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optimistic-dinosaur-nacho · 2 years ago

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𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 & 𝐿𝒾𝑒𝓈

Chapter III

Warnings: Language, Adult Themes, War, Fantasy Tropes Summary: Two kingdoms on the urge of bringing peace between their lands. A benevolent princess who finds music as a fun hobby and invests herself in books. And a belligerent prince who takes whatever he claims his and will soon be crowned for king. Relationship: Prince!Ransom/Princess!Reader

Prologue Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III

Huge thanks to @captain-a-rogerss to the edit of Prince!Ransom. Give her some love as always!

I don’t consent to have my work hosted on any second party, app, or site. If you are seeing this fanfiction anywhere but tumblr, it’s been reposted without my permission.

Author’s Note: Sorry for delay, I wanted to make this chapter extra special and I also had to gather information I forgot after a year so the plot and character don’t ruin themselves by my absence

The rest of the night felt like a total nightmare. The Thrombey’s and Drysdale’s completely forgot about the recent comments that you spoke lastly. You were lucky for most of the parts that they never mentioned anything else about you, but the feeling of having Linda’s son sending you a death look. Not a single second made you think less of him. You were considered a better Royal than him.

Without a significant other, you could handle a kingdom on your own.

Perhaps you didn’t want to take your father’s throne. If James was able to skip his coronation, could you do the same? Skip the princes and do something better than just sit on the chair and hear about the village's life problems when you could do something huge outside your home. Build homes for those who sit out in the cold.

Royals always thought less for the poor. If Ransom couldn’t help, you were the generation to do it yourself. He would just have to stay out of your way.

You hear a faint knock on your door and the door creaks open. “Good morning, Y/N,” Brodie says, you turn away from your window, wearing your silky blue gown, giving your dear friend a smile. “Good morning, Brodie. What’s the occasion?”

She grins, “Your mother has insisted on having you downstairs. She would like to speak with you.” You fully turned and nodded. You were the first to leave your room, Brodie following behind. If your mother speaks about dinner last night, you would have to reason with her. And you know how much she loved the family. You felt like you were the bad person in the room when they came. But the real answer was the family.

Even your town was afraid of them.

Your mother never knew about the incident of punching Ransom. If you did, she may lock you up in a tower. Your father had kept the incident from her because he knew her more than you did. She didn’t know the full reason why he sent you to that Manor. Your mother only agreed to it with no questions. You could hear your mother chatting to one of the maids as she sat at the long table.

“Morning, Ma cherie. Je vous en prie, asseyez-vous,” Your mother says, you listen and take a seat right next to her. Her gentle eyes scanning the letter, she hums, “How was your ball, yesterday?” You peer up at her, finally grinning. “It was wonderful. I’m sure Angelica would have one for her sixteenth?”

Your mother nods, “Yes, of course. We would’ve done that for yours, but sadly your father sent you off to that manor,” She shook her head while you drew your eyes away, sheepishly. “Also, your father and I were talking about your betrothal. I’m sure that’ll come in a few months, don’t you think, ma cherie-?”

You reach for your face and sighed, “Mother, please, can we-” Her hand lifts up to stop you mid-sentence, “Ah-ah. Miss Brodie, darling, can you excuse us for a moment?” She asks. Brodie’s face beams up, bowing her head, “Yes, Your Grace.” Seconds later, you’re left with your mother in the large room. She taps your forearm, “Don’t touch your face, darling. Hands down.” You sigh, turning to her. “I can’t do marriage. I’m not ready-”

“Och. Darling, your brother was to be crowned 10 years ago and he chose to be with a poor lovely woman, your sister wants to be the fairest of them all and you… you don’t want this?”

“What I don’t want is having to submit to someone. Yes, I wanted to be queen alone, but I found something else-” You drop your shoulders, helplessly, taking your mother’s hand in yours to have her understand. It only made her shake her head, “This is what has to happen.” You lowered your head and shook it.

You hear your mother click her tongue, taking your chin, “The only reason we do this...is to have those who we trust to take our place. And you can’t do that alone. No one could,” She lifts your chin up to look up at her. She grins, “We’ll talk more later on. Go on.” You lifted yourself from your seat and left the room. You figured Brodie was somewhere else, so you headed to the stables just outside. Slowly meeting up with your shire horse, Oliver.

“Morning, Oliver,” You say, rubbing your hand down your horse’s back. Oliver sputters towards you as you add the saddle and situated it before getting on. You pat her side, “Let’s go down the river for a bit, okay?” You take the shank in hand and gently guide yourself down the small trail. Your horse takes you down the trail through the woods with flowers and bright green grass.

So much hadn’t changed since, the creek you remembered when you skipped rocks and dropped flowers, watching them glide down the ripples.

The amount of bunnies you had in the forest. Your mother gave you a pet bunny once. You weren’t sure how the poor thing got away. Your horse sputters softly and you hear rustling in the brush. Your horse comes to a stop for you to look around. The sound of galloping horses filled your ears and people were shouting.

Your horse lifts up its front hooves causing you to scream in fright as three men are chasing a couple deer down the trails. You couldn’t help but scowl. “Excuse me!” You call out, one of them comes to a stop while the other two continue to chase the deer. “Yes, milady?” He asked, his familiar uniform gave you the hint of a guard.

The similar Lion button was on the front of his horse's chest and his sword was gold and the handle was a leather brown for grip. You hear another pair of horse’s hooves. “Head on, Francis. I didn’t tell you to stop, did I?”

“No, Your Highness,” You hear him say, turning his horse’s head to hunt down the deer. You turn and see Ransom on his dark horse. He ogled yours with disgust, “You know they do have smaller horses for your size. There’s no need to show your pride with that.” You roll your eyes and your horses circled around on the trail. “You know you’re hunting,” You say.

Ransom looks out to the forest and nods, smugly, “Yeah, it’s the season. I have a bigger family than yours, so I’m in charge of hunting.”

You scoff with a grin, “I know you wouldn’t hunt just for food. For your family, you’d call it a sport.” Ransom chuckles at that, lowering his head, looking at the back of his horse’s neck. The ways Ransom had when it comes to hunting, you’ve seen him do it in person. He disgusted you in a way. “And you’re on my land, I suggest you leave.”

Ransom lifts his head up, “Your land?” He asks, “Pardon me, but I don’t think after a day of being welcomed back, you don’t get to command another Royal to leave when you don’t have the upper crown.” You lifted a brow up, cockily, “Ask your men for their sword, I’ll show you.” Ransom’s gaze seemed to darken the second you said that. It didn’t change yours either. Your horses’ continue to circle and you look over to the field.

“My grandfather always told me how much you beat him at Go. He said you had a lot of strategy. Takes years to master.”

“Why, didn’t you?” You asked, chin lifted up like you had the upper hand of being the tougher one here. Ransom halts his horse and so does yours. Your horses’ noses pointing opposite directions, you and Ransom made eye contact. His dark grin grew, “Even if I told you, I wouldn’t try it with you.”

“I know that’s your way of knowing I would beat you,” You replied. Ransom wasn’t always good at anything he did with you. Except that when you two first had your duel, he only became more of an imbecile. Translation: An Asshole. That day, returning after your incident with Ransom who’s probably feeding his family with Blood Elk they find in the Evergreen Mountain. Blood Elks are the rarest animals in the mountain, their red antlers are wide and tough that stories were told to scare children from running up there.

Your father was a hunter when he was young, there was never a time where he didn’t have a hunting story to tell. The time he got bit by one of the most strongest bears in the country or the time he shot an arrow at an eagle flying in the sky. He initially taught your brother, James to hunt and eventually James learned how to skin animals and turn them into rugs or just even small things. James had a weird little thing for the anatomy of animals that he became very smart and learned the anatomy of humans, knowing the weak spots and fatal parts of the body. That’s why he joined a sport down in town facing mercenaries or other men who challenge on a horse and a spear. Jousting was his favorite hobby of all and he won every championship. Training his way into this championship in Winter, he is always out in the fields taking down sandbags in armor off a friendly horse chasing towards him while an instructor assists.

“Darling.”

“Yes, mother?” You asked.

Your mother lifts her head up and smiles, “You're going down to the library in town, are you?” You look down at the book in your hands and close the book, knowing you could read another book. “I might.” Your mother puts her hands on her lap, “I wanted you to go talk to the florist, Miss Nora, she has these flowers from the Spain land, Chocolate Cosmos, so beautiful. You should grab some on your way back.” You then thought now you had to go, you can never refuse a Queen’s request. “Of course— AH!” A large thud hits the table and you look up to see a dead deer. You stand up, startled before you collapse into the arms of the same man you met, the boy’s face drowns with worry. “Are you alright, Your Majesty?” You glance at the deer and turn away disgusted that the deer's mouth was open not to your liking.

Ransom peered over the boy’s shoulder and grabbed him, “Let her go,” He growled at his Gillie and the boy helped you back on your feet and let go of you. Your mother and father were more impressed than uncomfortable. Ransom switches his tone, “Good afternoon, Your Majesty.”

“Ransom, I didn’t know you were still in the Kingdom,” Your mother says, your father grins and raises his palm. “I allowed him to do a little hunting for my men. They’re so slow when it comes to hunting deer,” Your father scoffed. You gag and the *Gillie boy turns to you. “Well, thank you, Ransom, this is the nicest thing you could do for us. Should we offer you a room? You look tired.” You shake your head, holding your hand to your mouth. “No, thank you, I have somewhere else to go for the evening.” Your father waves him off, “Thank you, Ransom, you’re welcome to take the deer to our butcher, he shall butcher it for dinner tonight.” Ransom bows a couple inches and turns. *Gillie or ghillie is an ancient Gaelic term for a person who acts as a servant or attendant on a fishing, hunting.

The Gillie boy mutters to you, “You alright?”

“I’m okay–”

“Ben!” Ransom shouts, the boy flinches and gently rubs your shoulder before picking up the deer and struggles to carry it behind Ransom to the Butcher. You looked towards your parents and saw yourself out the door. You had your gown in your fists, angrily making your way through the hall. You hear large footsteps behind and you gasp the second you’re pushed against the wall. Ransom towers over you and grabs your chin with his thumb. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to see your face.”

“What do you mean,” You grit, trying to pull away from him. Ransom grins and looks down at your gown. “All these colors aren’t going to cover up your secrets, Y/N.” His blue eyes look deep into yours. “What are you?” He asked, your eyes glare at him, bringing up the similar voice into your head when you were little.

“What. Are. You?”

You don’t answer that and it makes him smirk, “The thing about deer is that their hearts aren’t close to their chest, it’s more halfway down above their stomach and below their lungs…” Ransom puts his finger on your stomach but you could barely feel it through your corset. “You either take the arrow and fire there–” He gently jabs your stomach, “–Or you take the arrow and strike it to the neck of its arteries.” He points to your neck and lightly pokes it. Stepping away, he smirks and watches you leave, lifting your gown to remove yourself from that hall. Ransom grins and turns down the other way.

The next day, Brodie got you ready in a relaxed gown to go out into town, and two soldiers chaperoned you to the library on your father’s behalf. Brodie tagged along to help you find the flowers when you stop at the florist. If you were to throw yourself off a course of task, it’s a rule that your parents should know you went to another place. Which you wanted to visit the bakery. You skipped the library causing Brodie and the soldiers to stop, “Your Majesty, the library.”

You wave your hand, “I know, I want to do the florist first.” Brodie sighs and follows along with the soldiers who held their swords hilts in their sheaths. You could barely see their eyes but you can tell their lower faces were a curiosity of how handsome their faces were. You walked up to the small flower shop and saw an old woman fixing some flowers on the display. “Miss Nora.”

“Ah, Your Majesty,” She grins, “I know what you’re here for, the Queen asked for a couple dozen of Chocolate Cosmos, my son, Frances traveled to Spain and found these. I always thought your mother was more fond of blue but she has a unique taste.” You chuckled and paid the woman a couple coins, she was in complete awe. “Your Majesty, I can’t–”

“It’s between us,” You winked, the currency you owned was one of the richest gold. Carved in the coin was one of the first Kings of Saphir. The old lady thanked you so kindly, bowing and blessing you with a couple more flowers. Brodie helped you carry some of the flowers gathered in a basket and you made your way over to the library. The castle had a library of its own but there was more of history than there was of nonfiction. You learned to read French by your mother and there were common French books to read, especially Latin. Latin and French are not very distinct from each other but you wanted to learn Latin and many more languages.

“This book, here… Romeo–”

“Read that, already,” You spoke, searching through the books. Brodie steps over to another spine of a book. “Spy of the Stars?” Brodie asked, you looked over and shook your head. “Oh!” You peep, reaching into the shelf to pull out a book with a lack of writing and over worn. “Game Without Glory.” You began to read the first chapter and you began to feel already pulled into it. You and Brodie walk out with a couple other books and the soldiers stiffen themselves up when you turn to them, “Bakery, next.”

“Your Highness, we were ordered to take you back after your visit with the florist and library–”

You sigh and begin to walk towards the Bakery, “I’ll be quick, besides, I think my father would enjoy a tarte framboise.” Brodie tags along and without argument the soldiers follow beside her. The welcoming sign of the Bakery and the smell of French bread and sourdough filled the air when you walked in. “Stop eating those, they’re not for you! You’re lucky I’m making extra.”

“So I can have some–”

“Stop it, James!” The red haired young girl slapped the hand of the Prince. “Are you harassing her in her own bakery?” James turns still leaned on the counter with a grin. “Of course I am not! I’m just eating her delicious tart…” He slips another tart into his mouth slowly. Quinn rolls her eyes and pulls the pan of tarts away from him. James lifts himself off the counter and turns around, “What are you doing out here?” He notices the soldiers outside of the Bakery. “Ah, mom.”

“She wanted me to stop for some flowers but I wanted to stop for something nice.”

Quinn comes back out and brushes off her gown, “Would you like to take a couple rolls I made? It’s a new recipe I made.” You beam at her with delight, “Of course, I would love to try some!” Quinn smiles and leaves to go grab the basket. “Would you like me to take you back?” James asked, “I don’t like that they’re sending you off with soldiers everyday."

All you could ever do was smile, "I don’t mind them, they’re like friends.” James gives you a blank look and then nods, “Alright, then. Be safe back home.” Quinn came back with a basket of rolls and added some fruits on the side. “Oh, this is wonderful, Quinn, thank you so much.” Quinn grins and bows a little bit. “Of course, I hope you’ll like them and your parents, too.”

You chuckle, “I hope not, I don’t want my father to make you into our bakery or something.” Quinn laughs and lightly touches James' shoulder. “I wouldn’t let him,” James added. Brodie picks up the basket of rolls and you sigh, “Alright I’m off, thank you again. I’ll see you another day!”

“Bye, Y/N!”

When you walk out, the soldiers close in to your side as you step down the stairs. On the way back was a chatty walk, you and Brodie were making plans for the day to check on your horse and as well the garden. When you got home, a maid rushed her way down the stairs, almost out of fear. “Your Highness!” She calls, she stops in front of you and bows. “The King has requested to see you immediately.” You asked Brodie and the maid to take care of the baskets and made your way to the Great Hall where your father and mother sat at, they were talking to a woman in a red dress and another man standing beside her and a smaller one just a few inches shorter beside them with his hand behind his back and the other in front of him.

You slowly walk up, brushing your hair off your face and fixing your dress. “Ma cherie,” Your mother touches your father’s hand and he looks. “Ah, look who showed up.”

“Hello, father.”

“You’ve met the Royals of Romania?” You turn and notice the similar faces from your ball, including their handsome son named Rafael. His mother grins, “We’ve been allies for many generations and I’ve come to an agreement that something should be requested and decided before next fall.”

Your father slightly leans to the side, “That’s a long wait, you sure you don’t want a decision immediately?” The Queen steps up once, “I know after the princess’ return every princess is jealous and every prince wants to take her hand and bear their child but I’m letting–” She glances at you, “–the princess decide what she wants.” You picked at your hands and saw Rafael glance at you with a small grin. “Very well–” Your father said, “I will give you a letter if there has been any changes or requests for this matter. There’s no other Royal Family I will allow my daughter to marry, but it is her decision.” You wanted to say no, but you were worried about the consequences of the arranged marriage.

You don’t want to get married. Being sent off to a manor that is filled with more women you can imagine that are put through to behave and learn the way of how women should act. But it was different. You got the reality that there can be a change. You hate men. How disgusting and horrible they are, but there was a source of hope that one could come. But you don’t know if Rafael or Samuels are one of those men.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” The Queen bows, “Bringing our Kingdoms together can break the ideal of war between the others.” The King nods and waves them off, the King and Queen of Romania leave but the son stays and turns to you. He takes your hand gently by giving you a look of consent and you allow him to take your hand and kiss your knuckles softly, still looking into your eyes with gleam. “Do think about it,” His accent was so smooth it had you struck with thought when he walked away with his parents. Your father’s strong gaze ripped you out of the trance.

“Father, I don’t know if you’ve heard but I don’t want to get–”

“I know you don’t want to, but this is the choice of life or death,” He stands up, “I don’t know if you’ve heard recently there’s a Royal who’s trying to get the throne. They call him the Royal of War. His whole Kingdom was destroyed into ruins by every Kingdom because their generations are considered the weak Royals, but now his last generation is him and he will do anything to get to us.”

You realize, now. Marrying can stop war, your biggest fear was being in a war. The blood and the dead bodies have been haunting you ever since you heard stories about the Saphir Wars many decades ago. Your ideal of a world was peace. You didn’t argue back and nod once with a bow. “I’ll think about it.” Your father nods with great content and waves you off.

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#love & lies series #love & lies #ransom drysdale x reader #prince x princess #chris evans x reader #optimistic-dinosaur-nacho #opti-dino-nacho #chris evans series #prince!ransom drysdale x reader

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specialagentlokitty · 2 years ago

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Hotch x reader - protector

11. “Are you scared?” “…yes…” “you have no reason to be. I want to help.” with Hotch?? - @marennnx💜

You were minding your own business, swinging your feet, you lightly hit your heels against the wooden box as you looked around.

You were bored, and your friend was supposed to be here by now.

Hearing some noises, you snapped your head towards the door and stood up on the box as you looked down at the men entering.

“Either you tell us what we want to know, or we leave your mangled body here for your team to find.” Someone growled.

“I won’t tell to anything.” Another spat out.

You watched in curiosity, a small group of men crowded around the other one.

He was kicked and punched until he could hardly breath and was on the floor, gasping for air.

But he was still refusing to say anything.

They decided to give in, they handcuffed him to a metal pole and left, saying he had a few days before they’d be back, and if he didn’t tell them what they wanted to know they kill him there and then.

You crouched down and watched him in curiosity, tilting your head slightly as you watched him tug at the cuffs.

“What’re we doing?” Someone whispered.

“You’re late Matt.”

“Sorry, I had a bit of an issue with dinner.” He smirked.

“Did you clean up after yourself?” You asked.

“Of course. Is this your dinner?” He asked.

You both stared at the man who was still sat with the cuff around his wrist. He was bleeding from his nose, and a small cut on his lip.

You could hear him wheezing.

“No, he was dragged in here, beat, and left there.” You mused.

He nodded his head and you both carried on watching him.

“Should we kill him?” Matt asked.

“No!” You hissed.

You turned to carry on watching the man.

He seemed to carry on fighting for the next hour before he just gave in and accepted his fate.

“This is boring. Ryan is hosting a party, there’s going to be plenty of wonderful meals there.” Matt smirked.

“I’m going to stay here.”

“Come on, didn’t your mother tell you never to play with your food?” Matt laughed.

You gave a quick glare and he stood up, raising his hands he backed away.

“Alright, alright. Well the invitations there.”

With that, he jumped down and walked out the same way he came in from.

You carried on watching the strange man, he just didn’t seem have the strength in him to break free.

Decided you didn’t want to watch anymore, you jumped down and quietly walked over, trying to get a better look at him.

“If you’re here to kill me, just do it.” He said coldly.

You walked over and crouched down in front of him, resting your elbows on your knees.

You didn’t say much at first, you took in his appearance, suit, nicely dressed, and you saw something sticking out of his pocket.

Reaching over, you grabbed it before he could stop you jumped back when he went to snatch it back.

“Aaron Hotchner. FBI. Is that fun?”

He didn’t say anything.

You tossed the badge back over to him.

“You’re very far away, the middle of nowhere to be exact.”

“Did they leave you here to watch me? Or did they send you to kill me?” Hr snapped.

“Neither. I don’t know them, I just happen to own this building.”

You heard him wheeze, and you frowned.

“You’ve got a broken rib.”

“Look, if you’re not part of their team you need to go before they get back. Go to the nearest town and get help.”

“The nearest town isn’t for miles.”

“Just go! Before they come back and hurt you as well.”

You looked around and sighed, kneeling down in front of him you looked at him intently.

“Are you scared?” You asked.

He didn’t reply for a moment.

“…yes…”

You smiled and walked over, grabbing the cuffs, you snapped them in half and offered him your hand.

“You have no reason to be. I want to help.”

“How did you…?” He trailed off.

“I’ll explain later, your captors seem to be coming back. Come on.”

Hotch didn’t think twice, going with you seemed like the better option then staying there and awaiting whatever hell he was about to be put through.

Taking your hand, you pulled him up and he groaned, holding a hand on his ribs as he started to limp after you.

You opened the car door for him and let him in before handing him the keys to the truck.

“Go, drive to the nearest town. Just leave the truck and the keys at the police station, I’ll collect them soon.”

“What? No, get in the car.” He panicked.

“Just go!”

You had already started to walk back into the building.

Hotch didn’t know what to do, and he couldn’t leave you, so he got out of the car and you turned around.

“I can’t just leave you here, get in the car.”

You looked at him then into the building and sighed and nodded.

Heading over, you took the keys and helped him into the back, and you got into the drivers seat.

You stayed awake all night driving back to the nearest town, and you helped Hotch limp into the police department.

It happened that his team had turned up there a few hours before after tracking his cell phone to there.

Without a word, you headed back out to your truck and hopped in, a smile on your face as you decided to attend the party you had been invited to.

“Wait!”

A blond woman came running out, and placed her hands on the car door to stop you driving away.

“We need to ask you a few questions.” she explained.

“Just call me, I’ve got somewhere to be.”

Handing her your number, you removed her hands from your car and drove away.

You couldn’t get Hotch out of your head, something about him appealed to you and you couldn’t get the image of him hurt away.

You were furious, spinning for your truck around, you spend back to your building, you were hungry, and what a better meal than ripping some criminals apart.

Then maybe you’d got to the behaviour analysis unit and try find the agent you were fascinated by

#criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds x y/n #criminal minds imagine #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner x y/n #aaron hotchner #aaron x reader

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olderthannetfic · 2 years ago

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Escapade 2022: Building the Dance Party

Here’s the monster I’ve been working on! I cannot believe it took me 17k to write up the damn dance party. You can also see it on DW for easier reading.

We managed to have Escapade in person this year, after only one year off. I was skeptical, but it seems to have worked out well, and that’s great for me because the things I do for the con are in-person only. Many years, though not this one, I help run a wine tasting. I host a tea party. This time around, the Bobaboard yaoi cheese board made an appearance, and we decorated the room with an Our Flag Means Death theme. And, probably my favorite of all, I run the dance party. Once upon a time, Escapade was one of the focal points of a certain kind of Media Fandom vidding culture, but that group founded Vividcon and decamped there. Vividcon’s dance party featured some old favorites but was heavy with premieres by attending vidders. It was wonderful in many ways… but I’d also heard about the changes it had wrought on Vividcon’s main premieres show: once there was also a dance party to send vids to, many vidders started saving their heavier work to less popular music for Premieres and sending their joyful, fun vids to the dance party. While the individual vids in Premieres remained strong, the Premieres show as a show suffered. Those of us running the Escapade dance party in the first couple of years chose not to accept new vids for this reason. Escapade was also, by that point, far less vid-focused than it had been, and even asking attendees for requests and suggestions typically only yielded a few ideas. The result is that I have had almost entirely free rein to create a three-hour mixtape of vids. The creation of this is one of my favorite parts of the con. It’s more than just recs or even a playlist: for me, it serves the full metaphorical and interpretive functions of a mixtape. I’m saying something with the vids I choose and the order I put them in, and something far, far beyond “this vid is good”. My only limitations are that the vid does need to be danceable and that it has to exist. Somebody somewhere has to have made the building block I want for this larger fanwork.

Vidshows As Canon Formation, Fandom News, and Identity So what does a vidshow say? The dance party occupies one of the main nights of the con. Most people attend the party, whether or not they want to dance, and I think the natural reaction is that whatever is on screen is an expression of who the con is. It’s the canon, in the sense of a literary canon. So if you don’t see yourself reflected in that canon, it’s drama time! That doesn’t just go for a party like this, by the way: I see this idea reflected in reactions to most vidshows outside of very narrow parameters like a memorial vidshow for such-and-such a vidder or “vids about coffee”. There’s something visceral about a collection of vids that makes people feel seen and included or… not. Escapade is a slash con—the oldest one still running—and like others of that type, it’s very small: 100-150 people. So the “fandom” represented there isn’t some abstract notion of People Who Were on LJ or the far wider People Currently on AO3 or the even more vast People Who Have Ever Liked Fanfic: it’s a hundred plus very specific people with their specific fannish interests. It’s also an aging con with quite a few attendees who did things like hold the first Star Trek cons. Both actual ages and years in fandom vary, but a big chunk of the con has at least been around long enough that their original home base of fandom has withered and died. Maybe it was Media Fandom print zines. Maybe it was the glory days of Livejournal in the 00s. Maybe it was classic Tumblr fandom in the 2010s. I remember when I started going to these tiny, oldschool cons, a lot of them talked about how cons had once been the only way to really connect with fandom. They were your once-a-year opportunity, and people saved up their vids, their fic, their meta ideas, and their need for conversation. It all came pouring out during that one weekend. In some ways, that’s sad. How much better off are we now that we can have more fic than we could ever read all year long? But there was a good side too: the con created a sense of who “Fandom” was. Whatever the latest hot show was going to be, wherever “We” were moving next, you’d find out at the con. What is the most consistent lament on Tumblr these days? In fandom in general? “Where did everyone go?” “How do I find my people?” “I can’t figure out where fandom is hanging out anymore!” So for anyone, but especially for a con of people who may not even have made it to the tumblr era in a lot of cases, I wanted to bring back that feeling. Attend the party, watch the vids, and feel like you’ve got a grasp on fandom again. I wanted to include big fandoms that are coming down the pike: Maybe not every Disney channel thing your nice might be into, but the canons your favorite AO3 author is about to jump ship to. I also wanted to expose younger/newer Escapade attendees to megafandoms of yore that are part of the long-time fans’ culture. At the same time, I wanted to celebrate the canons attendees happen to like, whether they’re big or not. One of the advantages of being a small group is that our taste is our taste. It doesn’t have to be whatever won the numbers game on AO3. I personally tend to be in a lot of small fandoms, so I also like celebrating random weird shit that falls within common fannish tastes, like hot hero/villain slash vids, but that is perhaps not for a canon most people are familiar with. I don’t at all expect people to get into every fandom, but I like the idea of creating an Escapade population that is well-rounded in its general grasp on fandom. As a fandom meta person, it routinely annoys me to see people thinking all of fandom is US live action TV or, conversely, prioritizing anime over absolutely everything else. If people read and write fic only for a few things, they have every right, but if people want to talk about Who We Are, I want them to have better tools to investigate the boundaries of “we”. So in the end, my dance party playlists are not only an illustration of who I think we actually are but who I think we could be. Music choice is another kind of canon formation. Look at old playlists from Vividcon, and you will see a lot of samey musical taste. Look at animemusicvideos.org and you will see equally samey but completely different taste. It’s not that no one vids thing X: it’s that no one in a particular space does. On a very personal note, it annoys the shit out of me how crybabies cannot handle vids in any language but English. I’ve heard all the arguments about how traditional vidding primarily uses lyrics to build meaning, blah blah blah, but they ignore how much most audience members cannot fully and accurately parse lyrics in a con environment on a first viewing of a vid. People will say “Oh, but everyone knows that song.” Only… they don’t. This has been a source of alienation and pain in “the vidding community” for longer than I have been vidding. I remember old meta posts about it on Dreamwidth that really made me think about which music is default and what we assume about other fans’ musical knowledge. I listen to a lot of Latin music, it’s what I’d most like to dance to, and let me tell you, the reactions over the years to Spanish-language music for vids from what is supposed to be my community have not been good. There’s plenty of other music I enjoy that is also not valued in a lot of vidding spaces. Kpop is currently on an upswing among a certain kind of fan (and has long been popular with another), but country, rap, and plenty of other things are often overlooked. Moreover, many types of music will be seen as good choices when they match canon (Korean music for a Korean show, American hip hop for The Wire, etc.) but too specialized to be used broadly in all contexts. Meanwhile, English language pop is “universal”, including ABBA. I think, too, that there is a false sense of what is accessible. I’ve heard a lot of talk over the years about “recruiter” vids and “con vids”. The former are supposed to lure new fans into a thing with an easy-to-follow vid about the iddiest or most obviously fun parts of canon. The latter are big crowd pleasers you can understand on a first viewing. But the only times I’ve ever actually recruited fans was with impenetrable meta vids about my layered feelings over minute details of canon plots. There’s some truth to the concept, of course, but I think the key factors are music with a good beat (present in most dance music and thus most vids I’d be looking at for a dance party anyway) and some level of traditional visual storytelling so that the unfamiliar audience can catch at least a fraction of the meaning. Vids that are a wall of impenetrable murk will attract no-one, but vids that are like the shadow of some massive creature in the water under your boat will often make people want to know more. So for the dance party, I want vids that do at least work as “ooh pretty”, but if their subtler meanings are opaque, that’s fine. It’s enough that a viewer can suspect there might be a subtler level of meaning in there somewhere. Buuuuuut… Escapade is also old as balls. (It started in 1991 when internet fandom wasn’t even on the web.) And many attendees like shows that are also old or vidders who only operated in the VCR era. So while I won’t show something that’s just a gray blur, I also won’t require HD footage or crystal clear images. If I have to pull something a little blurry from the vaults to include the more obscure 60s shows or highlight a Livejournal vidder who worked on a computer but in an era prone to small file sizes, that’s fine. If the visuals are beautiful-but-blurry, that’s okay. (If the sound sucks, that’s a hard no though.) I’m reading Francesca Coppa’s book right now, and it’s so interesting and free! I didn’t realize it was free. Did you? Go download it! I had hoped to finish before writing up this post, but time is getting away from me. I’ll have lots more thoughts about canon formation and eras of vidding, but I want to give the book a thorough read before I nitpick or build off of anything. But one thing that strikes me about it is how absent many of the Vividcon and now VidUKon vidders I care about are. That’s not a strike against the book. It’s a product of me having started vidding only in 2010. The period the book really covers is vidding’s inception with Kandy Fong’s slide shows in the 70s through to the height of 00s Livejournal fandom. I think that’s just fine for a book about history. That’s a key period before changing technology and the existence of platforms like youtube massively opened vidding to just about anyone. Less fine with me is how often I see people I know socially, who are in my current fandom spaces, being unable to move beyond a shortlist of like 10 vidders they heard about on LJ a lifetime ago. The ones who aren’t dead or long out of the hobby end up being the only vidders some people are aware of. In an era when an increasing number of oldschool style vidders post to AO3 with highly findable tags, this annoys me even more. I don’t think anyone’s obligated to do a lot of work to find vids, especially if they’re only casually interested in the art form. If it were only that, I wouldn’t kvetch so much, but I keep running into people acting like “our” community is dead… and including me in that “our”. Ironically, this attempt to include me often makes me feel alienated instead. I came to vidding as a personal dialogue between me and canon. I enjoyed parts of Vividcon a lot. I ran into plenty of great vidders there. But my sense of community hasn’t changed radically between then and now. In both eras, people watch their friends’ vids and vids for their own fandoms that go viral. In both eras, people have little interest in actively seeking out randos outside of their sphere. My view is that vidding is no different from fic: Small, insular communities often worked out specific aesthetics in the past. We should celebrate that history and not try to erase how instrumental those small communities were. But those aesthetics escaped into wider circulation many years ago. It’s not that modern fans are outsiders entirely like the oldschool concept of a self-taught “feral” fan. It’s that they have consciously and intentionally picked up aesthetics from the cultural products rather than from a direct social connection. What’s the point of all this? Basically, a dance party needs vids that are danceable. That means they need to be to music that is danceable, and that music needs to not be interrupted much or turned down way lower than other sounds. They also need to be of a length that lets you get into dancing to a particular song without taking up half the party for just one vid and thus one fandom/set of fandoms. (More on why I rarely use multifandom vids below.) 2-5 minutes is a good length. Some people try to draw a sharp boundary around what A Vid™ was. I think that’s foolish. There were plenty of vids at Vividcon itself that fell a bit outside of any narrow definition. At the same time, definitions are important so we can have some sort of shared vocabulary and assumptions. I think we can handle this by defining where the center was, rather than the boundaries. Coppa’s definition is pretty good: “A vid (sometimes called a fan vid, song vid or song tape) is a fan-made music video in which preexisting footage (usually from television or movies) is edited to music (usually, but not always, a pop song). Some of said songs are more danceable than others, but basically, that’s the type of fanvid that makes sense for a dance party. Many, many vids at Vividcon or from Media Fandom VCR vidders fall into this range and are suitable. Many, many recent vids on Youtube or Tiktok fall outside of this range and are unsuitable. (I’d still call those other fannish remix videos with at least some music, many of which are shippy and made by AO3 fic reader types, “fanvids”. I just wouldn’t try to dance to them.) This has led to a situation where a lot of people seem to think that this classic type of fanvid isn’t made anymore or isn’t made outside of a certain community, but I think it’s more accurate to say that other types of vids are going viral currently and thus are easy to find. I have long tried to find vids that aren’t just old favorites everyone has already seen, but for this year, I was determined to get further than ever before from relying on other similar cons, like Fanworks con (successor to Vividcon). I tried to banish not only all con vids from those cons but also almost all vidders who would be familiar to Escapade attendees, especially if they don’t actually attend Escapade themselves. I went so far as to look through AO3 kudos to see which accounts had kudosed vids and knocked things out for having too many familiar names. (That doesn’t mean there aren’t any in the playlist though. I went by the metadata vidders provided on the platform I found the vids on, which may just not include that kind of information.) All of this made my task exponentially harder but also exponentially more interesting. In the end, I had so many vids I adored that keeping the playlist down to 3 hours was nearly impossible. It seems like I wasn’t alone: I got more compliments on this year’s party than any before. Vidding Terminology vs. The Peril of Multifandom Vids One of the biggest problems finding vids is that there is no consistent word for them. Long ago, Media Fandom vids were ‘songtapes’ or ‘songvids’. Later, that evolved to ‘fanvid’ and now the highly ambiguous ‘vid’. AMVs spawned terms like ‘fmv’ for their live action equivalent or ‘gmv’ for game videos. Youtube is full of “tributes”, and sometimes, people even label a traditional fanvid as an “edit”. (More commonly, edits are micro vids in a modern tiktok-y style or the term is used for non-video things entirely.) To make it worse, most recent youtube vids today in 2022 don’t include any word for what they are in their description. They’ll have character or ship names. They might have the fandom name. They don’t have a word for the artform. This makes searching youtube difficult, and since it’s by far the most common place to post vids… arrrrgh. The one type of terminology that is everywhere on youtube and that does make vids easier to find is genres like “Multi-female”, “Multi-male”, “Multi-BL” (meaning a multifandom vid of all those boys love dramas coming out of Thailand and Taiwan and such). That would be great if I just wanted to find a vid, but I show very, very few multifandom vids at the dance party, and when I do show them, they are almost never ones that would be labeled “multi-female”. Why is this? Simply put, I think they tend to have the opposite effect of what is desired. As a standalone vid, a multi-female tends to celebrate badass women and include way more of our faves than would be in a single-fandom vid. It’s super fun to watch in isolation… A three-hour dance party is not isolation. In the context of a three-hour dance party, those vids blur into mush. If you put a bunch next to each other, it feels like one interminable vid. But worse than that, it feels like my least favorite experience on tumblr where you’re scrolling through somebody’s blog and it’s like 95% beautiful stucky gifsets and in-depth meta and squee interspersed with 5% one-off inspirational posts about how we should care about some female character or reblogs of a beautiful photo of an African model. The posts themselves are fine. In aggregate, the vibe is that deep fannish love is for one thing and everything else is a diversity afterthought that we like on a completely surface level. That’s fine on someone’s unplanned personal tumblr, but I’m not having it in my curated mixtape. How the “Badass X” multifandom vids tend to read in this context is that all Strong Female Characters are essentially interchangeable. Black characters are there to fill a diversity slot, not as individuals, not as themselves. It’s very blatant when pairing A/B gets a whole vid exploring their arc while character C is relegated to a montage of the top 30 fannish tv series of the day. There are some multifandom vids that make a deep and compelling meta analysis instead of seeming to conflate their characters, and there are crossover vids that really engage with each fandom they contain, but those aren’t the ones labeled with the “multi-“ terminology, and they’re a lot rarer. For this reason, I try to both limit the total number of multifandom vids I show and to save them for topics where I feel the multi-fandomness is more welcome, like vids that combine many adaptations of the same thing or vids of franchises like MCU where it’s more ambiguous what counts as a single fandom. I still try to opt for vids that highlight a single character or ship most of the time, especially if it’s the only vid for that fandom or fandoms that I’m using. The Search I started out by defining what I as looking for. I looked through Escapade attendee profiles, which people can fill out on the site. Those are often out of date, and only some people fill them out, but they can give me a sense of what people are currently into. I then looked at what fandoms had a lot of fic updated on AO3 in the past year, especially m/m fic. From this, I made a priority fandom list of fandoms I wanted to actively search for vids in. I also added anything I personally predicted would be the next big thing among attendees—in this case, Our Flag Means Death. I also made a list of songs I particularly like and wanted to dance to. Since we didn’t have an in-person con or a dance party last year, I had more work than usual: I went through a full two years of the ‘fanvids’ tag on AO3. Even once I removed everything from a familiar con/fest/etc., that still took forever. What I do is open every vid post for the last year (or in this case two), find the embed, if any, set the playhead to the middle of the vid and play a few seconds. If it sounds like music someone could dance to and it’s at least a couple of minutes long, I put the URL in a spreadsheet along with some cursory notes about the nature of the vid based on that tiny preview plus headers. If the vid was clearly way too short, too long to be to a single song, or not set to music in the part I watched, I’d close the tab. If there was no embed, I sometimes downloaded/went to another site/etc. right then and repeated the same procedure and sometimes left the tab open to deal with later. While AO3 has a high concentration of vidders and cons/fests/similar origins I was avoiding, it also has such a high concentration of oldschool vids that it’s worth looking through. In particular, I found a lot of interesting vids by Russian-speaking fans in various fandom combats. I did something similar on Tumblr, scrolling back through many pages of tags like ‘fanvid’. This was not especially useful this year, but it does occasionally find me some obscure and awesome vids I couldn’t find otherwise. Next, I went through various Youtube hashtags like #fanvidfeed. This mostly got me undanceable het vids for recent teen shows, but I found the occasional interesting account this way. Even if the vid I first landed on wasn’t right for my purposes, sometimes, they either had another vid that was or their metadata suggested other hashtags to me. I searched for recs playlists on Youtube and put them on in the background while doing other things, not even watching the vids. When I heard music that sounded danceable, I’d click back to that tab and see what the vid was. Since I’m looking for dance vids, I do a lot of this music previewing before I even bother looking at a vid itself. After all that, it was time for the fandom-specific searches. I searched Youtube and Bilibili for all of my target fandoms. In some cases, this required looking up ship names in hanzi. I also sometimes search for things in Russian or Japanese or look up more generic terms like ‘slash’ or ‘fanvid’ if I know the equivalent. Whenever I came across a fanvid by a non-English speaker, I’d look at its metadata for possible search terms. I don’t think I found that many vids I ended up using this way, but it’s a valuable exercise to find vidders far outside of my social circles. All of these I tested the same way as the AO3 vids. After a long period, I had a big spreadsheet of possibilities. This year, it contained 690 vids. I filled out the fandom column of the spreadsheet. I went back through and compared the fandom list to my target fandom list. Anything really important that was missing I searched for again. As usual, the biggest problem was finding even one danceable vid about a major black character from US media. Less urgent but also difficult is adding a little geographic variety to the wealth of US, UK, and East Asian media. It is only at this point that I actually watched the vids to see if they were any good. I cannot emphasize this enough: If you want to find vids on the modern internet that are outside your social circles, you have to first find vids at all. If you waste time figuring out if they’re good first, you will never get anywhere. Hunt, hunt, hunt, and then refine. I worked fandom by fandom or topic by topic, narrowing my possibilities. I usually cleaned up my notes at this point, transferring information into actual columns like ‘song title’ only if I thought I might actually use the vid. This is where I knocked out vids to the same song and made sure I didn’t have 20 for the same fandom. I still had to do another round of searching for some missing high priority fandoms where none of my brainstormed list turned out to be good enough once I watched the vids through all the way. In one case, the Youtube channel had been deleted by the time I made it back to that item on my spreadsheet. I came up with a short list of around 76 vids. At this point, I went back and filled out my runtime field and began paring down the list to fit into the three-hour party. At the end of this, I had 61 vids plus Not Literally Productions’ I Ship It, which we used to open with but now close with at lola’s suggestion. (This hearkens back to Vividcon opening and closing their dance party with the same things every year. We wanted to copy the concept but not the particular items chosen.) Play Order Escapade’s dance party has two halves of roughly equal length with an intermission in between. I often have some internal meta structure to the playlist. This year, the first half was a progression of pirate media and a progression of boy band love. The second half was less specific but had more of the old favorites, weird shit, and vids I thought could probably use a warning. One of the things I appreciate most about Escapade is its oldschool commitment to being pro-kink. The dance party is also an expression of my taste. On the other hand, a dance party isn’t like watching a vid on your own where you’re able to pause and see the headers, so I now produce a printed playlist that’s on tables throughout the party. I’ll tend to warn for things with Hannibal levels of gore. I try to put the horny murder vids in the same part of the playlist and later in the evening. If I find anything good with dicks out, I’ll put that later in the evening too (though it’s pretty hard to find good vids that actually use that kind of footage). The very end of the playlist is for the sorts of things you’d put your lighter up for. I also try to put the least danceable vids at the beginning or end of a section or right before a vid I think will bring everyone running to the dance floor. Too many of the danceable-but-not-that-danceable vids in a row makes people wander off, but using only the most danceable vids means missing out on many fascinating vids, fandoms, and vidders I think are worth including. Other considerations for play order are things like splitting vids from the same fandom or franchise so they are in different halves or at least not next to each other, putting vids early if I think their fans will leave the party and go to bed before the end, and putting whatever I want to highlight at a key point in the playlist where I think more people will be in the room. I also decide play order based on the music itself, of course, trying to have things transition in a way that feels natural. I listen to the very beginnings and endings of vids to make sure I can make those two songs work next to each other. Once I decide on a theoretical play order, I play all of the vids while I do chores, listening for any really bad audio in the middle of vids that I didn’t notice before. When I’m satisfied, I put everything together into one video file per half, cutting off vid credits outside of the music, crossfading where needed, and attempting to adjust audio levels to be about even. This Year’s Playlist First Half: Pirates Macarena by Jacksjarofdirt Vividcon used to always start their dance party with a clip from Xena. Over time, people learned the dance from it. This year, I got a request to open the party with a dance people would know. Naturally, this meant picking the most irritating earworm of my adolescence. The vid itself is not amazing. It’s from 2007. The aspect ratio on Youtube is borked. There are ugly digital transitions that look even worse at this resolution. There’s tons of talky face (aka clips where characters’ mouths move in undesirable ways, similar to “lip flap” in AMV circles) and only a small amount of it is supposed to be characters lip syncing the song. In a move unusual for Media Fandom type vids, it repeats footage a lot, using the same clips for repetitive parts of the song, of which there are many. However, the combination of the song and the fandom was too much to pass up. I really wanted to get POTC in there as a key development in pirate fandoms. Oldschool aesthetic elements here include starting with a pretty clear POV: Jack is the main male voice. Elizabeth is the main female one. Jack gets the “I am not trying to seduce you” line for comedy purposes. The song doesn’t have a ton of lyrics to work with, and the vid did nothing with the out of town boyfriend verse, but it does have a funny lyric match on “las chicas que son buenas” with the shot of the garishly made-up prostitutes. The vidder’s blurb on Youtube is: “A pirates of the caribbean fan video to the song Macarena. This is for the Moonlit Curse fanvid contest. **All rights reserved to their respectable owners.**” Notable here is the use of “fan video” by the vidder and “fanvid” by the contest. (What people actually call vids varies a lot by part of fandom and era.) Now that I google, this seems to have been a contest held by a particular forum, the Moonlit Curse board. There’s another old youtube channel here with some of the other entries: Larger than life by Retro Dreams The instant I saw this, I knew I wanted to open with it. I had just seen Turning Red, and it’s such a perfect portrait of fandom. I figured many con-goers would feel the same and others wouldn’t yet have seen this gem of a film. With the request to start with a known dance, I bumped it to second. Brilliant choice of exceptionally classic actual boy band music for this movie that has so much about a fictional boy band! I figured this song would get people on the dance floor if the macarena didn’t, which is always important at a con of shy nerds. The vid deploys comedy brilliantly. The song is famous enough that many viewers will recognize it from the opening, so there’s that moment of seeing the gigantic mother stomping through the city and realizing just what song is about to play. Literalism is hilarious! The lyrics take center stage here. “Prices to fame” is the moment when Mei looks around and all the children are suddenly afraid of her after treating her as a celebrity a minute before. “Your love” is about the students’ love of Mei’s red panda form. “Crowd”, “body”, etc. have highly literal matches, but the fictional boy band dance is also set to the music. The vidder demonstrates excellent musicality, using the quiet part of the song and the huge build to transition to the longer, slower shots of the mother and the build to her losing her shit. Some editing choices are more about rhythm, like the well-timed panda running shots. Notice the sequence around 2:57 where the dips and rises in the music correspond to the panda jumping and even to her grin spreading. The vid also has a more metaphorical level: 4★Town is “larger than life” in that they’re a beloved boy band in the movie. The vidder lists this as an “AMV” in the title on Youtube despite it being Western animation. They also have live action vids labeled as AMVs. Pump It by Christian DS MEP w/ Elisiandy, Valentina Zemlyanaya, Moonnxth, stellzxn, garnetoo, yoonqissmile, Clxeee, darkburn club Someone sent me this wonderful BTS vid, and it was so good I had to include it despite already having another BTS vid I wanted to use. I decided to put it early in the half to separate it from the other one and also because BTS is the idol group fandom currently sweeping the planet. I liked the progression from media about boy band fandom to the current example. This is a MEP or multi-editor project, which are common on Youtube. Oldschool media fandom vids are often collaborations, but they generally involved a group making the whole vid together. MEPs typically involve each party being given 20 seconds of a song and the host stitching the whole thing together when the parts come back from the individual editors. A lot of vids of idols have blurry, ugly footage from their reality shows or feature just one ship or are 30 seconds long. This vid was perfect for my needs because it highlights all members of BTS and has beautiful, clear footage that will be more compelling for an audience that may not have succumbed yet. Notice: if you go to Escapade, it’s only a matter of time before I get you. There is no escape. I would normally have gone for some non-BTS idol vid since I had another BTS vid already, but this one was too good to pass up. I like the very, very clear use of text on the screen indicating that this is BTS (remember, I wanted this for a loud dance party containing a lot of people unfamiliar with the group). Many vidders pick fonts that are hard to read or don’t make text big enough or keep it on screen long enough, but this vid does an excellent job. The vid is also absolutely slathered in effects and color grading. I think it works here because the vidders have used such crystal clear high quality footage and because once you rewatch, you can see that the vid has a strong structure: It starts with an introduction section, then highlights each member of BTS in age order, so all those quick flashes of different footage tend to be the same guy over and over. This makes it easier to parse visually. The last section seems to be some group stuff, each in order again, and then another group shot. I don’t think there’s much of a meta point here, but that’s good because there’s way too much going on visually for the viewer to have time to pick up much more than “pretty!” The vid is labeled as an FMV and an edit, and the vidders are referred to as editors in the Youtube description, which is typical of live action vidders on Youtube, especially those who have any experience in AMV spaces. The tech used is also listed and is Sony Vegas plus After Effects. Both bothering to list it and the use of Sony Vegas are also typical. Not Today by Yūrei Naturally, after a BTS member-themed vid, I had to put one to BTS’ own music. This was an eleventh-hour addition when I realized I had zero of BTS’s music in the playlist. Thematically, it was important to me to find one for this position. I forget what search terms I used. I suspect I started going through BTS songs I thought would have vids and entering their names plus various vidding words and fandoms in Youtube search. And, yes, it’s one of those vids that mashes all the characters into a couple of minutes, but I was willing to make an exception because the biggest fandom among attendees is MCU collectively (though all different ships and parts), I had other MCU vids, and it uses its many characters to show one consistent narrative. I don’t love the use of canon dialogue, but it’s reasonably well integrated, and this was the last minute. I do like that BTS music is used for a US source. I definitely wanted at least some vids that used non-US music for mainstream US fandoms. The editing and use of sound effects from canon are very typical of a certain kind of rhythmic editing on Youtube. While the vid is focused on visual spectacle, it does use the song lyrics to set up a simple theme that unifies all the different MCU characters and what they’re doing in the vid. The vidder’s blurb is: “‘Kneel…’ ‘Not Today!’ A video I've been wanting to make for quite some time now and finally got around to doing it. This is the first video I've put together in a few years but I am quite proud of it.” Note the lack of specific vidding terminology of any kind. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by teyla This one I suspect some people had seen already, but I specifically wanted to include both this fandom and this version of Pangzi. The majority of Lost Tomb vids focus on Wu Xie, Zhang Qiling, or Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling. I am not surprised, given that Wang Pangzi is the “fat” one, but he’s my favorite, including for shipping. I searched pretty hard for a vid about him that wasn’t by a vidder on AO3 whom I thought people would be familiar with, but I never found any. Also, it’s a great vid, and I was entertained by including Wham! in my boy band half of the playlist. I love how the vid starts with very clear establishing shots of their faces. This is key for an Escapade audience, only a few of whom have seen the show and many of whom think of it as “That other thing that guy from Guardian is in” without being very aware of the other two leads. I especially love how Pangzi’s completely ridiculous expressions set the tone for the vid. There’s tons of comedy literalism like “high” being them falling through the air or “spark” being an explosion. The editing is tight with cuts and internal movements falling precisely on beats in the music. The POV is less intensely obvious than in some classic vids due to the lyrics starting with generally establishing all three and not clearly associating anyone with the first pronouns in the lyrics, but the combination of many shots of Pangzi being woken up and the goofy tussling with Wu Xie on some of the shippy lyrics make it clear that this is Pangzi’s POV. The vidder’s view of the ship comes through pretty clearly (OT3 but with Wang Pangzi/Wu Xie being more primary). As one would expect from AO3, this vid is labeled as a ‘vid’ and ‘fanvid’ and even has a download link. 【铁三角沙雕日常】“这敢纹身的人还能叫人吗？！” by 指甲长长的小能 I was stoked to hear this song on a Bilibili vid. Not only do I love Álvaro Soler, but I love seeing vidders using music from totally different places (in this case a probably Chinese vidder using music from Spain). One reason I included the previous vid was to help give context to this one. Lost Tomb is the more popular adaptation among the Escapade crowd, but this franchise has a bunch of parts and plenty of fandom for the other adaptations. I don’t love the show audio use, but the clear visual comedy like the mud shoves and the inexplicable boxers was too good to pass up. I’m unclear on exactly how the vidder is using the lyrics. I understand the Spanish fine, but not the Chinese, and I haven’t seen this adaptation, so I’m not totally sure how the canon dialogue is playing off of the music. It doesn’t really seem like this is about an ex you’re still into or whatever the song is about. I have a feeling the vidder isn’t expecting their audience to understand the lyrics or look them up, and I notice they haven’t put the lyrics on screen like so many Bilibili vids do. Power by Mozzaphne God, this vid is so perfect. The minute I saw it on grumpyphoenix’s recs playlist, I knew I had to include it despite all the show audio and the fact that it appears to be a het vid. (Would the vidder consider it a het vid? Unclear. That character is a modern man who woke up in the body of a historical queen.) I owe a lot to that recs list! I like how the highly visible color grade and effects (typical of youtube) are deployed for specific purposes here. The vidder’s use of the twerking on “I make it shower” killed me. It’s just such a joyful, exuberant vid. I have many many feelings and have watched this vid many, many times. Ghost by Vivendel I was determined to find a Scum Villain vid because everyone has fallen into MXTX fandom lately, but the adaptation is… not so amazing visually. It’s also not a fandom I know well, so it was hard to evaluate the subtler vids. Only a very few were even marginally danceable. And then I spotted this one. The title is wordplay. According to the vidder: “Shen Yuan/Shen Qingqiu is like the ghost of a good person in a villain's role. He does a lot of things behind the scenes to protect Luo Binghe. However, the system also makes Shen Qingqiu "ghost" Luo Binghe all the time. From Luo Binghe's perspective, his kind Shizun seems to pop in and out of existence. And I'm sure Luo Binghe questions whether or not he is imagining that transient good Shizun. Also, the original Shizun's dark ending makes Shen Qingqiu kinda like a dead man walking, so there's that. ” The vid is listed as an AMV, which is common though it’s of Chinese animation. Having not consumed canon, I can’t catch all of the clever uses of lyrics, but I can tell the vidder is playing with them. The editing aesthetic is similar to classic vids despite the canon. The vid opens with a clear establishing shot of eyes and then the system. Scum Villain fans at the party burst out laughing when they realized what the vid was. There are many angsty vids for this fandom, but starting up front with this aspect of the canon foregrounds the humor. “I don’t want to fight you” clearly establishes the protagonist visually with his hand out in a ‘stop’ gesture and shows the system opposite him. “When I said that I liked you” switches to LBH on ‘you’, establishing the love interest. I love the next transition on “or maybe just the idea”, which goes to art of LBH’s original version. “Now you see me, now you don’t” is used to illustrate the protagonist’s real personality vs. The role he’s forced to play. The vidder comments: “I twisted the meaning of the song quite a bit.” I’d say instead that they made clever metaphorical use of it. White Rabbit by tartiflette Sherlock is still big with many congoers, but I’m so over it, and straightforward vids have been done to death. As a life-long Holmes fan, I was intrigued by this older multi-Holmes vid that was recently posted to AO3. I love how this song about drugs is used to illustrate the idea of Moriarty and Moran as dark fantasies of Holmes and Watson. The vidder does not match every lyric precisely. A few key ones are used in a 1:1 manner, like a man being hanged on “low”, but the overall cutting style is a highly effective montage intercutting drug imagery with Holmes and Watson and juxtaposing Holmes with Moriarty and Watson with Moran. I really enjoyed this meta take on Holmes, and props for including one of my favorite adaptations, The Case of the Silk Stocking. As with most AO3 vids, this one uses a fanvid tag. I chose to place this here in the play order both because it’s as meta as the previous vid and because I wanted a sharp swing away from the Asian fandoms after that long run of them. One balancing act for Escapade is to introduce people to these but not to make them feel totally left behind as many of their friends head to media that may just not work for them. And there is no more classic or oldschool Western media fandom than Holmes. The Passenger Redux by zzebeddy Speaking of oldschool, The Professionals is a classic buddy cop slash fandom that’s still going strong, especially at Escapade. A lot of our Pros crew was online only this year, but I still try to include it because it’s such a major fandom for Escapade. (Compare to Starsky & Hutch: S&H even has its own slash con and is a highly active fandom but while many Escapade attendees, including me, have been into it at some point, it hasn’t been a major focus at the con.) The Professionals has a wonderful vidding history, but it’s more common to find vids to music that just does not work for dancing. I was pleased to find this excellent vid on AO3, where it is tagged both with ‘fanvid’ and the older ‘songvid’. The vid is only viewable as a password protected vimeo video, as is common for oldschool vids. For the dance party, I of course had to cut off the show clip at the beginning. I hope people will go watch the vid in its original context as well. If there are 1:1 lyric matches with deep meta meaning, they’re lost on me as someone relatively unfamiliar with the footage, but the excellent musicality, sense of movement, and overall tone of the song give a wonderful feeling of Pros as a gritty crime drama—as it was in its day. I thought it would be good here to give us another classic Western fandom before going on to less familiar things. Games by Franzeska I put my own vids in every year, sometimes as many as three, but it’s less about wanting to show my own stuff and more about the difficulty of sourcing vids that cover certain topics or music. This year, I thought I might not need any, but as I developed my pirate theme, I realized it woudl be fun to include this little-known Spanish series starring that guy who played Cougar in The Losers. Cancelled after just a season and never officially subtitled in English, Piratas is pretty inaccessible to English speakers, but it’s so funny I had to include it. I originally made this years ago for a deeply ungrateful CON.TXT audience who talked shit about the song being in Spanish in the room with me. Thanks, guys. I knew most people watching it would not understand the lyrics, so I tried to show the basis for my ship very blatantly and visually. The song is by rock legends Soda Stereo, who are nearly unknown in the US but who are the founders of Latin American rock in Spanish. I ran across them during a phase where I was looking up bestselling Latin American music and working my way through it to find music I couldn’t through friends. (Amusingly, a friend from later on has totally vidded this same song.) The lyrics are: Voy a ser tu mayordomo Y vos harás el rol de señora bien O puedo ser tu violador La imaginación Esta noche todo lo puede In other words: “I’ll be your servant and you’ll play the lady. Or I could be your rapist. Imagination can do anything tonight.” I remember listening to it for the first time and doing a double take. I put this here to spread the pirate fandoms throughout the first half. Piratas is the story of a cowardly, philandering, fast-talking nobleman who has to get out of the capital ahead of angry husbands and debt collectors. An old friend of his father’s sends him undercover as a pirate, but on the way, he manages to sleep with yet another married woman, and his benefactor soon dies, leaving him without a single ally… except for this latest angry husband who has followed him onto the ship. Why yes, this is a dumb and hilarious “Only I am allowed to kill you!” story. What is this, shounen manga? Classic by caliowl 333 Speaking of classic shounen tropes, I absolutely had to follow that with BNHA. We don’t tend to see a ton of AMVs at Escapade, so I wanted to include one from this since BakuDeku is one of the current m/m juggernauts on AO3. I haven’t read or watched the series, but these two reportedly have that fangirl-favorite dynamic of childhood friends to rivals to allies. Also, antis haaaate this ship, and nothing says Escapade like celebrating that kind of ship. While BNHA is vidded extensively, few are suitable for a dance party. Not only do many of them have constant canon dialogue, but a bunch of them take it from the dub. DEAR GOD WHY?! It’s also the kind of fandom with plenty of straight dude AMV editors and lots of het content or gen tributes to the heroes endlessly leveling up. Eventually, after several hours-long sessions of searching, I spotted this vid. I love this one for how clear the visual language is: It shows the progression of the relationship clearly in a way that you can grasp without knowing canon. I like the slower cutting on this one. Even for the Escapade audience that does know the source, I wanted a classic slash vid, not an effects extravaganza, and this more measured pace with its focus on characters’ faces provides that. It’s labeled as a “bakudeku AMV”, so the vidder does intend it to be read as shippy. Having now seen a lot of AMVs of the same footage, I was interested in how the editor pared down some of the more overused stuff to just a couple of reference shots of Bakugo’s face disappearing into the sludge and Midoriya jumping after him. I think it’s a mistake to imagine that AMV aesthetics are completely divorced from live action vidding ones, oldschool or otherwise. While this AMV does not establish POV on the pronouns early in the song, I do notice editing of that kind in the middle, and the nature of the footage itself means we are firmly in one POV from the beginning. This AMV overall demonstrates a type of close reading typical of shippers of non-canon ships. Certain key moments are recontextualized as romantic. I don’t know that this AMV would do all that well at a big con contest. (There’s too much lipflap for one thing.) It is, nonetheless, indubitably an AMV, and one that overlaps with old slash vids aesthetically. Undisclosed Desires by Akuuza This was another I found on Grumpyphoenix’s recs list. I’ve loved this franchise for years, and the song is a classic for a certain kind of ship vid, so I was instantly attracted when seeing it in the playlist. This one I picked for a great song, fandom I wanted, and visual beauty. The cutting is crisp, but I found the POV muddy. It seems like which one of them “I” is switches a few times, but I didn’t find any clearly demarcated transition points. Nonetheless, if one does know the footage, this displays their dynamic nicely. Castles by serrico This is one I found on AO3 and that may be somewhat familiar to the Escapade audience. I picked it because I loved the emotional tone. I have no idea what’s going on, but now I have a lot of feelings! I haven’t seen Picard, but this vid makes it look full of found family feels and intriguing plot. I placed it here in the playlist because its sad but hopeful emotional tone seemed like a nice transition from the previous song and because I wanted a big Western franchise alternating with the Asian fandoms, particularly since the two on either side of this are less well known to the Escapade audience. I'm a Ruler by akiv This one came from AO3 as well. It’s a classic buddy cop vid of the more antagonistic variety. The vidder’s summary grabbed me: “Han Joowon and Lee Dongsik getting on each other's nerves (or something) - and then on other people's nerves, together.” I’ve never seen the show, but the vidder perfectly sets up the classic crazy one and uptight one forced to work together scenario. I found the use of POV quite skillful here. Pronouns are used as usual, but the quality of characters’ facial expressions also makes it clear who is acting and who is reacting in each part. When the POV abruptly switches around 1:09, it’s done on a change in the music and with the same clear pattern of the smirking one pushing buttons and the other one taken aback. Well-chosen closeups immediately show the shift. The third section at 2:13 was a little less clear to me on first watching, but on rewatch, I notice that “When I” is on one of them, while the other literally walks into the room on “walk into the room”. I believe this is an attempt to show the progression to partners who work together. The vidder has saved the good two shots and most footage where the duo interact with suspects for this last section. I liked the use of show audio here aside from some infelicitous background sound left in one of the clips. I don’t know the show, but I do know crime dramas, so using some actual dialogue to instantly establish what kind of trope these guys are set the scene nicely for me. The vidder also made interesting choices about how to display the subtitles. Also, I’ll be real: these guys are super hot. A lot of fandoms have two idol-looking guys, but I’m much more into this character actor-looking dude with his eye bags being paired with the idol-looking dude. This is definitely high on my to-watch list now. Blinding Lights by madxthing You can tell I added that other Marvel one at the last second, and a lot of the play order was already set. I would normally have split them between the two halves. This is the one I picked first from a long list of MCU ensemble vids. It’s a classic example of that type of rhythmic editing common on Youtube where tons of canon audio is used, but all sound effects that complement the music. I felt the use of the “dance off” clip made it especially fun for a dance party. I also appreciate how recent it is (January 2022) and that it includes so much Shang-Chi and other recent MCU. I placed it here because I felt it was a nice change of pace. Comeback Kid by To Shanshu in Fiction When I saw this vid on grumpyphoenix’s recs list, I fell in love. Yes, that’s right, it wasn’t a request: I the notorious Buffy hater picked this vid because I liked it. The song is extremely repetitive, and the vid has one single joke, but somehow, it does not overstay its welcome. I think part of the reason is that even though it’s so intensely literal with Buffy getting knocked down a lot or coming back from the dead, the overall tone isn’t that comedic. The vidder is using the emotional quality of the song to tell a story about endurance. It’s humorous, but on the same level canon was. Even with all of the canon dialogue, the song lyrics are used very directly to support the vidder’s narrative. That makes this vid feel closer to oldschool vidding aesthetics to me compared to some that use dialogue. The vid has some sort of internal build. I don’t know the footage well for obvious reasons, but it seemed like the vid was starting with Buffy younger and more unsure and building to her more confident self, including more group shots where she has support. The internal motion and cutting also seemed to build, though I’m not going to take the time to do a shot by shot analysis. Glitter & Gold by boredcollegeedits God, if there’s one song that Youtube over-vids, it’s this. G&G plus clanking noises is basically its own youtube genre at this point, but it’s a great song for dance parties, and this is a nice example of the type. This particular vid also uses the lyrics well in a meta way. The door shutting on Scorpion on “sold their lives to a dream” is so pointed. This one has “A Word of Honor FMV” on screen on the title card and in the Youtube title. Only Human by Brian Smith I love this song and wanted to include a vid using it. I was pleased to find one while searching for Expanse vids. This show doesn’t have the biggest fandom, but a lot of Escapade attendees are into it. There are some excellent f/f vids I’ve enjoyed in the past, but the impression I get from Escapade attendees is that they have a variety of different ships and that many of them just like the show for its overall ensemble. I like how this vid showcases a lot of the cast. I also like how it feels like it’s making an argument and referencing specific moments in canon to tie these characters’ arcs together thematically. Of course, not knowing the show, I have no idea if it’s actually doing a good job of that! For all I know, it could be a trite or incoherent argument. But it certainly felt like there was something interesting in here. The vidder’s summary is: "Video: The Expanse Audio: 'Human' by Rag'n'Bone Man This is my favourite show on TV right now, credited as the Game of Thrones of sci-fi. I struggled to find a song for the show, but after hearing the Mass Effect Andromeda trailer, I realised Human might be a good match given how human the show is and what it focuses on.” I notice there’s no actual word like ‘fanvid’ in here and also that the vidder is highlighting the argument the vid makes. That’s a very classic aesthetic. 99 Problems by MockingJamie As soon as I realized I wanted to do something with pirate canons, I knew I had to include Black Sails. It’s such an interesting contrast to Our Flag Means Death, not just in terms of being dark but in terms of how far they were able or willing to go with their m/m storyline. I’m not normally a big fan of folk-y covers of rap. (Too many of them get presented to me in a way that reads as “now without the black people!!!”) But Hugo’s bluegrass take on 99 Problems keeps a lot of the energy and feels appropriate for a historical drama like Black Sails. This vid is another nice example of rhythmic Youtube editing. It doesn’t seem to be making an especially deep argument, but I’m also not very familiar with Black Sails. I love how it opens on that guy grinning and getting hit by a woman in humorous contrast to the lyrics. Overall, it’s a foot-stomping good time. To be honest, for my overall meta point, I’d have preferred a Black Sails vid that engaged with Flint’s backstory and arc, but the ones I found tended to be to long, slow, sad songs and not at all appropriate for a dance party. This vid got people stamping on the dance floor, and I wanted a high energy vid after the slower, more somber previous one. The vidder mentions their editing software in an on-screen credit, which is so very Youtube. Unsurprisingly, it’s Sony Vegas. Their description also lists “colouring: mine”. This explicit crediting of and focus on the color grade is another hallmark of a certain type of Youtube vidding culture. The Man Who Sold The World by Tabi_essentially The Untamed is hands down the most popular individual fandom among Escapade attendees (if you count MCU as multiple), and there are a million vids for it. But last time we had the dance party in 2020, I played three to get people into the fandom, and I’ve seen a hell of a lot of samey wangxian vids in the time since. There’s some variety in the form of rarer pairing vids, but those too become samey quickly, and that’s a shame because there’s so much plot in the show and so much to explore. When I saw this vid, I was blown away. I saw the title on AO3 and thought “Holy shit, that song?” I knew I had to include it as one of my Untamed picks for this year. I do find the POV a bit confused in this vid. I think it could have benefitted from more attention to who shows up on pronouns early in the song, but at the same time, it clearly establishes both of these masterminds and their relationship to the song. On the whole, I think it’s positing Nie Huaisang as the man who sold the world. I chortled at that clip of him on “Who knows, not me”. The one of him tossing a coin to the storyteller on “the man who sold the world” is fantastic. “For years and years I roamed” is interesting in that it’s on the saber. It makes a lot of sense in isolation, but this is what I mean about confused POV: I can certainly read this as metaphorically about Nie Huaisang’s search for the truth, but it looks more like the POV has switched to his brother’s. And then the POV switches to JGY for a couple of lyrics. The very end fascinates me: In quick succession, we see the temple intercut with JGY’s bloody hat, JGY jumping in front of NHS, the brothers as children, JGY holding NHS during the qi deviation, and JGY’s childhood. It’s a real gut punch of a vid about an aspect of the show I haven’t seen explored much. He said I was his friend, indeed! I’m left with a real sense of how much Nie Huaisang would have understood someone else overlooked and undervalued by their shitty society if he hadn’t gone quite so far. The vidder has collected their work on AO3 in a single chapter of a work titled “ A series of CQL and WangXian fanvids and edits “ with the songs listed in the notes, not even next to each embed. I think that’s a real pity, particularly since Youtube messes up a lot of embeds now. It really robs these vids of the sense that they are individual works worthy of comment and discussion in their own right. The vidder’s summary on Youtube includes: “Hi, Gen X Mom here still trying my hand at fanvidding! These were called AMVs back in my day - whether or not they were anime. :)” Sorry, Jules, but to a lot of AMV purists, they most certainly were not! LOL. Still, that’s an interesting point of reference. WTF by Aaronantium Okay, I broke my own rule a little on this one. Two years ago, at the last dance party, there were so few Witcher vids that I had to vid one just for the dance party. By now, there are considerably more, but almost none of them are danceable. The few that are that I could find were all by vidders who might already be known to the Escapade audience, and some were het. Aaron’s vid was made for Revelcon, but it was just too hilarious for me to pass up. I had to see its effects on the dance party. (And yes, people nearly died laughing when the first “WHAT THE FUCK!” played.) Aaron is a second generation fan with exposure to oldschool Media Fandom vids but also AMVs. This vid demonstrates the expected style of POV where shots of Jaskier singing come in as the lyrics start and pronouns match up precisely to the vid’s narrative. My favorite parts are all of the absolutely absurd facial expressions the vidder found. I placed this here in the play order because of how deep, meta, and depressing the previous vid was. I thought WTF would be even more hilarious coming right after that. Pa' Bailar by Studio Sagittarius Studio Sagittarius is a masterful Russian-speaking Youtube vidder. They use a lot of original animation and art. Unfortunately, many of their vids are also quite short and so not suitable for my purposes. I picked this one because I’m a big Julieta Venegas fan. A Russian editor vidding anime to an Argentinian-Uruguayan group featuring a Mexican pop star tickled my fancy. RUMORS by 给我一碗黑米粥 I thought it would be fun to put a jdrama vid after the previous AMV. I originally spotted this one on Youtube with some fugly subtitles added, but the credits indicated that the original was on Bilibili. I followed the link to this fun vid of one of my latest fandoms, Kei x Yaku. It’s a BL drama about a cop and a mobster investigating a conspiracy together. I’ve still only seen the beginning, but I was interested that one of the characters openly identifies as bisexual. What I like about this vid is how appropriate the song choice is. A lot of vidders use this song for non-canon ships with shippy subtext. But Kei x Yaku is apparently about these two fake dating as a cover for their investigation. The two random guys in the vid are a greek chorus of yakuza underlings who keep spying on them and thinking they’re getting it on when they’re actually doing some plot-related nonsense. I love their silly reaction shots. I also found the use of text here quite interesting. It often hits a beat late and isn’t always words I’d have chosen to highlight, which makes sense since presumably the vidder is Chinese. I Freakin' Love You by colls This is a vidder I suspect people already know, but this is a ship that has very few vids despite Star Wars being such a big franchise. I’ve been looking for a really solid finn/poe vid that is danceable, and this delivered. It has an excellent command of POV and a wonderful sense of movement, perfect for a dance party. I thought it would make a fun contrast to the relatively unknown jdrama preceding and the extremely wacky oldschool vid that follows. Moscow Drug Club by P.R. Zed This is the one vid I pulled from the Internet Archive this year. The novelty song killed me. Too funny! This is a type of comedy vid I’ve seen occasionally from oldschool Media Fandom: instead of the song illustrating some theme from canon that the vidder is pulling out, canon is used to illustrate the song. It’s not precisely an AU, but viewers who know canon will find it even funnier because it’s taking things totally out of context. (It reminds me of TM’s Copacabana Starsky & Hutch vid.) On “little red pills to stay awake”, the vidder has used a notorious torture scene with a fake suicide pill. It’s completely inappropriate for this lyric, which makes it all the goofier. At the same time, the overall vibe does fit. Illya is a Soviet agent who does like jazz and beatnik outfits. Blood // Water by Ирина Денищенко One of my big discoveries this year was that all the Russians have been vidding this recent Russian action movie I’d never heard of, Major Grom: Plague Doctor. I asked around, and it sounds like a fun one. I like knowing what’s going on in different parts of fandom. Much of the time, it’s yet more MCU, Harry Potter, and the same Asian media English speakers like, but sometimes, there’s a fandom we don’t tend to know about, and I love throwing those in. I thought it would be amusing to follow Illya, Soviet from a US show played by a Scottish actor, with some actual contemporary Russian characters. I liked this vid for how it clearly showed some major elements of the film that the slash ships are based on. It also uses the lyrics very directly in an accessible, oldschool style. The vidder has an excellent command of musicality, seen for example in the music change around 2:27. Ooh La-La by Helen_scram This one came from AO3 but from a Russian fandom combat. Obviously, I needed to follow that serious business Russian vid with… this. Its summary, in English and Russian, reads: “Kitsch, wank and other Guilty Pleasure.” It’s like they sent me an engraved invitation. What can I say about this vid? It’s a no good Kevin Sorbo sword and sandals movie vidded to one hit wonder dance pop and tagged with ‘Sexy sword fight’. In other words, a flawless masterpiece! mamma mia! By Emily Gardner Oh, the pain of trying to find a danceable nandermo vid! I particularly wanted to include this fandom this year because of the links to Our Flag Means Death. Because What We Do In The Shadows is a mockumentary, it is intentionally shot in an ugly style that’s hard to vid. This vid manages to make it move with pop music. I love the comedic look of the lyrics text. Even though the image quality is only moderate, that text really elevates the whole thing and made it still play well on a large screen. WWDITS is inherently a completely ridiculous show, but this vid does a great job at highlighting the absurdity, like using the doll cuddle on “told you we’re through”. But notice also how internal motion of Guillermo lifting the doll falls right on a beat. It’s solid use of internal motion like that that makes this vid flow despite the intentionally bland camerawork of canon. I Wanna Be Like You by zehstern I knew I’d be ending the first half by wrapping up my two themes. First, the pirate theme has built to Our Flag Means Death, this year’s slash fandom surprise hit just a few weeks before the con. The vids were already multiplying fast when I made this playlist, but the number of solidly danceable ones was low. Most were montages of funny show clips, and I wanted a song. And then I found this one. The song choice is brilliant! It’s upbeat and funny sounding anyway, but removing it from its Jungle Book context makes it funnier. At the same time, the lyrics tell a very clear story that makes the plot of the vid (and the actual plot of OFMD) easy to follow. Hall of Fame by Min Uona I reserved the prime ending slot for my fandom. There are a lot of BTS vids out there, but this is the first one I’ve seen that makes an actual meta point. The argument of most BTS vids is “look, so hot!” This one does so much more. While the visual quality isn’t crystal clear like that earlier BTS vid, I love how the vidder has set up this very explicit narrative and cut very precisely though not quickly (which is what both the footage quality and the song require). I thought this would be an interesting introduction especially for attendees who don’t know much about BTS. The contrast of their younger and older faces might not be so obvious, especially with the low image quality, but the shots of them at the UN are striking. How many pop groups do that? Second half: Genghis Khan by Idontgiveahuxx This year, Escapade had a Garak/Bashir panel on the ballot, and a lot of people voted for it. I thought it would be fun to open the second half with a vid of them. Sadly, danceable vids are a little thin on the ground, and I didn’t want to repeat the one from last time, which is to a song I wanted to save for something else. I looked around and found this cute recent vid. Though the show audio is not ideal, I was able to bump up the audio levels to be more even with the song, and putting it at the very beginning of a half meant that the dialogue was less disruptive than in the middle of people dancing furiously. I was pleasantly surprised by this vid. For a while, this song was over-popular for vidding, and I get why, but at the same time, the official music video is so nuts and so brilliant that most fanvids don’t really hold up. In this case, the vidder seems to have taken inspiration from the official video itself. As their blurb says: “‘I get a little bit gay James Bond’ - quote seen on tumblr.” I like how the vid captures that vibe of banter and a touch of danger that is so fun about this ship. What I didn’t even notice until I was putting together the dance party was that the vid has a 1:1 aspect ratio! Fascinating choice. Thought you were the perfect lover by Harumi Bazh And now for some self indulgence! A lot of Escapade missed the tumblr era, and I am all about education. What ship more epitomizes tumblr culture and thus is more important to know about than this: The most inexplicable! The most memetastic! The most fundamentally absurd! Onecest. I was also, of course, looking for horny vids. Escapade vidshows have gottten a little tame, and I’ve heard complaints. There are a lot of horny fan art vids for this ship, but sadly, they all reuse the same art and often not well. When I found this vid I was overjoyed: it’s so much clearer than most about what the ship actually is. I’m impressed by how the vidder used effects and various panels to stretch the extremely limited footage and create a narrative. I placed it here for maximum “WAT!!!” after the previous much less comedic vid for a normal ship from a normal fannish source. Classic 90s to JESUS CHRIST, TUMBLR. La Gozadera by AliceBlue Speaking of self indulgence, I desperately wanted to dance to this song. (And Gasolina, but I had to give up on the latter for this year.) A lot of the music I like is rarely, rarely vidded, and in this case, it makes sense. The lyrics are hard to use with most fandoms. I found only two vids in existence: this one to Latin Hetalia and another to Countryhumans. These are both fandoms that consist of anthropomorphic versions of countries. Hetalia itself is set in Europe, and many non-European countries have not appeared. Latin Hetalia is, of course, fan-made Latin American country characters. I’m told this is pretty popular among Latin American fans of the original. The vid is, of course, by a Spanish speaker. It’s a pretty standard fan art vid where the vidder added motion to still art. It’s an okay example of the type, though I think some of the motion is a little slow and doesn’t quite match the music. Still, if I wanted to dance to this song, this was the option available. I like how exuberant it is and how it shows off a type of fannish love not typically seen at Escapade. To my surprise, however, when the vid started playing, someone in the room screamed “Hetalia!” so I guess it wasn’t pure self indulgence on my part. I placed it here because, like Onecest, it’s a fandom that consists of fanon, created basically out of wholecloth. u can't touch this by findmeinthealps Okay, yes, a lot of people have seen this, but I wanted to slip Nirvana in Fire in. A lot of people went back and watched it after getting into c-dramas in the last couple of years. All those people trying to pimp it like four years ago are finally succeeding… Succeeding at making everyone vid interminable, slow-paced, depressing songs. It’s here in the play order to continue our theme of “WAT???” What can I say? I too am from the Oaktown, and I love this song. Seeing it paired with a serious Chinese historical drama makes me die laughing. At the same time, it really fits: the song is bragging about skills, and what could be more appropriate for this kind of martial artist character? The vid displays both hilarious literalism and wonderful musicality. As the vidder’s tag says: “You come at Mei Changsu you best not miss (but you will)” LOL. Lone Digger 100 by PhenomSage I had a request for a Mob Psycho vid (and then the Mob Psycho fan we were going to surprise with it did not attend, how dare). I know antis are annoying about some ship from this, but I could not find a good shippy vid. This one appealed to me for the great song and for looking completely nuts. It demonstrates excellent musicality. Check out the build of slower shots gradually zooming in at the beginning before the song and the editing break out into chaos. I placed it here in the play order because the crazy visuals fit with my progression of wackier stuff. The vidder’s Youtube blurb calls it an AMV, which it is, and lists the programs used: Vegas, of course, plus photoshop and after effects. Lean on me by Polish edition I knew Untamed would be easy to include, but I really wanted to get some of the other Chinese fandoms in this year. Heaven Official’s Blessing is one a lot of attendees are just getting into now, and it has a gorgeous animated version. (Look upon this and feel shame, Scum Villain!) While there are a lot of vids already, most of them are to long, slow, sad music. This one isn’t super energetic, but it felt dancey to me. This is labeled as an AMV, unsurprisingly, but what I most appreciate about it is how it’s cut a lot like live action. This measured pace and use of internal motion for rhythm is what I most enjoy in vids of animation. The vid sets up their two faces reacting and cute two shots in a way that is quite similar to a lot of classic slash vids. I thought it would make for a particularly accessible vid for those who don’t know the fandom yet and a nice break in the playlist from the faster preceding vid. THE TERROR / BOYS (LIZZO) by Allegra Rosenberg On the chance that the previous vid made everyone decide to go take a break, I wanted to put something next that was guaranteed to drag people onto the dance floor. Lizzo fits the bill. The Terror is not a fandom I expected to have many dance vids, but its fans abound at Escapade, and I got a specific request for it and a rec for this vid. This is a fantastic vid! The cutting is precise. The lyric matches are on point and hilarious (“come and get a taste” on the dead body!). The historical drama footage moves wonderfully to the modern song with a strong beat, and that’s down to the vidder’s skill. You could study this vid for tips on musicality. 20年入坑的我总算做了第一支朱白视频 (I’ve been in this fandom since 2020 and I’ve finally made my first Zhubai video) by 吃完了糯米饭 I see Chinese vidders also do the thing where they don’t give their work real titles. Arrrrgh. I asked someone to translate for me, but… well… I like alternating Western and Asian fandoms a bit, so I decided it was time for a Guardian vid. I looked through a lot of Guardian vids this year, and I found many of them a bit samey. A lot of the music wasn’t ideal either. And then I spotted this one. It’s a ‘Zhubai’ vid rather than a pure Guardian one, meaning that it contains a number of roles featuring those two actors. I felt it would be understandable yet fresh. Plus I love the tempo of the song. The vid does a great job of immediately establishing what it is. We open on a well known Guardian shot. (And look at how he turns on that rising noise in the music. Excellent musicality there!) But after that, we go straight to a shot of the other guy but from another canon and one that is hard to mistake for Guardian. The vidder then goes back to the same guy in Guardian. With these first three shots, we know what the vid is about. I enjoyed how the vidder alternated between using cuts to create tempo for all the short clips of smiles and subtle expression changes and closeups of items and using internal motion for tempo in the shots and parts of the song that could support that. I notice that the vidder hasn’t included lyrics for this highly repetitive song and doesn’t seem to be doing very exact lyric matches. I think the song was chosen more for its beat and overall sound, which I think is smart. It’s a shippy song overall, but the lyrics aren’t the interesting part. Hellfire by Gentlesideoffury We’re on to Untamed vid number two, and it’s a vid for me. Wen Ning is my fave, and almost no one vids him. I was very excited to find this one to a slightly less over-vidded Barns Courtney song. The youtube description describes it as a “Wen Ning edit”. The heavy color grading is typical of a certain kind of youtube vid. I’m not always a fan of that, but I like how this vidder paired it with those distressed video tape effects and used it to unify the fairly different-looking footage of Wen Ning. More than usual, this slathering of effects seems to fit the emotional tone of the song and of the story the vidder is trying to create. Despite the level of effects and color, the vid does conform pretty closely to traditional fanvid aesthetics in terms of how it uses the song. The vidder starts by establishing Wen Ning walking in his super gothed up naruto villain… err… his Living Dead outfit and then very young, living Wen Ning smiling. Immediately, we see not only that he’s the subject of the vid but that it’s going to be about his full arc, including the movie. “Cold as a valley where I lay my head” is paired with Wen Ning dying. “The devil in me” is Wen Ning as an out of control, mindless fierce corpse. It wasn’t until I was looking up the lyrics that I realized that the vidder had edited the song: they removed the second line “Cold as a woman in another man’s bed”. This is a common practice to make a song fit a vid narrative better and a smart choice here. “Ain't no chariots of fire come to take me home” is paired with WWX grabbing a possessed WN at the lake, showing how the rescue isn’t really enough. “I’m lost in the woods and I wander alone” is again him as a mindless fierce corpse, a time that he was metaphorically lost in the woods. “Run in an alleyway through a dead end street” is a funny clip but ends on WN murdering, which goes immediately into “Murdering promises that I just can't keep”. In the context of canon, he’s being controlled, but WN feels guilty about this and blames himself. “Cause I ain't dead yet” shows us WN’s first awakening as a sentient fierce corpse, and then we’re back to “chariots” with his final confrontation with his demons in the movie. The vid doesn’t go in strictly chronological order, but the way it uses badass fight scenes at the end, including the chronologically late ones from the end of the movie shows the specific narrative the vidder is building of Wen Ning’s transformation from innocent teenager to helpless puppet to zombie badass who has overcome his guilt and self doubt. Take Me to Church by hopelessnerd No one has seen this source, and I do not care. I found it via AO3 where it had a handful of kudos and few hits, so I figured it would be new to most. The song is massively overused, but this vid felt fresh to me for applying it to a bloody, fucked up movie version of Dorian Gray. I wanted some more badwrong in my playlist, and here it was, waiting for me. I thought the previous vid was a nice ramp up to this much bloodier one. I like how the vidder used black and white flashbacks in the murder and aftermath at the end of the vid. Overall, this just has a very nice, steady pace of cutting that goes with the song well. And, really, this is me: am I going to pass up a vid linking blowjobs and stabbing? good girls go to hell by ChemicalAttraction What could be more appropriate as a followup than Killing Eve? Though people are understandably disappointed with the finale, given that the series just ended, I felt like it was a good year to include it in the dance party. This vid uses more show audio than is ideal for a dance party, but it has a nice rhythm, and it shows a lot of sexy violence without being just a long montage of extra gross eye stabbings. I appreciated what the vidder did with the text, particularly since some of the canon dialogue somewhat obscured lyrics it was matching up with, and the text made it clearer what the connection was. Like many Youtube vids, this one credits the color grader in the blurb. It also uses the hashtag #fanvidfeed. Psycho Killer by allheadybooks Obviously, Hannibal had to come next. This one came from AO3, but I liked that it appears to be one of the vidder’s first vids. The tempo of the cutting is great, especially the moments where the vidder holds longer after a pattern of quick cuts. They have a good sense of how the music moves. I do think not providing it in HD quality is a pity given the gorgeous but under-lit visuals of Hannibal. One thing I especially appreciated was the use of juxtapositions like cutting the plum and washing blood from hands: The vid showcases the visual language and beauty of Hannibal and flirts with darkness without just being a total slasher movie gorefest. “I hate people when they’re not polite” caught me off guard. I know the song, but I’d forgotten that lyric, and it was hilarious with Hannibal. Gangsta's Paradise by XXZANABAEXX This one was also from Grumpyphoenix’s list. I was instantly in love. I don’t know this canon, but it doesn’t matter. This was one of the first vids I picked for this year. Look at this brilliant song choice! Ooh, it gives me chills! The vid has a gorgeous sense of inevitability, flowing with the lead through all of these centered compositions and beautiful, smooth camera movement. Even though some canon dialogue is used, there’s only a taste of it to enhance the message of the song lyrics. The vidder lists their software (Vegas, of course). This is one of my very favorites from this year. Look What You Made Me Do by frayadjacent Continuing the theme of darkness but much weirder, I decided to move on to this unusual Xena vid. I was a big fan of Xena back in its first season, and I always enjoy seeing vids that go beyond fluffy Xena/Gabrielle to really dig into meta about the show. I’ve seen plenty of vids to this song, but this is an especially interesting one. Between the lack of conventional subject matter and how very recently it had been posted, it only had like four kudos when I found it on AO3, so even though the vidder is probably known to plenty of Escapade attendees, I thought this vid would be new to them. Fray is a fantasic vidder in a classic fanvid style. This vid displays the expected musicality and command of POV. I picked it over fray’s many other excellent Xena vids for the fresh meta take and the quantity of Callisto CRAZYEYES. Bring the Action by jonesandashes The Old Guard was a big hit with Escapade attendees, including some who I knew wouldn’t be into most of my playlist, so I really wanted to include it. I didn’t find many vids that would be danceable. There were some interesting ones with constructed historical narratives, but I felt they were too dark and hard to follow for the dance party. I would ideally have liked a vid not on AO3 and thus new to attendees, but I never found anything as apt as this fun ensemble vid. Notice how the vidder times movement like the helicopter’s to changes in the music and uses the different singers to switch POVs. The humorous use of “Britney, bitch” to punctuate the vid is a highlight. Another Way by VielMouse Sentinel fandom is still going strong for some attendees, so I try to find a danceable Sentinel vid each year that I haven’t shown before. Though this one’s a little blurry, I loved the combination of psychedelic colors and electronic music. I found this one especially interesting because it’s an episode vid. We don’t commonly see new examples of those for older fandoms, and I wanted to celebrate that. I placed it here because I thought it would be fun to go from the oldschool slash fandom-feeling Old Guard to an actually oldschool slash fandom. (Well, not oldschool by Escapade standards, but…) Keep Coming Back to the Start by Arashinoookami There has always been considerable English-speaking fandom for East Asian media, and even some holdouts have recently gotten into fandoms like The Untamed, but media from other parts of Asia still lags behind in the consciousness of a lot of fans. I thought it would be fun to include at least one Thai drama since they produce quite a lot of BL. Bad Buddy seems to have the most active English-speaking fandom, and there are many vids. I picked this one because I found the visual storytelling particularly clear. I like how slow and measured the cutting is because it really highlights what this vid is about: their LITTLE FAAAAACES! As someone who doesn’t know canon, I do find that the vid drags a bit by the end, but the song is excellent for a dance party, and I love that it shows them kissing. I wanted to showcase how plenty of Asian dramas do show explicitly canonical m/m since many fans at Escapade have only dipped their toes into the mainland Chinese heavily censored end of the pool. The Anchor by swiftrax One thing I knew I absolutely had to have for the dance party was a good Sam Wilson vid, preferably a classic slash vid of Sam and Bucky. I knew exactly how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be too. (I’ll spare you the full rant, but, again, I can only show what people have made, and for a host of Hollywood Sucks reasons and also a lot of Fandom Sucks reasons, vids of major black characters from major Western media franchises are thin on the ground. Hardison is probably the only fan fave who’s actually easy to cover for a dance party.) I searched and searched. Youtube. Bilibili. All useless. Somehow, in previewing music on AO3, I missed this one. I must have tested it out somewhere in the very long intro section that isn’t very danceable. That’s what happens when I’m previewing hundreds of vids. Doh! I was whining on tumblr about a sad lack of Sam vids when this vidder showed up to comment on their in-progress Sam vid that computer death had put the kibosh on. I got curious and checked them out and realized they had the perfect vid for my needs all along! Also, they have a lot of extremely valid and correct AO3 tags such as: The Grumpy One is Soft For the Sunshine One, Lots of extremely meaningful eye contact, Sam Wilson is the light of Bucky's life, and the feeling is Mutual According to their AO3 work, this was “Done in a bit of a hurry in time for "Favourite Relationship" Day for TFATWS Week on Tumblr.” Musically, I thought this one fit nicely after the previous vid. It has a long slow build to a type of showstopper bombast I adore for vids. Structurally, it’s a classic slash vid with a lot of face closeups leading into two shots. Zero by TechnoPoet Leverage: Redemption has fans talking again, so I wanted to include a Leverage vid. I got this one from AO3. It’s a recent vid with only a few kudos, so I figured it might be new to many attendees. I like the smart song choice for Parker and the emotion of this one. everybody talks by editsandstuff Cherry Magic has a number of ardent fans at the con. This vid, labeled as an FMV on Youtube, came up in my searches. I thought the song would be good for a dance party, and it showcases the cuteness of the show nicely. True Love by Julih Moreno This one was a rec I was sent. It takes a lot to get me to care about yet another True Love vid, but this ship is so perfectly suited to the song. I like what the vidder did with the text, the aggressive Youtube color grade less so. What I did love is how well the vidder uses their reaction shots. There’s a whole lot of emotion packed into this vid. The POV isn’t very clearly established, and there’s an awkward audio edit, but I had to watch it five times to notice. I think that’s the hallmark of a solid grasp of building emotion via editing. I like how the vidder used the past footage only once at a key moment. Loving Him Was Red by Fannibalistic The Mandalorian panel didn’t make it this year, and I’d just been talking to a first-time attendee about their love of the show. I wanted a really solid slash vid for it. I spotted this triumph of earnest cheese on AO3. The vidder has tagged it with: “Fanvids, Idiots in Love, Inspired by Taylor Swift, Which is a tag I never expected to use”, so you know it’s some quality shit. I love how this more country-sounding Taylor song brings out the space Western vibes. Those long shots of them racing across desert are so appropriate for this sound. The strong color effects are used for humorous literalism here. I appreciate the corny iris transitions and the heart cutout. This is a vid for the inner 13-year-old in the best way. What makes the vid work so well is how polished it is at being exactly what it’s trying to be: the font choice and text placement are precise. The cutting is clean aside from a stray frame late in the vid. The vidder isn’t afraid to linger on faces to build up the emotion. When half of your ship has a helmet on, you need those moments of significant eye contact and the body language to show the relationship, which the vidder used excellently. Interestingly, now that I’m rewatching it, I realize there’s no clear establishment of POV. I could have sworn I knew who the POV character was, but now that I look, I can’t see any evidence. This one is here in the play order because it felt like it belonged in the drunken sing-along, lighters up section of the evening. (Not that anyone actually has lighters now or would use them in a hotel ballroom, but still.) люблю/прощай (I Love You, Farewell) by birdcellar This was pure self indulgence on my part. Do I know this canon? Does anyone at Escapade know this canon? No, and I don’t care. Look at this fantastic, angsty enemies-to-lovers vid. The visual language is so clear and the closeups so good that I feel like I know their relationship. This is a case where the vidder is definitely using the lyrics. It’s a Russian vidder vidding a Russian song. But it almost doesn’t even matter because the narrative is so clear without them. Jeeves wants to break free by WTF Anything Retro 2021 (Anything_Retro) After that angsty vid to a fandom nobody knows, I thought it would be fun to move to yet another Russian vidder… vidding a fandom everybody at the con knows to equally familiar music. This is a brilliant comedy vid with great timing on all those absurd faces everyone makes. Bertie’s extra idiotic expression at 1:24 paired with “I’ve fallen in love” kills me, the trombone on 2:04 similarly. It also has a wonderful musicality. I love them jumping over the railing on the previous “I’ve fallen in love”. The whole vid is apparently an homage to the original music video, which explains the heavy use of drag. Kudos to the Anything Retro team from WTF. That’s Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat. Obviously. Na Na Na by Sal绫罗 I was in a real quandary over what Good Omens vid to show. There are a billion great ones, so I wanted to try to get far away from vidders people would be familiar with. I stumbled across this Bilibili vid with the typical double subtitles for an English song. Other than that, one would have no idea where it came from. I liked what a classic vid it was, no show audio at all. The use of One Direction really highlights how ridiculous these two are. Hurry Hurry by AceofWands I wanted to get some old favorites in towards the end of the evening, and SGA is always a crowd pleaser. I liked this vid for being so recent and being such a great and ridiculous character study of Rodney. It’s a perfect song choice. The vidder opens on an excellent establishing shot of messy snacks around a keyboard and goes to Rodney for the start of the lyrics. It’s a classic opening that establishes POV very clearly. Many lyrics are matched extremely literally with Rodney checking his pockets on a line about that and so on. Drop Dead Gorgeous by nostalgia Wow, the Master got hot. This is another AO3 one. I like the intentionally jerky rhythm to the cuts and how this showcases the many faces of the Doctor and Master. Doctor Who is a fairly popular fandom among Escapade attendees, but the minimal attention this vid had received on AO3 made me think it would be new to people. Right Kind of Wrong by xxLornyTunesxx Like Doctor Who, original Star Trek has so many vids out there I’m spoiled for choice, but when I heard this, I knew it was my pick. This half of the vidshow was less overpowering with current Asian fandoms, but it’s where I stuck a lot of the random stuff nobody is in the fandom for. For that reason, I wanted to end my little progression of better-known Western fandoms on a really classic note before one last epic Untamed vid, and nothing is more classic than Kirk/Spock. The vibe of this song is also right for the very end of the night rather than for the most energetic dancing. When I heard what song the vidder had picked, I burst out laughing. Corny LeAnn Rimes would not have been my first association with Spock, and the absurd contrast is delightful. It’s full of talky face and corny 00s effects and I do not care. This vid is a glorious triumph of camp. Good to You by shirasade I admit it. I cheated for this one. Anyone who cares about Untamed vids knows shirasade, one of the finest vidders in the fandom, but this vid floored me, and I had to use it. As you’ve noticed, I included two Untamed vids before this, neither wangxian. Truthfully, I did not feel their chemistry in canon. I found Lan Zhan an unlikable prig who seemed angry not tragically pining. Wei Ying just seemed annoying a lot of the time. This vid makes me feel everything I ought to be feeling from canon. It suddenly makes me feel Lan Zhan’s devotion and see why Wei Ying is worth it. The song has the build that makes a truly epic vid, and it’s used with such musicality! The tempo, the internal movement, the emotions: everything swells when the music does. That one piece of dialogue is edited horribly, but I can forgive that for this overall triumph. Lan Zhan being beaten and then stepping up to defend Wei Ying on “has paved every path that I've known” gives me chills. Out of the many, many Untamed vids I looked at, this one is truly worthy of capping off the night. I Ship It by Not Literally Productions For our very last video, we show this parody and celebration of fandom rather than an actual vid.

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tobesoalive · 3 years ago

Text

latch (Sam Kiszka x reader)

hey guys here's the little Sam enemies to lovers smut that was requested! idc if it’s a bit cheesy, I had a ton of fun writing it so please please please send in more requests! I love helping your ideas come to life!

Warnings: Smut (Oral-f and m receiving, fingering, penetrative sex, unprotected sex)

Friday had finally rolled around and you were more than ready. After a long week of classes and work you were more than ready to have some fun tonight. You and your roommates were going to have some people over tonight to celebrate your second year of college almost being over. You had come up with the idea last weekend and quickly made a list of who all should be invited. There was one person on the guest list that you were dreading to see, no other than Samuel Kiszka.

You had met a kid named Danny Wagner in your first class freshman year, and you two became fast friends, sharing many of the same interests and hobbies. Together you and Danny were a dynamic duo, and you always made each other laugh. People often thought you were dating, but he already had a beautiful girlfriend back home. Danny also had another person constantly attached at his hip, Sam Kiszka, you’d almost think they were the ones dating.

Sam was a lanky kid with sharp features and an extremely annoying god complex. He really thought he was the absolute shit and that everyone was in awe of him. Quite honestly many people were, but you saw right through it. You found him to be arrogant and rude, and you were always disappointed to see him when you went over to Danny’s place, even though he was his roommate. Sam would often show up unannounced at your place too, mostly with Danny, but a couple of times he showed up alone. You were always polite, inviting him in like the good host you are, and you two ended up watching a movie together, and much to your surprise, in these times he was almost tolerable. Almost. He would make a snide remark or joke that would infuriate you, but he wouldn’t stick around for long, usually having somewhere to be. That somewhere was usually the bed of another girl, but they probably didn’t just watch movies.

That was another reason you couldn’t stand Sam. Last year you had a crush on him and he would do the thing where he would play with your emotion, hang out with you and flirt with you only to immediately go and fuck random girls. It hurt you, a lot, but you eventually got over it, losing the romantic feelings, or rather pushing them deep down where you’d hope they’d never surface again.

Now people were going to be at your house in an hour and you haven't even showered. It didn’t really matter though, you weren’t all too concerned with what other people thought of your appearance, so what if your hair was a little wet. You quickly rinsed off in a cold shower, then changed into a simple outfit for the night, flared corduroys and a crocheted tank top.

That was the other thing, you’d think you were exactly Sam’s type, he seemed like he would be into girls who were more artistic and down to earth, but all the girls he hooked up with seemed like they spent most of their time thinking about themselves. Not that there was anything wrong with those girls, you weren’t the “pick me” type, but it seemed like Sam would care about that kind of thing. Whatever, you don’t even like him anyways, he’s more of a nuisance than anything.

You had finished a seltzer by the time people started arriving, the playlist you and your roommates curated playing throughout the apartment. Being with your friends always made you very energetic, and people always said they liked being around you. You could get a crowd laughing in no time. People were coming through the doors and when there were about 75% of the people there, your partner in crime finally arrived. “Wagner!” you shouted across the room in a dumb accent, already a little buzzed. “Where art thou good friend?!” Danny yelled back, matching your accent as you two finally made your way to each other, wrapping him in a friendly embrace. “Where’s your obnoxious sidekick?” you whispered into his ear.

“Don’t worry he’s here. I know how you were just dying to see him.”

“Oh aren’t I always?” you responded with a sarcastic smile

“I still think you need to give him a chance, you’d probably really like him.”

Before you could even respond, he was running up behind Danny and lifting him up by his waist.

“Well if it isn’t dumb and dumber!” you exclaim before Sam comes up and wraps his arm around your shoulder.

“Oh come on (y/l/n), you love me!”

“Haha good one Kiszka, now why don’t we do something I actually love.”

“And what would that be?” Danny questions.

“Take a shot and dance our asses off!” you yell. If you were going to deal with Sam you needed to be a little more intoxicated.

You gathered your roommates and the boys and took them to the kitchen and got out the glasses.

“To friendship!” you yelled

Right then you caught danny say something quietly, and it looked like he was saying “Or more than friendship”

That made you stop for a second before throwing your head back and downing the shot.

“Ok let's get back out there” your roommate says as she pulls you by the arm.

You spend about the next half hour dancing with all your friends, taking hits of joints and drinking. You and Danny did a silly little dance you had come up with last year when you would get drunk in your dorms and do dumb shit. Mid-routine he slipped and pulled you down with him, both of you laughing your asses off. You felt someone grab your arm and help you up as the song changed, “Latch” by Sam Smith blasting through the speakers, one of the best party songs probably ever. The person who had grabbed you wrapped their arms around your waist, swaying back and forth with you to the music. You loosened the stranger’s grip and spun around only to be met with the face of that little shit, Sam.

“C’mon kid can’t you at least try to tolerate me for one song”

“Who ever said you were intolerable?” you respond, admiring how the dim light highlighted his features.

He leaned in close to your ear and lowly whispered in it “You think I can’t see it. Whenever you’re around me you act like it’s charity work.”

You pull back to look him in the eyes and say “It wasn’t always that way. Now let's get back to what we were doing. I like this song more than I like you, which is quite a lot.”

He gives you a grin before you start moving your body against him, and by the end of the song he’s staring at you in complete awe.

Once the song ended you broke free from his grasp. “See you later Kiszka” you say with a wink, turning around and disappearing into the crowd.

Your stomach was in knots, and not from disgust. The moment you just had brought up a lot of emotions, mostly about your romantic feelings for Sam but also the resentment you felt towards him. Fuck, you were in deep now. Things would be so much easier if you never had to see him again and all of this could go away. But alas, you needed to suck it up so you could still have a close relationship with Danny. Plus in about twenty minutes Sam would probably be grinding on another girl. Screw it, you were going to have a good time with your friends, you didn’t need Sam to be happy.

The rest of the night you avoided Sam, giving him zero of the attention he was craving. A couple hours later people were leaving your home or asleep somewhere in the living room, bathroom, kitchen you name it. Thankfully though, your room remained empty, you needed some space to think.

Everyone was asleep and the house was quiet, you threw on a pair of boxer shorts and an oversized Led Zeppelin shirt, passed down to you from Danny. You went to the kitchen and drank probably a gallon of water, making one last pit stop to the bathroom to pee and brush your teeth. No matter how tired you felt you knew you'd thank yourself in the morning. Finally you were on the way back to your room when you stopped in the doorway. Sam was standing in there, looking at all your decorations and your extensive vinyl collection.

“You’ve changed some stuff since the last time I was here”

“Yeah, I like to rearrange stuff y'know? keep it new and interesting.” You remarked, rubbing the back of your neck and yawning, trying to hide your obvious panic. This is the last thing you were hoping for, being confronted one on one with the man himself.

“Are you cool if I stay here tonight? Daniel is passed out on the couch and I don’t feel like making the walk home alone.”

“Of course...did you want to sleep in here?” you ask before you could even stop the words from coming out of your mouth. Fuck, you were a dumbass.

“If that’s okay with you, sleeping next to a stranger wouldn’t be my first choice.”

“You never had a problem being in a stranger’s bed before” you mumbled, looking at the floor.

He didn’t say anything, just turned his head to stare at you for a second, his eyes seeming almost apologetic.

“Well you might as well get comfortable” you tell him as you turn off the lights and flick the lamp on.

“Do you have a shirt I could borrow? I don’t really wanna sleep in jeans and a sweaty shirt.”

“Would you like an old one of Danny’s or one of mine?” you tease him, grabbing out yet another old band shirt of his roommate’s.

While he’s changing you turn away and busy yourself with lighting some incense and pulling the covers back, to avoid seeing his bare torso.

“Can I throw on a record? I can never get to sleep in the silence.”

“Help yourself” you say, but he already has a selection in his hands, Michigan by Sufjan Stevens, one of your favorites.

“Wonderful choice, but I imagine you’re a bit biased.” you say to him, both he and Danny were from the same town in Michigan and had to let everyone know.

“I just wanted something calm and serene, compared to all the fast paced stuff we’ve been blasting for the whole night.”

“Well it was a party Samuel, you have to give the people what they want” you tell him as you climb into bed.

Sam grabs for one of the pillows and a blanket, but you stop him.

“Were you gonna sleep on the floor like a dog? I don’t give a shit whether or not we share the bed.”

“I just assumed...I didn’t wanna make you uncomfortable...or anything.”

“You might be surprised by this but I actually feel pretty safe around you” you confess to him. Fuck, you were still slightly intoxicated so your filter was off. It’s okay, he was still a little drunk too it seemed.

“Do you mind if I take my pants off?” he asks you with a sincere look on his face.

You can’t help but burst out laughing, finding his awkwardness and the absurdity of the comment quite hilarious.

“I’d prefer it to your rough jeans...as long as you’re wearing underwear.”

“C’mon I’m not that much of a freak” he says as he pulls down his zipper and clumsily kicks his pants off.

You couldn’t help but stare for a moment, he looked gorgeous quite honestly, long hair tangled, old shirt hanging off his shoulders and shark boxer briefs stopping at his mid thigh.

“Okay Kiszka, get in here before I change my mind.”

He pulls back the sheets and crawls in, laying his head on the pillow facing you.

“I’m sorry” he says, looking deeply in your eyes, seeming almost ashamed.

“About what?” you knew you shouldn’t feed into this, whatever was going on here was completely platonic and wouldn’t mean anything in the morning.

“Everything. Being such a dick to you. Leading you on. I promise that’s not me, I just, I honestly don’t know how to act around you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re just the one person who actually kinda intimidates me. Or at least my feelings for you intimidate me.” he sighs.

“Is that why you are always fucking other girls and telling people about it when I’m around?”

“God you’re not going to take it easy on me, are you?”

“Why should I?”

“You shouldn’t. With the way I’ve treated you I honestly don’t expect anything from you, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer and I thought this was as good of a time as any.”

“Sam, can I be honest with you?”

“Of course”

“I actually don’t hate you at all like you seem to think. I can’t stand you because I really do like you, but I gave up on anything happening a long time ago.”

“Well you did a pretty good job of hiding it” he says, moving a little closer to you to the point where your noses were almost touching, the feeling of his breath giving you goosebumps. The music hummed softly in the background as you thought for a second.

“Sam don’t hate me but we’re both kinda drunk and I don't wanna do anything right now. I wanna be there for it, like fully there.”

“I was actually hoping you’d say that. I wanna take in every detail and remember it all. You’re not just another drunken hookup.”

You can’t help but give a soft smile, your cheeks going red.

“Well maybe I wouldn’t be opposed to a bit of cuddling”

“Neither would I” he says as he wraps his arms around you, pulling you in close as you bury your head in his chest, taking in his scent.

Something overtakes you, and you tilt your head up and press a soft kiss to his collarbone.

“Goodnight Samuel”

“Goodninght kid” he whispers, pressing his lips to the top of your head, and you can feel him breathing in your scent as well, elated to finally feel wanted.

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

You wake up to sunlight streaming through your curtains, turning to look at your clock but instead being met with Sam’s chest.

You were sober enough last night to remember everything that happened, Sam’s feelings for you coming to light and vice versa. It made you almost giddy with excitement, not being able to wait until his eyes opened.

You played with his hair, running your fingers through it and moving it from his neck, replacing it with your lips. Soon enough he’s stretching his arms and yawning.

“Any reason you needed to wake me up at 7 am?” he asked you, looking down at you as the pad of his thumb brushed across your cheek.

“Just couldn’t wait to see you I guess”

“That's a first” he says sarcastically, once again staring deep into your eyes.

You could hear the birds singing outside and a refreshing spring breeze made its way into your room through the open window.

You stared at each other for a second longer before he whispered “Can I?”

You nodded your head yes and he dipped his head down to capture your lips in a kiss. It started off sweet and then your lips started moving in a rhythm, his hands grabbing your legs and pulling you onto his lap. He kept kissing you as your tongue made its way into his mouth, causing his hips to buck up into you. You pulled back and let out a soft sigh, basking in the feeling of him growing hard against your core. He took this as an opportunity to attach his lips to your neck, sucking at the delicate skin and leaving little nips.

“Can I take this off?” you ask him, hands grabbing at the hem of his shirt.

“Please” he groans against your neck.

You pull it off and instantly your hands run along the expanse of his smooth skin, admiring every freckle and mole, fingertips brushing across his nipples. You pull your hands away to pull your own shirt off, blushing a bit, slightly embarrassed to show yourself to him. He takes a moment to stare at the newly exposed skin, pulling you down into a kiss a moment later and mumbling “You’re absolutely stunning” into your lips.

“You’re not too bad yourself” you say with a smile spreading across your face, quickly losing it as you bite your lip when he starts to move his hips once again, his bulge rubbing deliciously against your already wet core.

“I need more of you” he grunts, obviously frustrated.

You tangle your hands in his hair and pull his head back a bit, looking down into his eyes before saying “then have me”, pulling him into a kiss.

In a swift movement he flips you both over, kneeling with his legs on either side of you.

“These need to come off” he says, tugging at the waistband of the boxers you slept in. As he pulled them off and the cold air hit your core, you couldn’t help but drink all of him in, admiring just how gorgeous he looked, as if he was sculpted by the gods himself. That moment ended when you felt his middle finger run lightly up and down your slit. You threw your head back and closed your eyes, concentrating on the feeling of his skin on yours.

“Please Sammy, I need you” you say, surprised at yourself for using that nickname with him.

He looks at you and smiles before lowering his gaze to your dripping cunt, furrowing his brows as he pushes his long finger inside of you. You mewl as he pushes it down to the last knuckle, letting you adjust for a moment before starting to slowly pump in and out.

“Fuck you’re tight. So much better than I imagined.”

“So you’ve thought about this before?” You smirk at him, turning your eyes to look at the sight of his finger pumping in and out.

“Quite a lot actually, I’ve thought a lot about how you taste too” he says before readjusting himself so his head is buried in between your thighs. It only takes a second for his tongue to find your clit as he inserts another finger and starts to pump a little faster.

“Fuck you’re good at this” you say as you let out a breathy moan, hands once again finding their way into his hair. That causes him to moan around your clit, sending vibrations through your whole body. You don’t know how much longer you’d be able to last, with Sam lapping at you like it’s his last meal.

You pull his hair, forcing his lips to part from your sensitive bud, pulling him into a sloppy kiss.

“I wanna taste you too” you say before getting up and kneeling on the floor in front of your brd, motioning him to sit with his legs over the side, facing you. You look up at him as you pull his boxers down, length hitting his stomach. You take a second to admire it, with its pink head, a large vein running up the bottom. It was a nice length, with quite a bit of girth to it, surrounded by a small patch of pubic hair. As you wrapped your hand around it you said “not to be weird or anything but your dick is gorgeous”, causing him to let out a light laugh that was quickly stifled when you wrapped your head around the tip of his cock. His fingers intertwined with your hair, lightly pulling it, not forcing you down on his dick like some guys do. You gently moved your head up and down, taking as much of him as you could in your mouth and using your hand to stroke the rest.

“Fuck I need to be inside of you” he groans, tugging at your hair, causing you to pull your mouth off his dick with a small pop.

“Can I ride you?” you question as you make your way back onto the bed.

“Fuck yes, I can’t promise how long I’ll last though” he says, pulling you in for another kiss as you line him up up with your entrance. You run his tip along your slit a few times before slowly starting to lower yourself down, taking your time to adjust to his size. Once he’s fully sheathed inside of you, he throws his head back, letting out a guttural moan.

“Fuck, you feel so fucking good, I’ve wanted this for a long time.”

“So have I” you say before starting to slowly move yourself up and down on him.

It’s lazy and sweet, not perfect or anything, but nothing about this situation really was. You wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Fuck” he remarks as he grabs your hips, fingers sinking into your skin,helping you move up and down on his delicious cock.

“You fill me up so perfectly, god you feel so good”

“I guess it was meant to be baby” he says with a grin, putting his fingers in his mouth then moving them down to rub circles around your clit.

“Fuck Kiszka, if you keep taht up I’m gonna cum.”

“That was my goal, I’m close too” he breathes out as he buries his head in your neck.

You clutch the back of his head as you start to move yourself up and down faster, fucking yourself on his cock.

“Fuck Sam I’m gonna cum”

“Me too babe, where do you want me to?” he asks shakily.

The only word you can muster out is “Inside” as you approach your peak, clenching around him once more before tipping over the edge.

It’s complete bliss as you ride out your high, feeling him give one last deep thrust into you before coating your walls with his warm ropes of seed.

You collapse against him, nuzzling your head into his neck, pressing sloppy open mouthed kisses as you both catch your breath.

He pushes your hair to the side, leaving his lips on your temple while he remains sheathed inside you.

“Thank you” he says, still regaining his breath and returning to reality.

“Don’t leave me” you say softly into his ear.

“I wouldn’t for the world, don’t you worry kid.”

You sit up and look into his soft brown eyes, taking in how much things have changed in the past few hours.

“I don’t hate you. Not in the least. I just hated the idea of not being with you.”

“Same here, but we don’t have to feel that anymore. I’m sorry for the way I treated you. You deserve the world, and I want to try my hardest to give it to you.”

“Thank you Samuel, I’ll try to do the same.”

You give him one last long kiss before pulling back, pushing his hair behind his ear and saying “C’mon loverboy, let’s go get some breakfast.”

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alpacaparkaseok · 4 years ago

Text

Could you repeat the question?

pairing: Taehyung x reader, oc x Yeonjun (TXT)

premise: a joint interview with your group, BTS, and TXT two months after you met your soulmate.

word count: 2k

[2/2] continuation of Can’t Keep My Hands To Myself

requested by anon - a picture of your request will be at the bottom of the post!

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

“Please don’t tell them.”

“Me? Why would I say anything?”

“You...you have that look.”

Yeonjun whirls around to face Taehyung, who just entered the room. “Do I have a look?”

Taehyung winks at you in greeting, something that nearly makes you swoon and your group members snicker.

“A look?” He frowns for a moment before giving his dongsaeng a pitiful smile. “Oh yeah, you do. Definitely.” Taehyung smiles at Jiwoo, my band member who is busy sending death glares at her soulmate. “He’s gonna spill it.”

Yeonjun jumps up from his seat at the same time Taehyung settles down beside you, placing his arm on the back of the couch and brushing your hair off to the side. It’s enough to make goosebumps rise on your skin, which of course he notices.

Oh, how you’d like to wipe that knowing little smirk off his face right now.

“I can’t believe this! I’m not going to say a thing-”

“Yeonjun, and I’m saying this with love, if you say a single thing about it, I will personally unplug your refrigerator when you least expect it.”

Your attention is pulled away when you feel Taehyung leaning in to whisper something in your ear. “So, do we know what they’re arguing about?”

You can’t help but giggle. “Nope. Jiwoo won’t say anything.”

“Neither will Yeonjun.”

The smitten couple have been teasingly arguing for the entirety of the morning, leaving the rest of us in complete and utter confusion.

Oh well, I suppose it’ll help make the broadcast a bit more exciting.

It’s been two months since Jiwoo and I first *ahem* teleported to our soulmates at the MAMA awards. Or rather, since I landed in Taehyung’s lap and Jiwoo was nearly knocked unconscious when Yeonjun was thrown into her at full force. Of course, Jiwoo claims that it was horribly embarrassing, to which I’m always quick to say that she should feel lucky that at least she didn’t end up in a grown man’s lap. For all to see, no less.

Ari, our other group member, just rolls her eyes and tells us that beggars can’t be choosers.

Yeah, whatever that means.

The past two months have been busy, with hardly enough time to spend with my soulmate. Between the busy schedules and BTS and TXT and our own schedule, we’ve had to settle for late-night FaceTimes and the occasional lunch at the Bighit building. I’ve become really good at sneaking in and out of that building in broad daylight - so far I have yet to be discovered.

Today, however, is an important one. It’s our first official schedule together as soulmates. Naturally, all three groups have come together for the interview/variety show.

“Alright, time to head on!” A manager shouts into the room, and suddenly there’s a flurry of movement as we all head toward the door. “I need all the soulmates to stick to their own groups, ok? We don’t want to be causing a riot today.”

Right. With a gloomy expression, Taehyung parts from me to head back to his members. Jiwoo and I glue ourselves to Ari’s side, much to her chagrin. “Ready?”

Both you and Jiwoo respond simultaneously. “Nope.”

Ari just sighs, feigning annoyance. Together, the three of you await your cue as one by one, your groups are introduced.

TXT goes first, the hosts making a big deal out of swooning over Soobin who now has a cult of his own due to his MC abilities. They make a show of handing the microphone over to him, begging him to take it over from there. He politely declines, while the rest of the boys bicker and chat in the background.

Then your group is called out, and you find yourself walking out before a huge crowd. You didn’t realize that many people could fit in this building, but here they are. And all of them are here for the same reason: to get a look at the soulmate couples that have newly formed.

And that have been trending on Twitter and Tumblr for two solid months, breaking all kinds of records.

As BTS is introduced with an almost reverent tone, you understand why you’ve been trending for so long.

It has a lot to do with one of the men walking out right now, smiling at the crowd and waving, graciously bowing his way across the stage.

Taehyung wears a gray casual suit which has him looking like he just stepped off a photoshoot. Hair perfectly styled and eyes glowing with adoration for the fans that roar and wave, he commands the entire room with a single raise of his eyebrows.

Your soulmate, ladies and gentlemen.

Today is the day where you prove to the rest of the world how much of a perfect match you are for this man. The notion is terrifying.

“Wow!” The host, a jovial man named Donghyun shouts out, exaggerating how amazed he is by the crowd’s reaction to all three groups sharing the same stage. Indeed, it’s a rare sight. “Ok! Should we get started?”

After a few minutes of more introductions, a few cursory questions (he asks Yeonjun what he’s been up to recently and you’re pretty sure Jiwoo manages to telepathically threaten him, because he chooses the most vague answer imaginable), and instructions on how to begin the next activities, you’re off to the races.

Painting races, that it.

Donning a frock and eyeing the empty canvas before you, you glare at your opponent across the way. Taehyung, to his credit, refrains from winking at you. He thinks you’re adorable when you’re flustered, but now’s not the time.

“Taehyung-ssi!”

Taehyung blinks up at Donghyun. “Yes?”

“Are you going to let your soulmate win?”

The game is simple: paint the listed object with as much detail as possible in a sixty second period. The others will have to guess what it is.

Taehyung pouts his lips a bit, glancing over at you with a glint in his eye. “I’ll have to see, I think.”

Donghyun chuckles into the mic, turning to face you. “What about you? If Taehyung-ssi falls behind, will you help him win?”

You wiggle your eyebrows at your soulmate, heart soaring when he delivers a boxy grin. “Oh, of course not. I came to compete, not hold hands.”

The crowd bursts out laughing, and someone yells out, “I’ll hold his hand for you!”

You all dissolve into a fit of laughter at that, your cheeks blushing madly. “Yeah, thanks for the offer,” you say between giggles. Readying your paint brush, you wait for the signal.

You’ve been given the word ‘Iceland’, which you figure shouldn’t be too hard.

What you failed to account for was the fact that you’re perhaps the worst painter you know. What should look like a globe looks like a basketball and what should be a cube of ice instead looks like nothing more than a cardboard box.

In the end, you’re pretty sure you laugh more than you paint. Your team members, consisting of a mix from both teams, look utterly confused at the end product. Eventually it’s Jin - who happens to be on Taehyung’s team - that accidentally calls out the answer.

The rest of the games pass by in a blur of laughter and covert glances toward Taehyung. He always manages to find a way to make you laugh, even though he remains on the other side of the stage for the most part. You don’t miss all of the fans that look at him dreamily, and you can only hope that they’re happy with your overall performance today.

At the end, you all squeeze onto a couple of couches. Donghyun makes a fuss over allowing the soulmates to sit together, and you can’t hide your smile as a beet-red Yeonjun sidles down to the couch to sit beside Jiwoo, placing his hands in his lap and trying not to do anything that will go viral.

Taehyung sits on your right, crossing his arms in a way that pulls on his suit jacket enough to expose the outline of his biceps. You catch your eyes wandering, snapping your attention back to the front where Donghyun reads some questions off of a card.

“I believe that this was the first time soulmates have met while performing at MAMA, is that correct? What were your first thoughts when you suddenly found yourselves face to face with your soulmate?”

The four of you that now have all the attention riding on your shoulders look to each other for help. Finally, with a racing heart, you answer first.

“I think the obvious answer is that I was shocked,” you smile as knowing chuckles ripple through the room. “But I was also really grateful, because Taehyung was so kind and understanding. The staff were very professional and helped us quickly. Overall, I really can’t imagine it having happened in any other way.”

There’s a few ooh’s and aww’s that greet your ears, but you look down at your lap as you blush. Taehyung slightly nudges your knee with his own, and in that simple movement you feel the comfort that he’s trying to give you.

“I’d actually been talking to Jiminie earlier about soulmates,” Taehyung pipes up.

“Oh, yeah! That’s right!” Jimin says, giving his friend a slap on the shoulder. “What are the odds?”

Taehyung flashes a shy smile. “I told him that I felt like I was ready. It can be strangely lonely sometimes, and there are times when I just felt like I was missing something. Now, all I have to do is pick up my phone and my missing piece is on the other side, ready to talk with me.”

Now people are really swooning, you included. You dare to peek over at your soulmate, heart nearly melting when you see that his shy smile is paired with pink cheeks. You wish that you could snuggle up to him right now, but that would definitely not end well. Instead, you lightly nudge his knee with your own, returning the little slice of comfort he provided you earlier.

“And you two?” Dongyun asks after wiping fake tears away from his eyes.

Yeonjun chews on his bottom lip, Jiwoo too lost in thought to notice that he has that look again.

“I, er...” Yeonjun begins, squirming a little in his seat. “I was...really happy.”

Donghyun urges Yeonjun to continue. “Of course you were! What about finding Jiwoo made you so happy?”

Jiwoo looks up in horror, but it’s too late. Yeonjun has already opened his mouth and begun to speak.

“I was so happy because the first thing she said to me was that she thought I was so hot.”

Radio silence.

And then-

“Oh-ho!! Yeonjunnie you’re so dead!” Hueningkai laughs, and soon everyone follows suit. Even Donghyun has to throw his hand over his mouth to keep himself from snorting with laughter.

Jiwoo looks at Yeonjun, who completely avoids her gaze as he stares unblinking at the floor. Then, quietly enough for nobody to hear except for you who sits beside her, she whispers, “Say goodbye to all the perishable items in your fridge.”

In the chaos that ensues, Taehyung discreetly traces circles against your arm and mumbles, “Why didn’t you say that to me when we first met?”

You smack his shoulder. “I should be asking you the same thing!”

Just before everything calms down again, Taehyung leans over to grab the abandoned canvas on the ground. Taking the still-wet paint and dipping his finger into it, he draws something out on it. Nudging you to get your attention, he flashes the canvas for you to see, hiding it from the cameras.

It’s hard to keep a neutral expression as you see his handiwork. It’s just six words, but they’re enough to have your entire face flushed a moment later.

I think you’re hotter than Yeonjun ;)

Stifling a laugh, you roll your eyes. “I hope you know I’m keeping that,” you mumble. Taehyung grins.

“Great. We’ll get it framed.”

A few days later, you do. It hangs in the front room of your apartment, for all to see. And for Jiwoo to loathe, as it serves as a constant reminder of her embarrassing first words to her soulmate.

Oh well. In the words of Ari, “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

masterlist

#taehyung x reader #v x reader #v oneshot #taehyung oneshot #bts oneshot #bts x reader #bts x y/n #bts soulmate au #taehyung soulmate au #bts fluff #taehyung fluff #txt fluff #txt soulmate au #yeonjun fluff #yeonjun x soulmate #bts sfw

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arvinsescape · 3 years ago

Note

Hey could you write something with the reader getting really bad ovulation cramps, but they usually happen when she's alone, so when it happens in front of tom he's freaking out thinking you might be really sick and he takes you to the hospital even tho you said it's normal for you?

A/N: Hi lovely! Thank you for sending this in and thank you for your patience with me getting back to you! I changed it up a little bit and taken the hospital out of it, I hope you don't mind.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of periods.

Every month, the first two days of your period had you incapable of doing nothing. You'd always gotten bad cramps, ever since you started your periods, you'd had them checked out and nothing was wrong with you, it was just your normal.

Usually you managed to avoid Tom when you were on your period, you managed to stay home and make up an excuse for those two days as to why you couldn't see him. This month however, Tom seemingly had other plans.

"Tom, I can't today, I've got some stuff to do here." You answered from your curled up spot on the couch.

"Babe, I literally haven't seen you for like a week, that's way too long." He said and your heart melted, he hated being away from you, in the seven months you'd been dating he always made an effort to make sure you saw each other. Even with his busy schedule.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just busy with some house stuff."

"I can come and keep you company or help you? We don't even have to go out, I can come chill with you." Tom said, it sounded like he was smiling and you felt torn.

Tom was overprotective and a complete worrier when it came to you. You'd had the flu once and he'd spent five days looking after you, he quite literally did everything for you. While you found it endearing and you loved it about him, you didn't want him worrying over this and you knew he would.

"Maybe tomorrow Tommy?" You said and you widened your eyes, shit.

"Are you ill?" Tom asked immediately.

"No."

"You only ever call me Tommy when you're ill." He stated matter of factly and you sighed, he'd caught you out. "What's up?"

"Nothing, Tom, I'm just a bit out of sorts. Nothing to worry about, I promise." You said in the best voice you could. As it would seem today was not on your side a cramp ripped through your lower abdomen causing you to hiss out in pain.

"Doesn't sound like it." He said and you knew he's have his shoes on and keys in his hand by now.

"Honestly, I'm fine." You said and you heard his keys in his hands down the line. He was gonna come over and there was nothing you could do. "You really don't have to come." You said, the pain in your abdomen having set in.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes, I love you." He said and hung up before you could protest.

Twenty minutes later and Tom was letting himself into your home, you heard the door shut and his shoes clatter as he took them off. You heard his sock clad feet make their way into your living room where you were sat curled up on the couch.

"Hi baby." Tom said in a soft voice before sitting next to you and observing your state. "What's up?" He asked and you grumbled.

"It'll sound ridiculous." You huffed out, you'd been told by previous boyfriends to suck it up, that all women had a period. It can't be that bad. Maybe it was part of the reason you hadn't let Tom see you like this.

"Tell me, I promise I won't think it's ridiculous." He said as he placed a hand on our knee.

"I'm on my period." You grumbled out as a pain shot through you and you winced and curled further into yourself. Tom's eyes softened as he took you in, rubbing his hand comfortingly on your knee.

"Oh baby," he whispered out as he moved closer to you. "So this happens every month?" He asked and you nodded. "I'll be back." He said, placing a kiss to your forehead before he disappeared.

He went back out, you were too tired to question where or what he was doing and half an hour later he returned. You heard the door shut again, shoes clatter and bags rustling. You looked over the back of the couch as he made his way back into the living room.

"Here." He said as he handed you one of the bags before disappearing into the kitchen. You opened it and found enough chocolate and sweet stuff to host a party with, you smiled as you took it in.

"And here." He said as he returned with a mug in hand, your heart melting. Never had someone been so attentive. "I went for hot chocolate, mum says it's the only time she ever drinks it. Thought it'd help." He said as he placed it on the coffee table before opening his arms for you to crawl into.

You complied, letting him wrap you up in his warmth as you snuggled into him. His warm hands rubbing your back, soothing the ache that had set in slightly.

"Thanks Tommy." You mumbled into his chest and he kissed your head.

It wasn't long before you needed the bathroom and this was the part you were dreading, it was okay when you could curl up into yourself, but the second you had to move, stand up, the pain became unbearable and you knew Tom would panic.

"I'm just gonna..." You trailed off as you removed yourself from his grasp and stood. The second your body stretched out, the pain hit you like a bus, you doubled over clutching your stomach as you winced harshly at the pain. Tears springing to your eyes.

"Fucking hell." You whimpered out in pain. Tom was quick to stand, placing his hands on your waist as you waited for the pain to pass enough to move.

"Are you okay?" He asked panicked and you shook your head.

"Yeah, it just hurts because I moved."

"You look like you're in a lot of pain."

"Yeah, it'll pass."

"Darling, do you not think you should maybe get these pains checked out, go to the hospital?" He was in full blown panic mode now.

"Tommy, calm down. I'm fine, it's normal for me, I promise." You tried to reassure. The pain wasn't passing quick this time and you had to sit back on the couch, clutching your stomach. You rocked back and forth, hoping to ease the pain.

"What of it's your appendix or something?" Tom was panicking as he knelt in front of you.

"It's not." You stated simply. "Trust me, I'm fine."

"You really don't look fine, I think we need to get you to the hospital." He said as he placed a hand on your back and rubbed it in comfort.

"I really really don't need that Tom. I promise you, it's normal. It's not my appendix or anything like that, I am just cursed with bad periods." You smiled at him, the pain starting to subside.

"Darling, I really think-"

"Tom. I'm fine." You said with a smile as you took his face into your hands, he relaxed slightly at the gesture.

"You'll tell me if it gets worse? Like more than usual?" He said and you nodded your head. "Okay," he breathed out. "Come on." He said and you furrowed your brows as you looked at him. "I'll carry you." He clarified and you laughed.

"I'm fine." You said but he'd already picked you up, carrying you upstairs and outside the bathroom. "You worry too much." You said as he placed you down and you kissed his cheek. Hands not leaving your hips until he was sure you were okay.

"I don't I just love you a lot and I don't want anything to happen to you." He said as he kissed your cheek. "I'll wait here." He said as he leant against the opposite wall.

You went into the bathroom, doing what you had to do, opening the bathroom door to be met with Tom's smiling face. You laughed as he picked you up again before taking you downstairs and back onto the couch.

"Wanna watch a film?" He asked and you nodded.

"You don't have to stay you know Tom. If you have better plans, it's okay. I understand why you wouldn't wanna mope around here with me." You laughed through your nose.

"This is my best plan for today. What could be better than spending time with you? Plus, if you don't feel well then it's my job to look after you and make sure you have everything you need."

"I'm not technically ill Tommy." You laughed.

"You're in pain. Listen, I'm gonna stay here and cuddle you, look after you. Whatever you need, it's yours but I'm staying. You're not getting rid of me." He said as he found a film and your heart soared, most boyfriends would get out of the way, but Tom? No.

"I really love you Tom." You said before you could really think and he looked at you, eyes full of nothing but love and adoration.

"I really love you too. Now come on, come here." He said as he placed the remote down and encouraged you to sit between his legs, hands finding your stomach as he soothed some of the pain. As bad as your periods were, Tom was gonna make sure he made them as bearable as possible.

#tom holland blurb #tom holland fluff #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n

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baepsaesbae · 4 years ago

Text

None of Your Business

Pairing— Jung Hoseok x reader

Genre— SMUT, enemies to lovers au, business/professional life au, slight angst, slight fluff, mutual pining bc im a slut for that

Warnings— inappropriate workplace behavior, explicit unprotected sex, face sitting, slight biting, one (1) butt slap, dirty talk, swearing, switch!Hoseok, Hoseok being a god damn nuisance, (also I’m not a business person so if you are and I state inaccurate/dumb things I apologize in advance)

Word Count— 8.9k

Summary— You have a shot at attaining a huge promotion at your company. The only problem standing in your way is the same one that annoyed you in college. Jung Hoseok. How will you manage to spend an entire weekend at a conference juggling impressing your supervisors while simultaneously battling Hoseok?

A/N— This super cool banner was made by the one and only @kimtaehyunq, thank you so much! Please let me know what you guys think. Feel free to leave a comment or send an ask!

The business world has always been mercilessly cutthroat; that’s one of the first things business students learn when they enter college. The competition to get an internship at a top company was fierce. Recruiting has to start at least a year in advance if you even want to give yourself a chance.

Luckily for you, you were the top student in your program. Well, one of the top students. Over the past four years, your position had been flip flopping with some surprisingly competent bonehead who annoyingly plagued your life.

“Excited to be graduating this semester, ___?” an all too familiar voice interrupted your studying.

“Excited to graduate as top of the class? Yes, of course,” you replied coldly.

“Top of the class? That’s a little presumptuous, don’t you think?” the handsome boy sat on your table.

“I think it’ll be pretty much set in stone after this last final,” you returned your attention to your notes.

“Well, even if you’re number one, I think experience matters a lot in this field,” the boy refused to leave you alone.

“Then it’s a good thing I did an internship with one of the top companies over the summer,” you glared at him.

“Oh yeah, how could I forget about the internship that you stole from me?” the boy pouted.

“I was obviously more qualified. And how could you say that when you stole my opportunity to go on a study abroad trip with my favorite professor last Spring Break? I’m still furious that he chose you over me solely because you were sleeping with his daughter,” you retorted.

“That was a coincidence! I don’t know how many times I need to tell you that,” he tried to defend himself.

“Whatever. Do me a favor and leave me alone, Hoseok. Hopefully today will be the last time I’ll ever see you.”

“That’s kind of sad to think about. Who else will get under my skin and annoy me every time they open their mouth?” Hoseok bantered, “Also, I told you to call me Hobi.”

“That would imply that we’re on friendly terms. I don’t like lying, Hoseok.”

“Fine. Good luck on that last final. See you around,” Hoseok hopped off the table and patted your head.

“Don’t touch me,” you grumbled as he walked away.

That was five years ago.

The company that you interned with gave you a job offer immediately after graduation. Quickly moving up through the ranks proved to be an easy feat since your tenacious nature made you the ideal employee.

You were currently waiting outside of the CEO’s office. Seconds felt like hours as you mindlessly bounced your leg. It was eerily silent, and all you could hear were the click clacks of the receptionist’s keyboard as she worked. You looked around at the bleak décor that was a sorry excuse for modernism as you racked your brain. Were you in trouble? Did something happen? You were summoned up for a meeting but had no clue what it was going to be about.

Once you were finally called in, you were greeted by both the CEO and VP of the company.

“___, please take a seat,” the CEO politely smiled, “As you know, I am getting old. I am unmarried, so therefore I have no one to oversee the company after I’m gone. The executive council and I have been looking for people to fill my shoes. Or at the very least, take a seat on the executive council if one of them were to take my place.”

“Your numbers have been exceptional this month,” the VP chimed in, “And every month prior. After much deliberation, your name has been cast into the lot.”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Being a member of the executive council at your age was almost unheard of.

“There is one other candidate that has also been hand selected at the other branch. You both are to attend a conference in which you will mingle with executives from other companies. There will also be a time in which you will pitch an idea to me on how to make this company better,” the CEO continued when he saw your loss for words.

“First and foremost I would like to thank you for this opportunity. I will do my best to live up to your expectations,” you bowed to show your gratitude.

“Perfect. The conference is in two weeks. I believe that should give you ample time to prepare your presentation,” the VP shook your hand.

After shaking hands with the CEO, you turned to leave. However, something was nagging you.

“May I ask who the other candidate is?” you inquired.

“Jung Hoseok from the northern branch,” the VP answered without missing a beat.

“Ah,” your brain exploded.

“Do you know him?” the CEO asked.

“We went to college together. I know of him,” you said curtly.

“Well you’ll finally get your chance to meet him. I’ve heard he’s very popular with the ladies at his branch. That’s not pertinent to his skills; however, you can’t blame an old man for wanting to know the gossip of his own employees,” the old man chuckled.

“Of course,” you smiled politely as you excused yourself from the office.

Jung Hoseok? That douchebag? Just your luck to run into him again (to fight for the next step in your career no less!). You think back on all the run ins you had with him during your collegiate days. Nothing but irritating memories of the two of you competing for the top spot came to mind.

Whatever. It didn’t matter who the other candidate was. You had to get to work and come up with a brilliant plan that will impress the CEO. You brushed the thought of Hoseok aside. It had been a couple of years, maybe he wouldn’t even remember you. There’s no need to stress out over something so trivial.

The weekend of the conference had finally arrived. You were instructed to travel together with Hoseok. You waited alone at the airport terminal. If you were lucky, Hoseok wouldn’t show up at all. You weren’t.

“___!” Hoseok called out your name in a sing songy voice.

“Hello Hoseok. Glad to see you haven’t changed,” you were already irritated.

“How are you? It’s been so long. You look great!” he went in for a hug but you turned away.

He stood awkwardly with his arms in the air for a second until he bounced back. He took the seat next to you and began chatting. You answered his list of questions apathetically.

“Did I do something to offend you?” Hoseok finally asked.

“I just think it’s funny that even after all these years, I still have to compete with you,” you retorted.

“Still hung up on that? It doesn’t even matter anymore. We got good jobs and now we’re here. Together! Isn’t that cool?”

“No, not at all. Although I guess it will be nostalgic coming out on top once again,” you smirked.

“Your competitive nature always amused me. You’re so cute when you lose,” Hoseok teased.

“I never lost to you,” you gasped.

“That’s not what that one study abroad trip with Professor whatshisname says,” he cooed.

“Professor Namjoon! You knew he was my favorite, you prick. At least I graduated as top of the class with honors,” you argued.

“My GPA was off by thousandths of a point. That doesn’t really bother me. But I’m glad you have something that makes you happy,” Hoseok shrugged.

‘This is gonna be one long fucking weekend’, you thought.

The flight was short and pleasant since Hoseok left you alone. You wanted to see as little of him as possible during this trip. You intended to get that promotion no matter what.

After the plane landed, the two of you made your way to the hotel that was hosting the conference.

“Hi, last name ___ and Jung?” you smiled at the hotel concierge.

“Ah yes, you guys are here for the business conference?” the concierge asked.

“Indeed we are!” Hoseok chimed in from behind you.

“Alrighty, I got you guys all checked in. Enjoy your stay!” the concierge handed you a singular set of keys.

“Oh, I’m sorry, there must be a mistake. We’re in two separate rooms,” you politely tried to hand back the keys.

“The reservation is for a singular suite,” the concierge explained.

“Probably cheaper that way,” Hoseok reasoned while nodding.

Your fake smile faltered for a second. How the hell are you supposed to spend an entire weekend sharing a room with the most despicable person on the planet?

At least the hotel itself was grand. There was no way you’d ever be able to afford to stay in such a swanky place. The lobby was decorated with ornate marble pillars that were laced with gold trimmings. It even had a fancy fountain in the middle to greet incoming guests, which you thought was a bit overkill.

“Excited to sleep with me, princess?” Hoseok teased, obviously picking up on your annoyance.

“Fuck off. Stay the hell away from my bed and my things,” you spat.

“Who’s to say that you won’t be able to stay away from my bed?” he smirked.

“You wish,” you rolled your eyes as the elevator finally stopped on the top floor.

You led the way to your shared suite with Hoseok. The trip was exhausting; you couldn’t wait to take a nap on your large luxurious bed that was probably topped with Egyptian cotton (one can dream).

You immediately dropped your bags on the side of the room and flopped onto the bed, shutting your eyes.

“Interesting,” Hoseok said.

You ignored him.

“Very interesting,” he continued.

“What? What is so interesting?” you sat up and glared at him in frustration.

“Take a quick glance around the room,” he suggested.

Your heart sank, “No fucking way.”

You loved this trope in fanfics, but in real life? Fuck no, not with this asshole. Yes, there was only one luxurious king sized bed in the room.

“Well, looks like you're going to sleep on the floor,” you smiled sweetly at him.

“The bed is huge, we can definitely share,” Hoseok argued.

“I think the fuck not,” you dropped back onto the bed, “I’m sure you’ll whore your way into someone else’s bed each night anyway.”

“I don’t think I need to, not when I’m already sharing a bed with you,” he flirted.

“Bite me, Hoseok,” you sighed, not in the mood for a tit for tat.

“Are you into that? I’d happily oblige,” he responded as he sat on the other side of the bed.

“I’m afraid that’s confidential information that you are not privy to,” you huffed, turning away from him.

“Are you really going to make me sleep on the floor?” he asked quietly.

“Would you listen to me if I said I wanted you to?” you were curious to know.

“Look, I’ll admit that I can be an asshole, but I’m not a creep. If you’re really not comfortable with sharing a bed with me I’ll sleep on the floor. All I’d ask of you is to spare me a pillow.”

There was a short silence as you mulled over your options.

“Fine, we can share the bed. But I demand a pillow divider to be set between us,” you caved.

“Wahoo! Thank you so much for your generosity, ___. Do you want to use the bathroom to get ready for bed first, or shall I?” Hoseok celebrated.

“I’ll get ready first,” you lazily rolled off the bed and trudged to the bathroom.

You were so tired that you missed hearing Hoseok’s soft chuckle as he watched you stumble to the bathroom. He patiently waited for you to finish before it was his turn to get ready for bed. You were sound asleep by the time he was done.

The blankets were haphazardly sprawled out on your side of the bed. One leg was under the covers while the other was completely exposed. Your mouth was agape with a bit of drool seeping out, and your shirt lifted up to expose some of your tummy.

Hoseok smiled at the sight. Never in a million years did he think he’d ever be lucky enough to see you like this. He pulled down your shirt in an attempt to make you look decent, but there was nothing he could do about your drooling. He tucked you into the sheets properly, making sure that the blankets covered you up to your neck.

He settled into his side of the bed. You forgot to put up the pillow divider. Hoseok stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. He turned over to face you in an attempt to get comfortable.

‘She looks so sweet. Almost cute,’ Hoseok thought.

He quickly brushed the thought aside. You were his rival, and have been since the first day of college years ago. He sat up and created a pillow barrier. Bickering with you first thing in the morning was the last thing he wanted.

The first day of the conference was filled with attending various meetings while attempting to make as many networking connections as possible. You got up early and left the room before Hoseok was even awake. The less time spent with him, the better.

Of course, completely avoiding him was impossible. You were to sit with your respective company during the meetings and presentations. The VP sat between you and Hoseok, while the CEO switched between sitting on either side. You were thankful for the separation, but nervous nonetheless.

The CEO would occasionally lean over to ask you questions about the presentations, and he intently listened to your responses. The VP would merely look over occasionally to give you a smile or wink; he acted more like moral support. You knew the entire weekend would practically be an interview, but you underestimated how anxiety inducing it would be.

The higher ups finally left you alone when lunchtime came around. You picked up your lunch in the hotel’s decadent ballroom that had been turned into an eating area. You scouted an empty table in the far corner of the room in the hopes of finding some peace and quiet.

Hoseok had other plans. He saw you sit down at the table and happily followed you.

“Hey there buddy!” he greeted you as he sat down.

“Shouldn’t you be networking with new people?” you rolled your eyes at him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he retorted as he took a bite of his sandwich.

“I’ve been doing that since before you were awake. I think I deserve a break,” you replied.

“I forgot that you’re quite the hard worker. I couldn’t have asked for better competition,” he said.

“Was that a compliment?” you asked with an amused grin.

“Yeah, and it’s the only one you’ll ever get from me. Is your pitch to the CEO ready?” Hoseok inquired.

“It has been. And no, I’m not going to tell you what it is,” you proudly answered.

“Oh c’mon! Mine is ready too! You’re a damn fool if you think I’m gonna steal your idea. I’m just curious,” he pouted.

“Fine. I’ll tell you if you tell me yours first,” you offered.

“So distrustful,” Hoseok feigned offense, “Okay, so I think offering higher bonuses for working overtime would be a good start. There could even be competitive bonuses in each department for the person who gets the best numbers that month.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” you said at first, “But don’t you think that would just create more animosity between coworkers?”

“I think competition is a healthy motivation factor. It worked for me in college,” Hoseok defended his idea.

“Everyone is competitive in college. Especially in the business schools,” you argued.

“Yeah, but not everyone is you,” Hoseok stated.

“Excuse me?”

“Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be here today if you weren’t always on my ass,” he admitted, “Being your rival was kinda fun. You got flustered so easily, it was almost cute.”

“I do not get flustered easily! Plus, it was always you who was on my ass,” you huffed.

“I see that you still do,” Hoseok laughed, “But seriously. The universe brought us together again so I guess it’s telling me to thank you.”

“That’s uncharacteristically nice of you to say,” you looked away from him to hide your reddening cheeks, “You pushed me too, so thanks for that...I guess.”

“Mhm, no problem buddy. I’ll see you in the next presentation room,” he got up to leave.

“Wait Hoseok!” you called after him.

“Yeah?” he turned around quickly.

“I didn’t tell you my idea--”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s brilliant,” he winked before walking away.

The rest of the day passed by quickly. You retired to your room, exhausted from all the forced socialization. Your mind was stuck on what Hoseok said earlier. Maybe he wasn’t as big of an asshole as you thought. Perhaps you mistook a friendly rivalry for toxic competition.

You were sprawled out across the bed in your pjs when Hoseok entered the room.

“Are you gonna sleep like that?” he asked.

“You’re gonna have to forcibly remove me from your side if you want it that badly,” you replied with your eyes still closed.

“That’s fine,” Hoseok said as he abruptly rolled you over to your side.

“Hey!” you squeaked out in protest.

“It was either that, or I laid on top of you and suffocated you.”

“Hmph,” you let out a displeased noise.

“Oh my god, you’re so bratty. How old are you?” Hoseok chuckled.

“Old enough to know that you’re a meanie,” your response was muffled by the pillow you buried your face in.

“Sorry I’m a what?” Hoseok teased.

“A meanie!” you quickly got up and slammed a pillow into Hoseok, catching him by surprise.

“I’m the meanie? You just pelted me with a pillow!” he cowered away from you.

“And I’ll do it again!” you threatened.

“I don’t think so,” Hoseok suddenly lurched forward, tackling you back onto your side of the bed.

You’re both laughing at this point. Seeing Hoseok up close and personal made you realize how handsome he truly was. Had he always been this attractive? Hoseok’s cheerful laugh echoed throughout the room as he loomed over you, pinning you down.

“I’ll get off if you promise not to hit me with a pillow ever again,” Hoseok tried to say in a serious tone, but his smile betrayed him.

“Sorry, I can’t make such a ridiculous promise,” you sassed.

“God, you really are so bratty. Kinda cute, kinda naughty,” Hoseok tsked.

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” you stuck your tongue out at him.

Hoseok leaned down to whisper in your ear, “Oh, I’m sure there’s something I could do.”

That sent chills down your spine. This was perhaps the most intimate moment you’ve shared with someone in a long time.

“Keep dreaming then, lover boy,” you said. Truth be told, just that one sentence turned you on, but you couldn’t let him know that.

“As you wish,” Hoseok released you and retreated back to his side of the bed.

“Maybe you aren’t as big of an asshole as I remembered,” you chuckled.

“You thought I was an asshole?” Hoseok laughed.

“I did. Maybe I still do. Not that it matters, we’ll never see each other again after this stupid conference.”

“That’s not true,” Hoseok disagreed, “I’ll be on the executive council, so you may see me from time to time.”

“I like the confidence. Too bad it’s in vain,” you teased, “I’m going to bed. Our day starts early tomorrow.”

“Our?”

��The. The day starts early tomorrow. Just go to bed Hoseok,” your turned over to conceal the faint smile on your face. Maybe he wasn’t so bad afterall.

The second day of the conference started off as boring as the previous day. The various presenters droned on about different strategies regarding the improvement of a company with a plethora of charts and numbers to back it all up. The CEO wasn’t as talkative today to either you or Hoseok. The VP still made his reassuring gestures to you, flashing smiles and winks here and there.

“Can I see you privately after the last morning presentation?” the VP whispered to you.

“Yes, of course!” you excitedly answer. Currying the VP’s favor may come in handy later.

After the last presentation, the VP discreetly led you to a vacant corner. His tone became serious as he began to speak.

“The CEO discussed his initial thoughts with me last night. I know I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but he’s currently leaning towards Hoseok,” he explained.

The news made your heart sink.

“I’d rather see you on the executive council, if I’m being frank. My pride is on the line since I recommended you,” his voice lowered, “However, I think there is a way to sway his opinion.”

“Which is?” you eagerly asked.

“Someone might overhear here, meet me in my room in an hour,” the VP covertly handed you his room key.

He walked away without another word. The fact that the VP was on your side gave you a faint sliver of hope. The next hour of free time was spent frantically networking while your mind was obviously elsewhere. Every now and then you heard Hoseok’s voice, and just the sound of it spurred you on to make even more connections. By the end of it, your face began to hurt from all the fake smiling.

You were standing in front of the VP’s hotel room exactly an hour after your secret rendezvous. The door opened immediately after you knocked.

“You’re extremely punctual; that’s wonderful,” the VP observed as you entered, “Make yourself comfortable.”

You scoured the room to find a place to sit. Your uneasiness must have been obvious, as the VP gestured towards the bed.

“Thank you,” you said as you awkwardly sat at the edge of the bed, “What is your plan?”

“It’s quite simple actually,” the VP sat beside you, “I just need to get to know you better. That way I can give an authentic and flawless review to the CEO.”

“So, you’re going to conduct an in-depth interview?” you asked timidly as you noticed him scooting closer to you.

“You could say that,” he voice lowered as he rested his hand on your thigh, “We have about 45 free minutes remaining. I believe you should make the most of this interview, Miss ___,” he smiled slyly as his hand began to travel upwards.

“How dare you?!” you yelled as you abruptly pushed him off of you, “I’m going to report you to HR!”

“Then say goodbye to your promotion. You really think you were chosen just because your numbers have been decent? You definitely were not the CEO’s first choice. He didn’t even know who you were. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be here,” he explained with a shit eating grin.

“Then why the hell would you even bring me up to the CEO? Just so you could try and sleep with me?” you were enraged.

“Don’t blame me for wanting some eye candy to entertain me during this god awful convention,” he smirked.

“Fuck you, you fucking pig,” you spat.

“Ohhh feisty. I like that in a girl. If you leave now, you can kiss that promotion goodbye,” the VP called out to you as you stormed towards the door.

“And you can kiss my ass, and shove that promotion up yours,” you snapped, flipping him off before slamming the door behind you.

Tears welled in your eyes as you made your way to your room. You were absolutely distraught. Had all your hard work been for nothing? Had you been nothing but a pretty sight for men to stare at for the past five years?

You entered your hotel room to find Hoseok laying on the bed. You quickly wiped away your tears; you hadn’t expected him to be there. He appeared to be taking a nap. You watched his chest rise and fall slowly as you snuck into the bathroom. You freshened yourself up to the best of your abilities. Maybe a little power nap would help calm your nerves. Too bad Hoseok was taking up the bed. Fuck.

You left the bathroom to see if maybe you could curl up in one of the corners of the bed. Luckily, Hoseok was on his side of the bed. You set a timer for half an hour and slowly crawled under the covers. Your eyelids felt heavy as you closed them.

“If you wanted to cuddle you could’ve just let me know,” Hoseok’s voice surprised you.

“Well, I don’t. Leave me alone,” you responded.

“What if I want to cuddle?” he asked.

“There is an abundance of perfectly good pillows for you to use,” you sighed, then sniffled a little.

“Are you sick?” Hoseok asked with a worried tone.

“No, I’m fine,” you answered quickly, panicking.

“___, what’s wrong?” Hoseok was sitting up now.

“Nothing, leave me alone,” you turned away.

“If you insist, I won’t push it. Just know that you can talk to me if you need to,” he offered.

You heard him get off the bed. You pulled the sheets over your head to hide your face. You cried silently as Hoseok shuffled around the room, presumably getting ready to leave. Suddenly, he pounced on you.

“Hoseok! What the fu--” you cried out as he yanked the sheets off of you.

“Surprise attack!” he gleefully exclaimed.

His expression quickly changed when he saw your tear streaked face. You looked up at him with puffy eyes. You were too exhausted to hold your cold stare. Instead, you looked away in embarrassment.

“___, what happened?” he asked softly.

“It doesn’t matter. But congrats, you basically got the promotion,” you laughed in defeat.

“You spoke with the CEO?” Hoseok was shocked.

“No, with the VP. That stupid son of a bitch. He--nevermind. I blew my chance, so the job is all yours. I am almost positive that I am unemployed now as well,” the tears returned and you couldn’t stop them.

“Hey, ___, it’s okay,” Hoseok tried to comfort you, “If the CEO didn’t tell you himself, then you can’t be 100% certain.”

“I was literally only invited because the VP tried to get in my pants!” you blurted out.

“What?” Hoseok was dumbfounded.

“He just told me that I’d have the job if I had sex with him. Can you fucking believe that? How long have I not been taken seriously? This has been so demoralizing,” you let it all out.

“Aw, c’mere,” Hoseok pulled you up and gave you a warm embrace, “What did you say to him?”

“I told him to shove it,” you sniffled against his firm chest.

“There’s the you I know. You haven’t changed a bit,” he chuckled, “We can talk to the CEO together tomorrow about this.”

“Why would you help me? The promotion is basically yours because of this,” you sighed.

“I don’t really care for it, if I’m being honest. I’m satisfied with my job now. I don’t want any more responsibilities,” he answered while stroking your hair.

“Then why are you here?” you looked up at him.

“I only agreed to come after they told me that you’d be here,” he admitted.

You didn’t know what to say. Too many things have happened in the past hour alone.

“Don’t get it twisted, I was just curious to see how you’ve been after all these years. Plus a free trip is always enticing. Getting to share a bed with you has just been an added bonus,” he smiled.

Your timer rang, causing you to break away from Hoseok’s arms.

“Guess it’s time to go to more boring meetings. Yay,” Hoseok feigned enthusiasm.

“I’m gonna stay here. There’s no point in me attending anymore,” you stated.

“Nope, you’re going. I’m dragging you with me! You gotta show the VP that he didn’t frazzle you at all. Fuck that guy. Well, not literally,” Hoseok was pulling you out of bed.

Hoseok subtly made sure that you sat between him and the CEO the entire time. You caught him giving the VP dirty looks, which made you feel a little better.

You quickly excused yourself after the last meeting and tried to make a break for your room. Unfortunately, Hoseok prevented you from doing so.

“You got a date for the banquet tonight?” he asked.

“No. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem because I’m not going. Have fun with your date though,” you shook your head.

“Who said I had a date?”

“I’m sure women were basically throwing themselves at you.”

“You’re not wrong, but I turned them all down. I have my eyes set on one gal.”

“Lucky her, I guess,” you rolled your eyes.

“Indeed. Although I still gotta ask her,” he looked around the room as if he was searching for her.

“You better hurry. Isn’t it in a couple hours?”

“Yep. Alright, here goes nothing!” Hoseok rushed off, finally giving you the chance to disappear.

You let out a sigh of relief as the elevator doors start to close. However, someone’s hand shot through at the last second. Hoseok stumbled in as the elevator doors reopened. You groaned. Why can’t you escape him?

“Did she say yes?” you asked with an indifferent tone.

“Not sure yet. Will you go to the banquet with me?” Hoseok asked.

“Fuck off.”

“Alright, well she just said no. Ouch,” Hoseok clicked his tongue.

“Wait, are you being serious?” your eyes widened.

“If the word ‘date’ threw you off, then I’m happy with going as friends,” he proposed.

“I’m flattered, but I’m really not in the mood to party with random strangers.”

“You don’t have to. Just party with me. Why would I let you be sad and mopey all alone in a hotel room when you could be drinking free booze?”

“Is the alcohol is free?”

“Duh, it’s all being charged to the company. Plus dinner is served.”

“Ok fine, I’ll go. I guess I didn’t pack that stupid dress for nothing.”

“Let’s not allow a gorgeous dress to go to waste,” Hoseok agreed.

“You haven’t even seen it,” you suppressed a smile.

“Anything can be gorgeous if you’re the one wearing it,” he winked.

“Oh, shut up,” a small smile cracked on your face.

Hoseok was the first to get ready for the banquet. He wanted your look to be a surprise so he insisted on going first. You were beginning to find his weird yet endearing antics kind of cute.

You weren’t prepared when he came out of the bathroom. You were well aware that Hoseok was a handsome guy, maybe even handsome enough to model. However, you weren’t ready when Hoseok emerged in a grey suit with his hair styled to reveal his forehead. His radiance was comparable to that of the sun, and he only shone brighter when he smiled at you.

“You look good,” you tried to act cool.

“Thank you! I’ll admit I do enjoy dressing up from time to time. But who doesn’t, am I right?” he beamed.

You nodded as you hauled your things into the bathroom. After about an hour, you were ready: fully dressed, makeup done, confidence soaring. You had forgotten how therapeutic dressing up could be.

Your dress was a deep emerald green that was elegant yet seductive. It had a side slit that flirtatiously showed off one of your legs. The neckline gracefully outlined your cleavage while still remaining on the classy side.

“Holy shit. You look amazing!” Hoseok praised you as soon as you stepped out.

“I was only trying to match you,” you said shyly, trying to hide your flushed cheeks.

“I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be the most breathtaking duo there. Shall we depart?” he extended out an arm.

The dinner started out with boring speeches by people you didn’t care to remember the names of. Hoseok elected to sit at the table furthest away from the stage, which was an excellent choice. That allowed the two of you to chat the night away in hushed voices. You both had already gone through five glasses of wine by the time the speeches were finally over.

“The dance floor is now open! Enjoy the rest of the night, and don’t forget that there’s an open bar!” the MC shouted through the mic.

The lights dimmed and a disco ball lowered in the center of the room. People began to crowd the dance floor. You laughed with Hoseok as you both observed various awkward shuffles and sways.

“Wanna dance?” Hoseok yelled over the music.

“I can’t!” you yelled back.

“I’m sure you can! Let’s go!” Hoseok didn’t wait for a reply.

He dragged you to an empty space on the dance floor. The two of you began drawing attention to yourselves as soon as you stepped out. Two beauties were dancing in the open for everyone to see. You shyly swayed to the rhythm of the music and laughed at Hoseok’s silly moves. However, Hoseok began to move in a way that was absolutely bewitching. He looked like a professional dancer with the way he commanded his body to hit every beat. Hoseok had drawn a very large crowd as people began cheering him on.

You were amazed by his stage presence. You’ve always had a thing for dancers, and he looked downright sexy. The song ended and Hoseok gave his audience a dramatic bow, awarding him deafening applause.

“I didn’t know you could dance!” you shouted when he returned to your side.

“I like to dance in my free time! Did you like it?” he shouted back.

“I’ll admit it was sexy,” you laughed.

“You think I’m sexy?”

“Maybe I do,” you winked.

You had more fun than you expected while dancing with Hoseok. He made you feel secure, so you were able to let loose. You didn’t care what you looked like, as long as Hoseok was there with you.

The night progressed and you began to feel bold. A particularly raunchy song came on, as if it were asking you to grind on Hoseok. And that’s exactly what you did. You guided his hands to your hips as you grinded into his crotch

“You sure you wanna be doing that?” Hoseok spoke into your ear with a low voice.

“Absolutely,” you replied.

Hoseok spun you around and gazed at you intimately while he brought you closer into his body. Various body parts were rubbing against each other now. The sexual tension was palpable.

Hoseok’s hands were running up and down your body, and your mouth was dangerously close to his neck. The scent of his cologne was intoxicating. You couldn’t help yourself; you leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on his neck. His low growl was an indication that he liked it, so you kissed him again with more vigor.

“You’re going to have to stop,” he scolded.

“Shit, I’m sorry. Did I overstep your boundaries?” you were embarrassed.

“Absolutely not. But I can’t fuck you out here in public now can I?” he towed you off the dance floor and made a beeline for the elevators.

Thank god no one else was in the elevator, neither of you could keep your paws off of each other. Hoseok’s hands were unabashedly feeling you up and down while his crotch was slowly grinding into yours. Your arms were wrapped around his neck as you planted kisses along his sharp jawline.

Hoseok couldn’t stop whispering naughty things into your ear during the entire elevator trip up to your shared room. His lowered voice sent chills down your spine as he expressed just how eager he was to finally have you. You felt yourself getting wetter by the second.

“I wanted to strip off that dress the moment I saw you wearing it,” he cooed, “God, I can’t wait to see how beautiful you’ll look underneath me.”

“Hoseok, do you ever shut up?” you teased with a coy smile.

“I dunno, you might have to make me,” he played along.

“Maybe sitting on your handsome face will do the trick,” you said as you nipped his ear.

“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

The elevator doors finally opened, and Hoseok quickly dragged you out. He immediately tore off your dress the moment the hotel room door was closed. You did him the same favor as you frantically unbuttoned his shirt to reveal his toned body.

“Why don’t you be a good boy and wait for me on the bed?” you suggested.

“Yes ma’am,” he complied, his eyes never leaving your body.

“Like what you see?” you asked, turning around slowly to fully show off the lingerie that perfectly complimented your body.

“You are so fucking sexy, ___,” Hoseok smiled in awe.

“I’m so glad you think so. You’re not too bad yourself,” you winked at him.

You finally joined Hoseok on the bed. You kiss his body from his abdomen all the way up his chest before stopping at his mouth. You took a second to relish the feeling of his plush lips against yours before he deepened the kiss with a ferocious intensity.

“Wanna try and shut me up now?” Hoseok lifted his eyebrows suggestively once the kiss broke.

“With pleasure,” you responded as you began to position yourself above him, “Wait, do you want me to take this off?” you gestured to your undergarments.

“No need,” he said before abruptly pulling aside your panties.

You slowly lowered yourself onto his face and stopped when you felt his breath on your pussy. Hoseok impatiently gripped your hips and pulled you directly onto his tongue. The sudden contact made you gasp. Hoseok didn’t waste any time getting down to business.

He flattened his tongue out to cover as much area as possible as he licked across your folds. He expertly flicked and lapped your pussy in the perfect places. Your legs began to tremble, and you had to grip onto the bed’s headboard for support.

You looked down to see the beautiful man’s face buried in your pussy; that sight alone was almost enough to bring you over the edge. Hoseok’s hands slithered their way up to your chest, where he began to twist and pull at your sensitive nipples through your bra.

“You taste--so good,” Hoseok panted out from underneath you.

“Should I get off--fuck!” you were interrupted by Hoseok sucking on your clit.

His mouth was heaven sent. Your body began to heat up and soon you lost the strength to hold yourself up even against the headboard.

You cried out as you came all over Hoseok’s face. His face was glistening with your juices as he smiled up at you. He seductively licked his lips to taste you again.

“Your turn?” you asked.

“As much as I wanna see your pretty lips wrapped around my cock, I think I need to be inside you more,” he replied as he repositioned himself.

He stripped off the rest of his clothing. You watched with admiration as more of his skin became exposed.

“You can take off the fancy underwear now,” he said once he caught you staring.

“You don’t want to see it anymore?” you fakeed a pout.

“___, you’re drop dead gorgeous in it. However, I advise you to take it off yourself because I won’t hold back. I don’t want to ruin your underwear, just you,” he replied.

Hoseok mixed in little nibbles while he kissed along your neck. Your voice dripped with bliss as you quietly moaned.

“I guess you do like being bitten, huh? What about this?” Hoseok licked your neck, causing you to squirm underneath him.

“I think I like that too,” you whispered, biting your lip.

You wriggled out of your undergarments, leaving yourself completely naked in front of Hoseok. You pull at the hem of Hoseok’s underwear, eager to see what he was packing.

You were not disappointed. Although he was well endowed, what he lacked in length was made up for in girth.

“Do you want me to use a condom?” he asked.

“I’m on the pill, and I’m pretty sure I’m clean. I haven’t been intimate in an embarrassingly long amount of time,” you admitted, blushing.

“I find that hard to believe,” Hoseok said while kissing around your face, “Since you’re so damn beautiful,” his lips found yours and led you into a passionate kiss.

His hips began to grind into yours, his dick rubbing against your bare pussy. You wrapped your legs around him, bringing him closer.

“Please don’t tease me,” you pleaded.

“What are the magic words?” Hoseok teased.

“Fuck me, Hobi,” you begged.

“Oh my fucking god,” he growled.

He slammed his hips into yours, not giving you enough time to adjust to him. The stretch was intense at first, but it soon turned into nothing but pleasure. Your euphoria grew as he rhythmically bucked his hips into you.

Hoseok spread your legs out as wide as you could go, giving him quite the erotic view that only aroused him more. You tried to stifle your moans, but were failing miserably.

“Don’t hold back baby, let me hear you. Show me how good I make you feel,” he leaned over to whisper into your ear.

You complied instantly, your moans resounding around the room. Hoseok’s position allowed him to hit you deeply with every stroke. Without a word, he pulled out of you and flipped you over onto your knees. He roughly forced your chest down, leaving your ass in the air for him.

“Your ass is so fucking fat,” he said as his hand connected with your bare skin, causing you to shriek.

He kissed it afterward while his fingers teased your clit. He realigned himself with your entrance. This new position was even better than the last. You could no longer hold in your moans even if you wanted to. Hoseok repeatedly hit your g-spot, and you could feel another orgasm welling up within you.

“Hobi, I’m gonna cum,” you cry out.

“Say that again,” he demanded.

“I-i’m gonna cum!”

“No, not that. That’s hot but call me Hobi again,” he chuckled.

“Hobi!” you said with an exasperated tone.

“Yes princess? Fuck, I’m close,” Hoseok’s movements were becoming more haphazard by the second.

“Hobi, right there oh my god keep going please,” you begged, “Hobi...ah shit!” you came undone.

It wasn’t long after until Hoseok followed suit, pulling out to cum all over your ass. He rolled off the bed to get something to clean you up with.

“How are you feeling?” Hoseok asked.

“Better. You?” you answered.

“Doing pretty well. I fucked the girl of my dreams,” he said gleefully.

“Shut up,” you playfully pushed him.

“I’m serious. I’ve adored you since college. I lived for your playful banter,” he began to explain.

“It wasn’t playful,” you interjected.

“Yeah, I know. But that’s what made it fun! All the other girls just wanted to be with me for my looks or whatever. None of them knew the real me.”

“And I did?”

“More so than most. You always pushed me to do my best. I really just wanted to be good enough for you. Kind of silly huh? I even dated that girl in an attempt to make you jealous. Which backfired since her dad was Professor whatshisface who took me on that trip,” Hoseok opened up.

“Hobi I...I’m so sorry. I was such a bitch to you back then. And now too I guess. My competitive side gets the better of me. I was always annoyed by how you were seemingly good at everything. It even irritated me that you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my life,” you began to apologize, “Oh, and his name is Namjoon. Professor Namjoon.”

“Thanks for reminding me. I hate to admit it but he made me a little jealous. I wanted you to praise me the way you praised him. Anyway, things can change now that everything's out in the open,” Hoseok smiled, “You’re even calling me Hobi! I’ve been dreaming about this moment.”

“Was it everything you ever hoped for?” you joked.

“You said it when you asked me to fuck you, then you said it multiple times while I was balls deep inside of you. So yeah, I would say it was everything I could’ve hoped for, if not more,” he pulled you into his chest.

The two of you continued talking for what felt like hours while cuddling. You hadn’t been this relaxed in ages. You were nearly asleep on his chest when he stroked a strand of hair from your face.

“Tomorrow will be interesting, huh?” he said softly.

“I guess I still have to pitch my idea to the CEO,” you sighed softly, “What a waste of time.”

“It’s not a waste of time if you’re gonna get the promotion,” Hoseok reprimanded.

“I already told you, I’m not. The VP will make sure that you get it. This is good for you. Don’t worry about me,” you kissed his cheek, “We should get some sleep now.”

“Alright. Goodnight, ___,” he kissed your forehead.

“Goodnight Hobi.”

“Fuck, I really love when you say that.”

It was time. Time to pitch your idea to the CEO for no damn reason. You were beyond nervous, and Hoseok could tell. He tried to ease your nerves by giving you a firm shoulder massage as you both waited to be called into a small conference room.

The VP emerged, ignoring your mean scowl, and called Hoseok in to present first. Of course he would go first, no need to waste time hearing your proposal.

It was an anxiety riddled wait. You recounted the previous day’s events, which was a mistake because that only infuriated you. The whole situation was an affront on your character, and you will not stand for it. You debated giving the VP another piece of your mind at the end of everything.

“___, you’re up,” the VP called you after Hobi finished.

“You’re gonna kill it,” Hobi encouraged you, coupled with a pat on the back.

“This is pointless and you know that,” you sighed.

Hobi shook his head in disagreement. It was heartwarming to see how supportive he was being. Maybe it was due to the fact that the job was practically his already. It doesn’t matter now.

“Good morning gentlemen,” you greet them.

“The floor is yours, Miss ___,” the CEO responded cordially.

“I’ll keep it short and simple. I propose that the best way to improve the company is to shorten work day hours and increase PTO days,” you said confidently.

“Is that it? Can you expound on that?” the VP cynically asked.

“Yes, I’m so glad you asked,” you smiled coldly, “Studies show that employees are exponentially more productive when they are happier. Not only will the company become more efficient, but the overall company atmosphere will become more positive. Interpersonal relationships between employees and bosses will improve in an appropriate professional manner,” you glared at the VP.

“That’s a very interesting take,” the CEO said thoughtfully, “Do you have any suggestions regarding the actual work that the company does?”

“No sir. The company has been thriving, so I believe that the way things are running now are proficient. However, as a company, we should always be willing to listen to our employees’ concerns,” you stated.

“You’ve brought up interesting points to the table. As an employee, do you have any concerns you’d like to express?” the CEO asked.

“There is one pressing matter that comes to mind,” you stole a glance at the VP to see him shift uncomfortably in his seat, “I firmly expect that employee/supervisor relationships should be strictly professional.”

“Are you just giving us your opinion on office romances?” the VP sneered.

“I believe that trying to use intimacy as leverage is highly immoral, if not a fireable offense,” you held your ground.

“Of course,” the CEO agreed.

“Then said employee would simply need to file a complaint with HR,” the VP dismissed you.

“What better way to get my complaint heard than speaking directly to the CEO?” you smiled sweetly, “Sir, yesterday the man sitting beside you crudely suggested that I sleep with him in order to gain the promotion. He also alluded that all of my accomplishments are for naught, and that I am purely ‘eye candy’.”

“Is this true?” the CEO asked his VP in dismay.

“Of course not. She’s grasping at straws. Look how desperate she is to get the job,” the VP quickly defended himself.

“I am not lying. I am fully prepared to be fired on the spot. I cannot continue to work at a company that allows this kind of sloppy behavior to go unpunished. Thank you for your time,” you bowed and quickly took your leave.

You released a huge sigh as soon as you were outside of the room. Hobi rushed over to your side. Suddenly, you began to laugh hysterically. Hobi looked at you nervously, obviously concerned about your mental state.

“Isn’t it so funny? All my hard work had just been flushed down the toilet by a stupid man drunk on power. I love that!” you wheezed.

“___, ___ calm down. What happened?” Hobi inquired.

You told him what just went down. A smile crept across his face as you got to the part where you put the VP on the spot.

“I wouldn’t count yourself out just yet dude,” Hoseok shrugged, “All we can do is wait.”

“Yeah, I’ll be the first one to congratulate you on your new job. Then I’ll begin my search for a new one,” you gave him a thumbs up.

The VP stumbled out of the room and angrily stomped towards the both of you.

“You fucking bitch! Who do you think you are? Do you even know what you’ve done? I know people. I’m gonna make sure your life is hell!” he yelled at you.

“That’s enough! You have been dismissed. I do not want to see your face around here again. Clean out your office on Monday,” the CEO ordered, “Would the both of you please follow me back into the room?”

You both timidly followed him, curious as to what he had to say.

“I apologize on behalf of the company for this incident. This isn’t the first time a complaint has been filed against him. Unfortunately, he always told me that they were just futile grasps for leverage and I foolishly believed him. However, his loss is your gain,” he smiled, “How would you like to be my new Vice President?”

You were agog. Hoseok’s eyes widened as he stood beside you.

“Surely there are more qualified people,” you stammered in disbelief.

“There definitely are. But none of them are what this company needs. It takes a special person to have their rival pitch all the reasons why you are a better candidate than they are,” the CEO happily nodded.

“I- he what?” you cast a surprised look at Hobi.

“Oh yes. He spent all his time highlighting your best qualities as an employee. It was quite a shock,” the CEO smiled.

“I will humbly accept your offer. Thank you so much sir, I will work even harder!” you bowed gratefully.

“That brings me to Mr. Jung. The position on the executive council is yours, if you want it,” the CEO offered.

“If the offer is unopposed, then I have no choice but to accept. I will do my best!” Hobi joined in your bowing.

“Wonderful! It’ll be refreshing to see some lively young faces at those atrocious meetings,” the CEO laughed, “Oh, and one more thing. The two of you will have to relocate to the main branch, I hope that’s okay. I look forward to working with both of you.”

You both nodded gleefully. After the CEO dismissed the pair of you, the trip back up to your hotel room was nothing but joyous. It was like you were in a dream that you never wanted to wake up from. You even pinched each other to make sure it was all real.

“I can’t believe you were advocating for me,” you hugged him.

“You deserve it. Your impressive diligence should not go unrewarded,” he squeezed you tighter, “Plus, this ended up being pretty sweet! Congratulations to both of us!”

“We need to go out to celebrate!” you wiggled.

“Yes! Let me take you out,” Hobi tackled you onto the bed.

“Where shall we go?” you playfully ask.

“Maybe we should go explore our new city together?” he suggested.

“Our?”

“Yes, our. And when I say I’m gonna take you out, I mean as a date. Because I want to date you. And have been wanting to for years,” Hoseok charismatically emphasized.

“I’m looking forward to starting this new chapter of my life with you then, Mr. Jung Hoseok,” you press your forehead against his.

“Imma be all up in your bidness girl,” he joked.

“Your business is my business now loser,” you teased back.

Looks like all that hard work had paid off, and there’s no better reward than finally being with Jung Hoseok.

#bts smut #bangtanarmynet #btswritingcafe #btscreatorscorner #ksmutclub #jung hoseok smut #bts angst #jung hoseok angst #bts fanfic #jhope smut #jhope angst #kpop fanfic #jhope fanfic #jung hoseok fanfic

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fandom-imagines-stories · 3 years ago

Text

Learning Teamwork

Josh Lyman x Reader

Words: 2184

Summary: Two colleagues that usually butt heads are forced to play nice when the President sends them to attend to a Governor's Ball in his home state.

Notes: I have so much Josh angst I wanted to write something a little fluffier that I could still capture his signature snark in. (For the purposes of this, I made up a Governor that would fit the story so if there was one discussed in the show, they aren’t in this one.) I also wrote this in two days so… bare with me.

If you hadn’t been in the presence of the President, you might have thrown something at him.

“If the President addresses this now, the Republicans will stop at nothing to get back at him for it.” He spoke in that smug, know-it-all tone that drove you insane.

“This is about real people, Mr. Lyman, not the little politics games that you play all day.”

“Okay, everyone, I think that’s enough.” The President’s order may have halted your argument, but you could still feel the heat rising to your cheeks as you stared Josh down. The rest of the team made a very quick exit, hoping to avoid becoming casualties in you and Josh’s on-going battle. But when the two of you started for the door, President Bartlet’s voice called you back. “Not. You. Two.”

You grimaced and turned back around, reveling a little in the fact that Josh looked just as uncomfortable as you did. One stern look from Jed Bartlet, however, was enough to diminish that.

“Is it physically impossible for the two of you to let me get through one meeting without going at each other’s throats?” He urged, his irritated gaze switching rapidly between the both of you. “Not only are you both a part of this team, you are adults for Christ sake!”

“Sorry, sir.” You gulped.

“My apologies, Mr. President.”

God, even apologizing, he had to try and sound smarter than you.

“I’m not finished yet.” The President walked around his desk and grabbed an envelope from under a pile of other papers. “The Governor of New Hampshire is hosting a ball on Saturday to celebrate something that I can’t even remember. Frankly, I think it’s because his wife enjoys parties a little too much, but who am I to judge?”

You and Josh exchanged a look that consisted more of confusion than anger.

Bartlet continued, “Well, seeing as I used to be Governor of my home state, he’s been kind enough to invite me, though I also think this is more of a way to get more Democratic backing for his next election. Nevertheless, while I am unable to attend due to this whole mess with possible terrorism, I know just the two members of my senior staff to send in my place.” He looked pointedly at both of you.

The excuses tumbled over each other as you and Josh blurted them out, desperately pleading to find something that would change his mind. You hated political gatherings in general but the idea of being forced to go with Josh? It twisted your stomach into so many knots you thought you’d throw up.

“There’s going to be political fallout from all of this and I should really be around-”

“C.J. and Toby are going to need me to-”

“Y/N could go by herself.” Josh said suddenly, making your jaw drop. That little snake. “I’m sure there are plenty of young men that’ll be thrilled to see you.”

“Says one of the White House’s most eligible bachelors.” You fired back, forgetting who you were standing in front of.

“Enough!” The President slammed the invitation down on the desk in front of the two of you. “This isn’t about who is more desirable than who. This is about you two learning how to work as a team and not biting each other’s heads off every time you’re in the same room together! Now, I am calling Governor Thompson and telling him you’re going and the two of you are going to be the picture of grace and maturity. If I hear one word of anything else, so help me god, your careers will be so buried, it’ll take years before they see the light of day.” His voice echoed through the Oval Office, rattling you down to the bone. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“Good. Now go do whatever you need to to free up next Saturday.” He sat down, putting on his glasses to look over other documents. “Oh, and find something nice to wear. Mrs. Thompson has always been a bit of a stickler with the dress code.”

With that, you were dismissed and you felt the dread settling in your chest. You were going to a ball. In New Hampshire. With Josh Lyman for a date. As you shouldered out the door together, you cast glowering looks.

“I hate you.”

“I hate you more.”

If the snickers from Sam and C.J. weren’t enough to drive you crazy in the week leading up to your flight, scrambling to find a dress was not something you originally had on your schedule. Even when you had found one you liked, there was the matter of rescheduling everything you had the weekend you would be gone.

At least Josh seemed to be having as difficult a time as you were. Any time you saw him in passing, he looked frantic and disheveled- which would usually bring you a small amount of joy, but for some reason, knowing you were in the same boat actually made you feel better about going with him.

“Hey.”

You looked up from the piles of work from your desk, surprised to see your unfortunate date standing in your doorway. It was the day before you were set to leave and you both had mountains of work to try and finish.

“What can I help you with, Josh?”

“I just came to say that this might not be such a bad idea.” He moved from the door to the chair, but he didn’t sit down. He just stood anxiously behind it, leaning on the back. He actually looked sincere- and a voice in the back of your head pointed out that, without his usual cloud of arrogance that always hung around him, he was actually very attractive.

No. Definitely not. You hated him.

“Which part? Going to a ridiculous dance so that Governor Thompson can get more clout with Democrats or the fact that we have to go as a bonding exercise?” Your tone was cold, even more so than usual. Call it overcorrecting for your brain’s traitorous thoughts.

“I think the President is right.” Josh’s posture changed, standing up a little straighter as his tone grew defensive. “If this is what it takes to get us to work together, then I guess we deserve it.”

“Funny, since when he first proposed the idea you suggested that I go alone.” You stood up, crossing your arms.

Josh mimicked your stance, his brow furrowing with anger. “Look, I came in here to make some kind of peace with you, and I don’t understand-”

“I know what you came here to do, Josh. You want to show me that I don’t understand Bartlet the way you do while you play some kind of martyr for going on this trip.” You leaned forward with your hands on your desk and he did the same. Your faces must have only been a few inches apart.

“Fine!”

You’d never wanted to kiss Josh Lyman more than you did in that moment and couldn’t hate him more for it.

Your seats on the plane were right next to each other. Because of course, they were. Josh got the window seat despite your protests, sticking you in the middle between him and a rather obnoxious businessman who was speaking loudly on his phone.

“Sir, I need you to turn that off as we prepare to take off.” The flight attendant instructed.

“Yeah, just give me a second.”

“Now, sir.” Her voice was a semi-irritated monotone that left little room for any argument. The man gave her an annoyed look and ended his call. “Thank you, sir.” She continued down the aisle to berate somebody else. Without the distraction of work, he sought out a new way to pass the time- you.

“What takes you to Concord?” He leaned a little closer to you than you would have preferred, but leaning back would basically put you in Josh’s lap so you stayed put.

“My coworker and I have an event to attend.” You motioned to the seemingly oblivious man on the other side of you.

“Just coworker?” His casual expression turned into a suggestive smirk and you felt his fingers run up your knee. You jerked away from him.

“Husband, actually, so how about you keep your hands to yourself?” Josh snapped suddenly, giving Mr. Handsy a death glare. You stared at Josh with wide eyes and forced your mouth shut to keep it from gaping in shock. The man beside you must have been as surprised as you because words came out as a whispered stutter.

“Sorry, I didn’t- she said- and I thought-”

“Yeah, well you thought wrong.” He stood up. “Here, honey, why don’t you take the window seat?”

You sat there, without moving, for a few seconds before he nudged your leg with his foot and you climbed over him to get to the seat by the window. Once you were both situated, the other man got suddenly very interested in the papers from his briefcase.

You leaned over and whispered in Josh’s ear. “Honey? Really?”

“Don’t start.” Though his voice sounded irritated, there was almost a small smile playing at his lips. You shifted awkwardly, trying to keep a smirk from your own lips.

“You really didn’t have to do that.”

“Do you want the window seat or not?” Now his smile had grown into a snicker, making you laugh lightly.

“Who would have thought you were such a gentleman?”

“Well, I’m a married man now, apparently.” He teased. You rolled your eyes.

“In your dreams, Lyman.”

After an hour of shaking hands and dancing with the Governor’s persistent son, you were ready to knock your head against the wall until you passed out. Oddly enough, you had yet to see Josh. Mrs. Thompson invited you to come early for tea so you hadn’t arrived together. You were beginning to think he’d bailed when you saw him across the room.

Pushing your way over to him, his eyes widened when he finally saw you.

“You look amazing.” He gasped, his eyes scanning your silky blue dress before settling on your eyes. “I mean… wow.”

You felt blush tint your cheeks as a smile spread across your lips. He cleaned up pretty well himself and you found yourself checking him out for what you wished you could say was the first time ever. What could you say? The man looked good in suits.

You must have stood there, staring at each other, for a few minutes before Ned Thompson came into view. Without a second to think, you grabbed Josh’s hand.

“Dance with me.”

“What?”

“Just do it.” You yanked him with you onto the dance floor, losing sight of the Governor’s persistent son.

Josh looked around, trying to see who you seemed so desperate to avoid as the two of you began to sway to the music. “What was that about?”

You checked one more time to make sure the coast was clear. “Ned.”

“The Governor’s kid?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t he, like, ten years younger than you.”

“He’s only eight, but yes.” You rolled your eyes, annoyed by his pestering. On the bright side, he was a pretty good dancer. “If I dance with him one more time, I think he’ll propose.” You couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Just tell him you’re married to me.” Josh smirked. “Worked the last time.” You both chuckled and continued dancing. For a while, you forgot why you were here to begin with. You were enjoying yourself more than you cared to admit. In a room full of people, the only one you wanted to dance with was the man you loved to hate.

Maybe it was the other way around.

You sat up in bed, sipping coffee and reading the paper while the sound of the hotel’s heater droned on. The fluffy white robe enveloped your body perfectly, but the real warmth came from the sleeping form beside you as he turned over, swinging his arm so it was around your waist and pulling you closer to him. You smiled in both amusement and complete bewilderment as to how you got here.

“I don’t think this is what the President meant by ‘teamwork’.” You noted, folding up the paper and setting it aside.

Josh peeked up at you, half his face still smooshed against the pillow.

“Goodmorning.” He greeted groggily, rubbing his eyes as he slowly sat up.

“I made you coffee.” You handed him the little Styrofoam cup and waited until he’d had enough to wake up a little more. “What are we supposed to tell him when he asks how everything went?”

He thought for a moment. “You know, we didn’t fight at all last night.” He was right. Between the ball and, well, everything after that, not a single argument was had.

You shrugged and held out your cup of coffee for a cheers. “To teamwork,” Josh smirked and tapped his cup against yours.

“To teamwork.”

#josh lyman x reader #the west wing #bradley whitford #jed bartlet #the west wing imagines #josh lyman #c.j. cregg #sam seaborn #joshua lemon lyman

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mrwinterr · 4 years ago

Text

Kissletoe

Pairing: College!Bucky Barnes AU x Female Reader

Summary: You’re not a fan of mistletoes. You think it’s an outdated Holiday tradition and an excuse for lovesick fools to steal a kiss. Unlucky for you, college parties are riddled with them this year and someone’s been trying to meet you under one all night.

Warnings: College shenanigans (no one cares in the real world). Smut 18+ (unprotected sex, vaginal penetration & fingering, oral [female receiving], handjob & attempted dirty talk/goofy sex?). Language. Mentions of drugs and alcohol. & bad Christmas pickup lines.

Title Inspiration: “Kissletoe” by 3OH!3

A/N: I’ve never been kissed under the mistletoe let alone attended a legit college party because I’ve been lame my whole life. 🔔 ‘Tis that season! 🎄 Happy Holidays, ya filthy, lovely readers! 🙋🏻‍♀️ Raise your hand if you’re on the naughty list this year! ❤️ Enjoy!

It’s the end of the college fall semester and for the majority of students, the only way to celebrate surviving finals week is to let loose and party, especially right before you’re all forced to go back home to visit family for the Holidays.

“Where do you think you’re going dressed like that?” You hear your friend and roommate Natasha ask.

You stop stuffing your belongings in a box and pause at her question to look down at your current attire - black leggings paired off with an oversized University college-style sweatshirt. You had your hair pulled up in a messy bun, your face clear of any make-up, and lastly your feet were clad in funky, fuzzy socks. This is what you normally wore inside the dorm around her, and you certainly didn’t need to dress to impress just to go home. What was she on about?

“Uh, home? Where else would I be going at the end of the semester?” You reply, an obvious answer.

“Don’t be a smartass,” she retorts, and is quick to follow up when she sees the knowing look on your face and mouth open to retaliate with an even sassy response, “and don’t even start!”

She knew you’d say something like you were exactly that, smart. You in fact had amazing grades and excelled in every course you’d enrolled in. You were confident that you’d aced your exams, so you’re not checking the portal every chance you could get to see if the professor had uploaded your grades yet.

“You’re not supposed to be leaving until Monday,” she reminded you.

“I know, but I mean, there’s no rule saying I had to stay here until then,” you clarify, continuing to pack up more of your things, “I’d rather much get a head start.”

“You’re that eager to get away from me, huh?” She says, feigning sadness.

“You’re the only thing I’m going to miss about college,” you assure her.

College was a different experience for everyone. It was an introduction to the real world. Some used it to start anew, to buckle down and make something of themselves, others used it as an extension to repeat four more years of high school.

You took your studies very seriously, especially if you wanted to maintain your scholarship. It was a known fact college wasn’t cheap and you were fortunate to be here on one. With all that aside, you still knew when to have some fun. After all, all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy, right? You didn’t want to be that kind of person, you wanted to enjoy your college years, and luckily you had almost a polar opposite friend in Natasha to level you out.

“We just survived another week of finals,” she states, and grabbing your arms to stop you for just one second, “what better way to celebrate than partying?”

She sees the conflicted look in your eyes, and can tell you’re weighing out the pros and cons. There were a lot of cons: you’d be surrounded by tons of people, most of which were going to be drunk as fuck or high out of their minds on whatever substance was passed around and the threat of getting taken advantage of by some stranger. The pros? You had some steam to let off and this was a chance to gather and see some of your other friends before the Holiday break. ‘Tis the season, right?

“I guess you’re right,” you start, beginning to compromise, “why not? It’ll be like a little send off,” you decide, throwing in a shrug, and that was it.

“We’re college kids, it’s our right,” Natasha shrugs, before digging into one of your boxes and pulling out one of your cute dresses. You could always count on her to help look good too.

When you both take the short walk to the house, where tonight’s party would be taking place, you abruptly halt at the end of the front porch steps, breaking your locked arms with Natasha.

“Jesus, what’s wrong?” She curses lightly as she almost trips backwards.

“This house…” you start, taking a step back and look up to inspect it, squinting, as if that would do you any good in the dark.

“Yeah?” She asks, a little too impatient, obviously hiding something.

“It’s familiar,” you continue, still trying to find out why it was so. Usually, that wasn’t a good thing...

“Come on. What are you talking about? It’s just a house. Don’t think too much and have fun tonight!” She says, stomping back down the steps and grabbing your arm to drag you up towards the front door.

“I guess you’re right,” you say, giving up again. What were you so worried about?

“Aren’t I always?” She comments, and is, again, quick to shut you down when she sees you open your mouth. She presses her finger to the doorbell just as your mouth closes, and you both await the host.

You look off to the side and stare at the Greek letters tacked onto the wall. You knew you weren’t going to let it go on trying to find out why this house looked so familiar. Then, just when you’ve figured it out, your eyes widen in realization, the grip around your arm intertwined with Natasha’s tightens, feeling your attempt to slip away. The door swings open and the voice that booms out of the person, verifies your answer.

“Well, well, well...the weather outside sure is frightful, but this,” Bucky Barnes starts out singing before looking only in your direction, “oh, seeing you, is so delightful,” ending in a somewhat serious note.

“God, I hate winter,” you comment off to the side. It earns you a jab from Natasha, silently asking you to play nice.

He greets Natasha and easily lets her slip past him into the house. You call out her name, appalled that she left you alone with Bucky. Wasn’t that some rule? Never leave your friends alone at a Frat party.

“You look beautiful,” Bucky says sincerely when it’s just the two of you, to which you don’t respond, but roll your eyes. You didn’t come here to get seduced or hit on, but nonetheless shiver, and logically you could blame it on the cold weather and not the way that comment from him made you feel, then attempt to get inside the warm house.

"Excuse me,” he says, holding out his arms on either side of the door frames, blocking your entrance both ways, “where is my Christmas kiss?“ he asks, leaning in close to you.

“What the hell are you talking about?” You ask incredulously and back away. You owed him no such thing, but when you see the sly smirk on his lips, and his head signal for you to look up, you discover a traditional mistletoe hanging right above your heads.

Bringing your head back to its regular position, you look him dead in the eyes, “I’m not going to kiss you under the mistletoe, Barnes,” you scoff at his attempt to smooch you.

“Why not?” He presses, shuffling his weight from one leg onto the other, and before you can even give him an answer, you both hear your name being shouted from behind him. Bucky whips his head back and you do your best to look over his shoulder.

It came from your friend Wanda, who was excitedly waving you over to her. You smile and wave back at her, internally grateful that luck was on your side at this moment. Bucky turns back around and stares at you, wondering how to pick back up on your conversation, but when he doesn’t come up with anything, he sighs defeatedly, drops his arms and finally lets you in.

You make your way over to Wanda engulfing her with a huge hug. Natasha was close by, sipping on her drink. You’ll grill her later for leaving you alone with Bucky. She knew not to do that, but she did it at every chance she got. Now, you knew why she brought you to this specific house party.

“You weren’t planning on leaving without a proper farewell, were you?” Wanda asked worriedly. You immediately pieced together that Natasha had ratted you out on your attempt to leave campus and head back home early.

“It’s not forever, Wan,” you assure her. It was literally only for a few weeks, but while everyone would probably only be a few hours away from each other or a few states apart different, Wanda would be flying back to her home country to spend the Holidays with her family. You’ll admit, you could’ve been a little more considerate and sensitive.

“I’ll still miss you,” she says, the admission melting your heart, not even thinking about how the separation would be on others.

“She’s right, it’s not forever,” Natasha interjects, not allowing for any sad vibes on your last few hours of the semester together, “let’s make some memories tonight,” she says before handing you a drink.

Bucky, as hard as he tried to cover it up, rejoins his group of friends, Steve and Sam, sulking. He’d gotten you alone again, but failed, and he vowed to never give up. He had a crush on you, simple as that, but you were playing hard to get, and all this time spent on playing cat and mouse when you could be doing other things.

“Man, just save yourself from any further embarrassment and give up,” Sam tells him while also handing him a drink of his own, which Bucky accepts and quickly takes a swig from.

“Never,” he said, determined and slightly winces at the burn in his throat, his body almost warming in an instant, “I’m gonna get my Holiday kiss.”

“Why do you even care? You’re usually not one behind this Holiday shit,” he asks, looking around the crowded room.

“I’m not, but it gives me a reason to get close to her,” Bucky admits pathetically, staring into the red solo cup before taking the last swig, crushing it in his hand and air balling it to the trash.

“Dude!” Steve chastises him about adding onto the mess they’d have to clean afterwards, to which Bucky shrugs at.

“You can’t expect her to just kiss anyone under the mistletoe,” Steve reminds him. He knew it wasn't an easy conquest for any guy to gain your affection.

“I’ve been a good boy this year, alright, I’m gonna get her to see what she’s been looking for has been in front of her this whole time,” Bucky says trying not to sound or look as predatory as he watched you disappear into the kitchen with your friends.

You suppose the saying rules were meant to be broken, were taken a bit too literal by your friends, even college party rules because you’re left alone again. Wanda had abandoned the trio for some alone time with her boyfriend, who everyone dubbed Vision or Vis for short due to how outrageously innovative he was. Natasha decided to partake in a classic game of beer pong, something you incredibly sucked at, so there was no way she was going to recruit you as her partner nor were you interested in standing there awkwardly watching the game go on.

Surprisingly, the only place that seemed to be of a quiet enough spot to think was the backyard patio. You could see there was a fire lit and some other students scattered or sprawled on the grass. Quickening your pace, you manage to claim a vacant lawn chair next to the fire and hope you’d stay warm and at peace.

There you start to think that being in attendance tonight would’ve made no difference. Natasha was just good at persuading you into things. Call it peer pressure or whatever, but you put your faith and trust in her to not believe she’d ever steer you in the wrong direction, so why were you so bothered being here?

“You know, refusing to kiss someone under the mistletoe is bad luck,” you hear the voice of the reason why.

“I don’t believe in that bullshit,” you respond, watching as he plops down on the empty seat next to you.

“Really? Then why haven’t you been out on a date in so long?” he asks tauntingly.

“How would you know?” You ask a bit offended.

Why was he so concerned about your love life? You were never close with Bucky growing up and if anyone was of an impression you were, it was only because of Steve, who welcomed everyone, and that included you when you moved into the neighborhood when you were a little girl.

All throughout elementary school, until things started developing, puberty probably, it further separated you from Bucky. Steve blossomed a little later in life, so it helped solidify a good friendship with him, the same couldn’t be said for Bucky. You didn’t hate him, just got annoyed by his harmless teasing.

“I’ll have you know I have other priorities,” your attempt at an excuse was subtle, but you didn’t owe him an explanation anyways.

“Sure,” he says in a tone that suggests he didn’t believe you.

You watch as he lights up a cigarette, takes a small drag, and the cloud of smoke puffing out from his lips. He notices your stare and digs into his coat pocket, fishing out the pack before offering you one. You accept and pluck one out of the carton, he follows up with sticking out his lighter and you lean in closer to him to place the end of your stick against the flame.

You weren’t going to deny the relieving effect the nicotine had running through your body. College was stressful and while you weren’t one to abuse substances, a hit every now and then helped calm your nerves.

“So why is it you won’t kiss anyone under the mistletoe?” He asks, leaning back on the plastic chair, his head turning to the side, full attention on you.

He was enchanted by the girl, who grew up into a beautiful young woman, sitting next to him, slowly killing herself with every inhale and exhale of the cigarette between her lips, but you weren’t just attractive to Bucky, you were every bit incredible to him. You were smart, helpful, loyal to your friends and he was just misguided sometimes in life that led you to astray from him.

“It’s just an excuse for guys to steal a kiss from some poor girl...for lonely people to fake love,” you said almost bitterly.

Truth was, you had a bitter experience with a guy who’d led you on in high school after accidentally hearing that he could bet his friends he could get you to make out with him and he’d do so by using a mistletoe as a ruse.

Bucky detected some distaste in your response but decides not to interrogate you on it any further. There’d been a lot of growing up between the two of you since you’d both been estranged during your teenage years, and certain life events were missed on either party. So, where did you both stand in each other's lives now? You weren’t sure if you could call each other friends. It wasn’t easy to avoid Bucky, what with all the mutual friends and classes you shared, including the same street back home.

“I didn’t throw this party just to see everyone before they leave or to celebrate the end of finals,” he reveals, after several, somber minutes of silence, the cigarettes in your hands quickly burning out.

“Then why did you?” You ask curiously, meeting his gaze.

“To see you,” he simply admits. It was vague.

“How’d you even know I’d show up?” You quiz him.

“Because I begged Natasha to convince you,” he freely says, exposing his plan.

You were a smart person, but you couldn’t figure Bucky out. Why would he do that? Or for that matter, say something like that. What was his endgame here?

“Tis the fuckin’ season,” you comment offhand, getting up from the seat to leave. You stomp out your cigarette and prepare to head back inside and bid your farewells.

You’re just about to step through the threshold, when you feel a large hand wrap around your arm, halting you in place in the middle of the sliding screen door.

“Am I really that bad?” He inquires, and you know he’s not asking about just kissing him under the mistletoe anymore. Bucky always wore his heart on his sleeve, no matter how tough he appeared to be. It fooled a lot of people, sometimes you included, but in this moment, he seemed to genuinely be concerned about your perspective about him.

You were too grown to blame how the course of your relationship with Bucky had gone south on silly teenage phases. You knew it was much deeper than that, it was how sad it made you feel.

You’d harbored a small crush on him back then and it was cruel to see him grow into a handsome, charming guy and go out with other girls. He never showed an interest in you in the past and it was getting exhausting trying to get his attention, it was proving to be a distraction in your life, so it was then you’d vowed to focus on yourself and the life ahead of you, a life that didn’t revolve or involve Bucky.

However, a part of you, the risky and impulsive part of you, said you had less than a handful of months left before you were set to walk the stage and graduate. If you did what you were about to do, you could avoid Bucky for just one more semester, then you’d move far, far away and most likely never see him again. With a quick glance up, you give in to the idea of this side of you, lean in and plant your lips on Bucky’s soft ones.

Bucky is left dumbfounded, eyes still half closed when you pull away. He was shocked, caught off guard, and you by a totally different notion. You like him, you’ve always liked him.

It was a decent kiss if anyone would’ve caught it, at least you hoped it appeared it was, and that Bucky could convince you of it being so…

“You said kissing under the mistletoe is for lonely people to fake love...so then why do I feel so alive?” he asks you in a daze.

He doesn't succeed in convincing you.

How you’d both managed to move past that scene at the doorway without raising suspicion was beyond you two. The fact you both found a vacant room was an even more impressive feat at the moment.

“You better have locked that door,” you say, attempting to make it sound like a threat, but with you underneath him, you were anything but.

Shoes scattered along the pathway to the bed, his thick jacket following in suit. You’d managed to pull your lips back from his, but he couldn’t keep his off of yours as they trailed from the corner of your lips, along your jawline and down your neck. You feel his tongue drag just along your pulse, causing your hips to thrust up. You let out a moan at what you felt through his jeans and how he started sucking and nibbling over the spot he’d licked.

“Why? Don’t want everyone finding out how naughty you actually are?” He questions back teasingly with a cocky grin, and as he tugs at the sleeves of his unbuttoned shirt.

You don’t have a comeback for him, but instead you lightly shove him back and try to escape from underneath, hoping to get through to him and show you’re in fact serious. The last thing you wanted was for any of your friends to walk in on you two in the act.

“Relax!” He says, also sitting up and reaching out and pulling you back to him, “I locked it,” he assures, leaning in closer, “not even Santa will know what we’re doing,” then his lips reclaim yours, his tongue delving in your mouth. You’re once more on your back, lips locked and heavy. Had you known kissing Bucky was this good, you’d have kissed him earlier.

Bucky’s hands run up your thighs, snake their way underneath, you feel his fingers ghost over your scantily clad pussy. The tingling sensation causes the feeling in the pit of your stomach to brew.

“You want me to touch you?” He asks huskily while still pecking your lips.

“Yes,” you almost immediately answer, desperate for his touch.

“How bad?” Oh, he knows how bad, but he had so much fun watching you crumble.

“Bucky,” you start to whine.

“Tell me...how bad do you want me to touch you,” he repeats slowly.

“Fuck you,” you bite back. He was really going to make you say it, “I want you to touch me so bad...please, Bucky,” you quickly give in.

Bucky rewards you with a deep kiss as you feel him hook a finger on the thin slit of your panties and pull them to the side. He runs a long finger between your folds, and he pulls his lips away to inhale sharply.

“You’re so wet,” he states the obvious, bringing that same hand up to his lips to lick the pad of his thumb so he could start rubbing circles on your clit. You bite your lip and stare at him, he’s watching you carefully, loving how hard you’re trying to hold back.

“You want to be a good girl?” He asks, and you nod, “then don’t hold back. Stop fighting me, and I’ll make you come hard with just my fingers,” he bargains. You want to call him on his bluff, but he’s the one with the upper hand - literally. “But first…,” he starts, sitting up on his knees, hands back at his sides so he could scoot down lower on the bed, “...I want to taste this pussy,” his voice deep, and almost dangerous.

He pushes the end of your dress up, bunching it at the waist, to reveal your cute underwear. He pauses for a split second, “Holiyay indeed” he says to himself, reading the embezzled design on the front of your thong. You don’t even roll your eyes in annoyance anymore, because maybe if you kept quiet and submissive enough, you’ll finally get to come.

When he rids you of the garment, Bucky uses his fingers to spread your wet lips before running his tongue flat against it, only narrowing out when it reaches your clit. He spends a little more time at your there, circling it with his tongue, lightly kissing and sucking at it. His fingers start rubbing you, tracing the rim of the opening, while his mouth was still busy at work.

You're all but writhing from the buildup, your chest heaving up and down, stomach clenching tight from his doing, not prepared for when he inserts a finger inside your wet hole. You audibly gasped and reached a hand towards him, but he swats it away. You dare pick your head up to watch, and you’re met with his eyes, full of lust, looking up at you, but his mouth still latched onto your pussy. You can feel his finger slide in and out of you slowly, your mouth open displaying how good he’s making you feel.

In fact, it’s too good you’re not in control of your legs anymore as they kick and squirm at the feeling he’s bestowing on you, so he removes his finger away from you only to maneuver into a position where he could hook his arms under legs and basically slam your back down on the bed. You unconsciously start chanting his name, like a silent prayer for him to touch you down there again.

Your head is a little fuzzy, body on fire; you want to burst. Unable to pick up your head, you cast your eyes down on him just in time to see him spit on your already soaking cunt. You watch as he uses his fingers to spread the wetness all over before slipping two fingers inside of you.

The intrusion causes you to groan and back to arch, and you can’t help but grab at any part of the arm that his hand going to work on you, just making sure it doesn't go away until it gets the job done. He chuckles lightly at your eagerness with your hips bucking up at his palm.

“I promised I’d let you come, right?” He points out, which you nod fervently, loosen your grip and attempt to keep your hips at bay, so he could fulfill his promise. You feel his finger push in about knuckle-deep and curl inside, causing you to choke out a dry sob. You begin to bite your lip, hard, when he does it again and again.

Your hands are on autopilot, trying to heighten the pleasure your body was being coursed with, and they grab handfuls of your breasts, still confined in your dress. You squeeze and squish them together, anything to help you find that release sooner. Bucky’s gaze catches onto your moves and licks at his lips, the sight of your breasts threatening to spill out offers him a taste of what’s still yet to be unwrapped.

He speeds up his efforts, they’re proven efficient as you start clenching tight around his fingers, your arousal also coating the palm of his hand. He whispers tiny praises as you try to recover from the first orgasm. You swallow the lump in your throat and run your hands over your face, almost dazed and bewildered that Bucky was capable of pulling something like that out of you.

Your legs fall limp on the bed, the silence broken by Bucky, “such a sweet pussy,” he compliments, and you take a peek between your fingers to see his fingers pop out of his mouth from sucking his digits clean.

“Do you want to unwrap your gift?” He asks, crawling over to you. You manage to sit up, your body supported by your propped elbows, so Bucky is slightly hovering over you. You nod at his question and he brings one hand behind your head to swoop you in for a sweet kiss. You use both hands to hold his face in place to make the kiss last just a little longer.

Bucky reluctantly pulls away though so he could grab at the bunched fabric of your dress and pull it over your head, leaving you completely bare in front of him. He swears, eyes running over every part of you before sitting upright on his knees again.

You lean in and reach with both hands to unbuckle his belt, the clinking of metal sounding loud, button popping off in haste, and dragging the zipper down. You yank down at his fitted jeans to reveal the imprint of his hard cock under his boxer briefs. Fuck, he was big, that much you could see. You couldn’t keep your grabby hands away as you palm him through the fabric, his cock twitching at the indirect contact.

“Take it out,” he instructs, and you look up perilously at him, eyes begging him to confirm, “...it’s yours, baby girl,” and it was all the assurance you needed to peel his boxers down.

You wrap your hands around his length and start pumping him languidly. He was already hard and no doubt fully erect, but you immediately found how good it felt in your hands. With every pump, his pre-cum pools at the head, and with each trip your hands make up to the tip, they travel back down with the substance, effectively lathering him up and making him slick enough for an easy entry.

“I want to fuck you so bad,” he admits when you give his member an experimental squeeze, your fingers curl around him, the tips grazing along his balls.

Leaning in to place light kisses to his pecs, you look up at him, “well, you’ve been a good boy, so do it,” you say, hands retreating as you lie back down, “...fuck me, Bucky.”

Bucky lets out a low growl, kicks his bottoms away, and climbs back on top of you. He reaches down to grab his cock and starts running it up and down the length of your sex, causing your body to shudder. You could feel the ridges and just how hard he got before he slowly slid his cock inside. There’s a tiny sting on his entrance as his thick cock stretches your walls.

“Mmm, baby, it’s cold outside,” he starts playfully singing, “...but you, you’re so warm,” kissing your cheek, getting you to relax; not realizing you had held your breath trying to bear through the initial pain, “...and so wet,” he says pulling out with a lewd noise, before thrusting all the way back in, bottoming out.

He starts off sweet and slow, and while you liked that on some occasion, now wasn’t one of them. Bucky’s cock probed at your spot almost instantly and you found out you didn’t want to prolong the euphoric ending. His hands slip around your smaller frame, pulling your body up, closer to his, while his hips moved in waves crashing harder and harder into yours.

His face buried into the mattress next to your face, you hear his breathy moans, and you love that he doesn’t hold them back the slightest. Who didn’t like to hear how good the other person was making them feel, right? You grip and pull at his hair, while the other gabs at his buttocks, feeling it flex with each snap of his hips, and your legs tangled with his. Sweat that had built up on your bodies make the movements sloppy, muscles beginning to ache, both of you were about to peak.

“God, you feel so good,” he says, picking his head up, his hair matted and messy, he still looked sexy, “...you gonna come all over my cock now?” His words fuel you and your hips start driving into his, making him eat his own words, “fuck, baby, you’re gonna make me cum!”

“Yes, Bucky,” you coo, your hands gripping his sides, loving the feeling of his hard body, slick and warm to the touch, “...come,” you try coaxing him, but one particular thrust rips right through you and your walls start clenching him tighter than the fit.

You only finish the command when you’re riding the waves of the aftershock, “come on, Bucky, I want it...inside, please.” You definitely picked up on the fact that he liked to hear you beg and be specific with your wants.

Bucky soon stills, spurts of his hot cum splatter your walls that continue to flutter around his cock. His climax spreads warmth all over your lower body. Your limbs, both arms and legs, wrap around his exhausted body. He carefully drops his bodyweight on you, mindful of not suffocating you in the process.

When he’s regained regular breathing, using one of his hands, he reaches behind him in search of yours before interlocking your fingers and just holding it, you hold onto each other. Bucky picks up his head and stares at your hand in his, you follow his gaze and join him. They fit with one another perfectly, and even so, the light squeeze he gives it, lets you know it also felt right.

“Well, where have you two been?” Sam says loudly, announcing you and Bucky’s arrival, rejoining your group of friends. Wanda and Vision close to each other, his arm around her frame, Natasha standing in between Sam and Steve, a refilled cup in each of their hands.

“I have been trying to escape this crazed man all night,” you playfully exaggerate.

“And yet you’ve managed to keep failing,” Bucky chimes in smugly, a cute smirk running across his features. This unearthed feeling testing your willpower to keep up with appearance and show resistance.

“Yeah, no thanks to my so-called friends,” pinning the blame on the two females in the room. Wanda turns red, guilty and slightly awful for abandoning you, but Natasha has a different reaction. She’s got that knowing smile on her face. It’s small, but very strong.

You watch as her eyes divert to the ceiling, you follow her gaze and then when you both look back at each other, the smile on her face turns into a full-blown smirk. There’s a collective sound of “oh’s” from everyone, noting the mistletoe above you and Bucky.

Turning to Bucky, who looks like he doesn’t know what to do, just stands there staring at you, not knowing what to expect. You’re supposed to act like nothing happened or reveal anything to your friends just yet, so he mentally prepares for a rebuttal to your impending rejection or insult to kiss him. Nothing could’ve prepared him for what you do instead.

You place a hand on the back of his neck and pull him down to you and smash your lips together. Bucky’s hands immediately grab a hold of your hips, he’d have to get used to the lightheaded feeling when he’s close to you.

The kiss is slow and probably not appropriate to be deemed as a simple traditional mistletoe kiss, but you both can’t help it and continue to allow your lips to slide against one another’s before there’s a rise of cheers, whistling and howls around you, shattering the bubble.

When you pull apart, you reluctantly walk away from Bucky and head to where Natasha stood, steal the cup from her hand and finish off the remainder of her drink, all while staring straight at her. She knew. Only when you’re done with the last sip, you give her the same small, sly smile. There are no words exchanged, and none needed.

“Guess, you have been a good boy this year, Barnes,” Sam jokes, but regardless is proud of his friend.

“Third time's the charm,” Bucky says casually, shrugging like it was no big deal, as if he hadn’t been desperately chasing you all night. You shake your head at his silliness, but nonetheless smile at him, your heart skipping a bit.

Who knew what you’d been looking for was hanging underneath the doorway staring at you face-to-face this whole time?

A/N: I can confidently say, I used one of these Christmas puns as a pickup line on a guy recently and it worked in my favor! Shoot your shot but stay safe in more than one way; these are them trying times. Also, the underwear thing is a real design I saw while looking through Victoria’s Secret sales…lol.

🎁 Gift me a like, reblog, comment - anything, please! 🥺💖

#mrwinterr writes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes fanfic #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan smut #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fanfic #college!bucky barnes #college!bucky #college!au

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can-youimagine · 3 years ago

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Icing on the Cake (Spencer Reid x Reader)

Summary: This Valentine's Day is certainly special

Chapter TW: Mini disasters, wine

Word Count: 804

Masterlist

Spencer has never been a fan of Valentine’s Day. He wasn’t anti-Valentines Day or anything. He just never felt like it was a big deal. If he had a Valentine (which he never had, so maybe that led to some of his bitterness), he would want to show them he loved them all year, not just in February.

Still, he would indulge Penelope with her celebration. On the first of the month, Penelope had given everyone their own cheesy, elementary-school valentine (complete with heart-shaped sucker), getting everybody into the mood.

So much so that everyone started contributing to a team Valentine’s Day celebration. Rossi had agreed to host everyone for dinner on the thirteenth. Penelope continued to pass out valentines. Jack and Henry helped their parents make their own valentines for the group. Morgan, despite saying he didn’t, brought in a box of heart-shaped donuts. You and Alex offered to make dessert for the dinner. It seems like everyone had bought into the holiday except Spencer.

“You’re coming tonight, right?” you ask Spencer, eating the last donut.

“I’m not sure,” he answers honestly.

“Ooh, does Dr. Spencer Reid have a secret Valentine?”

He blushes. “No, no. I’m just not a holiday person.”

“Bullshit. We all saw you on Halloween.”

“I’m a Halloween person, but I’m not a Valentine’s Day person.”

“Oh, God! Please don’t tell me you’re one of those ‘Valentine’s Day was made up by greeting card companies’ people.”

“No, no. I just have never really had a reason to celebrate.”

“Well,” you respond, “think about it, please?”

“Yeah.” Though, he has already made up his mind.

He arrives early at Rossi’s with heart-shaped cards for everyone.

“You’re the first one here,” Rossi greets. “To be completely honest, I didn’t expect to see you at all.”

Spencer shrugs, not wanting to reveal the reason he decided to come at the last minute.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here, and you know that we have more than enough food to go around.”

Luckily, you save him from having to respond. In one hand, you have a bottle of wine, and in the other is a tray of confetti cupcakes. “Would you mind giving me a hand?”

Spencer doesn’t think twice about it. He immediately takes the tray from you. Unfortunately, when he does, the lid comes off, sending the cupcakes flying through the air.

Spencer wants the ground to swallow him whole. Instead, a cupcake falls on the ground in front of him, a few find their way into Rossi’s plants, some hit him, and worst of all, one falls on you.

“Are you okay?” you ask through a laugh, surprising him.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about the cupcakes.”

You shrug, cleaning the frosting off yourself. “Don’t sweat it. That’s why we have Alex, right?”

He lets himself let go of some of his guilt. “Yeah,” he laughs, “I guess so.”

“Besides,” you answer, swiping your finger through some of the frosting on his glasses, “the frosting’s the best part.” That alone was enough to make him blush, but the little giggle you let out once you taste the frosting turns him bright red. “Let’s get inside and clean up.”

“Yeah,” he chokes out, wordlessly following you into the house.

As soon as you enter the house, Rossi laughs. “Well, at least the wine is okay.”

You hand the bottle to him, making some quip that makes him laugh harder. Spencer doesn’t hear it. He’s too focused on replaying the events while trying to determine how mad you are at him and whether or not that will interfere with his card.

“Spence, I think I’ve got some frosting in the back of my hair, would you mind helping me?” you ask, turning to him.

He nods, knowing that he’ll mess up whatever he has to say, and once again wordlessly follows you through Rossi’s.

The bathroom is spacious enough that Spencer is able to stay away from you while you both clean off your faces. Your shirt is a lost cause, as is his, but he feels pretty bad about yours.

“Your hair looks good,” Spencer states. “I mean, it’s clean. I mean-”

“Thank you, Spence. I’m actually glad you dropped the cupcakes,” you confess, “I had something I wanted to tell you, but there’s no way I could do it in front of everyone.” You turn the towel in your hands, hoping that staring at the food dye will make this easier. “I know that today’s not really Valentine’s Day, but it’s the only Valentine’s I’ll be celebrating this year, unless, you want to spend tomorrow with me?”

Spencer, feeling a surge of confidence, smiles. “Are you trying to ask me out?”

“It’s not working, is it? I’m-”

He cuts you off with a kiss. “You’re wrong, the frosting isn’t the best part; it’s you.”

#spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds fic #criminal minds imagine

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may-b-a-u-shewritestoo · 3 years ago

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The Feeling Is Mutual | | Part 2 | | Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

PART 1

Summary; You’re both profilers, analysing behaviour and making connections. So why is it so hard to read each other?

Includes; injury to main characters, talk of injury, talk of violence, talk of unsub and weapons, talk of being drugged, sickening amount of fluff, mutual masturbation, (MINORS DNI 18+)talk of sex, dirty talk, no dynamic!, and a bit more fluff :)

Word count; 3.6K

Plans had changed and you were not happy about it. The pattern in victimology had shown that the unsub targeted men who were uncomfortable in social settings. Vulnerable type. Derek, being the giant intimidating boulder of a man he was, wouldn’t have attracted the unsub.

So they were sending in Spencer. Everybody including you knew he would fit the description required for this unsub; but the thought of him being touched or hurt or flirted with by somebody that wasn’t you brought a nauseating heavy feeling in your stomach.

“What’s wrong? You’ve had a permanent frown on your face since we started this morning.”

Spencer could feel the mood thickening in the air of the hotel room as he turned to face you.

He was trying to straighten his tie, completely oblivious to the way you stared at him with a mix you could only describe as anger-lust-fear. You didn’t want to even think about how he would react to you telling him the real reason you were upset so you just sighed and shook your head.

“I just hate last minute changes. I thought we were gonna hang back, let Derek do his ‘thing’ and she’d walk out gripping his unnaturally large bicep.” You twiddled with your fingers as you mumbled an excuse to get Spencer off your back.

“What’s wrong with her walking out on my unnaturally small bicep?” he laughed, trying to lighten the mood. You rolled your eyes, forcing them away from staring at his arms and imagining yourself gripping them in a different situation.

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

It was nauseating. The way her fingernails slowly dragged along his forearm, and slipped a little underneath the rolled sleeve. Her stupid voice pitching higher to seem more cute and innocent. He really did fit the part, swallowing thickly and stumbling over his words when she leaned forward a little and exposed her chest a little more.

“Have you ever felt like your body was on fire?” she asked, face now mere inches away from his. Spencer looked over at the security camera that he knew could see them both.

“That’s it. That’s the line. Stand by Y/N, Morgan.” Hotch warned, watching the footage over the nervous shoulders of Garcia.

A young tech student from a local college had been extremely fortunate in escaping the unsub the early hours of this morning. He’d shakily mumbled about her saying about being on fire and then chugging back a pint of straight gin. He asked if she needed help and she’d told him her car was outside if he wouldn’t mind helping her get home.

But as he went to open the driver side door to get in, he noticed her giggling to herself and a gun sitting on her lap. So he ran.

Hotch was worried that his escape would either mess up the trap tonight, or completely change her M.O and she would devolve, leaving you all at another starting point. But luckily for you all, she only had one technique, and was set on using it; so here you all were.

As you stood with your back against the wall, you peeked your head ever so slightly around the bar doors; the small circular window showing the back of her head and Spencer in full view.

“God, she’s making me feel sick. Why is she so touchy? I thought she would’ve dragged him out of here by now.” Whispering with a malicious tone to your voice, Derek chucked quietly at your rage.

“Jealous? Pretty Boy’s getting some attention from a serial killer and you’re jealous?”

“I’m not jealous Morgan. I’m disgusted.” sighing, you rolled your eyes.

“Y/N you know it’s my job. I’m not stupid. Anyone can see you’re completely and utterly-“

“Shut up.”

“Y/N you can change the subject all you like, everybody kno-“

“Derek, they’re gone.”

You had no visual. You couldn’t see her, nor Spencer. Not even an inch of her hair flicking into a different direction, not even a corner of Spencer’s jacket.

“Hotch?” Morgan spoke with a warning inflection into his smart watch.

Scanning the footage for where they could’ve possibly gone, Hotch hurriedly put on his Kevlar and gun before jumping out to head round the back of the bar.

“Guys, I have a visual on Reid. He’s out cold up on the V.I.P balcony. I can’t seem to find-”

Peeking again through the bar window, you didn’t have time to register what Penelope was saying nor what was happening before you felt a dull pain throb through your face. Stumbling backwards and trying to keep your balance, you noticed a warm and fuzzy feeling buzzing across your body before everything went black.

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

“Can you just shut up and pass me a spoon? I’m not kidding anymore.”

“Get it yourself. You don’t wanna listen to me, why should I listen to you?”

“You’re an asshole Derek. Just so you know. I’ve eaten Jello with a straw before, and I’ll do it again.”

“Boys, will you shut up, her eyes just moved.”

Muffled voices stirred you to consciousness as you struggled to open your eyes. Immediately sending a sharp pain to your head, the lights felt like lasers as you tried to make sense of where you were.

“Jesus H Christ, why are the lights so damn bright?”

“There she is. Good morning pretty girl.” The sweet sounds of Miss Garcia swam through your ears, and her perfume overwhelmed your senses as she leant down to kiss your cheek. “I bought you a cupcake, and I’ve made sure these two don’t touch it.”

Squinting at the two men sitting on the empty hospital bed next to yours, you laughed at the two of them. They were acting like children.

Derek had a plastic spoon in his hand, holding and waving it as far away from Spencer as he possibly could. Spencer sat cross legged, arms folded but with a sealed cup of orange jello in one hand; tutting at Derek with disappointment.

“Would anybody like to update and inform me on why on earth Penelope is babysitting us in a hospital ward?” you asked, attempting to sit up a little bit, and groaning out at how much your body ached.

Spencer almost stood up when you grimaced in pain, but stayed seated as not to look too bothered.

“We caught the unsub,” Derek began to explain, Penelope giggling when you did a silent ‘yay’ and mini jazz hands, “but she roofied Reid, which was new and discovered his badge in his jacket.” He looked over at Reid with a sarcastic look, to which he was met with shrugged shoulders and Spencer digging into his jello.

“As she came back down the stairs to make her escape, she noticed you and Derek arguing or whatever that was outside the bar doors, and snuck into the crowd to watch you. When you tried to find her, I just saw her coming towards the doors but she moved hella fast.” Penelope explained, sipping from a bright pink tumbler.

“She kicked the door that you were stood behind, and then basically jumped you until you were unconscious, but didn’t quite realise I was there. So I got her. Pretty Boy here woke up a few hours ago just hungry.”

Spencer looked up at Derek and smiled, letting everyone know he was too invested in the jello to retaliate to his sarcasm. He glimpsed over at you and smiled in a different way, which Penelope caught on to immediately.

“Anyway! The doctor said you have a lot of bruised ribs but other than that you are good to go home today! Did you want me to stay over at yours? I can bring more cupcakes?” She asked sweetly, passing you the sprinkle covered cupcake and unwrapping it for you.

She was the equivalent of a big sister and a mom to you; always looking out for you, making sure you’d eaten but also joining in on gossip and hosting alcoholic themed sleepovers. She knew about yours and Spencer’s hookups, after the one time you were accidentally too loud in the hotel room next to hers.

You’d been sat on a swivel chair in her office, begging and pleading and bribing with sweet treats and baked goods for her not to tell a soul and as far as you were aware, she stuck to her promise. With a dramatic mime of locking her lips shut, she had grabbed a croissant from your hands and turned back to her computer.

“I could - sorry - I could stay over if you’d prefer Y/N? I know we’ve got a few episodes of Black Mirror to catch up on?” Spencer jumped at the chance to interrupt, correcting himself as his volume came out louder than planned.

Nodding quickly with a huge beaming smile and a mouth full of cupcake, you could feel yourself internally healing already.

“I’d like that. If that’s okay Pen? I’ve tried to explain to him that you can’t ‘catch up’ on Black Mirror but he won’t have it.” You carried on enjoying the sugary treat, as Spencer carried on eating his; ignoring the blatant smirks being swapped between Derek and Penelope.

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

As far as you were concerned the past weekend had gone way too quickly. Coming home from hospital on Thursday evening, Spencer had stayed over and still hadn’t left.

It was just about Sunday morning, and you’d both passed out after playing cards until 3am. He’d kept you so busy and your brain occupied you’d barely had time to think about your body aching and healing. He made you laugh so hard at times you were tempted to call the emergency room back to see if they could check you in again.

You guys hadn’t kissed or barely touched except to cuddle on the couch; even then Spencer was hesitant because he was convinced he’d do more damage. But it wasn’t the aches and pains that was getting to you. It was the way you felt starved of touch and affection.

Usually you both would be particularly in the mood, would call one another up and you’d both satiate each other’s needs before maybe having a cuddle and leaving.

In all fairness, the last time you felt him was only yesterday morning when he came to give you some tea in bed. He’d sat beside you - very gently - drinking his own sugar and coffee; hand holding onto your thigh and stroking lightly. It was all too sweet. Sweeter than the concoction he made to drink every morning.

But now you’d woken up only a few hours after going to sleep, the room still a shade of blue and gray. Sunrise was on its way, but night was still present, no birdsong could be heard; but the soft hums of Spencer Reid sleeping filled the air.

You knew that Hotch had given the both of you time off, you had nowhere to be for 2 more days. You wanted oh so desperately to shake him awake, jump his bones and go several rounds until you were due in, but not only could your body not physically take it; your heart couldn’t either.

Something felt different. Unrecognised, the feeling of wanting something else flooded your thoughts. Did you want to be fucked? Did you want to lay in Spencer’s arms for the entire day and be held? Or did you want both?

The way he’d smiled over at you when you woke up in hospital made you feel like you’d driven over a speed bump, your tummy swirling around and doing backflips. How he’d stayed with you after, how he’d looked after you and listened to you this whole time.

Unbeknownst to you however, while you were deep in thought about whatever this weird feeling was; Spencer had blinked his eyes open, rested his head in one of his hands and was watching you.

“What’re you thinking about?”

You jumped, grimacing as you stretched out a rib that you definitely shouldn’t have stretched out. “I’m currently thinking about how much that hurt, how much I hate you and how much I’m going to regret being awake later.”

Spencer laughed, a slight husk from tiredness layered into it. He brought his opposite hand up and stroked up and down your spine, noticing how goosebumps formed underneath his fingertips.

“You cold?”

“No.”

“Come here.”

Slowly laying back down, you groaned out in a mixture of uncomfortableness and relief as you got back into the warm spot next to Reid. Looking over at him made you feel giddy, the way you would feel getting ready for a date or a big event. You were nervous. But why?

“What’s going on in that pretty head of yours Y/N?” he asked sweetly, fingers coming up to stroke your cheek. He quickly withdrew them and cleared his throat, laying back down completely parallel beside you.

“Spencer, are you tired right now?”

“No. Are you?” He shuffled onto his side again.

“No. Quite the opposite.” with slight struggle, you mirrored his position, laying on your side and looking into his eyes with a lazy smile.

“Y/N, I can’t, you’re struggling to even lay down let alone-“

“No Spencer, I’m not hinting at sex. Although the millisecond I can, I will.” you laughed out, edging slightly closer to him. His breath hitched, and he shuffled awkwardly.

“What do you want?”

“I want to feel good Spence,”

“I thought you just said-“

“I want to feel good. So, I’m going to make myself feel good.” Your voice dropped a little, hoping that Spencer would catch on to what you were implying. Sometimes he could catch your drift, other times you would have to spell it out for him. Luckily for you, it was the former.

He nodded, waiting for you to make the next move. Watching you with intent, he began taking in each tiny detail of you.

The way you kept your eyes on his but let your hand trail down your body. The sigh of relief and arousal as you shuffled a little closer to him again, before laying on your back slowly and getting ready and comfortable. You let out a deep exhale while trailing your other hand over your chest, squeezing ever so lightly.

“Fuck Y/N. You’re really gonna do it? What if you hurt, the doctor recommended not strain-“

“Spencer, stop. I know my limits. I also know that if I don’t make myself cum soon I might actually spontaneously combust.”

He chuckled at your silliness, before remembering something. “There’s actually been less than 150 cases of spontaneous combustion recorded in almost 2000 years, so I doubt that your heightened state of arousal could cause you-“

“Spencer Reid, if you don’t shut up and kiss me right now I will make sure I’m the 150th case.”

He giggled and leant down to your lips, holding your face with one hand and holding himself up with the other arm. Pressing gently against your lips as if you were made of glass, he smiled against you; letting out a small moan as you reached up and pulled him closer into the kiss.

Your fingers circling over your clit through your panties caused you to wind your hips up against your hand gently, remembering not to overdo it. Moaning out quietly as you applied more pressure, Spencer pulled back to watch you.

“You look so beautiful Y/N.” He whispered, eyes darting between your face concentrated with pleasure and your hands roaming around your body.

He could feel himself growing and stiffening underneath his pyjama pants when you whimpered in response, and he bucked instinctively as the material grew tighter.

“Do you wanna touch yourself too Spence?” you mumbled out, movements staying the same speed but your head turning to watch him,“Touch yourself with me, feel what I’m feeling.”

“Yes, please.” Spencer laid down beside you again, his arm touching yours. Gripping himself through his pants he hissed out at the sudden contact.

Leaning your head against his shoulder, you watched to see what his next move would be; waiting to mirror him. He caught on to you copying his movements as he slipped his hands underneath his pants, a mix of a chuckle and a moan falling from his lips as you did the same.

“God this is so sexy..” Spencer moaned out louder this time, as he grasped his cock fully in his palm. Mimicking his actions, you also became a little louder; the feeling of skin touching skin becoming more and more intense.

“Tell me something Spence.” you spoke breathily, fingers applying more pressure to your clit and switching to dip inside yourself.

Curling his wrist with every sharp tug and squeezing the head of his cock every time he reached the top, all he could do was try to take deep breaths where he held them for so long.

“I thought about you. When she flirted with me.”

You wanted to pause, wondering why he brought up an unsub in the middle of such an intimate moment. But his next words only brought you closer to your brink.

“When I looked over her shoulder and saw you watching, saw the anger in your eyes. You looked so fucking mad baby. I couldn’t figure out why, but I liked it. When she touched me, I wished it was your hands. I thought about you the whole time, fuck.” Spencer squeezed his eyes shut, trying to not look at you in order to keep calm and patient with his orgasm.

“Yeah? Wished it was me leaning over you like that?” You could barely string a sentence together with how good you felt, your thighs clenching together around your wrist, your hips bucking up as much as your body allowed them to.

“Mhmm. Thought about taking you home, bending you over my couch with your uniform still on.”

“Fuck Spence. She made me so jealous, I wanted to go in there and rip her off of you. Would’ve made you mine right there at the bar.”

He hissed and groaned out, speeding up even more, matching the pace you had set yourself; aiming to finish with you.

“Fuck. I’m all yours Y/N, this cock is all fucking yours.” He was so close, throbbing and thrusting into his fist, pulling his head back so he could watch your face.

Hearing him say he was yours dragged you to the edge of your orgasm, thighs beginning to shake a little. Your wrist was growing tired but you refused to stop, too caught up in the gradually increasing pleasure.

“I’m so close honey, please,” you pulled your gaze away from where he stroked himself to meet his eyes, wanting to watch his face as he toppled over the edge too, “please tell me I can come, I wanna come for you.”

You grew needy, ignoring the ache in your torso as you writhed against your fingers, your head falling back as you felt the waves coming. Spencer watched as you slowly began to fall and crash into it.

Tugging at himself with the same speed as you, he quickly moved onto his side a little to watch you better. Pressing his lips to your neck, he bit down gently before whispering the words you needed.

“Let it go for me Y/N, you can come. Come for me,” As you slipped under the waves and felt like you were drowning in the numb yet intense pulsation, Spencer coaxed you through it as he too got carried away by his own throbbing, “that’s it baby, fuck I’m coming, oh my go-, ah fuck it feels so good.”

Spencer became quickly overwhelmed by his orgasm, rolling onto his back again as he carried on spilling onto his stomach. Continuing to slowly rub yourself, you came down from your crescendo and watched as he worked himself through his.

“Fuck Spencer, there’s so much.” Leaving little kisses along his shoulder, you giggled sweetly as he tensed with the aftershocks and tried to catch his breath. He grinned with a post-orgasm smile and turned his head to nestle against the top of yours.

“Are you okay?” Spencer murmured into your hair, leaving a little kiss on the crown of your head. Simply nodding against his shoulder, you attempted to shuffle closer but forgot how tense your body had been in its peak.

“Fuck. Can you help me?” Giggling and wincing at the same time as an attempt to sit up. Spencer laughed at you sweetly, sitting himself up quickly and snaking an arm underneath your back.

Pulling you up smoothly, he left a light kiss against your temple before slipping his other arm underneath your legs and hoisting you up.

“Wait, where are we going?” You whined out, wrapping your arms around his neck and shoulders. He walked the two of you into the en-suite and set you down gently on the counter.

“I am going to get us cleaned up,” he smiled at you before getting a washcloth ready, “and then we’re going to talk about us.”

He began to wipe the washcloth across his chest and his stomach, looking up curiously when you asked, “Us?”

“Wait. What you said about- when you said that thing about making me yours? Did I completely misread that? Because I feel- I thought it was obvious that I felt-“ He stumbled, self consciousness creeping in slowly as he realised he may have taken it too far.

But you smiled softly, grabbing the cloth from his hands and pulling him to rest between your legs. At least he’d cleared the air for you. You didn’t feel remotely nervous anymore.

Cupping his face in your hands and stroking along his jaw with each thumb, you pulled him in for a delicate kiss. Grinning against his lips, he returned the motion and kissed you once more.

“The feeling is mutual, Spencer.”

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