help you go back to sleep as he would gesture toward the chair across from him. And you'd sit, just like this, neither of you speaking, both of you staring at the TV in front of you. It was something unspoken, but shared.

You weren't sure why you thought of him now. Maybe it was the stillness. The weight of unspoken things hanging in the air. Or maybe it was In-ho himself - the way he sat there, unreadable, distant in a way that felt too familiar.

The thought made your chest tighten, your throat constricting around something you weren't ready to name.

"Appa used to sit like this," you murmured before you could stop yourself.

You felt In-ho shift beside you - just barely, just enough that you knew he had heard. He didn't turn to face you, didn't press for more, but he was listening.

Your fingers curled slightly against your knee as you exhaled. You didn't mead to say it, but now the words were out, lingering between you both, impossible to take back.

"He'd just sit there at night while watching a movie, thinking about things he never talked about."

In-ho didn't speak, but his breathing was steady, his presence solid beside you. The moment stretched, heavy with something neither of you had the energy to unpack.

"He passed away recently," you swallowed, feeling an ache on your chest. In-ho's faze flickered toward you, seeing his eyes with shock and... worry. "Hemorrhagic stroke. I was getting ready for work when eomma called me and said that they rushed him to the hospital. He suddenly felt dizzy and passed out in the ambulance. The doctors said he was in critical condition," you felt tears forming in your eyes as your voice cracked. "I rushed to the emergency room that day. The doctors said they couldn't do a surgery on him anymore. There was no brain activity anymore and his body was only relying to the machine. We went home and waited for more news. It took a while for us to decide but then..."

Your voice cracked, and before you knew it, the tears came - hot, unstoppable, burning their way down your cheeks. You bit down on your lip as if that would keep the sob from escaping, but it only made your shoulders shake harder, your breath coming in sharp, uneven gasps.

"When we were on the way back to the hospital, the doctors tried to revive him twice. As if he was waiting for us. When we arrived, we decided to take the medicines off and let him pass naturally. And just like that, in just a few hours, he was gone."

It wasn't just the fact that he was gone. The fact that life had ripped him away from you, without warning, without time to prepare. That there had been so many things left unsaid, so many moments you thought you'd have, but never would.

You pressed the heels of your palms against your eyes, trying to smother the sobs, trying to control yourself, but it was useless. You weren't just crying - you were breaking, unraveling right in front of him.

In-ho was still silent. But he hadn't left.

His fingers twitched slightly against his knee, like he had considered doing something - but in the end, he stayed still.

You sucked in a breath, swallowing back another sob. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this," you whispered, your voice raw, shaking.

For a moment, you thought he wouldn't respond. But then, softly, he said, "Because he mattered."

You blinked, fresh tears slipping down your cheeks.

In-ho exhaled, tilting his head slightly, his gaze fixed on the floor. "People like that... they don't really leave us. They just... stop being where we can reach them."

Something about the way he said it made your breath catch. It sounded too familiar, too knowing, like he was speaking from experience.

You wiped your tears away with your sleeve, trying to steady yourself, but the weight in your chest didn't disappear. It wouldn't, not for a long time.

In-ho didn't offer anything else. No empty reassurances. No forced words of sympathy.

But he stayed. And somehow, that was enough.

You could feel his gaze on you, heavy and assessing, but he didn't speak. You turned your face away as if hiding it would somehow take away the humiliation of breaking in front of him.

In-ho's fingers ghosted over your wrist before retreating, hesitant, like even the smallest act of comfort was something foreign to him.

You sniffled, forcing a shaky breath. "You don't have to pretend to care."

In-ho exhaled through his nose, something like amusement, something like frustration. "I'm not pretending."

You turned to him, expecting coldness, indifference. But instead, you found something else. His gaze was unreadable, but there was something softer, something hesitant in the way his lips parted like he wanted to say more but wouldn't.

And then, you felt his lips against yours. It was brief, deliberate. Not desperate, not hurried - but real.

His lips were warm against yours, and for the first time in what felt like forever, you didn't feel cold. His grip on you tightened as he pulled you closer, surrendering to the moment.

But then, the light came on. The bright, harsh, unforgiving light illuminating the room.

You barely had time to register the words before In-ho pulled away, the warmth between you vanishing as quickly as it had come. His expression was unreadable again, as if the moment had never happened.

"The third game will begin momentarily. All players, please get out of bed and get ready."

----

The moment the heavy doors slid open, a stark sterile brightness spilled into the corridor, making you squint against the sudden change. The space beyond was massive, eerily open, the kind of emptiness that felt designed to make you feel small.

In the center of the room stood a series of platforms and narrow walkways, forming an intricate maze-like pattern, interconnected in ways that felt delibrate, calculated. At first glance, there seemed to be no immediate danger - no spikes, no pits, no obvious traps.

"Welcome to your third game. The game you will be playing is Mingle."

You looked around as you saw the doors around the place, each with different colors. If this was Mingle, then you would be grouping yourselves, pairing up, and choosing sides. This game could be to form alliances, or something worse - something to force you into connections you wouldn't want.

"All players, please step onto the center platform. When the game starts, the platform will begin to rotate and you will hear a number. You must form groups of that size, go into the rooms, and close the door within 30 seconds."

"Oh, this game? We used to play something similar on school trips," Jung-bae spoke up. "We formed groups by hugging."

"Yeah, instead of hugging, we go into those rooms," Dae-ho pointed at the doors.

In-ho, Y/N, Gi-hun, Jung-bae, Dae-ho, Jun-hee.

"If the number is six, we can stay together," you said, earning a nod from each of your group. "We can be divided by three and two. So that wouldn't be a problem."

"If it's two, you and me pair up," In-ho stated with no hesitation. Before you could react, he leaned in and wrapped his hand around yours steadily and certain.

Your breath hitched, but you didn't pull away. The words sent a sharp jolt through your chest - not from fear, not from surprise, but from the way he didn't phrase it as a question. He wasn't asking. He was deciding.

His grip was firm, not forceful, but final. Like he had already made the choice for you - like he wouldn't let you end up with anyone else.

Your eyes flicked up just in time to catch the others watching. Gi-hun, Jung-bae, Dae-ho, even Jun-hee noticed. The way In-ho held your hand. The way he had spoken so casualy, so sure as if it was obvious. The way you didn't pull away.

Gi-hun's expression tightened, his brows furrowing just slightly, as if he was trying to understand what he had just seen. You could feel the weight of their silent questions. But In-ho didn't look at them, as if he didn't care. He didn't acknowledge their glances. He just kept his grip on your hand, his thumb resting lightly against your skin.

Gi-hun seemed to shake away his thoughts, focusing on the game ahead instead. "If the number is bigger than six, we'll get the additional people we need."

"Yeah, we have Geum-ja, Hyun-ju, Yong-sik, and Young-mi. These rooms look like it could only fit up to ten people," you replied, earning a nod from Gi-hun.

"No matter what happens, don't panic. Let's stay calm," In-ho said, his hand still not pulling away from yours. "We'll all make it out together here."

One by one, your hands with the others pressed against each other, stacking in a firm, unspoken pact. The weight of each palm settled atop the next, fingers brushing, gripping, grounding. The warmth of skin against skin was a quiet promise - whatever happened next, you were all in this together.

"Victory at all costs!"

"Let the game begin."

The first bell-like chime rang out. The platform moved with the players on it. The gasps echoed from the room as you heard the song, "Round and Round" play on the background.

Dunggeulge dunggeulge Dunggeulge dunggeulge Binggeulbinggeul doragamyeo chumeul chupsida

Beside you, In-ho stood perfectly still, his gaze fixed ahead, his posture unreadable. You glanced down to find his hand was still holding yours, fingers curled loosely but solidly around yours. You hadn't let go, neither of you had.

Sonppyeogeul chimyeonseo Noraereul bureumyeo La-la-la-la, jeulgeoupge chumchuja

You tightened your grip to In-ho as you could feel your insides shaking, terrified of what was next. You could already anticipate the chaos it would entail once the music stops, trying to force your way into those doors.

Ring-a-ring-a, ring-a, ring-a-ring-a, ring Ring-a-ring-a, ring-a, ring-a-ring-a, ring Sone soneul japgo modu da hamkke Jeulgeoupge ttwieo bopsida

Your stomach tightened upon hearing the music stop. Then, the numbers flashed across the screen. The platform clunked, almost sending you to the ground but failed, thanks to In-ho's grip on you.

"Ten."

You barely had time to think as you watched the players around you scramble, hands reaching out to others as they searched for a sense of safety in numbers. Your heart raced. You knew you had to act fast. In this game, alliances would form and be broken in a split second. There was no in between.

In-ho was beside you, his grip on your hand stayed. The pressure was mounting with each passing second. You could see the other players eyeing each other, trying to gauge who would be an asset and who might be a liability.

Without hesitation, you grabbed Jun-hee, Gi-hun, Jung-bae, and Dae-ho as you grouped yourselves together with In-ho. Gi-hun approached Hyun-ju, seeing they were four which was perfect for a group of ten.

"There's no time, Gi-hun," In-ho said as he gripped your hand tighter and ran to a door, the group following you. The green door opened and revealed the green walls around you, panting as you entered.

The timer beeped as the latch clicked, indicating the door has been locked. You peeked through the hole and saw that there were still players outside, sparing for their lives as the guards aimed their guns at them, gunshots echoing through the room.

You froze, seeing the bodies drop to the ground. You felt someone grab you from the side, burying your head over their chest. You sensed it was In-ho as his breath was shallow against your ear as he whispered something you couldn't quite make out, something low and protective.

There was only the sound of bodies hitting the floor, and the quiet safety of being pressed into him, as if you were tucked away from the madness. And in the midst of the chaos, his chest was the only thing you could hold onto, the only thing that could remind you that there was still something human, something warm, in a world that was falling apart.

"The following players have been eliminated: Players 013, 043, 049, 054, 060..."

As the doors unlocked, only the blood remained around the floor. The bodies were no longer there, enough for you to think whether seeing the lives taken away were just a dream. In the span of moments, the tension in the air shifted from uncertainty to something else entirely - a realization that the number didn't just matter for the game; they mattered for your survival.

----

At this point, you weren't sure anymore how you were able to survive the next rounds. It's as if you were just breathing and passing the time, only this time, your life was at stake. At first, it had been difficult to watch. The gunshots, the screams - it had shaken something deep inside you. But now, it was just another sound in the background of this twisted game. A signal that the rules had already been set - only the storng survive.

You had long stopped reacting, long stopped feeling the sting of it. It was as if you had slipped into a place where you could no longer be touched, where nothing mattered but survival.

"There are 126 people left and there are 50 rooms. So there won't be enough rooms for everyone, only for 100 people," you told your group as you scanned the room. "The rest will be killed."

Gi-hun seemed to look at you in horror, as if shocked to hear about your casualty on talking about killing. You kept your gaze in front of you much to his horror. But In-ho, he was more amused.

The platform rumbled, indicating that it was time to pair up.

"Two."

In-ho instinctively grabbed your hand as both of you ran to find empty rooms. The others around were still floundering, unsure of their next move. Your senses were full now, numbed by the constant violence, as if something deep inside you had already switched off. You had seen too much, felt too much, and the pain and fear had begun to fade away, replaced by something darker, colder.

This wasn't about survival anymore. This was about the true unraveling of human nature, something you were finally starting to understand.

As the players slowly paired up, you saw another playing trying to make his way toward a room, a look of uncertainty in his eyes. He was too close to that room that should've belonged to you and In-ho.

In-ho didn't hesitate. Without a warning, he stepped forward and grabbed the man by the collar, dragging him out of the room as he tried to make his way inside.

"What the hell? Let go of me!" Player 285 screamed as In-ho held him back.

"Get in!" In-ho ordered you and rushed inside, only to see another player already inside.

In-ho followed after he threw Player 285 out of the way, seeing Player 343 there.

"Get out," In-ho commanded, his voice deep and low.

"We were here first," Player 343 retorted.

You stepped forward as your hands came into a fist. Player 343's eyes widened in confusion. You didn't give him the chance to fight.

Player 343 was looking at you, their gaze cautious. It wasn't a look of fear - not yet. But it would be soon. He shifted in front of you nervously, eyes daring between you and In-ho, but he didn't know.

He didn't know what you were becoming.

In-ho was just there, just a few steps behind you. It wasn't like he was holding you back, but there was an unspoken understanding between you. He sensed it, didn't he? The change. The shift that was slowly creeping over you, turning your survival instincts into something much darker.

You were no longer just fighting to survive - you were becoming the predator. And Player 343? He was nothing but a prey now.

You didn't hesitate. His neck snapped easily under your fingers, the crack of bones loud in the stillness, his body crumpling at your feet. His body dropped to the ground, lifeless, in a heap of twisted limbs. The silence between you and In-ho felt deafening.

As you turned to look at In-ho, you felt his eyes on you - steady and unblinkingg. He wasn't surprised. He wasn't even acknowledging you. But you could feel the quiet recognition he had of what you were becoming.

"I never taught you how to kill someone for a game," In-ho said, his voice low, his gaze briefly flickering to the body at your feet before he stepped closer.

You blinked, the words settling into the space between you, but you didn't answer. Instead, you felt his fingers gently press against your skin, just above your pulse. His touch was strangely familiar, like it had always been there, like you hadn't notiveed how much you craved it until now.

In-ho cupped your face, his thumb tracing your jawline as if committing the feeling of you to memory. And in that moment, everything else - the game, the players, the chaos - faded away. There was only the quiet intensity between you.

He leaned in, his lips just a whisper away from yours, and for the first time in what felt like forever, you felt something real.

"Do you still have my ring?" He asked, his breath warm against your lips.

His words stung as you stood there with him, realizing that he had remembered it all along. You knew that you were no longer afraid of who you had become.

Without thinking, you closed the space between you, your lips crashing into his with a force that sent shockwaves through your body. It was intense, desperate - a kiss that was as much about claiming as it was about understanding.

His body was pushed against the wall as his hands were on your back now, pulling you closer, his touch burning through the fabric of your clothes as if he was marking you as his own. His lips were demanding, like he couldn't get enough, as if he had been waiting for this moment just as much as you had.

The kiss deepened, a quiet growl of frustration escaping him as you matched his urgency, your hands threading through his hair, pulling him closer still.

In-ho pulled back just enough to breathe, his forehead resting against yours. He was panting, just like you, as if the kiss had taken all the air from both of you. "You're learning fast from all the game."

The moment between you lingered, a ting of happiness on your chest yet the realization of who you had become felt heavy. The realization of the game not just killing the players, but how it could change them. And for the first time, you understood. The brutality, the death, the constant tension - they weren't just part of the game. They were a mirror, reflecting the truth about human nature.

When pushed far enough, we all become what we fear the most.

You had become the villain as the game progressed. It wasn't about power, it was because you had finally accepted the truth. In a world like this, the ones who survive aren't the ones who cling to their humanity - they're the ones who shed it and embrace the darkness inside.

You were already too far gone to turn back.

"Let's finish this together," you whispered, your words a promise, and you knew deep down, that you were both already lost in the game. "No more lies?"

In-ho nodded, cupping your face with his hand, and gave you the softest smile you haven't seen for years. "No more lies."

----

A/N: And so, we're back! The past few days have been hectic. I added a little update of my dad's condition to this chapter as a way of updating you guys on what happened. But yeah, I hope y'all enjoy the rest of the chapter as we progress Y/N and In-ho's relationship in the fic. Feel free to leave out your thoughts here, and I'll gladly interact with each and everyone of you. 🫶

Don't forget to leave a comment in this post to be tagged on the next chapter! ✨

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TAGS: @machipyun @love-leez @enzosluvr @amber-content @kandierteveilchen @butterfly-lover@1nterstellarcha0s @squidgame-lover001 @risingwithtriples @fries11 @follows-the-life-ahead @goingmerry69 (p.s. if i forget to tag you, please let me know)

[babybearnation]

arthur, jack, dino and lance with a soulmate au thing - pref tattoos but idm - spoon

(also i’m sorry i didn’t submit anything, i didn’t think it was open yet 😭)

all good, mx. spoon!!

gn!reader (soulmate tattoo au)

arthur leclerc:

the tattoo & the placement: three interlinked hearts on the back of your left shoulders

arthur hates that his soulmate tattoo isn't in a visible place because it means it'll be really difficult to find his soulmate but he can't help but fantasise over the idea of his soulmate and who they are and all the other details that could possibly make up the person he is destined to be with

so he goes through life not expecting to ever meet you, but then, as luck would have it, he somehow manages to meet you one day

how? he takes his shirt off in the middle of the paddock after being doused with champagne and you slowly approach him and shyly tell him you think you're soulmates

with your permission, he checks the back of your left shoulder and, sure enough, there's the three interlinked hearts

it's a bit awkward and shy for a few minutes before a tipsy charles wanders over and asks to know what's going on with his baby brother

jack doohan:

the tattoo & the placement: a sun with 7 rays on the back of your left hands

jack is obsessed with his soulmate mark - he's constantly touching it and staring at it and even sometimes doodling it when he zones out

when he sees the all too familiar mark on your hand in the paddock one day, he doesn't even hesitate to cut his team off to sprint over to you

he barely even manages to spit an introduction/greeting out before he's telling you that he thinks the pair of you might be soulmates and comparing the designs on your hands together

you're stunned because not only has one of your all time favourite f1 drivers all but sprinted up to you, he's just told you he thinks you two are soulmates

and sure enough, the designs match perfectly and you're mentally cursing yourself for having never noticed how similar the designs are before

dino beganovic:

the tattoo & the placement: a spiral on the right side of your necks

dino hates his soulmate mark as he thinks its stupid and that the design is specifically a curse designed to ensure he never finds his soulmate

as his best friend, you have no idea how to tell him that you two are soulmates and you've known that since you first met him and saw the familiar swirl on his skin

it's thanks to a frustrated paul and a clumsy ollie that the truth is finally revealed and ultimately, dino isn't sure how to feel because on one hand, why didn't you tell him? but on the other hand, he has had feelings for you for a while and he's a bit excited that you are his soulmate after all

when you explain that he's always hated his soulmate mark for as long as you've known him and that you thought he'd hate you as well and that's why you kept quiet, dino feels awful

however, when he apologises, you shush him and say its okay and you've accepted your rejection, but then he kisses you before saying he'd never reject you and you're regretting not telling him before hand

lance stroll:

the tattoo & the placement: a ring of thorns around your left wrists

lance didn't always hate his soulmate mark, but as he entered the world of formula 1 and started to get more and more hate, he felt like his soulmate mark was some kind of cruel joke

you didn't know much about formula 1, or motorsport in general for that matter, but your best friend at university ended up working for a formula 1 team as an engineer and invited you along to a race

it's here that you meet your soulmate after quite literally walking into him and knocking his drink from his hand - you panic and fret and offer to buy him a new one but lance isn't listening

instead, he's staring at your wrist, at the ring of thorns lining your skin, and before you can say anymore, he snags your wrist up, comparing it to his

you're stunned at this turn of events and you slyly turn your offer of buying him a new drink into an offer of a date and, let's be honest, lance isn't going to refuse now, is he?

© all rights to babybearnation 2025.

[reveriebae]

Miami's model

pairing(s) : Park Seonghwa x reader

word count : 5108

summary : You thought you could escape Seonghwa, but he always gets what he wants. And he wants you. He finds you, traps you, and teaches you a brutal, punishing lesson—one you’ll never forget. You’re his. Always.

genre : smut

warning(s) : Obsession, possessiveness, emotional manipulation, rough and punishing dynamics, choking, overstimulation, degradation, messy oral. Let me know if I missed anything!

A/N : I feel sick of using Y/N for the reader so I decided not to do it anymore, Oh! And also...I'm a sucker for blowjob scene these days lol. Actually, this one should be part of Songfic but...it's not. I wrote this the whole night and it's my favorite Seonghwa fic after love overdose, hope you guys like it🫶

Minors do not interact, 21+ only!!

🪐 smut under the cut 🪐

The runway lights were blinding, flashing like a thousand hungry eyes as you strutted forward, heels clicking against the polished stage. The dress—thin as sin, clinging to every curve—was meant to steal attention. And it did.

Men watched. Women envied. Miami was full of people who wanted something from you—lust, admiration, jealousy. But none of them made your skin crawl like him.

It was a slow, creeping awareness. Like an animal sensing a predator before it sees him.

Your body moved on autopilot, hitting your final pose. But your pulse slammed against your ribs.

He was here.

You knew it before you even spotted him. That stare—heavy, possessive, taunting.

And then you saw him.

Seonghwa sat in the VIP section, drowning in dim, golden light, a glass of dark liquor cradled in his long fingers. He looked almost bored, lips barely curled into something that wasn’t quite a smirk, but not far from it. Like he’d been waiting.

Your throat went dry.

Miami was supposed to be your fresh start. New name, new hair, new city, new life. But he always found you.

You tore your eyes away, walking back down the runway, fingers trembling against the fabric of your dress. The second you were backstage, you grabbed your bag, slipping past models and designers, ignoring the bubbling chatter. Your driver was outside. You just had to make it to the car—

“Room 1803. Don’t make me come find you.”

The text made your breath hitch. The number was unknown, but you didn’t need a name.

Seonghwa.

The walls felt too tight, the air too thick. He’d given you an option, but you knew better. If you didn’t go to him, he would come to you. And that would be worse.

The hotel loomed over the city, its glass windows reflecting Miami’s neon skyline. Inside, the lobby pulsed with quiet luxury—crystal chandeliers, expensive cologne, the murmur of high-profile guests who had no idea you were walking straight into the lion’s den.

Room 1803.

Your heels barely made a sound against the plush carpet as you stepped into the elevator, your breath shallow. You could still turn back. You could walk right out, catch the next flight, disappear again.

But you knew how this would end.

Seonghwa didn’t give up. He never had.

The elevator doors slid open, and you stepped into the dimly lit hallway. Every step toward his door felt heavier, like gravity itself was dragging you down.

You knocked once. No answer. Your fingers curled into your palm. Maybe he was bluffing. Maybe he—

The door clicked open.

Seonghwa stood there, leaning against the frame, watching you the way a predator watches a trapped animal. Dark suit, silver rings, eyes that held every promise of ruin.

A slow smirk tugged at his lips. “Good girl.”

The way he said it made something tighten in your stomach.

He stepped aside, letting you in. The suite was sleek, expensive, but the only thing you could focus on was the sound of the door locking behind you.

“Tell me,” he murmured, voice dripping with amusement. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find you?”

Your throat felt tight. “I—”

“Three months.” He took a slow step forward. “That’s how long you lasted this time.”

He was close enough now that you could smell him—something deep, intoxicating, laced with the sharp burn of whiskey.

“I should be impressed,” he murmured, fingers brushing your jaw, tilting your chin up. “But I’m not.”

His grip tightened, just for a second—not enough to hurt, just enough to remind you who was in control.

“Now,” Seonghwa whispered, eyes dark and heavy-lidded, “why don’t you tell me what you were running from, baby?”

As if he didn’t already know the answer.

Him.

You swallowed hard, your throat dry. Seonghwa’s fingers traced the line of your jaw, his touch deceptively soft, but his eyes—his eyes burned.

“I wasn’t running,” you murmured, even though you both knew it was a lie.

Seonghwa chuckled, low and dark. “You’re still a terrible liar, baby.” His fingers slid down, brushing over your collarbone, ghosting along the strap of your dress. “But go on, keep pretending.”

You didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. His touch was light, teasing, but it carried a promise. A warning.

He sighed, shaking his head. “Three months,” he mused, like he was still processing it. “Three months without my hands on you. Without hearing you beg.”

Your stomach twisted. “I’m not—”

His fingers wrapped around your throat—not squeezing, just holding. Your breath hitched, and he tilted his head, watching you with something unreadable.

“You can lie to yourself all you want,” Seonghwa murmured, thumb tracing circles against your pulse. “But don’t lie to me.”

Your heart slammed against your ribs. The room felt too warm, the air too thick. He was too close, too overwhelming.

His grip loosened, but he didn’t step back. Instead, his other hand slid to your waist, fingers curling into the fabric of your dress. “Tell me something, baby.” His voice was smooth, almost lazy. Deceptive. “Did you think about me while you were gone?”

Your nails dug into your palms. “No.”

His smirk was slow, lethal. “Then why are your thighs pressed together?”

Heat surged through you, betrayal flooding your veins. Because he was right.

Seonghwa leaned in, his breath brushing your ear. “You can fight me all you want,” he murmured, voice dropping into something dangerous. “But we both know how this ends.”

Your breath shuddered out of you. Because he was right about that, too.

The silence between you stretched, thick and heavy, like a loaded gun waiting to go off.

Seonghwa’s fingers lingered at your waist, a featherlight touch that still made you feel caged. He wasn’t touching you the way he wanted to—not yet.

Because he was patient. He always had been.

Your pulse hammered against your skin, betraying you, but you forced yourself to meet his gaze. “I’m not playing your game.”

Seonghwa chuckled, the sound deep, knowing. Like he had already won.

“My game?” His thumb brushed over your hip, so subtly you almost thought you imagined it. “Sweetheart, you were the one who ran. That made it a game.”

Your breath caught.

He leaned in, just enough that his lips hovered near your jaw, not touching, just teasing. The air between you burned.

“I don’t chase things I don’t intend to catch,” he murmured.

A shiver ran through you, frustration and something far more dangerous curling in your stomach. You wanted to move, to push him away, to do something to break this unbearable tension.

But that’s exactly what he wanted.

Seonghwa was waiting—waiting for you to break first.

So you forced your expression into something calm, something indifferent. You let your lips curl into a smirk, tilting your chin slightly. If he wanted a game, you’d play.

You leaned in, just barely, your lips hovering near his jaw the same way he had done to you. “Then why haven’t you caught me yet?”

The change was instant. His grip tightened, his breath hitched—just for a second, but you felt it.

Then his fingers flexed against your waist, and his lips curled into something dark.

“Oh, baby.” His voice was smooth, a slow unraveling of control. “You think I haven’t?”

The air between you snapped.

But he didn’t kiss you. He didn’t move closer. He just stayed there, waiting.

Because the second you gave in? You’d never escape again.

The air felt thick, charged, like the moment before a thunderstorm cracks the sky apart.

Seonghwa still hadn’t touched you the way he wanted to. That was the worst part—the way he let the tension stretch, the way he made you feel like you had a choice, when you both knew the truth.

You weren’t free.

You never had been.

And yet, you still fought against the inevitable.

Your smirk didn’t waver. “If you think you’ve caught me, then why are we still here?”

His grip on your waist tightened—a silent warning.

You had no business taunting him like this, but the moment was slipping, your last sliver of control hanging by a thread. You had to use it.

Seonghwa exhaled slowly, almost as if he were amused. But the heat in his eyes told a different story.

“You want to pretend you have a choice?” His fingers ghosted along the edge of your dress, not lifting it, not moving past the barrier, but close enough that your breath stuttered. “Fine.”

He took a single step back.

It shouldn’t have felt like a slap. It shouldn’t have made your stomach drop.

But it did.

The space between you was small, insignificant, but it burned.

Seonghwa tilted his head, watching you with that same knowing smirk. Daring you.

“Go, then,” he said simply. “Leave.”

The challenge wrapped around your throat like a collar.

Because you knew what he was doing. Giving you the illusion of control, just to watch you crumble under the weight of it.

Your body screamed at you to move. To turn on your heel, walk out of the suite, disappear again. But you didn’t.

Seonghwa’s smirk deepened.

And that’s when you realized—this was what he had been waiting for.

Your silence was louder than any confession.

Seonghwa stepped forward again, slow, deliberate, reclaiming the space between you. His fingers traced your jaw, tilting your chin up.

“There you are,” he murmured, voice like silk and steel. “I was wondering how long you were going to pretend.”

Your stomach tightened. You had lost.

And he was going to make you feel every second of it.

Your breath stuttered, heart hammering against your ribs as Seonghwa leaned in—slow, deliberate, inescapable.

There was no space left between you now. No room to run.

His fingers traced the curve of your jaw, his touch featherlight, but his grip at your waist? Firm. Claiming.

"You ran for three months," he murmured, lips ghosting over your cheek, just shy of pressing against your skin. "Tell me, baby, was it worth it?"

You didn't answer.

Because you didn’t know.

All that effort—changing your number, slipping through cities, never staying too long in one place. And for what? To end up right back here, in his hands, exactly where he always knew you’d be?

Your silence made him chuckle, dark and deep.

"That's what I thought."

His grip tightened—not enough to hurt, just enough to remind you who was in control now.

Your breath caught when he finally pressed his lips against your skin, just beneath your ear. Soft, warm, too much.

“You should’ve known better,” he murmured, dragging his lips lower, down the line of your neck. Like he had all the time in the world.

Your body betrayed you—the way your fingers clenched, the way your breath shuddered.

Seonghwa smirked against your skin. “You’re trembling,” he mused, voice dripping with amusement. “Are you scared?”

Your pride flared, even as your body gave you away. “No.”

He chuckled again, low and knowing. “Liar.”

Before you could snap back, his hands slid lower—slow, unhurried, claiming every inch of skin as if reminding you that you belonged to him.

Your stomach tightened.

He wasn’t rushing.

Because Seonghwa never rushed when he had you exactly where he wanted.

“Say it, baby.” His voice was silk and sin, coaxing and commanding all at once. His fingers brushed the fabric of your dress, teasing, but still not giving you what you wanted.

You clenched your jaw, refusing to speak.

But Seonghwa just smirked.

“That’s alright,” he murmured, lips grazing your pulse. “I have all night.”

Seonghwa was taking his time.

It was deliberate—the way his lips hovered, the way his hands teased without giving in, the way he made you feel like you were the one unraveling first.

Because you were.

You could feel it—the slow, agonizing pull of control slipping from your fingers.

His lips pressed to the curve of your jaw, soft and warm, but his grip on your waist? Unyielding.

“You’re holding back.” His voice was smooth, velvet-dipped steel, pressing against every weak spot he had spent years memorizing.

His fingers traced the fabric of your dress, barely there, just enough to set your nerves on fire.

“Still pretending, baby?” His breath was hot against your skin. Mocking. Daring.

Your fingers curled into his shirt, torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer.

But Seonghwa didn’t wait for your answer. He already knew it.

His lips trailed lower, down the column of your throat—a slow, sinful descent.

Your breath caught.

That was all it took.

Seonghwa smirked against your skin. “There it is.”

Your stomach tightened, twisted, burned.

The hand at your waist slid lower, tracing the curve of your hips, fingertips ghosting over the hem of your dress, but still not moving it.

“You’re so stubborn,” he murmured, lips pressing against your pulse. Feeling it race. Knowing exactly what he was doing to you.

You swallowed hard. “And you’re a—”

His teeth grazed your skin—just a tease, just enough to steal the rest of your words.

Your nails dug into his arms, but you weren’t pushing him away.

Seonghwa chuckled. “What was that, baby?”

You hated him. You hated how easily he could unravel you.

But more than that?

You hated that you wanted him to.

Seonghwa tilted your chin up, forcing you to meet his gaze. His pupils were dark, heavy-lidded, drunk off your slow submission.

“Say it,” he murmured. A demand. A command.

Your pride fought it.

But your body had already answered.

His smirk deepened.

“You’re already mine.”

And then, finally—he kissed you.

The moment his lips claimed yours, the last thread of control snapped.

Seonghwa wasn’t gentle.

The kiss was deep, demanding, consuming—a punishment for every second you had spent away from him.

His fingers dug into your waist, pulling you flush against him, no hesitation, no escape.

You gasped against his mouth, but he didn’t let you breathe. Didn’t let you think.

Because he knew—if you had a second to think, you’d remember why you ran.

So he kissed you harder.

Your body responded before your mind could catch up—your hands in his hair, your hips pressing against him, your lips parting for him.

Seonghwa groaned, deep and low, swallowing every sound you made like it was something he had been starving for.

His hands slid lower, gripping your thighs, and before you could protest, he lifted you—effortless, like you weighed nothing.

You barely had time to gasp before your back hit the nearest surface—the cool marble of the suite’s counter top.

Seonghwa never broke the kiss.

His fingers traced up your thighs, pushing your dress higher, higher—still teasing, still making you feel every damn second of it.

Your breath hitched.

He pulled back just enough to smirk down at you, his lips kiss-swollen, his pupils blown.

“Look at you,” he murmured, voice thick with amusement. “Three months of running, just to end up right where you belong.”

Your body burned.

Because he was right.

Seonghwa leaned in again, his lips ghosting over yours, just barely not touching.

“Say it,” he whispered.

Your nails dug into his arms. “Say what?”

His smirk deepened. He wanted you to break.

He wanted you to admit it.

But you weren’t giving in that easily.

So you smirked back. “Make me.”

And that was all it took.

Seonghwa’s eyes darkened—and then, he ruined you.

The second the words left your mouth, everything changed.

Seonghwa didn’t hesitate.

Didn’t hold back.

Didn’t let you think for a single second that you had even a shred of control left.

His hand was at your throat in an instant—not tight, not choking, just there, just enough to make you feel the weight of his control.

His lips were on you again, but this time, there was no patience.

The kiss was deep, bruising, possessive—a warning and a punishment all at once.

You gasped, but he swallowed it, swallowed everything.

His grip at your waist tightened, fingers pressing deep into your skin as he pulled you forward, forcing your thighs to part around him.

The cold marble beneath you was nothing compared to the heat radiating from him.

His other hand trailed down your thigh—slow, teasing, just to spite you.

“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” His voice was rough, breath warm against your lips. “You think you can still win this game?”

Your stomach tightened.

Because he was right—you had never been winning.

You had just been stalling.

And Seonghwa?

He was done playing.

His fingers gripped your jaw, tilting your face up so you had no choice but to meet his gaze.

Dark. Hungry. Merciless.

“You ran.” His voice was low, steady, dangerous. “Now you take what you’re given.”

Your breath hitched.

His smirk was pure sin. “And I’m not feeling generous tonight.”

Then, he ruined you.

You barely had time to process his words before he made good on his promise.

Seonghwa grabbed your hips and yanked you closer, your body dragged effortlessly across the cold marble—like you weighed nothing, like you were his to move, to control, to break.

And you were.

Your legs trembled, wrapping around his waist on instinct, but he didn’t let you settle—no, that would be too easy.

His hands gripped your thighs, holding you in place, forcing you to feel every second of anticipation, every unbearable moment of not getting what you wanted.

“You think you get to tease me?” His breath was hot against your skin, his tone dark and amused. Like he was enjoying this.

Like he was enjoying watching you fall apart for him.

His fingers traced the inside of your thigh—lazy, unhurried, just enough to drive you insane.

Your breath came in uneven gasps, body betraying you with every twitch, every involuntary movement that told him exactly how much you wanted it.

Seonghwa chuckled—low, deep, cruel.

“Look at you,” he murmured, dragging his lips along the edge of your jaw. “Already so desperate.”

Your nails dug into his arms, frustration boiling over. “Then stop teasing and do something.”

His grip tightened instantly.

Your stomach flipped, heat flashing through your body at the shift in his expression—mocking amusement replaced with something darker.

Something lethal.

His fingers trailed higher, so close, so fucking close, but stopping just shy of where you needed him most.

Then, his voice dropped—a whisper of a promise.

“Oh, baby.” His lips ghosted over your ear. “You don’t get to make demands.”

Then, without warning—he gave you exactly what you wanted.

I’ll be all that you need, baby

Seonghwa’s voice, low and thick with dark amusement, echoed in your head even as he forced your legs further apart, spreading you open like he had all the time in the world.

"You're trembling," he murmured, dragging his lips down the length of your neck, feeling every shudder, every twitch. His fingers were slow, teasing, barely grazing where you needed him most—because he wanted to hear you beg.

And he would.

His grip tightened at your waist, fingers pressing deep, like he was staking his claim.

"Tell me, baby," he whispered, breath hot against your jaw, "was running worth it?"

You bit your lip, refusing to answer, refusing to give him the satisfaction—but he felt the way your body reacted, how it betrayed you.

Seonghwa chuckled. "That’s what I thought."

Without warning, he pushed two fingers inside you—deep, rough, punishing.

A sharp gasp ripped from your throat, nails clawing at his shoulders, but he didn’t give you a second to adjust.

He didn’t want you to.

"Look at you," he murmured, watching your expression twist, half-lidded eyes filled with something desperate. "Three months of running, just to end up like this—spread out and soaking for me."

Your stomach clenched. It was humiliating. It was intoxicating. It was exactly what he wanted.

His pace was slow at first—deep, curling strokes meant to tease, to make you squirm.

Then, suddenly—he slammed his fingers inside you, rough and unrelenting, forcing a strangled cry from your lips.

"What's wrong, baby?" Seonghwa's smirk was pure sin, dark eyes locked onto your face, watching you unravel. "You wanted me to stop teasing, didn't you?"

His thumb found your clit, rubbing slow, lazy circles in contrast to the brutal pace of his fingers.

The heat in your stomach coiled tighter, your body twitching, back arching—but just as you felt yourself teetering on the edge, he stopped.

Seonghwa pulled his fingers from you, slick and glistening, and pressed them against your lips.

"Lick."

The command was soft, but absolute.

You hesitated, glaring at him, but Seonghwa simply tilted his head, lips curving into something dark.

"You have two choices, baby," he murmured. "You do it yourself, or I make you."

Your lips parted slowly, hesitation warring with the heat curling in your gut—but Seonghwa had no patience left.

His fingers pressed forward, sliding past your lips, smearing your own slick onto your tongue.

“Good girl,” he murmured, watching as you swallowed around them, eyes hooded, pupils blown.

His thumb dragged down your chin, smearing the mess over your bottom lip before gripping your jaw, forcing your gaze to his.

“You taste that, baby?” His voice was low, teasing, but there was nothing playful about the way his cock pressed against your thigh—hard, thick, twitching with need.

“You made this mess,” he murmured, pressing his knee between your legs, forcing them apart again. “Now, tell me—”

His fingers slipped free, but before you could gasp for breath, he was on you again.

This time, his lips weren’t soft, weren’t teasing—they were bruising, consuming, taking everything you had left to give.

His teeth sank into your bottom lip, just enough to make you whimper.

"You wanted to act like a brat," Seonghwa muttered against your mouth. "Now, take it like a good girl."

Then, without warning, he flipped you over.

Your hands slammed onto the cold marble, your dress bunched around your waist—bare, exposed, vulnerable.

Seonghwa stood behind you, silent for a moment, drinking in the sight like he was committing it to memory.

Then—a sharp slap to your ass.

You yelped, body jerking, but his palm was already smoothing over the sting, his other hand gripping your waist, holding you exactly where he wanted.

“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue, lips curving. “Running from me and now you’re dripping all over the counter?”

Heat flashed through you, a mix of humiliation and unbearable need.

Seonghwa groaned, fingers tracing the curve of your ass, spreading you open just enough to make your stomach twist.

“So messy.” His voice vwas thick, dark, hungry. “And all for me?”

You bit back a whimper, refusing to answer.

Seonghwa hummed. “Still stubborn, huh?”

His fingers trailed lower—too slow, too teasing.

Then, suddenly—he shoved them inside you again, rougher, deeper than before.

Your body jerked violently, a strangled moan ripping from your lips as your fingers curled against the marble, struggling to hold yourself up.

“Aw, baby,” Seonghwa cooed mockingly, fucking his fingers into you at a ruthless pace. “You’re already shaking.”

Your breath hitched, knees buckling, thighs quivering—but he didn’t stop.

Didn’t slow down.

Didn’t let you breathe.

His free hand slid up your back, pressing between your shoulder blades, forcing your chest to the counter.

Pinning you down.

“Where’s that attitude now, huh?” Seonghwa’s voice was all filthy amusement.

“You wanted me to stop teasing,” he murmured, leaning down, lips brushing the shell of your ear. “Now you’re gonna take every single thing I give you.”

Then, finally—he undid his belt.

The sharp clink of his belt sent a shiver down your spine.

You barely had time to brace yourself before the leather slid free, the soft sound of it snapping against itself making your stomach clench.

Seonghwa chuckled—low, dark, so fucking amused.

“You’re breathing so fast,” he murmured, dragging the belt over the curve of your ass, teasing you with the promise of something crueler.

You gritted your teeth, refusing to react—but he felt the way your body tensed, the way you shuddered at the anticipation.

His free hand pressed against your lower back, forcing you down further, the cold marble burning against your flushed skin.

“Breathe, baby.” His voice was soft, mocking. “Wouldn’t want you passing out before I’ve even started.”

Then—a sharp snap.

The first strike of the belt landed across your ass, white-hot and instant.

You gasped, fingers curling against the counter, but you didn’t make a sound—not yet.

Seonghwa hummed, pleased and unsatisfied all at once.

“Not enough?” he mused. “That’s fine. I can go harder.”

The next hit was brutal.

A sharp cry tore from your throat, your body jolting, but he didn’t stop—didn’t let you recover.

Two more. Faster. Harder. Overlapping.

By the time he dropped the belt, your ass was warm, aching, the sting spreading between your thighs in a way that made you feel even filthier.

And Seonghwa?

He fucking knew it.

“You’re shaking, baby.” His fingers traced the fresh marks, soothing, teasing, making you squirm.

He leaned down, lips at your ear, voice dripping with sin.

“Are you wet from that?”

You squeezed your eyes shut, heat burning under your skin—but you didn’t answer.

Seonghwa laughed, low and breathless, like this was the best thing he’d ever fucking felt.

Then—his fingers dragged through your slick folds.

Testing. Confirming.

And then he groaned.

“Oh, you are,” he murmured, pressing his fingers inside you again—slow this time, deep, filthy.

You bit your lip, stifling a whimper, but he wasn’t having that.

His other hand slid under your jaw, gripping your chin, tilting your head back just enough for him to hear every sound.

Seonghwa stepped back, his cock slick, throbbing, still twitching with the need for more.

But instead of flipping you over again—he grabbed your chin, tilting your head up.

A slow smirk spread across his lips. “On your knees.”

Your breath hitched, legs weak, body trembling, but you sank to the floor anyway.

You barely had time to steady yourself before his fingers tangled into your hair, gripping tight, forcing you to look up at him.

He was so hard—flushed, leaking, thick.

Your thighs squeezed together, heat pooling in your stomach, but Seonghwa wasn’t in a giving mood yet.

He tapped the tip against your lips, smearing the mess there, watching as your tongue flicked out instinctively.

His grip tightened, voice dropping lower.

“Open.”

You obeyed immediately, lips parting just enough—but it wasn’t enough for him.

His other hand pressed against your jaw, forcing it wider, wider, until your mouth was open exactly how he wanted.

Then, he pushed in.

The first few inches slid across your tongue, hot, heavy, intoxicating.

Seonghwa groaned, head tilting back, his free hand resting on your cheek, feeling the way your mouth stretched around him.

“Fuck, baby,” he muttered, watching as you struggled to take more, as your throat fluttered around him.

But struggling wasn’t an excuse.

His grip tightened in your hair, holding you still—then, he shoved deeper.

Your eyes widened, throat tightening, a muffled gag slipping out as he bottomed out, cock hitting the back of your throat.

Seonghwa shuddered.

“That’s it,” he groaned, hips rolling forward just enough to feel you squirm.

Tears pricked your eyes, spit pooling, dripping down your chin, but you stayed still, hands gripping his thighs, waiting—waiting for him to use you.

And he did.

Seonghwa fucked your throat without mercy, each thrust forcing another choked moan out of you, your nails digging into his skin, your jaw aching, your body melting into submission.

“Messy fucking thing,” he murmured, watching the way you took it all—ruined, desperate, perfect.

Your lips hollowed, sucking harder, taking everything he gave you—and it drove him insane.

“Just like that, baby.” His voice was tight, strained, dangerously close to breaking.

His hips snapped forward one last time, holding you down, forcing you to take every last drop as he spilled into your mouth.

A guttural groan ripped from his throat, fingers tangling in your hair, holding you still as he twitched against your tongue.

You swallowed, slow, teasing, showing him exactly how well you could behave.

Seonghwa let out a shaky breath, tilting your chin up, smearing the last traces of mess across your swollen lips.

His smirk was lazy, breathless.

“Good fucking girl.”

Then, without giving you a second to recover—he pulled you up, bent you over, and started all over again.

Your body was wrecked, trembling, burning, but Seonghwa didn’t give you a chance to recover.

Didn’t give you a second to breathe.

His hands gripped the backs of your thighs, spreading you open wide, forcing you to take everything.

His eyes were dark, wild, locked onto you like you were the only thing that existed.

“Look at you,” he murmured, watching the way you writhed beneath him.

His pace was relentless—deep, punishing, unyielding.

Every thrust dragged another sound from your lips—moans, whimpers, broken cries.

And Seonghwa?

He was fucking obsessed.

“That’s it, baby,” he rasped, grinding into you, pushing even deeper, stretching you beyond what you thought possible.

“You wanted this.” His fingers wrapped around your throat, not squeezing, just holding.

Owning.

“You fucking begged for this.”

A sharp slap landed on your thigh, sending a shockwave of pleasure straight through you.

You whimpered, eyes fluttering—but he didn’t let you close them.

“Look at me,” he growled, forcing your gaze to his.

His thumb dragged across your bottom lip, smearing the spit, the mess, the ruin.

“So fucking pretty when you’re broken, baby.”

Your body was beyond control, shaking, oversensitive, but he wasn’t done.

Seonghwa’s pace stuttered, hips slamming into you one last time before he buried himself deep—spilling inside you, groaning, shuddering as he claimed you all over again.

The room was silent except for the sound of your heavy breathing—and the faint, sticky mess between you.

Seonghwa let out a slow breath, fingers tracing your swollen lips, your damp hair, your ruined body.

His smirk was lazy, satisfied, still fucking smug.

“You’re not going anywhere, baby.”

He leaned down, lips ghosting over yours, soft, teasing.

“Mine. Always.”

[tendermiasma]

Anonymous asked: What are some of your favorite antique things to collect? Do you have any especially favorite finds?

Strawpage/tendermiasma

That's hard... I love furniture, it's so neat to see how they shaped and reflected trends and values and just the pure craftsmanship is so wonderful. My favorite styles hover around the 17th and 18th centuries-- Jacobean, George III, Federal/Hepplewhite/Sheridan. There's something about the crispness of the detailing of the last four that makes an ornamented piece feel so light and airy. I love Jacobean because every piece looks like it was hauled out of a fire, the dark patina is so rich. I don't actually own any originals from these periods (yet!!!) but fashion is a flat circle and Jacobean had a revival in the late 19th and a couple decades into the 20th century. I have a court cabinet from probably around the 1930s that I found here in Austin that was a part of this revival and you can see the Jacobean influence also carries a secondary Arts and Crafts influence that the US was on the tail end of. The engraving on the panels are a little bit flatter than the traditionally extremely 3D Jacobean carving, and that's what Arts and Crafts brought. They kept the dark patina look and I think it's interesting to think about how much lighter actual Jacobean furniture might have been during its time, and that we're choosing to imitate its aged look as part of its original intent-- sort of like how we thought Roman statues started out white when they were actually originally brightly painted, but we choose to make them white in most of our casual references. Regardless the charred finish looks amazing against light colored walls. It feels contemplative. Welsh 18th century design also has that quality although more pared-down but still warm and welcoming somehow. I love it.

Back to Georgian/Sheridan/Hepplewhite/Federal though, also don't actually own any from that time either, although I have been heavilyyyyyyy eyeing a credenza from one of my favorite antique dealers in Austin who randomly has some incredible pieces. I could't buy it responsibly but they're all free right there for me to study and admire. Sheridan and Hepplewhite are super similar and a good way to tell them apart is the feet. If they're tapered little unadorned pegs, it's probably Hepplewhite, and if they have a ball or box on the end or have some other angular detailing, it's probably Sheridan. THOSE styles came back around almost 200 years later in the woodwork of midcentury modern which I think is so neat. You can also help yourself date a piece with other little things, like screws. There was a period in the early-mid 1800s where screws had machine-made threads while their heads were still cut by hand with a hacksaw; the machinery for cutting screwheads came later. Philips screws weren't widely used until the 1940s so that's another possible way to tell. However you have to be careful because a lot of furniture gets repaired and modern hardware is usually used, so it's good to hunt around on it for signs of the original hardware. You can also tell whether hardware is new or possibly original by the amount of patina built up around the hardware. That's hard to fake. 

I got lost again. I also love looking at pottery and dishware because there's so much information and history in its marks. It's always such a fun little forensics game to look at its stamps and writings and symbols on the bottom to track where it's been, who made it, is it a forgery of a well-known artisan? That happened to me really recently when I found a Meissen tea set at a thrift store and it turns out I believe I have one actual Meissen cup in there from mid 1800s. The only way I could figure it out it was genuine and also its general date was because of its imperfections, which is pretty cool. Meissen had a specific way of marking B-grade dishware that they only used during certain time periods, and thankfully there's document of it, and my piece carried it. I don't care if she's not A-grade, she's beautiful and I'm a sucker for blue and white china.

I could talk a lot more but I'm just rambling at this point so feel free to ask more. I love it all so much. I've had a great time learning so much more than I bargained for with every new piece I find. I'm still mourning the Austin Antique Mall closure that happened last May but thankfully there's another great one in Round Rock and I should go back next month.

The smoking-gun wheel marks for the date and authenticity of the Meissen cup

My Jacobean-revival court cabinet from probably the 1930s

In her natural habitat. I built the fake fireplace! None of the existing ones were Georgian enough for me lol

The coffee table is I believe late 1930s and the chair is a 1960s wingback that got recovered in probably the 90s and I want to get it recovered again when I can. I'm at capacity since I'm in a 1-bedroom apartment and my primary goal is a well-designed space but when I can get an office it's going to be so over

[goneahead]

here is a (long) bit from one of the three WIPs currently in the hopper. yup, its Hallmark Christmas House Tour AU. um, sorry?

Steve had dragged himself out of bed three times. Twice to let the dogs out, once to feed them. Each time, he’d promised himself he would throw some clothes on, and go work out. Only to find himself crawling back into bed instead.

A cold nose snuffling his ear woke him for the fourth time. He cracked open one eye. “I'm up, OK? I’m up.”

Houston gave a happy woof, while Austin danced around in excited circles.

Steve sat up with a groan, rubbing his shoulder. Fuck. He hated jetlag. Of course 8IA didn’t care—they had scheduled photoshoots in three different countries in the past month. At least he had a few weeks off—and then he had to do some stupid ESPN sport thing in Honolulu.

He got up, dragged on a pair of sweatpants, stumbled to the patio door. Let the boys out, glanced at his watch. Almost eleven o’clock. He padded into the kitchen, started a pot of coffee, and then opened the fridge, because he was starving.

He’d bought groceries last night, but assembling any of it into something edible seemed like a lot of effort. He was still staring at the contents of his fridge, when the sound of scratching at the patio door brought him back to reality.

He went over, let the dogs in—and swore when the doorbell rang. Why was anyone disturbing him on a Saturday—oh shit. The damn interior designer.

And he was in his oldest sweatpants. And nothing else.

Damnit.

For one fleeting second, Steve considered putting on real clothes. Instead he ordered the dogs to stop barking, and padded to the door. He opened it, expecting—well, an interior designer. Instead, there was a short guy, in a dress shirt and slacks, standing on his porch.

Muscular, broad shoulders, blond hair, and blue eyes. Exactly the kind of guy Steve would date—if he was allowed to date.

“Hi. I’m Danny Williams.” Those blue eyes flicked down to the holes in Steve’s sweatpants, back up. “My sister Stella called you yesterday?”

“Uh, yeah.” Steve was really regretting not getting dressed now. He waved the dogs back. “Come in. And don’t mind the dogs. They’re friendly.”

Danny gave him an overly polite smile, stepped inside.

“Would you, uh, like coffee?” He turned around—and realized he’d just dropped his luggage in the hall last night.

“Sure.” Danny followed him, stepping around the luggage. His tone was now hovering somewhere between ‘I’m being professional’ and ‘I’m dealing with a crazy person’. “I’d love a cup.”

So much for making a good first impression.

Steve mentally kicked himself for not remembering the appointment as he headed to the kitchen. At least his kitchen was clean—because he’d ordered a pizza last night and then crashed.

He poured two cups. “You take milk or sugar?”

“Black’s fine.” Danny’s eyes now flicked to the dining room. “So, how long have you owned this place?”

“Nine years.” He started to take a sip of coffee, stopped when Danny gave him an odd look. “Why?”

“I was just—expecting more furniture.”

Steve was about to point out that he had furniture, except—he’d finally gotten rid of his two ridiculously uncomfortable couches several months ago. And he’d been so busy traveling, that he’d never replaced them.

He’d also never gotten around to buying a dining room table, because he normally ate at the kitchen island, or used the table on the side deck.

“I haven’t had a lot of down time.” The excuse sounded lame, even to him.

“Uh huh.” Danny set his mug down. “Have you eaten?”

Steve opened his mouth, but Danny continued talking. “That’s what I thought. You know, the best way to deal with a hangover is to eat something.”

And then he opened Steve’s fridge, and started pulling out various things.

Steve opened his mouth to protest he wasn’t hungover—then closed it because Danny had grabbed a knife from the knife block and a cutting board from the dish drainer, and was now chopping up a tomato.

Very competently chopping up a tomato.

Maybe it was because he was so fucking tired, but Steve was having trouble figuring out what the hell he was supposed to do. The hottest guy he’d ran into in years was doing cooking stuff. In his kitchen.

“I need a bowl.” Danny moved on to chopping up deli meat. “And a pan and a spatula.”

He found himself pulling down a bowl, grabbing a frying pan and a spatula. And setting out a couple of plates and forks.

“Thanks.” Danny pointed the knife toward one of the stools. “I got this. Sit down and drink some coffee. Or better yet, grab some water. Trust me, it’ll help.”

Steve gave up. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and sat down. “Austin, Houston, stay out of his way.”

“It’s OK, I’m used to it.” He finished chopping up everything, began breaking eggs into the bowl. “My sister has a golden retriever who’s always under foot. Whisk?”

“Second drawer to your right.” He tried to ignore how Danny’s biceps flexed as he cracked eggs. “So, uh, how did you become an interior designer?”

“Well, it turns out there are two ways to become an interior designer.” He found the whisk, started mixing the eggs. “One, you go to design school, then you apprentice with someone for a while, before striking out on your own.”

He finished, turned, and put the pan on the stove—and damn, Steve was having a hard time not staring at how Danny’s pants hugged his ass. “Or two, you graduate from the police academy, promise to serve, honor, and protect—only to wake up one day to find yourself picking chintz out of a line up.”

Steve hadn't seen that one coming. “You were a cop?”

“I was. But it’s not the best career choice if you’re a single dad, so—” He shrugged, poured the eggs in the pan. Waved the spatula at the fridge. “I’m assuming that you like pretty much anything but mushrooms?”

Damnit. Of course Danny would be straight. And have a kid.

“I like mushrooms, I just didn’t buy any.” Steve reminded himself that it didn’t matter. As long as he was under contract, he was straight.

“One omelet, with everything but not-bought-mushrooms, coming up.” Danny poked at the eggs with a spatula, then dumped all the stuff on the cutting board directly into the pan. A minute later, he expertly folded the omelet, slid it onto one of the plates.

Houston and Austin watched the entire procedure with great interest.

“Sorry, this is strictly human food.” Danny divided the omelet, placing the bigger half onto the second plate. He set it in front of Steve. “Eat.”

Steve took a bite—and had to suppress a moan. The omelet was fluffy, and full of cheese and ham and tomato. “This is really good.”

“Thanks.” Danny gave him a smile—a real smile. It made his eyes look even more blue.

“So, uh,” Steve shoved in another bite, “do you cook for all your clients?”

“Nope. Just the ones that are hungover,” Danny’s smile widened as he sat down, “and the ones who don’t have any furniture.”

“I’ve been meaning to replace the couches; I’ve just been busy.”

Danny looked at him for a long moment. “Steve, why did you put your home on a Christmas tour? You haven’t finished moving in.”

You haven’t finished moving in.

The words crashed into him like a rogue wave. He’d owned the place for nine years and yet, it just felt like another hotel room. And honestly, his old condo in Honolulu had felt the same way.

Steve hesitated, then went for the truth. “Because Kono kept bugging me. She works at the—”

“—pet store. Yes, I know Kono. Apparently, a condition of my employment is that I have to buy both Christmas and birthday gifts for my sister’s dog.” He waved his fork in the air. “The way I see it, you have two options. You can withdraw from the tour, and then you can spend another nine years trying to find time to buy a couch. Or—you can run up the white flag and let us do it for you.”

Steve finished the omelet, pushed the plate away. Until thirty minutes ago, being in the same room with an interior designer was absolutely the last thing he wanted to do. But maybe hiring somebody—if that somebody was Danny—wouldn’t be so bad. “The Christmas tour’s in three weeks.”

“Trust me, I know. Lucky for you, most people don’t schedule an overhaul of their house during the holidays—so we can squeeze you in.” Danny waved his fork some more. “If you’re interested, I can take some photos and measurements; get you a quote by Sunday or Monday.”

The thought pushed in that if he hired Danny, everything would be done by December 17th. Sure, he would still have to endure the three day Christmas tour, but—he wouldn’t have to worry about buying couches. Or finding time to deal with his half-finished office.

“Earth to Steve?”

“Would $78,000 be enough?” Steve had overhead someone bragging about dropping $78,000 on redecorating their place at the last party he was at. At the time it had seemed an outrageous amount—but he was so damn sick of living in hotel rooms. “To do everything?”

“That would most definitely cover it, yeah. I’m still going to give you a quote, so you’ll know what you’re paying for.” Danny pulled out his phone, checked something. “Any chance that you are free either Monday or Tuesday? The sooner we pick out some furniture, the better. That way, it can be delivered as soon as the painting is done.”

“Monday’s good.” Steve said it quickly, before he could second-guess himself.

“Great—because three weeks doesn’t give us a lot of time.” Danny finished the last bite of omelet, took another swallow of coffee. “OK, why don’t we start by having you give me the grand tour?”

Please share an excerpt from a current project

[mythrilthread]

Царевна by Vodolej

Fun fact: this was supposed to be one of my two projects I for sure completed this Binderary, but I caught a really bad flu, so who knows about the second one. But this turned out exactly the way I wanted 💛

The story is a sort of a fairy tale that one of the characters is telling to himself, so I leaned HARD on that vibe. This is an A6 sewn-boards binding.

👑 I think this is like my first bookbinding project where 100% of art was done by me. Front and back covers are inspired by Russian wooden architecture, the half-title page with the summary has my take on a traditional wooden window frame, and the scene divider is Slavic-ish ornament, all of it having something dragonish in them.

👑 I got really into Slavic calligraphy over this past month, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to practice my vyaz tangling skills (a key feature of the traditional Slavic calligraphy is that every project has a metric fuckton of custom ligatures (hence the name ‘vyaz’, something knit or tied together), that the calligrapher makes up based on some general principles), so the title, front matter, summary, first and last lines are all done by me in Procreate. This particular style is based on Viktor Pushkarev’s ‘tall vyaz’.

👑 The title is additionally embellished with gold ink that looks absolutely stunning in real life despite my rather shaky brushwork.

👑 The ribbon I used for the spine and ended of the cover was a really lucky random find when I was shopping for linen for an unrelated project. I mean look at it! The featured pairing of the story is literally called ‘scales of gold’, how perfect is that?

👑 I really like working on shorter stories because I feel like I can get away with more unhinged design choices in the short form. Which is why I used Cyrillic uncial font as a body font to really hammer in that ancient manuscript feel. This is one of the tamer varieties of that font, but I decided to go for readability over those really pretty archaic letters that I really enjoy.

👑 The paper is 120 gsm Papier Paille made with bast fibre (straw from flax and hemp) rather than wood pulp, and its suggested use is for wedding invitations and the like, so I was cackling maniacally the entire time I was printing this gleefully obscene story on it.

All in all, VERY happy with how this turned out.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Digimon Adventure Reboot Sequel AU - Chapter 0: Weird

Summary: Despite his best efforts, Mimi, Sora and Koushirou have, indeed, noticed that Taichi has been acting rather off recently. Unwilling to accept his weirdness as the status quo, they meet up to discuss how to handle it...

Based on: [Prologue] [Concept] [Designs] [First Idea]

Word Count: 885

„No matter how you look at it – Taichi-san has been acting weird lately!”

Mimi’s voiced oozed with frustration, as she flopped back down on her personal chair in their “hideout” with emphasis. As Palmon blinked at her, she gracefully flipped her hair over her shoulder, grabbed the cup of lavender tea in front of her and took a small sip, letting her statement sit for a moment.

A moment Koushirou and Sora used to exchange a worried look. Mimi may have been the one to order them all to gather due to “an emergency!” – which, as it turned out, was “Taichi-san being weird” –, but if they were being honest… They had noticed it too.

“I think I’m aware of what you’re referring to”, Koushirou agreed after a while. “My personal verdict is that he hasn’t gotten a lot of sleep, since he’s been spacing out frequently. But whenever I try to address it towards him, he says everything is fine.”

“As he usually does, but I think it’s all deflection”, Sora added, leaning against the computer table while Koushirou went back to trying to fix the blue screen Mimi had caused by accidentally ripping out a cable during her heated rambles from earlier. “He’s just… Smiling it away and, I mean, that’s always been him, but…”

“It’s like he’s hiding something”, Koushirou concluded without looking up from the screen.

“I know, right?!” Mimi put down her tea cup with a clinking sound, causing Piyomon and Tentomon to make inquisitive noises as well.

“And really, it’s not just that, it also feels like he’s forgetting things or getting them mixed up”, elaborating, Sora fumbled at the hem of her college jacket. “Last time I asked him if he wanted to have an extra training session, he just looked at me like a deer in headlights and asked if I wasn’t already meeting with Yamato… Who’s in Shimane. I have no idea where that came from all of the sudden. It’s hard enough to get the group together these days and I didn’t understand why he was so confused about me not traveling to Shimane in the middle of a school week.”

It really had been a chore to “keep the whole gang together” these days. While Yamato and Takeru had always been living in Shimane and, outside of Summer and Winter breaks, only joined them on their digital adventures in the net through a port in their area – usually it were only Taichi, Koushirou, Sora and Mimi that ended up gathering physically at their meeting points, namely the club house Mimi’s grandfather had sponsored a few years ago. With Hikari going to a different middle school and Jyou thoroughly focusing on his management career, their group of eight really was somewhat decimated.

“Super weird…”, Mimi pouted and Koushirou actually lifted his gaze this time.

“Speaking of which, he was asking me if I had talked to Jyou-san about college entrance exams for medical school…”

“He did what?!”, Mimi screeched. “Where’s that coming from?! Jyou-senpai has been so determined to take an internship at our company, grandpa would be devastated if he had suddenly changed his mind – and I would know, Jyou-senpai hasn’t shut up about it, I can show you our texting history, it’s-“

“That’s what I mean by him getting things mixed up”, Sora tried to intervene, smiling at Mimi serenely, so she immediately calmed down a little. “Even though these things really come out of nowhere…”

“Well, maybe high school is getting to his head?”

“His grades seemed to be fine overall though, even if… He’s never been the most studious”, Koushirou thought out loud. “Perhaps we could ask Hikari-san about it?”

“It didn’t seem like they had problems at home either.” Once Sora had said these words, the room got quiet. An aura of worry and confusion that was only disrupted by Mimi sipping on her tea again – more nervously than before as well. They had all known Taichi for several years by now, he had always been their beacon of confidence, a leader to look up to in every situation, positive and unshakable, especially during their gate hopping shenanigans. Seeing him so scatterbrained really was a novelty for all of them.

“There’s another possibility…”, Koushirou eventually broke through the silence with a low voice, drawing all attention towards himself.

“And what would that be?”, Tentomon asked curiously, flying over his head.

“Well… There is at least a tiny chance it’s caused by a Digimon he encountered the last time we went into the network.”

“So what, you believe there is a virus in the net messing with his head? Like… Giving him a cold that made him forget things or something like that?”

Hearing how peculiar it sounded by Mimi’s skeptical tone, Koushirou wasn’t so confident in his theory anymore.

“We will have to test it first of course. By talking to him once more and scouting the network for irregularities.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” With that, Sora pushed herself onto her feet again. “You’ll keep investigating on the digital side of things, Koushirou-kun, and we’ll, once again, try to get something out of him in person.”

“Spoken like a true lioness, Sora-san!”, Mimi cheered happily and raised her fist encouragingly. “Let’s solve this mystery once and for all!”

[omaano]

SW Hades AU January Update

Woohoo, look at that we have a header for the monthly updates now!

Some links and previous updates: May - June - July - August - September - October/November - December - everything else in this AU

I finally got around to not only finish Quinlan's character illustration, but also add a background, glow effect and text box to him.

I've got to say, I am very very proud and more than a little surprised at how well he turned out! Green is my nemesis of a color (that's partly why I decided to tackle Quinlan and Kit in one go - bite the bullet in one go and all that) but funnily enough all his greens are rather desaturated dark yellows (including his skin tone). Gosh, initially I'd picked those colours off of Ares, and up until I added the warmer red to the edges of the shadows on his skin I was very very terrified that I'd made a huge mistake here. (It's part of my art process, spending a significant amount of it being terrified that I messed up my colours beyond saving TT^TT) But he turned out amazing and super shiny!

Adding those snakebite piercings was also such a big brained idea (can you tell that I'm really really happy with him? XD) and this illustration is defnitely up there among my top faves with Shaak Ti.

Kit in comparison was a lot more straightforward (hah).

The foreshortening and positioning of his arms was... well. Not Fun, let's just stick with that, but I'm very good at dying on very small hills, and I'd got it in my head that I'm gonna push this pose A Bit. In the end it wasn't as much as I'd hoped for, but I did try for some exaggeration in the posing and anatomy as well. (Have you seen Ares's hands and forearms and Dionysos's thighs??)

Further SHOUTOUT and a million thanks to @hastalavistabyebye for their enthusiastic tags under all my Hades posts, and for being the genius mind behind these additional trinkets for this AU:

Fizzroot Shake for Nectar (we gotta be safe with teenagers around), and Tiingilar for Ambrosia ❤️❤️

Additional extra ramblings below the cut to save space on your dashboards:

Let's move from the trinkets back towards Kit and Quinlan last, yeah?

Fizzroot Shake and Tiingilar

It isn't as obvious with the big character illustrations as with the smaller images, but I really do have some trouble with keeping things - colours and shapes - simple. It's more obvious on small things that really cannot pack or fit in all those details, so I had to do a lot of repainting (like with the fizz fuzz foam of the shake, or the bowl of the tiingilar), and truth be told I'm still not happy. Might be that the drawing is still too detailed - but in my defense this was a wind-down project for me these past few weeks.

I have collected a few references for shapes and materials and colours from both Hades and Hades2 as you can see on the margins. I am still obsessed with the glow of Hestia's keepsake, it just glows, I love it! If I were to change a few things on these I think it would be to add some more orange/yellow to the Fizzroot Shake to offset the purple a little more (like how the purple bow balances out the very bright yellow/orange of the nectar/ambrosia), and work more black into the bowl of the tiingilar. I was thinking about adding more of that blue to it, but I wonder if even at this level there is too much of it...

Anyway, I will surely be forced to learn a lot more of this when I sit down to finish all my keepsake versions. Some of those are certainly still too detailed in their current design D:

Kit and Quinlan

I took a lot of inspiration for both Kit and Quinlan's clothing from concept art and character models from TCW. Especially for the pistols and the holsters for Quinlan's black getup that he would have worn if the Dark Acolyte storyline made it into the show, I believe.

I was also very very tempted to draw Kit wearing a really high cut swimming suit without the shorts/leggings. The ones that are cut so high they display the entirety of the hips and most of the ass as well probably? But I chickened out in the end, and stuck with a semi-see-through layer on his thighs too smh

I also try to be more intentional with my shapes in these designs. I'm not sure how I'm doing with that, but I tried for a lot of triangles with Kit. And lots of greens and orange, of course. To prove that I'm learning from those Hades style breakdown videos that I'd watched last year. So I made some notes on dominant shapes with the both of them (it was mostly triangles, and Kit also got a rectangle note as well), and to pick one bright, highlight colour while I keep the others desaturated to support that colour.

I think I did better on that front with Quinlan than with Kit. The yellow and gold of all his markings and jewelry pop real nice (and even the little "jewel" highlights of green and torqois worked so well in support of each other! I was really surprised, I generally hate adding them at the end...) and with his dark clothes, skin and hair they really support that metallic brightness even with the warmer tones worked in at the edges of shadows.

Kit on the other hand, I feel he turned out too bright and warm green, and so the orange in his vambraces and clothes don't pop that much. It lacks a bit of balance maybe. There was a time when he seemed to be too dark and desaturated a green, and that was likely the step when I got too scared to trust the process and turned up my saturation a bit too much. So I tried to work a bit of light yellow into him with that bottom lighting, and it did what it could but... oh well. I still quite like it, don't misunderstand me!

I know I sound a bit nitpicky here, but in truth I'm trying to work out what I could learn from these pieces that I might use in the next one! I'm trying to be more intentional with my work, but it doesn't come very easy to me, so working through these things in these posts do help a little. And who knows, maybe it will help someone else too :)

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