#ik they would not last 10 seconds in a room with me without calling me a slur

[bebzbrainw0rmz]

Feeling hateful today bc people are stupid and in denial abt certain Funger characters being canonly queer. Like I’m sorry but why are you here if you aren’t lgbt+ friendly?? Funger is literally inherently queer idk what else to say???? Like damn I’m sorry that your Chad alpha sigma male likes it up the ass, you can go jump off a cliff over it if it makes you that upset ig??

[shivada-jade]

codename: vind

older sibling!reader

characters: diluc, kaeya ➡ mentions: adelinde, crepus, la signora warning(s): alcohol consumption, swearing, and because for some reason, older siblings tend to be shorter than younger siblings. iDK WHY but ugh, yeah you're shorter than diluc and kaeya bc you're the older sibling. ik, i hate it too

like, i wanna be a tall 6'2 woman

diluc's 5'10 so u can still be tall in the story.. just not 5'11 😢 sorry over 5'10 folks

➡ WRITTEN BEFORE 2.1 so uhh :D

notes: platonic w diluc and kaeya, duh bc ur the older sibling. sibling love!!! sibling love !! woop woop !

"Dad, I'm home!" You bellow out to the house, waving a polite hello to Adelinde who looked shocked to see you. You kick off your shoes and slide your way to the long table in the living room, swiftly grabbing an apple before heading upstairs.

Your hands graze the railings and make your way up to find your dad. Upon reaching the last flight of steps, you were suspicious with how the place was very quiet. Granted, your younger brothers are now adults, but it still felt too quiet. Maybe you expected to see your brothers playing a game of chess, maybe bickering and fencing. You were hoping to see your family after being away.

You were a part of the Fatui under the Mondstadt branch. It was and at the same time wasn't a choice to be roped into the Fatui. You got roped into the wrong group of friends and found yourself blackmailed by the infamous group.

You didn't want to join. You didn't want any of it. You've been disconnected from the world. Wiped out from the face of Earth. No one gave information to you, you couldn't learn anything about what's happening currently. The most you could do was send letters, but even those were difficult to send out. You had to do it in secrecy or you'd be in trouble.

Love, the better sibling,

[Y/N]

Or another common send off is:

Please write back soon,

[Y/N]

And your family never failed to send back letters. They asked what you're doing, where you are and how are you, still you never told them your occupation, fearful of what they would think and where your loyalties lie, so you told them you were working under an adventurer.

It's for the greater good. You remember trying to convince yourself.

You're a horrible person.

You were sixteen then. Your younger brothers were twelve. It's been 10 long years since you last saw them, and 6 years since you last received a letter back. You miss them dearly. You often wondered what sorts of adventures they did without you.

But why are you wondering about this? You knew what they did: you knew everything that happened.

You're living under a heavy burden.

"Dad?" You call out again. Maids and wine makers look aghast when they see you, and they're on the verge of fainting when you call out to your father.

Stop the act.

It's strange how the letters were suddenly cut off. The last letter you received was from Kaeya, telling you how you needed to come home straight away. You tried to, but the Fatui prevented you from doing so. A lady called La Signora supervised you directly to make sure you didn't leave.

You know...

Adelinde brushes the dust off her uniform and hurries up the stairs to catch up to you, "Dear, is that you [Y/N?]"

"Did you forget me that easily? I'm offended Miss Adelinde," you chided, but the teasing look in your eyes give Adelinde relief to know you aren't actually offended. "Miss, where's dad?"

You're sickening.

Adelinde takes one look at you and squeezes your shoulders with a smile, "I'm afraid that's not for me to say. Master Diluc should be able to-"

"Oh, where's Diluc and Kaeya?" You ponder, and the corners of your lips curl upwards. "Those two were always attached to the hip. Where are they now? Horseback riding at the vineyard? Ha! I-"

You glance at Adelinde's watery eyes and stop your babbling. "What's wrong Miss Adelinde?" You reach for her hands on your shoulders and hold them. "Ah, has father been making you work too hard? I can request him to lessen your load."

Adelinde shakes her head no. "You don't have a clue, do you? Oh," she sighs. "Please, rest yourself by the fireplace. I'll prepare tea for you." She rests her hands back at her side and scurries to the kitchen.

You frown, unsure why she's jumpy, but you follow her request and sit by the fireplace. The crackle of the fire contrasts the tense air you feel when maids brush past you, offering tea Adelinde made. You thank them, gently blowing on the drink.

After taking a sip, you place it down with a pinky to lessen the noise it makes on the table. You hear the door open, and the choruses of maids greeting someone.

"Welcome home, Master Diluc," you hear and other voices saying, "We've prepared a meal for you and your sibling, would you like to rest yourself?"

You peek from your chair, he obviously hadn't realized you yet.

Diluc's lips make a thin line and shrugs off his jacket, "Why is Kaeya visiting. Isn't he supposed to do his knightly duties?"

You have no clue why he says it like that. The venom in his voice sends a shiver down your spine. You decide this is your cue to give him a warm welcome. You stand from your seat, and open your arms in a grand gesture and waltz to your brother. "Diluc! It's been a while huh?"

You clearly see him tense hearing your voice. His head snapped to your direction with his mouth parted. The maids respectively take their leave, bowing before they do so.

Diluc looks you up and down, still not believing you're there, like you're just his imagination. His hand slowly reaches out to you as if you're a dream.

Your feet lead you closer and you grasp him tightly in an embrace.

He freezes, but slowly relaxes in your hug, reluctantly bringing up his own arms to wrap around you. You feel his grip tightening, and you feel his shake out silent sobs. His face buries in your neck, letting tears fall on your clothes.

You soothe his back, and press a kiss on his hair. "I'm home, Diluc."

He trembles, pushing himself away to look at you clearly. Why hadn't you come home earlier? He wanted to vent, he wanted to yell, shout, he wanted to know how much he missed you in your absence.

He clears his throat and coughs in his fist. "You should have told me about your arrival," he adjusts the gloves on his hands, and looks to the floor like he did when he admitted he accidentally broke your toy when you were 10.

After these years, he still looks up to you as his older sibling. Not a thing has changed.

But you couldn't help but notice one thing. You knew Diluc and Kaeya had matured, you knew they would grow taller, but shit, now Diluc's taller than you.

"I sent a letter a month ago," you began. "It should have been sent to your office in the Favonius Headquarters? That's where I send my mail after you told me about your promotion to Cavalry Captain."

You squish his cheeks with both your hands. "Because I know you're a workaholic and only respond to letters that mean business, so that's where I sent it off to. You never write back, neither does Kaeya," you pause, thinking for a moment. "Neither does dad. Tell me he hasn't gotten sick that he couldn't respond to my letters."

Diluc lifts your hands off his face and frowns. He doesn't know how to break the news to you- not when you look so excited to be home and tell of your adventures to your family, so he asks, "Did you eat yet?"

You note the frown on his face. "'What's got you grumpy," you prod. "I need to find dad first. Told him in the first letter I gave him, I'd give the first gem I find."

Diluc watches you leave him to go to Crepus' room on the second floor. He hears the thuds on the floor and the opening of the door, but does nothing to stop you. You left with a smile, and you come back confused.

"Why is dad's room empty?"

How cruel.

...

Kaeya hums, passing by Flora's shop and purchasing a Calla Lily for the sake of it. He is well aware of the Fatui that stand by corners. Whispers of the wind give him intel, and so does alcohol apparently. He leans on a wall right outside Angel's Share, watching two Fatui members drink some of the tavern's strongest alcohol, imported from Snezhnaya.

"That damn," the one with the red and black mask hiccups, lifting a mug with foam overflowing. "Damn brat's gonna snitch on us to the Knights- *hiCC* boss lady wou- *HicC* would have our heads!"

Thankfully, their more responsible Fatui friend takes the mug and switches it with their drink, water. "You're the one who let Vindicta out of your sight when you know their frequencies to escape. This is all on you, buckaroo."

One of the Fatui escaped? How peculiar.

Kaeya hums, in steady strides he shows himself to the Fatui and takes a seat from another table and sits in front of the two. "My, my, my. If it isn't the wonderful Fatui," he divuldges. He twirls his Calla Lily around his fingers, amused with the Fatui's reactions.

Their mouths drop, knowing who he is and they hastily clean themselves up by sitting straight and wiping away the alcohol from their faces. "Good evening, sir."

"Evening to you too," he places the flower behind the person's ear, flustering them. "Well? Drink up. Everything you order will be on me."

The Fatui look at each other, skeptical with Kaeya's kindness, but the drunken one accepts the offer. Kaeya celebrates in the inside as he slowly gains Fatui intel.

Though, the second Fatui whom he dubbed the "Responsible One," took a while for them to take a sip. Turns out, they couldn't handle alcohol, that's why they avoided drinking it.

"So, my dear friends," he slides a coin on the table and stares both of them down. "A mora for your thoughts? I couldn't help but notice the tense of your shoulders when you first arrived here."

Responsible One raises their mug drunkenly, and gives a pointed look, "You... you know too much. How?..." They stare at their friend and whisper shout, "Don't tell him about Vind or-" They fail to continue their sentence and pass out on the table.

Kaeya feigns a surprised face and looks at Fatui number 2, "Who exactly is Vind? I'm sure you don't mean the storm watcher up at the cliff." He coats his voice with sugar, and it seems Fatui friend fell for his kindness.

"The damn brat," they spit out before hiccupping again. "Recruited them, fed them, saw potential, gave a home, and they escaped."

Kaeya nods and pushes another bottle of wine to the Fatui's direction, urging them to continue.

"Was supposed to be one of the Agents to spy on the *hiCc* to spy on the Ragnvindr family, because *HicC* Vind was one of the best there is. They were about to be promoted Harbinger after an assignment *hiCCUpp* but then Big Boss Lady said 'End the Ragnvindr legacy,' Vindicta left without a word. They escaped."

The Fatui downs another bottle of wine. "But judging from Boss Lady's reaction, Vind did the job: killed him and placed the blame on the Knights."

The Calvary Captain knits his brows and places his hands in front of him. It laced themselves and he watches the Fatui person empty out his wine.

"I'd be careful of what you say if I were you." His lone eye glints dangerously.

"End the legacy?" Kaeya frowns. "Can I ask..." He couldn't ask why or the Fatui would stop talking to him. "Can I ask when your beloved spy did their job?"

The Fatui waves a hand, "Six years ago. After they killed that damn aristocrat's father, they tried escaping. Big Boss supervised them under their watch. 'Potential' the Harbingers always say, but I don't see the potential in them if they don't have loyalties under the Fatui. A wild card, really."

They lay their cheek on the table. The temperature drops quite dangerously. Kaeya's diamond eye glints with coldness before it turns back to warmth.

"Rumours have it," the Fatui sighs, playing with his empty mug. "The training Vindicta went through is rougher, so we were hoping they would tie their loyalties to us. We let them explore once, and they escaped under my watch. Maybe it was their assignment to leave, maybe it's not, because Boss Lady was okay with it, she said 'Vindicta will always return in our hands.' when they first escaped, and surely enough they do return. But either way, I'm fucked for letting them go missing the third time of the week."

Kaeya laughs with no soul and quickly ends the lovely 'conversation.' He pushes himself from the table and stands, "Thank you for chatting with me, it's been interesting." He tucks in the chair and glances at the two Fatui dozing, or close to dozing off.

He swiftly turns away, scoffing when he's out of sight from people. Vindicta is a dangerous card. Not even the Fatui know where their loyalties side.

Vindicta. How peculiar indeed.

One of the best Fatui, which probably meant they were payed well with respect and mora, but why are they labeled as an escapee when they always return? With someone as dangerous as a Harbinger, who do they side with- the Fatui or something else?

Kaeya has a lot of questions.

...

Diluc sits on a cushioned chair and hunches over, resting his chin on his hands, thinking.

Always thinking.

The once lit fireplace is soaked with water he splashed over. The scent of burnt wood wafts nearby. The light chatter of maids go through one ear and leave the other.

How long had it been since he last saw you?

Eternity is his answer. It's been eternity since he last saw you.

He lets out a long sigh, throwing his head back and running a hand through his untied locks.

Too much thinking for today. Diluc groans in frustration and sits back up. He turns his head slightly, seeing you in the corner of his eyes taking out boxes of things you owned from 10 years before.

It doesn't make sense to him. Why come back so suddenly after years of not seeing you? Though, you claim you sent him letters, he never got them because he closed himself off from the Knights.

"Diluc," you set down a small picture of a family portrait you took out from hiding behind many books.

You are taking this oddly well.

You're taking this too well, in fact.

This raises a red flag for Diluc. He told you the fall out of your family, how he quit the Knights, but still you're going around the place like nothing had happened.

Don't you feel any rage? Or even sadness?

He sees too many red flags and hates it- from the way you can hide things like Kaeya so easily, to the way you just suddenly appear back in his life. It feels weird. It's not easy to let someone that in quick, yet you're still his role model, so it's okay, right?

He's always looked up to you when he was younger. You never were at a loss of words and stood up for him. You were the person he can turn to when something wrong happens, but what were you doing for yourself to be gone for so long? Adventuring Teyvat could not have taken ten whole years. Where did you even stay?

"Diluc," you crouch in front of him and talk to him as if he were six again. "I'm okay, okay?"

Diluc takes a shaky breath and sits up straight. His posture resembling a king's. "I have an idea, and I would like you to help me."

You look at him in awe. The realization settles in: Diluc has grown, and you're still stuck trying to make up the past.

"And what do I help you with?"

"Finding who's responsible for father's death."

notes: had this in my drafts for a long time and i was like "wait where was i going with this..." until BAM i have the idea again so im gonna continue it

(part 2)

[eclipsedpascal]

Lavender Bruises

Older!Duncan x Female reader

A meeting with you and your father’s company’s buyers, leads to the shocking realisation that you had unknowingly slept with it’s new owner, Duncan Shepherd, just the night before. You needed to hide this sinful secret from your father, which left you stuck between wanting to make him proud and the unsatisfied craving you couldn’t ignore for Duncan to claim you as his personal toy. But you could manage both. Right?

Warnings: mentions of work (ew), alcohol, one night stands, large age gap, daddy kink, size kink, unprotected sex, public sex, fingering, oral (female receiving), intercourse, spit kink, slapping, spanking, hickeys, bruising, degrading/teasing, mouth fucking with fingers? is that a thing?, hair pulling and a ring kink ig:)

Notes: I've been writing this for fkn MONTHS now bcs I kept loosing inspiration, so this is actually the first thing I ever properly wrote! it's kinda complicated ig? idk like the parts in bold are a time skip to the night before and the fic goes in-between the meeting the reader is at and the previous night, meaning there’s two separate smut scenes so!!! but yeah i'm a whore lmao. Also ik hickeys don’t show up the same on certain skin tones and i’m sorry for that. i tried my best to be as inclusive as possible nd didn’t mention anything to do with the skin tone. Also!! if you're interested, I was listening to Cherry lips by garbage most the time I was writing this nd I feel like it fits it pretty well😌

Word count: 8.4k

●●●●●●●●

Going over the logistics of a content deal with the conglomerate that had recently bought your fathers newspaper wasn't the most preferable way for you to spend your lunch, but unfortunately it was necessary.

You know how these “lunches” go; business meetings disguised as casual discussions. They’re exactly the same if taken place in a conference room. Disagreeing and having to come to compromises you’d rather not, with the only differences being there's more chatter and cluttered noise of dinnerware coming from the restaurant around you.

You much preferred being in the office for these kind of things, but it was at the request of the new owners that you meet here, meaning you didn’t really have choice.

As you arrived at the restaurant you saw your father inside, waiting for your arrival just past the main entrances oversized, glass doors. You were almost 10 minutes late now and you knew he would be pissed. Honestly, you couldn't blame him.

Having to rush through a traffic riddled DC to get home at 10 in the morning because you had spent the previous night in a strangers hotel bed wasn't your proudest moment. Was it worth it? Yes, but it didn’t exactly leave you with much time to prepare for the lunch only two hours later.

You payed the driver and stepped out of the cab onto the drowning, wet sidewalk, desperately trying to shield yourself from the relentless rain that had been pouring down on the city all morning.

Looking up at the grand building on front of you, you could tell the place was going to be expensive. The entrances steps were 12ft wide and made of a pearly white marble that was now soaked with cascading rain water, making them even harder for you to run up in your heels as you tried escape the cold.

“Y/N, where have you been? You're 10 minutes late and these people don't like to be kept waiting." The people your father was referring to? the owners of Gardner Analytics. they had bought what seemed like hundreds of press company's over the past few years, especially those in the DC area. Their most recent purchase being the Washington herald, of which your father was the Editor-in-chief. You had been working there for a few months as your fathers assistant and helping out at these meetings had become routine.

“I'm so so sorry, my alarm didn't wake me and I-“

"It's fine" He interrupted "It's fine, just please tell me you have the documents I asked you to bring?" You could tell he was stressed out from the way his voice was wavering and how often he was stumbling over his words, so instead of trying to explain yourself any further you stayed quiet and did your best to take in as much of the information he was relaying onto you as you possibly could.

As he led you through the dinning room he explained to you who else was there, telling you that the others from the herald who were attending the lunch had already began talks with Gardener Analytics at the table ten minutes prior.

The closer you got to the table the more your fathers voice faltered, trying to round off the conversation so he could properly introduce himself when the time came. "Now Bill Shepherd had to cancel last minute, said it was something to do with his health unfortunately. But not to worry! I've spoken with him over the phone and he's informed me his nephew is filling in for him, okay?”

Before you even had a chance to reply he turned from you, reaching over the table to shake hands with a man you recognised as Seth Grayson; their director of communications, and an older woman who you assumed was Annette Shepherd. She and her brother Bill were the owner's of Gardner Analytics and your father had said it was important he got on their good side.

As your father greeted the others, you began retrieving the documents out of your bag, knowing they would be needed by Seth right away.

"..So sorry for the delay Mr Shepherd, you know how DC traffic can be" Your father chuckled slightly as he shook the man’s hand, making some light small talk. Mr Shepherd? that must be bill’s nephew, you thought.

You felt even more unprepared now; you didn’t even know the man’s name.

"This is my daughter and assistant, Y/N" Upon hearing your father introduce you to the mystery Shepherd, you slotted the documents under one arm and reached out to shake his hand with your other.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Shepherd" But as you shifted your gaze up to his own, you realised that there was no need for introductions.

He smiled gently, a kind of smug delight obvious in his eyes as he looked you up and down, taking you all in. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Y/L/N"

He released your hand from his grasp, moving to clasp his own behind his back. “But please, call me Duncan.”

Duncan fucking Shepherd. how could you be so oblivious? The two of you had spent hours together last night. How hadn't you figured out who he was? As panic ripped through you like a wildfire, you wondered if Duncan was feeling the same way; but from the look on his face, he was enjoying this.

●●●●●●●●

11:34pm previous night

It was getting pretty late now, and meeting someone who could fuck the stress out of you was becoming less and less likely by the minute. so deciding to finish your drink and leave, you took in the room one last time; making sure you hadn’t missed anyone interesting.

The fluorescent red and blue lighting of the expensive hotel bar was just bright enough for you to spot an older man you hadn’t noticed before. He must have been at least 40. He was sat in a booth with five or six others, all drinking, laughing and joking, yet he was staring at you.

Taking the seat next to you, he called out to the bartender. “Bourbon. Neat.”

You'd been waiting for him to come over ever since you saw him. It had been 20 minutes or so of quick glances and smiles to each other before the group of men he had been with dissipated. You had heard one of the men he was with refer to him as ‘Duncan’ when he had said his goodbyes, but other than that all you could assume about the man was that he was rich; judging by the all black LV suit he was wearing.

"Can I buy you a drink?” Turning to face at him when you heard him speak, you were practically stupefied by how attractive he was. His hair was full of shiny grey streaks that aged him. His stubble complimented his cheekbones perfectly and the speckles of grey throughout it helped bring out the brightness of his piercing blue eyes. His lips were full, and you couldn't help but notice how soft they looked.

“Vodka and coke” You smiled, trying your best to be confidant, but they way he was looking at you was giving you butterfly's you couldn’t swat away.

“I.D?” The bartender asked. You grabbed it out of your purse, proving your age to the bartender before watching him walk away to make your drink.

There was a brief silence before the man spoke again. “I hope my staring didn’t bother you, I just couldn’t take my eyes off you.” His flattery almost made you blush, but he wasn’t going to get you with a line that bad.

“Didn’t bother me at all, though i’m sure your friends there must have been envious” You chose to ignore his cheesy line, knowing that as much as you wanted him to take you there and then, you would much prefer making him work for it.

He chuckled slightly, knowing the game you had chosen to play. he looked away from you and down into his glass before taking a swig of the golden-brown liquor that occupied it. “Well I’m known to be quite a busy man, so I’m sure they understood.” He turned to face you slightly, waiting for some kind of reaction from you.

“Busy enough of a man to be drinking on a Tuesday night?” You questioned him teasingly, Ignoring that you yourself had the most important meeting of your young career in just over twelve hours.

“Is that really such a surprise? Most times being so busy is the main reason for drinking” He joked with you as he flirted, making it hard for you to keep eye contact without going red at the thought of such a beautiful man seeking your attention.

Duncan could see how nervous you were under the confident demeanour you had put on, I mean you were practically screaming it out to him at this point. The way you were fidgeting with the chain of your silver earring as you leaned against the bar and the fact you couldn’t even look at him for longer than 3 seconds without blushing was evidence enough for him.

“Well, that’s true.” You giggled a little as you spoke in your anxious state.

Taking a hold of your drink, you wrapped your lips around the paper straw and moved your gaze over to the bartender who was now serving someone a few seats down, attempting to distract and ground yourself from the situation at hand.

You were gripped back into reality quickly when you heard him speak again.

“There’s no need to be so nervous, I’m not going to eat you.” You found his use of the phrase quite ironic, being that’s exactly how it seemed. His eyes were piercing into you in an almost questioning manner, but when he gazed over your body, taking in your satin, black slip dress covered curves, the swipe of his tongue against his plump bottom lip gave you a very different impression; an impression he wanted to devour you. It was as if he thought you were that sweet snack he had been craving all week.

“No? That's a shame” You faked a frown, pouting as you moved to rest your chin on your hand.

“Well I think we should at least be aware of each others names before making such wild propositions, don’t you…?” His smirk never seemed to leave his face as he spoke.

He was good at this game, better than you at least. Of course It was obvious he was going to have had more experience with his age and all, but the way he was charming you so easily with just plain old conversation and confidence was getting harder and harder to match.

“Y/N, my name’s Y/N.” You batted your eyelashes at him a little, for some reason feeling smaller upon revealing your name to him. You felt as if you had lost the upper hand in the conversation suddenly.

“Hm, Y/N. That’s beautiful.” You rolled your eyes. Of course it is. Thats what they all say. You thought.

“Aren't you going to ask mine?” His ego now showing, you decided to make a bolder move.

“You rather fancy yourself, don’t you, Duncan?”

He finished his drink and moved closer to you. “Oh, so you already know my name?”

He was close enough to you now that you could make out the many beauty marks which decorated his cheekbones and hear the rasp of his voice even better than before. It was thick as honey and just as sweet too.

“I heard your friend call you it.” You quickly replied.

He scoffed a little, finding amusement in what he was about to say. He brought his face down closer to yours and began to run his fingers through your hair. “Hm, well he’s an old friend sweetheart. Most people would call me Mr Shepherd.”

You felt yourself grow hot, Duncans words casting a haze of complete lust over your mind.

You did your best to stay confidant, doing everything you could to ensure you didn't loose this game the two of you were playing. “Really? Is that what you like? Mr Shepherd.”

Your faces were so close to each others now that you could smell the bourbon on his breath when he let out a loud chuckle. His pearly whites showing as he did so. You even felt him graze his stubble against your cheek.

“Mhmm.” He ran his finger over your lips as he spoke slowly. "So tell me, what is it that does it for you Y/N? Hm? I mean a girl your age doesn’t decide to stare at a man like me all night just for the hell of it. So what is it? The power? The money? Or is it the age gap so big I could be your father?”

You squeeze your legs together as his sentence finishes, letting out a hushed whimper. Of course you were attracted to older men, that was obvious, but hearing him say it out loud in public whilst being so close to you turned you on even more than you thought previously possible.

He chuckled a little, “So it’s the age then, is it sweetheart? The idea of having a man more.. experienced pleasure you, instead of a man who would leave you to fend for yourself after finishing in less than five minutes. You want someone who can make you cum so hard you’d be begging him to make it stop, don’t you?” Every move Duncan made, every word he spoke was calculated, and it was all in pursuit of teasing you just because he knew he could.

You made a mental note of his nickname for you as you looked up at him. You felt his fingers run across your cheek and then push some stray hairs back behind your ear as you desperately tried to think of something smart to say, anything to say; but he had won. He knew what you wanted and he wanted it just as bad. You didn’t even care anymore. You were more than ready to give what little of a resolve you still had up to him.

He whispered to you as he moved his spare hand up the small of your back. “Now little one, I have the presidential suite of this hotel under my name tonight. So what do you say we go on up? Since now we're just so well aquatinted."

●●●●●●●●

Having to take part in a meeting with your father and the man double your age that you had fucked for hours the night before was NOT what you had planned for today.

“Mr Shepherd, I apologise that I didn’t make it here on time. I had a pretty hectic morning.” You did your best to keep your chill in your now shocked state, but with everyone watching the two of you it wasn’t easy.

“No don’t worry, I know how DC traffic can be, especially in this weather. As long as you're here now.” A wide smile was planted on his face as he spoke. The same as last night. He never broke eye contact with you, and you found yourself wondering how he could do it so easily.

“Please, sit.” He gestured you over to take a seat as he pulled out the chair next to his own. You thanked him politely and sat down, your mind racing and spiralling out of control at the thought of your father discovering the sinful deeds you and his new boss had taken part in just hours prior.

You felt him tuck you into the table before sitting down next to you. You could hear the voices of the restaurant that surrounded you and the others at the table coming at you. Every noise was muffled, as if your head was suddenly underwater.

“Y/N?” You were quickly brought back to reality when you heard Seth question you.

“From my understating you have the merger documents in your belonging, yes?” He looked at your father for reassurance this was definitely case as he spoke. So with everyone at the table’s eyes on you, you slid the documents over to him.

“Yes! And uhm the specifications for the more politically based content changes are detailed on page 25. I was told that was of high interest today?” You got yourself back on track, trying to stay as professional as possible whilst ignoring Duncan and the predicament you had found yourself in.

“We were briefly discussing the more major changes before you arrived Mr Y/L/N, but I believe you’ve already been made aware of most them?” Duncan addressed your father, kicking the meeting off. But you couldn’t concentrate. You were listening to the conversation, you really were! It was just that you were so wrapped up in Duncan’s voice you couldn’t actually understand what the fuck they were all talking about.

Seeing him so invested in the crucial conversation he was having with your father and the many other associates at the table was just doing something to you.

Observing the way his hands were moving when he spoke, you noticed how he would often clasp them together when he was explaining things, and how he would tilt his head slightly as he listened. His bronzed curls were combed to perfection, resting delicately on the right side of his face and when he licked his bottom lip, it sent a shiver down through your spine all the way to your cunt. You were entirely captivated by him.

Hearing your Father ask for your opinion on the subject being discussed, you shook off the spell Duncan’s attractiveness had casted onto you and responded, giving your perspective on the subject.

Duncan relaxed into his seat a little more as he watched you talking. He knew you had been staring at him, but it was cute, he thought. Almost endearing seeing you get so flustered at just the sight of him. He had seen you squirming around in your seat whilst you watched him and decided the accidental teasing wasn’t enough; he wanted to toy with you more. As much as he possibly could.

“You know, if you’re trying hide what’s happened between us then you might consider making your staring a little less obvious, sweetheart.” He was speaking quietly enough for nobody else to hear and not looking in your direction, pretending to still partake in the tables back-and-forth. Still the fear of your father, who was sat just across the table, overhearing Duncans remarks was petrifying.

You knew you couldn’t let your craving for him and the confusion from not knowing who he was last night effect the meeting, but there he was with that nickname again, stirring your desire even further.

“How are you even here?” You let your frustrations out onto him as you talked back, his cocky attitude getting to you too easily with the stress you were under. “I’m trying so hard not to ruin today and this situation isn’t helping! They’ll fire me if I mess this up and I’ll be fucked! Which surprisingly, I’d prefer not to be!” Your whispering was pretty aggressive, but could you really blame yourself?! This kind of coincidence was rare, so you had every right to be mad at the universe for letting it occur on today of all days.

His ego not faltering for even a second, he chuckled. “Oh you don’t wanna get fucked? Funny, because I remember you saying the exact opposite last night.”

He grazed his hand across your inner thigh, massaging it gently before diving underneath the little black pencil skirt you were wearing to grip onto your flushed skin.

You scoffed at his words and looked up at him, shocked at how bold he was being and expecting some kind of response from him, but he didn’t even look your way. You assumed this was so no attention was brought to the two of you and so you followed his lead, turning away from him just as fast as you had looked.

With the heat of your cunt having grown far too intense to bear, any friction that wasn’t your own thighs pressing up against each other was to be welcomed. So you decided not to stop him. In fact you did the exact opposite, spreading your thighs wider for him, not having the self control or restraint to keep yourself from him any longer.

His hand moved closer to where you needed him most, diving under the crotch of your underwear to swipe his fingers over your slick folds and immediately begin rubbing circles onto your neglected clit.

You stifled a moan, leaning onto the table on front of you to keep yourself steady as he touched you. Finally, he moved his gaze to rest on you, watching you as you struggled to stay silent. He whispered once more, “Always so wet for me, aren't you princess?”

●●●●●●●●

As soon as you entered the suite, Duncan gripped onto your waist, pushing you up against the door and cradling your cheek with his spare hand before smashing his lips into yours.

His tongue slipped past your lips, dancing with yours whilst he moved his hands all over your body, clutching onto your breasts and then moving them down to explore the rest of you.

He lifted your dress up just enough so he could grip your ass. Pulling you closer to him and making you feel his bulge against your hips, you were too short in comparison to him to feel him where you wanted to most.

He spoke to you in kisses, telling you of how ravenous he was for you and that he was going to savour every moment. He moved his lips down, trailing open mouthed kisses from your neck to your collarbones and to the top of your breasts.

“This fucking dress” He took ahold of the bottom of your dress, pulling it up above your head with urgency as you lifted your arms to better help him strip you. Throwing the dress down onto the floor and hearing it land somewhere behind him, he admired your body and it’s curves.

“The perfect wrapping for such an enticing present.” He finished his sentence. Immediately grabbing at your breasts, sucking and kissing them.

You couldn’t speak, too enthralled with the technique of his tongue swirling around your nipple to do anything but moan in response to him.

You threw your head back against the door, staring up that the beautifully patterned ceiling in pure ecstasy. You felt him drag a callused hand down to the waistband of your Lacy white panties, tickling the sensitive skin of your stomach as he traced his fingers over it. His finger tips running across the little white bow that centred the waistband.

He collapsed down to his knees, yanking the delicate lingerie as he fell, leaving it to puddle around your ankles.

He teased your heat, moving from kissing the skin of your thighs to your folds, but not yet reaching the lengths you wanted him to, only adding fuel to the fire in between your legs.

“Please Duncan-” you begged him, desperately needing some kind of release from the binds of lust he had managed to wrap you in over the past 45 minutes.

“Ah ah, don't you remember? You don’t get to call me that.” He spoke.

“I’m sorry, Mr Shepherd.” You corrected yourself, recalling the conversation you had with him prior to coming upstairs.

“Mhmm, now as magnificent as that name sounds coming from you, I know that there’s something else you’d rather call me.” He hummed in disapproval, calmly redirecting your choice of name for him and reassuringly pressing his lips onto your clit.

You let out a stuttered gasp, you did want to call him that, but now you felt nervous due to the build up he had created.

“Com’n, sweetheart. Do you think I don't know why you’re here in the first place? Why else would you be sat all alone in the bar of a hotel you weren’t even staying at? You’re just another slut with daddy issues, sneaking down to an expensive hotel to scavenge for any man good enough to fuck you into submission. Isn’t that right?”

Mildly insulted at his all too accurate observation of you, but enjoying the effect his degrading words have on you none the less, you gave him what he wanted. “Mm yes daddy!” You whimpered out, admitting your ploy to him.

A low rumble emitted from his chest, your words setting off some kind of animal inside him. He dove his face down into your pussy, starting by sucking on your clit gently, flicking his tongue over it and applying more and more pressure as you writhed above him.

His mouth was closed around you now, his grey, speckled stubble scratching your already inflamed skin. You were taken aback by his skills, intwining your fingers through the curls in his hair and tugging on them with every wave of pleasure that hit you.

He snaked his large hand around your thigh, lifting it up to rest on his shoulder while he ate you out. Enjoying the new angle he was utilising, he hummed, sending vibrations through your nerves up to the pit of your stomach, bringing you closer to your climax.

“Mmh.. fuck daddy, i’m gonna cum!” He didn’t let off, his tongue perhaps fucking into you even faster since you told him how close you were. You locked stares as your orgasm took over your body, your lips forming an o as you screwed your eyebrows together in rapture.

He came back up, letting you taste yourself and he placed his lips on yours again. You eased into the kiss, a relaxed haze having taken over your body in your post-orgasm state. Feeling a slight breeze flow up the side of your form, you realised that Duncan still had all his clothes on whilst you had none. Deciding you needed to change this as soon as possible, you began unbuttoning his suit’s matching black blazer and shirt, rushing to feel his skin on yours.

He helped you, shrugging the shirt off his shoulders as you began to unthread his leather belt from the loops of his trousers. “You’re so impatient, little one.” He spoke.

“I think I’ve waited long enough, daddy.” You smirked, dropping the belt at his feet.

As soon as his shirt hit the floor you reached up, gliding your hands across the expanse of his bear chest, taking notice of how small your hands appeared in comparison to him. He watched you, relishing in the glimmer of entrancement that shone through your eyes as you ingested him.

He lifted you, his strong arms carrying you bridal style towards the king sized bed and throwing you down onto its crisp, satin sheets. Grabbing your ankles, he dragged you down the bed towards him and finished taking his pants off. His cock sprung free from the confines of his boxers, smacking against his stomach.

He clambered onto the bed, resting on his knees as he jerked himself in his hand, reluctantly groaning out at the first contact his neglected cock had received all night. His pressing cock had made it unfathomably hard not to just fuck you up against the door when he saw that sweet little way in which your face scrunched up as you came.

You were practically drooling, watching him fuck himself into his fist as his eyes scanned across your naked body. Not being able to wait any longer and wanting to finally feel his cock on your skin, you sat up slightly and reached out to touch him. But before you got the chance, he shoved you back down. leaning over you, he held your wrists down against the pillows with one hand and wrapped his other around your delicate throat.

“So greedy, baby” he stoked his thumb over the skin of your neck as he made his observation, watching you struggle underneath him.

“I just know what I want.” You toyed, your voiced coming out slightly muffled with the pressure of his large hand covering your voice box.

“Such an attitude, too.” His cock brushes over your cunt as he sways his head from side to side in disappointment and disproval. “Now sweetheart, you’re gonna stay exactly where you are and daddy’s gonna fuck you just like this, okay? So he can see that pretty little face of yours.”

You gulp at his words, anticipating the feeling of having him inside you. “Please just fuck me. Please.” You knew you sounded absolutely pathetic, but you didn’t care. Just needing him plummeting in and out of you as soon as possible.

He chuckled at your neediness. Taking his hands back from your wrists and grasping his cock, lining it up with your entrance and slowly pushing in, he let you adjust to his size.

Moaning out, you dug your nails into the bed sheets, watching his head drop down to yours as he closed his eyes in pleasure.

“Fuck, you take me so well.”

●●●●●●●●

He slipped his ringed finger into you, pushing against your spongy walls whilst you made a desperate attempt to suppress your moans. You bite down onto your nails, your elbow resting on the table as you put all your weight onto it for some kind of crutch.

He began with a slow pace, making sure you would feel every little movement he made. You heard him join into the conversation once again, mentioning something about an article he had seen from the Herald last month which had impressed him. You weren't even sure. You couldn't think for the pulsing beat of your own heart that filled your ears.

“You all right there, Y/N?” Your heavy breathing must have been a dead give away for something being up, being your father was now questioning you.

You felt Duncan stop his movements momentarily, joining the rest of the table in their standstill, staring at you as they awaited a reply, but his little act of sincerity didn't last too long.

“Yeah, uhm-“ you felt him slide a 2nd figure in, making you fake a cough as to stop the cry desperately trying to escape your throat from doing so.

“Yeah, I’m uh, just thirsty.” Hoping this would ward off the worried looks you were receiving, you were shocked when you heard Duncan chime in. “Oh don’t worry, we can get you something.”

He called the waiter over, asking him for a pitcher of lemonade and thanking him as he walked away, back towards the kitchen. You would have preferred some water, you thought, but you were far too focused on what was going on underneath the table to say anything.

“Now, where were we?” Seth began talking once more, bringing the attention back to where it should be. But Duncan? No. His attention stayed on you. Even more focused on fucking his fingers into than before, he sped up and began going even deeper now, curling them upwards until you were twitching.

You looked up at him pleadingly. You were getting too close to cumming for your own liking, so you grabbed onto his thigh and dug your nails into his expensive black dress pants, warning him. He shot you a devious grin, scissoring his fingers inside you and pressing his thumb down to rub sweet circles on your hooded clit, letting you know he didn’t intend on stopping.

He looked behind you suddenly. Following his gaze, you snapped your head to the side, trying to get a good look at what had grabbed his attention so abruptly.

It was the waiter. He had arrived with the pitcher of lemonade in hand and yet Duncan was still plummeting his hand into your pussy with such a speed you began to wonder if someone had actually noticed what was truly going on. I mean the waiter must know.

At this point you had let far too many questionable gasps leave your mouth, your breathing had become even more erratic as you grew closer to your orgasm. He knew you were about to break before he swiftly pulled his fingers out of you, wiping the juices that coated them back and front onto your skirt so he could pick up the glass on front of you, leaving you unsatisfied.

You scrambled to collect your thoughts and breath as he picked up the pitcher, pouring the ice cooled lemonade into your glass.

“Here.” He spoke. You lifted a shaky hand up to take the glass from him when the grasp he had on it ‘slipped’, spilling the contents of it the onto your lap.

“Oh!’ You jumped up, making the sweet, sticky liquid run off your skirt to your thighs, dripping down your legs and eventually onto the floor. The now empty glass falling with it.

“I am so sorry, Miss Y/L/N.” He picked up the glass, sitting it on the table before joining you in standing. Now he was stood, you could clearly see the dark tint of his cock straining against the constrictive fabric that was his dress pants. It sent a pulse of lust through your cunt.

“Duncan!” Hearing Annette voice her annoyance at her son for being so clumsy almost made you laugh. It was quite amusing seeing his mother reprimand him, being he was a grown man in his 40s.

“It’s okay, don’t worry. I-I’ll just go clean myself up in the bathroom. I don’t want to distract the meeting anymore than I already have.” You made eye contact with your father as he rubbed his temples.

He was annoyed at the scene you and Duncan had caused. You gave him an apologetic look, feeling bad for stressing him out even more than you already had with being late, but knowing it was technically Duncan’s fault and not yours.

“Please, let me help you clean up.” Duncan pushed his chair in, quickly grabbing some napkins off the table and resting his hand on your back to guide you towards the nearest bathroom, walking as fast as your weak legs would let him.

His hand stayed delicately placed on the small of your back, until you were out of the tables sight, at which point he took hold of your arm, clutching it like a vice as he dragged you through the bathroom door.

He locked the door behind him in preparation for what was to come. He needed to make sure nobody would be walking in on what he was about to do to you.

Looking back towards you, satisfied as ever now he had you alone, he waltzed on over, pinning you up against the counter with force. You could smell him on you again, same cologne from the night before. Dior, you guessed.

“You’re not very good at staying quiet, are you, Sweetheart?” He mused, hoisting you up onto the counter and forcefully cradling your face with both hands as he moved to kiss you deeply. His tongue ravenously re-familiarising itself with your mouth.

“You almost got us caught back there.” He spoke in between kisses. “Your poor, naive father, watching you. He was probably wondering why you kept squirming.” He voiced a dark giggle, moving down to suckle on your neck and push your skirt up your thighs.

“I almost got us caught? No. Y-you almost got us caught when you decided putting a second f-FUCK, finger into me whilst I was talking to him was a good idea!” You choked out, doing your best to fight through the pleasure of his lips finally grazing your skin as you watched him pull your panties down and slot them into his pants pocket.

“Awh poor baby. Did you not want your daddy knowing that you’re a greedy little slut for his new boss? Hm?” He admired the blossoming lavender and cherry bruises now forming on your neck as he teased, marvelling at the idea they could be noticed by your father once you finished.

He quickly opened his fly, pulling his dress pants and boxers down just enough that he could pump his cock in his hand. Gripping onto your hips for purchase, his fingers dug into you so viciously you could feel the marks he had left the night before. You knew after this, there would surely be more.

He thrust himself into you, earning a loud wail to fall from your lips. You arched your spine at the feeling of him pounding into you, making your head fall back against the mirror behind you. His hand shot up to the it as he gathered more speed, his pace growing far faster than you had anticipated.

“Was it too much for you? Taking my fingers in your cunt whilst you were trying oh so hard to concentrate? I almost made you cum on front of everyone.” You moaned out at his grotesque words, pulling your head up to rest your forehead on his shoulder.

“Answer me.” He pulled your chin up back to look at him, still pounding into you. The sound of your skin slapping against one another’s felt even louder in the small, tiled bathroom.

“Yes daddy! It was too much for me - AHH!!” You let yourself go limp against the mirror, giving yourself up to him entirely and wanting nothing more than for him to use you like his personal rag doll.

●●●●●●●●

Your throat was growing hoarser with every squeal you made. Duncan had been fucking you ruthlessly for what felt like hours now, constantly changing his pace from calm to aggressive and back again. His lips were mouthing over your peaked nipples, tongue slathering trails of saliva across your skin and teeth scrapping over dozens of tiny goosebumps.

“Such a filthy, fucking whore for me.” Squeezing down on your neck with one hand he uses his other to slap you. His ringed hand coming down across your fleshy cheek with a loud crack.

You gasped out, shocked at this move and feeling reinvigorated by the suddenness of it. His abuse only made you more attracted to him, causing your cunt to puddle its juices around his cock.

Slowing his thrusts down to an almost complete halt, he grabbed your jaw, yanking your mouth open just enough that when he dripped his spit down you could catch it. You moaned at the filth of his actions, tasting the bourbon he had drank earlier at the bar.

Following the thick thread of salvia that connected the two of you to each other, he brought his face back down to yours, bringing your sloppy lips together. Never giving you the chance to close your mouth before he slid his tongue into it.

Your lips part, foreheads leaning on each other with eyes locked as you scream and moan at his brutal fucking. “Such a good girl.” He praised you.

“Thank you daddy!!” You cry out, feeling tears brimming in your eyes at the deepness of his cock. You knew he was going to be good when he first pushed you up again that door, but this was insane. You had never felt his turned on before. Loving being completely at his mercy, but receiving none.

He pulled out suddenly, wrapping his hands around your stomach and flipping you over to your front. You got the just of what he wanted and clambered onto your hands and knees for him. He pushed his cock back into your folds, hips ricocheting off your ass immediately.

He pulled at your hair, lifting you up to his chest as he gruffed and groaned. He was much larger than you, making it easy for him to pull your head back enough that he could see the expression on your lust enthralled face.

“Tell me what you want, baby.” He demands, spanking your ass cheek and twisting your hair around in his hand. His other hand moved to your gaping mouth, pushing two fingers inside so you taste the metallic bite of his silver band.

You gag as he fucks your mouth, mumbling around his fingers in a desperate attempt at begging him to allow you to cum. You were getting so close now. You guys had been going for so long and your impending release wasn’t going to wait much longer.

“Fuckk, don’t worry sweetheart. Daddy’s close too.” He took his fingers out of your mouth, bringing them down to your clit and swiping at it furiously. You could feel your own spit on his fingers as the coil in your stomach tightened.

“Ohh Daddy’s gonna come so deep inside you, little one.. would you like that?” His breathes were uneven. Thrusts uncontrolled and sloppy.

“Yes!! Fuck, fuck, FUCK Daddy I’m cumming!!” Your cunt pulsated around his shaft, squeezing his own orgasm out of him even sooner than he expected as you screamed. You could taste the saltiness of your own tears, them having run down your cheekbones and into your agape mouth.

His cum flooded your walls, filling you up with his hips pressed against yours as he enveloped you in an embrace from behind. He uttered out a shudder against your temple, his breathe feeling hot and damp on your skin.

He set you back down on the bed and pulled his softening shaft out of you, moving his large hands back to your hips as your own gave out and fell underneath you, pressing your face into the sheets. You eventually rolled over to lay on your back, wanting to let your aftershocks roll through your quivering limbs more comfortably.

He fell down onto the duvet next to you, propping himself up on his side slightly and pulling you closer to him so he could plant a kiss on your swollen lips. “You alright? I didn't hurt too bad now, did I?” He stroked your face, words alluring as ever now your resting bare bodies were tangled up together in a complete stand still.

“Nothing that I didn't enjoy, no.” You joked, lightly drawing intricate shapes on his arm with your fingertips, still harnessing the blemishing sting his ring had left under your cheekbone. “I’d say we're pretty well aquatinted now; wouldn’t you, Daddy?”

●●●●●●●

You could feel cool drips of perspiration slipping down your heated skin from your forehead to your collar bones and all you could do was hope they hadn't taken any of the concealer you had applied earlier this morning with them. You had needed to cover the bruise Duncan’s ring had so easily left on your cheek the night before, since you really didn't want your father or anyone else from work seeing it.

Duncan’s cock was curving in all the right places as he hammered into you. His pace and brutality showing you stars. He seemed even more confident than he did yesterday. Having had experience with you, he knew that you could take his most heinous savagery with delight and didn’t hold off one bit.

His huffs and groans were tantalising, growing louder and more uncontrolled as he fucked you into oblivion. His hand squeaked as it fell down the steamed mirror he leant on, leaving the glass behind you and finding its way to your jaw. He brought your face to his own and kissed you, loudly moaning into your open mouth.

You giggled through your mewls. “Mmm.. I thought I was the loud one, daddy.” You were amused that he had been teasing you so adamantly about the volume of your pleasure, when he was now the one making all the noise.

He paused, quirking an eyebrow at you before slamming his hips into you with a thrust so strong it made you practically scream out. “Oh, my apologises, sweetheart.” He smirked as he picked up his pace once more.

You wrapped your hands in his perfectly styled hair. You no longer cared who knew what was really happening in here, the thought didn’t even cross your mind. All you cared for was chasing your high. You rutted your hips on his and took his length entirely, feeling dangerously close to cumming.

“Fuckkk baby, daddy’s gonna cum okay?. Cum with me princess. Fall apart on my cock.” His unfocused thrusts had you coming undone in seconds. You held onto him tight, digging your nails into his shoulders and pulling at his curls as you cried out in ecstasy.

He shot his seed into you, feeling all his pent up frustrations from earlier at the table leave him as he pushed himself deep into your abused cunt. He didn’t even attempt to stifle his moans, too invested in finally receiving his release to realise just how loud he was being.

He rested his forehead on yours, your sweaty skin pressed against each other as you both attempted to catch your breathes after such a quick, ruthless fuck. You started laughing, finding it utterly ridiculous that you had spent the majority of a meeting you had been terrified for, getting fucked by your new boss (and the man you had fucked the night before) in a restaurant bathroom.

He joined in laughing, clearly finding humour within this strange situation too. Interrupting your laugh, he pushed his lips into yours, kissing you as if your lips were some kind of prize. You felt his cock slip from your cunt, his seed immediately spilling from it as you were left with a sudden, empty sensation.

He made quick work of zipping his pants back up and fastening his belt. You tugged your skirt back down to your thighs, being reminded of how Duncan had snatched your panties and stashed them in his pants pocket. You guessed you wouldn’t be getting them back anytime soon, which you were okay with, you just hoped nobody saw his remnants leaving you left the bathroom.

You flattened out your skirt and felt the wet sticky lemonade that still coated it. You had completely forgotten to clean it. “Fuck, my skirt's still sticky! Why would you order lemonade?” You whined; still mad he hadn’t just ordered some water.

Awaiting a reply, you turned to check your make up in the mirror. Luckily it was pretty light today, so it still looked good other than the bruise on your cheek now being slightly more obvious than before. What really concerned you was your neck. It was covered in every shade of purple and red you were aware existed. If your father and coworkers didn’t know what was going on from how weird you were being at the table before, or how long it had taken the two of you to finish in the bathroom, or the noises that were emitting from it, they would definitely know after seeing all the claims he had left on your skin.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t think that spilt water would have been a good enough excuse to get you all alone in here.” He chuckled to himself, leaning over to rest his chin on your head and wrapping his arms around your waist as he joked over his mischievousness.

“But we should probably head back out there. I’m sure your father’s going to apprentice the beautiful mosaic I’ve painted across your neck” he kissed the bruises he spoke of as he watched you through the mirror.

You scoffed at him, gifting yourself one last look before completely giving up on finding a way you could make your face and neck appear more presentable for heading back to the table.

Duncan opened the bathroom door, nodding his head towards the hallway and waiting for you to hurry up and join him.

The two of you started walking back, your legs struggling to take your weight with how weak they had become. Your heels clicked along the floor, making you far more aware of how soon you would be sitting back down with everyone from work. Like a clock counting down to all the judgmental stares you would surly be receiving.

You kept your eyes trained on the floor as you took your seat at the table. Seths voice trailed off upon seeing the two of you sit down, leaving you both in the middle of an uncomfortable silence that felt near suffocating.

“What took so long!” You could hear the anger and perhaps embarrassment in Annettes voice as she whispered to Duncan. She looked towards you, glaring and scowling before retiring her vision back to him. She was probably hoping that what she assumed to have occurred hadn’t, but from the marks clearly decorating your neck, she would have known it to be true.

“Oh, we just couldn’t get the lemonade out of her skirt.” He tut as he spoke to his mother, smiling and playing off any obvious suspicions. “I’m sorry, really.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, dripping with a sincerity you knew to be false.

“So what was it we were discussing?” he speaks louder now, addressing the rest of the table.

“Uhh actually, I think we have a deal.” Seth replied, looking over at him and then the rest of the table. You heard your father mutter something in agreement, but it was meek. Quiet. He must have felt the awkward tension too. It was ripe in the air, like a shiver you couldn’t shake off. You didn't even want to look at him, knowing If anyone there felt most uncomfortable, it was him.

Saying their goodbyes and finishing up with any last details, everyone stood to shake hands and bid their farewells. You felt your fathers scowl as he came and stood beside you, but you didn't dare look at him. You were too ashamed to face him whilst still with your coworkers.

Duncan walked over to your father, looking more satisfied than ever with his eyes still focused on you as he thanked him for meeting and shook his hand firmly.

“It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr Y/L/N.” He let go of your fathers hand only to take a hold of yours. He grasped it delicately, a touch more gentle than he had ever shown you previously. Assuming he was trying you shake it, you were more than surprised when he raised it to his lips, kissing your rosey knuckles; still red from the tight grip you had, had on his hair earlier.

“I look forward to working with you in the future, Y/N.” He graced you with once last signature smirk as he walked away, leaving you with your father who was waiting for an explanation and apology for your disgusting and foolish behaviour.

Maybe it hadn’t been the worst way to spend lunch.

Tags: @sojournmichael @dark-mei-rose @ntxoza @angelicmichael @jimmason @michaellangdonstanaccount @blakescoven @7-wonders @ghostangels @fernfiction @brattylovee @melodylangdon @brooklinn13 @instincts-baby

[caramelcal]

heartbreak girl

Word Count: 2.7k

a/n: ik i have requests to write (i am writing them don’t worry !) but i got super inspired when i was listening to my bbys 5sos

the luke hemmings / luke patterson comparison videos ive seen are my favourites, love it when two fandoms collide lollll

disclaimer: i do not condone plagiarism on my work at all, this has not been posted on any other platforms, or on tumblr anywhere else but my account (rosemoonmist) if you see anyone plagiarizing mine (or anyone else’s work for that matter) please inform the rightful author ! thank you lovelies x 

masterlist

You call me up It's like a broken record Saying that your heart hurts That you'll never get over him getting over you And you end up crying And I end up lying 'Cause I'm just a sucker for anything that you do

You couldn’t stop playing the video. Ever since it was sent you from a random number, you couldn’t stop crying. The video was barely ten seconds long, but it was ten seconds that broke your heart. There your boyfriend was, clear as day, kissing a girl that wasn’t you.

It isn’t long before you heard the front door open and slam behind someone, reminding you of who you told to come over. Luke, your best friend since you guys met in the sandpit at six years old. When he accidentally pushed you in, so you kicked him in the nuts. You guys had been inseparable ever since.

Luke was your best friend, and you were his. You guys had been through everything together. When he first learned guitar, when you did gymnastics, when he joined a band, when you guys first went to high school, and now, your first heartbreak.

“y/n?” He calls from downstairs, looking around the dark room. He had learned from a young age to just come into your house without knocking, your house was his second home after all.

Of course, you do have a few female friends that you could have called but none of them knew you as well as Luke did and you knew Luke would be there with you through everything. He would understand. He would comfort you better than any girl ever could. You walked down the stairs, trying to keep your sobs in but once you caught eyes with Luke, the tears started to fall.

“Luke,” You let out, looking at the boy barely keeping yourself together.

“y/n/n, what’s wrong?” Luke questions, eyes wracking over your defeated posture before looking up at your puffy red eyes. It was clear you had been crying, but why?

“He- he-,” You cut yourself short, letting back a choked sob as you land at the bottom of the stairs, Luke walking closer to you, his face looking at you with concern, “Luke he was with another girl, he cheated-”

Mind wracking back over the video, you broke down into tears, falling into Luke’s now open arms. Suddenly, once you're in the arms of your best friend all of your walls come crashing down and you start to cry louder, letting out every emotion you felt that night. The sadness, betrayal, and overall heartbreak.

Luke holds the back of your head soothingly as you cry into his chest, playing softly with the hair on your head. By this point, he is supporting all of your weight but he doesn’t mind as he lifts you over to the couch, allowing you to continue crying in a more comfortable position than the awkward standing position you were in moments before.

Whilst Luke was sad hearing you cry, he was overcome with anger.  The fact that the scum would cheat, on you of all people. You were amazing, perfect even, so why would someone ever give away the chance of being with you? He knew he wouldn’t. Luke knew how much you loved and cared for the boy, Jack, and to see him cheat on you, he couldn’t help but be furious.

If he was being honest, the thing he wanted more than anything right now was to hook him right in the face. Punch him right where he stood, busting open his face so that no other girl would ever want to kiss him again. It’s what he deserves. Luke knew he was probably being a bit overprotective, but that didn’t matter to him, what mattered was that you were okay right now.

The last thing you needed in your state of fragility was Luke leaving you by yourself to set into the dickhead. Oh no, that could be done another time when you weren’t crying. What you truly needed right now was his comfort, so that’s what he gave you. He held you close, not even saying anything but hugging you closely, silently reminding you that he was here for you and always would be as you softly lulled into a sleep.

And when then phone call finally ends You say "Thanks for being a friend" And I'm going in circles again and again

I dedicate this song to you The one who never sees the truth That I can take away you hurt Heartbreak girl Hold you tight straight through the daylight I'm right here, when you gonna realise That I'm your cure? Heartbreak girl

Walking down the hall, Luke’s eyes catch onto you. Even though he’s been with you all weekend, comforting you after the video you saw on Friday, just looking at you is a sad reminder of how you are doing. A frown has fallen onto your face whilst you look over at something. Following your gaze, Luke finds him, Jack, with his arm wrapped around the girl in the video.

He wants to punch that stupid smirk off Jack’s face, then they’ll see who’s truly laughing. When Luke’s eyes drift back over to you, he feels his stomach dropping slightly. The look in your gaze makes you look broken, eyes conveying a sense of vulnerability that Luke didn’t think was possible. Maybe it’s just because Luke knows you better and knows how to read you better than everyone else, but he notices all of the changes in you. He sees how your eyes lacked the sparkle they usually had, your usual smile not present, even your outfit seemed a little dull. Nonetheless, you’re still gorgeous, Luke thinks so, but you look different; less lively.

All of this heartbreak just because of a stupid boy. One stupid hard-headed jock that doesn’t know how to truly value the important things in his life. The stupid jock that didn’t know how much you were truly worth.

Luke knows he could treat you so much better if you just gave him the chance to. If you looked his way instead of Jack’s. He would hold you close and never let you go, let you know just how much you meant to him and those truly important around you. He would watch you like the only person in the world because you were the only one that mattered. 

He doesn’t even realize he was staring at you until he hears a cough sound from behind him as Reggie puts an arm over his shoulder, smirking, “You’re staring, pal.”

Luke, who’s eyes briefly glanced over towards Reggie when the bassist spoke, glanced back at you quickly, sighing lightly in relief when he realizes you didn’t notice him staring at you. He shrugs half-heartedly, not noticing the knowing look that Reggie gives him as he speaks, “I can’t, Reg. I’m not supposed to like her like this, she’s my best friend.”

“Best friend or not, I see the way you look at her, everyone does but her,” Reggie says before patting his friend on the back.

“She still likes him Reg, and I’ve known her since we were six. She’s been in so many relationships yet she fell for the stupid jock,” Luke says, shaking his head as his fists clench at his sides. He doesn’t realize but his face contorts into anger, making Reggie smirk, “she deserves so much better. She deserves someone who’s going to appreciate her. Someone who will show her how much she means to them-”

“Someone like you?” Reggie asks, making Luke glance at him with an annoyed expression, huffing. Reggie shrugs his shoulders, “Just saying man if anyone knows y/n it’s you. You just gotta be there for her and she’ll realize how much you mean to her. I mean, everyone thinks you guys are meant for each other, soon she’ll see that too.”

I bite my tongue But I wanna scream out You could be with me now But I end up telling you what you wanna hear But you're not ready And it's so frustrating He treats you so bad and I'm so good to you, it's not fair

And when the phone call finally ends You say "I'll call you tomorrow at 10" And I'm stuck in the friendzone again and again

Luke is frustrated. It has been two weeks since his conversation with Reggie, and the hope Reggie had given him for pursuing a relationship was surely fizzling out. Reggie was wrong, that’s what Luke thought anyway. Not only had you not realized how much Luke was bending his back for you, going out of his way to comfort you, being there for you 24/7, you had been so utterly stupid. Jack had given you the most insincere apology known to man, and you were meeting up with him for a date.

It had been forty-seven minutes since you had left, not that Luke was counting or anything and he still hadn’t heard a word from you. No text, no call, nothing. Jack was probably taking up all of your attention with his boring jock stories or his lame jokes. He probably didn’t even compliment you when you arrived and that was practically criminal.

You had been all dressed up when you left, not that Jack would have even noticed, but Luke did. He noticed the way the outfit you wore looked perfect on you, complimenting everything about you and most importantly, how confident you felt in it. You deserved more than a boy that wouldn’t even tell you that you were pretty, Luke knew that, he just wished you did too. 

He paces around his room, feet aggressively hitting the ground. He wanted to punch something, to let out all of the anger and frustration that was itching, begging to be released. Yet, his anger was cut short when he heard his phone start to ring.

“Hello?”

“Lu?” Your voice sounded through his phone, ringing in his ears.

“Y/n?” Luke said in confusion, eyes glancing up at the time, “Aren’t you supposed to be on your date?”

You hesitate to answer, a complete silence hanging in the air until your light sniffles sound through the phone, “He didn’t show, Lu. M-My mom dropped me off, I don’t have my car. Can you come pick me up?”

“I’ll be there in 10, stay there y/n/n.”

Luke ran out of the house.

I dedicate this song to you The one who never sees the truth That I can take away you hurt Heartbreak girl Hold you tight straight through the daylight I'm right here, when you gonna realise That I'm your cure? Heartbreak girl

I know someday it's gonna happen And you'll finally forget the day you met him Sometimes I'm so close to confession I gotta get it through your head That you belong with me instead

Luke couldn’t help but smile at you, hazel eyes meeting your e/c eyes as he strung his guitar expertly. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for you to be at band practices, actually, you were at a large amount of them. It was normal for you to watch the band, well that’s what you said you were doing, but you were only really looking at Luke.

You didn’t play any musical instruments properly, but you could play a little guitar from what Luke had taught you. You remembered his teaching you, arms wrapped around you, hands guiding your fingers onto the different frets, playing different cords. He didn’t give up when you messed up, and instead, he smiles and shows you again, your back flushed against his chest.

It was no secret that you always enjoyed watching their band practice and perform, but it was different this time because they had gotten you to stop thinking about Jack. This was the first day that you didn’t feel miserable and instead felt happy in their presence. It was the first day that your gleaming smile returned, one that all members of the band had missed.

Soon enough, they were finished, congratulating each other on how well they played with large smiles.

“We’re gonna sound great at the rally!” Reggie says, flipping his bass down to his side so he didn’t have to hold it as he gave Luke a high five before turning to Alex, all of them breathing heavily with huge smiles.

“Of course, we’re still finishing with the other song, right?” Alex asked, eyes looking over at Luke for approval. He nodded his head, making you look at them in confusion.

“What other song?”

Luke glanced over to you, walking closer before kneeling beside you, guitar still in his hand, smirking “Can’t tell you, it’s a surprise.”

You groaned lightly, flinging your head back before giving the boy your puppy eyes, “Please? I won’t tell.”

He laughed lightly, shaking his head at you. Over the years, he had often been the victim to your puppy eyes, and whilst he often found them irresistible, he knew he couldn’t tell you this secret. He playfully slapped you on the arm, “Get those puppy eyes away, they’re not gonna work today.”

“Fine,” you grumbled, standing up before you stood up alongside Luke, who slung an arm over your shoulder. You guys shared a look, almost communicating through your eyes, something that you guys had gotten freakishly good at since you were kids.

“So, who wants to go grab a smoothie?” Luke said, turning his attention towards the rest of the band as you jumped on his back, ready to leave practice for smoothies.

I dedicate this song to you The one who never sees the truth That I can take away you hurt Heartbreak girl Hold you tight straight through the daylight I'm right here, when you gonna realise That I'm your cure Heartbreak girl

Soon enough, the rally at school came and the students surround the stage that the band was playing on. You stood at the back, proudly watching them as they played. Their most recent song blasts through the halls, exciting the students more than you had seen for the previous people on stage, even Dirty Candy. Sweat drips off of them, lights blazing down on them with intensity.

Eyes looking at Luke, you see him jump around when he sings and it brings a smile to your face. You knew this was their surprise song, the song that they were ending with because it was an unfamiliar tune, but one that Luke was pouring every feeling into as he sang the lyrics.

Suddenly, he’s no longer playing his guitar and it’s hanging on the strap by his side, mic detached from the stand and he’s making his way off of the stage and running through the crowd. You’re astonished, not only because Luke is running off stage, but that it somehow isn’t affecting his vocals.

Everyone seems to knowingly make a path for him to run through, almost as if they know where he is going to. Your eyes stay on him as he comes through the crowd, slowing down to a walk as he begins to sing again,

“I dedicate this song to you The one who never sees the truth That I can take away you hurt Heartbreak girl

Hold you tight straight through the daylight I'm right here, when you gonna realise That I'm your cure? Heartbreak girl.”

His eyes meet yours when he is standing barely feet away from you. His hair is messed up, dripping with sweat but you barely notice. When he stops singing, he lifts the mic away from his face and holds it down away from both of your faces so that it can’t pick up what you’re saying.

People start to talk between themselves, all of them staring at you and Luke standing barely a foot apart, eyes gazing into one another but you don’t notice because you’re too busy looking at Luke. You’re speechless, heart racing faster than you thought humanly possible, with lips slightly apart before he whispers to you, “This is for you, my heartbreak girl.”

Then, his free hand makes its way up and cups your cheek, and his lips connect with yours.

[gay-salt-amber]

Where the hell is Kenma?!

Yuri on Ice x Haikyuu crossover

Just so you know, all the figure skaters kids are close with the other skaters so they consider ever skater they're close with family so the whole uncle aunt thing is just a friend thing

warnings: Gay, swearing, etc

Ships: leoji, yakulev, minotayuri

Пока= bye

All Russian is google translated

For the parents the kids will just be calling them by their names unless one parents is without the others then they will be called dad so it doesn't get confusing

Kenma pov

It was 10 alcock at night and I was up playing my video games as usual with Hinata, Lev and some other friends. We were playing a game that was a collaboration between Nerf and Xbox, it was quite good. Not my favorite shooter of all time but it was alright. When the match was over and the 20 second map and round type selection started, my phone rang. I was on a discord call with my friends so they saw the phone going up to my ear. Right when I was about to answer Lev spoke up,

"Who is it?" He asked

"Georgi."

"Popovich?"

"Yeah."

"Who's this Georgi?" Hinata seemed confused but curious.

"Just a family friend of ours." I answered, I don't wanna go into me and Lev being legally related right now.

"Oh, cool!"

I looked down at my phone and unlocked it to see the messages, "I might need to not play this round for a bit I need to respond to these texts." I said

The rest of them agreed and I went back to the messages.

---

Georgi: I was just wanting to remind you that the plane leaves at 7, so get some sleep kid.

Kenma: Thanks uncle Georgi, I'll try.

Georgi: Do you want us to bring the Russian team bus to pick you up from your house?

Kenma: Sure when are yall getting here?

Georgi: 6 prolly, depends on how long Lila and Yakov wanna take. Old asses -w-

Kenma: pfft xD

Kenma: Anyway, I need to get back to my friends see you later.

Georgi: K, get some sleep, my favorite nephew ☆⌒(*＾-゜)v

----

I unmuted my mic on the call and spoke after like 5 minutes

"Back, hows the round going?"

I didn't hear my dear Shoyo but instead Lev, "Good, Hinata got tired though and had to leave."

When I was about to say I needed to leave to, Lev spoke again,

"Oh yeah! You should get going, you don't wanna miss the flight!"

Once I exited the game I turned back to my monitor that had discord and moved it back to my main monitor, "I was about to say that."

"Пока" I said, my Russian feeling a little rusty.

"Пока Kenma!"

Pressing the 'end call' button made me sigh with relief, standing up, I walked over to my closet and grabbed some clothes for a shower before bed. I grabbed some long, loose black pants and a old Russian figure skating team shirt that one of my dads got me. While I was walking to the bathroom I was looking through some notes for class and deleted stuff I didn't need since I was going to be in an entire different country for a while.

I got out of the shower, dried my hair and put on my clothes. Once I got to the door, I looked into the mirror and I had an idea, 'Should I put my hair in braids so it'll look wavy tomorrow? Yeah that'll look nice!' I reached over and grabbed two small clear hair ties and put my hair into two braids.

I finally opened the bathroom door and walked back to my room to call it a night and sleep. Once I reached my room I noticed something, "You mother fucker.." I didn't pack my bags for the fucking trip. I whipped out my phone and thought of who I could message, we were gonna be in a bunch of places for skating and I wanted to check for how long, but guess what?! I don't know whos awake!

Right when I was about to wing it, I remembered its like 9 in the morning for Leo de la Iglesia, who is an American skater which I consider family. I guessed he would be up since he and Guang-Hong Ji, his boyfriend typically wake up at 7 to eat breakfast and go on a run together, virtually since they live in different countries but I guess they try. It took a while to find this name in my contacts since my phone doesn't really sort through who I texted recently but instead it sorts alphabetically the only time I would see his name at the top is if I had an unread message from him, which I don't. I kept scrolling reading off the letters as I went. H,I,J,K....

I finally got to L and found his name since I only have like 3 people whos name start with L in my contacts, I opened it and cringed at the date of the last sent message, 'June 1st' which was a happy pride month message. My fingers tapped on the message bar and I started typing quickly.

------

Kenma: Hey uncle Leo ヾ(•ω•`)o

Kenma: Ik this is a weird time to text since I should be sleeping but, you're the only one awake.

Leo: Ey Kozume! 💅 What do you need?

Kenma: I was wanting to know how long the competitions are gonna be , I forgot to pack soo...

Leo: Ah! Well you're going to be on the trip for a week and Georgi's gonna take you back to Japan the Monday afterwards

Kenma: I- Isn't it longer then that? (⊙_⊙)？

Leo: Yes but we know that Neko-

Kenma: Nekoma?

Leo: How ever the fuck you spell your schools name 😑

Leo: Anyway, we know you have a game against Karasuno the next day and we know you would wanna play in that sooo...

Kenma: Cool, thanks.

Leo: Np, see you in America (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

----

Once I was done snickering to myself at Leo and I's conversation, I walked over to my clothes drawers and got out the clothes I wanted, one formal outfit, some pj's and some casual stuff. I put that stuff in one suitcase and put my miscellaneous stuff in a smaller drawstring bag that had a bunch of video game pins on it. I walked downstairs to put my stuff by the door and when I got there I saw someone come in, it were my dads, Yuri Plisetsky, Otabek Altin and Minami Kenjiro.

I walked up and hugged all 3 of them, "Hey kiddo."

Since I decided to say screw sleep and talk to my parents which is something I didn't get to do much at this time of the year often since they have practice all the time. So we sat on the couch and had dinner while watching tv as a family and talked about their practice

Yuri chirped up while eating some rice, "Mila was being a bitch."

"Oh? What happened?" I asked

"So you know her kid Tendō?"

Minami put his chopsticks down and joined in the conversation, "He's that kid that goes to Shiratorizawa Academy right?"

"So, he's gonna be joining the Russian team since the he doesn't like the Italian team."

"Yet his uncle and other mom is on that team." Otabek pointed out

"Yeah."

"I don't get how she was being a bitch?" I said, trying to get the conversation back to the main point,

"Her ass was bragging about all practice, like shit I couldn't get 2 fucking works out without her interrupting."

We all laughed, and went back to eating.

After we were finished we all were doing the dishes, "Go upstairs and get some sleep kiddo, I'll do the rest of the dishes. Yuri, go get some rest too." Minami said

"Are you not going to America, Beka?" Yuri asked.

The black haired boy shrugged, "No, for some reason my couch decided I'm not going, I don't know why."

Minami was another one of my dads who was staying home, ever since they adopted me when I was 4 he always declined going to any skating competitions that weren't in Japan so that if I ever had an emergency someone would always be there. This meant that only me and Yuri, my blonde, sassy, Russian dad were going to America for the 3 back to back skating events that were happening there.

"I wonder why Lev's not going.."

"Your school doesn't want you both out when a game is so close." Otabek was right I still thought it was stupid since he was looking forward to this event, he's always wanted to go to America after all. But as compromise I promised to send him a lot of photos.

Minami who was still washing the dishes started shoving us out of the kitchen, "Yeah yeah, cut the chat get your butts upstairs and I don't wanna see you two down here until morning!" He said, waving a wooden spoon in the air as we walked up the stairs, laughing.

We reached the upstairs, both of my dads gave me a kiss on the forehead and wished me a good night. I walked into my room and instantly my tiredness from earlier came back to wack me in the face with 5 times the strength of before. I walked over to my bed and just.. flopped.

--In the morning--

My alarm for 5:30 went off and I got up, still tired but meh, nothing a bit of coffee wont fix. I walked over to my closet and got out a hoodie Shoyo gave me, it was a Karasuno hoodie with Shoyo's name and volleyball number, 10 on the back. I inhaled the scent of my lover. I'm gonna miss him but I still can call him. I grabbed a thin t-shirt to wear underneath and some soft black pants with red on the side, after I grabbed my clothes I walked to the bathroom and got changed. After that I took my braids out, my hair looked great!

When I left the bathroom right when I put my foot on the first step to head downstairs the scent of waffles hit my nose, I started to go quicker down the stairs since I fucking love waffles and I am starving! Once I got there Minami greeted me.

"Hey kiddo, did you sleep good?"

"Yeah." I nodded

"Are your other dads not up yet?"

"Nah." I shook my head getting out a plate.

"Before you eat imma wake them up."

I rubbed my forehead before sighing, "Oh god what are you planning, pops?"

"Nothing, let me just..." After finicking with his phone I heard a blast of noise from my parents room and the line I knew too well of "WELCOME TO THE MADNESS" blasted through the door. After like 2 seconds they were up and downstairs.

"You get creative when it comes to waking us up." Otabek yawned while Yuri wiped his eyes.

"I know, glad you're finally catching on~" Minami said, getting sassy, which he normally was this early in the morning.

"What'd you make for breakfast?" I asked.

"Apple waffles!"

I ran to the counter happily, grabbing like 3 fucking waffles.. What can I say? I love apple things!

"Goddamn! Leave some for us!" Yuri teased

"Nah~" I joked back.

When we had just finished our food, we were setting our dishes into the sink and just chatting, we heard a knock on the door. I turned to the clock, '6:00' almost on the dot. "Man when they say they'll be here at 6, they aren't kidding." Otabek said, looking at the bus through the window.

I snickered and got my shoes on, me and Yuri grabbed our suitcases and after my adopted dad kissed my other dads, we were out the door and on the bus. I stopped to talk to Mila whom was driving while Yuri went to go sit in the back by himself.

I tapped the red head on the shoulder, "Hey Mila can we make a stop before we go to the airport?"

She grinned "Yeah, of course, the flight was delayed a half hour anyway for whatever fucking reason."

"Ok, can we stop at Karasuno I uh.. Wanna see someone before we leave.."

Mila let out a quiet gasp before whispering, "Is this the boy you've been talking about?"

I nodded and Mila laughed, "Sure, I don't see why not!"

I gave a light smile and went to go sit down.

--When they stopped at Karasuno, Hinata pov--

"We aren't doing anything special today, hell do what you want if you wanna sit and chat do that, I am giving you a free day before we practice for our match against Nekoma." Couch Ukai explained

We all nodded with a 'yes couch' coming out of all us.

Me and Yamaguchi stayed chatting when our long haired ace, Asahi came in, "Sorry I'm late but there's a bus outside that says, 'Russian Figure Skating Team' outside for whatever reason."

"I wonder why..." I brushed it off though and continued talking to Yams

We kept talking before I heard a familiar voice, "Shoyo? Are you here?"

"Kenma!" I exclaimed before I jumped up and ran to give him a hug which almost knocked him over in the process.

"Hi Shoyo, its good to see you."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, releasing the hug and just holding his hands and I spoke again

"I mean there's a weird bus that says Russian Figure Skating Team or something outside but why are you here?"

"That's my ride." Kenma answered plainly.

"That's your- WHAT!" I was surprised and the others came over

Kenma laughed, "That's why I came here, I wanted to let you know I'm going to be gone for a week."

"Why? Did something happen?" Suga asked from the back

"No, no! I'm going to skate in America, I'll be back for our game though." His answer made me more curious

Noya's voice rang from the right, "When are you leaving?"

"Around 7:30, our plane got delayed but I get to talk with you more, right Shoyo?"

I was about to sit down when the door swung open and there stood someone who looked a bit like Kenma, but different colored eyes and plain blonde hair

"I'm hanging out in here with you kid."

"Yakov being annoying?"

"да ебать его задницу!"

"Who are you sir?" Asked Asahi who was putting away the few volleyballs that were used since most of the team was chatting, it was a free day after all

"This is Yuri Plisetsky, my dad." Kenma explained

"Cool."

I tilted my head, wondering what he said, I knew it was Russian just based on context but I didn't know what, "What was that you were saying?"

"He said, "yeah fuck his ass" My blonde boyfriend translated

"Ooh."

"Well before we go might as well do this," Kenma sighed as he held my hand tighter,

"Dad, this is my boyfriend, Shoyo." Kenma looked nervous.

"As long as he treats you well, then I don't care."

"W-wait that's it?!" Kenma seemed surprised

Yuri clutched his chest in laughter, "I-I'm sorry! Just.."

"Are you forgetting who I am?"

"What?"

"Kiddo, I am a trans gay man who has been married with 2 other men in a poly relationship for 2 years now, what'd you want me to say?"

Hinata looked surprised but also relived, "Really? That's so cool!"

Yuri looked at me and rolled his eyes and messaged the bridge of his nose, "Really? You went for the fanboy?"

"Dad, you're married to one."

"Meh, true."

We were talking for a while longer with me just being lovey as usual when someone else walked through the door and yelled "ITS JJ STYLE!" Which Yuri's dad looked pissed about

"I'll get him out give me a second."

"убирайся отсюда, канадский ебать!" Yuri yelled as he proceeded to shove the man I'm guessing named JJ out

"What'd he say?" I asked

"Get out of here you Canadian fuck."

"Oooh."

With that a new people entered, "Kozume!" A voice called,

"Hi Gramps."

"Whos this?" I questioned with my hand still on Kenma's

"That's my grandpa, Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov."

"That's so cool!"

Kenma blushed and just nodded,

"Does my grandson have a boyfriend~"

"Yep, this is Shoyo."

"So he's the one I keep hearing Chris say you brag about?"

"Mhm."

"We-"

Before Victor could continue I heard a slam

"Двигай своей задницей, черт возьми, свинья!" (Move your ass fucking pig!) And in came Yuri kicking another black haired boy in through the door.

"Yurio be nice you your mother!"

"HES NOT MY MOTHER! AND STOP CALLING ME YURIO!" He yelled back

Victor sighed, "Well we have 2 Yuri's here its confusing!"

The grey haired mans tone quickly changed, "Anyway~"

He helped Yuuri up and waltzed on back over to us, "Our grandson has a boyfriend!!!!"

"Awh that's great!"

"Aaand Shoyo, meet my other grandpa, Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov"

"It's nice to meet you."

We talked a bit before Yuuri spoke up,

"We should get going, the others probably wanna get coffee before we go to the airport."

"Oh, yeah, I guess so."

I was sad that they had to leave because Kenma noticed and his face softened because when they were getting up to leave, he gave me a soft kiss on the lips,

" I will call you every chance I get, Ok baby?"

"Alright, I'll see you next week at the game?"

"Yes, I love you."

"I love you too." Those were the last words I said to Kenma in person for a week.

When I turned around I heard someone yell, "KOZUME HAS A BOYFRIEND!"

Lev pov--

Kenma: We're having another fucking flight delay!

Lev: I still wish I could've gone with!

Kenma: I know, you were really wanting to come, right?

Lev: Ofc! I have always wanted to go to America! 😭😭😭

Kenma: Oof

Lev: Hold on the team is worried about you, give me a moment

Kenma: Gl Kuroos gonna be all like 'well why didn't I know?!' or some shit

Lev: mhm 😑

---

I turned off my phone and listened to the rest of the team freak out about the gamer boys missing

"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?!" Yaku yelled out of panic

"Yaku, I am sure he's fine.." Yamamoto said, trying to keep the peace

"Well we don't know that! Hell! He didn't even tell me anything.." Kuroo was also pissed which just made me wanna chuckle since Kenma was right about Kuroos reaction.

"Uhm..."

"What Lev?"

"Well about Kenma being gone, I know where he is I just thought this was funny."

"So us worrying is funny?!"

"When I know why, yes."

Kuroo rolled his eyes, "Lev, Kenma never talks to you."

"Yes, yes he does, you don't know every fucking thing he does." I snapped.

"Are you sure?" Kuroo retorted

"Whos he dating?"

"I-"

"See you dont even know that"

"Fucking- Whatever just where is he?" Yaku asked

I held out my phone and showed the texts

"Where the hell is he going?! We have a game!"

"Yaku, please shut the fuck up." I whispered.

"What?!"

"Yaku I love you, but please shut the fuck up, he doesn't care about the game right now, he will be back for the game with Karasuno, but he is with family and doing something that will contribute to his future. Now shut up пожалуйста, перестань любопытствовать и дай ему жить!" (please stop prying and let him live!)

"..."

I took a step back, I swore my boyfriend out... I even yelled at him in Russian!

I felt like I wanted to cry, I didn't wanna snap like that.. Then I heard the door open

"HA I KNEW HE WOULD CUSS SOMEONE OUT! Виктор! ты должен мне 20 долларов!" (Victor you owe me 20) I turned to the voice,

"Oh praise god." I sighed

Yurio was walking up to me, "ты в порядке? ты выглядишь напряженным .." (are you okay? you look tense)

"Я огрызнулся на своего парня, и я устал, угадай" (I snapped at my boyfriend and I'm tired, guess)

"What are they saying.." Yaku was confused

"Well apologize you fuck!" Yurio scoffed

"..."

"Sorry sir, but Lev is fine, I was the one who deserved it."

"I'm still sorry!"

"Even better question! Lev, you can speak Russian!?" Kuroo seemed surprised

"Yeah, I just didn't wanna hear the, 'oh! Say my name in Russian' or, 'say something in Russian!' that gets annoying fast!"

"Oh, Beka has the same problem whenever he says he's from Kazakhstan."

"Anyway, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the airport with the rest of the Russian team."

"We would be in the sky by now is the plane would stop getting fucking delayed!"

"Well let the team rest in here! Its probably hot as fuck in that bus."

"Smartest thing you've said all day, Levochka." And with that he left

"And who was that?" Yaku's tone was serious so I beckoned the team over to the bench to explain

"So you know how I have left practice early?"

"Yes?"

"That's because I do figure skating and I am hoping to go into it full time when I am older and that person who was here a bit ago was a part of the Russian Figure Skating team."

"Nice!" Someone commented from the end of the bench

"Levochka!" A voice called,

"DAD!" I raced to meet the voice and gave a big hug to my father, Victor Nikiforov and gave my other dad, Yuri Katsuki a hug when he entered short after.

Yaku came up from behind, and kicked me, "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOUR PARENTS WERE FAMOUS SKATERS YOU FUCK!"

Upon seeing that the Russian team was pissed, "Держи свои гребаные ноги от него, ублюдок размером с муравей!"

"I still don't know what yall are saying.."

A voice came from the back, "Georgi said, "Keep your fucking feet off him, ant-sized motherfucker" I recognized Kenma's voice quickly

"Ey! I thought you would stay on the bus!" Yurio called

"Well, I finished my level and I have nothing else to play until a few daily bonuses roll in."

"Kid you run through games like me and Lev run through a thing of pirozhkis.."

"Meh I keep myself entertained."

"KENMA?!" Kuroo called, ran up and started to shake the boy

"I WAS WORRIED WHY DIDNT YOU TELL US WHERE YOU WERE GOING?1"

"Because it doesn't concern you, besides its not like I'm gonna be gone forever.."

"Kozume I am your best friend! You tell your best friend this shit!"

"Uh..." Kenma stuttered

"What?! Is there anything else you wanna tell me?!"

"1: I don't owe you shit and 2: Lev and Shoyo are my best friends, Теперь слезай с высокой лошади, ты трахаешься" (Now get off the high horse, you fuck)

"That's my boy!" Yurio cheered

Yuuri shook his head and turned to me, "Anyway, Lev can we pull you and Yaku to the side we wanna talk to you two."

I nodded and grabbed Yaku's hand and we exited the gym with my dads

"Levochka.. Are you sure he's the one you want?" My dad asked gently

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you said that this was your boyfriend when we talked about it before but are you sure he is what you want? I mean he kicks you and gets physical it seems a lot. I just want for you to be safe." My dad explained.

Yaku looked nervous as my dead continued, "Hell even Yurio when we adopted him, was never physical with anyone who didn't deserve it.. Minus Yuuri but you get what I mean."

I grabbed Yaku's hand, "I know but Yaku's trying and that's all I can really ask.."

Yuuri started to talk "Lev please be safe." His face was one of worry

"I'm sorry Mr. Nikiforov, I've been trying my hardest to not be as bad as I was, I am trying for your sons sake, I wanna make him happy.."

"I can see that and I hope you keep trying."

"I will, I care about Lev so much I wouldn't do anything to actually hurt him, I love him too much to do that."

"Th-"

"HEY VICTOR WE NEED TO GET TO THE AIRPORT!" Called Yakov's voice loud from the bus.

"Coming! Lets go!"

After gathering the others they left, till next week will we see them again.

[well-shit-im-a-morosexual-now]

Hey, it's me again! The Anon that constantly comes back because I'm too lazy to play the new lessons myself.

Anyway, Lesson 30-something, what happened in it? I've just seen screenshots and most of them are Solomon blushing (which, well, can't really say I'm complaining).

Hope you answer, and I'll probably ask you about the lessons after this.

-Anon that's still somehow stuck on Lesson 31. Seriously, I should really start playing the game again soon.

I'm screaming I literally wrote this whole thing and it got deleted because tumblr refused to send it and just banished the reply into the void i want to fight someone. I'm so sorry I'm gonna bang my head against something now.

It's okay if you ask cause I need someone to rant to after lessons!

So two days before the ritual to break the pacts. Solomon is researching how to use the night dagger.

Lucifer & Satan are arguing on the staircase (cause 50% of all important conversations happen on staircases - and I mean this sincerely). Lucifer promised mammon he'd come play cards with him and Satan doesn't want him to go cause he thinks it'll be a scam (he's worried about his dad big brother❤). MC asks Satan if he's worried about Lucifer and that makes his affection go up. He asks MC to promise him to go with Lucifer and keep an eye on him. He ruffles MC's hair and gives them the same we'll still be friends talk that the others do

They go to play cards and place bets, if Mammon wins he gets Lucifer's credit card for a day and if Lucifer wins he gets mc alone for a day. You can choose whether you want mc to either play along or cheer for Lucifer. (And look my MC's performing Olympic grade gymnastics to avoid Lucifer's advances & this lesson has a lot of options to romance Lucifer that I didn't pick so...)

Lucifer gets distracted by Mammon's car before they start playing.

WE GET THE BACKSTORY ABOUT THE CAR!!!!!! AND LOOK IT'S BEING THERE FOR SO LONG WITHOUT BEING ACKNOWLEDGED THAT I WAS ALMOST CERTAIN IVE BEEN HALLUCINATING IT. the backstory was actually really cute.

Mammon really really wanted this limited edition car (it had a rare colour) so he worked his ass off and earned money to buy it (I think it's mentioned that this is the first thing he bought from his own money). But by the time he'd earned enough it had been sold out. As far as Mammon knows Lucifer spoke to the dealer and was able to find one last car (can you do that? Can you just ask them to look in the back and they'll just pop out with a car they accidentally overlooked?). BUT Lucifer recalls that he actually spoke to diavolo and called in a special favour to get the car for mammon. Lucifer tells mammon he was impressed by him and I no longer possess a physical form I'm now a bowl of goop with thumbs to type

Lucifer wins (duh) and mammon asks to speak to mc alone. He tells them that even if their pact is severed he'll always be their first man. MC says 'I won't forget.' Mammon does that stuttery thing and says something like 'don't forget.' He hugs them tight. I added a screenshot of this (& other important moments) to my first answer but I don't wanna risk it cause if I lose this again I will realistically commit homicide. But anyway this line killed me 'suddenly I feel like the invisible bond between us is even stronger than it was before'. If I wasn't a puddle before I would be now

The next day mc & Lucifer meet up to go out, Asmo and mammon complain, I'm a total dick so I don't let MC hold Lucifer's hand and it makes him sad (I cry). They meet Solomon at the gate and he says he needs to talk with MC but can wait till after. He suggests going to the carnival (from the beginning of the season) cause it's the last day at the devildom and Simeon was planning on taking Luke but had to bail to go to the celestial realm. (Also the devildom is only one city/district right? I always saw it as the capital of The Devildom as a whole)

Lucifer laments not being able to remeber their first time at the carnival, mc gets to reassure him that it's okay. They get popcorn and go on the ferris wheel.

He asks them what they spoke about last time on the ferris wheel. The answers are 'Lucifer' or 'diavolo' . if you choose diavolo he throws shade at past Lucifer for being an idiot and talking about another man when with MC (*SNORT*) .

LUCIFER CONFESSES!!!? HE SAYS "MC I LOVE YOU"?!? HE'S THE FIRST BROTHER TO DIRECTLY CONFESS AND HAVE MC DIRECTLY CONFESS BACK.HE BASICALLY SAYS 'ANYWAY PAST LUCIFER WAS A FUCKING IDIOT BUT I LOVE YOU'. my mc goes 'lol as a friend'

Yes yes ik mammon technically confessed first and did so twice (thrice?) but neither were direct. The first was him agreeing with mc about them being in love in front of someone else and the second was under the influence of the truth bracelet. Asmo confessed too but in a 'never thought I'd find someone I love more than me. That's wild' way.

After mc shoots him down he goes 'that sucks guess I'll have to try harder to make you fall for me'

@like-nxrthernstxrs if you say you love him back, you get to kiss and mammon who followed you sees and goes quiet which yeah no, no thanks

I didn't unlock the locked lessons but screenshots show that all the brothers follow them I think (imagine the nightmare of dating one of them for real tho? Like you, me and your friend Steve except Steve is your 6 brothers who want to sleep with me)

The most notable exchange during them is when Levi asks whether Lucifer seems happier without his memories (he actually is more carefree) but mammon says he wouldn't be happier because he loves all his little brothers and he wouldn't be happy if he couldnt remember them. Levi tells mammon it's gross whenever he starts acting like an actual older brother (so we've seen mammon step up to the role of a older brother every once in a while - specially when Lucifer isnt able to - and he's actually really good at it? And that's just💞💞)

When they go home, solomon's in MC's room. He goes 'so do you want the good news or bad news first? Actually they're both bad news and you're fucked lol'

The dagger is so old that it doesn't have enough power to break the bonds and even when charged with Solomon's power it isn't enough.

The only way to restore the power is to use it to stab a powerful demon in the chest and have it absorb the demon's power.

Then he gives mc the dagger and is like 'anyway go stab Lucifer in the chest or we're all gonna die'

MC's like 'what the fuck'

Solomon goes 'lol just kidding i wouldn't ask you to do that'

Solomon tells them that he spent his whole life protecting humanity and that he is willing to do anything to save it. He tells them that choosing between all of the three realms and one demon should be easy. But he can't because he knows that'll make MC sad and he doesn't want to hurt them (honestly some of the dialogue from Solomon, Simeon and even diavolo makes me wonder if they'll ever become LIs down the road)

Lucifer has been eavesdropping the whole time (obviously) and kicks Solomon out.

Mc tells time not to worry and that they'll figure something else out. He tells them that he cares about his brothers and them (he puts a bit of emphasis on MC) and that he wants them to stab him. MC keeps on protesting. He grabs their hand and makes them point the dagger to his chest. You get a choice. You can either stab Lucifer, MC or command him to 'stay'. If you choose to command him, he freezes for a sec and then tells MC they are too distraught to be able to put any actual power behind the command. He moves their hand to stab himself. The screen goes white. If you decide to stab MC he screams their name. The screen goes white

A '???' voice tells them to stop and that it's not needed. Simeon (the only person with even a single braincell in this entire game) stops their hand and tells them they've been brave. He slips an old ring on to their finger. The screen goes white.

The screen's still white but now it's white in a way that makes it look like it's sunlight blinding the screen.

Another '???' voice apologises to MC for not being able to meet them before. It asks mc why they refused to stab Lucifer. They can say it's because they love him, because they didn't want anyone to get hurt or because they wanted to find another way. And look even if you aren't romancing Lucifer you have to admit at this point of the game MC does love him and all his brothers as well.If you pick the first option the voice says that it's a good thing and that they should cherish that love and let it grow. If you choose the second it tells them they are kind. The voice then tells them that after seeing how much the brothers adore them it expected them to be wicked and that it's happy they aren't. It tells them that they don't have to worry and that the ring of light will keep their powers in check and that they should go back because the others are worried. MC wakes up to Lucifer calling their name.

I'm 90% certain the voice in Michael, 10% of me is terrified it'll turn out to be God. And look I'm not religious, I don't really believe in anything and either way I was raised in a Buddhist household so God has never been anything I believed in BUT God talking to me through an otome game is definitely not something I need rn or ever really

Mc, Solomon, Simeon and Luke are by the lake at the palace. Solomon says he can finally relate to Mammon cause Lucifer had punished him. Simeon reveals that Lucifer had punished diavolo as well and would be coming after the rest of them that kept this whole thing secret from him (And this kills me! This man loves his family so much he was not only willing to go against God and his army when his family was in danger but he was also willing to lash out at DIAVOLO who he has so much respect & loyalty towards when he accidentally put Lucifer's family in danger!??? Anyway any chance I had of solidifying into a physical state has been completely swept away)

It's revealed that Simeon may or may not have stolen the ring from Michael who still loves Lucifer and keeps a shrine to Lucifer all of Lucifer's things from the celestial realm with him. And honestly I want whatever superpower Lucifer has that allows him to act like a dick with major issues but still makes ppl just absolutely love him. (I absolutely adore how easily om! throws around the word 'love' or actions of love. And I don't mean regarding MC. I mean between the brothers, undateables, Luke and side characters. Like at this point there's no doubt that despite all their differences everyone loves each other.)

Simeon (or Luke) note that now with the ring MC is as powerful a sorcerer as Solomon and may someday surpass him. Solomon is asked of he's jealous and he says he's not and he's glad to finally have someone like him.

Solomon pulls MC aside and asks them for a favour. They can either ask what it is or say 'anything for you'. If you choose the second option he blushes. He tells them he has spent his whole life looking out for humanity (thousands of years) and that he would like to work side by side with them to protect the humans. In his own words they'd be 'partners'. You can either agree or tell him it sounds like a pain in the ass. If you agree he says that a part of him knew they'd agree. (I can't remember if this is said outloud or implied but I'm assuming this means Solomon will teach them to use actual magic thus making 3 out of 4 of my main game MCs magical apprentices. Nice.)

*Solomon refers to himself as 'the witty sorcerer' confirming that all their aliases in the cards have actual canon meaning...so Mammon's 'fallen warrior' and 'punishment party' is basically just confirming he was probably the only one classed as a fighter from all his brothers back in the celestial realm and that he's a masochist right? That's what that means?*

Barbatos arrives to welcome them and ask them to follow him.

The lesson ends.

The pre stabbing scene with Solomon and mc doesn't really follow the exact dialogue of the first scene in S2 and the backgrounds don't match either (the human world vs MC's bedroom). Now this could mean the devs fucked up or it could mean there's more BS waiting to be stirred up. Personally I believe it's the first one BUT with how determined the devs seem with turning all of Lucifer's hair white i wouldn't be surprised if it was the second either

Hope that helps 31!❤ sorry it took some time I had to take constant breaks to scream cause the app sucks :)))

[catboymingi]

beauty and the baker - veninder chap. 10

navi/masterlist

story masterlist

pairing: mingi x reader

genre: fluff; best friends to lovers

word count: 5.3k

warnings: language

det kræver ik’ en phd / for at du kan fatte det, baby - it doesn’t require a phd / for you to understand it, baby

he’d refused to look at the note until after class, not wanting to upset himself if you’d said no, which he was sure you had, so when he was waiting for you after your class the note was still in the same state as it had been roughly two hours prior, though maybe a little more moist from his sweaty hands clinging on to it.

“you haven’t read it yet?”, you asked him when you left the classroom and saw him standing there a little lost, and he shook his head, staring at the still folded piece of paper as if it was going to bite him like those weird books in harry potter.

“do you want me to tell you my answer?”

he shook his head again, looking at you for another moment before he finally, finally opened the note and forced himself to read the rejection that was inevitably coming.

will you be my flickvän? - mingi

[♡] ja

[♡] extra ja

comments: as if i’d ever say no to you♡

he couldn’t believe it. you’d said yes? genuinely said yes? maybe it shouldn’t surprise him so much because you had quite literally been going on dates for three weeks now if you counted the hair dyeing as the first date, but he still felt the need to make sure.

“really?”, giving you those sweet, hopeful eyes you adored so much.

“yes, really.”

you wanted to grab his hand, so bad, but even though you were dating now, or you guessed you were, you were still shy to grab it first.

“so you’re my girlfriend? or not yet?”

your heart screamed yes, but your embarrassment made it sound more like “if you want?”, unable to just say it straight ahead. he was so cute, but things were scary, being in a relationship was somewhat scaring you, and having to say that you wanted to be in a relationship with him when he might maybe not want to date you anymore (as if he’d possibly changed his mind in the two hours since he asked you) was the scariest part of it all, so you didn’t, left the final decision to him, though your eyes were telling him everything he needed to know. your eyes were telling him the yes your mouth was unable to say, and he broke into the biggest grin, nodding.

“you’re my girlfriend”, as if he was trying to convince himself, and it didn’t even matter that you were standing in the hallway awkwardly staring at each other until one of your old friends, who’d obviously been watching, bumped your shoulder hardly as she walked past and hissed: “let’s see for how long”, something that immediately made panic rise in you.

“this was stupid”, you told mingi, an instinctive reaction because if you pretended you’d never said yes then there was nothing to lose, but instead of trying to argue with you he pulled you against his chest and quietly told you that he wouldn’t let them ruin anything, but that he’d understand if you’d changed your mind now, the sadness with which he said the last part making your heart hurt and you realise that you very much had not changed your mind at all, that you didn’t want him to be sad like that because of you for even a second.

“no. i’m your girlfriend”, mumbled against his shoulder, but he heard you anyway. his hold around you tightened a little, protective, because now he was your boyfriend and if anyone were to hurt you he’d have failed at his duty, something he couldn’t allow to happen, wouldn’t allow to happen.

“can i kiss your head?”, mingi asked quietly so that no one else would hear, because this was your moment, it was personal and he didn’t want anyone else to hear it.

“mhm”, looking up at him because you were a little curious what he was going to do, leaving the forehead kiss he’d intended misdirected to the bridge of your nose, something neither of you minded because now you were smiling at how cute he was and he was smiling because you were smiling.

“can i do that all the time now?”, because he both wanted to be sure you were comfortable and didn’t want it to be awkward if he asked you every couple minutes if he could kiss your cheek, something that might very much happen because you were so beautiful and he wanted to let everyone know that you belonged together, most of all you.

“there’s some limits. you can’t do that in class”, you let him know, and he nodded, though he was pouting and looking absolutely adorable.

“let’s go home so i can do it all the time”, the red-haired giant suggested, moving his hands to let go of you so he could grab one of yours once you got the hint, swinging it back and forth a little as you walked. he was adorable, like a schoolboy, seeming so genuinely happy and excited to be with you.

“i’m still shy”, you told him on the way to the train station, “so please don’t worry that i don’t like you just because i’m shy.”

“that’s okay”, he reassured, “just tell me if i get too much, okay?”

although part of you wanted to say that he’d never be too much you logically knew that, depending on how affectionate he’d be in public, you might get incredibly embarrassed and too shy to keep it up for long, though you would appreciate the same thing in private.

“okay. thank you for being so nice about all of this”, and now it was you who was swinging his hand back and forth with some slight force - just enough to move his hand along with yours as you set the swinging pace, a fast one -, trying to control your nervosity through getting it out physically.

“of course… angel.”

the petname was silent and shy, coming a bit late as if he’d been considering whether or not to say it, but you were glad he did. it was so sweet, and you gave his hand an appreciative squeeze before you stopped, almost at the train station, looking at him to ask where you should go today.

“let’s go to my place? i have news for the boys”, swinging your hand a little more to show you which news he was talking about.

“i have news for the boys, too”, you replied, smiling down at your hands and then up at him. “let’s go.”

if the boys thought mingi had been attached by the hip after the confession that was nothing compared to now; he all but refused to let go of you even for a second, doing so only when it was absolutely necessary and reattaching himself as soon as he could. it was cute and it made you feel appreciated, glad for your giant, dorky boyfriend that seemed determined to make you feel how much you meant to him.

by the way he acted now and by how much he’d worried about whether or not to ask you out and complained to them about being unsure he didn’t even need to say anything when he came into their flat, smiling brightly, looking a little bit like a lovestruck idiot, hand attached to yours as soon as he’d unlocked the door. still, your friends knew it meant a lot to him, so they left him the chance to proudly and happily tell them that he’d finally managed to get over himself and ask you out, left him the chance to update them himself about a change in both of your relationship status.

“hey!”, san was the first to greet you, on the sofa again with yunho and wooyoung, playing a little before they’d eat dinner. the other two quickly said hello as well, not paying much attention because they were determined to win.

seeing that there wasn’t much to be talked about there until they’d finished their round the redhead pulled you further into the flat, joining the other four at the table where they were already eating, pulling you into his lap because having you sit on the chair next to him was way too much distance now that he could call you his.

“what’s for dinner?”, he asked curiously, and then he saw that ramen was for dinner, so he pulled you up with him and into the kitchen while asking what flavour it was so he’d know if you could have some as well.

“it’s vegetarian, i think”, seonghwa told him, listing the potentially non-vegetarian things that might be included, and you were delighted to find that it was vegetarian. you joined the eating boys, talking a little about your days until a certain giant couldn’t keep it to himself anymore, couldn’t even wait for the right timing or the topic moving into that direction naturally, bursting out “we’re dating!” and then looking mortified when all eyes were on him, as if he first now realised what he’d just done. he was cute, though, and you smiled and leaned back against him, head against his shoulder, though you closed your eyes to avoid seeing everyone stare. your hands were on top of his, which were linked in front of your stomach to keep you in place, and you gave them a gentle squeeze, trying to let him know that he didn’t need to be anxious.

“i’m happy for you”, the oldest let you know, and “we’re happy for you”, hongjoong corrected, the other two nodding and smiling, not really having much more to say. they’d already seen it coming, but they were still happy for their two friends, especially because they knew that it was a big deal, for the two of you but you more than mingi.

“you look the part, too”, yunho added, now having joined the other four and mingi and you at the table together with his game mates, as he pointed to the two of you’s matching bright red hair, which you’d redyed last week when you’d been hanging out and a little annoyed at the colour already fading.

after you were done eating you went to your boyfriend’s room, being able to do so without any teasing from the boys - slightly surprising, but they just didn’t want to make your relationship awkward for you right from the start or ever at all -, and he settled on the bed with you, pulling you into his arms as soon as you’d sat down.

“i’ll kiss your cheek now, don’t move”, he let you know because he’d seen enough romcoms with you to know that if you were unlucky he’d try to do so right as you moved your head to look at him, and he knew your first kiss meant a lot to you so he didn’t want to accidentally ruin it. now that he’d warned you he considered himself safe, though, and leaned in to peck your cheek quickly, and then again, and a third time because he couldn’t believe that he’d really gotten this lucky.

“you’re cute”, you informed him because he was, especially right now, and then asked: “done? can i turn my head?”

“for now” was his reply, and you grinned widely because he really seemed to like you and you couldn’t believe that you’d gotten this lucky, either.

“teach me maths”, you then half asked of him, half demanded, because he was quite good at your sociolinguistics now but you knew nothing at all about maths, and he laughed.

“you want me to?”

“yes. i want to know what you spend all your days with. and i have a question.”

the question had come to your mind spontaneously, and maybe it was stupid, but you wanted to ask because if there as anyone that wouldn’t judge your stupid questions you knew it was him, because he’d asked his fair share of stupid questions himself and because he’d never judged you for being stupid or a hopeless romantic before, and your question wasn’t that bad.

“a question? shoot.”

“okay so. technically, couldn’t minus infinity plus one be the opposite of the number plus one?”

“how do you mean?”

“well if plus one is positive and small, and minus infinity is obviously negative and small... wait hold on, i got confused. let me restart.”

he nodded, looking at you intently, curious to see what you’d ask and if he’d be able to answer.

“so, i forgot that zero isn’t actually positive or negative, so that’s why i said minus infinity plus one. but one is actually the smallest possible whole positive number, right? so the opposite of that should either be the biggest possible whole positive number, so infinity except remove all the periodics, or the smallest possible whole negative number, so minus infinity without the periodics. but that’s not the case, is it? is there some kind of maths phenomenon that thinks like this?”

he furrowed his brows, thinking, because technically this wasn’t how maths worked, but he wouldn’t be surprised if some mathematician had come up with an opposites system working the way you’d described it.

“technically, the opposite of the variable x is minus x, so the opposite of one is minus one. so as far as i know, it’s not the case. but i see where you’re coming from, so maybe you can get your very own maths phenomenon named after you”, smiling at you because this was a surprisingly good question for someone that didn’t know any maths, even though it was clear that you didn’t really know how maths worked. but you thought about the things you witnessed around you, and that was how gravity had been discovered, so he definitely wasn’t going to judge your questions even if they were silly, and would bring them up to his professor if he felt like you might be onto something.

“you’re cute when you’re smart”, you said, then smiled. “you really think me going and making shit up on the go could be a maths phenomenon?”

“that’s just how maths works, to be fair”, his cute lopsided grin, and you thought he was so beautiful and you wanted to talk to him about maths forever if it would make him smile like this.

“then maybe if you teach me some more i can be the next einstein, except in maths. einstein was physics, right?”

“right. you’re good”, half serious, half teasing, though you focused more on the teasing part because knowing that einstein was physics wasn’t exactly a genius move.

then it was him who went to look for his study materials, asking you what you’d liked best in school - probability, you told him -, so he tried looking for those first so he could start with something fun.

the rest of the day was spent like that, studying and him refreshing your memory and you leaving him wondering if there was anything you weren’t good at because it took you much less time to get back into maths than it had taken him to get into sociolinguistics, something you excused with the fact that you’d already learned the basics in school while he hadn’t known anything at all, and then he kissed your cheek again and made you a little flustered.

that was how dating him continued, too. you didn’t act all that different from before you were dating, mainly because you’d always been really touchy already, so the only new thing was kisses to your face and a few rare ones to his (when you weren’t alone - there you were slowly building up an ability to kiss his face more, but you were still shy to do it) and a cute petname added every now and then. you still spent a lot of time together, but a lot of time with the boys, too, having another pyjama party the weekend after you’d started dating because they said they had to show mingi that just because he was your boyfriend he couldn’t just steal you from your other friends, and of course neither of you minded - the boys were still your friends, too, and you didn’t want to be the couple that ditched all their friends to be with each other and each other only.

it was during that pyjama party that he got his petname, because you’d been eating and he’d managed to get cracker crumbs all over himself, and he looked cute when he tried to collect them in his shirt, making a little apron with the hem, and moved over to empty them in the trash can. he was adorable, brows furrowed to avoid the crumbs falling all over the floor, and then it was decided, not in a conscious act but because your brain short circuited when it saw him empty the crumbs in the trash but licking some off his fingers because he didn’t want to waste all of them.

“muru, muruni, come back”, because the movie was about to start and you needed your giant teddy bear to protect you, just in case.

“what’d you say?”, he asked because maybe he’d heard something korean, but it didn’t fit too well right now.

“muru? muruni, it’s finnish. it means crumb, muru, and -ni means that you’re my crumb. it’s a nickname for your partner, i’m sorry if it’s weird or… wait, does muru mean something bad in korean?”, anxious since your korean was usually native-level but you didn’t always recognise homophones.

“there’s a similar word, but it’s not a bad one”, hongjoong reassured while mingi came over, sitting down next to you before he pulled you into his lap because that was such an adorable nickname and you were so adorable and you’d called him yours, for the first time you’d said he was yours when it wasn’t about saying he was your boyfriend, where the “my” and the “boyfriend” belonged together because “he’s a boyfriend” or “he’s the boyfriend” wouldn’t work. and he was yours, of course he was, nuzzling his face into your shoulder and humming appreciatively.

“i’m your muruni… or wait, how does this work? how do i say this?”, nose rubbing against your shoulder, side to side as he enjoyed the softness of your shirt.

“muru means crumb, muruni means my crumb, so if you say ‘i’m your muruni’ you’re saying ’i’m your my crumb’, but if you want to say you’re my crumb, not someone else’s, you say ‘i’m murusi’, and when you’re talking to someone else about me it’s ’i’m murunsa’. the ending changes depending on if it’s my, your, or her. hm?”, turning your head a little to catch a look at his wad of red hair because his face was still hidden, wanting to make sure that he understood you and the finnish rules, knew how to use it in case he wanted to.

“so if i say he’s yours i say ‘he’s murusi’? or ‘he’s murunsa’?” wooyoung seemed curious, too, and you smiled.

“if you say murusi, you’re talking to me. if you say murusi while talking to hongjoong, i’m going to have to have a word with him, because this is my boyfriend. then you’d say murunsa.”

“so -ni is my, -si is your, and -sa is her?”, jongho asked, wanting to understand the apparently complicated intricacies of the finnish possessive suffix system.

“-nsa is her, or his, or their. and it’s -n-sa, not just -sa, but yeah”, you explained, and they all smiled as they finally got it, the movie seemingly forgotten about as they tried to remember and asked you for more example words so they could practice, though you sometimes told them to choose a different one because they weren’t actually learning finnish and coming in with noun stems would probably be a little much.

“what about the movie though?”, you finally asked, because they had understood how the suffixes worked and you just wanted to cuddle your boyfriend and relax, as much as you loved talking about your languages.

“let’s watch it”, because what his girlfriend wanted his girlfriend got, and if she wanted to watch a movie mingi would make sure they’d watch a movie. though he didn’t put it on, seeing how he had much more important things to hold, those things being you between his legs and your back leaning against his chest.

the pyjama party was fun, even though the boys did tease you a little about refusing to let each other go unless it was absolutely necessary, but it was loving teasing, glad that things were fine between you, glad that mingi’s dumbass behaviour had at least brought about something good, even though san still made a point to threaten him about breaking your heart because, as the black-haired boy said, “you know i could break your nose if i had to”, a threat mingi didn’t take lightly. he knew how much you’d come to mean to all of them, and it was because of that that he’d gotten the boys to put together and pay for a little more than half of the laptop you still had to replace, and the girl in your class had accepted their payment because her old one had already been somewhat old, so now you no longer had to pay for this. even though none of you should’ve had to pay they’d rather do this than have you worry and potentially get in trouble, and if you really wanted to pay them back it’d be better this way because they wouldn’t pressure you to pay faster than you could afford to. of this they informed you during the pyjama party, your expression one of disbelief.

“but… the money, it’s… that’s so much! you’re joking, right?”

but they weren’t.

“this place belongs to my parents”, seonghwa said, “so rent is really cheap. plus, we’re eight people, so splitting costs up leaves not all too much for all of us. it’s fine, really”, making a dismissive hand motion as you tried to protest.

“you can pay us back when you have it, or in smaller payments, it’s not urgent and you don’t have to at all. it’s mainly so you won’t have to worry about it, so if you can stop worrying now, it’s worth it”, a warm smile and warm words from yeosang, and you sighed, then smiled and nodded. though you felt guilty this did relieve you, and you told them to come into a cuddle pile because they all deserved a tight hug.

“thank you”, first quietly and then repeated again, louder, because it was impossible for them to be quiet when you were giving them a group hug, someone always stepping on someone else’s foot or similar.

“no problem”, mingi told you, close to your ear, pulling you closer to him and almost causing everyone else to stumble because you were still clinging on to everyone.

and that was how the night ended, too, your boyfriend pulling you with him to cuddle while everyone else would watch a horror movie.

//

“muru?”

“hm?”

he was in your bed, half leaning against the wall and playing with your hair, something he loved to do, when you spoke up, though not moving in the slightest.

“i want to take you on a date this time.”

“where?”

of course he’d let you - the thought excited him. he just wanted to know where you’d thought, just so he could be even more excited.

“seoul botanic park. i want to look at the flowers with you and compare you to the big ones.”

he thought the idea was adorable, and you hadn’t been there yet. week five of dates and he hadn’t thought to take you to a botanical garden yet, he thought to himself slightly disappointed, but it was okay because you’d had the idea now so you wouldn’t be missing out on that.

“when?”

“two days? tomorrow is a little soon”, and it was, because you were already in bed, ready to sleep soon, plus it was thursday so you’d be able to spend the entire day there if you wanted to if you went on saturday.

“okay. and after that i want to have a picnic with you again, when we’re home. a living room picnic. deal?”

of course it was a deal, leaving both of you excited, forever excited to get to spend time together.

//

after having asked him on a date the first time you got less shy, grabbing his hand yourself now or kissing his face in public, calling him the sweet name even when people that weren’t your group of friends were around. you even let him feed you now, sometimes, something that made his heart beat faster than it maybe should, because this meant he really was your boyfriend now, and he saw your permission to feed you as a privilege to be appreciated and honoured. as much as you were scared that things would be ruined as much did you adore him, and you’d rather risk things for him than not take any risks but not get to feel as loved and adored as you did now. and things were okay, they were, because he was there to protect you even when your ex-friends did try to make things hard, he only left you alone if he had to when he knew they were around, he stared them down threateningly whenever he was around them and made it known that he was willing to do whatever necessary to keep them from hurting you. he’d not let anyone hurt you, not again.

and it was like this that you made it last for an entire month, a milestone your boyfriend would most definitely celebrate with you because he absolutely adored you, you were always trying your best and trusting each other and working together to both ease more into the thought of having a relationship both of you hoped and wanted to be long-term.

//

it was decided that you would be baking a one month anniversary cake - or would at least attempt it -, an idea mingi had come up with when he realised it had already almost been a month and when he realised how special that must be for you, even more so than for him, and when he decided that that day needed to be honoured in some way, having occupied the kitchen for the entire afternoon because he wanted to bake with you, definitely. so now here you were, with a lot of ingredients and a lot of food colouring and a lot of sprinkles, ready to make a complete mess and ready for this anniversary to be your last because seonghwa might not let both of you survive if you did end up making a mess.

“so we do this…”, your boyfriend started, looking carefully at the recipe before managing to break the egg not inside but outside of the bowl, and that was the start of the mess-making.

by the time you’d produced somewhat of a dough and divided it into several pieces to colour it both of you were covered in flour, little dough pieces, some milk, and whatever else you’d already used in your cake attempt, fingers sticky and greasy because you’d teased each other too much when the dough wasn’t very doughy yet. you thought he looked cute, he thought you looked cute, and both of you were grinning from ear to ear as you let the dough rise (why it had to rise you didn’t know, because usually cake didn’t need to rise, but you just let mingi do whatever he decided was in the recipe, not yet realising that somewhen along the way he’d clicked on the next one and that whatever steps would follow the dough preparation were those for bread).

“you look like a chef”, you teased him, standing on your tiptoes to kiss his cheek, something you were still working on getting a little less shy about.

“you don’t”, he teased back, showing you a strand of once-red hair that was now a dusty pink colour because it was covered in flour.

“this just means i get really invested in anything i do”, sticking your tongue out at him, and he made a biting motion, as if he was going to bite your tongue if you did that again.

“you’re a tease.”

“are you complaining?”

you weren’t, not at all, so you shook your head and grinned at him. you thought he was perfect, even when he was being silly and annoying. and he thought you were perfect, too, even with half a cake on your face. both of you were absolutely in love with each other, and it was because of that that the giant dork decided that he’d try again, that he’d ask you if he could kiss you again, because you looked so beautiful and so happy and he was so happy and he’d be the happiest man alive if you’d let him.

“i want to kiss you now. can i kiss you now?”, shy and sweet and your heart was in your throat because you wanted him to, you really did, and you’d let him, now and always.

but you were shy, too, so you didn’t say anything and nodded instead. it was enough for him, though, knowing that you were okay with it, so he stepped a little closer, smiling at you so sweetly before he leaned down, grabbing your face to bring it to his and tilt your head to avoid an awkward nose-bumping incident, and then his lips were on yours, tasting like flour and the sugar sprinkles he’d snacked on and a doughy, floury hand was moving into your hair - you’d have to wash it later, but he’d do that for you, of course he would -, the weird mixture of ingredients that didn’t yet deserve the name dough and that you’d put on the tip of his nose now being smeared on the skin right next to your nose where his nose brushed against you, and your hands wrapped around his neck to keep him at your height and because you didn’t know what else to do. it was wonderful, it was cute, his lips were soft and powdery and moving carefully because he knew you had no idea what to do and he didn’t want to overwhelm you.

you had no idea how long you stayed there like this - neither of you were out of breath when he broke the kiss, so it couldn’t have been that long -, but it felt simultaneously like years and milliseconds. you wanted him to kiss you again, and again, a single kiss enough to have you feel addicted to the way his lips felt against yours, but he seemed insecure, scared you hadn’t liked it or already regretted it, as he always was when he got another first from you.

“you’re sweet”, he told you, not wanting to ruin the moment if he brought up his doubts now, instead opting to get some kind of reassurance through his next question.

“can i do it again?”, and you nodded, because of course he could, whenever he wanted to.

“okay”, leaning down again and relaxing when he felt you smile against him because you were so happy, pulling you a little closer and toying with your hair, his hand buried in the red curls above your neck, making a combing motion without actually trying to do it because he knew that would hurt you and ruin the moment.

“you’re beautiful” was his compliment after he broke the second kiss, and you couldn’t say anything, could just smile up at him, happier than you remembered ever being before.

you couldn’t have wished for a better person to be your first kiss.

[paradoxicalloop]

hey so MMA can you talk about it? Idk I’m interested in it! How long have you been doing it for/how does it work(sorry for the dumb questions hehe)

No not a dumb question I love talking about it.

But in all honesty I did quit I think 3 years ago (because the division of the MMA studio I went to got shut down and they had to move us to another studio and I didn’t like it there) anyway. Every MMA studio is different but I can talk about my experience.

I did MMA (or we usually just call it karate most of the time) for about 8-9 years? Basically, you start out with white belt (of course) and every few months or so you would get to test for your next belt. To train for that next belt there were 4 things you were tested on: each belt had it’s own specific 1) form 2) one-steps 3) ju-jitsu 4) and board break.

A form is a really cool looking sequence of moves you that you have to memorize. (they’re really cool, look up karate forms on Youtube if you want some examples). Each belt has 1 form that goes with it.

A “one step” is basically a mulitstep move (i know the name is misleading) that is essentially exibiting how one would respond if some steps and punches at you. They could be as simple as blocking the punch with one arm and then (mining, not actually hitting them) punch, punch, palmstrike; or as advanced as hip-tossing them to the floor or grabbing their arm, swinging underneath it and then (safely) choking them from behind. Each belt has 2 one-steps you need to master.

The ju-jitsu...(idk what noun im supposed to add to this, sequences? sure let’s go with that) The ju-jitsu sequences are a lot like one steps, where u practice one technique, but they’re on the floor (the art of ju-jitsu is a type of knee-wrestling martial art). These could vary from how to get out from being pinned a certain way, to learning one choke or arm lock. Each belt has 1-2 ju-jitsu moves you need to master.

And lastly, boardbreaks. one of the most hyped up parts, and the last part of test day. It’s pretty self explanatory, you are assigned a move you must be able to break a wooden board with. But the boards do vary in thickness, especially for the little kids. (Also i know i said you’re assigned one move, but actually when ur testing for ur black belt u have to do four, but i’ll explain black belt testing in a bit) However, you should never try to break a board by just straight punching it like they do in the movies (and some other martial arts but idk how they do it there) you could damage your fingers that way.

In between practicing all of that we also do knee-wrestling, sparing, and practicing technique.

The regular testing is just an hour or so where ur family watches u do all the things listed above. But black belt testing is way different

Black Belt Testing

Ik this is a relatively small part of karate but I found it really important when I did it, and it’s a three day process, so I want to talk about it. But also if I remember correctly I’m technically not legally allowed to talk about it in this much detail so please don’t share this around too much

Black belt testing only happens once a year, and the training process is very extreme and lasts from August until the test in November. And well, the mantra for black belt testing is “someone will bleed, someone will cry, and someone will throw up,” and they really aren’t exaggerating.

First , you have to do running and push-ups nearly every day. You are required to run at least a mile outside of class once every three days, and I think 50 pushups (or as many as you can do, on ur knuckles, without dropping to ur knees) every day (they give you a log to keep track of this).

You also have to get up every Saturday morning for a special black-belt candidates only class. During that class they usually have you start with running three miles (to be able to pass testing you have to be able to run 3 miles in 30 minutes, and you arent allowed to walk at all while running those 3 miles)

AND you have to do 10 “acts of kindness” outside of class and log them, because “being a black belt isnt just about having the belt, its about showing the respect, politeness, etc. of a black belt.”

And that’s just the prep, if you can survive that then you actually get to test. The testing itself is a 3 day event, two are held in private and the last day is a ceremony for family to watch. If I remember correctly this is how these days play out:

First day: private testing. It happens on a Saturday morning, adrenaline’s high. We start off with warm up, listen to the head instructors speech about how this isnt going to be easy and how proud he is that we’re here, do line drills (preforming one move over and over again while walking in a line across the room), and then do our form, one steps, and ju-jitsu sequences for the instructors. There are also plenty of sets of push ups randomly thrown in (they say that during all the test days combined you are required to do at least 500 push ups). Push ups are also randomly dealt to the class if someone doesnt say “Yes sir” or “yes ma’am” loud enough, if we are being in any way disrespectful, etc.

Second day: The hard one (imo). This happens a week after the first test. After warm up we put on our shoes and then walk across the street to the track, we get yelled at (sometimes encouragingly) during our run, and I, in typical me fashion, end up throwing up (yes this happened both times). We then have to do knuckle pushups on the concrete. (yay.) After you’re sweaty and tired from that you get to spare! You have multiple rounds of sparing, some of them with tall adults you dont know, and honestly just try to survive. After that we move on to knee wrestling, more pushups, and then the day is over.

The Third Day: The ceremony. If you’ve made it this far you will very likely receive your black belt, the third day is really just for show. This is held in the Sunday after the second test. Instead of the karate studio it’s held in a really nice gymnasium and all your family is there to watch. You’ve been assigned a place to stand and have done practice runs because everything has to be perfect. You start of with warm up, making sure to tell yes sir and yes ma’am as loud as you can and stand up in attention as straight as possible (which u can imagine was very hard for me /j) when instructed. Then you do line drills again, your form, a round or 2 of sparing, and then the hard part. The big build up: board breaks. Each board is actually 2 boards tapped together and u have to break 4 sets of them and then you can finally relax. (I cried both times because I wasn’t able to break them quickly). Then they hand u ur certificate and u have to awkwardly shake all the adults hands. Then they dismiss everyone and u did it!

I know I’ve painted a lovely picture of the MMA/Karate experience but honestly it is really fun. It’s an amazing adrenaline rush, it helps you feel a sense of accomplishment, and going through all this with peers builds really good friendships. It was such a fun journey and I really do recommend it for anyone who wants to try it out. I learned so much and my time there really shaped me as a person and it was just so good. Honestly I wish I could do it again.

I’m so sorry this post is so long but I mean u did tell me to just talk about it so I gave you all the details you could have wanted.

[kim-seungmine]

love you right

title: love you right

characters : reader x seo changbin of stray kids (ft. yang jeongin)

genres: angst, i wouldn’t call this fluff but this is sweet, soulmate au, roommate au, filmmaker!changbin.

synopsis: have you ever wondered whether your soulmate would still love you if you weren’t destined to be together? because in a world where everyone has someone who’s meant for them, what matters isn’t finding them, but what happens next.

warnings: cursing 

word count: 6969

a/n: I FINALLY finished this! It turned out to be shorter than my expectation but i think it’s still okay. After 1000 words or so I just realized that Changbin’s “If” probably inspired me. like i said before, i’m pretty sure i broke like 10 rules of soulmate au so please forgive me. 

The sound of shutters is accompanied by the audience’s cheers. You take a glance at the television, watching the artist in spotlight bow deeply. You feel Jeongin’s eyes on you before averting your gaze back to the customer in front of you. “Here’s the change. Thank you for coming!” you exclaim, seeing Jeongin frantically looking for the TV remote from your peripheral vision.

“We’ve been waiting for this one since last year, and he’s finally back with a full album. Let’s welcome, Bang Chan!”

“First of all, Chan, congratulations on your wedding!” the MC chirps and Chan blushes. “We were all shocked when you told everyone you’re married last week. Mind to share how you met your soulmate?”

Jeongin is mouthing profanities now, opening the drawers as quiet as possible. You, meanwhile, are glued to the screen. “I’d rather not talk about this at a public event, so I’ll keep this brief. I met my soulmate during a party, and then the timer on my wrist stopped. That’s when I knew,” he shares.

“Go to hell,” Jeongin spites as he finally finds the remote and shuts the television off. “Don’t watch this shit.”

“It’s okay. It’s how things are supposed to be,” you respond flatly. Your best friend points at your fingers, which are balled into fists without you realizing. “I’m fine!” you convince him. “In fact, I’m glad I don’t have to see that goddamn timer ticking anymore. And going on dates in secret was such a pain in the ass.”

Throughout your 1-year relationship with Chan, you never felt at ease. Movies and novels always make having soulmates seem like something beautiful, but in fact, it’s a headache. Everyone in the whole world has different soulmate things. Some are color blind until they meet their soulmate, some has timers like Chan’s and some others have the first words their soulmates say to them inked on their arms. It can take someone years before they find their special one, and when they do, they’re willing to do anything to be with that person.

Technically, it wasn’t Chan fault that he left you for his soulmate, but everytime you recall the time he broke up with you, your blood boils.

All the beautiful memories, all the struggles you had overcome… everything meant nothing.

“Changbin’s coming in a minute,” Jeongin informs. “Have you thought about it yet?”

When you asked Jeongin to find you a quiet and responsible roommate, you didn’t mean Seo Changbin. It’s not that you two don’t get along, but Changbin has a tendency to be very snarky towards you and it’s kind of annoying (and intimidating, but you will never admit that). College and part-time job have made you tired enough, you don’t need to deal with a scowling Changbin and his sharp mouth when you get home. What surprises you more, however, is the fact that the boy approves of you.

“Don’t think too much,” Jeongin says as he wipes the counter table. “You want a quiet and responsible roommate, plus you don’t have to pay as much as you do now. Changbin fulfills both of your conditions, what else could you ask for?”

You put the last cheesecake inside the display counter, loving how fluffy and cheesy it looks. It also happens Changbin’s favorite menu, though he doesn’t strike you as someone who would love cheesecake. Great, out of all things, that’s what you remember about him? “What are Changbin’s conditions then?”

Someone enters the café, ending your conversation with Jeongin who quickly dashes back to his station, but not before whispering, “He just wants you.”

“Jeongin-ah I’m hungry!”

There’s still an hour before closing time, but all the customers have left and now there’s only Changbin on the table near the window, brainstorming for his screenplay. You heave a sigh and takes out a plate from the drawer. You’re the barista for today, why does he pretend like you don’t exist?

You put the plate on the table and ring the bell, causing Changbin to look up from his notebook. “Oh, it’s you, Y/N.” He gets up from his seat, approaching the counter while opening his wallet. “What do you want to eat?”

Changbin examines the display counter, frowning as he browses through the available menus. You notice him panicking a bit as he scans the second row. “I’ll take—”

“It’s okay,” you mutter. “Take your time. I won’t rush you.”

He slowly nods, continuing to read the cakes’ labels one by one before settling on his favorite menu.

“Are you sure you want me as your roommate?” you ask, putting the last slice of cheesecake on the plate. Changbin looks almost flustered, and you feel a bit proud of yourself. He always seems to be very in control of every aspect of his life, so seeing him a bit taken aback because of you feels satisfying.

Changbin starts slicing his cake, not bothering to return to his table. “I mean, why not?” he says. “I know you already and if Jeongin decides that you’re not crazy, then I believe him.”

“You feel that you know… me?”

He shrugs, lifting his eyebrows at the younger boy as the latter comes out from the pantry. “You’re Jeongin’s best friend, an English major, and he said you’re never late for anything—especially rent.”

“You hate morning shifts!” Jeongin shouts.

“You ranked first in your batch, right?” Changbin continues.

“Y/N hates bananas.”

“You love pizza—wait what you hate bananas?”

“I don’t hate them but bananas are definitely my least favorite.”

“Whoa that’s amazing.”

Changbin goes on to list everything he knows about you with Jeongin’s help, sometimes correcting each other although you’re still with them. You get to see Seo Changbin giggling for the first time, and maybe you want to see it more often.

“When are you going to move in?” he asks after helping Jeongin clean the tables. He’s back to the cool, almost cold Changbin, but you tell yourself to take the risk.

“How about this weekend?”

“Awesome.”

You plop yourself onto your bed, staring at the ceiling of your room that used to be Jeongin’s. It’s Saturday, but all you can think about is your reading assignment and other tasks. Changbin knocks on the slightly ajar door, carefully peeking inside.

“I ordered dinner,” he informs. “It’ll be here soon.”

It’s only been a few hours, but so far Changbin is much better than your old roommate. He helped you unpack quietly (he did make some hurtful comments about your dreamcatcher collection, but you could handle it), gave a space for your cactuses in the living room, and let you decide the menu for dinner.

The bell rings soon after, and now both of you are enjoying a pot of kimchi jjigae. “Are you sad that Jeongin’s not here anymore?” you attempt to start a conversation. Changbin snorts, glancing around the flat. “I’m glad he’s not here anymore,” he answers in a fake mocking tone. “He always wakes me up too early.”

You nod, remembering the painful memory that is your school retreat back in fifth grade. Jeongin was the dorm leader and he forced everyone to sleep early only to wake all of you an hour earlier. “I hope his soulmate will be able to live with that,” you laugh.

Changbin’s ears perk up at the word soulmate, clearing his throat as you look at him in confusion. “You’re still here,” you point out. “I figure you haven’t met your soulmate yet?”

He shakes his head nonchalantly, slurping his soup in one go. Love is probably too lame for Changbin, and while you’re never really obsessed in finding your true love yourself, his response makes you feel like someone pricks your heart with a needle. “Never really tried looking for them, to be honest. How about you?”

“You mean, do I want to find my soulmate?

Changbin places his bowl back to the table, his lips a bit red due to the spicy soup, and you almost want to laugh. “The idea of having a soulmate is beautiful, I suppose,” you answer. “But I’m fine with the way things are now, it’s not like I’m desperate or something. We’re still young anyways.”

“Do you believe in it? That there’s someone in this world who’s specially meant for you and only you?”

His question intrigue your interest; you’ve never met someone who’s doubting the concept of soulmates. But then again, this is Changbin. He’s the only person you know who has never asked about your soulmate bond. “Well, people do meet their soulmates, don’t they? I guess I’ve never had a chance to doubt it, because it’s there. People have soulmates, it happens.”

“There’s one thing that’s been bothering me for quite a while, though,” you add. Changbin sits up straighter at your statement, and suddenly you wonder if it’s a good idea to tell him. You never share this with anyone—not even Jeongin—because you don’t want to be such a killjoy. Besides, you know how their reaction will be: they’ll think you’re a pathetic pessimist who probably will never meet your soulmate.

“You can trust me.” His voice sounds light, but the weight in his words feel real. Changbin flashes you one of his rare smiles (you’re pretty sure you saw it on his birthday last year) and you gain a surge of confidence.

“Do couples simply love each other because they’re soulmates?” Your voice is almost a whisper, but Changbin raises his eyebrow, encouraging you to continue. “Having opinion is not a crime, Y/N. What are you so afraid for?” he deadpans, but his gaze remains warm and it kind of messes with your whole system.

“I mean, a lot of us date other people before meeting our soulmates,” you continue. “It’s like, you have feelings for one person, but all of those feelings vanish just like that when you meet your soulmates. How is that possible? Are you being with your soulmate because you love them? Or do you love them simply because they’re your soulmate?”

You’re met with silence as Changbin only stares at you in… awe? That’s probably not it but you swear to God his eyes twinkle, boring into yours and making you blush due to the intensity. You almost feel disappointed when he tears his eyes away from you before gathering the empty plates.

“Let me wash the dishes tonight. This is your housewarming gift,” he mumbles, heading to the sink. You watch his back in silence, slowly falling asleep to the sound of his humming and the water. As you’re about to close your eyes, he looks over his shoulder.

“What’s your soulmate thing?” he asks.

“Soulmate thing?”

“Shit, I forgot the term—the one sign that makes you realize that you’ve met your soulmate.”

You give him a sleepy smile, closing your eyes when he starts humming again. Gotta ask what that song is later.

“Once my soulmate tells me they love me, I’ll stop having nightmares.”

You want to ask Changbin what his soulmate bond is, but sleep has taken over you before you can voice it out.

What Seo Changbin knows about the world is the fact that nothing is certain. Sure, the Sun rises in the East and the Earth is round, but what about the other things? The human beings? He’s seen so many people walked out of his life, he’s witnessed the most hurtful lies and changes.

Changbin has seen enough to know that trust is overrated. You can’t trust anyone, not even your loyal pet. What happened last night, though, was beyond his imagination. Him telling you that you could trust him?

He was so close to take back what he said, but seeing the tiny sparks of hope and confidence in your eyes made his heart do somersaults. God, if only you knew how much power you have over him…

“It’s barely 10AM and you’re already being productive.” Your voice greets him, snapping him out of his daydream. “What are you working on?” you ask, pouring fresh milk into your glass. Changbin collects all his papers as you sit beside him.

“Sorry for all the mess,” he apologizes. “Jeongin and I never used this table so I always work here.”

You shake your head, glancing at his laptop screen before suddenly pulling away, as if you just did something inappropriate. “No, it’s okay, you can see,” he quickly says, sliding his laptop to you. Changbin suddenly recalls all the moments he shoved Jeongin away because he hates it when people read his stuff before it’s finished.

You’ve been here for less than 2 days but he’s already breaking so many of his own rules.

“Yeah. My graduation project. My ride or die.”

Changbin is lost in his own world after that. You’re still sitting there, debating with yourself if you should stay. Roommate-Changbin may still intimidate you, but Director-Changbin only excites you. You want to know what’s on his mind, how he pours his questions and views about the world into his films.

You don’t notice that he’s stopped typing and is now watching you. “Y/N? You’re still here?”

“O-oh!” you yelp, instantly regretting the shock in your voice. “I’m just wondering…” you trail off.

“Yeah?” Changbin waits for you patiently, holding your gaze.

“Can I watch you work? I promise I’ll stay quiet.”

“I started writing this 3 years ago,” Changbin shares. “Somehow I could never writing the perfect ending, nothing felt right. I thought maybe I should use this as my graduation project.” He laughs, “So I could force myself to end the story.”

“What is it about?”

Changbin doesn’t answer you right away, staring at his laptop screen instead. He thinks long and hard—something he does often that infuriates Jeongin, but you’ve come to appreciate it. “Loneliness. Cliché, I know, and that’s why I’ve been struggling.”

He stops to take another sip of his coffee. “About whether it’s better to just be alone.”

“I don’t think it’s cliché,” you reply. “It’s something everyone has to deal with for the rest of their lives. It’s familiar. Important.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t know how to end it!”

“Then just say so.”

Changbin shakes his head before deleting a whole paragraph he previously typed. “That’s not how it’s supposed to be. People want answers.”

That shuts you up. You may be an English major, but this is Changbin’s field. And it’s his work, not yours. “Sorry. I crossed the line, didn’t I?”

“Nonono, you’re right,” he mutters. “Maybe I should try.”

“No, Changbin, this is just my opinion. You don’t need to—“

“And do you want to be the main character? I think you understand the material well, and this role suits you.”

Rejection is already on the tip of your tongue, but the way Changbin’s eyes twinkle is clouding your brain. He continues to stare at you as you’re debating with yourself, and when you meet his eyes, you melt. The cool, almost cold Seo Changbin is asking you for a favor, and while you’re not obligated to fulfill his wishes just because he’s suddenly nice to you… you want to.

He yells when you finally give him a firm nod, averting his eyes back to his laptop. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you with everything. I’ll finish this soon, okay?”

Once again you can only nod, admiring the small smile on his lips.

“You agreed to what?!” Jeongin shouts, resulting in you smacking his lips with your hand. “Shut the hell up we’re in the library!” you hissed as you bow in apology to all the people sending you death glares.

“Just man up and admit that you’re so whipped for Seo Changbin!” Jeongin has closed his book and is now trying to close yours as well. “Come on, tell me the details! All the embarrassing cheesy details!” he pesters.

The librarian has cleared her throat thrice in the past 5 minutes and you’re sure that means you’re going to get kicked out soon. You sigh at Jeongin, who takes this as a sign that you want to leave. He gladly put all your things back into your bag, dragging you out of the library with a satisfied smirk playing on his lips.

You don’t know if you like Changbin. Maybe you do, but maybe you’re just missing the feeling of having someone. “I don’t know,” you mumble, sitting on the bench across the library. “Everytime I think about Chan I still want to cry, I still want to curse the hell out of him for ending things a day after he told me that he loved me.”

“Maybe things are going to be different this time,” Jeongin tells you. “Try to see him as Seo Changbin, not as the next Bang Chan.”

“Once you do, you’ll be able to see Changbin clearly.”

Everything has started to feel lighter.

You never remember your nightmares anymore even though you’re well aware that you still get them. And you have someone to go home with after your classes or your shift at the café now that you live with Changbin. Jeongin never shuts up about it, constantly pointing out that Changbin likes you better than him because he’s always with you.

And tonight is no exception.

“Hyung, why are you still here?” he asks, pretending to be curious.

“I’m working, leave me alone,” the older boy says flatly, not even glancing up from his laptop.

“Oh Y/N you’re done?!”Jeongin exclaims.

Changbin quickly closes his laptop, searching for you before he realizes that his friend is messing around with him. Jeongin laughs hard, patting Changbin’s shoulder as he dashes to you. “Finish up quickly, your boyfriend is waiting for you!”

“You’re such a dumbass,” you retort, wiping the counter one last time. You glance at Changbin who’s now looking at you, his lips curling into a soft smile when your eyes meet. Sometimes you really think that he’s into you, and you can never get used to that.

“I’m done anyways,” you inform. Jeongin’s phone buzzes, his face lights up as the name of his soulmate rolls out of his lips. He gives both of you a quick wave and leaves as you lock the door. You chuckle at the sight of Jeongin running to the bus stop. “He’s so in love.”

“He smiles all the time now it’s scary,” Changbin adds.

“Well I guess that’s the magic of being with someone you love.” you mumble. “And being with someone who loves you.”

Changbin’s breath hitches at your statement, causing you to eye him. “What?” you ask.

“Nothing,” he answers. “Have you ever wondered where your soulmate is?”

No matter how much Changbin has changed around you, hearing him talk about soulmates is still one of the weirdest things ever. You two can talk about anything, except this. The whole soulmate talk always reminds you that he’s not yours, that whatever you have now will end when he finds his soulmate or when you find yours.

“Of course. Especially because of the nightmares,” you admit. “But then I realized that I was looking for my soulmate with the wrong purpose. I mean, you shouldn’t want to find your soulmate just because you want your problems solved, right?”

“Are you still talking to Bang Chan?”

Besides Jeongin and Changbin, no one else knows about you and Chan. When you just started dating, Jeongin asked so many things about him, but Changbin never said anything. Not even a congratulation.

“How do you know that we broke up?”

You wince as soon as that question rolls out of your mouth. “Fuck. Of course you do. He got married.”

“Sorry,” he sighs. “Forget it.”

“No, it’s fine,” you interject. “Why did you ask?”

“I saw him picking you up at campus once. It was already super late,” Changbin reveals. “He was dressed in all black—with mask, cap and all that… celebrities-in-disguise attire.” You chuckle at his choice of words, causing his cheeks to slowly turn pinkish.

“You could barely did anything freely, yet you looked happy Y/N,” he continues. There’s a long silence afterwards as because you can’t figure out whether he could possibly mean. With each day you spend together, you feel his wall crumbling. You love it so much that you’re afraid one small mistake will destroy everything.

Changbin takes a deep breath, biting his lip as you finally have enough courage to look into his eyes. “What can I do to make you smile like that?” His whisper is soft but determined. Genuine.

Right in this moment, something in your heart clicks. Seo Changbin has you under his spell, enticing you with his words, his action, his heart.

“Can you sleep with me tonight?” you blurt out.

“Excuse me?!”

“Not like that,” you laugh. “Just stay until I’m asleep. Maybe the nightmares will be less scary.”

They won’t, but you’re not planning to tell him that.

You just want to see him as you fall asleep.

“Don’t you want to sit here?” you offer, patting the empty space beside you. Changbin smiles from his spot on the floor, right beside the bedside table. “I want you to sleep well Y/N. The two of us won’t fit in there,” he politely rejects although his brain is screaming at him to take the offer. There’s nothing he wants more than wrapping his arms around you and hugging you tight all night, whispering pretty words in your ear all night long so you will see rainbows in your dream, but maybe he still needs to wait.

Or he can just say that he loves you now.

“Good night, Changbin. Thank you for doing this.”

“Anything for you.”

“Don’t say things like that.”

“I’m not taking it back, though,” he singsongs. “Sweet dreams, Y/N.”

You grin, wrapping yourself with your blanket. “I’ll try.”

A few hours later, you wake up with a jolt, panting hard as the horror of the nightmare you just had leaving you. After downing a glass of water on the bedside table, you try to recall what you dreamed of. It’s strange, you think to yourself. Back then, one nightmare could haunt you for weeks, but now you forget everything as soon as you wake up.

“Y/N? Are you okay?”

Changbin rushes to you, cupping your cheeks to examine your face. “Ch-Changbin,” you mumble, eyes widening as you realize how comforting his touch is. It makes you feel like you’re floating, before landing on fluffy clouds. You feel lightheaded, and the way he looks at you doesn’t help at all.

“Did you have a nightmare?” he panics. Changbin circles his arms around your shoulders when you nod. You’ve never had a sweet dream, let alone dreaming of Changbin, but if this is a dream then you don’t want to wake up. Ever.

He envelops your entire body with his arms as he presses feathery kisses on your exposed shoulder. “I hate seeing you like this,” he says again. From the tone of his voice, you know that he’s frowning. “What’s going on, Changbin?”

Changbin pulls back, eyes holding your gaze like you’re the one he longs to see. “I love you,” he states.

You prompt yourself to wake up before this dream overtakes your reality, but everything stays the same and now Changbin intertwines your fingers with his.

“Are you sure?” you croak, gripping his fingers.

Changbin dips his head to press his lips onto yours, pulling you into his embrace as he pours all the love and adoration he has for you into the kiss. He kisses you slowly but firmly, nibbling your bottom lip when you curl your arms around his neck. Changbin chases your lips when you pull away, whining when you stop him from placing another searing kiss on your lips.

“I need to tell you something first,” you mutter, lips trembling. “Once I decide to love I don’t hold back, Changbin. I don’t hesitate, and honestly I don’t know if I’ll be ready to hit the brake when we reach the dead end because it’s you and—”

Changbin cradles your cheeks in his hands again, shaking his head as he peppers passionate kisses all over your face. “Please don’t hold back,” he says, almost begging. “Love me. Love me however you want to, okay? Because I don’t want to hold back either. You mean everything to me.”

You’ve got to be dreaming, you must be. Your feelings for Changbin are too strong that for once, you’re having a sweet dream. The sweetest dream. Universe is giving you a chance to live your wishes and in the midst of ghosts, murders, airplane crashes and death. Seo Changbin is here and says that you’ll be able to bask in the warmth of his skin and the fiery touch of his fingers whenever you want to.

But his grip on your waist feels too real and the loving gaze in his eyes feels too hard to resist. “You’re not dreaming,” he tells you, reading your mind and crushing your doubts.

“Can I stay here? Please? I want to hold you,” he asks, almost begging. You nod, your eyes feel heavy as Changbin kisses your cheek.

“What happened to Mr. Oh-Y/N-we-won’t-fit-in-there?” you tease, burying your face in the crook of his neck, his shy laugh being the last thing you hear before falling into deep slumber.

It’s been 10 minutes since you woke up, and you don’t understand what’s happening. Changbin is still sleeping beside you, his arm curling around your waist loosely. Waking up next to him is something you’ll need to get used to, but there’s another thing that makes you wide awake at 6AM.

You stopped having nightmares.

Carefully, you remove Changbin’s arm from your waist before shaking his shoulder. “Changbin,” you call out, smile dancing on your lips as he blinks. “Hmmmm,” he hums. “Good morning, babe.”

You try to ignore your burning cheeks and pulls him up instead. “I didn’t have any nightmare,” you announce as he sits up, his hair sticking out in various directions. “Changbin, I’m serious,” you demand when he fails to respond. “What’s your soulmate bond? Is it just me or are we really… soulmates?”

There’s a tension in the air before Changbin starts sniffling. You quickly climb into his lap, taking him into your arms as he starts sobbing and mouthing words you can’t make out. “Hey, what’s wrong?” you question.

“My soulmate bond is I’ll only be able to cry after touching my soulmate,” he says, smiling softly when your hand comes into contact with his cheeks, wiping his tears. You start to tear up as well; everything must have been suffocating for him. He had to bottle up all his feelings inside, not having the privilege to let everything out while it’s easy for everybody else.

“I can call you a crybaby now, huh?” you joke, pressing kisses on the top of his head.

Changbin nips your collarbone in return, your heart soars when you feel him smile against your skin. “You can dream of me every night now, huh?”

You never have any nightmare again, but nothing beats waking up in Changbin’s embrace and knowing that you don’t have to say goodbye to him.

Beaches are scary at night and the chilly weather only makes it worse. You watch Changbin walking around to thank his crew one by one, including Jeongin whom you dragged out of his flat at 2AM to become a replacement for Changbin’s boom operator that bowed out last minute. Your best friend waves you goodbye from afar, his red hair is the only thing you can see.

The beach is now empty, leaving only you and Changbin as the wind gets harsher. “You did well,” he praises, intertwining your hands together. “I only did this for you,” you answer. “After today I realized acting is not my thing.”

He bows at you. “I feel honored.”

You laugh; after everything that’s happened it’s still somehow satisfying to see him say sweet things to you. The cool, almost cold Changbin is long gone—now he’s your Binnie Binnie Changbinnie who whines when you leave bed too early or come home too late.

“Y/NNNNNN.” And here he goes again.

“What?”

“Why won’t you ever tie your shoelaces properly? I taught you the double knot before!”

You give him a playful “tsk,” sitting down on the soft sand to do the double knot exactly the way he showed you. Changbin watches you with amusement, guiding your fingers everytime you make a wrong loop. “Sometimes I wonder how we would find out we’re soulmates if I didn’t tell you my soulmate bond,” you murmur.

“I would’ve told you that I love you any other way. It doesn’t matter,” he responds. “I only wish I said it sooner.”

“Did you mean it?”

“That I love you? Of course, why would you think otherwise?”

You shrug. “I don’t know how this works. Do you just have to say it? Or do you have to really mean it?”

“Haven’t those before me told you that they loved you?”

“Those? There were only 2 before you,” you share. “And yes, they told me that. Nothing happened.”

Changbin closes the gap between you, gripping your waist a bit tighter than usual and pressing his lips on yours a bit harder. You bite your bottom lip after he releases you, causing him to frown. “I love you,” he says, tugging your lip with his thumb before replacing it with his lips once again. Both of you are gasping for air when he pulls away, but this time you smile at him.

“I mean it,” Changbin tells you firmly. “Don’t ever question that. Now let’s get you home, you’re freezing.”

“Have you asked your uncle if we can stay in his place?”

You and Changbin are cuddled up in bed, planning your upcoming trip to Daegu to celebrate your birthday. “I forgot!” you gasp, noting it down on Changbin’s favorite notebook. You flip the page to write some other things, but the page isn’t empty. The whole page is full of Changbin’s notes—messy and confusing.

Aug 11 – I cried (around 10PM)

Aug 12 – Should I tell Y/N?

Oct 2 – Y/N moved in

Oct 30 – I’m not sure… a good listener, makes me laugh…

Nov 4 – asked about soulmates. asked about my movies à amazing answers.

Jan 10 – i love them….?

Feb 11 – tell Y/N you love them (what will happen…?)

“Changbin what the hell is this?”

Changbin looks up from his phone, resting his head on your shoulder to see what you’re reading. His face hardens the moment he realizes what you’ve discovered. He snatches the notebook away and rips that certain page, throwing it into the trashcan.

“Answer me, Changbin. What did I just read?”

“I swear to God it means nothing, okay?”

You really hate this conversation. It sounds like the typical romance movie where your lover insists that everything’s fine when it isn’t. You don’t want to end up questioning Changbin for the rest of your life, but you love him too much to let him go.

“You knew right from the start that I’m your soulmate.”

He reaches for your hand, and at times like this you hate how much he affects you. “You’re right. I knew.”

“And then you decided to test me,” you reply. “For what? So you could judge if I deserved your love? If I deserved you?”

“I didn’t test you!” he half-yells. You remove your hand from his and stands up. Your eyes meet your photos together he’s pinned to his wall, the most recent one is from yesterday. Changbin smiles in every single photo, arms wrapped around your shoulders or your waist. Seeing the little corner he dedicates for both of you always warms your heart, but now you’re not sure about anything anymore.

Changbin follows your gaze, smiling fondly at the memories before darting his eyes back to you. “I didn’t mean to test you. I just wanted to know if soulmates are real—if there’s really one person in this big, big world that’s meant for me.”

“But I just realized that to you, that was a test.”

“There’s a line between getting to know each other and testing each other, Changbin. The fact that you purposely hid this from me then asked me to be your roommate so you’d be able to ‘grade’ me… that shit hurts,” you admit.

You sigh when Changbin doesn’t respond, turning around to return to your own room. “What happens when someone separates from their soulmate?” you ask softly, turning the door knob.

“I won’t be happy ever again Y/N,” he rasps. “You know that.”

Changbin trails behind you as you’re walking back to your room. He grabs your hand when you’re about to close the door. “You can’t expect me to be okay, Changbin,” you state. “I want to be alone.”

“I know,” he answers. “But—”

“Good night.”

You sleep well without any problem now, but tonight is the worst night you’ve ever had in your entire life. There’s no nightmare, only reality.

Changbin didn’t mean to lie.

He had a quite difficult past due to his inability to express his feelings well. His parents had tried everything: meditation, medication, therapy… you name it, but nothing cured him. He was longing for that one release and spent his whole life trying to channel his anger and frustration into something that didn’t scream scary to no avail.

Filmmaking helped him, but not enough. His parents bought him his own place when he was 15 because they were—in his brother’s words—“are tired of your shit”  and his brother stopped talking to him the moment he moved out. In the end, Changbin gave up. He shut everybody out, never tried giving anybody his time of the day because he knew how everything would turn out.

He decided to rent a new place after high school and got Jeongin as his roommate. Jeongin brought him to you, and then everything changed. Changbin didn’t care whether he would finally be able to cry or not—he just wanted to be with you.

Somehow, along the way, he screwed everything up. As usual.

He scrambles to get up when he hears the door opens, hoping it will be you.

“What the fuck happened?”

It’s Jeongin, but Changbin is still thankful.

“You know what Y/N has gone through yet you still did that?” Jeongin spites, dropping a box of pizza on the table. “And you lied to me!”

“Sorry.”

Jeongin sighs. “I thought you would treat Y/N better than any other man because you’ve been through the same thing, but you dared to test someone who constantly questions whether it’s possible for them to be loved without the soulmate label? I don’t get it.”

“I know it was a bad idea, but I wanted to be sure, Jeongin. I want—”

“Save it,” Jeongin cuts him off. “Y/N is the one who needs to hear this, not me.”

“Will you forgive me, though?”

Changbin is prepared for a “fuck you” and punch on his face, but Jeongin only walks to the door. “I’m Yang Jeongin. I’m not your parents, I’m not your brother. I’m your best friend,” he prompts.

“And Y/N is your soulmate.”

There’s something different about today. Is it the way the sun shines on your shoes? The way people dress? The way the stray cats in front the café greet you? You’ve made a list of things that may have caused you to feel different, happier, but you can’t find it.

Whatever it is, your list certainly doesn’t include Seo Changbin standing in front of you, casually ordering Americano and cheesecake. You enter his orders in silence as he’s handing you his card. Jeongin is cleaning the display counter, unusually silent although you attempt to make a conversation with him. When he looks up, he gives you a look that screams, “I have nothing to do with this!”

Jeongin puts a cup of hot Americano on the table, smirking when Changbin protests that it’s way too hot. “I ordered a Hot Americano, not So Fucking Hot Americano,” he says sourly. The younger boy shrugs. “You should’ve told me you were coming.”

“Why? So you could—”

“Guys the line is getting long,” you cut them off. Changbin grabs his tray, looking at you with a stare that reminds you of the day he asked you to be in his graduation project. “Can we talk later? I’ll wait,” he asks.

After your shift ends, you’re walking around your neighborhood with Changbin who insists to take you home. You’re able to converse like normal although you expected things to be incredibly awkward between the two of you, especially after that day when you moved out and he just helped you pack your things, no words spoken.

You didn’t say goodbye, but maybe you have a chance to now.

“So when’s the drama going to air?”

Changbin takes a deep breath, counting days with his fingers. “Around next week? I’m nervous as hell. I’ve never been involved in a production this big.”

“What’s the title of the drama again?”

“Arthdal Chronicles! I met Song Joongki, Jang Donggun and Kim Jiwon! How cool is that?” he boasts. Listening to Changbin talk about his projects never fails to bring smile to your lips. At times like this, he only cares about what he loves and sees just that. He doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t think too much, he doesn’t control himself.

He glows.

“Hey Y/N.” Changbin grasps your wrist, gaze falling on your untied shoelaces. All the memories of him nagging at you to tie your shoelaces flood your mind and you have to do something, anything, before you fall apart.

You miss Changbin. You miss waking up to his sleeping face in the morning. You miss the way he looks at you when you praise him. You miss his beautiful voice lulling you to sleep. You miss taking him into your embrace whenever he cries, convincing him that he’s free to pour out his feelings now.

You love him—like soulmates do.

Crouching down, you connect the laces together, ready to do the first step. But Changbin stops you, completing the knot swiftly as you stare at him. When he looks up, his eyes are already glazed with tears. “I want you back,” he states.  

His gaze becomes apologetic when he feels your body freeze, but he quickly wraps his hands around yours when you want to run away. “I let my doubts against the world overpower me. I spent so many years looking for answers to convince myself that not everything is bleak, yet I let the darkness consumed me,” Changbin says.

“You’re the warmest, brightest light I’ve ever encountered but I failed to see that. And I’m sorry.”

He pulls you up, wiping your tears you didn’t know you shed. Changbin takes a step closer, cupping your face softly. “Fuck soulmates, I don’t care about that. I’m goddamn lucky that you really are mine, but even if you weren’t, I would still choose you.”

“And I can’t believe there’s a day when I’m gonna be the one saying this, but we can take things slow. As slow as you want.” Changbin gives you a small smile when you finally look him in the eyes. He’s awaken all kinds of feelings inside you, even the ones you didn’t know exist, but there’s only thing you can identify now: yearn.

Changbin lets himself cry when you decide to circle your arms around his neck. “I know this is too much to ask,” he sobs. “But I just want you to know that I want to love you right. I didn’t have a chance to show you that yet, and it’s all my fault.”

You shake your head. “It’s my fault too. I only cared about my fears. I forgot about yours.”

Your soulmate sobs even harder at your answer, only calming down when you start running your hand through his hair. “You’re such a crybaby,” you murmur against his neck as he returns your hug, laughing at your favorite nickname for him.

Enveloped by Changbin’s warmth, you feel something you’ve never felt before. The feeling of being able to love someone without thinking about how things are supposed to be, without hesitation, without limits.

You realize how beautiful it feels to be able to love someone right.

EPILOGUE

“Happy birthday, stupid!” Jeongin yells at Changbin’s face, shoving as sloppily decorated birthday cake into the birthday boy’s hands. Changbin stares at it in mild disgust as you exit the counter, placing a black box wrapped with a white ribbon on the table. “I clearly told Jeongin to just buy you a cake. I’m not claiming that,” you explain. “But what’s done is done. Happy birthday, Changbin!”

You take a step forward to pat his back. A little awkward, but it’s enough to cause Changbin’s insides to flip. You remember his birthday and actually bought him something; he can just cry now.

Wait.

The unfamiliar sensation in his body is almost too overwhelming for him to handle, so he runs to the restroom, leaving you and Jeongin behind. He barely reaches the restroom’s handle when his legs give up. Soon, he’s crying silently, tears keep rolling down his cheeks no matter what he does to stop them.

Crying feels horrible, Changbin thinks, but it also feels wonderful. Liberating.

And he realizes that he’s already fallen in love with you even before he found out that you’re soulmates.

Changbin hates clichés, but he wouldn’t have things any other way. Now he just needs to figure out how to tell you.

yeah, i know i probably made soulmate au lost its magic but honestly those are the questions that i have in my mind everytime i wonder how it’ll be like if the system is real (curse me and my incredible talent to overthink). to everyone who’s finding love out there, you are loved. maybe you haven’t met the right person now, but you will! 

[heyhyunjiin]

(4/9) Stray Kids as Apple Employees AU

okay, ik what you’re gonna say.

“wtf mari, why apple employees?”

honestly, i don’t have a good reason.

i literally came out of my shower and was like, “pffft, they’d make funny apple employees,” then this AU was born.

i might continue this, i might not. depends on my itty bitty brain when it comes up with content.

i also sort of wanna do a stray kids as baristas at starbucks but idk

anYWAYS let’s do it.

CHAN!

aaaaah our beloved leader is the technical support advisor who basically helps people with troubleshooting.

he’s the dude you contact when your stupid device isn’t doing what you want it to but you’re….calling from home.

he always has his headset on him. (fyi, it’s a headphone thingy with a mic attached to it.)

Like alWAYS

woojin asked him once why he literally wore it like his life depended on it.

probably because it did

his response was simple, “so i can take calls and help customers while making sure jeongin doesn’t burn the store down at the same time.”  （︶︿︶）

woojin didn’t ask any further questions bc he understood all too well.       ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°)

(don’t worry, i’ll explain later.)

chan was super good at his job lmao.

he effortlessly engaged with people, explaining step by step solutions with patience and had an approach tailored to each individual customer.

papa steve jobs would be v proud indeed

he had difficult responsibilities too bro

imagine getting yelled at for a whole day by people you didn’t even know, because they were angry at a device you didn’t even mAKE-

when they say, ‘patience is a virtue,’ they rlly mean:

pATIENCE

IS

A FUCKIN

VIRTUE

ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ bc most people would probably grow annoyed after the other person in the phone line keep shouting & blaming.

but not chan. no. no.

he’d be tolerant with the customer, and continue to provide the best customer service possible. ╮(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)╭

… i mean… unless the person was getting too aggressive for his liking, then he’d just remove the headpiece, scroll through the company website, and wait till the person has cooled down before proceeding to help them with a positive attitude. (꒪ཀ꒪)

Hyunjin

his job title is literally, ‘Genius,’

i kid you not. i looked this shit up.

jeongin thought it was a legit at first

like they all joined the company at different times but jeongin was the last to hop on the apple train.

hyunjin’s name on the schedule board would be beside the word, ‘genius,’ and for like… two whole months, jeongin thought hyunjin was the mastermind behind the whole apple operation

i cannot tell you how many times hyunjin was approached by jeongin with a problem that he didn’t have the knowledge to help with

luckily, seungmin was feeling nice and explained that, ‘genius,’ was just the name of hyunjin’s job.

why?

seungmin didn’t know either

okay  baCK TO HYUNJIN!! his job is to quickly diagnose product issues on the spot, explain what’s wrong with the device to the customer. after determining whether repairs can be done or a replacement is needed, he’d offer solutions to help get users up and running again.

now don’t get me wrong, hyunjin loved his job bc he liked helping people and fixing devices bUT!!!!

after working in the same store for almost a year, these group of girls would literally be there every w e e k e n d to get “help,” from him.

he was flattered and all about the female audience but it was getting stale.

some girls would breAK their devices on purpose just to have an excuse to talk to him.

the convo’s they’d try to initiate wasn’t even about the faulty device anymore.

this rlly bothered him bc it took his time away from helping ACTUAL customers.

eventually, chan banned them from coming in to disrupt the peace of the store and to protect hyunjin from their beady eyes and weirdness.

jeongin mostly came to hyunjin for help with something (bc he knew the older dude wouldn’t tell chan)

& these two doods would try to fix the problem together!! hopefully before chan finds out about the problem bc

oof

then mr. advisor would be streSSED AF and

they’d get a scolding from mother!woojin

Jeongin

our bby boy is the technical specialist who helps people get started with using their devices.

gets excited with you when you get your new phone or computer.

knows all the tips and tricks on getting the most out of your device

is especially patient with the elderly and first-time users.

he knows!! that technology is difficult to understand and work around when you’re barely starting out so he’ll take as long as necessary to help someone understand how the phone or laptop works.

but...

y’all…

don’t let this boi anywhere a fire hazard area

i mean, he doesn’t mean to start fires

they just...happen???

like, they have this small employee mini kitchen in the upstairs breakroom (literally the whole 2nd floor could be a one bedroom apartment)

and of course when there’s a kitchen, there has to be SNACKS!!!

and jeongin was hungry during his shift.

so he goes up during the non-busy hours of the day to get himself some fud

(✿◠‿◠) a growing boi needs his nutrients!!

chan had left briefly for a coffee run, woojin was downstairs trying to fix a malfunctioning monitor. the other boys were either sick, out for lunch, or hadn’t clocked in yet.

jeongin put in a bag of popcorn in the microwave, and checked the box for instructions

it said, “for 5,000 watt microwave = 2 min. for 500 watt microwave = 4 min.”

he checked the microwave and it was 1,000 watt :-)

uhhh he didn’t really know at what time to put it in as so…

he typed in 3 min.

he didn’t mind having some burnt popcorn bc hey!! he just wanted to eat something.

he took a seat in front of felix’s computers and started scrolling through the security tapes in hopes of finding one funny footage of a customer.

:-) it started smelling like smoke for some odd reason.

mmm yep that was the smell of smoke for sure.

wonder where that’s coming from?

he thought.

he turned around to look for the source, and

HOLY SHIT THE MICROWAVE WAS ON FIRE

the panic in his body went from 0% to 100% real quick.

jeongin couldn’t just turn off the damned heating machine bc it was in flames, but he just couldn’t let it continue to get bigger and bigger.

he grabbed the pitcher of lemonade at the table and yEET that juice all over the microwave.

it did like minimal help.

he could hear chan entering the store, calling for woojin to help him bring the cups upstairs to the break room

oh no

he was in the break room.

he grabbed a wash cloth from the sink and began smACKIN at the flames

cue the parents walking in.

chan: (.•̵̑⌓•̵̑)

woojin: ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽

without wasting another second, woojin yanked jeongin away from the fire bc it was starting to get really big and he could have gotten hurt ( ˘︹˘)

while chan got the fire extinguisher from beside the fridge

was that always there? jeongin asked himself

and chan used it to stop the fire.

poor bby jeongin got a massive scolding from both parents and told him to be more cautious next time.

then they all cleaned up the mess before the rush of people came in the shop!!

the next day, the other boys walked in to woojin spraying the SHIT outta this air freshener all over the break room bc it reaked of burnt popcorn & metal.

windows were all open to the smell out and the beloved microwave was nowhere to be seen.

chan was sipping on his morning cup of coffee when minho asked what happened.

“jeongin nearly burned the store down so there’s no more microwave.”

“oh. okay.”

Felix

ahhh okay so his job isn’t anything tech related really, except for when he watches people through his cams

he was the security guard of the store uwu

he has so far prevented 7 fights from happening and 6 of those 7 were between minho and seungmin lmao.

he was the perfect man for this job bc on the outside, his face is like:  (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

but when he’s upset or angry, mr. security guard mode is activated  (ง’̀-‘́)ง so he has to remove people from the premises.

he uses his SCARY voice when dealing with overly aggressive people and it usually does the trick when he asks them to leave

but when lil kids are just so excited and curious about the devices, he uses his soft uwu voice to converse with them about their day or what they’re doing in school

overall the cutest & dependable guard ever!!! 11/10

once changbin kept trying to fiddle with felix’s computer and he was like, “bro.. you’ve been trying to guess my password for like 2 hours. it’s not yngbok01.”

and changbin was soooo frustrated with this and he looked at felix like   (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻ “PLS JUST SIGN IN!!”

a smirk was on the guard’s face as he asked why he should.

changbin looked defeated and finally said, “i was locking up the store last thursday and was doing my own version of karaoke and i… tripped on the cords, and my jeans ripped open as i fell. If that blackmailer minho gets his hands on that footage, i’m dONE FOR—”

felix nearly toppled over from laughing so much as he watched the clip of what happened while changbin was visibly on edge, looking for any sign that minho was in the room

he still deleted the clip tho bc he’s a good friend  

( 。・_・。)人(。・_・。 )

[cleaduvalls]

i watched all 20 episodes of spy kids: mission critical in about a week and here are my thoughts (3/5)

1.9

i havent watched this in like 2 days i dont even remember what happened last time

why is everything in the desert the desert sucks

alsjhiajgdf i love tom kenny

listen i know hes like a superandroid or whatever but i really hope he and therese fall in love

wait hold up. i thought they already had midterms???? like the did that before scorpion went to her fashion shoot. AND they were kupkakkes midterms. whats up with this school

no drinking in class???? rude. let them hydrate

that seems imbalanced

aHh

thats only like 10

also that book is dummy thicc

its ok ace my nose whistles too

shut up carmen youre just jealous because shes pretty

there are no seasons its a desert

ok dude stop breathing so hard

he JUST said that

anywhere between an hour and umm... 11 months

you put it on one page why are all the pages back

me but with physics

thats literally the best line in the whole series

juni how do you not know that you were at a safe H O U S E

theyve been gone for like 2 hours are they not allowed to study?????

what even is AWOL???

absent without leave. neat

talon gives off some big draco energy

tick tock???? how dare you

slkdhfa she called sir awesome honey shes such a mom

dont make it obvious

oh look they made it obvious

roll credits

i was in cleveland when i watched this episode - well actually i left that day - and i was s h o o k e t h

also hes right. no spy would be in cleveland. theres 3 buildings

oh me too

right bc shes the only “I.A.”

ew

eW

this isnt HARRY POTTER. or maybe it is. talon is a hardcore draco

oh right bc swearing is for Men™

update tumblr decided to break AGAIN (im boutta cry btw) so we lost about 5 minutes from the end of 1.9 and 7 from the beginning of 1.10

1.10

its a DOORBELL do they not have those in the outback steakhouse

lots of people. doofenshmirtz, other people who i cant think of right now, etc

???? no it wont????

did your troop leader not give you The Talk??? you NEVER go in the customers house

ace no. youre allowed to not buy treats

theres a triforce on her vest, too

shes just gonna go to another house yall. shell be f i n e

oh my God shes holding hands with mauly im gonna c r y

yeah its called saliva

nope only scorpion lives in a castle

stop bringing up spy sense and tell him you saw her glare at you

HES ALLOWED TO LIKE FOOD

how do you know that he doesnt have his phone if YOU dont know where it is and HE cant tell you

i love how she says "floor. ceiling. more thumb"

haha i found the birth of venus

oh and the creation of adam

hes like squidward, which would make sense bc goldies voiced by tom kenny who voices spongebob

"sebastian oliver" "shadow operative" S.O. nice

why do you have a trailblazers badge. youre 4. i didnt get one til i was a cadette

also sebastian???? isnt that the toymakers first name????? you cant have 2 sebastians

also why do you have braces. youre still 4

"SIR MEANIE FACE" IF SOMEONE SAID THAT TO ME ID BE D E V A S T A T E D

SCORPION LET HER CRY SHES F O U R

so really, spy sense DID help

oooooh, sentry duty, thats gotta hurt

WHAT THE H E C K YOURE F O U R

she looks like frickin plushtrap

aCE NO YOURW GONNA D I E

oh trust me they hurt me more than you know

dude theyre so thin youre f i n e

eh, still worked

clicking her teeth together so hard must H U R T

i think she can get out of there. also shes concussed now

why was that so quiet. why did it get louder

thats not a y shape

no, they spy kids

oh shiitake mushrooms thats what THEY said

whenever they say pinnoquinoxx i always think of pinnochio

ahdhhsjak i miss pizza parties 😔

well now we ALL expect it

also, no one????? pick a cooler code name. your regular name was cool and now youve ruined it

2.1

oh theres finally a skip intro option. im not taking it

stop saying that its weird

EWWWWWW CRUSTY THATS SO G R O S S

haha shes shopping w the goon. love that

oh yeah i didnt get to tell yall yet but i absolutely h a t e gablet

a lot of people, juni

listen i know a jt (but he doesnt go by jt) and uhhhhhhh were not gonna go there

why are you happy. what about second semester makes you so happy

boi thats a tardis

the design on his hoverboard looks like the aperture science logo

i paused to read the Floops label and it says "fried corn and sugar loop shaped breakfast substitute, net wt. 13 oz" ITS NOT EVEN A CEREAL ITS A BREAKFAST SUBSTITUTE IM C R Y I N G

listen i know hes technically scorpions dad but i dont think he can legally be in the dorm rooms

aww, thats sweet

i dont think gablet has an attached printer

gablet always sounds like shes mocking people

oh dear God its dolores umbridge

haha nerd

awesome no im gonna die

whenever carmen yells she sounds like link

ok so i didnt find a reason why she sounds like link but i DID find that theyre making a wherea waldo tv series so uhhhh thats fun

why does the cat have a bandaid

GABLET S T O P

OH!!!!!! ON THE WALL!!!!!!! ITS THE TUMBLR POST WITH THE FORK AND KNIFE ETIQUETTE PICTURE!!!!! YOU KNOW THE ONE!!!!!

oh no fart jokes

its even the basic fart sound effect

BAHAHAH MY PHONE VIBRATED AT THE SAME TIME HE FARTED THAT WAS WEIRD

oh no i hate him

stop SLURPING

uh yeah???? you heard them yelling about it

how??? does that work??? you cant just like catch electricity in a cup.... can you???? i havent studied it since 4th grade

oh worm??

goldies such a boomer

worm??

psi shouldnt be at the drawing board right now. he also shouldnt be confused

what happened to the lasers

wait nvm we havent gotten to that episode yet

ace is valid, dark is Scary

im gonna punch gablet in the face

that doesnt sound realistic

do you not have stairs??????

dont you mean inside AND out??

that flashlight did NOTHING

how did it die so fast?????

who else would you be talking to??

isnt that bowser from the mario movie we dont speak of??

i havent gotten a chance to tell yall but i absolutely love clemp. hes such a mood

hes the greatest spy

does it use a mini transmooker???? ig it doesnt bc gablet works but thatd be lit

SEE SHES IMMORTAL

me when i see something interesting

ME WHEN IM NOT ON MY PHONE

i dont think you can legally say that

you killed her

me

wow nice promo

also just???? bring a charger????? like youre the tech girl why do you not have one at all times

how?????? did you go so fast

machete electric bubbles??? nice

just task manager him

mother of all boards sounds like it could be a cuss...mother of all fuckers

also throwback to 1.7 when she says "his ai firewalled his motherboard" i keep expecting her to say "his ai firewalled this motherfucker"

yes i said keep ive watched that episode too many times to count

worm??

why did you giggle and make a flirty pose. are yall supposed to get together???

did you????? kill him????????? holy shit

2.2

thats what my dad does. he loves hospital corners

idc what it is you have a bazooka

ok if it was a spider id get it, australia has some deadly ones, but does it have deadly ants too???? like is that a Thing????

also ants in your room are gross

was that just a cameo??? i dont remember what happens in this one

haha because he said grapevines and wine has dregs and wine is made of grapes

for the boys??? thats so cute

listen idc how evil you are EVERYONE should cry over otters

so one of the parents has a sister or sister in law named roxanna..... hmmm.......

if you dont use your turn signal h*ck u

hes gonna D I E

i just looked at my shoe and i think theres blood on it???? what the h*ck

suspicious??? about.... what???? having fears???? not being perfect?????

juni that was awful wording

JUNI WHAT DID YOU D O TO HIM

like i know what he DID but the way it plays out makes it seem like something significant

i thought his name was heavy meddle not.... deth metal???? thats how the subtitles spell it

hahah me

he sounds like bling bling boy

yeah ik im a fool thanks for reminding me

what are you gonna do??? kill juni????

POOR WORD CHOICE JUNI

oh he gives exactly 0 h*cks

a shoe doesnt make that sound

crack bugs?????

see thats why you dont mess with things

im a god among boys??????? what????

did you... kill them????????????

thats any australian person

theyre so stupid i love them

good i hate her

i thought the gunk just like... disappeared from the guitar but actually it shot off

he died... 😔

uhh.... yeah????? was it not obvious?????

me when i have 5 dollars

[veganmikehanlon]

10 and 25 for hanbrough if you please! otherwise any pairing will do ♥

you know that thing where u can’t even search ur own blog for something you /literally/ tagged? this was something like…idk something but it reminded me of something i already wrote so i Really have no reason for not posting it sooner other than procrastination being my middle name so anyways, this:

Mike doesn’t mean to start writing a sex scene while sitting in a Starbucks, but he’d tried writing at home, well it’s just his parents house now, and his mom kept walking in trying to talk to him. So he left the old farmhouse and drove into his newly modernized hometown of good ol’ Derry, Maine.

It’d started with a piece of his story inspiring a memory from his own sex life. Something he’d done forever ago with an ex. Secretly, in a tent. Surrounded by friends. Not their most shining moment but it was hot and applicable to his current story.

He’s in the middle of writing about tongues sliding together when his eyes are drawn to the sound of the shop door opening. He almost chokes when he sees who it is walking in. Well, daydream about sex with your ex and he shall appear. Mike ducks behind his things to hide because he’s panicking.

Mike watches Bill walk to the counter, he observes the broad lines of his shoulders move under familiar flannel; and how the end of his short blond french braid, mostly held together by multi-colored bobby-pins, brushes the collar in a physical reminder of how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other.

He walks through the room with the same gentle confidence that he always had, and it still draws the same admiring gazes from those around him. Mike’s eyes flicker between Bill and his computer screen, the incriminating words screaming at him, and then he catches sight of Bills’ smile and the perfect adjective pops into his head.

Just like that he’s writing again, more caught up in his story than he’s been in the last 30 minutes. Words stream from his fingertips and a scene unfolds, bits and pieces of Mike’s past slipping through, and just as he’s writing a description of how exciting it is to make someone moan as loud as you can make them laugh, he’s interrupted.

“Hi,” a soft voice calls, startling Mike from his head making him jump and hit his knees against the table, a move that almost sends his coffee toppling, but two pairs of hands shoot out to catch the wobbling cup. Bills�� hand settles warmly over Mike’s before he draws it back with an awkward chuckle.

A shiver runs through Mike as Bill’s fingers brush over his knuckles, and he looks up at the man before him with wide eyes. “Hi,” he squeaks, this entire situation sending him careening out of his comfort zone. Bill clears his throat before speaking (an old habit) “sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he says with a wince.

Mike chuckles nervously, his voice coming out a bit high and strained, “it’s okay I was just, um, writing.” This might be the most uncomfortable he’s ever been in his life. But Bill looks excited and he falls into the chair opposite Mike, setting his coffee and a notebook down on the open space.

“You’re writing?” He asks, a smile spreading across his face, and Mike has to smile back because oh yeah, they’d once shared everything with each other and Bill knows all about Mikes’ commitment-phobia to writing.

Mike quickly switches programs, an attempt at putting the niggling guilt in his chest away. “Yeah, just this story for this thing,” he answers vaguely, and they pause for an awkward second before Bill starts to ramble. “I’ve been working on drawing (a sentence that makes Mike proud too), I’m in a portrait class right now at school, and I came here to people watch and I saw you, and I was wondering if you’d mind if I practiced drawing you?”

Mike gasps softly in surprise at the request, “uh, what? You want to draw me?” The words fall from his mouth without his input, any functional part of his brain currently caught in a dumpster fire, set by this stupid story that is making an already uncomfortable situation of running into an ex just that much worse!

And then Bill is talking again, “well my art style has changed and I thought it’d be cool to get a comparison, you  know, a then and now? It’s cool if you don’t want me to, no biggie, just thought I’d ask, but actually? Never mind,” he starts gathering his things into his arms, “sorry for bothering you, it was nice seeing you, bye!”

He starts to get up but stops when Mike bursts out laughing, his cheeks reddening, and he stays frozen uncomfortably. And Mike doesn’t mean to, but seeing Bill so obviously out of his comfort zone has him cracking up, the situation making him feel hysterical, and he can’t quite stop the laughter bubbling out.

Mike manages enough words to get Bill to settle back down. “Hey man it’s cool, it’s good seeing you too, you know me, I love to help.” Bill settles back into the seat and flips his sketchbook open with an eye roll. Mike can’t help but tease him, he starts shifting through different dramatic poses, making Bill laugh loudly. A hand behind his head, his bicep bulging, Thinking Man pose, his smile barely suppressed-

And Mike ends his display by lewdly flicking his tongue between his fingers. “Jesus Mike!” Bill sputters out between laughs and Mike raises his hands in an innocent gesture, his own laughs ringing out through the space between them. “Sorry, I’m done!” He surrenders with an amused snort.

Bill sticks his tongue out childishly at him and flips the pages of his notebook to a blank page, “just go back to what you were doing weirdo,” he says softly and Mike lets out another laugh before following his directions. Well, not exactly since he’d literally been writing about his and Bill’s sex life. Oops.

He fucks around on his computer for a bit, opening and closing a few homework assignments (yeah right like he’d be able to concentrate right now), editing bits and pieces in other stories, he even plays a couple rounds of solitaire. But his attention is scattered after three lattes (that’s 2…4…6 espresso shots) and the adrenaline rushing through him from Bill sitting across from him drawing him which requires Bill to look at him with his blue as fuck eyes-

“Hey you wanna go somewhere?” The question bursts from Mike and he cringes at the abruptness. “Wait, you’re drawing, never mind,” Mike amends with a shake of his head. But Bill just flips his book closed with a simple “yep,” and starts chugging the last bit of his coffee.

Mike packs up quickly and, swinging his backpack over his shoulders, follows Bill out of the shop.

“Holy shit, is that Silver?” Mike exclaims incredulously when they walk outside. Bill laughs and leads the way to the old bike where it’s locked up by the building. “Yeah, Georgie didn’t wanna give up the car, so I’m stuck with her.” Bill explains. Mike runs a hand over the handlebars with a small smile, “seems smaller than she used to,” he comments, nostalgia rushing through him. Bill hums in agreement, “easier to handle too,” he comments steadily belaying the nervous shake in his next words, “and still big e-e-enough to ruh-ride double.”

Mike grins excitedly, “why Mr. Denbrough, are you going to show me a good time around town?” Bill’s face lights up with a wide grin and giggling, he unlocks his bike quickly, “it’d be my puh-pleasure, Mr. Hanlon.” They drop their things in Mike’s truck before racing recklessly out of the parking lot, Bill pedaling frantically and Mike hanging on tight to his waist, praying he doesn’t go flying off the back of the bike.

It’s weird spending all day with an ex, but they’d been best friends for just as long as they dated, and it’s as easy as it’s always been. They ride through the streets of Derry just like when they were kids, taking turns too fast and speeding over bumps. Mike’s teeth click together but it barely registers over the barrage of other sensations. The softness of Bill’s waist under his hands, the warmth between his back and Mike’s chest, the soft blond hairs flying into his face where they come loose from the braid and bobby pins.

It’s a lot of old and new sensations that has Mike’s head spinning.

They ride until Bill complains of shin splints, his face red and a little sweaty. Mike totally doesn’t think of licking the sweat from his brow because that would be weird. They ride back to Starbucks and load Silver into Mike’s truck. They sit in the cab, unsure where to go from here. They decide to live out the nostalgia further, and head to the barrens.

“Can you help me get all these out?” Bill asks gesturing to the many bobby-pins in his hair. Mike pats the spot on the truck bed next to him and Bill sighs a “thank you” as he sits with his back turned to him. Mike begins to gently pull the clips from his hair, doing his best not to pull knowing full well Bill is tender-headed.

He brushes the hair out with his fingers as it’s freed in sections until all the pins are out and Bill’s hair is a wild mane framing his face. Bill had shifted to face him when Mike got to the sections held back in the front, and Mike watches his face carefully. His eyes are closed and his face is relaxed in contentment. He’s always liked having his hair played with, no doubt part of the inspiration to grow it out.

Mike finds himself fiddling with the ends of his hair, carefully brushing it back from his face. He’s too distracted watching the soft strands fall through his fingers to notice Bills’ eyes have opened to watch him.

They used to lay in bed together, Bill on Mike’s chest, while Mike would drag a hand through Bill’s hair while they cooled down. Sometimes they would talk and other times they would lay in silence, just letting themselves feel the moment.

Lost in his thoughts Mike doesn’t notice Bill moving his face slowly closer, or how his hand has ceased it’s ministrations running through soft blond hair to rest gently on his cheek, he doesn’t realize he’s guiding Bill’s lips to his own until they’re barely a breath apart. And then soft lips land on his and awareness comes crashing over him.

They both freeze for a second, they’re mouths held stiff against the other, and then Mike opens his mouth slightly to pull Bills’ bottom lip in between his. And with that Bill is pushing forward and Mike unfolds his legs so he can slot in-between his knees. They kiss desperately, mouths moving together hot and slick. Mike moans softly at the feeling.

And then he’s pushing away because holy shit, “did you-“ he pants and Bill moves to kiss his neck at the interruption, unwilling to stop whatever this is. Mike is totally okay with that but, “you didn’t eat meat today did you?”

Bill stops his traveling lips, body going stiff in the not fun way. It may have been something they used to argue about when they were dating, Mike thought it was gross to kiss Bill after he’d eaten meat, and Bill didn’t get what the big deal was. Mike thinks maybe he ruined the moment but then Bill is grinding his hips down into him and he drag his lips up Mike’s neck to his ear, making him keen at the sensations, his own hips stuttering to meet the boy’s above him.

“Not yet,” Bill whispers grinding down into the v of Mike’s hips harshly, drawing a groan from the man that quickly turns into laughter. Throwing his head back Mike giggles loud and uncontrollably. “Seriously?” He laughs breathlessly, Bill sucking a mark on his neck. He pulls back to look into Mike’s eyes. “Seriously. Your nagging finally got through my thick skull.” Bill says with an eye roll followed by a wink.

“Wow, fuck, that was such a fucking turn on.” Mike says drawing Bill closer with a hand on the back of his neck and kisses him passionately.

[snicketstrange]

The Beatrice Letters theory

This is part 10 of the Strange Interpretation of Jean Lúcio from Brazil

To understand this text, it is necessary to read some my previous texts.

Text Part 9

Part 8

Part 7 

Part 6

Part 5

Part 4

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

I think it's time to start explaining my interpretation of The Beatrice Letters. I really love TBL. There is no official Portuguese translation of TBL, but there are translations made by volunteers. The first team to translate was called "Unfortunately Society" in 2009, whom I really thank. The other translation was made by volunteer Isadora in 2013. Volunteer Isadora Bortoluzzi Massa did an annotated translation of TBL in her Course Conclusion Work from the Faculty of Portuguese-English Literature, at the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. I wanted to highlight these facts to show how much Brazilian fans take ASOUE seriously.

To understand TBL, I believe you should start by reading the last letter.

Please note carefully the following excerpts from Lemony's letter to the editor on TBL.

“{…} Once inside the warehouse, one can only hope that is has been organized sensibly -- otherwise it may take all night just find the room in which documents from long-ago library exhibitions are stored, and all morning to find the proper file…

Finally, it occurred to me to look under the name of the poet… Because I love her so much, for instance, it never occurred to me that there could be more than one Beatrice Baudelaire. IT WAS QUITE SOME TIME BEFORE I RECEIVED THE FIRST OF BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE’S LETTERS THAT I REALIZED THAT ALL OF BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE’S LETTERS COULD BE FOUND NOT JUST IN THE FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE BUT IN THE SECOND BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE AND THAT PERHAPS IF I GATHERED THE REMAINING LETTERS OF FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE WITH THE FIRST LETTERS OF THE REMAINING BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE, THEN THE BEATRICE LETTERS COULD EXPLAIN THE BEATRICE LETTERS AND EVEN THE LETTERS OF BEATRICE, NO MATTER WHICH LETTERS THEY ARE, AND NO MATTER WHAT ORDER THE LETTERS ARE IN. I IMMEDIATELY BEGAN WORK ON THE FILE.

And now, after all this time,  have found the same scrap of paper  had once examined in a glass case – and, years before that, examined in a hallway of the library, with the scrap of paper in the glass case. Sadly, this missing sonnet is like a missing sock – it had been lost for so long that everything else has completely unraveled in its absence. For many years I thought if I collected all these letters and their accompanying ephemera – a phrase witch here means “documents and items which I feared had vanished, and may soon vanish again” – I could put all of them in the proper order, as if solving an anagram by putting all of letters in the right order… The arrangement of letters could spell more than one thing…

This file is finished – just when I thought it might finish me… THE SECRETS CONTAINED HERE ARE LIKE ALL SECRETS – DANGEROUS TO THOSE WHO DISCOVER THEM AND HARMLESS TO THOSE WHO FAIL TO NOTICE THEM. For this reason, I recommend that you either destroy this file or make as many copies as possible… I DO NOT KNOW WHEN I WILL WRITE YOU AGAIN.”

Please, remember one of the premises of the Strange Interpretation of Jean Lúcio From Brazil. While the 13 books of ASOUE are directed by the Great Public of the universe of Lemony, the TBL is a file that contains personal letters. While there may be deliberate lies in the 13 books of ASOUE, there are no deliberate lies in TBL. However, there are indications of caution on the part of the authors of the letters in TBL. The letter senders are aware that the letter could be read by others than the recipient of the letter. So one of the letters contains a Sebald code. Thus, in a few letters, the sender does not want to deceive the recipient, but wants to deceive or confuse any other person who happens to have access to the letter. For example, in one of the letters the sender starts each paragraph as if writing a business letter. In addition, recipients of the letters know that it is possible for someone to try to cheat by letters. The recipients of the letters know that a person can send a letter pretending to be someone else. See this excerpt from BB to LS # 1,

“Perhaps you will also think I am someone else, and will make a suspicious note in the margin, accusing me of being some villainess or other.”

In this letter, the recipient (Lemony) made a note, indicating that at the time he read the letter for the first time, he believed that the true sender could be "E" (probably Esmé).

Now that you know all this, turn your attention back to the letter to the editor. From my point of view, in this letter Lemony states clearly that in the file that we call TBL, there are letters coming from both Beatrices. At the same time, Lemony makes it clear that by the time he was writing this letter to the editor, only one of the Beatrices was alive. He referred to Kit's daughter as "THE REMAINING BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE". This indicates that the "FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE" was dead when this letter was written. I need to believe that. My whole theory is based on the premise that Lemony would not lie in a personal letter. However, that does not mean that "FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE" had been died since fire of her house. Quite the opposite. Accepting as a fact that there are letters coming from the two Beatrices in the archive, and accepting the fact that Beatrice survived the fire at her house based on the evidence I've already presented, TBL makes a lot of sense.

(Obs,:  Lemony wrote to his editor:

"IF I GATHERED THE REMAINING LETTERS OF FIRST BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE WITH THE FIRST LETTERS OF THE REMAINING BEATRICE BAUDELAIRE ... I IMMEDIATELY BEGAN WORK ON THE FILE"

"gather" means: to bring together; collect

"LETTERS OF SOME PERSON" means letters FROM someone, right?

look "of" definition: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/of

"used as a function word to indicate origin or derivation" )

What would be the method of distinguishing whether the letter comes from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings or Kit's daughter? Would comparing signatures be an appropriate method? No. As I explained on the Thread about the R letter, in Lemony's universe, signatures can be faked. Lemony did not believe that R's letter was even R's because there was her letter at the end of the letter. In addition, Lemony suspected that the letter From BB to LS # 1 could be from someone else, even seeing the signature of the letter. What could help distinguish from which Beatrice comes from each of the letters is just the content of the letters.

Now turn your attention to the letter BB to LS # 2. Here are some things that this letter has, and some things that this letter does not have.

The letter's sender wrote:

"I am leaving this city, only hours after finally seeing it for the first time, to follow your path of yarn and pins ... Without Violet, Klaus and Sunny, I am an orphan - an orphan who is leaving this letter here. .. PS This is a very handsome paperweight, by the way, although I can not tell if it is a snake, a worm, or an electric eel. "

This person is evidently Kit's daughter. She says she's never been on the City. She states that Baudelaire siblings are her parents. She states that she does not know what paperweight is, and anyone who has known Ike knows that paperweight is a leech. Now, what does this letter not have that is very common in several other letters from Beatrice to Lemony? This letter does not contain the anagrams "Baticeer" or "My Silence Knot".

Now let's look at the letter From BB to LS # 3.

See what this letter has and what this letter does not have. Note the sections below:

[...] the eldest shepherd said, ringing his cowbell to call to his flock, and looking me very carefully in the eye. I traded them a ring on my finger, emblazoned with the initial of someone I believe you once knew, for a yak ride to see the cave for myself. I don't know what i will have to trade in order to have this letter sent.  Your cave is a miserable place - drafty, bat infested, and decorated with hideous wallpaper… This has been a hard years journey. And now... all  have learned is what you said when you left this cave... "I'm in the mood for a root beer float", you said, and so am I. I will return to the city, where I've been told the best root beer floats can be found at certain shop, although I've forgotten the shop's name, location, and price list.”

The sender of this letter apparently does not know the Sebald code. The older pastor apparently tried to send him a message in Sebald's code, but she did not notice. Also, the sender of this letter does not know how to control bats. She saw several bats in the cave, and yet she had no idea of using one of them to send the letter to Lemony's office. In addition, Lemony evidently left a message that would be easily understood by the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. He said, "I'm in the mood for a root beer float." The first place the mother of the Baudelaire siblings would think about going would be at a specific cafe, where Lemony and Beatrice had their first meeting, the same place where they kept meeting for many years. In the letter From LS to BB # 3, Lemony makes a date with Beatrice in this cafe. He wrote:

"As you take your bow, drop one of your hatpins off the stage. That's your signal to me that it is safe to meet at the usual place for our midnight root beer floats."

So I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this letter comes from Kit's daughter.

Now think: What does the letter From BB to LS # 3 not have that most of Beatrice's letters to Lemony have? Again, this letter does not contain the anagrams "Baticeer" or "My Silence Knot".

What is the origin of these anagrams? Who invented them, and what use did this person give to these anagrams? The answer to these questions is in the letter From LS to BB # 2

Lemony wrote:

"It's easy to write letters during Code Class ... The only other student I know in this class is O. who is nothing but annoyance. As I write this he is filling his notebook with anagrams of obscene words ... After the incident with the bottle of ink and the root beer float, I think it's better to spend my time inside "My Silence Knot" ... My sister has told me that there are bats to be found there, and I would love to spend some time with a certain "baticeer".

These anagrams were created by Lemony in a class that explained codes. Apparently it was a class that explained about the use of anagrams, because Olaf was writing anagrams in his notebook. Lemony went on to use anagrams in his letter to Beatrice. He used anagrams of his own name and the name of Beatrice. Beatrice understood that this was an excellent method for identifying herself in a letter. Whenever Beatrice sends a letter to the person she loves, Lemony, she writes the anagram of his name or her name or both. For this it is necessary to create an opportunity within the text of the letter to use the anagrams, even if this leaves the text with low naturalness. People who did not know the use of anagrams would never realize this method of identification. In addition, if Lemony found a letter without the anagrams My Silence Knot or Baticeer, Lemony would be certain that this letter would not come from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. After all, why would someone use "My Silence Knot" in a letter? It is not a very common expression in English. What about the word "Baticeer"? This word does not even exist in English dictionaries.

Based on this, I can say that the letters From BB to LS # 1, # 4, # 5 and even # 6, come from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings.

Some of these passages make more sense when you come to that conclusion.

For example in BB to LS # 1:

"All I hope is the best, but hoping for the best, like hoping to obey your orders, almost always leads to disappointement ... There are many people, to affect all, with the same initials as you, just as THERE IS AT LEAST ONE OTHER PERSON WITH THE SAME INITIALS AS ME ... For years I kept quiet, feeling all my words twisting and tangling inside me like skeins of yarn, as I searched desperately for someone who could be of assistance. Now I must untie "My Silence Knot" and to a man I have ever seen ... I am hoping you wil tell me a story that began many years ago, in what I WAS TOLD IS A SORT OF CLASSROOM ... My name is Beatrice Baudelaire. I am searching for my family - Violet Baudelaire, Klaus Baudelaire, and Sunny Baudelaire ...”

From this letter I can say that the letter comes from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. However, Beatrice chooses her words so that any reader other than Lemony and I, believe the letter comes from Kit's daughter. Beatrice is master in disguises. She is on a much higher level than Count Olaf. Beatrice's true interest is linked to Lemony's past. Her interest is in the passion they had together, and they could never live fully. Even the letter From BB to LS # 6, is from the mother of the Baudelaire siblings. She chose to use a phraseology very similar to that of Lemony's first letter. She apologized for embarrassing Lemony in front of his friends. When did this happen? She had ever embarrassed Lemony when she canceled the marriage. Read the letter below:

"Beatrice Baudelaire, Baticeer extraordinaire (The Rhetorical Building 14th Floor): I am sorry you embarrassed me in front of your friends. I just wanted to talk to you. The waiter agreed to bring this card with your drink. If you do not want to meet me, rip it in hald when you are done with your root beer float, and I will leave and snow try to contact you again. But if you want to meet me, I'm the ten-year-old girl at the cornner table. B."

Of course Beatrice was not 10 years old when she wrote this letter ... I believe the following two options: 1) Beatrice was disguised as a 10-year-old girl, and 2) Beatrice wanted to make Lemony remember the old days, when they were children and Lemony wrote her the first letter.

Now see the excerpts from the BB to LS # 5 letter:

"If you are in your office - and I hope you are, I can hear you below me pacing across your creaky wooden floor - you cold simply walk out the door, head down the corridor toward the east staircase, walk up one flight of stairs, head down to corridor, and knock on the door of the office directly above yours, you would find me here, sitting at my typewriter. But you will not. For one thing, you have a lousy sense of direction, and you might not know witch way is east. For another, you clearly do not talk to me. "

(Note: How would Kit's daughter know that Lemony has a bad sense of direction? She had never met her uncle before ... On the other hand, the mother of the Baudelaire siblings knew Lemony well. Lemony tried to draw a map for the cafe where they were supposed to meet, and he wrote that the West Gate was the East Gate.  The dashed lines on Lemony's map indicate the path he would take with Beatrice to the cafe. In Lemony's mind he would meet Beatrice outside the east gate. So Lemony drew the dashed line on the left side of the solid line. He thought the outside of the east gate would be even farther east. But he confused east with west. Lemony has a bad sense of direction, and Beatrice knew it from childhood.)

"Violet told me once that I saved her life, and Klaus claimed that I had not died in despair not long ago the destruction of the Denoument Hotel. Even Sunny said she could not have survived without me. "

I know most fans interpret that young Beatrice would be here talking about the fact that she was born at an appropriate time, and so she saved the Baudelaire siblings.

But for me, due to the facts cited, I think this passage is referring to the fact that Beatrice and Bertrand created the hybrid apple that literally saved the life of the Baudelaire siblings after the destruction of the Hotel Denoument. This happen on the Island. Even if Kit's daughter had not been born, I'm sure the Baudelaire siblings would have survived on the island.

In addition, BB to LS # 4 may be better understood:

" I am writing to inquire further on the matter we discussed earlier this year. I'm Business Letter Writing Class, which is taught by a flat-footed man so sad an aunaware that I am certain he will give me an A on this assignement without reading anithing but the first setence of each paragrafph. I could say anithing here at all. For instance: A "baticeer" is a person who trains bats. I learned that in a poem I watched you read. ... The theree Baudelaires may be long gone, but there is a fourth Baudelaire here, waiting for tou to untie "My silence not" and help me find the end of a story that began with you -- in the very room where I sit now, about to hand this letter to my business letter writing instructor so he will grade it and mail it."

I know most fans believe that the young Beatrice watched Lemony, saw him reading a poem and then learned the name "Baticeer". But because of the evidence I have already presented, I believe that is not the case. I believe that the name Baticeer and the expression "My Silence Knot" was written here only as a code of recognition. It is interesting that "My Silence Knot" was written so the first letters of each word capitalized and between quotation marks. This gives a special emphasis to this expression.

There is another important detail. In the TBL file, there are letters from Lemony to Beatrice. How did Lemony get those letters back? I know there are theories that claim that Lemony made copies of the letters. However, it was apparently the letters themselves, in the original paper that was sent to the publisher. For example, in one of the letters, a note written by R. is written. This infers that the letter that was sent to the editor was the letter that was sent to Beatrice, not a copy. Another theory indicates that Lemony recovered the cards in the destroyed house of Beatrice. That is possible, but I think it is unlikely, because fires in general burn paper.

So my theory is that Violet's mother, Klaus and Sunny gave Lemony the letters she had kept with great affection. After meeting in the cafe, she handed him the letters to show Lemony that he was always thinking of him.

What do you think of this theory? When I reread The Beatrice Letters under this new look I got some interesting things.

[the-newsies-justice-for-zas-blog]

Newsies’ Little Sister

Chapter 7 - Something lost, something gained

TW: Swearing, blood, beating up, not eating (not eating disorder, but not having the time or money to eat)

Word Count: 1.9k

Genre: It’s a bit of everything tbh...

Jojo’s POV

I ran over to the body on the floor as soon as the man left. They were curled up on their side facing away from me, so I rolled them over onto their back. 

"Elmer! Oh my god! What happened to you? Who did dis?" There was no answer so I shook his shoulder frantically. There was still no answer. I looked at his face. It was a mess, it was all bloody and bruised; his nose was at a weird and painful-looking angle and he was going to have a horrible black eye in the morning.

He still wasn't waking up, and I scooped him up into my arms. His head rolled to the side and some blood ended up on my shirt. Thankfully, we were only a few streets away from the Lodging House.

"Jack! Jack! Help!" I shouted as soon as I burst through the front door. Some of the boys cleared off the hard couch in the middle of the main room, as they all stood up to see what was going on. I gently lowered his limp body onto the couch as Jack asked me what happened.

He pressed a wet cloth onto Elmer's bloody face as I explained.

"Hey. Hey. Slow down a bit! Where was he when ya found him?" Jack asked. "And, someone get Davey." I looked at him, silently asking him why.

"Moral support..." He trailed off. "Doesn't matter. Oh, thank god! Right, we need you to put his nose back in place properly." 

Davey knelt down and thought about what to do. He put his and on Elmer's face to straighten his nose. There was a crunch as Davey did what he had to.

Amazingly, he stayed unconscious, even when we put him into his bed to rest. He didn't move at all, and it was kind of scary actually. Elmer's my best friend and I hate to see him like this. I don't know what I'd do without him...

Emmeline's POV

By the time I stopped running and found myself in Midtown East, I was so weak I could barely stand. That day, I had barely anytime to eat because I was too busy running from the bulls. I just managed to stagger into an open doorway, when I collapsed out of tiredness and hunger. That night, I didn't dream; but instead, I woke up to the sounds of shouting in the streets. 

I got up and ran towards the noise. The sight that greeted me was slightly scary. The man from the day before was there. He was beating up some kid in the middle of the street and once the kid was on the floor, the man cuffed the kids hands behind his back, and dragged him off somewhere. I didn't want to know where that poor kid was going. There was a crowd drawing around them, but they didn't do anything to help.

I looked at the streets and buildings around me, seeming as I came here at night. There were quite a few tenement buildings and between them, lines of clothes hanging out to dry. There were also quite a few alcoves in the walls, and in one of them, there was a boy about my age. He was hiding from something or someone. Probably that man. 

I didn't realise, but I had been staring at him, and once he realised I was staring at him, he got up and started to walk in the opposite direction. But he stopped, very sharply. He then turned around and ran towards me and grabbed my hand. He dragged me along with him and once I heard a whistle, I realised why we were running. I sped up and began to overtake him.

"Hey over here!" He shouted to me as he turned into a back alley. I followed him and we waited for a while. Neither of us talking until we saw the bulls run past.

"Thanks for dat!" I said.

"That's alright. They were going to ta take ya to da Refuge otherwise." He looked at my confused face. He had a nice accent, but it wasn't like anything I had ever heard before.

"I saw 'em lookin' atcha and pointin' atcha. And I'se Australian." He explained, reading my mind.

'I have no idea where that is!' I thought, but instead I said, "Oh, I never got ya name."

Tommy Boy

"I'se Tommy Boy. What 'bout you?" I asked.

"I'se Emmeline. But ya can call me Em." She replied.

"Whatcha doin' in Midtown?" I asked Em.

"None of ya business." I don't think she mean to, but she looked down when she said that.

"Ahh. I get it. Homeless?" I asked tentatively. I had quite a lot of experience with that.

"Possibly." She replied quietly. That was basically a yes. 

"Ya got anywhere to stay tonight?" I asked. Then internal face palmed. That was such a stupid question.

"Ummm. No. If I had somewhere to stay, I wouldn't say I was homeless." She replied, slightly annoyed. Then her stomach made a really loud noise.

Emmeline's POV

My stomach rumbled really loudly and I tried to muffle it with my arms, wrapping them around my stomach and bending over.

"Sorry!" I went bright red when I said that... Then I realised that I hadn't eaten anything in...about...a long time.

"When did ya last eat?" Tommy Boy asked.

"Ummm, yesterday mornin'." I replied. To be honest, I didn't really remember, but there was a chance of free food here, and I wasn't going to pass that up for anything! I couldn't afford to spend any money.

"Come wid me. I'se got some food back at the Lodging House." He said with a slightly concerned smile on his face.

"Where's dat?" I asked nervously. Praying that it wasn't anywhere near my OLD home.

"Lower Manhattan."

"Where exactly?" I asked again.

He rolled his eyes and laughed. 

"Number 9, Duane Street. Exactly!"

'Oh no. That is too close to home! Fuck it! I'm too hungry and my parents don't have control of me anymore. And I might see Nick. Then again, I might not. Also, that's ages away. It will be worth it for the food though.' I thought for about a minute.

"Ok. Sure."

"Cool. I was gettin' worried you wouldn't say yes for a sec!" He said, with a goofy smirk looking up at me. In the time I was thinking, he had sat down to catch his breath. He's kinda cute, but not Elmer cute. No one can ever be Elmer cute. Wait what! 

He got up and I looked out of the alleyway to see if there was anyone lurking around. There wasn't but I heard feet scrabbling up a wall. I turned around to see exactly that, but by the time I turned around, Tommy Boy was at the top of the wall blocking the end of the alley. I walked over and he stuck out his hand. I brushed him off and got up the wall twice as fast as he did.

He nodded at me when I got up. Still smiling.

"Impressive!" I just smiled back at him. We dropped down onto the other side and began our journey back. While we were walking, I found more out about him. He is part of the Manhattan Newsies, and he is really good friends with a kid named Henry. He used to work as a messenger, but there was better money as a Newsie.

"What 'bout you? Whas' your story?" He asked.

"Ummm. I'se an orphan and I got kicked out o' my lodging house a few months ago, because I couldn't pay rent Although, I swear the guy there 'iked the price up jus' for me!" I said, lying through my teeth. I hated lying, but I didn't want to tell him what happened. We walked the rest of the way in silence.

Then we got to more familiar ground and I realised we were outside the cafe Elmer took me to when he helped me out of the docks. I turned my head to see if anyone was in there, but there wasn't. Wait no! In the corner were two boys a bit older that me. They were both dressed like newsies from what I could see, but one of them had their back turned towards me and I couldn't make out a face.

We carried on down the street until we saw the slightly faded sign of the newsies lodging house. Tommy Boy led me up the steps and we went inside. Over time, I had begun to learn to read and I could just about make out a few words, but the only reason I knew we were at the lodging house, was because I remembered the sign and the street.

Just as we went in, everything went silent. I looked around and I could only see boys. I guess they weren't used to having a girl around. Just then a boy, he looked older than me but I could barely count to 10, so I couldn't work out how old he might be. He was definitely older than me, he looked very strong and kinda scary, he was wearing a dark blue shirt and a grey cap.

Tommy Boy's POV

"Hey Jack." I started. "This is Emmeline, ya got any food goin' spare. I said I'd give 'er some." I saw Emmeline look all around the room to see why everyone was staring. But I already knew though. Because she's a girl and she's really pretty. That's why they're staring.

Jack's POV

For a second, I couldn't stop staring at this new girl. She looked really familiar, like I'se seen 'er before, but I just couldn't work out where from.

"Errr, yeah. Food. Over 'ere." I said, managing to stop staring enough to get the spare food I always kept in case of emergency. 

I handed her a roll of bread, she took it with both hands, sat down on the bed and ate it so fast, I barely knew where it had gone. Her stomach growled really loudly and she wrapped her arms around her middle and smothered the noise.

"When did ya last eat?" I asked. The kid was quite thin and I figured she hadn't eaten in a while.

"Ummm. 'Bout 3 days ago. Maybe 4." She replied quietly. That would explain why she ate the food so fast.

"Jesus." I heard someone behind. I think it might've been Davey, he would be surprised 'bout that; but I wasn't because I've seen worse.

"Do ya have any more food?" She asked nervously. I heard someone search around for some more food and then Buttons passed it forward.

"'Ere ya go!" She just nodded back. She didn't eat that piece of bread as fast, but when she was about half way finished, she snapped her head up.

We all heard the sounds of two doors opening at the same time, and he turned around to see who it was...

[chittaphonsicecream]

blackmail: a wonwoo hacker!au

synopsis: you’ve dumped your ex boyfriend and blocked him on everything, but you’re pretty sure he’s been logging into your social media accounts and stalking you. your best friend suggests that you go to the IT nerds at school and ask for some help in figuring out who’s watching you. you enlist jeon wonwoo’s help in stopping him and wreaking a little bit of havoc of your own. female reader x wonwoo ft kaistal bc I miss them

word count: 6.4k (the ending is kinda rushed bc i was lowkey sick of writing)

a/n: this takes place in an american college:) so basically… this is based on something that happened to me (the stalking part). wonwoo doesn’t get introduced for a while but when he does it’s worth it. it’s really angsty and slow but I hope you enjoy.

“Look, I think we’re better apart,” you said, staring your boyfriend directly in the eyes.

“I don’t agree,” he said. He grabbed your hand a little too forcefully. “You are the only one for me.”

“Jason…” you said. You took a deep sigh and looked at him. “I’ve been telling you for the past hour, we are over.”

“No, you can’t do this,” he said. “Yes, yes, I can,” you said. “You need to leave.”

“So the past nine months have been a lie?”

“No, the past nine months have been you manipulating me into thinking that I loved you and that you’re as good as it gets,” you deadpanned. “Jason, you need to leave. Now.”

“No!” he yelled. “There’s nobody like you, _____.”

“Yes, there is. I’m not special. Now get out before I call the police,” you threatened. “You’ve wasted nine months of my life, don’t waste another minute.”

“You need professional help, you know that, right?” questioned Jason. “You’re the most heartless, uncaring bitch I’ve ever met.”

“Hm, sucks for you,” you said. “Now get the fuck out of my apartment before Krystal comes home.”

“Fine, but we’re not done talking,” he said. “We’ll make it through this.”

“I really don’t think so,” you replied as you pushed him out of your apartment and slammed the door in his face.

Knowing what Jason could be like, you quickly locked your doors and waited in the farthest room in your apartment. He had been manipulating you for as long as you could remember, convincing you that you were happiest with him when really he was isolating you from the rest of your friends and family. You hadn’t even liked him; he just continually told you that he liked you until you caved in and consented to being his girlfriend. In reality, he was one of the worst people you knew.

Following the breakup, he relentlessly tried to contact you and become your friend. He even went as far as to send his older brother’s ex girlfriend, a good friend of yours, to tell you how much he missed you and how unhappy he was without you. She warned you heavily to stay away from him and his entire family.  

After you blocked Jason and cut him off completely, you began to adjust back to your normal life. You were becoming happier, more outgoing, and more of who you used to be. Everyone in your life noticed the positivity.

Chatting over bowls of cereal, you and Krystal were sitting at your small kitchen table. You opened up your Snapchat to find yourself logged out, which could mean one of two things: either Snapchat was being its typical glitchy self or someone else had logged into your account. The only person who knew your password was Krystal.

“Hey, Krystal, did you log into my Snap?” you asked.

“No, why?” she replied.

“Nothing,” you mumbled. “It must be glitching or something.”

“Okay,” she said. “Hey, are you still friends with Jason’s cousin?”

“Which one?”

“The one that introduced the two of you.”

“Oh, Hailey. Yeah, but we’re not as close as we were when Jason and I were just friends. And then we kind of drifted when I dumped him and now we hardly see or talk to each other.”

“I didn’t care that much,” laughed Krystal. “I was just wondering why your Instagram profile pic has her in it now.”

“I didn’t change it,” you said.

“Yeah, you did.” Krystal held up her phone to your face to show a picture of you and Hailey, clearly happy. It was a photo taken during the camping trip where you and Jason became close.

“I don’t remember changing it.” You grabbed her phone and took a closer look. You had more followers than you remembered, too, and you were private. “Maybe I did it when I was falling asleep last night.”

“I think it’s pretty new,” she said, “and you do weird stuff when you’re tired, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Yeah,” you mumbled in reply.

Over the next few months, small but strange things continued happening on your social media. Snapchats had been opened that you couldn’t recall seeing, follow requests that you never saw were accepted, direct messages were opened by someone other than you, posts you never saw were liked, stories you never viewed were watched, and random people were added to your Snapchat. Again, you didn’t think much of it.

After a few months of avoiding Hailey and discussing the breakup, you finally met up with her for lunch. She was desperate to catch up with you, especially after you had distanced yourself so severely from her. At one point she had been your best friend, but now the two of you were more like strangers.

The small restaurant was a nice little meeting place, and you arrived a few minutes early to make sure that your reservation was claimed. It was commonplace for Hailey to arrive rather late, from five minutes to forty-five minutes. After you ordered drinks for the both of you, she arrived.

“Sorry for being so late,” she apologized profusely.

“Hailey, you’re always late,” you laughed. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to see how you’ve been holding up,” she offered. “You know, our whole family really believed that you and Jason would get married. We’d never seen him like the way he was with you.”

“The way he was with me was constantly manipulating me and making my life toxic,” you spat. “Hailey, I didn’t come here so you could talk me into getting back together with Jason.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I thought it was worth a shot.”

“A shot that’ll ruin our friendship permanently. He’s an awful person. I don’t hate people, but I hate him,” you deadpanned. “Can we talk about literally anything else?”

“Alexa had her second kid,” Hailey offered, “and Nick is finally engaged to Alondra.”

Hailey went on a tangent about her older siblings and their success before circling back around to what she really wanted to talk about.

“And I’m dating someone, too,” she said quietly. “I didn’t want to mention anything since your past relationship was so bad.”

You laughed. “I’m not that terrible of a person. I can be happy for someone else, you know?”

“Okay,” smiled Hailey. “He’s going to Cozumel with my family and me next week. The whole crew is going, Alexa and her family, Nick and his fiance, and Jason’s family. Jason’s sister Madison is already pregnant and they wanted to get in a trip before the baby’s born.”

“They’ve been married for six months!” you exclaimed. “I was Jason’s date to the wedding. That’s…”

“An accident?” offered Hailey. “I think so, but she and Chad deny it.”

“Whatever makes them feel better,” you said.

“Yeah.” She took a sip of her drink. “Do you think I’m being too forward by bringing my boyfriend on a family trip? It’s only been a few months.”

“At least you’ll know soon whether this relationship is going to work.” It was meant to be a joke, but Hailey took it seriously. The conversation was becoming uncomfortable, forced with the continuous mention of Jason, so finally you excused yourself, left a twenty dollar bill on the table, and headed home.

The next week, strange things continued to happen on your social media. Knowing you, you continued to ignore it and think nothing of it. Finally, as you opened up your Instagram, you got a strange notification.

We detected an unusual login attempt. iOS | Jun 27, 6:10 AM | Cozumel, Mexico

Your heartbeat soared as you realized what this could mean. Tears welled up in your eyes as you quickly texted Hailey.

hey, are you in cozumel?

yeah, we landed a little before 6 this morning. why?

nothing. jason flew with you?

yes what’s wrong

nothing don’t worry

You ran to the bathroom where Krystal was getting ready for the day and started banging on the door. “Krystal!” you shouted. “Krystal, open the door!” You were crying and sat on the floor of the hallway until Krystal opened the door.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Jason has been logging into my accounts all this time. You know that weird stuff that was constantly happening on my accounts? It was him.”

“How?”

“I don’t know… All of my passwords are pretty difficult.”

“Okay, well, let’s start with changing your passwords.” Krystal paused for a second, and then spoke again. “How do you know it’s him?”

“Who else would be stalking my accounts? I’m not interesting. I blocked him on everything, and then this morning I get a notification that someone in Cozumel has been logging into my account. And you know who flew into Cozumel this morning? Jason.”

“Text him,” Krystal said. “See if he’ll say he’s been logging into your accounts.”

jason

wow didn’t expect to hear from you anytime soon

yeah ik

u feeling lonely i guess? ;)

no

aw babe

don’t aw babe me why have you been logging into my social media

I havent??

yes you fucking have leave me the fuck alone

no i havent

I got a notification saying someone in cozumel has been logging into my accounts and ik weird shit has been going down in my account this is illegal

theres lots of people in cozumel what if it wasnt me

im going to the police

you have no proof that its me

ill find a way to get proof leave me tf alone stay out of my accounts

Krystal snatched your phone from your hands. “I don’t really think we can do anything if he denies it,” she sighed. Her eyes lit up. “I know some kids in the IT department of school. I bet they’d help.” She pulled you up from off the floor. “Get ready, let’s go talk to them.”

You dressed quickly because the sooner you met with the IT kids, the sooner you could figure out who had truly been stalking you. As soon as you were ready, you grabbed Krystal’s arm and started jogging towards the campus. She had dressed well, like always, but you were comfortable and ready to run.

After a few minutes of running, you finally arrived at the university’s tech department. Krystal was friends with most everybody, so she showed you where the IT kids could be found. She knocked quietly on the door after you had ran up the stairs to the entrance.

“Come in,” someone called from the other side.

“Hey, guys,” Krystal said as she opened up the door. “I need a favor.”

“What is it?” one of the boys asked. There was only one girl, and she was quietly working away at her computer, headphones in ears.

“_____, tell them what’s been happening,” she said as she pushed you towards them.

You began your long tale of your toxic relationship, the messy breakup, the strange social media occurrences, and finally, that morning’s notification.

“I’d recommend talking to Wonwoo, the boy over there,” said the boy that Krystal knew. “He’s good with that stuff. Doesn’t get caught, either.”

“Okay, thank you,” you said. You walked over to the tall, dark haired boy with glasses. “Hi,” you said softly. “I need you to do me a favor. I’ll literally do anything for it.” You paused. “Well, not anything.”

“What is it?” 

“I need you to find out who has been logging into my Instagram accounts. You’re a hacker, right?” you asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “but I’m more of a vigilante hacker. I don’t just hack to hack.”

“Well, I think you’ll be intrigued by what I’m going to tell you,” you replied hopefully. You began your spiel once more, and by the end, Wonwoo had his chin in his hands and was staring at you intently.

“It’ll take me maybe ten minutes to figure out if he’s been logging into your account, but from the looks of it, he definitely has,” Wonwoo said. “But this isn’t my style. My style is more messing with people who did bad things on the internet.”

“Okay, but will you see if it’s even him? I think it is but can you make sure anyway?” you asked.

“Yeah, give me a few.” Wonwoo turned to his computer and left you alone

“Hey, _____,” Krystal called from across the room. “I’m heading home. I don’t want to be here too long. Are you okay on your own?”

“I’m fine,” you replied as you took a seat next to Wonwoo and watched him type rapidly. “You don’t mind if I stay with you, do you?”

“No, I really don’t.” Wonwoo didn’t even look up from his computer as he kept typing. After a few minutes, he came up empty handed. He looked at you confusedly. “His phone is heavily protected. I don’t know what kind of software this person has installed, but I can’t access it. All I can access is the Apple ID of the person that owns the phone, and it’s a bunch of random numbers and letters. I can try hacking into that, but I don’t think it’s going to lead anywhere.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“I mean your ex-boyfriend is either incredibly clever or he has someone else doing the dirty work for him,” Wonwoo said.

“He’s really smart. Tech savvy.”

“Then he knows what he’s doing.” Wonwoo looked back at the screen and then to you. “I think I can figure out if it’s him, but it’ll take a solid half hour. I have to hack into the account and then see all of the phones and devices the accounts have been linked to and see if any of them belong to him. You should go get food or something while I do this; it might be a while.”

“Okay,” you said. “I’ll bring something back for you. What do you want?”

“How about burgers?” he asked.

“I’ll be back soon. You have my number now, so text me what you want,” you said with a smile. Wonwoo nodded before pulling out his phone and sending you his order.

After about fifteen minutes, you were back with burgers. Wonwoo was spinning around in his chair and smiled at you. “It’s him. That Jason guy, it’s him.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“I know you want to go to the police, but I want to have a little fun,” Wonwoo said. “This is my speciality of sorts.”

“But what if you get caught?” you asked.

“I won’t.” He took his burger from you. “Consider this payment for my deeds,” he said with a wink.

“I don’t know if I want you to mess with him. He’s a little psycho.”

“He’s not just a little psycho, he’s a lot psycho.” Wonwoo smiled at you softly. “Look, ____, if you don’t want me to, I won’t. But I think you want this guy to get a taste of his own medicine.”

“Of course I do,” you said. “But what could we possibly do to him?”

“I have some ideas, but you’ll have to consent. And they can be pretty shady, but I promise you, we won’t get caught,” Wonwoo said.

“What are your ideas?” you asked.

“If you give me your phone, I can retrieve every conversation the two of you have ever had. The embarrassing, the sweet, the manipulative, everything. Blackmail him with his own nudes? Done. Blackmail him with the embarrassing, loving, manipulative things he told you? Done. He won’t mess with you ever again, not as long as you’ve got this on your side.”

You stared at him. His proposal was intriguing to say the least. You knew Krystal would approve, but you also knew that he would access a lot of vulnerable things about you. You had some rather revealing photos in there, and while that did bother you, it didn’t bother you as much as the awkward and embarrassing photos you sent or the things you had confided in Jason. But you knew that he may never stop unless you made him stop, and you’d rather it be in your hands than in the authority’s hands. You looked at him, bit your lip, and then agreed.

“You promise you won’t judge me?” you asked.

“I promise,” replied Wonwoo softly. He gave your hand a gentle squeeze to reassure you. “You’re a good person. I can tell by just how you are. Texts between some manipulator and you aren’t going to make me change my mind.”

“Okay.” You handed him the phone. “But can you walk me home and then take my phone? I don’t want to be without my phone in the city.”

“Sure,” he said. He began packing up his things and then wrapped an arm around you. “It’s going to be fine. I’m good at what I do, and I don’t care about what you said. I only care about what he said.” He squeezed your shoulder gently. “It’s going to be okay. I’m not him.”

“You don’t need to tell me that,” you laughed as you detached yourself from him. “I know you’re not him.”

“Okay, good.” The two of you began the short walk from the university, through a bit of town, to your apartment. Once you neared your apartment, you reluctantly placed your phone in his palm.

“When will you be back?” you asked. “I kinda need my phone back.”

“I’ll come by tomorrow, how about that?”

“Okay.”

“We can go through what you think would affect him most tomorrow. I’ll just download it all to my laptop. Since you won’t have your phone, just expect me to come over sometime between noon and one, okay? I have some actually IT work to do tomorrow morning but I’ll just have it download while I sleep tonight.”

“Alright,” you said softly. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

“I’m an internet vigilante. It’s what I do,” responded Wonwoo with a wink. “See you around, ______.”

He watched as you entered your apartment building and stayed until he saw that you were safely inside. Once you were back inside your apartment, Krystal jumped to ask questions.

“What’d they find out?” she asked.

“He’s been stalking me,” you said shakily.

“Well, are you going to report it to the police or what?” she asked, playing with her fingers.

“Actually… about that,” you began, “I’m not going to the police.”

“Are you stupid?”

“Well, Wonwoo-”

“Wonwoo, huh?”

“It’s not like that. I literally just met him.”

“Oh, really? Then why’d he walk you home? And stay until he knew you were in the building?”

“Shut up,” you replied quickly. “We’re going to give Jason a taste of his own medicine. Wonwoo’s keeping my phone for the night to download everything I had regarding Jason and to retrieve all of the old messages and stuff and then he’s gonna… well… blackmail him, I guess.”

“No way,” laughed Krystal. “You’re blackmailing the psycho? I didn’t realize you were that ballsy.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” you clarified. “Wonwoo says he’s like some internet vigilante or something and it’s similar to stuff he always does.”

“Wait, so he walked you home because?”

“He needed to take my phone but I didn’t want to go home without it. And I think he’s honestly a little afraid for me.”

“He’s nice. Kinda quiet but nice.”

“Quiet?”

“Yeah. He’s said maybe ten words total to me.”

“We spoke a lot.”

“Maybe he likes you better than me.”

“Maybe.”

“Well,” Krystal said while lightly punching your arm, “aren’t you afraid of what Wonwoo is going to find on your phone?”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” you responded. “All that matters is that Jason leaves me alone. And I don’t think he’ll care much anyway. He knows what he’s seen when he’s being a vigilante or whatever.”

“Yeah, sure,” Krystal said sarcastically. “Whatever. You know what I think you should do? Get drunk.”

“I’m not going to get drunk,” you laughed. “I think I’m just going to sleep until tomorrow morning. I don’t want to think about this.”

“It’s only noon.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want to deal with this.”

“You don’t want to deal with this stalker drama or you don’t want to deal with knowing Wonwoo will go through everything on your phone?” suggested Krystal.

“Shut up,” you said. “For real, I’m going to sleep.”

You headed to your room and decided to sleep for the rest of the day. You finally woke up around two am after hours upon hours of sleep. Krystal was still awake, and she had her boyfriend Kai over. They were talking on the couch when you came out.

“Hey, guys,” you said with a small smile. “I didn’t know you were going to be over, Kai.”

“Krystal was just telling me the rundown on your stalker,” explained Kai.

“Oh,” you mumbled. “Yeah.”

“Jason will get what’s coming to him. If not now, when he’s thirty-five and his future wife leaves him,” he laughed.

“Kai, that’s rude,” Krystal said.

“Okay and?”

Krystal moved a little closer to Kai and smiled. It made you miss the days of having a boyfriend, but you knew that missing Jason was detrimental to yourself.

“So are you really having some hacker kid go through all the stuff on your phone just to blackmail Jason? Someone you don’t know?”

“At this point, nothing is really worse than knowing Jason wasn’t leaving me alone, so yeah, I am,” you replied. “He’s gonna be over around noon, by the way.”

“I’m gonna be out,” Krystal said.

“Where?”

“I don’t know. Kai, can I come over to yours?”

“Sure, babe.”

“You just did that so Wonwoo and I would be alone!”

“Also so I won’t have to see Jason’s nudes. I know that Wonwoo will be able to dig some up.”

“Fine.”

“Well, it’s two in the morning and I’ve got to be up at six, so I’ll see you tomorrow,” Krystal said. “C’mon, Kai, we’re going to bed.”

You watched Kai and Krystal leave the room and decided to clean the small apartment. By the time you were finished, the sun was starting to rise and Krystal would be waking up soon to head to the gym for her early morning workouts. Once Krystal was awake, she made some food for the both of you.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” she reassured you. “Jason will get whatever’s coming. Don’t worry about it. And you should probably catch a few hours of sleep before Wonwoo comes over, too.”

“Okay,” you agreed. “I’ll go to sleep in a few.”

A few hours later, you were awoken with the sound of Kai attempting to make Krystal a proper breakfast. It was nine in the morning, and you rolled back over only to be bombarded by the pair running into your room with sad looking pancakes.

“Cheer up!” Krystal said. “Just because you have a psycho manipulative stalker ex-boyfriend doesn’t mean you get to act like the world is ending!”

“I think it does mean I get to act like the world is ending,” you replied.

“I tried really hard to make these,” Kai said, shoving the plate in your face. “Come out to the kitchen and eat them, please.”

“Fine,” you grumbled. You got up and followed Kai to the kitchen table. His pancakes weren’t too bad, but they definitely not good. Once you took a bite and gave them a thumbs up, Kai backed off.

“I’ve got to get to work,” he said. “See ya later, guys. I left my keys to my apartment on your nightstand if you still want to go over there when Wonwoo’s here.”

Krystal nodded and smiled at him before leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek. “Okay, be safe.”

The next few hours passed rather quickly, with Krystal running around doing random things and you eating more food than you probably should. Before you knew it, Krystal had left to Kai’s and you were alone, waiting for Wonwoo’s arrival.

Just before noon, there was a knock at the door. You opened it quickly, and there was your expected guest. He had takeout in one hand and your phone in the other.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he said shyly. “I thought it would be good to have lunch since…”

“Oh, thank you!” you replied, taking it from him. You grabbed chopsticks and you both settled down on the couch. There was a gap between the two of you and an awkward silence filled the room. Finally, Wonwoo cleared his throat.

“You know, I don’t think much different of you,” he said quietly. “Except that you’re maybe kinda dumb.”

“I’m dumb?” you questioned.

“Yeah, you’re dumb.” He chuckled softly to himself.

“Why?”

“Because you had barely started texting this guy and you told him everything about yourself. And I mean everything. I think I know you better than I know my brother, now.”

“I don’t know why I did it. I guess he made me feel important.” You sighed and bit your lip before looking up at Wonwoo. “We can see how well that turned out.”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll get him back,” Wonwoo reassured you.

“I honestly thought it was love at first sight. Or something of the sort. I just saw him and knew ‘you’re going to be important in my life.’”

“I don’t believe in love at first sight.”

“Really?” you asked.

“I think you’ve got to know them really well before you can love them,” he said. “Anyway, let’s choose what we want to get started with.”

He pulled out his laptop and opened it up to reveal a file containing every interaction you had with Jason on your phone. “Do you want to start small or start big?”

“Start big,” you said.

“Let’s start with the nudes, then,” he said. “Here’s my idea, but if you don’t like it, we won’t do it.” You nodded in response. “Okay. I have a program on here that creates a protected fake phone number. Almost like a prepaid that you can’t pinpoint. But there actually is no number that exists. It’ll just show up as unknown. I’ll begin sending him pictures he sent you or tell him his own secrets. Just to mess with his mind a little bit, and after that, we’ll tell him to stay away from girls or we’ll leak it all on the internet.”

“Will you really?”

“No, of course not. I’m not that terrible of a person.”

“Okay,” you acquiesced. “But if it gets shady at any moment, we’re stopping the whole thing.”

“Not to be rude, but it’s already shady.”

“Fine. If it get shadier.”

He nodded and began typing rapidly on his computer until he was at the program that allowed for him to send the messages. He went into the file where he had stored everything from your phone and began clicking until he got to the bad stuff: the pictures.

“Hey, Wonwoo, I have a question,” you said softly. He nodded in reply. “Did you by any chance… see any of me?”

Wonwoo began coughing and refused to make eye contact with you. His cheeks were becoming rosy, and he looked at you. “Yeah. But don’t worry about it. I’m not like that, I swear. I’ve never even had a girlfriend.”

It was your turn to be uncomfortable. “You’ve never had a girlfriend? How old are you?”

“I’m almost twenty-two…”

“Why not? You seem completely normal. If a psycho like Jason could get a girlfriend, you easily could.”

“But a psycho like your ex also goes out and talks to people. This… this is my life. I don’t talk to people unless it’s over the computer. How am I supposed to meet someone?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of online dating?”

“God, I’m not that pathetic.”

The computer pinged, and you both turned to look at it. Jason had replied.

who is this

IT DOESN’T MATTER. YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME ANYWAY

who tf is this i swear to god i will find you and beat your ass

YOU MIGHT BE SMART BUT I AM SMARTER.

how did you get that picture of my dick

I HAVE MORE

who is giving this to you

NO ONE OF ANY IMPORTANCE. STAY AWAY FROM ________ OR I’LL LEAK THEM

nice try

Wonwoo looked at you expectantly. “What do you want to do?”

“Keep it up. Send in more.”

image: sent

wtf

I HAVE MORE

leave me alone

NOT UNTIL YOU LEAVE _______ ALONE

who are you you’re not her she’s above this

IT ISN’T RELEVANT

ok fine but ur fucking weird

LEAVE ________ ALONE

nah bro. I gotta have fun in mexico with my fam but this conversation isnt over be back in two hours

“Now all we can do is wait,” he said.

“I don’t know why he’s so dumb. If someone was blackmailing me, I’d just stop whatever I was doing.”

“Not to be rude, but apparently you don’t have good taste in intelligent men. Or in men in general.”

“You’re kinda rude, you know that?”

“I’m more socially awkward than rude. It’s usually pretty hard for me to talk to someone like we are now.”

“Aren’t I special?”

“Yeah, actually, you kinda are.”

“Aw, you say I have shit taste in men and then tell me I’m special. My heart is melting,” you deadpanned.

“It’s true. This guy doesn’t have common sense, sends shitty dick pics, treats you like shit, and did I mention that he’s also not that much of a looker?”

“You think I don’t know that he’s a terrible, ugly, dumb person?”

“I think you’re way out of his league.”

“Oh,” you said quietly. You felt your face flush but refused to look at him. “Can we talk about anything else? You know basically everything about me; it’s my turn to know everything about you.”

In most cases, Wonwoo would’ve objected completely. This wasn’t comfortable for him, it wasn’t fun, either. But when it came to you, he was okay with it. You were open about yourself with him, so he didn’t see any reason not to be open with you. Besides, he’d practically seen you naked at this point, so he knew you couldn’t judge him.

The conversation flowed easily, the both of you talking about your family, your lives before college, the college experience, your friends, your interests, the things that made you happy, the things that made you cry. With every sentence exchanged, you felt a stronger connection to Wonwoo. This time when you felt that he was going to be important in your life, you knew that it wasn’t your brain being dumb and desperate. It was honest, and it was real.

Before the either of you realized it, the two hours were up and Jason had replied. Again, it was something stupid.

I’m not fucking dumb. I know how to hack too. I swear on my life that i will find out whoever you are. you can’t hide from me

This time Wonwoo looked genuinely concerned. He turned to you and asked, “Do you think he actually is good enough to find me?”

“Why are you asking me!” you exclaimed. “You told me we wouldn’t be caught. I swear to god, Wonwoo, if we get caught, I’m going to beat you up.”

“I know, but he seems smart enough technologically. And if he knows people…”

“The only people he knows that are into IT are the people at this school. And anybody that could help him already knows how insane he is, so I think we’re going to be fine.”

“Okay,” he said as he processed what to do next. “Also, for the record, I don’t think you could beat me up.”

“You’re a literal string bean. I probably weigh way more than you. Just because you’re tall doesn’t mean you can’t get your ass whooped.”

Wonwoo laughed. “I’m starting to really like you,” he blurted. His eyes widened as you looked up at him. “As a friend, of course.”

“Of course.” You took the laptop from hi shands and began typing a message to Jason yourself in an attempt to ease the awkwardness of the situation.

I DON’T THINK YOU’LL BE ABLE TO FIND ME, BUT YOU CAN TRY. DON’T FORGET, I HAVE MORE. I CAN AND WILL USE IT AGAINST YOU IF YOU DON’T TURN YOURSELF IN FOR MANIPULATING, ABUSING, AND STALKING _______.

“Is that really going to work?” asked Wonwoo.

“Of course not,” you laughed. “He’s got his head up his ass. But it will let him know that we’re serious, and when people make it repeatedly obvious that something really bothers them, he stops. But it takes a long time. I don’t know how long you’ll have to do it.”

“He’s such a jerk. I can’t believe you dated him.”

“I didn’t just date him. I told the boy I loved him. Even worse, I slept with him!”

“Spare me the details,” laughed Wonwoo. “What do you want to do now?”

“I think that we’ll just have to top for now. But if I were you, I’d send him one embarrassing secret or picture a day. Don’t say anything, just send it so he knows that it’s you. And then we can meet up sometime soon and actually talk and mess with him.”

“Okay,” he said. “That’ll work. I’ll text you whatever I send.”

“Please don’t,” you said. “I never want to see his nudes ever again. Or his face. Or a drunken video of him professing his love to me.”

“Okay then. I’ll text you when I send him something.”

“Much better.”

“Well, I should get going now,” Wonwoo said quietly. “I’ll see you around.”

“Thanks for this,” you said, “and the takeout.”

“My pleasure.”

As Wonwoo left the apartment, you began to wonder what this all meant. He couldn’t like you, could he? He didn’t believe in loving right away, but did that spread to liking? You waited until Krystal got home to discuss it. She was far better versed in this area and would be able to give you good advice. Krystal texted you around six saying that she was finally leaving Kai’s since Taemin would be back from vacation and that she was heading home. You were waiting for her in the living room, and the moment she walked through the door, you began blurting out everything that happened.

“Oh my god, does Jeon Wonwoo have a crush on the ______ ______?” asked Krystal.

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you!” you replied.

“I think he does!” Krystal said. “Actually, I know he does. Keep up the good work, tiger.” She winked at you and walked away.

“Wait!” you called out. “What do I do?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Wonwoo’s… he’s quiet, shy. You’re going to have to take this slow.”

“Okay,” you said. “I think I am more than capable of doing that.”

The weeks went by of blink-and-you-miss-it flirting over text messages with Wonwoo. The texts were pretty mundane, but you had found yourself loving every time your phone pinged with a notification from Wonwoo. You met up once a week to message Jason together, and each time something would happen. The brush of fingertips, an arm around a shoulder, a shared laugh, thighs touching while you sat. Nothing about what the two of you had was platonic.

After a few days, Wonwoo asked you two to meet up again. This time, it was at his apartment rather than yours. Krystal and Kai were throwing a small party, and Wonwoo didn’t want to be there, so you obliged to meeting with him at his home.

Wonwoo’s apartment was vintage, beige, and filled with things you never would’ve imagined it to be. There were books everywhere, a record player, and a leather sofa that looked straight out of a fifties movie.

“So you know we’re pretty close to cracking him,” Wonwoo said. “I mean, did you see those last messages? He sounded like he was going to have an emotional breakdown.”

“Yeah,” you muttered.

“Did I do something wrong?” asked Wonwoo, noticing the hesitation in your voice and attitude.

“No, no,” you said. “I just wonder if I did.”

“What do you mean?”

“Am I any better than him by blackmailing him?”

Wonwoo was at a loss for words. He looked at you, and then back at the ground. “I honestly don’t know” was his response. He took your hands in his and gave them a gentle squeeze. “Maybe what we did was wrong, but he also did something wrong.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, Wonwoo,” you replied. “I feel like a terrible person. I know I hate Jason, but I also know I’m better than this.”

“Well, we can stop,” he said. “We’ll stop right now.”

Wonwoo pulled out his laptop and opened the program he had been using to communicate with Jason.

I’VE DECIDED TO LET YOU BE. WHAT I AM DOING TO YOU IS JUST AS BAD AS WHAT YOU DID TO ______.

nah its worse fuck u tho

GOODBYE

ya know idk u but u got balls. ______ is lucky to have u ik im psycho when it comes to her but i want her to have the best. I mean the best is me but u seem pretty good too

GOODBYE

You looked up shyly at Wonwoo. “So he thinks you’re my boyfriend, huh?”

“I mean, I’ve been at it for weeks. Almost two months, even,” he said.

“Wonwoo,” you said, getting up. “I think I should go.”

“Why?”

“Well, we did what we meant to do. Blackmail Jason, and now it’s over, so I should go.”

Wonwoo stood up with you. “Okay.” He walked you to the door and watched you put on your shoes before he did the unthinkable. He grabbed you by the arm, pulled you up to him, and placed his mouth on yours. It’s sweet, but it’s short lived because Wonwoo immediately pulled away to look at you.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. Instead, you just laugh, and you pull him down to you. Suddenly, your arms are around his neck and his hands are in your hair and you are feeling everything and nothing at the same time. And then you’re laughing, and he’s laughing, and you pull away to catch your breath.

“Wow,” he said. “That’s…”

“That’s what?”

“Wow.”

“Yeah,” you muttered, pulling him in for a hug. He buried his face in your hair and then lifted your chin up for one more kiss.

“Are you sure you want to go?” he asked.

“I’m sure I want to stay.”

[spidey-d00d]

Coward // Tony Stark x Reader

Avengers [in a way] x Reader

Warnings; Death; I think I slipped 1 curse word in there?; sad?; Blame?

As you can see idk how warnings work...

A/n // I know that this doesn’t exactly correspond with Infinity War, actually it isn’t supposed to at all, besides the way of the deaths. There isn’t any intentional Infinity War spoilers because I personally haven’t seen it yet, ik sue me. So….. anyways, here is a v sad one shot no one asked for!

1800 Words

[Not my gif]

“You taught me to be brave, and to be strong, but you are a coward. Hiding behind a suit of armor. You don’t know how to fight, or own up to your own mistakes! You pretend to be big, bad and powerful, a hero, but you are a coward.” You burst, all of your emotions releasing into your words.

“You could have saved him. You could have saved the entire team, but instead you were being selfish and only helping yourself. Everyone is dead because of you, and you have nothing to say for yourself. You killed them, keep that in mind at night, you,” You emphasized the words, “Killed them.”

He looked so taken aback, letting the words you were screaming at him sink in. It was all true. Instead of looking out for his own team, family, he only took his own life into consideration and not theirs.

Clint had a family, that is now going to have to get by without him.

Thor had his entire realm to rule, and a brother to keep out of trouble.

Natasha had Bruce and Bruce had Natasha.

Steve had finally gotten his best friend back, and the only thing keeping him chained to himself.

Bucky had just gotten out of the grasp of Hydra and changed for the better, finally getting the last known person that was alive from his childhood years.

Wanda had finally confessed everything to Vision, even though he already knew every word she was going to say. They had finally started a happy life. She had been in her rough stages of losing her brother, but it all had just finally fell into place when Vision and her had finally confessed their thoughts.

T’Challa had finally gotten to rule his kingdom just like he was supposed to. Shuri finally invented the one thing she had always tried to get perfect, but always had issues with it.

Strange had peaked with his sorcery skills, and finally came to the conclusion that the shakes in his hands wouldn’t ever fully go away, but right about now he wasn’t too bothered about it.

And Peter, Peter had finally won a decathlon, without any Spider-Man responsibilities getting in the way. He was finally happy and his life with May was perfect. He became best friends with MJ and Liz. His crush had finally drifted from Liz to you, of all people, you. He finally gotten the courage to talk to you, after a mission, and finally confess everything. Every little thing that was in his mind was now out in the open between you two. Of course you felt the same thing towards him, and it all went well. But that day, was just yesterday. Meare hours before his life was taken. Hours before he was turned into a pile of dust. Just like everyone else. Blown away with the wind, and taken away from you. Your family was now gone. And you blamed one person and one person only.

Tony Stark.

He had the power to stop everything. To help keep the deaths of everyone you had ever cared about at bay. He had the power to keep the heartbreak from erupting in your chest. The power to keep you from crying everyday, every minute, every second of everyday without fail. The power to make sure his family was safe and taken care of and to make sure they would come home to have one last family meal together.

What you would give to have them all back around the longer table passing around all of the food and laughing at stupid things that was said over the ear pieces throughout the previous mission. Someone eventually yelling ‘Language’ and the entire room erupting in a laugher.

“Do you have anything to say, or are you just going to stand there.” By now, you had been more angry than anything. There were no tears anywhere in sight, just pure anger and frustration.

“The man of many words has none now? The one time that he needs them, they aren’t there for him. That’s a very strange sight.” You said, gradually getting louder and louder with each word.

“Say something Tony! Fucking say anything! Tell me how much you hate yourself. Tell me how you know you are coward. Say something Stark. I know you have words!” You screamed, bending over a little from yelling so much you were losing air.

You moved yourself closer to his stance still yelling. You didn’t have any clue why you were being so hard on him, besides the fact that he could have saved the only people you had ever known. The only people you had ever loved.

“Speak Tony!” You had finally made it directly in front of him and your hands started moving before it was confirmed by your mind. You kept punching him in the chest, his face unfazed. He just stood there and took each blow you threw his way. By now, your only angry emotion had been swiped, and it was joined with sadness, everything finally hitting you like at truck, all at one.

Not one by one, slowly gradually coming to you, like you wished, but everything flooded your body and mind like a tsunami.

You couldn’t see anything in front of you but your fists flying past your head and hitting the chest covered by a grey t-shirt.

“You’re a coward!” You kept repeating, slowly losing all your strength you had in the beginning. You were getting tired, sobs taking over your body.

Tony hadn’t said anything the entire time, just let you do what you needed to do. He knew that this is the way that you cope. You tried to blame it on other people, as unhealthy as it sounds, and then you finally let it hit you.

He didn’t disregard the words though. He let them all sink in, every word burning into his memory. These words that would replay through his head at least 10 times a day, because it was all true. There was so many things he could have done to save his team, his family. If he wasn’t so distracted by himself then they would be alive.

He says he is the type of person to let himself die instead of many people, but when it actually came to that option, he chose himself.

Tony kept replaying every death through his mind as you screamed at him.

Wanda, Steve, Thor, Nat, Clint, Bruce, T’Challa, even Bucky. One that popped up more than the others, Peter. The kid that he promised to take care of. The one that he promised that would come home safe and now he has to break it to May that the last person she had in her family was gone now. She was a widow, her sister and brother-in-law were dead, and the child she treated like a son, and loved like a son, was also dead. She was now alone.

Once you started becoming weak, Tony took this time to finally wrap his strong arms around your small frame. You tried to wrangle yourself out of his grasp, but he was too strong for your tired body. Once you gave up, you just cried into his chest, and he let you. You didn’t say anything, the only sound in the room was your small hiccups.

You ended up passing out in his arms, and he carefully and skillfully picked you up off of the floor where you were both at, and carried you to the nearest couch.

Tony pulled a blanket over you, which you immediately curled into, like nothing was wrong, like everything in the world was going to be okay, but he knew that the moment you woke up, it would be another war coming his way.

He looked at you, thinking about his choices he had right in this moment. He had the choice to leave, and take the coward way out,  the name you had been calling him all night, or he could be the man he wished he was. The strong man who looked out for his team. The man who didn’t run away from his problems as much as he wished he could.

After minutes of just staring at your tear-stained face that was so relaxed from you sleeping, he finally came to a conclusion.

He stood up, making sure you were covered, and made his way to his room. He grabbed a bag big enough to bring a decent amount of clothes to last a few days, and shoved clothes into it.

Walking out of his room, he placed his bag next to the front door, and then went to check on you in the common room, where you were as expected, sleeping.

Tony then made his way to your room, opening the door slowly. He stepped in and took a look around. He never came in here as a sign of respect of privacy, so he was so amazed at everything around it. There were so many picture frames and polaroids of all of the Avengers together. He didn’t even know most of these were taken.

He flicked on the light,  walked through all of them, taking the time to carefully inspect every detail of the family. He got to one particular picture. It was all of the Avengers, including Tony, that Jarvis had snapped. It was all of them surrounding a table, laughing as Tony, You, Peter, and Rhody tried to pick up the Mjölnir that belonged to the one and only Thor. Everyone was happy.

Tony shook himself out of all the deep thoughts his mind was getting himself into, and he turned to the task he was in there to accomplish. He grabbed a bag that he had found in your closet, and put some clothes he thought you would need in it. He got some of the things he knew that you liked, and a couple of pictures. Zipping up the bag, he turned off your ight, closed the door and put you bag next to his.

He went back to where your sleeping body was laying, and scooped you into his arms and skillfully carried you out of the front door, and put you into the car, without waking or dropping you. He went back to the house to grab the bags, and quickly took a glance at the place he called home for almost 4 years.

He locked the door and didn’t look back. Getting into the car, and driving away, he looked back to you sleeping across the back seat.

“I am going to look out for my people from now on.” He whispered. “Forever and Always.” He drove as far as possible from the building without a second thought.

Tag List; @destructive-memories // @lizzyclifford13-blog