#im not a serial killer either i swear

[cold-kitty]

Never mind I saw ur things u won't write nvm so can it just be yan!merman reacting to a darling who iceskates?

I'll actually just go ahead and do the first thing you asked. When I said multiple yanderes at once, I meant in the same universe. So as long as they're in different universes, it's fine!

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Contains: Maybe a little fluff

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Yan!Murderer/Serial Killer would definitely take darling ice skating if they were 'being good'. He can't skate either, he's falling on his ass constantly to the point that it has frostbite. I AM GOING TO THROW THESE SKATES AT SOMEONE'S HEAD I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOOOOOOD-

Yan!Naga who will dig through the closet of his cabin, looking for skates the past residents could've left behind. He takes you to the forest lake in the winter, sitting by a fire and watching you skate, looking at you lovingly. wish i could skate with them...

(Post coming to your house)Yan!Mermaid who has a secret hole in the ice he slips in and out of. He'll swim under the ice, following you as you skate, twirling in the water. i wish he would spin me around in his arms!

SweetYan!Neuvillette who will invite you to skate with him after trials, to take his mind off of it when he really just wants to spend time with you. Who can't skate well, so he has you teach him. He feels guilty for taking you away from skating just to teach him, but it makes him blush how you insist that he learns so he can do it with you. you're so caring... i love you so much...

CrazyYan!Neuvillette who will take you skating every Friday if your 'behavior correction' goes well. he's not good at skating, and he uses that to his advantage. he's leaning on you, arms wrapped all over you under the excuse of being bad at it. i-im sorry I'm so bad at it... mmm your skin's so soft...

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I hope this met your expectations!

~🐈‍⬛

[chenlezip]

jaemin, scream ♡

⤷ summary : when y/n receives a mysterious phone call and finds that her friends are being killed, she suspects that a serial killer may be on the prowl, who is also linked to her mother's murder.

warnings : death, swearing, if you've watched scream you'll know :) idk what other warnings to put im so sorry!! not proof read either eek

annas note : sooo.. i wanted to write a lil something about jaemin and scream.. and this is the better idea i had in mind — one thing you guys NEED to know about me is that i am a horror fanatic.. and so pairing this with jaemin was super fun (maybe i’ll make a horror fic series with nct one day..)

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you're in your bedroom, sat at your desk on your computer as you worked on an assignment. you heard glass breaking outside your window and you stood up, walking closer to check it out. maybe it was one of the cats that roamed around your street?

as you peek out your window, you feel a hand grab your shoulder and you scream, pulling back. "hey- it's just me," your boyfriend jaemin says gently.

"jaem, what the- what the hell are you doing here?" you scold him as he makes his way inside of your room from the window, "you sleep in that?" he gestures to your night dress.

you sigh, "yes i sleep in this. what are you doing here though? my dads in the other room, you can't be here!" as soon as those words left your lips, your dad opened the door but it was jammed with your wardrobe door being open.

you walk over, talking to him as jaemin hid down the side of your bed. as your dad left, he got up, holding one of your plushes as you asked again why he was here.

"well, it occured to me that.. i've never snuck through your bedroom window. i was home.. watching television.. the uh.. the exorcist was on." he continues, "it got me thinking of you."

you're a little confused, "it did?" you ask. "all the good stuff was cut out, it was edited for tv and it got me thinking of us.. how two years ago we started off hot and heavy and now things have changed.." you shake your head at his words, knowing what he's getting at.

"oh, so you thought you could climb through my window and we'd have a little raw footage?" you ask and he laughs, "no.. no, i wouldn't dare think of breaking your underwear rule."

it was the next day at school, you were sat on the edge of the fountain with your boyfriend, jeno, yeri and haechan. they were rambling on about the recent murder of someone you all knew - winter.

"hey, jen, didn't you used to date winter?" you ask as jeno looked away from his girlfriend to you, smirking, "yeah for like.. two seconds." haechan butts in, "before she left you for anton~" he teased. yeri moved away from jeno to look at him, "i thought you dumped her for me?"

"i did. he's full of shit," he glared over at haechan again. "and are the police aware you dated the victim?" haechan pushed up his glasses, pretending to act nerdy. "hey- what are you saying? that i killed her?" jeno and yeri both have an argument with him, and you groan to yourself, not again.

you end up leaving them, kissing jaemin goodbye as you left for the bus home. after doing chores, watching the news but immediately turning it off after they showed your mother who got killed, you just decided to take a nap to take your mind off of things.

you soon awoke to your phone ringing, the loud dial tone ringing through your ears. you whined, "who the hell is calling me?" you ask yourself out loud as you lean over from where you were on the couch, grabbing the phone and putting it to your ear. "hello?" you ask with a sigh as you hear your friend, yeri coming through the other line, "practice ran late. i'm on my way, okay?"

you check the time, "it's past seven.." "don't worry~ winter and her boyfriend didn't cut it until after 10, you're fine." yeri says as she continued, "i'm gonna swing by the video store for us, okay?"

"whatever. just hurry, okay?" "see ya, n/n~" yeri hung up the phone. you smile and let out another soft sigh, placing the phone back on the stand but after a couple seconds, it starts ringing again. "yeri, just get in the car-"

it's not yeri. a creepy voice rings through your ears as he says your name in a greeting. you run a hand through your hair, "uh.. hi, who is this?" you ask softly as you sit up on the couch. "you tell me," he says as you scrunch your brows in confusion, "i-i have no idea.."

"scary night, isn't it? with the murders and all it's like something out of a horror movie." you chuckle, "haechan! you gave yourself away.. are you calling from work? because yeri's on her way over." you get up from the couch.

"do you like scary movies, y/n?"

"i like that thing you're doing with your voice, hae, it's sexy," you giggle to yourself as you turn on your lamp. "what's your favourite scary movie?" 'haechan' asked you. you rub your chin, "oh come on, you know i don't like that shit."

"why not? too scared?" the voice asked as you sigh, "no. it's just.. what's the point? they're all the same. some stupid killer stalking some big-chested girl who can't act, who's always running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door. it's insulting." you explain, ranting about the movies that you've seen.

you shouldn't of said that because a tall figure wearing a cloak and a ghost face mask appears and attacks you. you try running out the front door but you're fumbling with the locks so you just run upstairs, screaming. you make it into your room and close the door, locking it and backing away from it. your heart is pumping, your thoughts are clouded and you feel petrified. what the hell just happened?

you hear someone once again at your window and it's your boyfriend, jaemin. "jaemin!" you shout for him as you run toward him, helping him in. "the doors locked. i heard screaming - is everything alright?" jaemin looks at you with a worried and concerned expression. "the killers here.. he's in the house!" you bring him closer to you as you ease into the comfort he gives you, you needed this.

"he's in the house. he's got a knife, he's gonna kill us.." you mumble as you try and cling onto his sweatshirt. "he's gone." he whispers to you, holding you tightly against him. you sob into his shoulder before feeling and hearing a phone drop beside him on the floor. you look down and gasp, pulling away from him.

"what?" jaemin asked as you glared at him, removing his arms from your waist, "n/n, what?"

you shake your head and whimper, creating enough space between the two of you before you unlock your room door and run out of it. "wait! wait wait wait wait! what's going on?" you hear jaemin chasing behind you as you continue to try and escape him. "y/n, come back!" he shouts from the stop of the staircase.

you open your front door and scream, seeing the ghost face mask being held up. jisung, who was at the door holding it up, screams too. "sorry! i found this, come on!" he shouts at the other officers, ushering them inside.

jisung finds jaemin and detains him, shoving him roughly against the hood of his car. "alright come on, keep your hands together."

after a rough couple of days and staying close with yeri ignoring your boyfriend, she takes you to a party that jeno is hosting. you thought about not going but you really needed something to take your mind off of everything that happened so you end up going. you enter the kitchen as yeri places bags down on the kitchen counter, smiling at her boyfriend.

you both end up laying on the couch in the living room, jeno following as he brings yeri to his chest and smiles. you look through the movies that haechan has, "how come jamie lee curtis is in all of these movies?" you ask. haechan smiled, leaning near you, pressing his hands together in a prayer, "she's the scream queen."

"with that set of lungs, she should be.." jeno butts in, someone adding a "yeah.." to agree with him. yeri rolled her eyes, looking at you, "tits, you see?"

after spending a couple hours at the party, the curfew ends and everyone starts leaving. "yeri, come on!" you shout upstairs. you haven't seen her since she left to get drinks for jeno. you're a little worried. you turn to jeno who is seeing the party goers out the front door, smiling.

"do you know where she is?" you ask as jeno shakes his head, "i haven't seen her." and then you hear 'agh!'. you gasp, turning around to the front door and seeing jaemin smiling sheepishly. "oh.. jaemin, hey," you give him a small greeting as he looks at you. jeno seems to act suspicious, rubbing his chin, "jaem, hmm.. i wonder what you're doing here."

"was hoping i could talk to n/n, alone."

and he.. did have the chance to and a little more than that, you both got dressed after having an intimate moment in the bedroom upstairs. "you still don't think it was me, do ya?" jaemin asked you as he glared at you from behind, sitting on the floor tying his laces. you chuckle, turning around and sitting to face him, "no. no. i was just thinking, if it were you, it'd be a very clever way to throw me off track."

as you were talking about things, jaemin leans into you and before you know it, ghostface was behind him. "oh my god- jaemin, watch out!" you scream as he gets 'stabbed' multiple times, "oh.. my god.. jaemin.." you whimper.

after an extreme chase with ghostface and escaping the house, you find yourself back there because you saw a cop car outside. you're searching jisung's knocked out body and find a gun, haechan shouts for you, "i found yeri! i think she's dead i think jeno did it-" he panics as you aim it toward him, "stop right there!" jeno runs and stops beside haechan, "don't listen to him y/n!"

you decide to run inside the house and you see jaemin, he fell down the stairs and groaned, "y/n.." you help him up and lead him to the front door, "we need help.." he shakes his head as he opens the front door and haechan pushes his way inside. "look- i think jenos gone mad!"

"we all go a little mad sometimes," jaemin smirked as he turned toward haechan, a sinister look on his face. "fuck!" haechan whispers loudly to himself before getting shout in the shoulder, shouting out in pain and falling to the floor. "hae!" you shout.

jaemin chuckled, "anthony perkins, psycho.." you run over to haechan, kneeling over him as you stare at your so called boyfriend. "no.." you whisper as you try and run but you bump into jenos chest, staring up at him as you beg for him to help you. he holds a voice changer to his mouth, smirking, "surprise y/n."

tags : @injvns @polarisjisung @mejaemin @ayukas @hyckvr @yizhrt @blondemrk @astrasng

[secretobsessionstuff]

nawwwhh man you aint gotta feel bad about not doin sicktember. im bein real here, i thought i was and i did like 3, so i aint either. but if you really do want me to request one, i'd probably do psychogenic fever/stress induced illness with madix bein sickie bc itd relate to me personally the most (bc i always get stress sick and i'd love to see madix sick witb it too (bonis point if dakota take care of him GOD i loved the fic where dakote took care of him))

Hey man, thanks for always being there and loving my fics. I hope you like this one even though it's nearly two fucking years late I swear.

This fic is set in the past when Madix and Dakota are in school together.

CW: Graphic description of vomiting! It's seriously so gross I love it lol.

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A flood of relieved students rushed past Dakota. He swam against the current looking for Madix among the test-takers. Since it was 2pm, they were no longer test-takers, but the sea of knowledge inside their brains would still be there until the PTSD of organic chemistry was washed away by time. 

Dakota knew how anxious Madix had been for this final. The dreaded Orgo Chem kept his roommate up for the past three nights. It was a known fact that this second-year course was a killer, and Madix’s prof was a distinguished serial killer. Many students retook Orgo in the summer, trying for that passing grade with perhaps a more lenient prof. 

With the hallway now empty—all the students having left—it was easy for Dakota to find Madix. He hadn’t expected his friend to stick around after the final was over, but there he was sitting on the floor by the large windows. Madix looked like a crab, trying to find safety in the shell of his hunched over back. He had his head in his hands and was rubbing his temples as if the trauma of the exam pooled behind his eyes. 

“Hey, how did it go?” It was a very pointless question given that Madix was curled into a question mark. 

“Fuck if I know,” Madix slurred as he slid his hands down his face. “I keep going over every question, doubting my answers.” 

“Well, it’s over now so you don’t need to think about it.” It worried Dakota how glassy and fragile Madix’s eyes looked, like he was about to cry or explode into flames. His cheeks were pale and sunken too. 

“I need a 73 to pass the class.” 

Dakota squinted. “Mmh sounds like you’re still thinking about it.” 

Madix dropped his hands to his side. “I can’t stop. That exam is all I’ve been thinking about for the last week. I haven’t even had time to study for Anatomy tomorrow.”

With a sigh, Dakota sat down on the floor next to his friend. “I brought you something to take your mind off studying.” From behind his back, Dakota revealed a fast-food bag from the student lounge. It was Madix’s favourite place to get comfort food because of the crispy fries, the juicy burger, and the creamy milkshake. Madix didn’t like to indulge that craving too often because it was a greasy cheat meal that often left him feeling bloated, but Dakota thought it would be a nice gesture since Madix had hardly eaten anything leading up to this exam. 

He was about to hand his friend the grease-wrapped gift, but hesitated. The heat coming off Madix’s body was alarming. Dakota could feel the waves just sitting next to him. A quick touch to Madix’s forehead with the back of his hand told Dakota that he’d been neglecting his roommate. 

“Shit, Mads, you’re burning up. I didn’t know you were sick all this time.” 

“I’m not sick.” Like a starving animal, Madix reached for the bag of food, but Dakota held it out of his reach. 

“Bullshit. You can deny it all you want, but your head’s on fire, buddy.” 

“I know.” 

Dakota couldn’t stop his lecture now, as if the two of them hadn’t heard enough lecturing the whole year. “You’re the one in pre-med, you should know—wait what?” 

Madix sighed at the theatrics of his friend. “I’ve had a fever for three days. It’s not going away.” He rubbed his own forehead, feeling the familiar yet puzzling temperature. “I don’t have any other symptoms. I think it’s from stress.” 

It was honestly the oddest feeling. Madix could feel himself cooking from the inside. His cells buzzed like the many diagrams of excited particles when submitted to heat. But there was nothing else to indicate a virus or infection. His throat was fine; his nose was clear. If anything, he was infected with school. Perhaps his nose was clogged with equations and his throat was sore from reciting textbook chapters. 

Dakota looked skeptical. “So, you gave yourself a fever from worrying?” 

“Yes, it’s a medical mystery. They should name a disease after me. Anyway, gimme burger.” Madix reached for the food like a child with grubby fingers. 

Dakota scooted away from his friend, taking the prize with him. “I don’t know, Mads. You really don’t look well. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to eat something so heavy.” 

“Come on. You know I’ve been surviving on goldfish crackers.” It was only now that he could smell the fries and beef that Madix realized how hungry he was. His stomach was aching for something substantial. “Besides, I need the energy to study for Anatomy. It’s tomorrow by the way.” 

“Tomorrow? But you just had orgo.” 

“I have a shit exam schedule this year.” Madix pouted. “Please, Kota. It will make me feel better.” 

Finally, Dakota relented. He had bought it for Madix after all. But now he was worried that it was the exact opposite of what the overworked boy needed. 

He watched Madix stuff his face with his first real meal in 72 hours. The burger disappeared in record time. Fatty juices glistened on Madix’s chin as he dug into the fries. His fingers were coated in grease and fry seasoning by the time he was done. In between each mouthful, he took longs slurps of the Oreo milkshake. 

“You wanna slow down there, bud?” Dakota asked incredulously. There wasn’t much more to eat at this point. 

Madix dragged his sleeve over his mouth and shook his head. “Have to start studying soon.” He swallowed the last bite of fries and sucked at the last remnants of the milkshake. Madix let out a long burp at the end and sighed. 

“I’m not gonna lie, that was impressive.” Dakota couldn’t believe his eyes. “You’re getting more colour in your cheeks.” Maybe the meal really had been a good thing. “But I’m still worried about this voodoo fever though.” 

“It won’t go away until the exams do.” 

‘Then neither will I.” Dakota stood firm in this decision. He wasn’t going to let Madix get burnt out…literally. His hardest exams were done, so he could keep a closer eye on Madix now. “I’ll study with you in the library.” 

“You don’t have to, Kota. I’ll be fine.” 

“I want to.” 

By the tone of Dakota’s voice, Madix could tell that he wasn’t going to win this one. “Fine, but we’re studying in the red zone.” 

“Not the red zone! Anything but that.” 

Madix shrugged. “You’re the one who insisted on babysitting.”

• • •

The red zone was the fourth circle of hell—also known as the library during exam season. 

It was the quietest level of the building, reserved exclusively for students to study in absolute silence. No talking, no phones, you couldn’t even sneeze without getting dirty looks. You could hear a pencil drop and then watch that pencil be escorted out of the red zone. 

As someone with ADHD, Dakota hated the red zone. He much preferred the orange or yellow zone. At least in the orange zone, you could whisper and cough without being shunned. The yellow zone allowed for conversation and anxious tapping. He admitted that the green zone was definitely not ideal for studying. That was the first level of the library were students could openly cry over their exams or practice for their theater final that involved a murder scene. 

Dakota pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them from moving on their own. 

Madix on the other hand had no issue keeping his mouth shut. The nausea forced his lips together. 

The fast food was quickly catching up to him, staying true to its name even inside his stomach. It hadn’t taken long before the burger, fries, and milkshake resisted digestion. The meal churned in his belly like a wad of chewing gum. 

The red zone was popular during this time of year, so Madix and Dakota hunted for two chairs next to each other. They found a long table with many students already studying there, but luckily there were two empty spots across from each other. Madix was grateful to be sitting across from Dakota so that he could rub his upset stomach discreetly. 

Unfortunately, the red zone was not a good place to have a gurgly tummy. The girl next to Madix gave him the stink eye when the organ groaned, tossing chewed up cow inside his gut. He felt grease sticking to his throat and hot burps in his chest. He pushed down every belch lest he be escorted out of the level. 

The words of the anatomy textbook swam across the page. Madix felt his fever ignite with a vengeance. Now he was dizzy, disoriented, and disgustingly full. There was heat behind his eyes that turned his vision to soup. Everything he needed to know for the exam was right in front of him in the book, but the letters became alphabet stew on a white background. 

He dared not look up at his friend in fear that Dakota would see right through him. 

Dakota could not study in such an environment, so naturally he saw every twinge of nausea flash across Madix’s expression. His poor friend was not having a good time. Madix’s cheeks were now flushed bright red, and beads of sweat gathered on his brow. 

In the dead quiet of the library, he could hear Madix’s stomach struggle to digest the heavy meal. Dakota kicked himself for giving into Madix’s begging. The nausea was no doubt thwarting his efforts at studying which created a vicious cycle of stress and pain. 

Dakota did a quick doodle in his notebook and passed it to Madix. He was quite proud of his drawing and had to keep in a chuckle. 

Madix frowned at the drawing. Along the top were the words Green Zone Now? Below Dakota’s messy handwriting was a drawing of a green-faced emoji. Its cheeks were ballooned with vomit. It seemed he wasn’t hiding his ailment so well. 

On the same page, Madix wrote back I’m fine. Must study. Madix didn’t think he needed to go to the green zone, despite what his complexion said. He could control his stomach. The food would stay down; it had to. 

Dakota gave Madix a disappointed look when he got the note back. Why must he be so stubborn? Dakota had to drop the matter. Aside from physically picking up his friend, he didn’t see any other way of convincing Madix to take a break for the sake of his health. He wasn’t going to be making any compelling arguments in the red zone. 

Madix tried to ignore his blistering fever and his unhappy guts.

Systemic Anatomy was hard to study for when he was so keenly aware of his digestive system. He imagined partially digested fries mixing with the gastric juices in his belly. His body went through the steps with much difficulty. 

The muscular organ was literally in the process of contracting itself to squeeze all the nutrients out of the fast food. Madix did not like the squeezing. He hugged his aching middle and laid his head on the table in defeat. 

It didn’t seem likely that the food would continue on to his intestines. His stomach couldn’t handle the greasy meal after days of hardly anything to eat. On top of all this, his body was too busy fighting a made-up virus called stress. The stress was very real, but his immune system was taking it too literally. It was no wonder why he couldn’t keep the meal down. 

Madix couldn’t stop the burp from coming up. It burst from his mouth, splashing the back of his throat with acid. The girl next to him shushed him. Her expression was as sour as his stomach. He didn’t have the will to apologize for the noise. Regardless, he wouldn’t have had the chance to say sorry anyway because another burp filled his mouth with sticky saliva. 

Dakota looked up quickly to see Madix hunched over his chair and gagging into his hand. Another sickly belch bubbled up, draining the colour from Madix’s face. 

Before Dakota could do anything, he watched Madix lurch forward with a loud heave. Thick vomit spewed from his mouth and fell onto the table in front of him. The sick quickly spilled onto Madix’s lap. 

“Oh, shit Maddy,” Dakota cooed as he came to his friend’s side. He didn’t bother with the anti-social etiquette of the red zone, not that it mattered though because everyone in their vicinity bolted from the room. No one wanted to risk catching whatever Madix had during their exams. 

Madix coughed and sputtered. Scandalous! He could only moan miserably before the muscles in his belly contracted again, sending up another wave of mushy fries and curdled milkshake. Dark flecks of Oreo and beef dotted the sick. 

“Oh God…” Madix choked out. “I can’t stop.”

Dakota rubbed his friend’s back while trying not to look at the growing pool of vomit that was…everywhere. “It’s okay, buddy. Just let it out.” The same heat from before lived beneath Madix’s skin. Dakota could feel the fever through his clothes. “No one is here. You’re good. Do what you need to do.” 

Madix’s belly gave another deep lurch. The pressure forced the undigested food up his open esophagus. If this wasn’t the best way to study the digestive system, then Madix didn’t know what else to do besides open himself up like a cadaver. 

His fever made the room spin around him. If he had any sort of receptacle, he probably would have missed. Luckily, he had no issue catching his notebook, his lap, and his shoes in the process. 

“Good job,” Dakota encouraged. He patted Madix’s back firmly. “Get it all out. Get that stress out too while you’re at it.” 

Madix had to admit that there was something cathartic about this purge. He felt lighter with each bout that left his body. He gave over to his subconscious mind and let his body do what it needed to do. He probably should have listened to the hunger and sleep cues before this, but he was listening now to the Get Out cues. 

If stressed looked like a melted Oreo milkshake then it was certainly no longer in his body. He tried to imagine the pressure and the expectations and the need for validation leaving his body along with the vomit. 

When Madix caught a break, he couldn’t help but give a chuckle. “This is the red zone. I just puked in the red zone.” 

Dakota laughed with him. “All over it really.” He looked around at the empty room. “You scared everyone away. They must think you have the plague.” 

“I think we’re all infected with it. This pressure—it’s an epidemic, man.” 

“Don’t go turning into a philosopher.” Dakota took a step back from his friend. It wasn’t a good view, but he was happy to see Madix’s shoulders relaxed. “Do you need anything? Water? Sleep?” 

“Both.” Madix slowly stood up from his chair, cringing at the wetness that made his shirt cling to his body. “But I think I better find someone who works here.” Madix rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess I should have listened to you, huh?”  

“Let’s discuss my vast amount of wisdom when everything’s cleaned up, shall we?" 

[storiesofsvu]

Okay, im gonna preface this by saying that i normally post these directly after watching, so the chaos no context makes a little bit more sense but i was way too tired to deal with uploading after the ep last night... reading it back.... i DID enjoy the episode and did think it was a good one! props to director Aisha. i just think that *between* the eps this season, they keep flitting back and fourth between the style of how they're executing adding in new unsubs/connections to gold star/whatever and my brain can't follow it sometimes (esp at 2 in the morning when i'm getting tired lol).

Alright, considering I normally stay up til the crack of dawn something about making me stay up til 2am for these eps makes me exhausted. I blame the heat. Here we go!

I know that the format of the show is to keep us connected with individual ep unsubs, but none of us CARE. Either make us fully invested in the gold star/north star shit, OR make it the back seat story arc while these new unsubs are suddenly the bau’s focus like they did in the last season!!!

…unless that was morse code and is connected..

BUT STILL!

Make it make sense and be connected to the viewer before starting the scene

I don’t give a fuck about these guys…. Give me the people im waiting for

If you want me to care about eps that are stylized like cm s 1-15 then you have to make them ALL that way, you can’t pick and choose. Make me focus on gold star/elias/Jade from the last couple eps or nothing. You cant switch styles halfway through the season… no matter how intriguing that COULD be im automatically uninterested because its not the same style

Is tyler getting paid for this shit? Or is he just like.. hanging out and having fun?

LLOOLLL not Emily profiling tylers handwriting

PLEASE give us more and ALL dr tara lewis, she’s already been unappreciated as a character, but as a DOCTOR, please, she so smrt. Give us all if it

AS IF that many boxes contain EVERYTHING for four years!

Dad!rossi: I forbid you

Em: fuck you dad imma do it anyway

LOOOLL “ive never been forbidden before…” THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SOMEONE SAYS BEFORE THEY DEFY ORDERS. I WOULD KNOW

Ok.. NOW this unsub storyline has caught my attention but I am confused lol. Seems very heartbreaking either way

God Emily is so fucking gorgeous

Jfc how smart is tyler?? Imma need to do a deep dive on this…

Man voit is a better fucking profiler than half the team, if he wasn’t…. ya know… a serial killer.. LOL

HHAHAHAHA omg tyler

Yess! Another VVERY NATURAL FUCK! I don’t care what anyone says, the more natural swears are the ones that I love the most!

Garcia’s so fucking hot…

Hotch “left the unit a few years ago” bruh that was at least a decade

LOL JILL IS ME

NOT FELICITY HUFFMAN OPENING WITH A FUCK

JFC. SHES SO HOT its giving elizabeth Mitchell

Looooolllll fucking rossi…

Jj and luke work super well together and I love it

Loooll Emily throwing tyler in last minute just like she planned and jill calling her on it RIGHT AWAY LOL

NOT THE GUILT TRIP LOL

“not even Jason was this manipulative”

WTF??? This some supernatural/insane shit. Is the wife even alive anymore?? Is he hallucinating that?

Aaand jj and luke have figured it out and this shit is fire

They got this girl locked up like joe from you

Jesus CHRIST this took a twist and I love it but AGAIN, I would love it so much more If it was the primary focus of the ep

Ooooo CALLED IT

God that’s heartbreaking

How THE FUCK DOES SICARIOUS STILL HAVE ACCES TO HIS NETWORK IN JAIL??

OMG Jill instantly hugging Penelope makes me SO WARM

Uuggghhh jill being dragged back into this is not fucking fair.. like… she left.. Jason DEFINTELY left.. that poor queen

JESUS that cut to rossi was straight out of a horror film where he WAS THE KILLER jfc

[balrogballs]

This! (OP im so sorry in advance for writing an essay on your post)

I always say, as someone who writes a ton about the intersections of grief and ‘madness’, that the most compelling, interesting and devastating part of the Oath to me is the way Tolkien himself described it, according to TolkienGateway: an oath that should never have been taken.

And I think that is what adds such a tragic richness to that entire sequence, because a Fëanor who likes his fancy stones and made his children swear a dooming oath and led his people into a long, drawn out war because he wanted them back, is frankly insulting to the outstanding way said sequence is laid out:

“Then Feanor ran from the Ring of Doom, and fled into the night; for his father was dearer to him than the Fight of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands; and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth? …Many there grieved for the anguish of Feanor…”

The guy went fucking insane, because the first person to have been killed in Valinor was his fucking dad. All his bullshit before was, certainly, annoying as fuck, and his decisions after were the cause of terrible violence — and tbh he’s frankly ridiculous a lot of the time, but at that moment he was clearly out of his fucking mind. The way the speech was written, the frantic, rabbit-thump prose of that entire section, you can almost see the trance state he’s in.

And that isn’t to say anything he did as a result of that was justifiable or good, this isn’t an “insanity defence” but I just think the whole Fëanor cinammon roll vs serial killer debate is so flat because, to me, someone going utterly insane with grief and doing something that dooms his own sons, is the kind of tragedy that defines the Silmarillion to me!

The entire legendarium features instance after instance (of varying severity) of desperate, impossible choices made in moments of complete mindlessness by characters rendered utterly inarticulate by grief and fear — Elwing, Isildur, Frodo, Denethor — and the long, terrible shadows of those devastating decisions none of these people should have been in the position to make.

Denethor, driven mad by grief and paranoia, walked into his son’s funeral pyre, and Fëanor walked into his father’s, leading all seven of his sons to walk into his own. The damage these choices caused are at completely different degrees, but a thing doesn’t have to cause the same amount of damage to be a similar circumstance.

It doesn’t mean the choice was good, mind you, the whole thing was an utter disaster, the Oath was the worst thing that could have happened to both ME and Valinor because there are literally zero situations in which having seven sons swear a blood oath would ever work out. Because none of the seven really seem to give a fuck about the stones and they’re all doing it for their dad, so the oath would bind them with that love, rather than their love for the Silmarils, etc.

But to acknowledge the circumstances the speech was made under does not negate the damage it caused. In fact it only makes it worse, the knowledge that a split-second choice caused All of That, the knowledge that a choice made in the wake of his father’s death would one day lead to all seven of his sons’ deaths. If he’d done it for memes and jewels, the following events just would not have had the same literary impact!

But yeah. It’s the worst yet most compellingly and devastatingly written part of the Silmarillion, and yet I so often see it flattened out as either “Fëanor made a great strategic choice and he was right” or “he did it because he’s a greedy fuck” and it’s just 😭😭😭

TL/DR: I was thinking about this ficlet someone requested from me a couple months back about Fëanor finding Finwë and how writing that provided such an insight into the wild place his mind must have been, and this word vomit is the result of that.

We all know Fëanor as “the guy obsessed with his Silmarils” but it’s quite something to remember that when he first discovered Morgoth had broken into his house, he wasn’t even thinking about how the Silmarils were most likely stolen. He immediately burst into tears not over the jewels, but over his dad.

[lepusrufus]

Sooo if i want to know how a human body is cut and even like it was by a butcher, for that meat being served in some plate, Do you know where in can find that specific information? (I swear FBI agent, im a writer not a serial killer!)

Hmmm, I don't have a source for this specifically since I don't go too much into detail in my works (I'm assuming you're doing something Dimitrescu related, knowing the people that come to my blog) but if you want to go into specifics you could look up cases of actual cannibalism (not for the weak stomachs, needless to say) or maybe how monkeys are butchered in countries where they are eaten, with the similar anatomy and all.

[ramblinseahorsey]

Why on earth does one of the catchiest songs ever have to be about a guy kidnapping his girlfriend/ex and planning on how/whether not to kill her?? I remember little me feeling so guilty for loving I Can’t Decide sm. I to this day can repeat it a million times and not get tired of it

[2-am-alone]

i love flossing.

makes me mouth bones cleansy

[qdbs-writes]

Hey, I’m the one who did the weird ass teeth request, just saw the thing, mortal kombat for the characters I listed! :) have a great day/night

hi nonny, im really sorry about this but you didn't actually list any characters either! so i'll just pick some of the more popular characters!

MK Peeps Reacting to Reader Keeping Fake Teeth for Art Projects

Kung Lao

When he finds the box of teeth, he quickly shuts it again and moves on like he never saw it to begin with.

When you come back in and see him looking all uncomfortable, you look at him and say "You found the teeth, didn't you?".

Lao is ready to swear up and down that he has no idea what you're talking about, but when you say "Dude, chill out; they're fake.", he breathes a huge sigh of relief before going on a rant about what the fuck you do with all those fake teeth.

Cassie Cage

She was nonchalantly going through some stuff in your room when she finds the box of teeth, and at that moment she is convinced that this is how her life turns into a serial killer documentary.

She wants to react to the teeth but finds herself frozen, she has absolutely no idea why you would keep human teeth like this.

When you walk in and find her frozen, you quickly explain that the teeth are fake and that you use them for arts and crafts, and all she can do is turn to you and say "Why the fuck are you like this?".

Takeda Takahashi

Picks up the box, sees the teeth, says "Uh, what the fuck?", and puts the box down.

To be honest, his dad keeps some pretty weird stuff around the house, so he's not completely freaked out.

When you tell him that they're fake and that you use them for art crafts, he's like "Prove it. How am I supposed to believe you don't just collect teeth?".

Jacqui Briggs

🎵Hell no, to no, no, no, hell to the no.🎵 Jacqui is fucking booking it! She's seen horror movies, and she knows that black people always die first!

She is out the door and halfway down the street before you can ask her where she's going. You text her about what happened and she'll respond "I found the fucking teeth!".

After you reply and say that they're fake and you use them for art projects, she will reappear at your door in 5 minutes and say "If you've got any other freaky shit in here, you better WARN ME!".

[sillysnack]

hello there, i was hoping to request an encanto matchup? preferably romantic.

i'm fifteen, genderfluid and im unlabeled sexualitywise (though i may be either omnisexual, bisexual or pansexual). i go by kris and val online but use kris and [REDACTED] irl

good things about me: i will listen to anyone's problems and offer advice if i can, i have a pretty good humour (im allowed to toot my own horn), i don't take anyone's shit and will throw hands if needed be and i give good hugs.

neutral: im quiet most of the time which is a good and bad thing, im really superstitious, i can be a bit dramatic, and i mumble and ramble under my breath a lot when nervous.

bad things about me: a hell of a lot of self doubt about everything i do, i can get so nervous to the point i throw up 💀, i have scoliosis and when my back gets too sore i have to use a wheelchair, extremely clumsy, i have sensory issues and im a ball of anxiety.

likes: reading, painting, dancing, singing, baking, skateboarding, gardening (i know the language of flowers), thriller movies, horror novels, theatre (especially lin manuel miranda, mans is incredible!!), swimming, photography and poetry.

dislikes: confrontation, discrimination, being made fun of, when being told what to do, failure, not knowing who i am and the way i look.

physical:

im really pale and im rather short (5'3 - 5'4). im covered in freckles (i like to think of them as stars and connect them like they're constellations) and have a birthmark across my neck and chest that looks like coffee stains (i get teased about it a lot so i wear a lot of turtlenecks and scarves). im pretty chubby, but im losing weight !! i have short hair (just above my earlobe and an undercut) which has been bleached to a light orange with red streaks. im thinking of growing my hair out and dying it back to my natural color (brown, almost black). i have narrow, dark brown eyes too. due to my scoliosis, im hunched over a lot, making me look shorter then i am.

fun facts:

- i have a spa day once a week to try and keep my skin smooth and just treat myself(don't tell my friends, i'd never hear the end of it. im normally the teasing friend, so they'd have a field day)

- im very interested in true crime. name any serial killer and i'd most likely be able to name all their killings 💀

- i babysit younger family members, dad's friend's kids and friend's siblings from time to time

- i used to volunteer at my local zoo!! the red pandas and reptiles were my favorites to look after.

- i either want to pursue psychology, become a florist, continue to work with animals or pursue dance!! (the last two would be difficult due to my scoliosis)

- i have a massive collection of crystals. my room is very shiny. my favorites are a peach aventurine in the shape of a mushroom and a bloodstone in the shape of a skull

sorry if that was too much. don't forget to drink plenty of water and take your time !! <3

notes: HI HI !! not sure if i did this right since this is the first matchup im doing T__T hope you like this !!

but i'd match you with MIRABEL!

while reading your ask, i was thinking "OHH you and camilo have sm in common" but then its like... oh you two have bestfriend potential and maybe mirabel would be a better match for you romantically :]

Mirabel asks Camilo about you one time (okay maybe it was, like, three times) and suddenly he pretends to be you. Mirabel slips up and calls you cute or smth and Camilo gets this brilliant idea to set you two up. so now you're also victim to camilo's shenanigans <3

"Camilo. If this is one of your stupid pranks again, I swear to God I am going to kill you."

"With what? Those crystals?"

Mirabel holds your hand gently and whispers, "We could go to the spa later to calm your nerves." You squeeze her hand and thank her.

i think u and mirabel would just be cute together, yknow. you two are there for each other all the time, mirabel knows how to calm you down esp. when you're too nervous to the point of nausea.

mirabel also loves exploring new interests. when she found out you used to volunteer at the local zoo, she knew you had to meet antonio. you quickly got along with mirabel's favorite primo (don't tell camilo, or do tell! mirabel enjoys teasing camilo with you!) and it's her favorite thing in the world to see her s/o get along so well with her little cousin.

mirabel loves listening to you talk about your interests. you slept over at casita once and the two of you spent the whole night talking about true crime, then your collection of crystals, all your interests. dolores overheard a few of your conversations & thinks you two are a cute couple :)

mirabel also likes dancing with you, she makes sure the two of you don't overdo it though so nothing bad happens to your back !

she has an outfit that matches the color(s) of your hair and its so... so beautiful. the top is white but has your favorite crystals (the peach mushroom aventurine + skull bloodstone) embroidered on it. plus something that's related to true crime (a knife ? perhaps !)

her skirt is light orange with embroidered red pandas around it. mirabel gave her all into making this outfit. she wants to show to the world how much she loves you !!!!!

regarding PDA, most that mirabel does is hold hands with you + an occasional kiss on the cheek or on your freckles if she's feeling extra happy. only if you let her, of course.

^^^ ADDING ON TO THIS !!!! mirabel LOVES doing dramatic scenes with you in public 😭😭 especially in the middle of town. you two could enact a whole romance story and the townspeople would know, "Yeah. this happens all the time." its her way of encouraging u to showcase your talents with other people !! of course, if you didn't want to put on a show in public, she'd be okay with it! you two can have your own little show at home :)

mirabel is very willing to give you reassurance 24/7 and would do anythingg to make you feel loved. she isn't really one to fight people but if someone talked shit about you, Bring It On.

i think i could add more but i'm really sleepy HAHAHA i really hope u liked this !!!!!!!! matchups r kind of fun. might do more of these

[intoanotherworld23]

Getting The Truth

Pairing: Reader x Bradley Bradshaw

Warnings: Mention of killing and murder, some swear words

Length: 3.9k+ words

Summary: You’re one of the best journalists in your field, and then one day convicted serial killer, Bradley Bradshaw announces that he would like to be interviewed since he’s on death row, and is willing to do anything to get the truth out

Comments??? Hearts??? Reblogs??? If you wish to be added to a tag list let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add you!! Thank you all so much I hope you enjoy!! XOXO

✨Please do not copy and paste my work or steal my work or publish my work as your own or else I will have you reported✨

Part 2

"Did you hear?" Your friend Erica squealed as she leaned over the front of your cubicle as you typed away for your new report.

"Hear what?" Asking without stopping as you quickly glanced up at her.

"That convicted killer Bradshaw requested to be interviewed." Now that information had your full attention.

"Bradley Bradshaw?" Squinting your eyes at her. "Convicted serial killer Bradley Bradshaw?"

"Yep." Popping the p as you leaned back in your chair. "Came out early this morning his attorney made a statement."

"He's been in prison for like five years that doesn't make sense why he wants to talk now." Crossing your arms across your chest as you slowly shook your head. "When does he want to do this interview?"

"Apparently he demanded it be done this afternoon."

"This afternoon?" Repeating her words with a shocked expression on your face. "You've got to be kidding."

"I know I couldn't believe what I heard either." Erica exclaimed with wide eyes.

"There's no way they would let that happen." Scoffing through your nose at the thought of them letting him get what he wants.

"I heard it's cause he's on death row." Now that made a little sense as to why he wanted to talk.

"Well yeah I would hope after brutally murdering over a dozen women he'd be put on death row."

"Maybe he wants to clear his conscious." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Who in the world would want to interview someone like him anyway?" Your voice dripping with disgust at the thought of being alone with someone like him anyway.

"Someone whose stupid and isn't afraid of anything." She joked as you both laughed.

"Well I'll tell you I wouldn't even come within a hundred yards of that man." Pointing your finger at her in a matter of fact. "They couldn't get me to do something like that."

"Me neither I would rather just shoot myself if I had to interview him."

"Y/L/N." Turning your head to see your boss standing in the door way of his office looking straight at you. "Can I talk to you in my office for a moment."

"Yes Mr.Seresin." Nodding his head as he turned back into his office.

"Someone's in trouble." Your friend teased with a singing voice as you rolled your eyes giving her the middle finger.

"If I'm in trouble I'm taking your ass down with me." You sneered at her standing up walking towards his office.

As you stood in the doorway knocking on the door he looked up from his paperwork motioning you to sit down. Shutting the door behind you as you took a seat patiently waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. He rarely called you into his office like this usually he called you on the phone to talk.

"Im sure you've heard all about this Bradley Bradshaw prick." He started off as you nodded your head.

"Yeah I was just kept up to speed." Smacking your lips together.

"Then you've also heard he wants the person to do the interview to be a woman?" Staring straight at him as you wondered where he was going with this.

"I did not." Your stomach churning at the feeling of where this talk was going, and what you were probably going to be asked.

"Which is why I wanted to talk to you." Clearing his throat as you waited to hear those dreadful words. "I want you to do the interview."

"I hope this is some kind of prank." Blurting out loud as he clasped his hands together on the desk.

"You're one of my best journalists." He complimented you as you sat frozen. "You're the only person who could ace this interview."

"I don't know." Looking down at your lap as your nerves were all over the place.

"Besides you would be the only person to do this interview, and you could get your name out there." He really wasn't going to let this go, and he did have a point.

Doing this interview would mean getting your name plastered over news channels, and radios. Everyone would know who you are, and it could also mean a pay increase which didn't sound too bad. It just horrified you to no extent being in the same room with that man.

"Do I really have a choice." Not meaning to say that out loud, but to yourself.

"I have you scheduled to be there at four thirty." Ignoring your statement as he informed you of details.

"You already called them?" Exclaiming as you leaned forward in your chair. The little shit had already decided who was going to do this interview.

"Well yes I knew you'd be the woman for the job." Smiling widely as he complimented you again.

"Can I at least have someone else come with me?" Asking him with nothing but hope in your voice.

"No he requested that only one person be there." Begrudgingly shaking his head disappointment written across your face.

"Fine." Sighing loudly as you stood up facing the door.

"You'll be fine Y/N I promise." He tried making you feel better but all you could do was just nod your head.

Dragging your feet as you walked back to your cubicle. Erica was by your desk immediately staring into your soul waiting to hear everything. As you sat down slumping your body in the chair looking up at her. Silently telling her exactly what she was worried about.

"Shut the fuck up." Whispering as you just nodded your head. "He's making you do the interview."

"Yep at four thirty today." Wishing that you would have just called in sick or something today.

"Could someone at least go with you?"

"Nope I already asked apparently this guy doesn't want anybody else there."

"Damn." Snapping her fingers as she looked at you with sympathy. "Well thank goodness I'm not as good as a reporter as you."

"Yeah we all can't be so lucky as you." Voice fanning with sarcasm it made her giggle.

"Well bring your mace with you just in case."

"Probably not allowed to have any kind of weapons on me." Informing her as she pursed her lips looking away.

"Shit your right." She responded as you laughed at her failed attempt to help.

"But they can't take away my mean right hook." You joked holding your right hand up in a fist as Erica shook her head at you.

"I hate to break it to you Y/N but your hands are like marshmallows."

Giving her a pathetic chuckle you decided keeping busy until it was time to leave would be the best thing. Except it wasn't cause your mind was racing at the thought of being alone in a room with this man. Unable to stop thinking about what could happen to you there. Even lunch was horrible unable to stomach eating anything at that moment.

Looking at the clock what felt like every ten seconds. Watching at time got closer and closer to leaving. Wishing that you could just skip through time, and avoid doing this interview. Maybe you could play sick and your boss would assign someone else to do it. Mr. Seresin wasn't that stupid he'd know right away what you were trying to do.

Wondering to yourself if you should call family and friends to let them know where you are in case anything were to happen. Surely the place would be well guarded enough so nothing would happen to you.

Gathering your things you grabbed your tape recorder shoving it into your purse. Standing up you could see all kinds of looks from everyone. Guessing that word spread very quickly who was the unfortunate soul who had to do this interview.

Erica looking up at you giving you two thumbs up as you smiled at her. Heading out the front doors and to your car. Breathing through your mouth as you sat in your car for a minute to calm down. This wasn't how you expected you were going to spend the rest of your afternoon.

As you headed down the road you turned on some music hoping that would help put your mind at ease. Telling yourself that it wasn't Bradley Bradshaw you were going to interview but someone else. That helped at least a little bit easing your nerves.

You never really understood why your town lived pretty close to a maximum state prison, and why you lived in that town. You'd think something like that would scare people off, and not want to live there. The drive wasn't too bad and you found yourself almost calming down.

That dream faded though as soon as you pulled up to the large prison. Noting the tall fences that were lined with thick barbed wires, and towers on every corner with multiple armed guards patrolling the area. You've seen prisons before but this one looked scary and menacing.

"I have an interview with Bradley Bradshaw at four thirty." Handing the guard at the gate your ID and work badge. Watching as he scanned them through the system.

"Your gonna pull up to that parking lot over there and go through those double doors where you'll go through metal detectors." He informed you as he handed you your stuff back.

As you thanked him you couldn't help but notice the look of sympathy he gave you. Like he felt bad a woman like you had to be in the same room as a psychopath. Your palms were sweating now as you pulled into an empty spot. Heart felt like it was racing a million beats per second.

"Remove any jewelry you may have and put your purse or bag into the tray and step through the machine." A guard yelled when he saw you walk in looking around.

As you did what he asked you stepped through the detector, and watched your bag going down the conveyor belt. Once they figured you were clean you grabbed your bag, and looked around to see where you needed to go.

"Uh excuse me." Timidly asking a guard catching his attention. "I have an interview at four thirty with Bradley Bradshaw where do I need to go?"

"You'll want to talk to Mr. Simpson first and he'll tell you what to do from there. Go down that hall all the way to the end you'll see his name."

"Thank you." The guard nodding as you turned to where he pointed and walked down the hall.

Once you reached the end you saw his name in bold letter on the door. Knocking on the door you heard shuffling around before a loud voice telling you to come in. Opening the door just enough to step in to see a tall thin man sitting at his desk shuffling through paperwork.

"You must be my brave journalist." Greeting as he looked up at you.

"That would be me."

"I'm Beau Simpson I'm head of security here." Not knowing what to say you just nodded your head noticing all his certificates and medals he had.

"Well I must say I'm glad we were able to find someone so quickly to do this interview." Smiling widely as he stood up to walk towards you.

"Any chance to do a big story like this I'm in." Trying your best to sound excited and not disgusted.

"You know we've had a lot of journalist come in here, but I must say none of them have been as attractive like you."

"Thank you." Standing there awkwardly feeling slightly uncomfortable as his eyes were practically undressing you.

"There are a couple of rules that we have to go over." He coughed as he fiddled with a pen.

"Of course."

"Do not stand too close to the cell. Do not hand him anything or let him hand you anything. If he makes any threats you yell for us and we'll escort you out immediately." His manner and tone very serious. "Do you understand?"

"Yes sir I do." Nodding your head feeling a little lightheaded suddenly.

"Well let's get this thing over with shall we?" Leading you out of his office and back down the same hall.

"I trust you're not nervous?" He asked as you two stepped onto an elevator.

"Only a little."

"Well don't show it Bradley can sense the nervous ones." His words didn't make you feel better.

"We have him located on the maximum security floor." He continued as you walked down another hallway where you could hear loud voices coming from all around you.

"Why is that?" You asked as you tried to keep up with him.

"He attacked some guards a while back and almost killed them." Feeling your throat closing as you tried swallow the saliva pooling in your mouth.

"Why is he separated from everyone else?" Noticing there was no other cell doors down this hall.

"He doesn't do well with others." Was all he said as you two stopped in front of another gate guarded with some security a loud buzzing went off and the door opened.

"Has he ever gone through any psychiatric evaluation?" You hated to ask but you were curious.

"Many times." He responded. "They've all said the same thing."

"Which was?" You pressed his body language becoming rigid.

"That he was a lost cause." Not turning to face you as you continued to walk down a hall.

A couple security guards were standing there as they nodded there heads at you. This was becoming all too real now. This wasn't just some bad dream this was reality. You were literally just a few feet away from a very dangerous man, and anything could happen. There was no turning back at this point.

"This is where I leave you good luck." Patting your shoulder as him and the other guards walked through the gate.

“You’ll do just fine,” one of the guards whispered to you as he pointed to a camera, “we’ll be watching you the whole time.”

Giving him a courteous nod with a soft smile watching them as they left realizing that you were now alone. Slowly walking down the rest of the hall to the cell he was staying in. As you stood in front of the cell now you saw him laying on the bed his back leaned up against the wall. A book in his hand not bothering to even look up at you.

"You must be the beautiful Y/N." His words like ice as he said your name. The air was thick with tension and the room felt like you were in a sauna.

"How did you know my name?" Trying not to stutter as you talked.

"They informed me of your coming." Bradley placing his book down as he looked right at you.

"Well let's get this interview started shall we." Grabbing your tape recorder out as you grabbed a chair leaning against the wall pulling it to face the cell.

"Now Mr. Bradshaw what made you decide to do this interview?" Leaning the recorder closer to him.

"Please call me Bradley." He smiled at you as you bit back your tongue not wanting to anger him.

"Bradley." The name sounded like poison on your tongue. "What made you decide to do this interview?"

"Because I'm innocent." His words completely turn you for a spin. Not expecting him to say that.

"Your innocent?" Questioning him to further explain. "Are you saying you didn't kill these women?"

"I was framed by someone. Someone that I know very well." He continued as he stood up this time.

"And who is that someone?" Not believing him for one second.

"You don't believe me do you?" Ignoring your question sensing your doubt in his answer.

"It's kind of hard to believe you when your DNA was found all over the crime scene of these murders." Holding the scoff hanging in the back of your throat.

"Like I said I was framed." He repeated his words. "Someone planted my DNA on their bodies."

"Tell me who." You pushed but he just chuckled lightly.

"Does it really matter they've already convicted me, and they want to throw away the lock and key." He didn't sound sad or angry but more of accepting of his fate.

“Why didn’t you say anything during the trial?”

“The man kisses everyone asses there’s no way they would ever look into it.” The scary thing was he sounded so confident that someone did, and he was actually being framed.

"Did you know any of these women?" You continued.

"Yes I did." He nodded his head as he was standing right in front of the cell bars. "I went on dates with them."

"So women you went out with just whined up dead." You stated out loud to yourself. "Why do you think that is?"

"Because someone had it out for me and wanted me to pay."

"Seems a little extreme to butcher women all because they've got a problem with you." Squinting your eyes at him as you tried not to laugh at his response.

"People do crazy things when fueled by anger." He smiled at you as he sat back down on the bed.

"Several psychiatrists stated you deserve to be put to death." Crossing a leg over the other. "Do you agree with them."

"They were paid to lie." Shaking his head as his fists clenched in his lap.

"By who?" You asked cocking your head to the side.

"By the same person who framed me for these murders." He stated matter of factly.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I just do."

As you stared at him so many things were running through your mind. That this man really was crazy and murdered all those women, but was just in major denial of it. There is no way someone could have framed him for all these murders and then paid people to lie about it. That something you see in a cliche movie.

"You don't have a husband do you." He stated as you squirmed in your seat. "I noticed you're not wearing a wedding ring."

"Are you scared of commitment?" His questions were becoming a little too personal.

"No." Glaring at him at this point.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked you making you scrunch your brows.

"I don't think that's any of your business." Snapping at him a little harshly.

"It's only fair I get to ask you some questions." He was amused that he was getting to you.

"You asked to be interviewed." You scoffed not even bothering to turn off the tape recorder.

"Touché." Smirking at you sensing the real you coming out.

He was clearly trying to get a rise out of you. Which he probably did with most women anyway. Seeing if he could see which right buttons to push and then proceed with flying colors.

"Why did you want a woman to do this interview Bradley?" Now this was something you were genuinely curious about.

"I love women." He answer basic making you roll your eyes.

"Oh please." Whispering to yourself and Bradley chuckled when he heard you knowing his response wasn’t helping his case.

"Because women give off a sense of safety and comfort. There like a warm blanket to wrap around you when you feel cold or scared. A sense of security if you will."

"Do all women make you feel like that?"

"Not all of them." He looked down again at his hands.

Clicking the tape recorder off you shoved it back inside your bag just wanting to get out of there. This was the most confusing and weirdest interview that you have ever done. You just wanted to get out of there and into the safety of your own home.

"I think I've got all I need here." Standing up as you adjusted yourself Bradley standing up as well.

"Thank you." Bradley bowed his head to you.

"Mhm." You mumbled through your lips as you turned to head back down the hall. Feeling his eyes on you as you walked away.

"See you soon Y/N." His words almost had you stopped in your tracks. They didn't sound menacing or threatening though. As much as you wanted to ask him what he meant you just had to get out of there.

Smacking the button to get out of there the buzzer when off. Swinging the door open and practically jogging out of there the security guards watching you as you left. Mr. Simpson was nowhere in sight and you really didn't want to wait up for him.

He was creepy anyway and would probably try to ask you out anyway. You really didn't feel like dealing with any more men right now.

Making it to the parking lot you hauled ass out of there and took off down the street. Texting Erica that you were done and that you had survived the interview. All you wanted to do was get home and get into something comfortable, make a nice meal and then go to bed. It was starting to get dark anyway.

As you made it home you almost slumped into bed and called it a night right there. You just wanted to spend the rest of your evening relaxing and not worrying. Today was mentally exhausting for you, and you'd just hope you didn't have to go back. Cause then you really would call in sick.

The time going by quicker than you expected as you checked your phone it see it was almost eleven at night. Turning the tv off you made your way into the bedroom to get ready for bed. After brushing your teeth and doing your routine you jumped into bed, and set your alarm for the next morning.

Placing the covers over yourself as you snuggled into a comfortable position. Closing your eyes as you started to let the darkness of sleep consume you. Until your phone started to ring your eyes snapping wide open to see who was calling you this late.

"Erica?" You raspy voice answering the phone. "You better have a good reason for calling me."

"Please tell me you're watching the news." Her words rushed and panicked.

"No cause I'm getting ready to sleep." Groaning rubbing a hand over your face.

"Turn on the news now." Her words demanding.

"Okay okay calm down." Shuffling back into your living room you turned your tv on flipping to your local news.

"We have breaking news coming in from one of our local sources and we have just been informed that convicted serial killer Bradley Bradshaw wasn't found in his cell this evening,"sitting on the edge of your seat now biting your nails, "Sources say Bradley has escaped from prison."

[gringolet]

hi why do you ship gawain with lancelot? not trying to start shit im just curious

God so this is a true fact but I’ve been thinking about them since sophomore year of high school (i'm a college sophomore now) so this is going to be lengthy and involved. But i think Lancelot and Gawain have a really interesting dynamic as well as a lot of support in text which i think makes them compelling.

    In a lot of ways they are equals in a way neither of them is with anyone else-- they are, in the vulgate at least, the two best knights in the world, the two arthur trusts most and who are famous even among other good knights. Its almost isolating, that level of renown, and you see that Lancelot in particular is uncomfortable with it, though they both at times have stories of trying to escape their own names. Of course they would understand each other in a way no one else could.

    Despite the fact that Lancelot quite literally steals his place as number one, gawain is never resentful of this, never upset to lose to lancelot. In fact he seems very happy to sing his praises to anyone he meets, like in Lancelot and the Hart with the White Foot, where he says of lancelot that “He is the best knight alive in the entire world, and moreover the most handsome.”

    In the stanzaic morte, he tells elaine of shallot that 

“Such a leman as thou hast one,

 In all this world ne be no mo.

There is no lady of flesh ne bone

In this worlde so thrive or thro,

Though her herte were steel or stone,

That might her love holde him fro.”

Or, translated,

Such a love as you have, 

there’s no better in the world.

There is no lady of flesh or bone,

In this world so lucky or stubborn

Though her heart were steel or stone,

She could stop it  from loving him.’

In the vulgate hes constantly running after lancelot, happy to play sidekick as long as it means lancelot's company. He pretty infamously says this about lancelot:

Then Sir Gawain thought a little, like a man who believed he would never be well again. “If God were to grant me my health,” he said, “I’d immediately wish to be the most beautiful maiden in the world, happy and healthy, on condition that he would love me above all others, all his life and mine.”

I think this is really interesting because its not a devotion gawain shows to anyone else outside of his family. Hes oddly protective of lancelot, considering he can very well fend for himself usually. In the dutch hart, he literally tracks down and kills a man who hurt lancelot, before tying his body to his horse and dragging it around like achilles. He also rescues and heals him in morien, gets the whole court in a tizzy looking for him after a battle with galehaut where he spends a year searching, drags lancelots poor cousins all over looking for him after a tournament, freaks out when he goes missing in the hart (: “He lamented more grievously than anyone ever will, or had ever done before, because he thought he had lost Lancelot, the daring knight.”) like jesus gawain calm down.

He explicitly forsakes his devotion and duty to the country in favour of lancelot; in morien, hes called to take his place as king because arthur is gone, and he refuses in favour of, you guessed it, running after lancelot.  In chretien it is said that 

“Now I will tell you the truth, and you must not think I lie, that Gawain would not wish to be chosen king, unless he had Lancelot with him. “

And he lies to arthurs face multiple times in the vulgate and morte to hide lancelot's various crimes.

Speaking of crimes, theyre both uh, well. Literal serial killers. And you know its good to have hobbies in common in a relationship. No but seriously they represent a lot of the darker parts of knighthood. From lancelots bit with the proud knight in kotc to gawains… what can be only described as massacres in the dutch texts. They both have very odd relationships with death, with gawain so familiar with it by being surrounded by violence from a young age that it no longer affects him, while lancelot is almost the opposite-- its very distant to him. 

I think thats another reason i like them; theyre similar in a lot of ways but in just as many they are opposites. Gawains whole deal is being charming, manipulative, educated and good with words. Lancelot is in contrast, especially in chretien and the vulgate, at his most inept in social situations. You note that in the hart, its gawain that has to talk him out of the marriage he accidentally agreed to (“ But he does not at this time wish to marry you-- you must understand...”) etc.  while gawain is centered at court in a web of political alliances, lancelot is a fair unknown, who can and does disappear for years and generally avoid court when he can. I think they work well as a team because of this.

Lancelot certainly think so, at least in the morien: Quoth Sir Lancelot: "By the Lord who made me, and who shall be Doom's-man at the last day, come what may thereof, since Sir Gawain rideth hence 'tis not I will bide behind!”

He isnt as quotable outside of one specific scene ill get to later, and most of what he does say is in aside to himself, like the lengthy speech he gives in knight of the cart while debating to himself why gawain has failed to rescue him, and if this means gawain doesn’t love him (“He ought indeed to receive your aid whom you used to love so devotedly! For my part I may truly say that there is no lodging place or retreat on either side of the sea, where I would not have searched for you at least seven or ten years before finding you, if I knew you to be in prison. But why do I thus torment myself? You do not care for me even enough to take this trouble.”) trust me it goes on like this for quite a while. 

On a side note, i think its a bit reminiscent of a scene from the vulgate where gawain thinks that lancelot is in  love with elaine of shallot--

 “That night he thought a lot about Lancelot and said to himself that he would not have thought that Lancelot would have aspired to leave his heart in any place that was not nobler and more honourable than all others. ‘And yet,’ he said, ‘I cannot really blame him if he loves this girl… (he goes on in debate with himself)...

    That night Sir Gawain slept very little, because he was thinking of the girl and Lancelot,”

the morte specifically calls gawain the man lancelot loves most in the world, according to a prophecy of merlins. Then, the kicker: he kills gawains brothers on accident, gawain swears to kill him in revenge, and lancelot…. Refuses to kill gawain, or even to renounce love for him. When asked about the fight, he says:

 “I do not know what the outcome will be, but I do know that if I were the winner and ought to cut off his head, I should not be able to kill him for all the world, because I think he is too noble. Moreover, he is the man, out of all those in the world that have meant anything to me, that I have most loved, and still do,”

Gawain forgives him on his deathbed and writes a letter, the entirety of which i implore you to read. He begs lancelot’s forgiveness and for him to return from france and see gawains tomb, “for all the love that was betwixt us”

I think you could interpret this as a very passionate friendship, certainly, but i am gay and so i think they are too. Not only because of the texts but because of the fact that their dynamic is fun and interesting and they work well together.

Oh, and if anyone was wondering why i call them remarkable, here is another quote from the vulgate, following the first fight with gawain:

‘It is certainly remarkable of you,’ said King Bors, ‘to love him so deeply when he hates you mortally.’

‘Find it remarkable if you wish,’ replied Lancelot, ‘but he will never be able to hate me so much that I stop loving him.’

[hydemind]

Your thoughts on Isaac, William, Frankie an Jack 🎤?

OHHHHHH CROW I COULD GO ON ABOUT THEM FOR HOURS.

this post is SUPER FUCKING LONG so for the first time in my life im using a read more link.

I'm gonna start out with Will, who, a little fun fact, isn't actually named William! His full name is Willis Grossman. His parents thought it'd be funny. Will doesn't know his full name.

Here are some other fun facts about me and @functionentropy 's Will (along with other characters below) (he is also the one who has been making this entire creepypasta interp with me! Go check out their art or else /lh):

Will was born in the late 1800s early 1900s!

His parents were a lot like a Bonnie and Clyde duo, and they cared and loved for Will very, very much.

Will always looked up to Isaac! He wanted to be exactly like his grandpa when he grew up. Isaac was also a wonderful grandfather as well.

Will, on his 13th birthday, got Isaac's mask as a gift. When he got it, Isaac said to him: "keep it safe. It's a family heirloom.", Will uses that excuse as to why he still wears it to this day.

Speaking of Isaac, he's the underrealm equivalent to a tumblr sexyman. Everyone thinks he's hot shit, but that also goes for a lot of serial killers residing in the underrealm. Will unfortunately had to see his grandfather on magazine covers talking about the underrealm's HOTTEST NEW KILLER. He hates it.

Will ran away from home after Isaac died at around the age of 20 to 21, and considering he was a legal adult, his parents couldn't do much. They're still looking for him. (How, you may ask? Well, a little thing about the underrealm is that it stunts growth. You're essentially unable to die of old age down there. Think shitty immortality. His parents are looking for him, and they know he's in the underrealm- so that's how they are still around!)

Will had the worst time in the underrealm for the first few years he was down there. He wasn't immediately enrolled in the institution and he had a hard time holding down a job. Eventually he met Frankie! They live(d) in an apartment together. The first time Frankie met Will he thought he was Isaac and told his landlord and him HELL NO. Frankie does not like Isaac. Cue [will's offended gasp] and him saying he's his GRANDSON, and WHY IS HE ACTING LIKE ISAAC SUCKED? Cue Frankie making fun of him for being a grandpa's boy.

Frankie and Will had a bumpy relationship for a while. Will wasn't always a good person. Not really bad, just a fucking dumbass.

Speaking of Frankie...

Here's stuff about Frankie!

Frankie's origin story is essentially the same in this interp. Except for the fact that Frankie very much HAD A PAST. (which. If u wanna know more........I would love to talk about it......but this is about CURRENT Frankie so if u wanna know more bro just pop up in my dms or send another ask im feeling wild tonight)

After Amy passed (which was NOT due in part to the operator in this universe. The operator just found her like that) he was found by Bell (prince beelzebub, ruler of the underrealm at that point). You should know Frankie wasn't always an adjusted and normal fuckin person. He was like a rabid dog for a good while there.

While Frankie was unhinged he fucking death rolled Daisy the first time they met. (Daisy is an oc! I'm willing to talk more about him if you want the deets. He's interesting :]) because of this Daisy is the only one allowed to openly make fun of Frankie. (Playfully, of course.)

Daisy and Bell both basically helped Frankie adjust to society.

Frankie is autistic! So is Will. And Isaac. All. Everyone. Everyone has autism. (Shhhh. i'm projecting.)

Frankie can see souls! He's a very good judge of character because of it. However Frankie doesn't know what he's seeing is people's souls.

Frankie goes specifically after bad people. He'll take jobs from bad people, but he'll kill them, too. He says "he's sending them back to where they belong".

Frankie was the first to really show Will killing isn't just something you do. It's more than that. Will had never really processed death and murder of his fellow man like that before. He has a hard time even processing people as people sometimes, outside those of whom he cares for. This is because of Isaac. Isaac taught Will that people are bad- all of them. And that killing them is preventing them from hurting others, even if they haven't yet.

Frankie is a good guy and honestly a softie deep down. He worries and cares for all those who are close to him, even if he doesn't act like it sometimes.

Frankie says Toby "kidnapped him" and "made him diseased". 1. Frankie can very much leave the household at any time and 2. Frankie is referring to the operator sickness. Speaking of that-

Frankie was dragged through the operator's own personal hell! (Aka the realm they reside in more often than not, aka the place that Tim gets tossed around in near the end of marble hornets.) Reason being was because he threatened Toby's life. The operator is very protective of Toby.

Speaking of that, someone else was around when Toby met Frankie...

ONTO LAUGHING JACK!

ohhh man. Oh man. Oh baby. This clown is FULL of illness. Alright. So let's start off simple:

Lj was of course, made for Isaac. That's still a consistency. What isn't is that lj was around Isaac for a lot longer than in the original story. They developed a very close bond over the years they knew eachother, but, all good things must come to an end.

Lj returned to his box when Isaac left for boarding school. However, unlike the original story....Isaac didn't really come back to open the box. In fact, the most Isaac did was...well, I'll wait to spill that for Isaac's part later.

However! Eventually the house got passed off to another family. Years, and it mean YEARS later someone found lj's box in the attic! They were an unfortunate casualty.

After this, lj went and hunted Isaac down. Cue gore filled murder scene.

Things to note: LJ feels HORRIBLE about what he did to Isaac. He regrets it everyday. He wishes he had never done that to him.

But, time skip a bit.. we're further in the future now. LJ has his carnival set up and hidden away in an empty spot in the forest. He eventually comes across a wandering spirit because of this. This wanderer just so happens to be Sally!

LJ takes her in and swears to protect her with his life. In a way, you could say he sees her as a chance of redemption.

Sally was a wandering spirit, meaning she never really was stuck to one spot in particular- also meaning she wasn't very strong. Because of this, LJ gave her some of his own angelic essence. This boosted Sally and essentially made her a poltergeist!

(Note: Sally doesn't know how she died. Also, none of the things in her og story happened to her in this one. Fuck mishimishi. All my homies hate mishimishi.)

A little while after this they actually meet Toby and Jeffery! But this is getting long and to explain THAT entire debacle would make it even longer. but again I fully invite you to send more asks or just straight up dm me if you wanna know!

Now, last, but certainly not least..

ISAAC GROSSMAN.

OH MAN. Isaac is a DOOZY. Just like LJ, this baby is chocked FULL of illnesses! *slaps the top of his head like the roof of a car* but also, fair warning here: im gonna be talking about some heavy stuff. Abuse, physical and mental, gore, just. Death in general. Cannibalism, and EXTREME MENTAL ILLNESS *loud airhorn* so if any of that stuff gets to you steer clear of this part!

Anyways, let's start out simple!

Isaac was born in victorian England.

Isaac's mother was terrible towards him. I'm talking mental and physical abuse. She was a horrible, horrible woman.

Isaac's father...he wasn't a good person either, but he didn't beat Isaac. Nor did he really mentally abuse him either. He just...let it happen. He didn't even hurt his mother like he did in the original story. Isaac's mother was just plain bad for no good reason.

Isaac was sort of. Born having mental illness. They didn't just develop for him due to the abuse he experienced, though they certainly DID make it worse. There were other mental issues he has now that developed due to the abuse, however.

LJ was quite literally a godsend for Isaac. Metaphorically and not Metaphorically. LJ made Isaac happy, gave him comfort, and was basically like the mom he never had.

that's why it was so hard on Isaac when he had to leave lj behind. For a while he even had hallucinations of lj while in boarding school (which only furthered his future belief that lj was a hallucination brought on by the need to cope).

Isaac's first technical "murder" you could say was at boarding school. He pushed a shitty teacher down the stairs when there was no one around and they died. It wasn't even premeditated- more like it just sort of..happened.

Eventually Isaac graduated. When he did, he promptly returned home and killed his parents, as you do. /s

Isaac killed his mom in a rather violent fashion in comparison to his father- he whiplashed her so hard she fucking died.

Not long after this Isaac started his..well. I guess you could call it career.

Basically you know what happens after that. human skin chair, yadda yadda yadda, underrealm's sexiest killer, you know the drill.

Isaac did more than the human skin chair though! In fact, he uh. He. He did a lot. He did. SO much. But that was because Isaac believed in not wasting any part of the body. Which means Isaac not only made human skin chairs, but he was an avid cannibal, as well. (Fun fact, this very much extended to Will's father, mother, and Will as well. Will didn't know they were eating human for a long time. He had to realize that on his own.)

Eventually, Isaac punched his ticket because of LJ. But..I'd be a liar to say he really died.

No, our wonderful boy Isaac didn't die. He became a ghoul. Which, by the way, only further fucked with Isaac mentally! He's so ill. Some other things happened which I won't say here because they're spoilers for the fanfic I'm working on (Oh yeah the hyperfixation is that bad, but if you wanna know, again, I fully invite you to ask), but basically Isaac eventually gets taxidermied by, drumroll please..TOBY!!!! yeah. Toby does taxidermy as a job. He invited a new type of it for taxidermying Isaac. It was to repay daisy for something he did for the group.

But to say, again, that THAT was Isaac's end, would be another lie! No no no. Isaac was alive during the entire process! The good news is that he's never looked better after he escaped daisy's house when it got exploded by Frankie. Which..that's uh..another story for another day. This post is already insanely long and I am NOT putting it in the main tags.

So yeah! Im absolutely crazy for these dudes and I love all of them. By the way if you couldn't guess before Frankie and Will very much get together and are so so gay. Another little thing: Isaac is gay too, he had a past relationship with a man by the name of Dr. Locklear! Locklear is French German and his accent shows it. They were very close but fell out because of Locklear being involved with the institution and...a certain foundation.

I'll leave it to you to ponder on that one.

[boywivlove]

| Please Don't Go |

Kim Seokjin x Reader 

Summary | You and were partners in the Police force, and soon became romantic with each other. After investigating a murder you are gunned down during an on foot pursuit. Not knowing if you will pull through, Jin stays by your side in the hospital, not knowing if he will ever get an answer to questions left unsaid.

Warnings | swearing , blood, descriptions of violence, fatal injuries. 

AN | This is my fic for the `April Showers Bring May Flowers` collaboration with @bangtanscenery​ I hope you enjoy it! I based the concept on the song `Please Don't Go` by Joel Adams listen to it if you can its a great song <3 Please enjoy and lemme know what you think!!

There was no doubt in your mind that joining the Seoul Police Force was the job for you. You had always been set on becoming a cop like your father, he was the greatest man you knew, and when he died on duty, you made a promise to yourself you would become a great cop. After months of hard work, you graduated from the police academy, finally reaching your dream. 

Your partner, Kim Seokjin, had graduated from the academy four years before you, and you hung to his every word as he showed you the ropes. Jin was a great partner, his arrest record was one of the highest in the precinct, and his face wasn't bad to look at either. He was professional as he could be with his work, but he had a jovial charm that made him approachable. He always had a cheesy dad joke ready for when you would see each other at the office, and each time, he would crack you up. The best thing about your friendship is the nickname he gave you, sunflower, he knew you loved the colour yellow, and You guess it just stuck. Every greeting to you was followed with `Sunflower`

`Good morning Sunflower`

`Gloomy weather we're having Sunflower`

`Coffee?  Sunflower`

You never caught on, but Jin was starting to fall for you, outside of work when the district officers would go for drinks or a meal, Jin always sat next to you, banter was always exchanged and aside from work you had a great deal in common. He wanted to keep it professional, he knew how distracting office relationships were, but it happened, he fell for you. He fought off his feelings for as long as he could, but seeing your smiling face greet him everyday at work got him. 

He didn't even know if you felt the same, you never hinted that  you wanted anything more than friendship from him, and on several occasions, you voiced how you couldn't see how office romances work out, either romantically or professionally. Jin had to agree, especially in the police force, there was too much to factor in, but he threw caution to the wind.

Jin had turned up at your apartment at 10pm, which you immediately thought was strange, social calls at night were not usually Jin's thing. But as you greeted your friend you were surprised by the bouquet of sunflowers, and his out of breath ramblings to you

` if I don't try, I'll never know… I don't know if this will work with us, but, i want to try…`

And the rest was history.  Two years later and you and Jin were still going strong, 

To say you were stressed is an overstatement. You haven't eaten all day, working on this case was the most important task in your eyes. Jungkook had to eventually drag you from your desk and take you out to a diner to your objection, only relenting when it was agreed to bring your paperwork along. The whole force was still grieving and doing their best. But you felt a personal grievance in this particular case. It had all started a few weeks ago, There had been a string of murders in the area, and the police were on the hunt for a suspected serial killer. It seemed the suspects M.O was targeted at doctors, nurses and emergency responders. Whoever this killer was, it seemed he had not planned these murders, all spur of the moments, possibly driven by a grievance, feeling wronged in some way by the people working in medical care. This killer had the same method of killing, gunning their victim down in a moment of opportunity, but after they had killed the victim, the killer gave one more bullet, an execution style shot to the head. 

The personal connection she had in this case was felt by the whole force. The murderer had changed his M.O, and gunned down a police officer who was working the case. Officer Kim Taehyung graduated from the academy with you and a few other officers on the squad.You had been close with Taehyung, you introduced him to his wife Seol, and he had teased you about Jin's sunflower nickname for you. He was a great cop, and a great husband. He and Seol had just welcomed their first child, a little boy, Kim Sung Jae. Now, Tehyung will never see his son grow up, and Sung Jae will never get to know his father. Your heart broke for the boy, as you yourself know what it's like to grow up without your father. 

You and Jungkook had spent hours at the diner, and the paperwork was finally done, now you were nursing a coffee when Jungkook decided to ask about Jin, honestly since taehyung's death, you'd barely seen him, he and Namjoon had been moved to the night shift weeks prior to work on different cases and fill out paperwork, and with you and Jungkook on day shift, you barely get time with him. You knew he had not been sleeping well either, he and Taehyung had gotten close after you had both started dating, and he had taken his sudden death just as badly as you had. 

“ Im sorry for your  loss Y/n, I didn't know Taehyung that well, but he was a great officer.”

“Yeah, I just hate that he will never see Sung Jae grow up, I know what it's like to lose your father in duty…”

You sighed and sipped on the now cold coffee, it was just as sad and bitter like this whole situation. Lost in thought you didn't register Jungkook taking your hand in his, a firm grip reassuring you slightly.

“We will catch this guy Y/N,” 

The way Jungkook said it with such conviction moved you, he was a good kid. Jungkook was  one of the youngest officers on the squad, and to you he became something like a younger brother

.“I know we will, we have to.”

With the paperwork done and the coffee now ice cold, you and Jungkook left the diner and headed to your squad car, you wondered how Jin was holding up. You didn't want to make an issue out of nothing, but recently, Jin was acting odd. The grief and working late was one thing, but it was like he was trying to hide something from you, and it made you slightly worry.

You find yourself coming out thinking about him, you barely registered Jungkook pulling you down behind the passenger side door as the window shattered into pieces falling onto you both. 

You snapped out of your inner thoughts, another loud noise making its way into your ears. A gunshot. Jungkook radios for backup as he notes that shots have been fired in the area, you look towards the back street of the diner, seeing a shadowy figure with its gun pointed at you, and as you draw your gun your partner lets out a shot of his own. The shadowy figure doesn't seem phased and lets off another round of shots towards you both before his gun clicks, signally it's empty. You see the figure make a run for it towards the main street. You were sure, more sure than anything in your career as a cop, that this was the guy you were looking for. The guy who killed Taehyung. Not wanting to let him get away, you and Jungkook speed off after the culprit, radioing once again to update the situation. 

“ This is officer Jeon, requesting back up….shots fired …..were in pursuit of the culprit approximately  five foot male grey hoodie, black jeans…”

You ran ahead of Jungkook, ramming through pedestrians and across the busy roads, he was not about to get away, not after all the pain he's caused people. You see him duck into an alleyway and you quickly run after him, your gun aimed and ready to shoot should he not surrender peacefully. Your eyes were looking over every little detail, the alley led out to the back streets  of the high street, he couldn't have run straight though, the alley being lengthy and blocked by rather large dumpsters. You cautiously made your way forward. You could hear your rapid pulse in your head, every beat getting louder and louder. You scanned ahead and while making your way forward, you heard it, the sound of a can being kicked across the floor. Coming from behind you. 

You turned quickly and then you felt something heavy connect with the side of your head. Your vision flashed with white as you fell disoriented to the ground, The perp had hit you with a brick, the corner covered in blood as he dropped it to the ground, you could feel the warm sticky liquid start to run down your head and seep into the collar of your shirt. You could see double, the alleyway swaying as the perp made his way to where you had dropped to the floor. You felt the wind go out of your lungs as he landed a sharp kick to your stomach. The pain and the force of the kick only seemed to magnify the harsh vibrations your head wound was giving you. You tried to reach for your gun, which had dropped after the blow to your head, but the perp was faster. He seemed to toy with the idea of what to do, looking at the gun with his head tilted to the side.

 You had never felt this scared in your whole career. Risking your life was just a part of the job, but the pain you felt was frightening. You felt as though you were staring into the abyss when he looked you in the eyes. His black orbs seemed to stare through to your core, seeing every part off you, and when he registered your fear. He didn't even seem to relish it as you thought he would. If you weren't so disoriented, you would think that maybe this was why he killed his victims with a shot to the head, simple and quick. This was rushed and sloppy for him. A shot rang out. The warm feeling in the side of your head had spread to your abdomen. Looking down, you see the pool of red that surrounds you, the metallic taste in your mouth was stronger, it was getting harder and harder for you to breathe. you stay awake just long enough to see the perp aim his gun at someone making their way into the alley.

Jungkook, finally caught up with you, let out three gunshots, killing the perp on the shot. The commotion from the main streets starting to zone in on the gunshots, Jungkook rushes to check you over, your pulse faint, and your skin cold to the touch. His jacket is pressed into your stomach, trying to stem the blood that was covering you from the waist down. You could faintly hear him screaming at the radio com for the EMTs to get here. 

Four weeks, it had been four weeks since Jin's whole world stopped. He hadn't slept, shaved, or had a decent meal in two weeks. How could he? He was almost certain his heart had stopped beating the moment he got the news.

 He had been making his way to work when he got the call, the captain, he had been vague, asking him to come to the hospital, but he knew, he knew it had something to do with you. He hadn't heard from you all day. But recently, that was the norm. This case had everyone on edge and overtime was greatly needed. The only time Jin saw you that wasn't in passing was when you were heading out and he was coming home, and vice versa. He had also been avoiding you for a reason. He didn't want you to find out during all this, he had wanted to wait for the right moment, not wanting to spring this on you on top of grieving and working overtime. Jin had met Jungkook at the reception, his shirt was stained red, his usual black work blazer was missing from his usual attire, he knew. Jin knew the moment he was Jungkook that something bad had happened to you. 

“Doctor please. How is she!? Is she alright? No one will say anything to me…”  He was desperate to know, but Jungkook was silent, his face seemed to be like marble, threatening to crack.

The doctors eventually got Jin alone, away from the busy hallways of the intensive care unit. Jin felt his whole world crash, his sun dropping from the sky like a led balloon.

“The shots perforated her stomach and penetrated the large and smaller intestines… we resected what we could… but the damage was severe…her head injury had caused slight swelling on the brain and has caused her to enter a comatose state...mr Kim… I'll be frank. With this amount of damage...there's a slim chance of her pulling through..but..”

“But what…”

“You might want to get in contact with her family, let them know she may not wake up”

He made his way to his destination, the light from the early sunset had illuminated the hall in a warm amber glow, he bathed in its warmth for a moment, the feeling of the sun on his skin felt like a hug from you. 

The soft, yellow, warmth. It was you. 

He came to the same place he'd been coming to for weeks, the flowers he had placed days ago had wilted, the petals dry and falling to the floor. 

Sunflowers. Your favourite. 

He replaced the dead flowers with new freshly cut ones, disposing of the old ones in the waste bin.  Jin then sat down and looked out of the window. The same soft amber glow from the hallway had made its way inside the room.

His mind replayed the moment he first walked into this room. The hurt and anguish still stained on his memory.

You had looked so broken. Your pale skin, the needles that stuck out of you from the I.V, the bandages. It was so hard for Jin not to break down right there on the floor. 

It had been four weeks since you were brought to the intensive care unit. And Jin had been given leave to get himself together while you tried to pull through. You had stabilised, but you still remained in the coma. Jin had to take that with a grain of salt. You were fighting, and that's all he asked for. There was so much he still wanted to say to you. So many moments you and he had yet to go though. Jin had to hold onto those yet to be moments, as a reminder everyday that you were fighting to come back to him. 

“Hey sunflower, I brought you some more, the last ones had started to wilt again, I got you a bigger bouquet this time, thought i'd make up for how fast you go through them…”

Jin sat beside you, his hand takes yours in his, stroking your knuckles slowly. He brought your hand up to his face as he traced kisses over each knuckle, and then your palm. He would give anything to hold you properly. He would give anything to see your beautiful eyes shine in the light again. His breathing hitched as he trained himself not to cry.

“Love, I know you're fighting, and I know you can hear me. But I need you to fight more. I have so much I have to say to you. I should have asked you a year ago when I bought this, but I could never find the perfect moment.”

Jin looked to the bedside table, the velvet box sat next to the sunflowers, and he kissed your fingers one by one. 

“I promise, I will ask you the moment you wake up. Just come back to me Y/N, please.”

“Please don't go.”

[onlysmagic]

🌌  ———  MEET CORDELIA .

hey hey hey! it's me, honey, back again. i've miss everyone so very much. how have you all been? good, i hope. for the time being, i'll be playing sweet cordy again ( nothing new  . . . nothing's changed . . . still the same old cordy! ) but noah could be coming back soon ~* and maybe some new muses *~ ooOOoOOh. as always, hit the heart for a new old friend and i'll im you to get the party started!

cordy’s stats 🌌 cordy’s wanted connections 🌌 cordy’s pinboard

thanks again for an incredibly warm welcome back! i've missed you all terribly!

🌌 —  THE STATS .

FULL   NAME *    . CORDELIA AMI WANTANABE . NICKNAMES *    CODY   ,   DELIA   ,   CORDY . AGE *    TWENTY-FOUR . DATE   OF   BIRTH *    APRIL   3RD   1996 . STAR   SIGN *    ARIES . HOME   TOWN *    NARA   ,   KANSAI   ,   JAPAN . GENDER *    CIS FEMALE . SEXUALITY *    (   CLOSETED   )   BISEXUAL . NATIONALITY *    JAPANESE . ETHNICITY *    ASIAN . FAMILY *    WANTANABE   TSUYOSHI   (   FATHER   ,   MAINTENANCE   WORKER   -   JAPANESE   )   &   WANTANABE   AMI   -   FORMERLY   ITO   (   MOTHER   ,   FLORIST   -   JAPANESE-CANADIAN   ) . OCCUPATION *   UNEMPLOYED . PLAYLIST *   COMING   SOON .  QUIRK *    STELLARKINESIS   ,   OR   THE   ABILITY   TO   CREATE   AND / OR   MANIPULATE   STARS   AND   USE   THEIR   STELLAR   ENERGY  . 

🌌 —  THE STORY.

           ONCE UPON A TIME , IN A FAR-AWAY LAND known as nara , an ordinary girl is born to two parents who love her ( but cannot seem to love themselves. ) they name her cordelia and, from a young age, there was always something a little . . . off about their sweet girl. now, many parents would claim that their child glows & a light seems to follow them wherever they wander, but the wantanabes would be right.

           it isn’t until the young girl turns 10 that she realizes that no, not everyone can bend space and time to their own whim. not everyone sees the universe as a malleable thing, able to be crafted in one’s own image should they wish. in fact, she is the only one she knows who can do anything of the sort. okay, her dad has superhuman-like strength ( in that he can help her open bottles and things of that sort ) and her mother is incredibly quick-witted, but neither of them can conjure hot balls of gas and light whenever they wish. cordelia can. it’s her mother’s idea to keep it a secret, out of fear that someone could find the young girl and exile her for being so . . . different. delia doesn’t see the harm in it. what’s the worst that can happen? at that age, all she tended to do was bring a bit of starlight to the light-polluted nara and its surrounding areas. it wasn’t like she was dangerous in her mind, it’s all fun and games . . . until someone gets hurt.

           and who should get hurt? why, her beloved parents, of course. a freak accident ( a rush, a blur, not knowing where her powers could take her. ) cordelia was swallowed whole by the guilt of seeing both of her parents in the hospital, doctors whizzing around them while not knowing what in the world had gotten to either of them. they couldn’t for the life of them guess; most thought lightning had something to do with it. if they only knew it was the little girl sitting at each of their bedsides, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

           they both eventually got to go home -- becoming known around nara as the lightning couple, due to the belief that they both were struck by lightning, despite the outlandish odds -- but cordy knew that she wouldn’t be able to go home with them. she would never forgive herself if something worse ( and there wasn’t much worse that could happen to either of them ) so she found hosu and ran, ran, ran. of course, when she arrived safe and sound, she wrote to her parents, but she’s broken inside knowing that, well, it has to be this way. it’s breaking them all, but it has to be this way.

🌌 —  WELCOME TO THE ISLE.

          THE BROWN-EYED girl shows up on the island shaking. she'd never done anything so brash before, yet, here she was, so many miles away from everything she'd ever known and with nothing to her name . . . nothing other than that stupid quirk she'd been all but cursed with.

          stupid stars. stupid light. stupid gas. stupid universe.

          . . . so what if she's not exactly eloquent, she's too angry to care. what a wicked way to go, but cordelia figures it's better her than her parents. they do forgive her, eventually, but it takes quite a few conversations that last hours upon hours and some good, old fashion groveling. afraid of growing so close to someone that she can hurt them again, cordelia becomes a master of being seen and not heard; it's easier to not be missed if no one really knows you, after all.

          but it's incredibly lonely. living by a rule that an eleven-year-old version of herself created is becoming harder and harder with each passing day, especially when she starts having to lie to mom and dad when they ask about her friends ( cordelia never did like that sad sounding sigh that would always come across the line. ) so she creates these fanciful friends and their fantastic adventures across the isle. they all have their own quirks but they learn to live with them, learn to love them and, by extension, themselves. yeah, it sounds something out of a coming-of-age film that cordelia would probably love . . . but what her parents don't know won't hurt them.

          but it'll end up hurting cordelia. karma's been chasing not too far behind with its sight set on her and, one day, it finally gets her. a horrible accident, her mother exclaimed, so much blood and just -- what, what is going on? cordelia's heart was in her throat and she wanted to scream until she broke the sound barrier. she nearly went supernova ( quite literally, too. it took everything in her not to explode right then and there. ) her father was hit by some punk drunk driver and was announced dead on arrival . . . what? why would the universe do such a thing? why would those stupid stars that everyone swore by decide to take such an inherently good person away?

          it wasn't fair. cordelia fell into a deep deep depression. the stars didn't shine nearly as brightly as they once did ( there was no one to create new galaxies for anymore. ) every night, she'd watch the stars she'd created for her father, her mother, the old friends she knew in nara, die slow deaths. soon, there would be nothing left in the world with her namesake on it and cordelia, all at once, found that to be a crying shame. call it her father's optimism finally rubbing off on her, or just simply finding it hard to keep lying to her now-widowed mother.

          she was going to find some friends . . . anyhow, anyway. if karma, the stars, the government, anything or everything was keeping an eye on her, she’d at least give them a worthwhile show.

🌌 —  PERSONALITY TRAITS.

POSITIVE : appropriate, brave, balanced, sugary, polite, organized, practical.

NEGATIVE : co-dependent, stuffy, standoffish, aloof, lethal, anti-social, incapable, dishonest.

LABEL : the doll . . . beautiful but fragile / untouchable.

EASTERN ZODIAC SIGN : THE RAT . . . a clever, quick thinker; successful, but content with living a quiet and peaceful life.

WESTERN ZODIAC SIGN : ARIES / THE RAM . . . a fire sign.  a passionate, motivated, and confident leader who builds community with their cheerful disposition and relentless determination. uncomplicated and direct in their approach, they often get frustrated by exhaustive details and unnecessary nuances.

PERSONALITY TYPE : INTJ / THE ARCHITECT . . . highly analytical, creative and logical.

🌌 —  THE CONNECTION IDEAS .

AURIGA / THE CHARIOTEER  . . . you and cordelia live in the same building. you have the ( un ) fortune of living above her, and in the middle of the night, you awaken to so many odd noises. when you look outside your window, you see her in the middle of the field painting the night sky with thousands of sparkling lights. stars . . . and so many of them! maybe you like them, maybe you ask her to spell out a swear word in the sky, or maybe you just want to sleep.

CASSIOPEIA - THE QUEEN  . . . cordelia rubs you the wrong way. that emotionless void of a girl has gotten on your last nerve and you are going to show her. how? you're not sure yet, but she will rue the day she ever crossed you. wait, what do you mean she's not that bad? that's not fair! you're supposed to hate her . . . wait, did you ever?

CYGNUS - THE SWAN . . . you fell for a vision. no, literally, a vision. they say you only dream up faces you've seen in real life, and for some reason, cordelia is that face. maybe she visits you in dreams and messes with your head, or maybe she's that serial killer who runs after you down the never-ending hallway with a knife in her hand and a smile on her face. how do you deal with seeing her . . . all the time?

GEMINI - THE TWINS . . . something happened and you were both in a tough situation, with cordelia being in the tougher of the two. you two strike a deal to help one another, but you tell her that she owes you. whatever she owes you, that's the deal ( please don't be weird about it tho ) and, for as long as you'd like, she can run around and do your errands for you, tell everyone your blunt opinion of them ( she's pretty good at that ) or just have to listen to you sing the entire aladdin soundtrack over and over again at 3 am. your call.

LYRA - THE LYRE . . . cordelia's never been the type to truly understand people. she always thought that it was because she was so sheltered growing up, really choosing to spend her time with her parents and a select friends from school. however, as she's grown up, she's come to learn that she does want to understand people . . . she just can't. not for trying, but she's too blunt, too sardonic, too -- cordelia. which is why she enlists your help. you're the golden child and she'd like a little bit of that sparkle to shine on her, thank you very much.

ORION - THE HUNTER . . . call it fate, destiny, whatever you will -- something brought you and cordelia together for a fun summer romance. however, now that summer’s melted into fall and everything is getting colder, so did your romance. you broke it off in a way that you thought was amicable but cordelia would be quick to disagree with. she doesn’t want you back, per say, but she does wish that she could have had better closure than a single text message . . . then again, she wasn’t exactly an angel in the relationship either. after she drops off one of your hoodies, you find a crumpled up note stuck in the pocket of someone confessing their love for cordelia . . . during your relationship. seriously, it includes your name and everything! do you confront her, or do you try and get the pair together?

URSA MAJOR - THE BIG BEAR . . . she didn’t mean to, honestly !! you just so happened to be hit by that star and, oh god, it’s like the entire ordeal with her parents all over again. only except she doesn’t really know you. every day during your stint in the hospital, you receive a bouquet of beautiful flowers -- maybe they’re your favorites or maybe they’re the type you cannot stand -- with the same note. i’m sorry. you figure it isn’t from anyone you know; it can’t be, can it? on your second-to-last day, the apologetic message is accompanied by an address and a little, scratchy handwritten note asking to meet someone there. against your better judgement you do, but no one is there . . . until you look up in the sky to see an incredible array of different-colored gasses ,you’ve never seen a nebula up close, save for photographs. a tall, black-haired girl walks beside you and begins to explain that she did not mean to hit you with a shooting star. she was simply practicing but her aim isn’t where it needs to be. do you believe this girl, or run as far as you can away from her?

[taexual]

HOLIC - 40 |  jb x reader

pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader

genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au

warnings: angst

words: 5.2k

disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit

           prev / next

The leisurely contract did entail a couple of rules – that Jiho was kind enough to point out before you added your signature – such as not attending any public events with anyone other than him during the “PR process” as he’d dramatically called it. To be fair, you didn’t understand that part – if making a name for yourself meant causing unnecessary rumors, then wouldn’t this whole process go much faster if you were seen with not one, but multiple people at photography events? But this was probably where the loyalty – mentioned in the contract a couple of dozen times – came in. They’d probably be okay if you went out with some of the other staff members from the gallery as long as they weren’t complete outsiders.

In the end, the few rules weren’t enough for you to call the police instead of signing the contract, and, another moment later, Jiho was already ordering champagne -- which you refused even if a few glasses would have surely helped you get through the rest of your day.

Your head hurt when you left the restaurant and returned to your own gallery to get back to work. You always dreaded the end of lunch break – it was probably natural for humans to hate having to go back to work – but this time, as you tip-toed on the edge of a new life, going back to work—returning to your old routine—was something you welcomed and even looked forward to.

Avoiding a group of children on tour with their teacher, you popped into the staff room for a moment to grab your electronics and take your jacket off, and then replied to Jaebum’s text that was inquiring about your plans tonight. You had none. You just wanted to sleep until you were miraculously hosting your exhibition while Jaebum’s album played in the background and all was well.

Deep inside, though, you were hoping Jaebum was going to say something that would make you forget your wish to hibernate for the rest of your life. He wanted to say something like that, too – and if he’d known how you were feeling, he would have – but he had a different obligation now; an obligation that he apologized for – because he couldn’t invite you with him, – but an obligation nonetheless.

The agency he’d just signed with had invited him and Jackson out for dinner and celebratory drinks later. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t have asked him not to go there. This dinner was probably as important as the first meeting itself; Jaebum was given even more chances to impress his new employers. It was good. It would make sure that his road towards success wasn’t just a sandy path, but rather a solid highway that was able to endure any storm and hurricane that might threaten it.

With a heavy sigh, you turned around to return to work but not before checking in with your friends. It was unfair of you to rely on Jaebum so much, anyway, so, to avoid truly locking yourself up in your room for the foreseeable future, you were going to need someone to keep you company and, perhaps, tell you if the decision you’d made—the contract you’ve signed—was a mistake or not.

You’d texted your friends’ groupchat, looking for company but, as always, May – the youngest – was the only one who was free to get drunk on a Tuesday night. And, as if she had some magical telepathic powers, she immediately offered her listening services. Although, to be fair, the number of crying emojis you’d used when texting her might have been a huge hint.

Smiling at May’s eager approval to meet up tonight, you took a mental note to be a better friend to your friends – you suddenly weren’t sure if they were so independent that they just never needed your help, or if you just weren’t there for them, – and headed back out into the gallery, ready to spend the rest of the day focusing on crowds of children, high university students, and snobby customers. Somehow, all of that still put you in a better mood than the lunch you’ve had with Jiho earlier.

For the first time since Jaebum introduced you to Mark, you managed to show up to his bar when he wasn’t working. You shot him a quick text while you waited for May to show up and learned that he was going to work today, after all, but his shift wouldn’t start until nine. That left you plenty of time to get drunk before he got here.

Somehow, even though you knew Mark much shorter than you knew the rest of your friends, he had become one of the most reliable people in your life – but, then again, perhaps, being reliable was one of the traits every bartender had to have. Still aware of Jaebum’s strong reaction about your and Mark’s friendship back in the day – even if Jaebum did change his mind later on – you weren’t brave enough to openly address the bartender as your friend but, in spite of everything, he still felt like one.

“Hey, I’m here!” May’s rushed voice was suddenly by your ear as your friend leaned in for a quick hug and sat down on the stool next to yours. “I might have just escaped a serial killer on my way over here.”

You never knew with May – she tended to exaggerate – but your eyes still widened in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I called a cab,” she began to explain after making eye contact with the bartender-on-duty and earning a nod from him, “and the driver turned out to be the creepiest man I’ve ever seen. I swear, he’s Freddy Krueger’s long-lost brother. Even looked a little like him. He asked me when I was going to go home and if he should pick me up as if that’s something that normal taxi drivers do.”

“Shit, I hope he’s not waiting for you outside of the bar.”

“No, no, I waited until he drove away,” May said, still breathing heavily. She looked like she’d sprinted over here. “Otherwise, I would have called the police.”

“You need to get a license,” you reprimanded her for the umpteenth time.

“I do,” she admitted like she always did. “But, then again, what would I do with it? I’d only use it to drive to class and back.”

“Hey, I only use mine to drive to work,” you replied. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Yeah, but, hey, speaking of driving,” May smiled and then was forced to pause when the bartender came over to take your orders and make you your drinks. “You’ve got yourself a chauffeur for a boyfriend. That’s cute.”

“He’s not my chauffeur,” you shook your head, having nothing against the particular occupation and yet feeling as if calling Jaebum your chauffeur was offensive. You didn’t really pay him for his services—although…—so it sounded like you were using him.

“I want to ask how the roadtrip went,” she stopped to take a sip of her martini. Her love for gin was unrivaled. “But, since we’re drinking tonight, I guess, it didn’t go that well.”

You sighed, toying with the slice of lemon on the side of your cocktail glass. “No, it went well. Really well, actually. It’s… it’s what happened after that’s forcing me to turn to alcohol.”

“Did you fight again?”

“No. But that’s in the future, I’m sure.”

And then you told her about everything that happened after you opened the door of that damn gallery – a true devil’s lair protected by the remarkably pleasant administrators – starting from the surprise you felt when you saw that Jiho was the one who’d made sure you got the interview, and finishing with the meeting you’ve had to endure earlier today.

Of course, as you spoke, you ended up having to take detours from the main story and introduce May to Jiho – since, by a weird coincidence, she wasn’t aware of what had gone down between you two – but you felt like you’ve lost twenty kilograms of weight off your shoulders when you finished talking.

May listened patiently, not moving at all – aside from tipping her head back to finish her drink in one big gulp as soon as you wrapped the story up.

“That’s one big load of information,” she admitted, her head bursting with so many new facts. “That was extremely unlucky. I’m sorry. Did a black cat cross your road every morning for the past week?”

You scoffed. “No. That’s what I get for daring to consider myself blessed to get that interview with the gallery in the first place. There’s no such thing as—”

“No, that was blessed,” May said. “Even if it’s Jiho who sought you out. I mean… I don’t know. I don’t like the guy, either. Anyone who doesn’t mind the negative image of themselves in the media is suspicious to me but maybe getting some exposure won’t be that bad.”

“But unlike him, I do care about my image,” you continued pointlessly.

The contract was signed, there wasn’t really a way to back out now. And yet you kept on talking as if hoping to hear comforting words. As if hoping to hear May tell you that you hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of your life.

“I get that,” she said. “It’s why you’ve hesitated before signing the contract, isn’t it? Because this sounds ideal. I know I’m supposed to become an architect after I graduate but, hell, if I got an offer like that, I’d agree to switch to photography.”

You have her a sarcastic look. “Want to trade places?”

May scoffed. “As if you’d ever allow that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You didn’t really agree to do this for yourself,” she concluded. “You mostly agreed for Jaebum.”

“What?” you frowned, feigning confusion even though your heart had picked up speed, catching on faster than your mind did. “I don’t understand—”

“You understand very well,” she cut you off with a shake of her head. “I can see right through you, you know.”

You knew. Of course, you knew. Even strangers would have been able to tell what you were feeling but May was one of your closest friends – not to mention, she was the kind of person that would have been able to crack the toughest spine of the most complicated book. If she was the one who’d moved in with Jaebum, she’d have gotten him to open up in just a few days, guaranteed.

“You signed the contract because he signed his,” May concluded. “Isn’t that right?”

“Well…” you looked away, swallowing. “It may have encouraged me. But I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing this for myself.”

“No, but you mean photography,” she said. “You’re doing photography for yourself. You’re thinking of hosting an exhibition for yourself. But you’re agreeing to work with Jiho for Jaebum. Because this isn’t something that you’d do. You’re going to have to pretend to be Jiho’s friend, his colleague, and whatever the hell the media assumes you are – and pretending to be someone you’re not is not something you’d do voluntarily. You’re just not good at that.”

“Thanks,” you said dryly.

May gave you a kind smile in return. “You’re good at being yourself, sweetheart.”

Somehow, even though she was younger than you, the endearing term softened your heart. It also made you feel like you were the younger one but that wasn’t a new feeling. If you caught May at the right moment – that is, a glass of martini in hand and a suffering friend by her side – she was wise beyond her years.

“Everything is going so well for him,” you couldn’t help but say, the words pouring out of your chest faster than you could learn how to stop them. They sounded stupid when said aloud and yet you still said them because that was what you were feeling and feelings didn’t always make sense. “I don’t want him to feel like he’s leaving me behind when he starts to make it and I’m still stuck in the same place.”

May nodded – that was what she’d suspected all along – and, after ordering another round of drinks – even if you were still only halfway done with yours – she placed a reassuring arm around your shoulders, leaning over the bartop to be closer to you.

“There will be other opportunities in the future if you’d prefer to wait,” she said softly. “You’re talented.”

“Yeah, but there are lots of talented people,” you replied. “I’m nothing special.”

“You—”

“Oh, May, it’s your job to call me special,” you interrupted before she could say anything, “you’re my friend.”

May retreated, smiling playfully. “I wasn’t going to call you special.”

“Oh,” you looked at her, surprise and embarrassed anger mixing in your blood. “Well, you should have. That’s the nice thing to do.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t be listening to me if I’d come here to tell you nice things,” she pointed out.

She was right but you still sighed, “I’m not sure I prefer the cold hard truth right now, to be honest.”

“You’re just going to have to deal with it,” she decided and then proceeded to tell you all that you needed to hear and more, “your own attitude towards this is exactly what’s the problem. You don’t think you’re special and that’s why you’re agreeing to do this. You need to sit down, convince yourself that you’re the most extraordinary person in this whole world and any gallery would be lucky to have you. You don’t have to do it this way. And then, once you’ve managed to convince yourself, you can drop Jiho, forget all about him and his half-assed attempts to get you both popularity, and go home to make love to your singer boyfriend.”

You shuddered, giving her the most disgusted expression you could muster even though your chest was full of nothing but gratitude.

“I was going to say you should be a motivational speaker,” you said, the first traces of a smile appearing on your face, “but I’m afraid you just made me cringe into the next year.”

“Come on, I’m serious,” May continued but she was beginning to smile, too. “Have a little more faith in yourself. I know it’s easier said than done but if you’re not going to work on your confidence, then you might as well just go through with this whole ordeal. Maybe having your first exhibition – under whatever circumstances – will open your eyes so you can see how wonderful of an artist you are.”

Her words got you to quit playing with the sad slice of lemon on your drink and finish the cocktail inside of the glass instead.

“I thought you weren’t going to be nice and would hit me with the cold truth,” you told your friend then.

“I am hitting you with the cold truth,” May replied. “You’re a good person and a great photographer. Do whatever it takes to prove that to yourself.”

She was right, of course. Before you proved your worth to everyone else, you needed to prove it to yourself. You’ve helped Jaebum out of his seemingly bottomless pit of insecurities about his music, but you were drowning in a similar pit yourself. You weren’t alone, though. You had your friends who were there to throw you a rope in case the deep water of your anxiety threatened to swallow you whole and, if you’d just told Jaebum about this, you knew he’d be here for you, too.

But he had so much going on already. He’d just released his first song. Just signed his first contract. Just went to his first formal dinner with his new employers. He was already riding on the highway to his future while you hitchhiked, hoping that a passing car would pick you up and help you follow after him. You didn’t like this way – you didn’t want to depend on anyone on your way to your dreams – but, right now, this seemed to be the only way to get to your destination at the same time as Jaebum got to his. Not years – or, worse, decades – later.

You’d just have to find a way to believe in yourself while you tore out a few pieces of your soul to be able to follow Jiho around without killing him on sight.

“Will you have my back if everything backfires and all that I’ve worked for explodes in my face?” you asked May then.

“No,” she replied, “because I don’t want to get burnt, too.”

You rolled your eyes just as the bartender brought you a new round of drinks. “A true friend you are.”

“I will visit you in the hospital, though,” May promised. “I’ll bring flowers.”

You laughed. For the first time since you’ve left the house today, you genuinely laughed. And you were suddenly overwhelmed with affection for your friend because, for the first time since that visit to the gallery, now you felt like you weren’t committing a huge, horrible crime. Perhaps you just needed to talk to someone and, having May listen to you and reassure you in the most realistic words she could manage to find, worked as a medicine of sorts.

You still felt a thick heaviness inside of your chest – you didn’t need just anyone to talk to; really, you needed Jaebum – but it didn’t feel so suffocating anymore. Maybe, as long as your mind remained on this moment, you’d survive this.

“You look like you’re going to start crying,” May observed, breaking you out of your thoughts. “Should I be worried about something else?”

“No,” you shook your head, inhaling deeply and then giving her a smile. “I’m just glad you’re here. Tell me how school is going. Fewer asshole professors this semester, I hope?”

“Oh, boy,” May rolled her eyes before finishing her cocktail and breaking into a story about her day-to-day life, never once abandoning her sense of humor as she complained about her deadlines.

You listened, nodding along and smiling whenever it was appropriate, because listening to her talk wasn’t just a wonderful distraction. It was also something you truly wanted to do.

A couple of hours later, both you and May were already preparing to head out but then you saw Mark arrive. Deciding to stay back for a few moments to help him get started on his shift – he asked you to, claiming that the biggest bartender superstition was that, if no one ordered a drink within ten minutes of the start of their shift, the night wasn’t going to go well – you waved May goodbye and then walked her out to wait for the cab with her so the creepy driver from before wouldn’t show up again.

Once you went back inside, however, Mark was already pouring a drink for someone else.

“Looks like you don’t need me, after all,” you joked, sitting down in your old spot.

“No, but it looks like you need me,” he countered. “How long have you been here?”

“A few hours. Why?”

“You don’t look drunk in the slightest,” he said. “The only people who stay at a bar for this long and don’t get drunk are either psychopaths or people who are suffering from something that’s way beyond the superficial level. I’d say you’re sane enough, so which kind of existential crisis are we dealing with tonight?”

“Bartender sociology 101, huh?” you teased but after Mark showed no signs of playing along – he genuinely wanted to know what was going on with you – you ended up having to find a way to tell him all that you’ve just told May.

Except, Mark was Jaebum’s friend. You felt bad telling his friend about Jiho before you told him, but you’ve stumbled into a situation where the opposite wasn’t possible, considering that you didn’t have enough courage to run away from the bar and find Jaebum right this moment, and Mark obviously wasn’t going to let you leave unless you told him what was up first.

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” you admitted, still hesitant. “Because I haven’t talked to Jaebum about it.”

“I’m a bartender,” Mark said. “No one keeps secrets as well as I do.”

“No, of course, but—”

“Are you pregnant?”

You paused. “No.”

“Then we have no problem with you telling me first,” he shrugged. “Especially if it’s a loaded conversation that you’re not prepared to have with him yet.”

“It is,” you confirmed. “A-and, actually, maybe you could help me find a way to tell him about this.”

Mark wasn’t sure he would – apparently, he struggled with talking to Jaebum as much as you did sometimes – but he allowed you to open up anyway. He did have to ask you to pause for a moment while he poured drinks for the other customers, but, other than that, he listened to the story of your trip to Jiho’s gallery with great interest. A concerned expression remained on his face all throughout your monologue.

Once you’d finished, you expected Mark to give you a lecture – the look on his face was indecipherable by the time you mentioned signing the contract – but, instead, he just sighed, finished wiping the bartop, and leaned on it on his elbows.

“I don’t think you’re doing anything that’s inherently wrong,” he spoke but the slight shake in his voice was a subtle indication that he didn’t think he should have been saying that. “It’s just a somewhat conflicting way to start off your career, but, look – at least, you’re not sleeping with anyone.”

“I’d never do that,” you shook your head. “I have my limits.”

“Well, see? Then I don’t think it’s that bad,” he said, pulling away. “You only have to show up at a few events and then you can host your exhibition. That’s what you’ve been working for and that’s what you will get to do.”

“Yes, but it’s Jiho I’m supposed to show up to those events with.”

Mark considered this.

“Don’t think of it like that,” he said after a moment. “I mean, you and him are both photographers, right? So, even if you weren’t going to go out with him in public, you would probably still run into him at some event sooner or later. And, since you know each other, chances are, he would come over to talk to you. You would have to be civil since you’re both in a public place. And maybe reporters would catch you two talking. Maybe one particularly shitty journalist would even snap a picture and write an article about a-a ‘budding love affair’ between two aspiring photographers. These type of things happen without your consent all the time.”

He had a good point that left you hesitating for so long, Mark ended up having to leave you alone for another moment so he could serve a new customer.

“This feels different, though,” you said once he was back, “because now I’m purposefully waiting for that shitty journalist to do just that.”

“It’s for the greater good,” Mark said. “Or, rather, for a greater future.”

You chewed on your lip. “You really think so?”

For the first time since you’ve finished your story, Mark was the one hesitating before replying. Your stomach sunk lower and lower with every second that passed before he spoke again.

“Not really,” he admitted finally, lifting his apologetic gaze from the floor to look at you, “but that’s not what you want to hear.”

“No, no, don’t tell me what I want to hear,” you asked as a typhoon of anxiety washed over your insides. “Tell me what you really think.”

“I think you should talk to Jaebum.”

You should have seen it coming.

“Yeah?” you asked awkwardly.

“Mmhmm,” Mark nodded. “Because I don’t think that this way of getting your name out there is bad in itself. The bad thing is you keeping this a secret from Jaebum. That makes this into a bigger deal than it really is.”

That was true. If things hadn’t escalated so badly – if you hadn’t reached a point where Jaebum seemed to hate Jiho with a burning passion – he might have even supported you through this. Perhaps he wouldn’t approve – he did showcase some relatively possessive tendencies, although they never bordered on the extreme – but he wouldn’t dismiss just the very thought of you doing this.

“He would never agree to it,” you decided miserably. “He’d never let me do it.”

Mark seemed surprised to hear this. “Does he control you?”

“W-well, no. Of course not,” you said, unsure how to explain what you meant. ���I-I… I just—I care about him a lot and I don’t want to fight with him.”

“If this is something that’s going to start a fight,” he said, “then maybe there’s something wrong.”

You didn’t understand what he meant. “With… with us?”

Mark shrugged his shoulders. “You tell me.”

You looked down. Deep down, you knew what he meant. In any hypothetical situation, if there was something that one person wanted to keep from another, it was likely that this thing – this secret – involved the first person doing something that wasn’t right. Wasn’t appropriate. Something that would damage their relationship.

Your head was suddenly as heavy as your heart was.

“I can’t tell you anything,” you answered. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You signed the contract, didn’t you?” Mark asked, his voice more sympathetic when he noticed how dull your normally bright eyes looked. “Just try to go through with it. Like Jiho had said, it’s a business relationship and you have the legal papers to prove that if you should ever need to.”

You looked up at him. “You mean… prove that to Jaebum?”

“I mean, if you’re not going to tell him, and you’re hoping that this will just pass quietly—”

“I’m not sure it will. We’re talking about the media, after all—”

“Oh, love, don’t get offended,” Mark shook his head, not letting you finish, “but I don’t know a single person who would be interested in news about photographers aside from other photographers. I couldn’t care less about who Tyler Mitchell is dating or what he does in his free time – I only care about the pictures of Beyonce that he took – but Jackson was here the other day, trying to get me interested in that photographer-related gossip because he’d met Mitchell while traveling and the guy was, apparently, holding hands with someone.”

You felt your own interest in this conversation increase tenfold at the mention of the photographer’s name but Mark was obviously not going to elaborate – he nearly yawned just as he was giving you the abbreviated version – so you just nodded instead.

“You have a point,” you said, suddenly feeling the first bits of relief. “News like that probably wouldn’t even reach Jaebum.”

The bartender narrowed his eyes, asking slowly, “are you considering not telling him at all?”

Honesty was painful now as you replied, “I don’t know.”

“Okay, good,” he said, his voice rushed as if he was afraid you’d continue talking before he finished. “Don’t tell me what you decide then. I’ve already gotten more involved than I’m comfortable. I can’t support your decision not to tell him because he’s one of my closest friends, but, at the same time, this isn’t my story to tell. I’ll be quiet about this but... I don’t think you should be.”

“Yeah, I understand,” you said, awkward now that you’ve realized you’ve stepped over the line. “I’m sorry I’m putting you in this position.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind listening to you,” Mark said. “Sorry I couldn’t help you with much, though. I’m afraid this is something that you have to do on your own. If you find the right words to explain what you’re doing, Jaebum will understand. You just have to believe in yourself and stop looking like you’ve killed three people on your way home to talk to him. Have more confidence.”

“More confidence,” you repeated, almost scoffing. “That’s what I keep hearing.”

“It’s the truth,” he said. “Jaebum always talks about how talented you are. And he recognizes art, he’s not saying that just because he’s into you.”

Your heart banged against your ribcage, reminding you yet again about how much you cared about Jaebum. About how special it made you feel to know that he was talking about you to his friends.

“I hope you get to host your own exhibition,” Mark added before you could stand up and dial Jaebum’s phone number. “I really do.”

Hearing that meant a lot and you felt your lips stretch into a smile. “So, you don’t think I’m selling my soul to the devil by trying to get it this way?”

“No,” Mark laughed. “I just think you’re very dedicated since you’re willing to give up so much for your goal.”

You couldn’t help but find his words ambiguous. You feared to think of what else – aside from your dignity – you were unconsciously willing to give up for your ambition, but you didn’t ask him to explain what he’d meant. You didn’t dare.

“You know, it’s extremely refreshing to talk to someone who doesn’t immediately assume the worst of me,” you said instead.

“Who immediately assumes the worst of you?” Mark asked.

“Me.”

“Ah,” he nodded with a chuckle and then clocked a group of customers that had just arrived. “Hold on for just a moment.”

You nodded, using this time to check your phone. The screen was decorated with multiple texts from Jaebum – most of them seemed excited as he told you about the divine food that the agency dinner had served – but it also showed that it was nearly ten o’clock already. You hadn’t planned to stay here for this long; you still had to work tomorrow, not to mention the mess of thoughts inside of your mind you’d have to deal with even before your alarm rang the next morning.

“Thinking of leaving?” Mark asked when he returned and caught you putting your jacket on.

“Yeah,” you said. “I’ve stayed far longer than I should have. Thank you for listening to me and for being so open-minded. You’re a great person, Mark.”

He laughed, the comment clearly flustering him. “Must be the reason why I’m single.”

“Oh, you’re going to make a great partner for someone one day,” you said, your mind flashing back to him and Kiera. You were suddenly glad you weren’t drunk or you would have brought your friend up and you didn’t think you were in the right position to talk about them together. “Anyone would be lucky to have someone like you. It’s just me who’s stupid; apparently, I like my men complicated.

“Men?” Mark cocked an eyebrow.

You smiled at this. “You’re right. It’s just him.”

Mark stopped cleaning the glass he was holding to give you a serious look. “You like him a lot, don’t you?”

“I…”

You couldn’t finish the sentence and Mark was quick to notice that as a big smile spread from one of his ears to the other.

“What?” he asked, his tone teasing. “Is that not the right word anymore?”

“Oh, shut up,” you got up from your stool, looking down to avoid having him see your embarrassed face.

Mark laughed again, recalling the same exact words that Jaebum had said to him when he asked him the same thing.

“It’s okay,” he said, sending a mischievous wink your way when you looked at him again. “I happen to know that he feels the same way about you.”

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