#im skipping through most of the Conversations but in the 5 second breaks for this scene it genuinely looked like theyd started making out

[robobee]

i would like to make an addendum to my "nobody in the walking dead is queer" post i think jon WifeFucker is specifically psychosexually in love with Rick

[peachcitt]

okay, so style reference you say? I'm 👀

YES STYLE REFERENCE I SAY

this is going to be. a very long post i think with probably a lot of tangents and probably with a lot more thorough explanation than you could ever want but. here we go

because all of my theory/explanation posts end up So Long, i like to organize myself by keeping myself to a structure, and i also like to think if i put stuff in sub categories with bolded titles, people reading can skip ahead to the stuff they want if they're low on time or don't feel like slogging through everything. so here's the structure of the official Peach Style Reference Narrative

1. Early Days - how i started writing, my early inspirations, origins

2. Current Days - discussions of current style references plus examples and comparisons, discussions of original content versus fan content

3. Future Days - where i expect my writing to grow, trajectories i want, conclusory thoughts

without further ado, let's get into it!

1. Early Days

like i mentioned on the discord server, ive been writing creatively for. a very long time. i just turned 20 (like. literally today. we love to see it) and that seems very young, but i remember writing creatively when i was maybe six or seven, and before that i played with dolls a lot, which meant every day i was creating little narratives for myself. in addition to this - and this is probably why i started writing so young - i was (and am!) a very avid reader. i was that little jerk in elementary school reading chapter books and going into the older kids' section in the school library because i'd already mentally surpassed the books in the section meant for kids my age. so, basically, ive been writing for maybe 13 or 14 years at the least.

when i was young, my favorite books that i remember trying to copy in my own stories were: the magic treehouse books, harry potter, and percy jackson.

the magic treehouse

i honestly could not tell you which magic treehouse book it was, but i remember reading a specific magic treehouse book where the magic lady that left the treehouse for the kids sends the kids (jack and annie??) a note in distress, and she didn't get to finish signing her name because whoever had gotten her had interrupted her. it had been printed in the book with the ink on her name running.

i could not tell you anything else that happened in that book, but i can tell you that at some point in time soon after i read that book i started writing a story with an interrupted letter just like that. i loved the drama, the mystery of it all. i wanted to do something that was a little scary like that, a little exciting.

harry potter

harry potter isn't much of a style reference, but it was a huge impact of my childhood. truth be told i kind of hated the books when i was really young because i grew up watching the movies, and when i tried to read the books when i was in elementary school, the teenage angst that hits about book 5 simply Did Not make sense to me. i also find the language of harry potter to be super cumbersome, and sometimes it feels to me like the books are long just for the sake of being long. they have a huge cultural impact, but i feel the same way about harry potter's style as i do about dickens. cool and interesting, but, like, could you get to the point already? (and also my opinion of j.k. rowling has steadily been growing worse and worse over the years, for obvious reasons. harry potter is nostalgic for me, but i can't look at it now without thinking about it critically, which really lowers my opinion of it)

however, you could probably call my first fanfiction a harry potter fanfiction. i started it when i was maybe six or seven, and it was a rewrite of the chamber of secrets with my childhood best friend as the main character (she didn't know about it, i just had her as the main character because i thought she was cool). i of course never finished it, but harry potter probably did a huge part of planting that seed of magic in me. everything i want to write included some form of magic - although my perspective on what can be considered magic has steadily expanded over the years.

percy jackson

of all my childhood "style references" that still influence me to this day, percy jackson has got to be the biggest. for starters, it's magic. second, it's main themes are about friendship and family - things that i like all my stories now to always include. third - and most important - is the narrative voice.

in terms of narrative voice, percy has a huge personality. he's witty and snarky, but also very thoughtful and poignant. a lot of my early writing was in first person, and it's probably because of percy. also, percy jackson was the first fandom i really got into, and it was the first media that i started officially writing and posting fanfiction for. percy's voice is so clear and hooking, and i wanted to be able to write something funny and real like that.

also - chapter titles. the original pjo series is famous for its weird and hilarious chapter titles, and even though i didn't really start writing fics or stories that were long enough to need chapter titles until a while later, i loved the idea of putting in a chapter title that would make a reader laugh, or maybe even make a reader feel a little apprehensive about the events to come.

but back to percy's narrative voice. i loved that style, almost conversational, so much that i started thinking like it. when i wasn't doing anything, like walking home in middle school, i often found myself narrating my life in my head like percy would, trying to find that humor and spark in my every day surroundings. i still find myself doing that very often, but not necessarily in the classic pjo style. now i narrate everything in my head a little differently, but that practice narration in my early days really helped my shape my voice, i think.

other series i read when i was younger include: a a series of unfortunate events and the name of this book is secret. i don't remember seeing a lot of influence in my early writing from those books, but i definitely think the styles of those books hit me a little later, which i will talk about in the next section.

but, yeah. these were the big three of my childhood. i also read a lot of ya romance, children's mystery books, princess stories, and various types of fantasy, which i think you could probably tell from the genres i like to stick to now. except i don't write a ton of mystery because, as much as i admire the complicated plots, im not sure if i'd have the patience to plan all that out.

in terms of the rest of the genres, a ton of my earlier writing included classic ya romance and fantasy tropes - chosen girl, love triangles, angsty overpowered teens, etc etc. even though those kinds of stories are not necessarily the kinds of stories i want to write or read now, i think my early writing of those kinds of things was really valuable. it's kind of a dirty secret with finished or unfinished works generally considered 'cringe' - often that writer is a new writer, or they're trying something new, or they just haven't found their voice yet. all of those things are perfectly okay and normal, and a lot of people in the writing community preach that kind of thing, but i don't necessarily see people cutting new writers slack in actual practice. writing "overrused" tropes isn't cringe, it's normal, and, besides, what trope isn't overrused? people have been writing and telling stories for thousands of years - nothing is really new. what matter is that someone new is telling the story, and that's what makes it valuable.

so, yeah, a lot of my childhood writing is cringe to me now, but i wouldn't be where i am without it.

with that being said, let's actually look at where i am now

2. Current Days

im going to break this section down into two parts, sort of: original fiction and fanfiction. because i think both of these things have become really important to me, and i don't believe i personally could exist as a writer without one or the other. it's a symbiotic relationship.

we'll start with fanfiction.

my relationship with fanfiction is relatively positive in online spaces: i write what i want to see from media that i like, and i have fun doing it. i also get some comments on my fics by lovely people that detail exactly what they like - some even go so far to talk about narrative style, voice, or tone - and that's really helpful. generally, i see fanfiction not only as a fun hobby and vent space for my strong positive feelings about certain media, but also as a place for me to try new things, experiment, and earn positive feedback.

i don't often share my original fiction online (and if i do, never at the same scope as my fanfiction), so i don't get that same opportunity to see what "works" with readers. fanfiction gives me the space to see that, and i apply new knowledge ive learned to my original fiction. that's what i mean by a symbiotic relationship.

in terms of specific style references for specific fics (which is what i know you probably most want to see), i'll try my best to pick them all out and give specific examples.

those benevolent stars and i am the messenger by markus zusak

in my favorite book list, i saw you mention tbs, so i'll start there. to be honest, i had no idea what my style reference for tbs was when i first saw your tags, and i almost didn't think there was anything specific. style references are a bit sneaky like that - if you've been referencing for someone for a long time, it becomes less of an intentional reference and more of just a you think, so it gets harder to tell.

lucky for this post, i just finished doing my yearly reread of zusak's i am the messenger, and as i was reading, i noticed a few spots where i was like wait hey i remember doing that.

for starters, iatm has been my favorite book for about six or seven years now, so i would say that some aspects of my style certainly comes from zusak because of how much i love iatm but also his other books. zusak has this huge talent for writing short, punchy sentences that convey so much in just a few words, and i think i've ended up trying to do that in my own writing. often, in my writing you'll see fragmentary sentences such as "He stopped. Blinked. Looked at her." that's not from anything specific, but i know ive written something like that maybe a million times over. zusak doesn't do the same thing - often his fragments are jam-packed with imagery in a way that mine aren't - but there's a thoughtfulness in his fragments that are in mine, too. a sort of pause. a hint that there's thinking happening in the narrator or a certain character. for example, i did a quick flip through of my copy and we have:

"We stare across the table.

Just briefly.

At each other." (I am the Messenger, p.144)

so you see how my common sentence fragment of "he stopped / blinked / looked at her" tracks with a fragment like this? i like the way zusak broke up sentences to make you dwell on them a little longer, consider the importance of each section, so i started doing that wayy before i wrote tbs i think.

also, at the time i wrote tbs, i think i was in the process of, or had just finished doing my reread of iatm, and, like i said, zusak loves imagery. tbs is a very imagery-heavy fic. tbs was influenced by a lot of music - a lot of the scenes have very specific pieces of music that i wrote imagining the tone and vibe of. iatm also references a lot of outside media sources, mostly music and films.

there are a couple of scenes in tbs that i think i wrote specifically mimicking or accidentally referencing from iatm. for example, we have this scene in tbs:

"It was almost like he could feel Marinette’s eyes on his back, steady and gentle. 'But you still love her.”

'Yeah,' Adrien said quietly, 'I still love her.' His eyes moved along a streak of purple that bled into a dark blue. 'I hate her a little bit, too.'

Marinette was silent.

He turned around, giving her a smile." (Those Benevolent Stars, chapter 3)

and this scene from iatm:

"'Do you hate me, Ed?'

Still stupid with bubbles and vodka in my stomach, I answer. Very seriously.

'Yes,' I whisper. 'I do.'

We both smack the sudden silence with laughter." (I am the Messenger, p. 233)

obviously there are differences, and i don't think i did it on purpose, but the interaction is very similar. i love the gentle intimacy of that scene in iatm, that weird complication relationship between the main character and the person he loves, the hurt, the brushing it off with laughter. so i wrote a scene that incorporated those things

zusak is also really good at writing moments of quiet into his books that aren't necessarily important to the plot, but are still important. if you've ever read that ghibli meta post talking about the 'quiet' between scenes in studio ghibli scenes, meant to give both the audience and the characters space to breath, it's like that. nothing in iatm is not imporant - it all serves a purpose, even the quiet moments, and i try to do the same thing. there's moments like that in tbs i think, like:

"Marinette gave him a small smile before turning back to her ice cream. Adrien tried to eat his ice cream a little faster, licking up where it had dripped onto his hand.

They were quiet for a while longer, and Marinette finished her ice cream. She leaned back on her hands and looked up at the dark sky, littered with stars.

He could see them all in her eyes, too." (Those Benevolent Stars, chapter 3)

and in iatm, you get scenes like:

"Our feet dangle.

I watch them, and I watch the jeans on Audrey's legs.

We only sit there now.

Audrey and me." (I am the Messenger, p.120)

so i definitely think tbs is a very i-am-the-messenger/markuz zusak-inspired fic. there's a lot of zusak's quiet, and there's the pieces of zusak's style that i've picked up along the way that really shine in tbs

tomorrow and this body's not big enough for the both of us by edgar cantero

ive talked about cantero a few times recently, but, as you've probably noticed, in relation to my fic called 'tomorrow.' i wrote tomorrow pretty soon after reading this body's not big enough for the both of us, and i used tomorrow specifically to experiment with cantero's visual writing style. in all the books by cantero ive read, there's this kind of hyper-awareness of a film gaze - how a certain scene would be shot on a camera, dialogue as script writing, and other things like that mixed with prose. i thought it was fascinating, and after finishing this body, i really wanted to play around with that idea. so i wrote tomorrow keeping in mind a "film gaze." for example:

"Two figures sitting on a rooftop, silhouettes. The moon hovers over them carefully, a crescent afraid to break the silence. One of the figures takes a breath, looks up into the sky at the hesitant moon, and he sighs. He closes his mouth again." (tomorrow)

versus in cantero's work, where we get descriptions like:

"And then, like a high-heeled coup de grace, she arrived.

She paused briefly outside the door, her hourglass silhouette cast upon the glass panel with the fresh shiny vinyl letters" (This Body's Not Big Enough for the Both of Us, prologue)

the tone of the two excerpts are very different, but there's a very visual sense to both of them, like they are being described from a shot in a movie rather than a regular work in prose. in tomorrow i also work a lot with specific camera imagery - saying where the camera goes in the scene, what it focuses on - and this body doesn't do this too much, but cantero's meddling kids does at least once that i remember.

regardless, after finishing this body, i wanted to try my hand at the visual structure that cantero uses in his works, so i really leaned in to the idea.

chat noir's white french man hit list for feminist purposes and grasshopper jungle by andrew smith

this is, as of right now, the most recent fic on my ao3, and i started it the literal day i finished grasshopper jungle. i think you might be getting a theme here - i read a really good book, and then immediately after i start writing something. the easiest way to get inspired as a writer is to read.

chat noir's hit list is a fic that is very much aware of the fact that it is a story being told - you don't know by who or for what real reason until the end, but it's a self aware sort of story. it's also very snarky and sarcastic, and it expands past just the confines of its own story; it's about chat noir and his hit list, but it also talks in depth about emilie agreste, chat noir's relationship with ladybug, and his relationship with himself. this is very much the kind of thing that you would find in an andrew smith book - grasshopper jungle is a story being told to you, and it's also about more than just the original pieces of the plot. the narrator tells the story that expands past regular confines of the story he means to tell - he's telling the 'history' of his life and his town, but he also talks about his great-great grandfather, the origins of the ketchup his girlfriend's dad eats, and what's happening in other parts of the country as he and his best friend are hanging out. the line in chat's hit list of "stars exploded, the sun did not, life continued on" was very much a grasshopper jungle and andrew smith-inspired line.

at the end of adrien's narration in chat's hit list, he says:

"It should be mentioned at this point in time that this story is not over, although I’ll stop telling it here.

So that’s the story of Chat Noir, who is also Adrien Agreste, who was very much a normal boy, except for the fact that he wasn’t. It’s a sad story, but it is also a happy story, and it is highly confidential. I’m sure you understand." (Chat Noir's White French Man Hit List for Feminist Purposes)

and at the end of grasshopper jungle, as the main character is closing out his narration, we get:

What I have written here is not the history of Eden. It is the history of the end of the world. All real histories will be about everything, and they will stretch to the end of the world.

The end of the world started when Andrej Szczerba slid into the cold sea as his boy, Krys, watched and wept and drifted closer and closer to the United States of America.

Nobody knew anything about it." (Grasshopper Jungle, p.382-3)

It's not overtly similar, but the structure is the same: recognition of the end, short summary of where we started and left the story, tag phrase that was used prior in the work. when i was writing the end of adrien's narration, i didn't mean to mirror grasshopper jungle so closely, but sometimes things just happen that way - honestly, so many of the things i do in my writing aren't intentional, they're subconscious. when i make a conscious choice, it's related to plot or to a new strategy im applying to style or voice that i'm not used to, but a lot of the things i do fly under the radar in my brain unless im purposefully trying to piece them apart like i am here.

i will say the meta-story of chat's hit list was pretty directly inspired by grasshopper jungle because i love meta stories, and i like using opportunities to put them in. i just love the idea of reading a story of someone telling someone else a story, which is what the two books by andrew smith i've read have been, and i think that's just fascinating, which is why i used it here.

ive gotten a couple of comments on chat's hit list that liken the narrative style to pseudonymous bosch's the name of this book is secret and lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events, which i thought was really interesting, because i was purposefully trying to make the voice an impression of andrew smith's voice adapted to the tone of ml, but i could definitely see their reasoning.

andrew smith, like i mentioned before, likes specifics - what exactly people were doing at certain times, where a specific bottle of ketchup came from, etc. from what i remember of the name of this book is secret and a series of unfortunate events, i remember the descriptions included in those books chock full of highly specific, snarky details that aren't truly necessary, but do a whole lot in terms of adding a certain flavor to the narration. i won't try and look up examples from unfortunate events and the name of this book, but here are a couple examples:

"See, the thing about Emilie Agreste, formerly Emilie Graham De Vanily, is that she was what could be generously called a ‘radical.’ Born in 1969, like most amazing and world-altering things, Emilie Graham De Vanily grew up in London alongside her twin sister, who is a nice enough woman and who is not really that important to this story, and she was raised with the firm and gentle hands of people who had witnessed war and cruelty and had found that they did not like at all. Emilie Graham De Vanily grew up learning about the true history of England, which is not a very nice history, truly, and she grew up knowing that people with white skin like her were historically not all that great. That, historically, was a very radical thought." (Chat Noir's White French Man Hit List for Feminist Purposes)

from chat's hit list, and this:

"In 1905, being seventeen years old made you a man. In 1969 when hungry Jack fought in Vietnam, seventeen years old was a man. My brother, Eric, who was somewhere in Afghanistan, was twenty-two.

Krzys Szczerba came across the Atlantic with his father. They planned on working and earning enough money so Krzys's mother, brother, and two sisters could come to the United States, too. People who did that were called Bread Polacks. They came here to make money." (Grasshopper Jungle, p. 68)

from grasshopper jungle. once again, obviously very different, but you can tell im playing around with that same feeling of giving a surplus of facts in my narration in the same way that andrew smith does. you can't really tell in the grasshopper jungle excerpt, but oftentimes the surplus of 'facts' serves almost a comedic effect, which is definitely something that you can feel in chat noir's hit list.

[REDACTED] and six of crows by leigh bardugo

as a reward for sticking around through this, i'll give out something fun here. the current long fic that ive been working on recently has proved to be very bardugo-inspired, particularly six of crows-inspired.

in six of crows, bardugo gives us action right off the bat and then integrates flashbacks into lulls of action so that there's never truly a dull moment. i found [REDACTED] to be a fic where i wanted to use flashbacks in a similar way, so that i would get something like:

"She doesn’t stay for the whole parade, but she stays for enough of it. Nothing unusual happens, just like always, but she still makes cursory patrols around the city, ending up at the Eiffel Tower, just like always. She sits on the railing way up at the top, and she crosses her ankles, swinging her legs back and forth and humming softly to herself as she watches the sun set.

'Little kitty on the roof, all alone without his lady,' he used to sing when he’d gotten back to their meeting point from patrolling his half of the city before her. It was just a silly little song, one that he’d clearly made up for himself."

It didn’t hurt until he’d been akumatized, and she’d seen that one version of the future - the one where he’d destroyed the whole world because of Gabriel Agreste. She’d seen him then, a lonely figure in white, humming his little song to himself. Who knows how long he’d been like that before she’d been transported to him, how long he’d been really and truly alone. (REDACTED, chapter 1)

and in comparison, we get a lot of scenes in six of crows like:

"Kaz leaned against the ship's railing. He wished he hadn't said anything about his brother. Even those few words raised the memories, clamoring for attention. What had he said to Geels at the Exchange? I'm the kind of bastard they only manufacture in the Barrel. One more lie, one more piece of the myth he'd built for himself.

After their father died, crushed beneath a plow with his insides strewn across a field like a trail of damp red blossoms, Jordie had sold the farm. Not for much." (Six of Crows, p.205-6)

bardugo uses most of the flashbacks during a time in which the main characters are on a long sea voyage, which means they have a lot of time to reflect on their pasts and what brought them to these situations - it's a smart way to fill the empty space of the sea voyage and to really dwell on how important the voyage is. in a similar way, i chose to use the flashbacks in dull or lulling moments in the events of the story, ones in which marinette lets her mind wander or sees something that makes her remember something specific.

however, here's a situation where you can see me adapt the style into something that makes more sense for me, personally: in my excerpt, the tense changes between the current events and the flashback events, while in bardugo's excerpt, the tense stays the same at a comfortable past tense. when i was writing my fic with the flashbacks, i thought the constant, sometimes abrupt, switching would get confusing, so i made sure to always have a clear line using the past and present tense that readers could consciously or unconsciously take notice of.

so there are a couple of instances within some fairly recent fics i have that have specific callbacks to specific books. there are a whole bunch more, i think, but these are the ones that ive played around with intentionally the most recently or the most often.

3. Future Days

based on my recent rapid experimentation in fics (the most recent four fics on my ao3 have been very experimental in comparison to most of my works), i really anticipate a lot of growth in my overall style. ive been having a lot of fun experimenting and throwing in things that a few years ago i would've never even thought of, so im really excited to see where that might lead me, style wise.

i think as a writer there's always room for growth and learning, and that kind of growth and learning comes from not only practicing writing, but also reading. i cannot stress enough how valuable and impactful reading is on writing. considering ive been trying to read a lot more than i have been in recent years, it makes a lot of sense that ive been making a lot of weird decisions and learning more about what i want to see in my own writing.

honestly, if you ever want to know about any of my other fics, or you want to see how this kind of thing translates to my original works, just shoot me an ask! this post is already long enough, so i think i'll go ahead and end it here, but just know you can always ask questions<3

thank you so much for asking me this question and letting me indulge, and thank you for reading!!!<3<3<3<3

[horansqueen]

You & Me : chapter 40

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

Sequel to AM CONVERSATIONS

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || CHAPTER 13 || CHAPTER 14 || CHAPTER 15 || CHAPTER 16 || CHAPTER 17 || CHAPTER 18 || CHAPTER 19 || CHAPTER 20 || CHAPTER 21 || CHAPTER 22 || CHAPTER 23 || CHAPTER 24 || CHAPTER 25 || CHAPTER 26 || CHAPTER 27 || CHAPTER 28 || CHAPTER 29 || CHAPTER 30 || CHAPTER 31 || CHAPTER 32 || CHAPTER 33 || CHAPTER 34|| CHAPTER 35 || CHAPTER 36 || CHAPTER 37 || CHAPTER 38 || CHAPTER 39

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his -4.3k -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

READ AM CONVERSATIONS AGAIN ON WATTPAD HERE

- notes: i hope this isnt too much and that youre still enjoying this story! its almost over tho, so if you have any request please send them asap! I have a few more chapters planned but I could always add a few filler chapters if you guys send me ideas. so yea, thank you!

if you want to be on the list of blogs i notify when this is updated, just message me :)

requests! : here are the requests i used. im sorry about the Julia one, they couldnt have a very big and deep talk because it was Liv’s chapter but I still wanted to add her in because i really like her :) hope its okay!

TAKE A LOOK AT THE CHARACTERS HERE

Chapter 40 : Her chapter

OLIVIA

May 7th, 2018

It was quite late but we were both packing our things in silence. I had waited last minute to do it while Niall had to wait until he was back from his concert, which resulted in us doing it together. I missed going to see him play and sing and the thought made something stir in my stomach. I couldn't believe I stopped myself from going to see him do what he loved the most to do in the entire universe just because I was scared of what some losers could write in an online article. The more I thought about it, the more I found that completely ridiculous. I was about to mention something about it when I heard Niall talk, breaking the silence.

"Oh, I totally forgot to give you that." He leaned closer to me and handed me a small box that was wrapped in pretty pink paper. I frowned but took it in my hand anyway as he shrugged. "A fan told me to give it to you. Apparently, she was really sad when we broke up."

I stared at the small box on y hand and licked my lips. I knew most of it were just rumors, but I also knew that some people believe everything they'd read online. Still, this time, I couldn't blame them since it was the truth. I quickly unwrapped it and grabbed the note first, reading it out loud.

"We thought Niall was the biggest One Direction fan in the world, but we've seen you multiple times with random One Direction merch and we thought you may enjoy this."

I frowned more but when I saw the necklace, I let out a louder laughter. It made Niall frown too and I looked up at him with a smirk, bringing my hand closer to him. Around my fingers was hanging a necklace with his face on it. It seemed to be very old merch, probably from 2011, and I saw him grimace.

"No, Liv!" he whined as I put it around my neck and I chuckled again.

"Hey, it's a gift!" I argued. "Besides, I didn't have this one. I love it."

"You're such a pain." he joked, making me laugh this time.

I didn't see it coming but he literally jumped on me and I fell on the bed with a high scream. He pinned me down and started tickling me, holding both my wrists with one hands as the fingers of the other squeezed my waist, making my body jerk.

"Noooo! Niall stop!"

I squirmed, kicking him and hitting him without really knowing or controlling what I was doing. It took him a few seconds to stop and he stared down at me with a smirk as my lips were parted. I was panting low, not even able to enjoy his body on top of mine.

"Please, let me wear the necklace." I almost begged in a low voice.

His eyes roamed on me for about a minute and finally, the left corner of his lips raised up and he nodded once before moving closer to kiss me.

I had decided to follow him in Spain even if I had no idea when I'd have to fly back to California. We still had a few episodes to film but I was hoping Niall could come with me. He only had a few concerts left before he'd be off for a few weeks and even if he had to fly to the UK at the end of the month, I was thinking he could spend almost two weeks with me. I knew all we did was live in our luggage, going from airports to airports but at the same time, we were together and it's really all that mattered to me.

His lips moving slowly against mine made my heart twist in my chest. I loved him so much, I always would and I knew it. I was starting to trust him again, so much that the tiny ball of fear that seemed to live permanently in my stomach was now gone. I had decided that I wanted to live this plenty, to not hold grudges of fears that came from our past. I wanted to move forward and I knew that we had both changed for the better.

May 8th, 2018

We woke up early to catch our flight and I put my sunglasses on because I knew I looked exhausted. They were heart shaped but were black instead of my usual pink or purple ones for the simple reason I thought it would be less obvious to the people around that I had puffy and tired eyes. I didn't mean travelling if it meant being with Niall, but that didn't mean it was it wasn't sucking up all my juice.

I didn't expect the airport to be crowded but it was, and I moved my head down, trying not to catch anyone's attention. The fans started screaming, the paps started yelling at Niall to look their way, and when one of them moved too close to us, I felt my heart jump in my chest and without thinking, I grabbed Niall's hand. I realized my mistake and quickly let go of it only to feel his fingers tighten around mine. I could swear the flashes became even more intense right after and I glanced at Niall, licking my lips as I heard similar questions being yelled around us.

"Are you two back together?"

"Did you cheat on Dylan and Heidi together?"

"Are all the rumors true?"

We both held each other's hand tighter at the sound of all these questions being thrown at us and we kept walking as they followed us. I could feel my heart beat so hard in my chest that I felt like it was about to escape. I swallowed hard trying to relax a bit as I kept glancing at my boyfriend.

"Does that mean we're official?" Niall asked me, squeezing my fingers even more after he stopped walking, and moved closer to make sure I was the only one who heard.

I turned his way and licked my lips, trying to ignore the flashes and the sounds of the cameras. I was not used to that much attention, or at least, not as intense as it was being at that moment, but even if it was a bit intimidating, I was not scared.

"Do you want us to be?"

His gaze moved on my face as he studied me before sending me a fond smile. "Yes, I do."

I sent him a gentle smile that turned into a very big one. "We're official then."

"Fuck yes." he whispered, making me chuckle.

He pulled on my hand and we started walking again but as we were about to pass the gate, he quickly and roughly moved our hands up to show our intertwined fingers and it surprised me so much I felt my heart skip a few beats.

"FUCK YES!" he repeated in a yell, making me burst into laughter this time.

If I wasn't sure Niall loved me, I definitely was now. The fact that he literally told the world we were together proved much more than anyone could believe. I knew he was private, and so was I. I also knew he didn't like his private life to be in the spotlight, or talked about, or known, and him showing everyone, fans and paps included, that we were an item by throwing our hands up just showed me how committed he was. People would talk about us and the wrong things we did to Dylan and Heidi, people would definitely criticize us as individuals but also as a couple and I knew that for a while, people would stop talking about his music and my tv show only to blab shit about our love, but he thought it was still worth it and even if I was a bit surprised, it touched me more than I thought it would. And just like that, the blinded trust I had for Niall until he broke up with me was back, and I knew that this time, it would be different.

                                                          ---

We took a nap when we arrived at the hotel and when I woke up, it was the middle of the afternoon and Niall's arm was wrapped around me as he was laying on his stomach. I ran my fingertips on his arm and reached his back, making him groan slightly. He looked so good, his eyes closed, his bottom lip a bit over his upper one in a cute pout and his hair a bit messy. It made something come alive inside me and I realized that we went through so many things to get back pretty much where we used to be. The difference was us and the way we had grown, and I knew that what we lived when we were away from each other was needed to have the relationship we had at that very moment.

I tried not to wake him up and sat up slowly and gently in bed, rubbing my eyes and yawning before grabbing my phone. I knew he didn't want me to but I searched for his name and mine in google and a bunch of pictures from the airport appeared. My lips curled more at the picture of us walking away while Niall held our hands up together. I stared at it for a few minutes and pressed my lips together, feeling suddenly ecstatic and a bit dizzy. It was really happening. I was back with Niall and we were happy together. In all the months we were apart, I had wished for it, but I never thought it would really happen at some point.

"What are you looking at?" he mumbled low, taking me out of my thoughts. "You're smiling."

I turned to him and my excited smile turned into a fond one. His eyes were half-closed and his face was still pressed on the pillow. In fact, I was pretty sure he hadn't moved at all and looking at him made something stir in my stomach. There was nothing I loved more than waking up with him, except maybe falling asleep in his arms.

I tilted my head and let the left corner of my lips raise up before turning the screen his way. It took him a few seconds to let what he was seeing sink in and he smiled too.

"Oh look, that's us telling the world we're back together." he pointed out slowly and in a low tone, an amused smile curling his lips. "I'm sorry, I'm never that impulsive normally. But I've been waiting for that for a while." He paused and I felt his arm hold my waist tighter before he squirmed a bit and put his head on my lap. "It's okay though, because this is meant to last, so everyone may as well know now. What do ya say?"

I brought my hand to his head and ran my fingers in his hair gently, making his eyes flutter. "I agree." I whispered, making him smile more.

"We're gonna get married and have a few kids. And dogs, too. I love dogs."

This time, I chuckled and licked my lips. He had mentioned marriage a few times in the past weeks and I loved it. He used to be so scared of commitment and the future and now he was literally planning it for us.

"You know what we should do now?" he asked, making me shake my head. "Stay in bed all day. Order food, watch tv, and make out. Champagne and you. That sounds perfect."

I smiled widely. "Gotta celebrate the fact that we're official, now."

"Damn right."

After a few hours, we were done eating and the bottle of champagne was empty. We were still laying in bed but I had stopped following the movie and kept staring at the ceiling. What took me out of my thoughts, once again, was Niall's voice. I blinked a few times, trying to get back to my senses, and he raised his eyebrows at me.

"Mm?" I asked, making him laugh.

He stopped the movie quickly before grabbing the sheets of the bed, pulling them over our heads and once again locking us together in our safe place. I smiled at him and turned my body his way as he did the same. It was always a bit stifling to stay under the covers for a while but at the same time, it made me feel secure like nothing else did.

"How hard did that champagne hit?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Mm, i'm tipsy." I admitted, laughing too.

"Me too." he let out, his eyes roaming on my face. "You know I want to marry you for real, right? I want to promise to be yours forever. I want to literally show everyone that no one else will ever mean to me as much as you mean to me."

"I want it too. I want to be your wife. Niall I want it more than anything."

I felt my heart jump in my chest at my confession and we kept looking at each other for a few minutes in silence. He found my left hand and brought it up to his eyes level before running his thumb gently on my ring finger. I bit my bottom lip, trying to imagine what it would feel like to be his wife, and I swallowed hard, almost ashamed that I let my mind wonder so far.

"One day..." he just murmured before looking up in my eyes. "How many kids?"

"Five." I let out, making his eyebrows raise.

"Jesus Christ, do you want to kill me, woman?"

This time, I started laughing and he pulled me closer with a groan, letting his lips press against mine before pulling slightly away. I waited until he spoke again, my lips curling more and more with every passing seconds.

"You're not serious?" he just asked, making me laugh, this time.

"How many do you want?"

"Two, maybe three." he admitted before I kissed him again, sucking gently on his upper lip.

"Then two or three we'll have." I breathed out against his mouth as he held me closer.

"And we'll live in London, and keep a house in Cali, how's that?" he proposed in a murmur. "I'll bring you to Las Vegas to get married. We'll have the best honeymoon because I'll make you cum twenty times a day for a whole week."

I started laughing against his mouth and he smirked. "Where are we going for that?"

"Bali?" he suggested.

"Mm, don't tempt me." I joked as he laughed again, deepening the kiss and making me close my eyes. "What's on your mind, Horan?" I asked lower and more seriously.

"Well, how about we practice making those two-three kids now?" he offered, making me chuckle. "I really want to make love to my official girlfriend and future wife."

"Hey, I didn't say yes just yet." I joked as his lips traveled on my jaw and neck.

"But you will yea? You just accepted to be my official girlfriend so it's a good start. You'll be my wife and marry me?"

"If you want to spend your life with me, how can I say no to that?"

"That's what I thought." he just said, giving himself a swing and making me laugh even more as he got on top of me.

I spread my legs a bit as he nibbled on the skin of my neck and I groaned when I felt his hard dick press on my inner thighs. I was tired and still a bit tipsy but the way he whispered, the sound of his voice, the feeling of his body on top of mine... all of this was too good and I felt like I never had enough of him. Even after all this time, I wanted him as much as I used to, even more, probably, and the way he was all over me made me think he felt the same.

"I want to bury my cock so deep inside you right now." he whispered, bringing his mouth back on mine. "You're so fucking beautiful. I love you so much, Olivia. You made me so happy today."

I reached for his boxers and pulled them down as much as I could, his words making my heart twist and jump in my chest. I didn't think Niall could love me as much as he seemed to, I didn't know he could want to be with me to the point where he would literally hold my hand and show everyone that we were together in a crowded airport. I had no idea he was waiting for this, I didn't know that it would make him react like that to be my official boyfriend. All of this made sense, of course, but it was just hitting me that Niall really loved me as much as I loved him and that he didn't want to lose me again.

"Please Niall, just do it." I begged him in a murmur, reaching between my legs and pulling my panties aside before grabbing his cock and lining it up.

His hip movement was slow and as he pushed himself inside me, I felt my eyes roll back and a moan escaped my lips. I moved my knees up as he lied on top of me, holding himself on his elbows as he started thrusting in and out of me slowly. It felt like torture but at the same time it was so good I moved my chin up, feeling his lips leave kisses on it.

"I love you, can't believe you're my girlfriend again." he whispered, his lips brushing against my skin.

"I was always yours, Niall. I've always been yours. Since I was 6 years old. I knew I belonged to you." I replied just as low and without thinking. "I was just scared you didn't belong to me"

He pushed himself deeper inside me and it felt so good I let out an other whimper. He remained still, waiting for my eyes to open again and meet his, and I felt one of his hands slip in my hair while the other moved a lock out of my eyes.

"I belong to you." he confessed, making a shiver run across my back. "All this soulmate shit? I believe in it now. I have to."

I bit my bottom lip, making him glance at my mouth before looking back in my eyes.

"I love you. I fucking love you." I had barely finished my sentence that he was pressing his mouth against mine again, this time fucking me harder and faster.

My back arched after a few minutes and I moaned in his mouth this time, right before his thrusts became unsteady and a bit sloppy. The orgasm felt amazing and I gripped his arms as I felt his muscles tighten. I pressed my thighs on each sides of him, pushing myself against him in motion with him as he came. Nothing felt better than that post orgasm feeling with Niall on top of me. His lips found mine and he kissed me slowly but deeply for a while until we both got down of our highs and even a little bit after.

"I'm so happy you followed me here." he admitted with a smile as I tilted my head on the pillow.

"Me too." I licked my lips and raised my eyebrows. "Are you gonna follow me back to Cali in a few days?"

"Nothing will stop me from going with you. Nothing."

He rolled off of me and I pushed the covers to breathe fresh air, just realizing that I needed it. Niall grabbed my hand and I focused back on him as he stared at my fingers, making me try to suppress the smile stuck on my lips.

"Please come to my show tomorrow." he just let out, his fingers brushing gently against mine, exactly where a wedding ring would be. "We're officially together now, so we don't care who sees you or what they see."

My heart skipped a beat and I licked my lips nervously. It would be a good start but it stressed me to think that people would start judging us even more, now that we were official. I knew Niall was not going to start kissing me or anything in public but I still felt nervous.

"Okay." I let out low feeling myself tear up. I swallowed my tears but I could see my boyfriend getting emotional too and I sniffed. "I love you Niall. I don't ever want to be away from you anymore."

He brought one of his hands to my cheek and I felt the warmth of his skin against mine as he moved closer to lean his forehead against mine.

"I'm never leaving again. I promise on my life. I'm here to stay. What we have will never die, okay?"

I nodded quickly and bit my bottom lip as I felt a tear run down my cheek. I could swear he was tearing up too and I pressed my parted lips against his. "Okay."

May 9th, 2018

I hadn't realize how much I had missed watching Niall sing and play. He was always the kid who was singing, dancing, or playing guitar when we were younger, and it always brought a bunch of people around him. He seemed so untouchable, even for me, who was his best friend. Now, with the literal crowds and album selling, it was even more obvious, but a lot less scary. The fact that I knew he loved me definitely helped but watching him do what he's always loved but this time, as a living, was just breathtaking. He was breathtaking.

I chuckled when he winked at me subtly and I rolled my eyes with a smile until I felt a hand on my arm. I jumped slightly and turned again to look at Julia who was smiling widely at me. I thought I knew what she was going to say but instead, she pulled me close into a tight hug. It took me a few seconds to answer it but when I did, she jumped a few times, bringing me with her, and finally pulled away.

"I saw the video!" she said happily, her lips curled into a bit grin.

"The video?"

"Of you two at the airport!"

I felt my cheeks turn a soft shade of red as they burned a bit and cleared my throat, looking away. I knew there were pictures but I was not aware someone was filming. Come to think about it, it was not surprising, after all. I felt two strong arms wrap around my neck from behind and I smiled immediately, recognizing the touch and the perfume. It was crazy how he still affected my moods but I could also see that I influenced his, and that made our relationship so much better.

"Niall!" he let go of me to hug Julia and I smiled, taking a step away. "I'm so happy for you! I knew it would happen! I told you you had to keep hope!"

Niall's eyes found mine and his smile faltered as his embrace around his friend loosened.

"I sort of... confided in Julia." he admitted, licking his lips as mine parted. "I know you wanted me to keep the secret, but I didn't know what to do, and I felt like shit... I needed to talk to someone."

He looked at me with fear in his eyes, as if I was going to turn on my heels and leave, but I just tilted my head on the side while staring at him.

"Hey, I understand. She's one of your closest friends." I pointed out with a shrug before sending him a smile. "I talk to Louis about almost everything." I shrugged again. "Besides, I like her."

Julia smiled more and grabbed my arm, pulling me closer to them to hug both of us at the same time. I laughed and after a few seconds, she pulled away and smiled again.

"I'll wait for you guys backstage. We're going to celebrate right?" she asked as Niall and I glanced at each other, a bit unsure. "It's one of my last shows! We have to go grab a drink together!"

"Sure, we'll do that."

She left with a big grin and I turned to Niall who was smiling fondly at me. I frowned, my lips still curled, but I had to admit that the way he was looking at me made something twitch in my stomach.

"Thank you." he whispered, bending down to kiss the top of my head.

"For?"

"For wanting to get to know my friends. I know you get along great with all our childhood friends, and my cousins and all, but I've made great friends while doing this job, and you never really seemed to be interested in befriending them too, well, except for Harry, Louis and Liam.”

I shrugged a shoulder and looked away before looking back at him and raising my nose in a small grimace. "You used to hang out with many celebrities, especially when you were dating Heidi. I don't know, Niall, to me, it's a bit intimidating." I admitted. "I never felt like I fitted with them, or belonged with those famous faces. It's just weird to me."

"I'd love to present them to you. I promise they're great."

I stared at him and after a while, my lips curled again. "Sure, I'd love to meet them." I just gave in and by seeing the smile on his face, I knew it made him happy. "Let's start with Julia. I already know I love her."

Niall laughed and cupped my face, tilting my chin up before reaching for my mouth with his. "And I know I love you."

[boymeetsweevil]

For science 1/7 -  (NSFW)

Grouping: Reader x Nerd!Jungkook

Word Count: 6.1k

Warnings/Themes: masturbation (vaginal) & voyeurism, unrequited feelings, eventual sex. is this crack yet? lol there’s a plot i swear.

Summary: Jungkook asks you to let him watch you get off. For science.

A/N: posting this now because I’ve been working on it on and off for like a month and im tired of looking at it and jk’s bday is coming up HAPPY BIRTHDAY JK and i’ll be too busy with school plus im almost 7k into the second chapter so..

part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7

Your eyes burn in protest as you scroll to the top of your terminal window once more to search for the error that is fucking your code up. It’s been hours of work and you still haven’t managed to get your program to run even though the homework assignment is easy in theory. In fact it’s just like a problem that Jungkook said the professors would probably give you in your sophomore year, and here you are in your junior year seeing such an ‘easy’ question. With him, it had truly been easy, though. Jungkook was a better computer science teacher than any professor you’d ever encountered. Thinking back to early high school days has you smiling softly to yourself. 

You miss sitting closely together, heads sometimes touching, as you both bent over a problem while he explained why it looked hard, but was actually something you could do in your sleep. The wide smile he would give you when you completed competition questions in minimal time would always set your heart fluttering.

Your phone vibrating brings you back to reality. The caller ID reads ~JK~ and you swoop in to answer the call. If the time in the corner of your computer is right (and it is) he should have already opened his decision letter from the PhD department.

“Hey, what’s the verdict,” you ask as soon as you accept the call. You know there’s no other reason why he’d call you when you were supposed to meet up in a few hours for weekly game night.

“I got in,” his voice is soft, but you know him well enough to be able to hear the joy mixed in.

“Congratulations, Kook! That’s amazing, I knew you would get in, they’d be crazy not to accept you. Oh my god, we should celebrate.”

“Yeah, I was thinking maybe we could go out for drinks before heading back to mine to play tonight. You in?” Now you can practically hear the smile in his voice.

“Of course I’m in. Let me just pack up and I can meet you. Where are you--the department lounge? I’ll come over.”

“Actually,” his shy tone has you sitting down slowly, returning your jacket to where you had it slung over the back of your chair. “You don’t have to leave right away. I was gonna try and call Yoori. You know, to tell her the news. And then tell Tae and Hobi, of course.”

“Oh. Yeah, no, that makes total sense. I should probably finish this code for Choi’s class anyway. It’s due on Sunday, but I’m almost done. Might as well turn it in early once I find this error.” Your hand scrapes at the sides of your jeans, looking for something to grab at.

“Well then I guess I have time,” he chuckles, “Your typos are always so tiny that they take hours to find. Let’s meet up at the bar in 2 hours then?” 

You wince. Although it’s not at all a mean-spirited jab, you’re no longer in the mood for the friendly banter at the mention of Yoori, Jungkook’s long time unrequited love.

“Sure. See you then,” you hang up before he has the chance to say goodbye formally like he always insists on doing.

You put your phone down and berate yourself for getting distracted. If you were the brilliant Yoori, you wouldn’t have even made the typo in the first place. But you weren’t Yoori because you didn’t have the fortune of being born four years earlier and four times more beautiful, elegant, or intelligent. And you didn’t have the luck of being so much of a genius that you could skip years ahead of school like Jungkook either. So instead you would just have to chug along, always watching Jungkook chase Yoori.

You go back to scrolling through your code only to find the error a third of the way down. Jungkook was right, the typo was tiny--a misplaced equals sign. You sigh and run the code to make sure it’s perfect this time, and when it is you send it in to your professor to be graded. You consider heading home and using the extra time to make yourself look nice. Not that there was anything wrong with your oversized university t-shirt and jeans, but suddenly you think maybe things would be different for you with regards to your love life if you tried a little harder. You’re about to leave the library entrance that’s closest to your dorm, but you get a text from Jungkook.

6:41 - I called Yoori and she said she heard about my deal with RealiCorp and she wants to link up when she gets back on campus!

You narrow your eyes at the text. Jungkook had recently sold some software he developed to an up and coming gaming company that was supposed to make the imaging on immersion headsets better. He had made a pretty penny and was covertly offered a position at the company, but it was also a large victory for the computer science department at the university and his picture had been circulating around the department website for weeks. You suppose she finally saw it while she was taking a break from her research project off campus and decided to answer his calls for a change.

You text back what you hope sounds like a cheerful congratulation and decide to just go to the bar instead. What’s the harm in a few rounds before the rest of the crew arrives?

The harm would have been miniscule at most if you hadn’t been in your feelings, but when Jungkook, Tae, and Hobi arrive, you’re three rounds in and a little bit sloppy.

“Woah,” Hobi shouts, giving you a too strong pat on the back when he sits in the chair next to you. “Someone started a little early. What’s the occasion, are we celebrating something for you too?” Jungkook shakes his head with a sheepish smile and goes to sit beside you, away from Hoseok.

“Nope. Just getting ready for an evening with your loud ass.” He gives you a pretend pout and flags the bartender over. Tae sits next to him and gives you a little wave and smile.

“Two whiskeys, make mine a sour and make his straight. From the high shelf.”

“Hey now,” Taehyung’s eyes widen comically, “Are you forgetting that payday isn’t until next week? I’ll take the regular whiskey down there, please.”

“Don’t worry. Kookie said he was paying with his RealiCorp money,” Hoseok stage whispers into your ear, “He’ll probably cover your round too.”  You swat him away and turn to Jungkook, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“You know I’ll cover yours. The rest of them, I don’t know.”

“What? Come on, you’re the youngest,” Tae whines, less than satisfied with his cheap whiskey shot.

“Shouldn’t that mean you guys pay for me?”

“N-no! Because you’re actually our senior now. You’re graduating this year, I’m the oldest technically but I’m not graduating until next year. We know these two aren’t graduating until the year after that,” he points to you and Tae, “Plus, you’re going to the PhD program next year. You should definitely be paying for us.” Hoseok has a point, you and Tae nod sagely to back him up.

“Fine,” Jungkook sighs, pushing his thick glasses up the bridge of his nose, “I’m in a good mood, so why not.”

“I bet you are,” Tae’s grin is big and catlike in the low light of the bar. His gaze a little lewd. “I would be too if I was one step closer to finally bagging a girl like Yoori.”

You look down into your beer bottle, the green glass suddenly much more fascinating than the conversation at hand.

“Did you hear,”Hoseok turns toward you,”Yoori is gonna come back soon and when she does he’s gonna make her Mrs. Jeon.”

“I’ll be sure to throw rice during the wedding,” you snark. The bartender brings you a new beer without another word. Taehyung howls at your comment.

“I’d kill to have a wedding night with her.”

“Hell, I’d kill to have a bathroom stall night. With anyone,” Hoseok sighs, “It’s hard out here for a comp-sci major. Right, guys?”

You hum in agreement. It had been a while since you’d last gotten laid.

“You’re right. I can’t even remember that geology minor’s face. Do you remember her? What was her name? Mara? Kara?”

“Sara,” Hoseok provides with a grin, “I think she has a thing for comp-sci majors. Kook, you ever hook up with Sara?”

Jungkook shyly traces a finger around the rim of his empty vodka class. “I haven’t hooked up with anyone.”

“Ever?” You try to keep incredulity from bleeding into your question.

“Ever,” he nods. He hiccups a little and all of the sudden you totally believe that Jungkook is a virgin.

“Dude, wait, I thought you hooked up with that one chick at the music festival last spring. Am I the only one who saw her?” 

Tae nods in agreement. “Yeah, she gave you her hotel room key and everything.”

“It wasn’t like that. She told me her brother was there for a robotics tournament and I asked her if I could see the bot.”

You smile despite your sour mood. If there was one thing you loved about Jungkook it was his blind enthusiasm for STEM. Even if it made him a little oblivious to other things at times.

“Well, you better fix that whole virgin thing fast, bro. Chicks like Yoori probably want someone with experience. In more ways than one, if you catch my drift.” Hoseok nudges Tae with a wry smile.

“That’s not just a Yoori thing, most people don’t want to have to coddle someone in bed unless that’s, like, their kink or something,” you take a large swallow of beer.

“Wait,” Tae says, eyeing you like he’s had an epiphany, “You’re a girl--”

“Didn’t we establish this 2 years ago? When we met?”

“No, no, I mean you can help Kookie so he doesn’t drop the ball with Yoori.”

“Yeah, right,” you snort, “Help him how? Give him a sex-ed lecture?” You turn to laugh with Jungkook, but he’s looking at you seriously. Or as seriously as he can when he’s tipsy with unfocused eyes and blushing cheeks.

“You…don’t want to help me?” His voice sounds pathetic and small, making you feel bad instantly.

“Oh, Kook, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. But think about what that implies.”

“Is it because I’m a virgin?”

“Oh my god, Kook, there’s nothing wrong with being a virgin don’t listen to us. We’re idiots.”

“Then why don’t you want to help me?”

Because I like you. You swallow hard, your throat suddenly dry. You obviously don’t say that, though. Instead you sit back in your bar stool.

“I-I would if I could, but I don’t know how to help you,” you finally say.

“It’s fine. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I guess the thought of being with Yoori makes me a little stupid.”

Desperately you search for a solution. Instead of finding one, you call the bartender back and order a round of tequila shots. Jungkook gives you a sad look but doesn’t ruin the mood by not taking a shot. You order two more rounds because somehow, even though he’s drunk, he still looks dejected. After your third shot you can’t stand the way his shoulder slump.

“You know what,” you slur loudly, drawing three pairs of eyes to your face lazily. “It’s getting late and we might not get to play Fortnite this weekend. Let’s all get to bed so we can be up early tomorrow to play.”

Tae points a wobbly finger in your direction, eyes suspicious. “When you say early, you mean after 2pm right?”

It takes twenty minutes for everyone to get their shit together enough to leave the bar. Tae and Hoseok keep losing each other in the bathroom. Jungkook keeps forgetting that he has to pay and tries to ask the bartender what he thinks about sub-atomic particle physics. Even though you’re drunk off your ass, you somehow manage to keep yourself responsible enough to wrangle Tae and Hobi out of the bathroom and guide Jungkook through the motions of swiping his card and signing the bill. The four of you then squeeze into the back of an uber. Hoseok whines about being lonely while sitting in the passenger’s seat. Jungkook’s bumps his hand against yours until he can firmly grasp it and get your attention before you pass out.

“Hey, can I sleep on the couch,” he whispers in your ear. His breath smells like alcohol and limes. You turn your head to chase the scent away and rest your head on his shoulder. You yawn.

“Sure. No problem, buddy.”

Your apartment is the first stop on the route and you launch yourself out the car and run up through your lobby and to the elevator to escape the cold of the air conditioner and the fluorescent lights. Jungkook lingers in the car until Tae pushes him out to make room for Hoseok.

“Kook,” Tae calls out as he helps Hoseok pour himself into the back seat.

“Wassap?”

“The only way to get good at sex is losta—lotta...lot’s a practish. Okay?”

“But-but…Who am I gonna practice with?”

Tae merely whistles and points a finger upward, gesturing to your illuminated window. The car pulls away and Jungkook sways unsteadily up onto the sidewalk with nausea clawing at his throat. Thinking of the stairs he’ll have to climb—because there’s no way in hell he’s taking the elevator, even in this state—he regrets not just going to his own first floor dorm. Does he really need to get sex counseling from you? There’s always porn, he muses before remembering the rant you’d gone on blaming porn for making a guy you’d been hooking up with try to do weird things in bed involving a summer squash. Looks like he’d have to rely on the real deal to get anywhere with Yoori. Oh, Yoori.

A shimmering vision of the beautiful girl with elegant eyes and an ever-painted smile floats in front of his hazy vision and gives him the strength he needs to hobble forward towards the lobby door with dedication.

Minutes ago you couldn’t wait to go to sleep, but as soon you unlocked your door and made it to your room, you were wide awake. Even brushing your teeth and stripping out of your jeans didn’t to tire you out.

“Fuck,” you groan. You throw yourself onto your bed and hope that the way the room spins will lull you to sleep but when the spinning stops, your eyes still won’t stay closed.

The clock resting on your desk across the room reads 1:48am. It’s already clear that you’re going to be hung over, but knowing that it won’t be cushioned by a nice long sleep before you have to go to yoga at 12 makes you want to cry. You desperately wrack your brain for all the remedies there are to make you sleepy. You just canceled your cable last week to save some money, so you can’t veg out in front of the TV. You’re lactose intolerant, so warm milk isn’t an option. You’d take a warm shower but you washed your hair already and if you go to bed with wet hair your mother’s voice will haunt you all night with stories of the cold coming your way. Kicking your feet in frustration, you toss yourself over the edge of the bed to hang. Maybe all the blood will flow to your head and you’ll pass out.

You’re about to risk passing out and landing on your neck the wrong way and dying when a bright pink shoebox under your bed catches your eye. Of course, you think, how could you forget your precious vibrator. Luckily for you, a good orgasm or three always managed to knock you out like a light. You reach over and scoot the box forward with your outstretched fingertips until you get it close enough to reach inside and grab the petite tiffany blue bullet. Giddy laughter leaves your mouth as you heft yourself back onto your bed and fall back on the pillows with a contented sigh. Orgasms solve all your problems. You flick the device on to the lowest setting and ghost it against your clothed mound.

Jungkook is completely breathless as he leaves the center stairwell and finally arrives on your floor. The stairs were a bitch and a half, but your door is only two down from the floor entrance. He can practically hear the siren song of your pull-out couch. When he turns the knob to your front door, it doesn’t budge and he wonders if you must have locked it on instinct. There’s no way you forgot that he was staying over, he thinks to himself. Reaching above the doorjamb, he hunts for the spare key you left there especially for him. The door unlocks easily and he smiles to himself as he locks the door behind him and toes off his shoes. He’s about to face plant into the couch when you call his name faintly from your bedroom.

As he stumbles through the hallway slowly to your room, he thinks over what Taehyung said to him before driving off. To Jungkook’s drunk mind it makes sense, so it must be a good idea to seek sex practice from you. You’re the only girl he knows and he’s known you so long that he can already tell there would be no awkwardness. The sad look in your eyes as you listened to his predicament in the bar tells him that you want to help him, but you didn’t know what route to take. He flexes his hands by his sides and figures he’ll just tell you what Taehyung told him and get to coming up with a curriculum.

The door to your bedroom is half-open and the lights shine through the opening, so he figures you must be up and waiting for him. He can still hear you calling his name, but it still sounds oddly soft from where he is. He pushes the door open but freezes in his tracks when he sees you.

The first thing he notices is obviously the frantically moving hand you have between your legs and the loud buzzing sound that comes from it. He takes in more details the longer he looks. He realizes belatedly then that you’re not wearing pants. Thanks to the high prescription strength of his glasses, he can also see the way your hand and thighs shine and the huge dark spot in the crotch of your panties in the light of your table lamp. Your toes are curling and he can just make out the way your lower stomach clenches underneath the very same sweatshirt you’d been wearing to the bar. Technically he can’t see your other hand but he has a pretty good idea of where it is and what it might be doing with the way it disappears under your shirt. You can’t see him, though, because your head is thrown back and your eyes are closed. The only thing you’re probably at least partly aware of is the cacophony of wet sounds that come from where you work the nose of the toy over yourself. The last thing he notices is the way you call his name in a soft whining tone that has him stepping forward without thinking.

“Fuck, Jungkook,” you whine as the slippery heel of your hand bumps against your covered clit a little roughly on an upstroke.

“Yes?”

“What the hell,” your eyes snap open and your head whips around to see him leaning on the door frame as he watches you.

His eyes are heavy with alcohol and his cheeks are just as pink as the lip he releases from the grasp of his teeth. He reaches out and stumbles forward, causing you to scramble back to distance yourself from him. You bring your knees up to hug to your chest before you realize that you’re still very much on show.

“Jeon Jungkook, what is going on here,” you shriek, bringing your hands to cover your eyes only makes you feel a little bit better.

He sits down on your bed like it’s any other day and he’s just chilling in the room like you invited him over. And then you realize that you did kind of invite him over as fragmented memories of the recent uber ride you took together spring up.

“You said you wanted to help me, but you didn’t know how. But Tae told me I just have to practish.”

“Practish?”

“Practice,” he corrects himself.

“Practice what?”

“Practice sex. Duh!”

“Jungkook, no!”

“Please? I wouldn’t be asking such a huge favor if I didn’t think it was absolutely necessary.”

“Why can’t you just go to a frat party like everyone else?” 

Your heart is beating rapidly and you think maybe you’re not drunk anymore. Never in your life did you think you would turn down sex from Jungkook, but then again you never pictured it happening this way.

“Because I,” his head hangs and he starts to pick at a loose thread in your duvet, “I guess I missed out on this kind of thing when we were younger and I don’t think I could get very good results in a basement party. Plus, I know you’d…”

“I’d what?”

“You’d be good to me.” He lifts his eyes to lock with yours. His gaze is oddly sharp despite the fact that his skin is still clammy like it gets when he drinks.

Your breath hitches and for a moment it does feel like the fantasies you have almost every other time that you settle into your room, lonely and horny. Jungkook laughs bitterly to himself and you can feel your resolve crumbling as something selfish rears its head in the back of your mind. He tries one last time. 

“Please?” 

You crack.

“Okay.”

“Really?” His eyes light up once more as he gives you a blinding smile. “Great. Let’s start!”

It feels as though you’re having an out of body experience as you watch him clamber closer onto the bed with you. Your legs naturally open to accommodate him and he scoots into your space, his hands falling to naturally stroke with the soft skin of your ankles. Even though he lacks experience, Jungkook has a leg up in that he’s naturally on the affectionate side. Something you can’t teach with any amount of practice. Even still, the idea that Jungkook will be sitting between your naked thighs makes your stomach do flip flops.You barely start formulating something to say that will sound educational when you hear him get ready to interject once more.

“God, what is it?” You worry that if he interrupts you one more time you’ll lose your nerve.

“I need a visual aid. And, uh, I won’t be able to see because of your, uh, undergarments.”

You’re certain that you’ve never taken anything off faster than you do in that moment. The panties fly into some far corner of your room and you can only hope that they don’t land in a clump of dust bunnies.

“Alright,” you stutter, “I don’t have to give you an anatomy lesson, right? Please tell me you at least know where everything is.”

“We took anatomy together in 7th grade,” he says like that’s a decent answer.

You roll your eyes. “Right, okay. Anatomy lesson it is.”

“What’s this,” you point at yourself.

“That’s the uh…entrance to the vagina?”

“Ok and?”

“It’s where the pleasure comes from?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes?”

“Partial credit.”

“Isn’t that where the…phallus goes, though?” You decide it would be best to ignore his word choice for now.

“Yeah, I mean stuff goes in there but that’s not where all the pleasure comes from. For some people that’s not where any of it comes from.”

His eyes widen nervously. “Then where does it come from if not from penetration?”

You gesture again. “This is the clitoris.” His sweaty bangs flop over his lenses as he nods enthusiastically. Finally something he remembers.

“The clitoris,” he chirps affirmatively. You side eye him, but keep going.

“This little thing is basically there for the sole purpose of pleasure.”

“How do I activate it?” Again you blink at his terminology. Although you’d been a STEM freak with Jungkook for years, somehow he managed to baffle you with his nerdiness.

“Uh, you can stimulate it by touching it.” You draw a small circle in the air around the nub to demonstrate. “Like that, for example. You can also use your hands or your mouth.”

“Or that little blue thing you were using earlier,” he chimes in, reminding you of the embarrassing way this whole thing started.

You sigh. “Yeah. That too.”

“And that’s it?”

“No that’s definitely not it. We haven’t even touched the other places of pleasure or technique or foreplay. But this is a pretty good cheat code.”

“So what about the inside? Like the tubes?”

“There’s really not that much you need to know involving the actual reproductive organs themselves. We can just focus on the external bits for now.” You wince at how uncomfortable the discussion is.

“That makes sense,” his brows furrow seriously. He’s slow to blink, partly so he doesn’t miss anything and partly because he’s still fighting off tendrils of sleep.

“I mean,” you wring your hands anxiously, “that’s all you really need to know for now. It’s mostly learning on the go, anyway. You’ll be fine.”

“But what if I’m not fine. Don’t you think you could, you know, show me?”

“What is there to show?”

“How about you just continue…what you were doing when I came in.”

“Masturbating.”

“What?”

“I was masturbating when you came in.”

A hand flies to the collar of his shirt and he tugs on it sheepishly. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

You try not to focus on how weirdly awkward the mood is now that your lust has calmed down to barely even a simmer. You reach for the discarded vibrator that jumped out of your hand and landed by the edge of the head of your bed, but he stops you with a raised hand.

“Can you, uh, maybe do it the old-fashioned way? For the first time at least?”

“Right, I guess I’ll get to it.”

Jungkook sits back on his heels patiently and watches closely as your hand trails a path down your torso to the apex of your thighs. The first touch, though you know it’s your own hand, has you twitching a bit. You bite your lip hard to focus and circle your entrance to coax out more moisture, then you move back to circle your clit. You close your eyes in hopes that not being able to see Jungkook’s gaping expression will help. It does, a bit. After a few moments, you let out a breathy sigh and sink further into the pillows. You plant one foot more firmly on the mattress to give yourself some leverage and push yourself more into your circling hand. The slight increase in pressure has you moaning and your eyes fluttering. You peek through heavy lids to see Jungkook’s expression has also changed. His eyes, clear just a second ago, look glassy again from behind his lenses, his mouth slack and shiny. The rise and fall of his chest is a bit heavier. You let yourself think it’s because of you and go back to collect more arousal to increase the slip.

Apparently, you’re more turned on than you thought. When your middle and ring fingers wander down to your hole they come back pleasantly slick. Something in you suddenly feels rebellious, so you use your free hand to spread your lips further and bring your coated fingers up to Jungkook’s face. You flex your fingers and separate them to show crystalline streaks of arousal connecting them.

“Just so you know, this is a good sign.”

Jungkook swallows hard. Somehow, even though you’re still wearing socks and a baggy sweatshirt, you’re hotter than all the completely bare, busty women he’d watched moan and writhe wildly on his computer screen. He reaches out and delicately grabs you wrist before redirecting your hand back to your dripping center.

“Keep going,” he rasps.

You whine and begin to rub your clit more earnestly, lewd wet sounds fill the room. He can practically see your lips getting wetter and wetter as you redistribute your arousal with every rough swipe of your fingers. Your wrist is moving fast, but it’s clear that you’re becoming frustrated with all that you can do with one hand. Your other hand quickly moves to take over making tight figure eights around your clit while the one already coated in your juices moves back down to your entrance once more. This time, you crook two shining fingers and shove them into your hole. Immediately your back bends and a drawn out moan leaves your mouth. Jungkook gasps quietly. You pump your fingers in and out roughly, then withdraw them to add a third finger.

He watches you like that for a while before you get fed up again. It’s been a while since you’ve been so needy and you feel like you’re on fire. Your toes curl impatiently on either side of Jungkook and he realizes you’re looking for more. On instinct he scoots further until his own legs are brushing up against the undersides of yours. His hand reaches out to pet your quivering thigh in a sympathetic effort to help with your plateau. He looks down at your hand, twitching feverishly in and out of yourself. His hands are much bigger and suddenly he moves like he’s about to replace your fingers with his own.

When Jungkook’s hands start to approach your center your breath hitches. You’re not quite in the right state of mind to reject him if he offers to finger you, but you don’t want to take advantage of the situation and make it any more emotionally complicated than it already is.

“Not yet,” you offer when his hands get too close for comfort, “Next time, maybe.”

He seems to be thinking the same thing and averts his attention to the forgotten vibrator. His grip on your thigh disappears, and you sigh quietly, but it’s hidden under the slick sounds you make each time your fingers get sucked into your heat and the low moans you make every time your pinch your clit just so.

“W-what do I do?” His voice is small and his sudden worried look has you wrapping a hand around his and bringing it to show him how you click the toy on and circle it around your entrance.

His hands are sweaty, shaky, so when your hips start to circle on their own, they move to find a resting spot on your thighs and squeeze to deal with the tension rising in his own belly. He grits his teeth, clenches his hands, does anything he can to keep from overstepping and making this about him. As obviously cliché as it sounds, seeing you sweating and moaning underneath him lets him see you in a new light. You’d always been around, but your presence as a woman in his life was backgrounded at best. Now, with Yoori momentarily not clouding his mind, he wants nothing more than to ravage you. He’s almost certain that if he tried, his lack of experience wouldn’t matter too much. He’s sure his body would be able to act on baser instinct and give you the what you wanted. If you wanted.

Your moans change in pitch and soon he’s aware that this will be the first time he’ll have been privy to someone else’s orgasm in real life. His dick is painfully hard and straining against the jeans he’s wearing. But he forgets the discomfort fast as he watches you grind yourself down against the toy in a way that is absolutely filthy. Your bottom lip, shiny and reddened, is pulled taut between your teeth in ecstasy. Your eyes flutter open and lock with his own. You focus and notice his blown-out pupils look huge within the depths of deep brown irises. There’s no denying he’s turned on once you flick your gaze down to his crotch and see the large tent in his pants.

“I—I think I’m gonna…Oh!” Your leg kicks out on its own like some electric current runs through you. Your voice breaks as the waves of your approaching high begin to take over you. One of his hands inches upwards a bit and strokes the tense muscle near your groin softly, at a loss for words. “Oh god, Jungkook, you—” keening, your eyes roll into the back of your head.

One of your hands reaches up to squeeze at his bicep as he’s leaning over you. He wonders in the back of his mind when he got so close to you. Your leg hooks around him like it has a mind of it’s own and tugs him down, forcing him to topple over you. That’s the last straw and you sob from the intense pleasure. Meanwhile your warmth and proximity and your words prove to be a deadly combination and within seconds he’s spilling over himself in his boxers, untouched. He lets out a low groan that puffs against the side of your neck.

You both sit there and breathe for a long while, catching your breath and coming back down to earth. He sits up eventually and pulls away from you, leaving you cold. Your legs flop from around him heavily. You’re a bit irritated when you realize you won’t be able to walk normally for a while. He discretely wipes his hands off on your duvet while you wipe at the sweat soaking your hairline.

“That’s it, that’s the show,” you finally say.

He shoots up and looks at you anxiously. It’s cute. “You mean until next time, right?”

His eyes are wide and imploring as he hovers over by you. He looks a bit like a turtle from this angle. A cute one, though. One that you want to play with again next week. You nod even though he might have all that he needs to do well with Yoori, being the fast learner that he is.

“I guess so. Same time, next week. Do some research for next time maybe. Make sure it’s from something not involving the medical library.”

“Got it!” He turns and waits until you’re not looking to adjust his pants.

You notice his hair is sticking to his forehead when he finally stands up. And there’s a cowlick sticking up in the back that reminds you of middle school Jungkook, before he met Yoori. The idea of the other girl, the girl he’s really in love with, dims your post-coital glow. Although, you suppose you have her to thank for this evening’s events. How else could you have ever managed a one-sided romp in the sheets with your long-time crush?

Both of you take turns using the bathroom to clean up. While he hums in time with washing up, you slip panties on and debate about whether or not to throw your sweats back on. You decide that if you’re going to play this off like it hasn’t changed your relationship, you should put pants back on.He comes out looking pink and clean and you want to pull him back into your bed and wrap yourself around him. 

To protect his glasses from the dangers of the bathroom, he left them in your room. Squinting, he walks with hands out to collect them. When he puts them on he doesn’t look at you and instead pulls his phone out of his pocket and swipes around while leaving the room.

“Heading out,” you ask with a quasi-disinterested tone.

“Yeah, I remembered I have to run the Saturday tutoring session this week. So I might as well go home so I can get ready for that. You should come, you know. Your test scores dropped 2 points this week.” Typical Jungkook. He couldn’t ever fully leave TA mode.

You roll your eyes. “Thanks for the reminder, but that’s still an A.”

“Maybe we can try this again next week the same time?”

“Yeah, uh, okay.”

“Cool, I’ll put it on my calendar.” He lifts his phone to his face to tell the digital assistant to pencil you in for next week. You try not to grimace at becoming a date in his calendar app.

“Get out already, you nerd.” You push him out after he puts his coat back on, but you do watch out the window to make sure his taxi comes.

[thirteen-beaxhes]

Our Last Words - Chapter 5

Summary:  In a universe where the last words your soulmate speaks to you are printed, Cyrus Goodman wants nothing more than to never meet them. And he definitely doesn’t want it to be the blonde-haired boy in his class.

ALL LINKS IN REBLOG

~~~~

Mystery of Love - Sufjan Stevens

It was starting to become stupid, obsessive even.

Cyrus had to slightly modify his regular routine to account for his new behaviour. Earlier, he would wait for TJ at the gates after school from where they would either head to the Spoon with the rest of the group, or on days when TJ had work, Cyrus would accompany him to the gym and stay till his shift ended. Now, as soon as the bell rang for the end of the day, Cyrus would gather his things with lightning speed and rush home, steering clear of TJ’s locker, unless he ran into him on the way. On those occasions, they would walk in awkward silence till the gate. TJ at first would desperately try to make conversation, but eventually just stopped trying. Cyrus would use any momentary distraction to turn in the other direction and walk away. It still took every ounce of willpower to not look back at him.

On those rare occasions when they did meet before Cyrus could make his escape, the unsaid words between them settled uneasily as if both of them wished to reach out and say something, but for some reason, none could find the right words.

Finally, one day, TJ couldn’t handle it anymore. As soon as the bell rang, he ran to Cyrus’ locker and grabbed him by the elbow, startling Cyrus out of his thoughts.

“Can we please talk?” he asked, his voice shaky. He wasn’t looking Cyrus in the eye, afraid of seeing hatred, or worse, apathy in them.

Cyrus forced himself to look up from his shoes at TJ. Instantly, he noticed the difference in his demeanour. Where earlier there was a snarky confident boy, was now one who’s form screamed worry and hesitation. And sadness. And Cyrus was probably the reason. Sighing, knowing he couldn’t run forever (though he tried damn hard), he simply nodded.

They walked down to the swings, but neither of them sat down. They stood around, the silence between them getting louder and louder. Cyrus shifted his weight from foot to foot, unsure of what to say. But before he could find something, TJ spoke up.

“Look, Cyrus. I’m sorry, okay?” he said, his eyes trained to the ground.

Cyrus looked at him in confusion. Well that was unexpected. “Sorry for what?”

“At your house. For almost kissing you. It was in the heat of the moment, and I know I shouldn’t have done anything. But, I just didn’t think of what would happen after. And now look. I pushed our friendship too far. And I’ve ruined it, haven’t I? You can’t even bear to talk to me anymore. Like I said, classic TJ. Anything good I gotta ruin it.”

TJ’s voice seemed shaky, as if he was desperately trying to hold in tears. Cyrus wanted to say something, but he just stood there transfixed.

“I know you probably hate me. Which sucks, because I like you. God, I like you so much, Cyrus and you have no clue. I’ve liked you since the time I heard you sing that adorable song right here at these swings. You’re one of the most important people in my life. And now I’ve blown it.”

With that, TJ turned to leave, wiping away some stray tears. But as he started to walk away, he heard Cyrus say something.

“TJ.” It was soft, barely louder than a whisper.

Cyrus steadied his breath walking up to the other boy, turning him so that they faced each other. TJ still kept his gaze trained to the ground, still avoiding Cyrus’ eyes so Cyrus just grabbed his face and made him look at him.

TJ looked so scared and small, like he was too scared and ashamed to look Cyrus in the eye. The only other time he had ever seen him look like that was when Cyrus was walking away from him and his friends after Reed pulled out a gun. He hated when TJ looked like that, he didn’t deserve it.

Cyrus looked up at TJ and said softly, “I don’t hate you, TJ. How could I? I just, I can’t believe it. It’s never really happened before.”

TJ furrowed his eyebrows. “What has never happened before?”

Cyrus gave him a small smile. “That I guy I like has liked me back.”

It took him a few seconds to completely register what Cyrus had just said, but when he did TJ eyes widened, making Cyrus giggle.

“You, I, what?”

Cyrus, wrapped his hands around TJ’s neck, a smile on his face. “I like you too, TJ.”

As he said those words, TJ’s face lit up in a smile brighter than the sun in summer. He chuckled, wrapping his hands around Cyrus’ waist, pulling him closer into a hug.

“Well, you could have given a guy a warning! I spent all this time thinking you hated me!”

“I’m sorry. I was just going through something. But I’m here now.”

“I’m glad you are.”

They smiled, completely content in that moment. After some time, they sat down on the swings, neither really swinging, but just swaying, occasionally sneaking glances at each other. In the middle, their pinkies were linked together.

“So, what was it, Underdog?” TJ asked, breaking the now-comfortable silence.

“What was what, Teej?”

“What made you fall for me? Was it my handsome face or my impeccable athletic abilities?”

“Well, it definitely wasn’t your taste in fashion.”

“Ouch,” TJ said, miming the impact of a bullet. “You wound me, Muffin.”

“Muffin, huh?” Cyrus teased, his voice light and playful.

“Yeah, seemed appropriate. Wow, I have so many great nicknames for you. How many do you have?”

“Well, I’ll have you know,” Cyrus started, glancing down at his watch. He froze.

5:59.

No no no no.

“Um, hey, on second thoughts, can I do a raincheck? It’s just, I have to go. Homework. Errands. I uh, just have to go,” Cyrus said, fumbling over his words as he attempted to gather his things in a hurry.

“Wait, Cyrus,” TJ tried to say, in an attempt to catch hold of Cyrus’ hand. But Cyrus was surprisingly fast, running in the direction of his house at record speed. Wow, Coach would be proud.

That was close.

*

Cyrus spent a good half an hour recovering from his impromptu sprint from the park. His body was not built for exercise, and it made no qualms in reminding him of that fact. After the room stopped spinning and his stomach no longer felt like an underground rave, he reached for his phone to see texts from TJ.

Teej: hey, u ok?

Teej: im kinda worried cy

Teej: call?

Cyrus hesitated a bit before he pressed the ‘Call’ button, unsure of how he was going to explain himself to the other boy. But he reassured himself. TJ would understand if you didn’t want to say anything. Of course he would.

“Hey,” TJ picked up, his voice laced with concern.

“Hey, Teej. Sorry for ‘Cinderella-ing’ it out of there. I just remembered that I had, uh a thing that I needed to help my mom with. I’m really sorry, I was just worried about being late” Cyrus explained, trying his best to seem convincing.

TJ laughed at his description of how he left, instantly lifting Cyrus’ mood. “It’s okay, Underdog. You seem busy around 6-ish anyway these days. Don’t worry, I have work around 5:45 now, so we can hang out at other times, okay?”

Cyrus smiled to himself, knowing exactly what was happening. TJ knew there was something going on, but he wasn’t pushing. He never did, if Cyrus made it clear he didn’t want to talk about it just then. He was making adjustments, understanding what Cyrus needed without him having to even say a word about it. God, he liked that doof so much. Damn.

“Thank you, TJ.”

“Hey, no need for that.”

They sat in silence again, a common but not unwelcome occurrence. Until TJ broke it.

“Hey, Muffin?”

That new nickname still caught Cyrus by surprise, making his heart skip ten beats. “Yeah?”

“You can tell me anything, okay? But if you don’t want to, I’ll still like you, okay?”

“Okay,” Cyrus said, imagining the other boy also lying in bed, probably playing with that stupid toy basketball of his that he still kept from 5th Grade.

“Sooooo,” TJ said, his voice taking a flirty tone.

“Yes?” Cyrus replied, his voice equally teasing.

“Does this mean that you, the one and only Cyrus Goodman, would do me the honour of gracing me with a date?”

“It certainly does.”

~~~~

Why did i hate this lol i’m sorry if it isn’t as good i’ve been getting headaches all day today sorryyy

[kcllmongers]

We putting in our 2 cents? Hold my beer. 

Ahem. 

I come in peace. I want to have a genuine conversation with anyone who wants to agree or disagree because of well...growth lmao. I’m not going to rant or shade. There’s two things I want to talk about. 

1) Why do y’all care so much about this bitch who plays multiple characters (when you niggas do the same. don’t front) 

2) Why not take advantage of this thing called a delete button? 

First thing’s first. We can’t talk about niggas being sensitive when y’all sensitive y’allselves. It’s just a different type of sensitive. Not the delete and post unfollow but the “I’ma rant in my mentions all day” sensitive. Hate to break it to you but that’s being sensitive. You are responding passionately to someone’s comment on you, your development or you’re expressing how you feel about something. Shit I'm being sensitive rn because I really could've kept my mouth shut but I have feelings about stuff. 

Dipping after causing a mess is being sensitive because well, like many pointed out, you caused it and knew what you were doing so don’t post your unfollow after causing a disturbance. Fuck it and move on, tf? You thought exposing IMs, calling someone ugly, saying you’re slap them all of that WOULDN’T cause a problem? People pick out these FCs and go into this with failing muse already after the first week and it doesn’t help when someone wants to randomly slap you or if you’re called ugly. Personally? I’d laugh and move on but some people are different and you can't be mad at that. Just like we learned and grew from our experiences, we need to let the new comers do that. If you got some dope plots, good development, and having fun then fuck the sensitive bitches you’re talking about and keep it pushing. 

Let me skip to number 2. This is all fake, which we can all agree. This community started as an escape for alot of people and still is. We’re grown now. You’d think with bills, rent, jobs and now new relationships we know how to handle things like adults. The only person controlling your good time is YOU. I’ve stopped giving a fuck what people say about my characters, to my characters on anon because this is all fake. I’m not really the person I’m playing and I have a slim understanding of the whole I  “I'm working hard to play this so the anons are annoying” shit but none of that will matter come the next rp. And if you get that discouraging anon. DELETE IT. You literally have the power to delete the hate and to make them feel small. Turn off your anons, ignore it. I’ve enjoyed my time in rps way more when I don’t respond to anons even if it’s with a funny comeback, meme, gif or whatever. But you know the minute you answer 1 of them hoes, 5 more come up so why continue to do pay pussy bitches any mind? Why make the admins mad when they tell you to stop posting them? I wish I could delete racism, homophobia, colorists, slut shaming, rapists, murderers, shit I want to delete the president of this here country but the beauty of this community is that you can literally come here and delete the toxicity away. Be somebody different and not you. But you niggas choose not to and say people are ‘ruining’ things. No. No one is forcing you to answer or do anything you don’t want to. We have full control of these keyboards and if you get a hate anon? Fuck em and keep doing you sis. Period. Now, going into number 1. This is long so strap in.

I said the only person controlling your good time is YOU. This is an anonymous platform all around. Its not just that anon button. On Tumblr you can have real blogs with your face but in an rp realm its your fave as your avi correct? In WC its your fave correct? Fake aliases and all sis. I’ve been on the phone with some people a few times and there’s only ONE person who’s ever seen my face in the 8 years I've been doing this and ive seen theirs. Now, many of you are closer and know names, locations and all of that. That’s cool and fine but some people don’t want to do that. But even then, how do you really know who is who with all these FCs and platforms? Because your friend said so? That don’t mean shit. It’s scary and it’s even scarier when maybe you’re surrounded by the same bitch in different FCs but stressing out over this person who does this is just a waste of your time and has to be the biggest downfall in this community since that shitty ass blackout that nobody took seriously. Good times but it wasn't hard to figure out photoshop. Anyways. Everyone has their assumptions and honestly who knows the truth? What are we looking at. Typing patterns? plot similarities? FC usages? I mean come on. This is the most vague evidence ever and I know niggas were full of shit when they were saying who this bitch was turns out it wasn’t even them. I knew niggas were full of shit when at point I heard my character was apparently this bitch and it’s just like...naw lmao. My limit might be TWO and honestly I only get the second if it’s a FC I really wanted and eventually the other one dies off but talking to myself? Smutting with myself? 3 WCs? It makes me chuckle at the thought of people thinking I even had the time. I don’t even want to talk to other people sometimes and you think I’m going back and forth between a computer/phone or whatever to do that? Nobody knows me but if y’all did it would be laughable too. I’m so god damn lazy it’s not even funny but listen if there’s a bitch that does that in this community...let them. What does that have to do with you? They’re ruining your development? Your good time? WRONG. 

 Worry about you. Your character and your shit is all that should matter so you can take pride in it when you’re done. Not the hours spent figuring out who is who. You could be thinking its the bitch and it’s actually one of your friends and Ive seen it happen. So what it’s the same plots? People develop differently. We still got CBs with anger problems, Dave Easts who move bricks, Rihannas who don’t drop music or act boujee as hell, Saweeties who act ghetto and so on. Y’all FCs act exactly how they usually do ooc and no one bats an eyelash until it’s someone they don’t know doing it. We all based our characters on real like shit they doing. It’s why we choose the characters because of their resources and development. Same with playing multiple characters. I’ve watched y’all sit and pick out MULTIPLE FCs for new rps but nooooooooooooooooooo let’s blow the sirens for this one girl who’s single handedly bringing down he community right? You’re blaming the downfall on ONE person at this point and it’s laughable because who’s at fault for this shit right now? And don’t say sensitive people because we just spoke about this lmao.

And honestly, if this bitch is that irritating. And you feel it in your core that it’s her. Just tell them straight up. I've done it. I get word that it’s most likely them, they do some funny shit and I dead it. Open our plot, cut off connections. Nope. It’s just not me and with the stories I can’t be bothered with he mess. It’s that easy. you literally have the power at your finger tips to better this community by deleting anons, blocking the bitches you can’t trust and just simply telling someone no. But you guys choose to entertain anons or the people in your IMs asking for smut then go to WC and complain. Your next IM shouldn't be sliding into the pussy or on the dick but should be “I'm good luv, enjoy” they’ll get the message. If not, use your words and say you don’t want to. I’ve done it and it was smooth sailing. But you keep replying and actually fuck???????? But still complain?????? 

In conclusion, I feel like we all play a part in how this community is right now. It’s not just one bitch, it’s not just a group of people. It’s not the sensitivity. It’s everyone. It was me at one point trail blazing through the tags. I owned up to it. But I really just chill and rock with something until it dies. There’s a person that hates this blog, I know they hate this blog because we butted heads and turns out they’re my favorite person I’ve ever got the chance to plot and connect with. And I wanted to tell them I was the blog but it just goes to show shit can run smoothly even when people have different opinions. I don’t agree with alot of shit but ranting, anons and all of that won’t do anything. It’ll just leave a bad taste in the tag. 

SO. With that being said, I open the floor to any disagreements. Agreements? Wanna discuss something you didn’t like? Let’s have a conversation rather than yell at eachother. It just makes everyone mad. 

[theresaplatypuscontrollingme]

Lover Review (Long Post Warning)

Now that I’ve listened to the complete album six times today, I feel qualified enough to review it. Spoiler Alert: I FUCKING LOVE IT. 9.4/10

1. I Forgot That You Existed (10/10)

Favorite Lyric:  

And I would've stuck around for ya Would've fought the whole town, so yeah Would've been right there, front row Even if nobody came to your show

Favorite Vocals: I’m obssesed with how she sings “ And I thought that it would kill me, but it didn't” in the last chorus. Love it so much 13/10

Overall Thoughts: I love this song. It’s catchy and was the one that was stuck in my head after finally going to bed at 2:30. I get excited every time i realize it’s coming back on next.

2. Cruel Summer (10/10)

Favorite Lyric: “I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you”

Favorite Vocals: When she shouts “he looks up grinning like a devil” is a religious experience. So into it.  

Overall Thoughts: It’s fun and sounds very 1989.

3. Lover (10/10)

Favorite Lyric: “Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years”

Favorite Vocals: “Swear to be over dramatic and true to my lover And you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me” my favorite lines to hear and sing.

Overall Thoughts: gorgeous song. If I ever get married I would play this at my wedding. very romantic

4. The Man (10/10)

Favorite Lyric:

“They'd say I hustled, put in the work They wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve” (YOU DESERVE ALL OF THIS TAYLOR ilysm)

Favorite Vocals:  

“What's it like to brag about raking in dollars And getting bitches and models? And it's all good if you're bad And it's okay if you're mad If I was out flashing my dollars I'd be a bitch, not a baller”

Overall Thoughts: I was kinda worried about this song before hearing it but I’m obsessed. Beat: amazing. Lyrics: fantastic and so truthful. vocals: fabulous.

5. The Archer (8/10)

Favorite Lyric:

“All the king's horses, all the king's men Couldn't put me together again 'Cause all of my enemies started out friends”

Favorite Vocals: “I say I don’t want that but what if I do”

Overall Thoughts: it’s pretty. I love synth pop so i’m very into the sound of it. It doesn’t strike me as a true track five though. Not enough of a story for me. All too Well was so descriptive and had such raw emotion that you can just feel listening to it. This definitely has the emotion but lacks to the description to really transport me somewhere.

6. I Think He Knows (10/10)

Favorite Lyric: “I am an architect, I'm drawing up the plans”

Favorite Vocals:  

“Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh We could follow the sparks, I'll drive ‘So where we gonna go?’ I whisper in the dark”

Overall Thoughts: This is the other song that was stuck in my head from my first 2 listens. Dress was a sultry “sexy” song and this is playful af. Definitely gonna be dancing to this in my kitchen until to the end of time.

7. Miss America & The Heartbreak Prince (10/10)

Favorite Lyrics:

“ You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes”

American stories burning before me I'm feeling helpless, the damsels are depressed Boys will be boys then, where are the wise men? Darling, I'm scared (Ah)

Favorite Vocals:  

It's you and me, that's my whole world They whisper in the hallway, "She's a bad, bad girl"

and when she sings

“just thought you should know”

Overall Thoughts: WOW. this song is fantastic and every time i listen I find something else I love about it. also same to “darling I’m scared” because America is terrifying right now. The lyrics and vocals are both so strong. this song also reminds me of another song but i can’t put my finger on it yet. at first I thought it was a little gwen stefani(hollaback girl) and then i was thinking cher llyod and then i was like maybe it’s pink(the Truth About Love)? Still can’t think of the song it makes me think of but I’ll figure it out sometime.

8. Paper Rings 30/10 Just kidding that would throw off my scoring but (10/10)

Favorite Lyric: “ I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this”

Favorite Vocals:  “ In paper rings in picture frames in dirty dreams”

Overall Thoughts: I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this song. I’ve listened to it 6 times and cried 3 out of the six. This song is so reminiscent of the fearless era to me that it just reminds me of being 15. I feel like I’m 15 again listening to this. it’s like I’m transported back before all the bad shit in my life really started to happen. Then it makes me think about all the teens who are 15 now and getting to experience this song and this feeling and then i cry for 10 minutes lol. I cried typing this.

9. Cornelia Street (10/10)

Favorite Lyric:  “We bless the rains on Cornelia Street”

Favorite Vocals:

I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends I'd never walk Cornelia Street again

Overall Thoughts: I was so happy to hear this song! this is the RED type of soundtrack that I spent months wishing for. (im very happy with what we got but red is my favorite album in existence so i’m hoping for more of that some day.) It gives me major RED vibes and reminds me of starlight a little bit. I love the imagery as well. I’ve never been to Cornelia St but i can picture it. I’m transported. MORE OF THIS PLEASE.

10. Death By a Thousand Cuts (10/10)

Favorite Lyric:

“I look through the windows of this love Even though we boarded them up”

Favorite Vocals:

“My heart, my hips, my body, my love Tryna find a part of me that you didn't touch”

“Our songs, our films, united we stand Our country, guess it was a lawless land”

Overall Thoughts: I loved it from the first time I heard it and I really love the arrangement of this song. I also just found a quote saying that she wrote it about Someone Great and that makes me love it even more because I’m totally obsessed with that movie. Whenever I have a conversation about Tv with someone, I’m alway like “HAVE YOU WATCHED SOMEONE GREAT????? Why not?/? What are you doing with your life because it’s perfect.” This song is also perfect.

11. London Boy (10/10)

Favorite Lyric:  

“They say home is where the heart is But that's not where mine lives”

Favorite Vocals:  “ Just wanna be with you Wanna be with you”

Overall Thoughts: This sweet. I know nothing about London geography but I’m rooting for Taylor and her London Boy. Their relationship is adorable and I’m glad they’re happy! This song is gonna be really fun at tour.

12. Soon You’ll Get Better (Featuring the Dixie Chicks) (10/10)

Favorite Heartbreaking Lyric:

“And I hate to make this all about me But who am I supposed to talk to? What am I supposed to do If there's no you?”

Favorite Melody:

“I'll paint the kitchen neon, I'll brighten up the sky I know I'll never get it, there's not a day that I won't try”

Overall Thoughts: so many emotions. When we got the Dixie Chicks easter egg, it was the song i was most excited for... until I realized that the song they would be featured on was this one. I was expecting Goodbye Earl and I got Traveling Soilder. OUCH. This breaks my heart and I really hope that Andrea does get better. losing someone is terrible and I’m praying it’s something Taylor and her family don’t have to experience for many many many years. I’m not religious but praying for you.

13. False God (4/10) oww sorry

Favorite Lyric: ?IAMCONFUSION.

Favorite Vocals: the whole thing sounds great.

Overall Thoughts: I don’t really like this song? it’s just kinda meh. it feels jarring to hear after Soon You’ll Get Better and I DON’T GET IT? like it makes me feel dumb. I’ve listened to it 6 times and still don’t know. When I heard it the second time I was like Oh I Forgot That You Existed. Then I was just confused.  What is the false god... is it her.. is it new york city, is the love? I don’t know. Why is she singing from the point of view of the city? This song stresses me out which is a really bummer because I love how the vocals sound but then i listen to the lyrics and get frustrated. Also the only song I wanted to skip all six times. I think part of it is just placement though. after soon you’ll get better i’m not in the mood for this especially when I know there are better songs coming up and I want to hear them now. Someone explain this to me if you get it because i’m lost.

14. You Need to Calm Down (10/10)

Favorite Lyric:  

“Say it in the street, that's a knock-out But you say it in a Tweet, that's a cop-out”

Favorite Vocals:  “Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD)”

Overall Thoughts: Love it. Such a jam. Loved the music video.

15. Afterglow (10/10)

Favorite Lyric: “Meet me in the afterglow”

Favorite Vocals:  

“This ultraviolet morning light below Tells me this love is worth the fight, oh”

Overall Thoughts: I love this. One of my favorites on the album. It’s like a more pop sounding Back to December with a possibility of a positive outcome. Back to December was like i’m sorry i wish i could take it back and this is like I’m sorry can we fix this and meet in the afterglow! Meeting in the afterglow sounds so poetic and light. It brings imagery and peace to my mind and I’m all about it.

16. ME! (Featuring Brendon Urie) (9/10)

Favorite Lyric: “Livin' in winter, I am your summer”

Favorite Vocals:

“I know that I went psycho on the phone I never leave well enough alone And trouble's gonna follow where I go”

Overall Thoughts: I liked Spelling Is FUN. fight me. still gonna yell it at tour. I would have liked a little more complexity in the lyrics though... while keeping spelling is fun.

17. It’s Nice To Have a Friend (9/10)

Favorite Lyric:

“Light pink sky, up on the roof Sun sinks down, no curfew”

Favorite Vocals: the whole song is my favorite vocal because it’s amazing and it sounds great. (I said this like how craig from parks and rec said this is my friend madison she amazing and SHE DROVE ME HERE. it’s very important that you read it like that because that’s how I meant it. IT’S GREAT)

Overall Thoughts: Apparently every one at secret sessions didn’t like this song but I love it. Also saw a couple people describe it as creepy sounding which WHAT? are we listening to the same song??? I think it sounds romantic and gives me the imagery I want. I can picture this love. it’s innocent and wonderful. Very light and very airy sounding. Kinda gives me a Marina vibe which I love. Only complaint is I wish it were longer.

18. Daylight (10/10)

Favorite Lyric:  

“I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke”

Favorite Vocals: I’m living for the entire bridge.

Overall Thoughts: YES YES YES. This should have been track 5 but I also understand having it at the end as a valid choice as well. ALSO SHE MENTIONED RED. okay je suis calme but this song is beautiful and i’m just so happy and so proud of you Taylor. I cried at the end. “You are what you love” I have loved her music since I was 12 and now at 25 it still means so much to me. it’s been a vital part of my life and honestly the only reason i’m alive right now.  Thank you.  

OVERALL THOUGHTS: if you’re still reading by now bless you because I’m rambling. I truly love this Album. it’s got some solid bops and some beautiful poetic songs. I think my favorite songs so far are

I Forgot that you existed #1BOP

Paper Rings #1emotioninvoking

Daylight #1lyrics

170 out 180 which means that this album is a 9.4 in my opinion!!!!

Taylor if you read this, I love you. Your music means so much to me. It’s gotten me through so much. I really hope your Mom does get better.  ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡  

[in-one-sockk]

1-150 for the asks :3🦋

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? - @when-youcant-sleepat-night2. Are you outgoing or shy? - im bipolar3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? - my pretty girlfriend on my birthday4. Are you easy to get along with? - I don’t know, find out5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? - begrudgingly, she hates vomit6. What kind of people are you attracted to? - butches with nice arms7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? - definitely, we’re at six months!8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? - Frank Iero9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? - not at all10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? - the moon11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? - “meanie”12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? - Make it Right - BTS, Summertime - MCR, bellyache - Billie Eilish, Dilbar - Neka Kakkar, This Is Home - Cavetown

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? - NO I have curly hair and if you touch it or interfere with it it looks like I’ve been dragged through a bush by my ankles14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? - I believe in good and bad karma15. What good thing happened this summer? - I met my girlfriend16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? - yes17. Do you think there is life on other planets? - I think it’d be pretty egotistical to not18. Do you still talk to your first crush? - nahh19. Do you like bubble baths? - I like them, for like five minutes because I need to wash my hair and they get in the way20. Do you like your neighbors? - my neighbours are scared of sunlight21. What are you bad habits? - pulling away because I think I’m a burden22. Where would you like to travel? - Norway, Japan, places with blue seas and flowers23. Do you have trust issues? - I have a narcissistic mother, so yahh24. Favorite part of your daily routine? - getting into bed25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? - my shoulders, they’re broad26. What do you do when you wake up? - die inside 27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? - neither, I don’t really think about it28. Who are you most comfortable around? - my girlfriend 29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? - a lot of them, but for manipulative reasons30. Do you ever want to get married? only to @when-youcant-sleepat-night31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail? - yeah but not a cute one32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? - Brie Larson (short hair) and Erika Linder  33. Spell your name with your chin - nopee34. Do you play sports? What sports? - I used to be a swimmer, and I did trampolining and high jump, but I haven’t done sports in a while35. Would you rather live without TV or music? - TV36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? - nope, I’m quite blunt37. What do you say during awkward silences? - I’m usually the awkward silent one, unless I’m high energy38. Describe your dream girl? - can cook, nice hands, sweet laugh, fairly tall, short hair, strong, patient, likes cuddles, understanding, pretty masculine energied39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? - ASOS Marketplace, thrift shops, Pull&Bear, Urban Outfitters, Run & Fly, Etsy40. What do you want to do after high school? - get married, have kids, be a housewife with a greenhouse and a vegetable garden. Can I do that? Nope. 41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? - No, but context. If your partner hits you do they deserve a second chance? No. But you gotta let people learn and grow from their mistakes?42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? - I want attention, I’m sad, scared, suicidal, tired, confused, embarrassed. So really a lot43. Do you smile at strangers? - If I like their energy44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? - I love both of these things but am also terRIFIED of both these things45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? - a better day might come 46. What are you paranoid about? - money and not having enough47. Have you ever been high? - yeahh48. Have you ever been drunk? - too much49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? - yeah but obviously I’m not gonna tell you50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? - Green, my favourite51. Ever wished you were someone else? - a lot of the time52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? - I’d like to have a skill?hobby I could turn into a career I’d enjoy53. Favourite makeup brand? - I dont really have one, but I’ve used the exact same Rimmel London eyeliner since I was 1154. Favourite store? - Etsy55. Favourite blog? - @malnedott has a lot of cute aesthetics56. Favourite colour? - forest green57. Favourite food? - chilli with lots of sour cream (I dont like spicy food)58. Last thing you ate? - a jelly baby59. First thing you ate this morning? - a jelly baby60. Ever won a competition? For what? - I won a competition last month on “who can use the most words beginning with V and create a story that makes sense” 61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? - I skipped school for a while when I was depressed62. Been arrested? For what? - nopee63. Ever been in love? - I’m very in love right now64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? - I actually can’t remember it..65. Are you hungry right now? - very, but I’m lazy66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? - I have no tumblr friends, no one talks to me67. Facebook or Twitter? - neither68. Twitter or Tumblr? - Tumblr69. Are you watching tv right now? - nope, I’m on Skype70. Names of your bestfriends? - Non, Maya, Calli (my cat)71. Craving something? What? - a cuddle72. What colour are your towels? - I don’t actually own any72. How many pillows do you sleep with? - two!73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? - a stuffed unicorn and a blanket my girlfriend gave me74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? - seven?75. Favourite animal? - penguin76. What colour is your underwear? - I’m not wearing any 77. Chocolate or Vanilla? - chocolate78. Favourite ice cream flavour? - sherbet!79. What colour shirt are you wearing? - brown ish red??80. What colour pants? - grey with batman logos81. Favourite tv show? - currently Killing Eve82. Favourite movie? - Mamma Mia 83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? - we don’t talk about the sequel..84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? Mean Girls (I’ve never seen the other one)85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? - Glenn Coco86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? - The stingray bus87. First person you talked to today? - @when-youcant-sleepat-night88. Last person you talked to today? - my little sister89. Name a person you hate? - Gauge…. my old supervisor at work90. Name a person you love? - my little sister91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? - Eden (my sisters ex who left her suicidal)92. In a fight with someone? - sort of.. a non-resolved ignoring of each other and93. How many sweatpants do you have? - one I think94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? - 495. Last movie you watched? - Jennifer’s Body96. Favourite actress? - Jodie Comer97. Favourite actor? - Rami Malek98. Do you tan a lot? - never99. Have any pets? - two cats and one spawn of satan with a cat face100. How are you feeling? - kinda empty rn101. Do you type fast? - when I’m high energy, but am I skilled at it? nope102. Do you regret anything from your past? - dating that teacher that one time103. Can you spell well? - awkwardly, I can spell complicated words really well, but basic words where multiple of the same letters are next to each other are evil, like, I always think there’s two F’s in professor or one D in address 104. Do you miss anyone from your past? - my old best friend I guess sometimes 105. Ever been to a bonfire party? - no but I’d love to!106. Ever broken someone’s heart? - my mothers maybe107. Have you ever been on a horse? - yes and they’re evil creatures108. What should you be doing? - homework109. Is something irritating you right now? - having to go cook110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? - yes, my girlfriend before we got together111. Do you have trust issues? - isnt this repeated?112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? - my girlfriend113. What was your childhood nickname? - Fifi Forget me not114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? - yes!115. Do you play the Wii? - yes, and hugely beat @when-youcant-sleepat-night at Mario Karts116. Are you listening to music right now? - my sister’s bath music from the next room117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? - I’ve never had it 118. Do you like Chinese food? - not really119. Favourite book? - The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier120. Are you afraid of the dark? - yes..121. Are you mean? - sometimes 122. Is cheating ever okay? - NEVER, especially when you’re Russian and pretend you’re a nice person and constantly talk about how cheating is never okay desPITE doing it to every girlfriend you’ve had123. Can you keep white shoes clean? - no, my converse are basically grey124. Do you believe in love at first sight? - i dont know125. Do you believe in true love? - thoroughly126. Are you currently bored? - a little127. What makes you happy? - flowers128. Would you change your name? - yes, for varying reasons. I dont like mine much, and to hide from some bad people129. What your zodiac sign? - gemini130. Do you like subway? - the food? not really131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? - bluntly make it clear I’m gay132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? - I think this is repeated too133. Favourite lyrics right now? - “I wanna build a place in you, where I can be made new”134. Can you count to one million? - probably not135. Dumbest lie you ever told? - “Of course I know what I’m doing”136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? - my bedroom door closed, wardrobe open137. How tall are you? - 176cm138. Curly or Straight hair? - I have curly hair, but straight hair requires a lot less effort and upkeep139. Brunette or Blonde? - ginger140. Summer or Winter? - autumn141. Night or Day? - night142. Favourite month? - August143. Are you a vegetarian? - no, but I can’t be in my current living situation144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? - none145. Tea or Coffee? - tea, black and cold146. Was today a good day? - no, all the customers decided to buy huge amounts as the store closed. If you do this, you are the worst kind of person and yes, we all thoroughly hate you147. Mars or Snickers? - neither148. What’s your favourite quote? - “They tell you to do your own thing but they don’t mean it. They don’t want you to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too.”149. Do you believe in ghosts? - no but I believe in bad energies150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? - Lateness fucking noticed, loser bitch  

[triumphorce]

                   under stars that feel as far as

                               real does..

at the moment.

at any moment..

kidnap me.

any chance presented  

& in moments prior.

spent alone

in 

zone.

far from progress.

stasis,

stationed next to

hope & regret.

on either side.

stamina. breathe now

to breathe more.

no free will.

i got to survive.

i got to make it,

especially if i just change aim

change rim-height,

relate with reality

change chin height,

keep head up,

lower expectations

keep pen up.

can’t make shit up,

so i make this shit up

dig deep, drain soon as i wake up

from sleep, or conscious nap..

break up

buildup

of words

that

feel

like

millions.

euphoric

ultimatum;

write,

or just

waste.

can’t wait

to post, create.

post haste

long ass roads that really dont have

an end, or means to.

I just become more of

whatever comes;

whatever emotions

i allow;

however

i react;

to

whoever,wherever,

when tf ever

‘cause all i am

is now, here.

a little more conscious..

that’s it.

&the more i remember,

the more i forget.

gotta pick and choose.

careful.

careful, please.

carefully

 cut ties, choose way

‘cause by the time it's time to remember

new knew's

once was' just can’t keep up

and i accidentally

delete something

important,

or distort it..

gotta

slow down

life...

ssssshhheesh

i once was in less pieces,

&I at least, once, knew peace, but didn’t know it,

more than likely still do

staring at sky blue.

so blue..

eyes find it soothes

waiting on.

bus late.

contemplating, mind rages

sea

lost in deep

hue pool

sharp, wind wrapping body.

waitin on,

waiting on.

contemplating. gone.

daydreamin way thru life.

thru the little things

i always belittled.

cause I thought I had what i needed. or what I had was mine to keep.

...just because.

i need a little more somethin

a little more new, more original stop cliches, tropes,& archetypes in general

droll,

repetition equals learning, well i'll just lurn-less

beg to differ, by beggin questions, even when forced to tread slow,&only do so in head.

we’re all middlemen.

just fiddlin’

‘round in world,

in universe,

riddled withh riddles,

that

trickle,

drip

in

complex

descent

from cognitive

  beginnings.

ephemeral glimpses of outside-nighttime-world,

through blinds in bed, as a child to now, still just as far from.

as far as real feels.

feelin nothing like how I do now.

but pain passes,

so it just must be my brain's capacity for trust shrank. & elaborates time taken for to cross neural pathways,

not get lost, and make it back safe save, all at the same time, while i attempt to ignore age

pay mind solely to the idea i can do, &I don't have to prove.

to become honest, so potential growth is optimum to be one with me, and know I can't ever be anything but and no idea is ever done, no matter finished, no grey matter greyer, no more dr. bender's, no more directions, no more winners, reflect on self, &what it means-to be better, i deflect defects w/ skylark teeth,  

a truer sense of.. truth

a higher level basic

newfound fundamentals

that all the world and creation in it,

then, now, or later

are truly small

&

no life was ever finished

nobody wants to give it up,but we learn to

and as a consequence return to world what we wish to see beyond our existence

to find trust again love again feel again believe again hurry up, clock's tickin

get it, grind look and find get inspired go inspire go perspire run a mile two three four

five seconds six seconds

gotta go for it gotta get better, 

 never listen only instrumentalz for me

in a room   aspire to be able to define my every rhyme and reason behind thoughts had,

itchin to stay consistent, keep on writing and don't worry about why, keep on filing tomes of dreams, ordering guides to self, from one idea to a whole library of shit I did,

 like,

"oh, damn kid, you wrote that?"

damn right I did.

conversations that I have in my head

while I reread pieces

an elixir, a pensive remedy

for when I feel reluctant toward

reality, when in reality

it's really just the people around me that I trusted, busted ass for, gave up past for filled up gigabytes, sticky notes, notepads for designed a whole world for,

put off parties, friends, a part of me I never gave a chance for. became an outcast for. put on mask for.

to be compared and not contrasted warned and not encouraged critiqued but not heard

made me want

to tell, create a story and not give a damn about glory.

although i worry how i come off..sometimes..

made me

change style time after time for some time, now..

made me have

to boost own confidence, own own ego; inflate like raft, & float to shore,

common ground with action &

focused on

how I'm amounting in life.

..apparently

im just climbing up invisible

mountains

but i don't let it make or break me,

used to,

but no more ,& nowit's just me.

&that's just crazy..

so im focused

on how im a mountain lion to moles tryna troll, but       most the time, tho                    I'm...focused on settling score with where               I've failed

& failed to respond to failure well

                                    let go

of initiative,   hung to anger

in orbit  around regret towards doors left unopened, words unspoken to people gone, that could've changed life, if only They could hear these thoughts.. if only I had someone to talk to besides myself, & people that talk to high-five themselves; given approval never sought, advice for battles never fought, in a room for most of youth, stuck in head, so much to see, explore lore of stories never written, so much done even before i decided to pick pen up, before i decided I was ready for commitment decisions in head turn to an every 5 minute thing,

                  stuck in holes    deeper than before

tell-tale signs around sub-subconscious                         that Im chasin nothin..

apparitions..

in front of people

waitin somethin fierce

for me to

summon what's already there

a mirror image of miracle from thinnest air from holes put in life for pride in pages of jumbled thoughts gaps in memories for drafts that define ironic, describing fine lines I believe are there, in thinnest mirror, between me and experience in eyes that remind me i am less, i am more i am worse, i am better everything in between all and nothing, not objective, but an object capable of observation, own purpose assigned no more worth than yours, no more than I have dealt my self chances missed to live for product tossed or lost in the end

x's & lines through a mind confused,              backspaces                       scribbles       procrastinating daily, delaying the inevitable,                                           staring at.. ...coffee steam            and letters linked in ink curves and ink in nerves

        on nights only sleep's deferred as vivid as yesterdays and scenes in head of tomorrows            mixed in with skips in consciousness     obvious options almost always missed second guesses linger in gut like wtf

what the fuck am i doing everyday, if I don't contribute to future

to believe, or not to believe i was in control of will was the whole problem let go of all it hone on goals. fly low, that is...

as far a stretch as breath of desire to contribute to the world   believing if chance exists, i will succeed I will fulfill promises thru notepads & audience

a caged bird singing

do or do not.

seems all I've done is try, it seems to try isnt good enough, seems what they want from me wasn't what I was told they want, which is for me to want from me & instead what they want to see is what they want to see

me to become this and not my own, no matter how many hours spent, no matter the font, text, or etiquette formed to gain attention, but apparently a proper use of improper use of prose prospered overtime & i kept my posture, keep me from losing self, going crazy, letting people make me think something's not okay, or wrong with me, or out of whack off top, not taken seriously

priorities of the majority of society made it difficult to captivate eyes, and garner respect, because of conflictive internal contradictions to set out for what I thought was spreading message, but was embedding judgment of self, & effort, looking at motives that been made a home in heart like they suspect, but they was who fucked with me when I wouldn't even fuck with me, wanna be someone else, something else, like what you want clave?

to wait for mine..

psh, nnn’eh, thinking I was good enough to be taken seriously ..

thinking there was nothing to do, but to do, but something changed course, one day,

 one day atta time

thinking that I was right behind, could just lift up arm and touch but that wasn't the case, ever, constant race

     couldn't hold on, couldn't hide the pain to psyche out greatest opponent, me

                   didn't want to, saw no point

   repeating and repeating, over and again

so on and so forth, thus forth destroying self                               convinced I couldn't help it      and still am

and still can't

accept I ever gave in,   broke under pressure, buckled under what some would chuckle over, no pity, just recognition of jimity's petition to push when pushed, with thoughts into written gale force, in a position to always hope, so when foundation crumbles, there's another one up under

if not, I use earth to wander.

whether with excess of momentum or subsiding in subtle realization of sustenance behind life's work

purpose on course set to find reward I'm told I'm looking for..

fin

[horansqueen]

You & Me : chapter 41

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

Sequel to AM CONVERSATIONS

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || CHAPTER 13 || CHAPTER 14 || CHAPTER 15 || CHAPTER 16 || CHAPTER 17 || CHAPTER 18 || CHAPTER 19 || CHAPTER 20 || CHAPTER 21 || CHAPTER 22 || CHAPTER 23 || CHAPTER 24 || CHAPTER 25 || CHAPTER 26 || CHAPTER 27 || CHAPTER 28 || CHAPTER 29 || CHAPTER 30 || CHAPTER 31 || CHAPTER 32 || CHAPTER 33 || CHAPTER 34|| CHAPTER 35 || CHAPTER 36 || CHAPTER 37 || CHAPTER 38 || CHAPTER 39 || CHAPTER 40

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his -4.6k -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

READ AM CONVERSATIONS AGAIN ON WATTPAD HERE

- notes: hope the smut isnt too much lol! oh and, couldnt find the gif i wanted but this one will do. this chapter was fun to write and i dont think it was a filler chapter lol! only a few chapters left, im super nervous! at the same time, this story is getting less and less popular sooo idk, maybe its time? idk. if you read and comment and like and reblog, I LOVE YOU!

if you want to be on the list of blogs i notify when this is updated, just message me :)

requests! : posting them at the bottom because of spoilers!

TAKE A LOOK AT THE CHARACTERS HERE

Chapter 41 : His chapter

NIALL

May 15th, 2018

I was so close to ask her to marry me when we were in Spain. I kept looking at her ring finger, imagining what the ring I had bought would look on her hand, and telling myself that now that we were official, anything was possible, and I wanted it. I wanted the impossible, I wanted everything. The words "marry me" almost escaped my lips exactly 11 times and even now, I was wondering how I actually stopped myself from just doing it.

We were back in California for a few days and I had convinced her to spend her time in my house instead to go back to hers. Most likely, Louis was there with Eleanor or he was spending all his time at her place. Either way, I thought we were better at my house but I knew that eventually, she'd want to see Louis and get back in her stuff anyway.

I woke up and blinked a few times as the sun peeked through the curtains but not enough to light the room. It was dark but I could see clearly and when I turned around, I realized she was laying on her back, completely naked, and the covers were only hiding one of he legs. She was still asleep, her hair messy around her head, and I couldn't help but reach for my cock as my eyes roamed on her. I got on my knees gently, making sure I wouldn't make the mattress move too much, and let one of my hands run on her breasts while I grabbed my dick with the other, stroking it slowly. I rubbed my thumb on one of her nipples until it got hard and finally, I let my fingertips brush down her body to reach between her legs, her skin so soft against mine. Slowly, I moved one of her knees before letting two of my fingers run on her slit. The more I was touching her, the harder I was getting and I moved closer to her on my knees just to rub the tip of my cock on her nipple.

"Jesus Christ." I whispered before she moved lightly in her sleep, letting out a low whimper.

I stopped moving and waited until she did too to continue touching her, my heart skipping a beat. The sensation was incredible and it made me want to rub my dick all over her body. I turned my body slightly and reached for her lips with my dick this time, feeling myself get even hornier when she licked her lips. It brushed on the tip of my cock and I let out a low groan as my eyes fluttered. I knew the whole thing was turning me on more than it should and all I could think about was getting between her legs and pushing my cock deep inside her.

Instead, I reached for her pussy again, rubbing one of my fingers gently on her clit as I felt her get wetter. Her body jerked a bit and she moaned low again before I let out an other curse word and slipped two fingers inside her, moving them in and out of her extremely slowly. I could hear how wet she was and I felt my cock throb in my hand. I was so turned on by her that I could barely believe I was doing that but she was so gorgeous, laying there completely naked in my white sheets, and the way she made me hard was just un-fucking-believable. I finally moved between her legs very slowly only to rub the tip of my dick on her clit. It slid easily due to how wet she was from me fingering her and this time, she let out a louder moan as one of her legs twitched. I jerked off harder between her legs as I pushed my thumb inside of her and rubbed her clit harder with one of my fingers until I was closer to an orgasm and without thinking, I took my hand away and pushed the tip of my cock inside her. Her walls pressed around it and I knew she was waking up. I took my cock out as I felt an orgasm reach me, cumming a bit inside of her before spurting on her pussy.

"Holy fuck."

I let out a moan as I watched her pussy get covered with my cum and when I looked up, her lips were parted and she was staring at me.

"Did you just cum all over me?" she asked in a low tone, her eyebrows raised.

"I.. did. I'm sorry."

Her eyes fell on my still hard cock as I shook it slightly and she bit her bottom lip before spreading her legs apart more and reaching for her pussy. I looked at her fingers gather some of my cum and slide it down until her clit. She let out a louder whimper as she started rubbing herself with the vestige of my orgasm and I couldn't help but let out an other curse word.

"You should have woken me up." she pointed, her voice a mix of a whimper and a whisper.

"I know petal but you looked so vulnerable and hot just laying there, naked and asleep." I admitted, my eyes never leaving her fingers as she flicked them on her clit. "Fuck, you love rubbing your clit with my sperm?"

I didn't know if it was my words or just the fact that she was touching herself but she let out an other moan and her back arched suddenly. I brought one of my hands closer and once again pushed two of my fingers inside her as she kept touching herself and squirming on the bed.

"I want to watch you cum, darling."

It only took her about half a minute before she started shaking and when my named escaped her lips, I could swear I got dizzy and my vision got blurred for a few seconds.

"Oh fuck, Niall!"

Something stirred in my stomach and I just stared at her as she came, grinding on my fingers and squirming even more. When she came down from her high and relaxed on the mattress, I took my fingers out and slowly lied down over her. Her eyes were still closed and her lips were still parted as she panted. I brushed my mouth against hers and she whimpered as I felt my whole body vibrate.

"You did so well, petal. That was so fucking hot."

She brought her hands to my head, slipping her fingers in my hair, before kissing me deeply. I tilted my head slightly, tasting her as she whimpered in my mouth. I swallowed her moans and when i pulled away to look in her eyes, she sighed low.

"I don't want to go to work today." she admitted, raising her nose up and making an amused smile appear on my lips.

"You have to."

"I could call in sick?" she asked, her eyebrows raised and her face full of hope.

I laughed and shook my head, making her groan immediately. "Nope, you have to go. I'll go with you, how's that?"

"Better than nothing I guess."

I chuckled and got up, searching through my stuff to find clean clothes and when I glanced at her, my lips curled again.

"Stop staring at me and get ready. I'll make coffee and we can leave." The alarm on her phone started ringing as soon as I finished my sentence and I raised my eyebrows. "See? You have to wake up. Take a shower, I'll wait for you in the kitchen."

I heard her groan and turned around when I heard a sound only to realize she had tried throwing a pillow at me but had failed miserably. I laughed and shook my head but turned back around and reached the kitchen.

We ate toasts quickly as we walked to the car and remained silent the whole ride until we were there. We should both have gotten out of the car, I knew it, but instead, we remained sitting there, looking in front of us, and I kept wondering how we should act together. We were never the type to show too much affection in public. It happened before with friends around, or family sometimes, but not when random strangers could see. This time, we were with a lot of strangers and I was wondering if I should hold her hand or not. Should I kiss her temple sometimes? Or just go straight for the mouth? I didn't know anymore and if I wanted to be frank, I had never asked myself that question in any other relationships before.

"Ready?"

"No."

I frowned and turned to her but it took her a few seconds to look back at me. She sighed and shrugged before shaking her head a bit.

"Things have been particularly awkward with Dylan even since Heidi posted all those lyrics about us on instagram." she admitted, closing her eyes tight for a few seconds before opening them again. "We're filming the season's finale today and, I don't know, I'm nervous I guess."

"Anything special about the final episode?"

She stared at me, her eyes roaming on my face, and her lips parted. "His character is breaking up with my character."

We looked at each other in silence and after a while, I reached for her hand on her thigh and squeezed her fingers tight. I knew why it made her feel like this and I knew it was not only because of her relationship with Dylan being awkward. This scene was our scene. It was that day I broke up with her and tore her heart in pieces. I held my breath, feeling suddenly extremely exposed. I had no really realized before how big this was. Of course, I knew her tv show was inspired by our story but it just hit me that people were actually watching it, and I was wondering how many of them now knew almost exactly what had happened between us?

"I'm here with you. It'll go amazingly, trust me." I pointed out, knowing it was not the right time to have a big discussion about her writing. "Remember in Italy? I almost believed you were breaking up with me to go marry your ex boyfriend."

She chuckled a bit. "You totally believed it."

"Maybe I did." I quickly replied. "But only for a few minutes, because I believe in us, I believe in our love, and I believe in you. So you go in there and play that scene and show them how incredible you are."

Her lips curled a bit and she rolled her eyes before finally nodding. I smiled more and we got out of the car to walk in. I thought I'd see Dylan first but when my eyes met Heidi's, I felt my heart jump up in my throat, almost throwing it up. I felt Olivia tense next to me and I held my breath when she saw us. She sent us a big smile but I could read so much pettiness behind it that it made me grimace.

"Hi!"

I glanced at Olivia who frowned and licked her lips. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh you didn't know?" Heidi replied, her eyebrows raised and her lips curled into a satisfied smile. "I'm with Dylan now."

As if on cue, he appeared and stood next to Heidi but I noticed his eyes never left my girlfriend and it bothered me more than I wanted to admit. Of course, I couldn't expect him to just forget about her, after all, he was ready to marry her, but at the same time I wanted him to move on as quickly as he could. If that was to be done with Heidi then be it : i was ready to put up with her on the set.

"I hope it doesn't bother you too much." Heidi added, tilting her head and looking at Liv who sent her a smile back.

Dylan and I were just keeping quiet, not really sure what we were supposed to say or do, and I pushed both my hands in my pockets.

"Oh no, not at all. It's all good." Olivia replied with a shrug. "I mean, it's not the first time you run after one of my exes, you know? Oh! Maybe I could make you a list of all the men and women I dated? Would save you some time."

I almost choked on my own spit, not really expecting that reply. I knew what kind of person my girlfriend was but she had always played it low with Heidi because she knew it was not worth it. It seemed like this time, she had had enough.

I thought Heidi would answer something rude but instead, her facial expression changed into a surprised one and finally, her eyes got smaller. She was pissed, I knew it, but she'd never prove it to Olivia. She found her smile back and breathed in, wrapping her arm around Dylan's and looking up at him.

"Can you show me the set?"

He nodded and they left but he glanced back at us when he was farther and I finally sighed, turning to my girlfriend who was smiling. I thought she'd be a bit mad, or upset that her ex boyfriend was now with my ex girlfriend, but she didn't seem to care... until her smile fell down and she closed her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong suddenly?" I asked with a frown, taking a step closer and wrapping my fingers around her arm.

"I just realized Heidi was going to be there for the finale." she admitted, looking up at me. "She'll... see all of it. She'll see how it went... between... us."

It was the very first time Olivia admitted that her tv show was about us and I licked my lips, feeling something stir in my stomach. I didn't care that Heidi saw it, but I cared that the whole world would.

"You shouldn't care about her. She's with Dylan just to get to you or get back at us. She's here to piss you off and make you feel like shit. Don't let it get to you. Don't let her win."

She turned her whole body my way and her lips curled slightly into a fond smile. Slowly, she got on her tiptoe and pressed her lips gently against mine. It took me by surprise but I just answered her kiss and when she got back down on her feet, she tilted her head.

"Liv, can I ask you something?" I asked seriously, licking my lips as she nodded, her smile faltering a bit. "I know your tv show is based on our story but... for the next season, could you change that?"

I was scared to hurt her but at the same time, it was something I just needed to ask. If she said she didn't want to, I would accept it, but she knew my private life was a big deal for me and when she started nibbling on her bottom lip, I knew she felt guilty. I could read it on her face.

"I'm sorry, Niall. I never thought people would connect the show with our story but that was stupid of me. I mean, when I wrote that, I thought I'd never see you again, so I sort of wrote to... let it all out, you know?" she stopped and sighed. "Of course I'll make it different. I'll think of a whole other story for the characters, and make sure it has nothing in common with our story. Except maybe... well, the fact that they're soulmates."

I smiled and nodded, chuckling slightly. "I don't know if they are, but I know we are."

                                                 ----

I wandered around the studio while they were filming, and finally ended up at the cafeteria to grab a bite. I sat alone and started checking messages I got on my phone when I felt a presence in front of me and looked up. I was not surprised to see Heidi but I was not pleased either.

"Niall, we need to talk."

I blinked a few times and licked my lips, not really in the mood to discuss with her, but I finally just sighed and put my phone down as she sat down. I noticed she was holding a sheet in her hands and it made me frown. I didn't have time to ask her about it, she simply leaned against the table to move closer to me and instinctively, I moved my upper body away from hers.

"You know you could have just called me." she let out, confusing me and making me frown. "I know you miss me, and honestly I think we should get back together. I forgive you, I know you were a bit lost and..." she shook her head and I was even more puzzled. "It doesn't matter."

I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts back into place but I just licked my lips again. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She put the sheet on the table and pushed it closer to me. It took me half a second to realize it was my handwriting and after reading only a few words, I knew it was which song of mine.

"Wait, where did you find that? I thought I lost it!"

The song was not finished but as my eyes roamed on the lyrics, I had a bunch of ideas on how to actually complete it and I held my breath.

"I found it in my boxes... the ones from your place that you've had sent to my place." she explained, reaching out to put her fingers on top of my hand.

I stopped moving completely and my eyes dropped to our hands. I felt frozen in place, a bit startled by her behavior and not really knowing how to react.

"What are you doing?" I just asked, my eyes still staring at her fingers brushing gently against my hand.

"You're right. We should get back together, Niall." she added. "I mean, I know you're trying to make me jealous with her but let's be real. Who could really be jealous of her?"

Quickly, I shook my head and pulled my hand away from hers, mad that she would talk shit about my girlfriend again. "Do you even listen to yourself? You know damn well I'm with Liv and.. aren't you with Dylan? I love her, okay! I'm not trying to make anyone jealous, I'm just trying to love her the way she deserves to be loved... the way I failed to love her the first time. And you have nothing to do with any of this. What even makes you think I want to be with you?" I was frowning, getting pissed at her behavior, and I started wondering why I ever wanted to be with her in first place.

"Because of that song! You wrote it for me and put it in one of my boxes for me to find!"

I rolled my eyes, angry that she could even think I wrote one song about her.

"I wrote this about Olivia! I wrote that in the first week I saw her again at the bakery after not seeing her for over a year. It isn't about you, Heidi. It got in one of your boxes by mistake!" I explained a bit rudely, looking in her eyes to make sure she understood. "I love Olivia, not you. You need to let it go, okay? And those instagram posts you make.. For fuck's sake, Heidi! What's the point? Make me feel bad? Alright, I'm sorry I cheated on you, I should have broken up with you before and that was a mistake, okay? Now please, leave me the fuck alone."

Without giving her time to answer, I got up and left her by herself at the table before hiding in Liv's dressing room. I searched for a pen, my heart racing as I feared I'd forget the words dancing around in my head, and finally found one before leaning against the counter. I started scribbling fast, almost dropping the pen a few times as I held my breath. I scratched the first line and quickly replaced it to 'Maybe we are the champagne lovers' and went to the chorus to add a few lines, too.

'So come on love me when the lights burn low Meet me underneath the sheets Cause you got a hold of me baby, enough to pull me back in deep You used to love me when the lights burned low Now we’re tearing at the seams We've both had enough of this, baby, so promise me that when you leave You won’t say you’ll come back to me.'

I stared at the words and re-read them a few times before licking my lips. I was still lost in my thoughts when the door opened and I jumped a little, turning to see my girlfriend walking in. I sent her a fond smile and moved up from the counter as she wrapped her arms around me. I held her close, the paper burning on my fingertips, and kissed the top of her head.

I couldn't stop thinking about the lyrics and remembered exactly how I felt when I wrote most of the song. I missed her and I missed what we had. I didn't like where we were and I couldn't believe she was marrying someone else. The parts about sheets I had added reminded me of when we would hide under the covers and we had done it quite often in the past few weeks, making the whole meaning even more powerful.

"How did it go?"

"Not bad for now." she admitted, moving away. "But I think we'll film the rest an other day. It took longer than it was supposed to."

"Good, then maybe Heidi won't be there when you film the final scene." I suggested, raising my eyebrows.

"Hopefully." she replied with a smile before frowning. "What's that?"

My traits softened and I brought the sheet up again to read the lyrics. "A song. For you."

"Can I hear it?" she asked making me look up. Her eyebrows were raised and she was biting her bottom lip. She was so endearing that I almost said yes.

"Soon, okay?. I need a piano for this one."

                                                       ----

May 19th, 2018

Olivia actually slept a good part of the day and I ended up at the pub with Julia, who was back to California too since her tour was over. I had an other first part for the other half of the tour and I knew I was going to miss her dearly. It was not like me to be super emotional, but with time, Julia easily became one of my closest friends and traveling with her had been a blast. I couldn't pretend that the fact that she listened to me complain about my love life didn't help us to become closer but it would be a lie.

"Where's your girlfriend today? I wanted to see her." I felt my lips curl more as I looked at her and she frowned. "What?"

"Oh no it's just... hearing someone else call her my 'girlfriend' is very cool." I pointed out with a chuckle, scratching the back of my head, feeling a bit embarrassed. I couldn't believe I had said that.

"That's what she is now, right?" Julia asked with a small laugh. "That's what you've wanted for months. You've been complaining about it every single day!"

"What? Come on, don't exaggerate." I argued, raising my nose up.

"I'm not!" she laughed again before getting a bit more serious. "I'm very happy for you, Niall. Now it's time to move forward, you know?"

"Meaning?" I raised my eyebrows after taking a long sip of beer.

"Meaning... plan the future and don't fuck up."

I stared at her and nodded with a small smile. I knew she was right, and she was not the only one who told me to not fuck it all up this time. I really didn't intend to, and I knew I wouldn't. I had lost Olivia before, and I had learned from that. I was not going to lose her again.

I was a bit tipsy when I got back home but she didn't even notice me. I stared at her, wearing only one of my t-shirts and a pair of black panties, standing in front of the tv in the living room as old songs from the 90's played full volume in the background. I was pretty sure I recognized a Backstreet Boys song ending and just as I thought it couldn't be funnier, a Spice Girls song followed and she started dancing and singing very loudly. I started laughing but she didn't hear me because of how loud the music was and it made me happy to know I could watch her a few more minutes. She jumped on the couch and pretended to have a microphone as she sang the lyrics and tried to do the dance and when she just started dancing around my living room, I took a few steps closer and she jumped, putting one of her hands on her chest as if it would help slow down the beatings of her heart.

"Fuck, you scared me!" she let out with a chuckle after pausing the music.

I didn't say anything. I just stared at her with a fond smile, thinking of everything we went through and how much I loved her.

"Move in." I let out as she was taking a sip of wine.

She frowned and chuckled again. "What?"

"Move in with me. Here."

Her lips parted and her eyebrows raised before she let out the air from her lungs quickly from her mouth in a surprised way. She licked her lips and cleared her throat before putting her glass back on the coffee table and taking a step closer.

"Are you... sure you can handle that?"

I knew she was referring to the fact that we were different, but it didn't matter. Yea, she was messy and yea it was annoying, but it was such a small problem and I knew we could compromise. In fact, I knew we'd both be way happier if we lived together and I wanted it. I wanted it so bad I could feel it in my bones.

"Yes." I let out in a low tone. "I want your grumpy face in the morning. I want your way too sweet morning coffee... I-I want your mess all over my fucking house, Olivia. I want to smell you when I step foot here after a long work day. I want to start a life with you. I want you to have your own dressers, not just a few drawers in mine. I want to share everything I have with you. I want to share myself with you."

She pressed her lips together and swallowed and I could swear she was tearing up.

"I want all that, too." she admitted, tilting her head. "I want to spend my life with you, Niall."

My lips curled in a big smile. "Then let's take that step. Move in with me."

It took her about a minute but she finally just chuckled and shook her head. "Okay. Let's do this."

REQUESTS

(i changed the first one just a little bit hope its ok!)

[splattershotsundae]

Ink is Thicker Than Water --- Chapter 5: I give it a 10

Toda spent most of his afternoon wishing he felt well enough to pace. Finding out that Orvokki was still alive was no small news. She was a cruel woman, and visions of what she was like, and what she thought like still stuck with him and plagued his sleep. Another thing to worry about was Simon… They’d logged off in a huff, and he was genuinely worried, both about how they were and about… how they really thought about him.

A motion from his skope caught his attention and he took a sharp breath. Simon was back online.

T: hey

S: Hey.

T: I'm sorry about earlier. i was freaking out bout Orvokki, and I forgot and gt a little carried away. T: we decided we still arent going to do anyhting right now.

S: ... Ok.

T: ... u doing ok...?

Toda sighed a little after he sent it. He should just ask them... He was probably freaking out over nothing. Simon had told Jill that she was strong, in and out of battle, hadn't they? And hadn't they told him that they thought Rank was just a letter and a number, before they played Rainmaker? ... But when they lost at Blackbelly, they took that pretty hard... He'd thought it had something to do with what Yuri had said to them, especially with the conversation the two of them had had afterwards... but was that the case?

S:... Not really. S: But there's not much we can do.

T: Yeah...

T: can i ask u something?

S: Yeah, sure.

T: when did u know that u liked me? How long had we knon each ohter? T: Im not trying 2 b gushy, just curious.

S:... S: Call me shallow, but I'm pretty sure I was going to yell at you for bumping into me until I saw your face. S: when I said I'd always found you cute... I... Wasn't kidding. S: I kind of thought it would just be a fling...but here we are.

His breath caught in his throat, and it felt like his stomach had dropped a few inches. Oh no. Any other time he would've been a little flattered, but... no no no...

S: what really got me was... Getting to know you though... You've been a good influence on me. S: I wouldn't trade meeting you, or how I feel, for anything in the entire world.

T: Ive been a good influence on u?

S: Yeah.

He paused, looking at the message. What had he done that they'd think was a good influence? He typed a response, trying to make it sound lighthearted.

T: how so? hvae I... inspired u to make more puns or smoething? :P

S: Ha, maybe that in addition. S: ... I was starting to forget what trust felt like. S: well, except with Jill. But the point is, I needed some mutual trust... You and Bato sort of reminded me. You guys got me to open up. S: I'm sure there are other things here and there but... That's what comes to mind first.

T: ah...

S: Are you ok?

T: yea mi fnie

Toda winced; he'd sent that way too quickly... Quit stalling and just ask already, for crying out loud.

S: .... Toda...

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, his face flushing, then took a deep breath. Here goes nothing…

T: We told Jill about the conversation we had the other day; we were trying to explain why w weren't going to tlak to 3, and we sort of back ourselves nto a corner. T: wen we told her you had sort of said not to mention it to hr, she said it was because u thoght she was weak T: Because she lkies to batle for fun, and u battle to win T: she thinks taht u think that makes hr weak

S: ... She... Still thinks that?

T: Thats what she said... T: ... So ou don't think that?

S: Did you think I do?

T: I didn't at first, cause I told u right when we met that B nd I play for fun T: btu seh said if u hd liked m from the start tehn u would have askd us anyway T: I still didn't wnat 2 tihnk that u thought liek taht T: btu i wsa...

S: i domt anytmore Damn it.

[SloshMasterV3 is offline]

T: wiat no! His fingers trembled. He didn’t mean to make them upset again, he just… He took another deep breath and wiped his eyes. At least he had an answer… Sort of...

He read their last message again; they didn't anymore... So had they used to?

A chime pulled him from his thoughts.

[4PawzAndMeow is online.]

J: re u the reason theres a new barrge of sobs comin form S's room?

Toda's heart sank. Oh no…

T: ... Probbly...

J: O J: I... wasn't bein serioos.

T: u soundd pretty serious

J: i ment th@ i didnt think u were Y... sry

T: oh

J:... U dint brak up wih thm did U?

T: no no T: no I didn't

J: @ lest theres th@

T: yah...

He glanced at Simon's tab. He needed to apologize again... But… it could be hours before they came back online…

T: hy Jill T: can I cme ovr? T: I want to say sory to thm. T: or hve a chance to

J: say sorry 4 wh@?

T: how abot if thy dn’t wnat to hear it I go to yuor room an we cn talk

There was a long pause.

J: yeah K. J: th@ works.

T: k T: be theer soon

J: k

He took a deep breath, then got his shoes on, slipped on his Splattershot Jr’s holster, and went on his way, taking his time so he didn’t wear himself out. He thought all the way over, running through his head his apology over and over again. How much should he say? Probably everything. As he drew near to the Grace house, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Madeline opened the door, blinking in surprise. "Toda?" She asked. "Simon and Jill didn't say you were coming over."

"Afternoon, Mrs. Grace." Toda said, probably more formally than he needed to. "Jill invited me over about an hour ago?”

She paused, glancing over her shoulder for a second, then stepped aside to let him in. “Alright, just don’t bug Simon right now, they’re… not feeling so good today.”

He felt a twinge of guilt; That was the exact reason why he was here. "Thank you.” He said, peering around as he entered.

It was still quite a mess, the floor was scuffed and stained in a multitude of places, the stairs had no railing, bullet holes in the walls, the drywall on the ceiling was cracked, and Madeline’s prized roller was resting beside the stairs instead of hanging on the wall, at least for the moment. It looked like a warzone, and to be fair it sort of was. He gave a nod toward Madeline, then carefully made his way upstairs, managing to avoid grabbing for the railing that was no longer there.

He carefully stepped up to Simon’s door, a lump in his throat. He could hear faint sobbing on the other side, and he briefly considered skipping and just talking to Jill… when he saw her staring at him from down the hall. Her gaze flitted from him to the door and back again expectantly.

He took what felt like the millionth deep breath that day and knocked softly on the door.

“Go AWAY!” They shouted immediately.

He flinched, glancing for the stairs and praying Madeline hadn’t heard that. "Simon?" When there was no reply he steeled himself and continued. "Simon, I.. I wanted to apologize for earlier. I would have sent a message on Skope, but you were offline and… " He looked down at the floor. “The question was personal, it… I hope it didn’t feel like… an attack. When Jill.. When she told me about your past, it... Kind of struck a nerve with me. There was this kid I was sort of friends with for a while, named Benny; I think I referred to him once as a 'Luna-wielding ass'... It's a long story, but I should have known better than to think that you would think like that. I know you're not like that, I know that isn't you. I'm really sorry."

There was a long pause before the door opened a crack, and Simon stuck out their hand. Gingerly he took it, grip loose, just in case they wanted to pull away. However, their grip tightened, and they flung open the door, pulling him into an embrace.

He squeaked and stumbled as he almost lost his balance, but then squeezed them tight, resting his chin on their shoulder. "I-I'm really sorry." He repeated.

"... Nothing’s getting easier..." Simon whispered.

"No, it it isn’t..." He agreed. "... You'd think we would've earned a break at this point, huh?"

"You would think..." They agreed with a sigh. "... Well, while things are this difficult, if this 'Benny' shows his face you let me know so I can punch it."

He smiled just a little bit. "I will... Thanks."

"No problem... You don't even have to tell me why." They said quietly.

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "... Is there someone I should keep my eyes out for?" He asked. "So I can return the favor?"

Their grip tightened around him. "Roderick. You see that bastard you can punch him as hard as you like."

"Gladly." He muttered with a small nod.

"It's a deal then." They said.

"A deal.” He agreed. “… Can we sit down? I had to do a lot of walking and I’m kind of worn out...”

“I’m not surprised, it’s awfully late.” They said, edging over to sit on the foot of their bed.

“… Wait, it is?” He asked, pulling away.

“… Yeah, Toda, it’s like, 10. Dude, it’s dark out and it’s summer, what time did you think it was?”

“I dunno, 6? 6:30?” He said, feeling his cheeks flush.

Simon slowly put one palm on their face. “Did you even set up a ride home? The trains are going to close soon.”

“… I forgot to tell my mom I was leaving.” He admitted.

Their other hand joined the first. "… Okay, I can ask my Mom if she'll drive you home-" They broke off for a long moment. "... You're probably not going to be comfortable with that."

"... Not really." He said, breaking off eye contact, sure his ears were flushed by now.

“How about I ask mom and dad if you can sleep over, and then we play some video games downstairs?

He smiled at that, nodding “Yeah… I need to call my parents too.”

They smiled. “Okay, meet me downstairs soon.” They said,

He nodded, absently adjusting his cap as he watched them go… They were still so cute…

After a moment he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “… Hey dad, it’s Toda. Can I stay the night at Simon’s house?”

THUD

Toda sat up with a snort, rubbing one of his eyes as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Of course it's still a problem!" Jill was shouting.

"Shhh! Keep it down! He's still sleeping!" Simon replied.

"And already it's all about him!" She snapped.

Oh no. He remembered now. He’d spent the night at Simon’s house, after coming over to apologize… apparently there was still friction between the twins however… He grabbed his squidvader cap and started to put it on.

"It's not all about him! What's this 'it' you keep talking about anyway!?" Simon snapped, he could hear them pacing outside.

"I... I don't know, but.. This isn't working!" Jill replied.

"No SHIT. But I'm not just going to sit here while you yell at me for every mistake I've ever made." They said angrily.

"Maybe you should apologize for once!" She huffed.

His hearts sank a little. “Oh no...” He abandoned tucking all his tentacles into his hat and stood, quickly making his way to the door.

"I thought this might be the one time you'd be ok with it!" They exclaimed.

"You broke your promise!" She said.

"Ok, First off, We shouldn't be having this argument right now, and second of all, I thought you /liked/ Toda!"

"I do!! I do! He's the nicest kid you've ever dated. But I'm tired of you being so selfish and hypocritical!"

"Hypocritical? How am I-"

"You talk about how you want to be just like mom, just as good as mom. But when it comes down to it, you /have/ to have me with you, and you only use our squad as a dating device!" Jill shouted. “None of us deserve that!”

Toda flung open the door and peeked out, having to use one hand to hold his hat on. Both Jill and Simon turned to look at him, looking rather embarrassed.

“… Hey Toda~” Jill said, tone cheerful, but posture anything but.

“… Sorry.” Simon said, looking away.

"... It's okay." He mumbled, still a little bit groggy. He looked between the two of them… they were both obviously upset… He was never good at helping during something like this, that was what Bato was good at… Right, be like Bato. He squared his shoulders, then stepped up and put a hand on Jill’s shoulder. “It’s… okay to be upset.”

“Upset? I’m more than upset!” She said, pulling away from him. “I’m furious!”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Simon huffed. “We should just leave it.”

“Leave what, the squad!?” She snapped. "You'd probably LIKE that! You can just as easily find a cute and/or muscular and dumb boy to replace me by tomorrow!"

"Jill!"

Toda flinched a little bit at her tone, pressing himself up against the wall. "Jill… Can you maybe take a deep--”

"ADMIT IT! YOU DON'T WANT ME!!!" She interrupted.

"YES! I! DO!!!" Simon snapped back.

"BULLSHIT!!!" She screamed. YOU LIED ABOUT DATING TODA, YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN’T USE OUR SQUAD FOR DATING AGAIN, ALL YOU DO IS LIE LIE LIE!"

“Jill I--” Toda tried to cut in.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!!!" They screamed back.

“Simon---” He tried again.

"YOU ALSO LIED ABOUT THE AGENT THING!!” Jill screeched.

"I-I DIDN'T LIE, I JUST DIDN'T TELL YOU!!!" Simon hollered, slightly wavering.

“ENOUGH!” Toda snapped, flushing with embarrassment. “… Sorry, I… You’re not going to get anywhere if you keep screaming at each other! Jill, what’s really wrong?”

Jill was silent a long moment. “… I… I’m lonely, and I’m worried I’m going to lose Simon to you…”

Toda’s ears drooped. “I’m not trying to take them away… I’m sorry you felt that way...” He slowly looked at Simon. “… Simon, what about you? What’s wrong?”

They looked at him a long moment, then sighed. “… I… I’m scared I’m going to lose you too Jill, but… I’m scared that if we get involved, we’ll.. die. It’s dangerous out there, and I don’t want you to be left without me, or to be without you, or both of us to be gone, and our parents are left in a ruined house all by themselves...”

Jill was quiet for a long moment. “… So you aren’t… just scared of me being hurt?”

They shook their head. “No, of course not. I’ve been hurt out there just as easily…” They sighed. “I’m sorry, for… saying that you were weak once… I didn’t know it had stuck with you and I didn’t know just how much I’d hurt you. You’re not weak, and trust me, I’ll never say you are again. You’re stronger than me in a lot of ways.”

She paused, then huffed. “No I’m not...”

“Yes you are.” Simon pressed. “You’re stronger in will and in joy, and… maybe physically, I’m not sure.”

She started laughing, then wiped at her eye before holding out her hand, palm down. “To Splattershot Sundae.”

They smirked, and put their hand on top of hers. “To Splattershot Sundae.”

“To Splattershot Sundae.” Toda agreed, putting his hand on top of theirs.

There was a long pause, then Jill put her other hand on top and spoke in a deep voice. “I’m Bato and I’m totally here.”

Toda laughed. “Dear Judd, that’s spot on.”

"... We good Jill?" Simon asked.

"We're much better. I'll... Try to talk with you if something comes up, rather than just blow up." She said awkwardly.

“I would appreciate that.” They huffed. “… Hey, where’s mom and dad, they hate it when we fight.”

Jill got a gleam in her eye. “Mom got… /the call/”

Simon’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

"... The call?" Toda asked, glancing between the two of them with a confused look.

"The call's just what we call it when Mom suddenly gets dragged in to more work, but she can't legally tell us what it is." Simon explained. "But in this case that's good news… perhaps a battle’s around the corner."

He smiled. “Oooo, that is good news!”

"And then Dad's off to regular work." Jill asked.

"Seems we've got the house entirely to ourselves." Simon shrugged. "As well as the burden to make breakfast, I think."

Toda's stomach growled a little bit at the mention of breakfast and he blushed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jill giggled. "It seems like a cereal morning to me!” She said, then sprinted down the hall. “Better come after me quick or I’ll put ice cream on it!”

“Jill, no!” Simon yelped, running after her.

Toda laughed and ran after them, letting himself smile.

Toda is Knitter’s character.

Simon and Jill are Shuckle’s characters.

Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.

Please consider liking or reblogging if you enjoyed, it’s nice to know we’re doing things right.

Shuckle has a patreon if you would like to provide additional support!

[<PREV] [INDEX] [NEXT>]

[starco-conut]

Our Thoughts on Season 3

Hey everyone!! as you may have seen...Alan and I have been just a bit let down by some of the stuff going on. Luckily, we’re both huge ass nerds so we wrote it all out in a multi-paragraph post. With visual aids! if you’ve been feeling a little offput by the new episodes but can’t place why, we probably have your reason put into words somewhere in here. 

Reviews, replies, general additions to this post are not only permitted, but strongly encouraged!! :D

bold is nicole. italics is alan

Scent of a hoodie

I mean. one word summary;... Uncomfortable. it was rough to watch my girl obsess like that and honestly??? there was no clear message at the end... with the whole ‘the scent is in ur heart....’ do they mean to imply she’s getting over marco or that he’s always gonna be around in her mind??????????. yeh. not much to say here.

this episode was kind of strange and felt really awkward with star’s obsession with marco but had a sweet ending with star learning that its really unhealthy for her to latch onto marco like this and its time to move on. it felt like one of those iffy episodes throughout most of it but the end was decent enough

Rest in Pudding

Her little monologue to glossaryk was super cute and well done!! that whole bit was just. Good! felt like Old Times! but then there’s

This was... a gag? I dont know. when i saw it first my gut reaction was that they were setting up some angst about how star’s calling people on earth that aren’t her best friend Marco and THAT got me!! i was Ready To Be Hurt by that! but then like...nothing. Unless it comes up in a nearing episode this was just a bad joke. overall episode wasn’t bad at all though!!

i really enjoyed this episode! the pacing, mystery, and comedy all held up to the Star standard and only had a small amount of plot progression which felt appropriate for a halloween episode. my only gripe is that after the whole Battle For Mewni deal, i expected Moon to believe Star a bit more when she says Glossaryck is alive

oh yeah that too for sure

Club Snubbed

pretty much made me want to die and barf simultaneously. when it got to the scene above, where she talked about just needing a friend i thought, hey, thats cool. and accurate. maybe that dance scene clip, since its unfortunately not a flashback, is going to be presented as platonic!

nope. anyone in for a suicide pact?

To be fair, i should elaborate. Tomstar, in theory, is super cool. I definitely vibed with the fire and butterfly magic mix happening, back when I thought it was a flashback. But...Its been, what, 5, maybe 6 episodes since marco left and she’s already just...whoop? who’s marco? haha what? There’s not enough time. 

And from what I can tell, none of their old issues have been addressed. Tom still has anger issues, but because ‘its hard’ and he’s ‘trying’ suddenly star’s all over him? sleazy ppl come to their exes like ‘i’ve changed!!’ for a reason. the ex should actually. want. to see. change. Star seems content to say ‘fuckall, tom’s here, why not’

WHICH..could actually be good? If it’s presented that way? My hope is that she’s latching on to Tom because they have history, and a bond already. Marco’s gone suddenly, she’s urging for somewhere to direct her affection- lord knows the sweet girl has lots to give. and then they’ll part as friends after she realizes whatever they are now is unhealthy and ingenuine romantically. I have no backing for this and honestly it doesn’t look like that’s the way they’re going but... I’m gonna hope.

this episode definitely throws a spin on our view of tom as an “uncaring, lying, manipulative ex boyfriend” and for the first time i felt like i really saw Tom Lucitor, a boy with anger issues and an unfortunate history with his actions. i was really glad to see this character growth for him but i feel like the writers completely skipped over the real impacts that a relationship like tom and star’s had on each other. 

yes!! i didn’t say but, i kinda love tom as an independent character. his anger issues are presented as a part of his personality, he is a guy who has anger issues, not Anger Issues in a physical form. lots of cool depth on that.

realistically, star would not immediately fall back in love with tom because...why would she? we as the viewers know that Tom has changed but to Star? he has a significant history of lying to manipulate her and marco to get closer to them and star doesn’t have a real reason to believe what he’s saying is true and she shouldn’t have 100% faith in him so quickly especially when she had 0 trust in him just a few minutes prior. overall i was impressed with the development for tom but the future implications were disappointing to me

i will be talking more about my issues with Star and her trust issues later.

Stranger Danger

My only issue with this episode is that it doesn't exist outside of its own ten minutes. I literally forgot about it til i looked up an episode list of s3 to write this post. Eclipsa is sitting there, queen of darkness, in the same castle grounds as star, and shes nor the trial is brought up in the subsequent episodes. Alan goes wild on this one so I’ll let him take it away- he’s 100% on point here.

THIS IS A LONG ONE BOYS, STRAP IN,

i agree with nicole here, there is no buildup to the immense revelation that eclipsa is free and roaming the castle gardens. battle for mewni had planted the seed that eclipsa was breaking out but there was no mention of this in any other episode. and then there’s this:

what was this all about?? did no one notice that Eclipsa, the Queen of Darkness, one of the most powerful queens and magic users in Mewni’s history, and a wanted criminal, was FREE FROM THE CRYSTAL THEY FROZE HER IN?? And in BFM, Moon even visits Eclipsa’s crystal prison to check if she’s still there but now? she didnt seem worried about it AT ALL. only when Star is peacefully talking to her does Moon and the magic high comission show up because...plot reasons.

aside from that, however, i feel like the pacing in this episode was not planned very well. from the opening scene of Star taking care of Glossaryck for well over 4 minutes, it felt like this was going to be a fun silly episode with general shenanigans (there’s nothing wrong with silly episodes, it just didn’t end up being one). but halfway through the episode, eclipsa shows up and suddenly the plot is moving at a rapid pace. and while this felt like it should have been the climax of the 11-minutes, the climax just continues? there is no falling action in this episode. it continues with star being decontaminated and at one point she is strapped to an examining table and flashes through some disturbing faces

why is she smiling? who drew this? this feels really creepy, like someone is putting their kinks into the show and its really uncomfortable to watch and think about. there is a heart touching moment with Moon and Star talking about their actions and both side have somewhat understandable reasons, though star clearly has the show’s bias so the plot progresses (which is not necessarily a bad thing). afterwards, Star meets Eclipsa in her cell and still, the climax of the episode has not fallen at all with all the arguing. and then finally when star confronts eclipsa in her tower, she says,

“Just because i didn’t want you crystalized again, doesn’t mean i trust you.”

????

She literally has no past with eclipsa other than having a pleasant conversation with her. She knows next to nothing about her actual actions or personality but immediately doesn’t trust her? but in Club Snubbed she immediately trusts tom? the guy who directly had severe negative impacts on her life?? Why?! Why are the writers so inconsistent? nothing makes sense! It’s cheap, forced romance that’s why!

and after this ridiculously long climax the episode just ENDS. there is no resolution, and it doesn’t touch on it again anywhere in the next four episodes. It’s bad show writing.

Demoncism

I picked this screenshot because it was the most disgusting!!! this is just...more of an opinion here but I really like the trope where one is out of their mind, dangerous, causing magic destruction and the other defies the risk and holds them, curing the issue with The Power Of Love. it’s corny but I love it. and yet.

here. they decided to just. chuck it in. I’ve seen shows do this trope Very Very well (oddly, one example i can think of also involves a wild demon kid and a forest in blue fire.....) but to just...throw this in there. with. like 8 seconds of buildup. n-o. no. ESPECIALLY because tom and star, where they are currently in the show, aren’t ready to be romantic, and this trope always has romantic implications.

i got extremely mixed feelings from this episode. on one hand it had a great message that you shouldn’t force change but rather to grow naturally and learn from your mistakes. on the other hand,  a lot of it is still tainted by this cliche, boring, romance. Star immediately barges in and claims that he’s only doing this for her and generally is untrusting of his actions. 

......

are you noticing a common theme here? writers purposefully twisting characters’ interactions for the sole purpose of causing drama? give me one good reason for star’s sense of trust to be flip-flopping like this over and over again. im being serious, if you even read this far, leave a reply and call me out because i CAN NOT THINK OF ONE GOOD REASON.

“Okayy, but no tickling.” Again, more creepy bdsm, moving on.

Then later when hes doing that whole floaty, blue veined, writhing scene i will actually commend the writers for making a very good analogy of how painful and unhealthy this process is for tom to quickly force himself to change. then star comes back and hugs him and says shes here for him which would have actually been a very sweet moment if they had just been friends but of course, they’re not. its just a reminder that “uwu they’re in love now”. and then there’s this:

confirmation that yes, the show is going to do that. rush star and tom’s relationship bc #teendrama. and the worst part of it is: star and tom could actually have been an acceptable, if not role model relationship if it wasn’t written so poorly, which is what the next paragraph or so is dedicated to.

I don’t hate Tom and Star’s relationship. I don’t. i see it as a missed opportunity. Tom and Star were two people who used to be a couple in the past and broke up for reasons unknown. we can speculate that it was because of Tom’s anger issues and problems with lying, and also Star’s inability to deal with complex situations and face her problems. THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY COMMON REAL LIFE SITUATION. This was a ripe opportunity to go in-depth with Star and Tom’s issues, not just their own but also the issues between them. and it is wasted. I know that its hard to fit this into one measly episode but there’s a whole half season to develop them at a proper, realistic pace! i wouldn’t care if the entire season is dedicated to Star and Tom working to solve these issues if it meant we had this enormously important topic resolved in a healthy and wholesome manner. 

But the problem is, none of this happens. And it’s not going to. The writers completely skip over all of Tom and Star’s anger towards each other and go straight to “UWU THEYRE IN LOVE NOW”. Star is just rebounding off Marco and onto Tom and there’s going to be more unnecessary drama, and someone’s going to get hurt.

And I am disgusted.

Sophomore Slump

jarco saved this ep ? the only parts of it i could really relax and enjoy was the little jarco montage it was cute. and then. and THEN. the random dumping. I get what the writers were trying to say, y’know? ohohohoh, nudge nudge, we all know who marcos REAL best friend is...hohoho...except. they shouldnt have. said it. at least not via jackie. She was used in this disgustingly common way where she’s just there to deliver a message and help marco realize something. do y’all realize the most drastic adjective i can apply to her realizing she+marco wont work is like....”bummed”. It’s realistic to cry, to be fucking mad, to show...FEELING...i don’t care how cool and chill she is. It’s an absolute travesty to her to not let her be upset about it. 

AND THE CAPE. it was obnoxious, I hated his attitude about it, not because it was annoying but because he expected others to stop ‘acting weird’. I had hope when jackie knocked sense into him but then he...was then REWARDED for his obsession with it? He ended up getting what he wanted, a ticket back to Mewni, by being a stubborn arse about it. no.

god where do i begin. alright.

Marco was so out of character this episode. im not talking like “he isnt the safe kid anymore he takes some uncharacteristic risks”. no. I don’t know who this kid is but it is not Marco Diaz. He’s some plot device created by the writers to create drama. Why is he so obsessed with his cape? Why is he forcing his experience on mewni into every conversation? Why. Is he. The Croissant Girl. The dude spent over sixteen YEARS in other dimensions going on quests of epic scale and comes back home without a single issue readjusting. Not one word. but then he spends one week in the butterfly castle and serves essentially no purpose the entire time other than freeing Star from her chains one time. He was completely and utterly unimportant in the grand scheme of the BFM movie. and then he comes back to earth and feels this great pride as if he was some great part of the event. Why? what does he have to be proud of? there was no mention of this development in any of the earlier episodes. and i havent even mentioned the ridiculous forced breakup yet.

at some point it seems like Jackie’s words really do come through to Marco. He snaps out of his daze and seems to genuinely want to make it up to her. the scene with Marco and Jackie having a fun date at the pier was incredibly sweet and was generally a good experience. We got to see more of Jackie’s fun side that we were desperately searching for in season 1 and the first half of season 2. it was very satisfying to know that jackie was a character everyone would eventually come to love. but then

that. Why? Why has Marco not moved on at all and learned his mistakes? why does he not understand that he’s being destructive. why do the writers like creating unnecessary drama. you know what show had a very similar plot issue and resolved this properly??

That’s right! Everybody’s favorite racist, ableist, offensive, generally unfunny show: The Big Bang Theory. I don’t even remember this dude’s name but when he came back from space and was being annoying, his girlfriend talked to him and he realized that “WOW IM ANNOYING LET ME THINK ABOUT OTHER’S FEELINGS FOR ONCE.”

100%. if they had stopped with the callout via jackie, and he had actually taken off the cape, I would have been fine. lesson learned. but, obviously, they didnt do that.

 If this show (which has an incredible track record for doing crappy show writing) can get it right then why can’t Star vs the Forces of Evil? A show that is usually praised for it’s amazing talent for intelligent, easy to understand, and great moral messaging?

Because of the writers. They don’t want to teach important messages for these kids (the target audience may i remind you) to latch on to and learn from. They want to write their angsty fanfiction and throw it into canon.

Nicole-TL;DR my lasting hope is star’s affections for tom are, and are revealed as such, a way to cope with going cold-turkey on marco and things resolve without a stupid fucking love triangle also jackie and janna start  dating. aaand im just. disappointed with the show rn. something’s different and after shoving this amazing ass show in everyones face for so long just to see it kind of...well, it’s starting to peel. idk why. but im just hoping this is like...banagic incident but...several episodes long.

Alan-TL;DR 

[dndfuckhouse]

session 29 - High Tension Situations

> 🎵  Rogue Encampment / Diablo 2 OST

Cracking open the entrance again as they were taught by Ezra, the group all head down into the cave system remembering the codes and the traps, Keva taking point. They eventually make their way back through the underground, reaching the large dark humid cove again.

Peering about as they come down they see a lot of boats on the waters strangely, as well as lights peeking through windows scattered about the buildings in the dark. Heading into the area proper there looks to be plenty of hustle and bustle down here as well strangely enough. Cloaked and shadowed individuals and groups are walking about quickly and some places look even more boarded up, or are in the process of becoming so. This is probably the loudest they’ve ever heard the place, sounds of hushed muttering and arguments being heard echoing around all the buildings and carved roads.

Finn and Han take their time peering around, it seems as if the people here are emptying out or holing up inside places as quickly as they can. Listening in as they walk by they get whispers from people gossiping about the business upstairs with the lockdown, every now and again hearing words about corpses. They also hear some whispering about disguised royal guards being spotted down in the area earlier. The rest of the party doesn't seem to take as much notice however, simply noting the place looks busy.

Han: "seems like that lockdown is affecting here too... and there could be guard around" Plum: im not worried about no cops Rokka: rokka huddles a little closer to whoever is next to him

Psalm: jesus

Finn: psalm be like sorry im granblueing rn Plum: he has his phone out Psalm: OH FUCK I MISSED STRIKE TIME AGAIN

Rokka waltzes around in his Chris RokksworthTM disguise while Finn keeps his heavy daytime garb on in the cove, the others dont bother too much with disguising themselves aside from pulling up their hoods. 

The party decide to head over to Renny’s, noting it as the last place they saw Cole and Ezra. They all walk down and around to the centre area of the cove, making their way back to the same dingy looking building and cramped alleyway. They manage to find the right road before getting too lost, recognising the familiar heavy wood door indicating the front of Renny’s inn.

As they enter the area they note that it doesn't look too busy around here, on the way notice a couple heated conversations and busy buildings, but nothing sticks out in particular. 

Sidling up the door, the group give it a good knock, it takes a minute or so before they hear any sound behind it indicating that anyone’s even around. After some shuffling the thin slit in the door slides open and a familiar pair of eyes peer back at the party. It roves over the group for a moment, Han bending over and waving in response. It soon slides back shut and the party stand around listening to a series of unlocking sounds.

Finally the door swings open and there they see Renny, once again holding a pipe in one hand, as she moves to lean against the door frame.

Renny: “ol’ friends of ezra’s in need somewhere to hide out again? seems like you’ve got someone new with you though” she breathes out a wisp of smoke as she levels a long stare at finn Rokka: "Hello again!" Renny: "....hello again darlin" Han: "we're looking for him. you happen to know where he went?" Keva: "a direction would be good" Finn: he stares back, unsure what to say to this lady or if its even important for her to know who he is. Renny: "I haven’t seen the guy since he left the place with that tiefling girl after the other one, if I didn’t know him id worry he was skipping out on his tab” she snorts, but keeps staring at finn expectantly

Cimmorro: slaps finn's back like "pst introduce yourself" Plum: im going to swat finn and tell him to say covertly Rokka: nudges finn Finn: he feels more than uncomfortable. he doesn't need to make it known the barvottes crawl around places like this. switching a few times between looking at cimmorro and rokka before looking at renny. "i am called finnian." he then looks away and pulls his hat down more. Keva: cowboy tilt your hat finn Finn: vargonia culture Renny: she turns as u respond "nice to meet you there finnian, names renny, bit of common courtesy's appreciated" Finn: he nods back, acknowledging the acknowledgement before peeking at renny from underneath the snufkin hat. "my apologies" Renny: she smirks at you Finn: this milf... her aura is overwhelming, finn looks at cimm if he did it right. Cimmorro: cimm looks at u with a nod of acknowledgement Finn: i feel like turning to cimm for social advice is awful Cimmorro: OIJGIAOPJGWOPIAJGIAJIWG I HATE YOUG

Keva: she mumbles "why did...." then louder as she watches the others nudge at finn "...do you know which direction they were headed?" Han: "and did they say anything as they left?" Psalm: "I think we should just cut to the chase about why we're looking for them no? We have good enough reason to believe that they're in danger." Rokka: "and we came to save them!" Renny: "danger huh.... seems to be the trend around here. not really, think he went after that other friend of yours you popped in with. i’m no one to pry into what my patrons get up unless it’s going to disturb others or myself, understand me?” she takes another puff of her pipe and turns her head at you rokka "nice of you" Keva: "other friend?" Renny: “white haired fellow”

Chip: [han nat 1 insight check] renny would never lie to you.... perish the thought Han: tru milfs wont lie to me they love me Chip: so true

Getting a sense the conversation isnt really going anywhere, Cimmorro takes a step back to cast sending to cole while the others continue chatting along with renny, though renny gives him a curious glance.

Keva: "did you notice anything weird with the other guy when he left?" Han: [nods at keva’s q] Renny: "hmm...seemed tired, like he was in a daze. didn't ask"

Cimmorro: "it's cimmorro. do you have any clue where you are right now? any clue at all. keep it brief, this spell cant hold." Cole: after a second or two you hear a response in coles voice in your head "ahuh- is that you cimm?? whoa where are you....were underground uh...some huge group jumped us. um uh...in the bone somewhere higher up-" before it cuts off Cimmorro: just face palms at cole's rambling before getting everyone's attention "hate to break the chat but it seems like they're 'in the bone somewhere higher up,' cole said" Han: "...so like..." han points upwards to shorewater Rokka: "please don't tell me its the cult again ugh..." Psalm: [to renny] "If you don't mind, do you have any idea what 'higher up' would mean for down here?" Renny: "could mean one of the taller buildings or scaffoldings that crawls up the cove walls. or could just mean up north, theres a bit of a slant that lets you see over the rest of the cove from back there" she shrugs "doesn't really narrow down your search radius though i think, could ask around, more foot traffic lately"

Han, Psalm and Finn both think to themselves if they know of any particular big groups that may have targeted the two down here. Psalm and Finn come up with nothing, the latter having gotten most of his information from his uncle. Han thinks a bit longer but nothing immediately pops into her head outside trading groups ferrie told her about. Cole could be talking about a big gang but she gets the feeling there's plenty of those down here and she doesn't know any of them by name.

The group think amongst themselves, deciding they should split up to search, one group prowling the rooftops of the rickety buildings while others search and ask around on foot. 

Han: she goes "well, thanks for your time" and gives renny another 5 gold Renny: she raises a brow and takes it "well thank you, if ya spot him down the line let me know. finding myself a little curious now" Han: "will do ma'am" ^_^ Renny: she waves and shuts the door behind her as you all chatter amongst yourselves, you hear the door lock four times behind her

Finn: "psalm you may not be going to the roof but ill give you my grimnir raid id while youre still here, its my strike time you see...” Psalm: "Yeah no problem I can mvp" Finn: "It's '00568E33, thank you psalm. your fire is invaluable to my raids." Rokka: BAN GBF Chip:

Finn: QWHY ARE YOU EXPOSING ME Psalm: OH I CAN GO HOLD ON Keva: OH MY GOD Plum: oh my god Finn: IUMDIFMFG

Rokka: he fidgets at the thought of leaving ground team alone "I'll...go with the ground..."  Han: ;LK;LKHSDALKHFKWELKRD 🥺

The groups split into two teams [ Han, Finn and Keva ] to explore the roofs and [ Psalm, Cimmorro, Plum and Rokka ] to ask around on foot. They decide to all meet back up again in about an hour’s time at Renny’s to share their findings.

The ground group decide to make their way to Nickel to see if they can get any useful information out of him. In the meanwhile the rooftop group sidle up to the nearest looking short building. Han offers to help the two up but Keva quickly climbs up and ahead of the other two on her own.

Han: "yes, i give boost, no problem" Plum: forgot han sounds like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW1Nff6jgjo

Finn: "ive no need for any such thing. a vampire can scale any surface." Han: "so can i, am i vampire now" Finn: "no you cannot! i can climb anything! you cannot." he crosses his arms. Han: "... yes i can" Finn: finn furrows his brows. "you are so foolish that it truly escapes me how you've made it this far." Han: han crosses her arms at finn "what? why?" Finn: finn is exasperated. "insufferable." he scoffs before turning his back to han. Han: "what, you think i cant? ill prove it" Finn: "prove it then." he says in a snotty tone

Han casts spiderclimb on herself before immediately running up the side of the wall like naruto, laughing in victory from the rooftop. Though once she reaches the top she realises she does not have darkvision and cant really scope the place out at all. She can see many small lights peppered around the cove, but on the roofs? there are no lights on the roofs. its going to be easy to trip up here. In the meantime Keva attempts to peer out for anything suspicious, though she comes up empty, slightly distracted by the two behind her’s antics.

Han: “....balls” Finn: he stares for a good moment. but then he shakes his head and tsks, despite han not being able to hear. foolish goliath. she had to cast a spell to do it! how foolish! [he then climbs up effortlessly after her] Keva: she just, pulls her hood down lower and goes toward the higher nearby building mumbling "i'm not dealing with this"

The group make an effort to stealth themselves once they get up, Keva doing so well that Han loses track of where she went as the former climbs higher up on the building next to them.

Han: han is like "you take ages" Finn: "perhaps you ought to take your time too, might draw fewer eyes to you." finn checks out his gloved nails you know how. its about the vibes it gives off 💅 Han: han is like >:/ MAYBE SO.................

In the meantime the other group make their way over to the location of nickel’s familiar storefront, Han having quickly shouted them directions from the last time she was down here. As the group approach they see a good number of boats near the shoreline and the building, it appears a group of people in similar uniforms as Nickel are hauling crates and barrels onto them.

They walk over to the tented side of the building to find nickel where they last spoke to him, though as they make to dip their heads inside a hand comes up in front of their faces shooing you back out, on the other side of it they hear nickels familiar drawl 

Nickel: “sorry pal, closing up for the moment, trying to shift out our stock around like everyone else so-“ he sticks his head out from the flap at the tail end of his spiel “oh you lot again? surprised you’re down here again after all the chatter I’ve been hearing flow through” he gives your group a lazy smirk. Psalm: "Eh... that got sorted out, but we're not here to shop." Plum: "yo, you wouldnt happen to know about any big gangs in the area would you" Han: SUCH AS YOURS, O FAIR NICKEL? Cimmorro: "what's the hullabaloo about actually?"  Nickel: "wow fun question, whyre ya asking" he gives an awww at the no shopping comment before turning to cimmorro "hmm? figured you'd have heard about the big bad royal guards skulking around down here, among other things"

Plum: “...” i'm gonna turn to cimm and psalm and be like "is it a good idea to tell him why" Psalm: "I don't see how we can avoid that if we want to get the most information out of him if he knows something but... we can try?" Plum: "that's what i think, and it's not like he's the most trustworthy person ever, well okay” Psalm: "As far as I know the Dark Blues are a merchant group and not in the business of kidnapping people, so i want to say i doubt he’d be involved”

Plum: "fine, well, some friends of ours got kidnapped" Cimmorro: cimm just gives a "ah, just curious if there'd be more to it than that" also just nodding to psalm and plum rn Nickel: "everyone here’s a little paranoid yknow? well myself included, so you can imagine anyone who’s drifting through is leaving and everybody else is boarding up their doors and digging their holes” he puts a hand to his chin “ ahhh the city feels a little scary these days don’t it valued customers?” he says while theatrically scrunching up his face in woe before turning to you plum "sad story there friend, not uncommon a thing to hear round here" Plum: "sure, sure, but have you heard of any group like that is what i'm asking, like lets say its not just some random thugs" Nickel: "oh plenty down here, but you'll want to narrow down the list unless you want to stand here and listen to me drone on for an hour" he folds his arms and smiles "and its not very in my nature to give things away for free" Plum: plum puts their fingers to their head in annoyance and says "i'd rather listen to you drone on than be doing this right now" Nickel: he goes ^__^

The group relay to him what Cole told them, about being higher up somewhere within the bone, specifying she probably meant somewhere in the northern area rather than above their heads. They also state they’re looking for Ezra, remembering Nickel encountered him the first time they met the drow so he may recognise him, they also bring up rickert’s name additionally.

Cimmorro: "oh hum... does rickert sound familiar to you?"  Nickel: "hmmm...somewhat, pauldrun...?" Psalm: "Elf, short hair, missing his right eye. Scar on his face. Has probably never smiled in his life. Ringing any bells?” Nickel: he nods his head and shakes his hand "ah yes yes i know of him, hes fond of grinning i hear actually" Cimmorro: "the one with us was the opposite of that yeah" Rokka: "wonder why he doesn't grin with us 🤔 " Psalm: "Well hearsay and reality tend to be two very different experiences 😇" Nickel: he laughs at that Psalm: score Han: ARE YOU IN A DAITNG SIM A;LKDSFHRLKW3EFDS

Cimmorro: "SO.... if you two are done flirting... any clue of their possible whereabouts or no" Nickel: he smirks at you cimm and continues "him and his motley crew? i know where they like to hang around the most at least" Cimmorro: 😳 ".... and i assume you want compensation for that information?" cimm exhales  Nickel: "well since you're not buying anything..." he smiles

Psalm: "I wouldn't put it past them to kidnap people... 🤔" Cimmorro: "yeah especially if it's ezra lol" Psalm: "That aside, remember what they were up to when we first ran into them." Plum: "unfortunately, it's not too farfetched that it could be them" Cimmorro: "they sure like their ropes!" Rokka: "Makes sense"

Cimmorro: looks at nickel unamused "what's your offer then?" Nickel: "hmmm lets say 70 gold" Rokka: Psalm quick eldritch blast Psalm: i want to be able to shop here later...

Cimmorro: i huddle towards the others "not particularly skilled in haggling so if one of you wants to try... either way, we can also pool for it" Plum: "i'm also not skilled at haggling" Rokka: ok rokka pulls out 70g and dumps it on nickels hand "that good sir?" Nickel: "oho thank you kindly sir"  he pockets into one of his pouches with a smile while giving you a knowing glance

Nickel: he turns to address you all now "if you want to find rickert i suggest you look for a bar called the Cracked Skull, its where him and his gang like to idle around when they're down here. if they aren't on a job in any case, they’re probably busy with people leaving or piling in so you’re bound ta’ find someone whos seen him recently" another smile Psalm: "What are the directions from here?" Nickel: "head around the east dive, its where most of the livelier bars are, place has a big skull drawn on the front of it, hard to miss"

Plum: "oh last thing, when are you reopening your shop after all the, uh-" gestures to people moving around Nickel: he looks down at you "hmmm well right now were relocating our storage and whatnot so..." he thinks for a beat "if nobody comes snooping for us specifically we'll probably be open our doors again within the week, eager to see you then of course" Plum: "right" and then in a more deadpan voice plum says "see you then" Rokka: "thank you good bye!" Psalm: "Thank you kindly." Cimmorro: cimm just leaves fr Nickel: he gives you all a cheery wave "see you again soon"

Plum: theres no way rickert's gotten to level 5 within  a week lets beat his ass Cimmorro: little did u know he fought a dragon and got to lv 20

Cimmorro: once we're out the store i'm gonna nudge rokka "i'll pay a part of that gold later. i have no change on me right now" Rokka: rokka looks at cimm "huh? what? no! no, it's fine don't worry about it!! thank you though..." Cimmorro: :/ "it's a group effort right now and i'd like to do my part. nothing more nothing less" Rokka: "i mean...if you insiiiisstttt...." rokka nods and looks around for a bit before looking back at cimm "no rush though!"

The belowground group make their way over towards the Cracked Skull. Back with the rooftop group both Keva and Finn attempt to peer out into the cove for anything of note nearby but both ultimately come up with nothing. Finn finds himself distracted by Han nearly tripping over the roof in the dark while Keva stares back down at the two from her higher vantage point, throwing a small rock at Han’s leg to get the twos attention.

Finn: "looks like you cannot climb anything, the way i do. time to admit it, no?" Han: "i just proved i can climb it easily, what the fuck are you on about" Finn: "tripping over yourself like the oaf you are, ha. you are not just foolish, but also amusing." Han: "i cant see in the da-(VERY MUFFLED SQUEAK OF SURPRISE)" [tracks where the stone came from] then punts finn and goes "whatever, come on" Finn: finn holds a hand over his mouth in fake shock and rolls his eyes. "sure."

The group set out to start snooping around the taller buildings near Renny’s as opposed to just looking out over the streets. Keva manages to keep quiet and not alert people inside as she peers through cracks, she sees quite a few shady dealings occurring but nothing that seems to be related to Cole or Ezra. Finn ends up much the same as Keva, thinking to himself ‘wild that people live here’ as he stares at some guy randomly sleeping on the floor. 

Han has less luck than the other two, coming across heavily boarded windows, and even when she can peer through the cracks its too dark inside for her to notice anything. As she stomps about the outside she also gets an ugly glare from one window from an occupant inside. She quickly gives a peace sign and slides down the wall back to the ground while the eyes glare at her all the while.

The three regroup a little dejected, han pouts.

Keva: "maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way" Han:  han looks at keva like go on Finn: "i am not sure myself. i wonder if the other team is making any more progress than we are." Keva: "i don't know, there's like uptown and downtown in cities right? maybe there's different part of the withered bone" Han: "renny said it could be north where theres a scaffolding... north should be that way (points), we could try heading there" Finn: cant I fact check on that being north [it is] "let us do that then. I do not see any other leads that we could possibly follow instead."

They decide to make their way over to the northern side of the cove, hopping over the roofs in the dark as they go (han with slightly less reckless abandon). Once arriving in the northern area they split and once again get to searching around the outside of the buildings from the roofs. 

Finn comes up empty, these people really like to board their windows shut...it was annoying before but it is also annoying now. Han and Keva have slightly more success, managing to look into a few more rooms, but nothing obvious. Han gets a few more eyes glaring at her every time she passes by some windows, at one point even feeling a knife chucked into the boards at one point in her direction as a response to her unstealthily snooping.

The three regroup with a huff as they discuss their findings, staring about the area. They take note the western side of the cavern wall that they’re now near. It appears to have these spidering scaffoldings heading up to smaller buildings built higher into the walls, but they cant really tell how to get there.

Han: "should we...attempt to go there?" han points to the cavern wall scaffoldings Keva: "do we got time?" Han: han is like ehhhhhhh Keva: "okay well, i'll go back to meet up with the others then to tell them where you are, since we're almost out of time" Finn: "think we'll be fast enough?" finn raises an eyebrow @ han Han: han looks uncertain for a sec but then is like "ye, course" Keva: "right well don't be idiots on the way" and keva's gonna head off Finn: "hmph." finn shakes his head briefly. "let us waste no time."

Keva makes her way quickly back to Renny’s inn and waits outside on the roof, keeping an eye out for the others. The other two begin looking for a way up the scaffolds. Surprisingly in the dark Han finds the leisurely pace she's able to take with the spiderclimb works in her favour, she gets in some reconnaissance. Lower on the ground she sees a few figures in black hoods with gold trim siting at the entrance to the scaffolds keeping watch near a lantern, letting people pass up occasionally every now and again. 

Finn slightly less successful simply peers up at the scaffolds, he guesses he could climb up there....its probably fine.... Before he can try anything Han stops him and points at the entrance, indicating if they wanted to climb up they should start further down and away from the guards at the entrance. She leads the two of them out of earshot and the two begin climbing, han switching to her climbers kit halfway through.

They seem successful for a time, though as the two get close to the scaffolding they hear a loud whistle suddenly in their ears. Peering up at the scaffolding they see someone in a similar hood to those at the entrance holding a crossbow staring down at them. Their face shadowed, they aim the crossbow at the two of them and wave it downwards, motioning for them to go back the way they came as a warning.

Han: han whispers "could u keep climbing quietly" Finn: finn looks at her briefly but nods, and keeps climbing up. Guard: the guard looks at you finn and shoots an arrow into the wall above your head

> 🎵  Pyrates Beware / Assassin's Creed IV OST

Soon after the guard shoots their crossbow Han pulls her piston gear out and goes into freefall, pulling out her own bow and taking two shots at them. One hits, striking the guard in the shoulder before she plummets, the guard grunts out a cry of pain before whipping their glare in finn's directions seeing her now drop.

Psalm: somehow this is still less risky than us sending rokka to go talk to henrick while rickert is there Han: JHFGJTFHDRETRKYGLHUK

Quickly the guard brings a hand up to their mouth again and lets out a longer loud whistle, along the wall suddenly Han and Finn both see lanterns lighting up one by one as she falls. Han quickly cats feather fall on herself before she hits the ground allowing her to land on her feet.

Across the cove Keva in the distance looks out towards the western cavern wall in the dark, there she can see one by one lanterns quickly lighting up across the scaffolds strangely. She quickly jumps to her feet running over the roofs as fast as she can.

Han: everyone playing with me 

Finn: I MEAN...WOULD THEY SHOOT ME IF IM BACKING OFF...  PLEASE PLEASE IM SO NOBLE POSITION OF PRIVILEGE!!!

Soon after she hits the ground Finn stops in place out of fear, seeing the lanterns light up he drops right after her. She ends up catching him in her arms easily enough.

Han: curses under her breathe in a language u dont understand and then says "time to runnnn" Finn: finn glares at you han. "i should have known better than to count on you for a plan! imbecile!" he also curses in a language you dont understand and hops out of your arms to run himself Han: "i SAID could you get UP THERE qUIETLY and YOU! said YES!!!!!!!!" Finn: "you reassured me youd distract him! ugh! i wouldve expected you to take that lowly guard out swiftly, but no! you are nothing but an oaf!" he grunts

Han skids to halt and attempts to deck finn for the insult but he quickly dodges out of the way as they run.

Finn: finn gasps, offended by your attempt. "you...!! ive no words! baseborn scum!" he cusses at her quite unrestrained and bolts again. Han: "YOU LITTLE UNGRATEFUL, SHIT FOR BRAINS TWIG MAN" Finn: "SUCH A BLOATED BODY BUT NO SPACE FOR THE MOST VITAL ORGAN!"

The two continue bickering until Han spots an alleyway while they're running, tackling Finn into it with her successfully. She grapples him in her hands, whapping a hand over his mouth and casts pass without a trace. He begins shouting grumpily but she quickly tells him to quiet down so the two can stay hidden from the now approaching guards. He reluctantly settles down in her grasp fighting the urge to bite her hand.

The two go deathly quiet, listening in they hear yelling and chatter near the scaffolding begin to ramp up, after a minute or so they hear footsteps run past the alleyway, noting the familiar hoods it appears that they haven’t noticed their hiding spot. After a moment Han releases her hand from Finn’s mouth and makes a shooshing motion, though she still keeps a grip on him as they wait for the guards to disperse.

Han: finn feels hans heart pounding kya Finn: KYA finn just goes wow havent felt one of those in forever

After a time it seems the guards roaming around on the ground have moved on from their area, though the scaffolding is still lit up, seems they're still alerted up higher. Keva also quickly arrives in the area, looking around she sees people in hoods holding lanterns hunting around, though not much else.

Han: han lets u go completely after the noise dies down and says " dont stray too far from me." and starts going making way to rennys Finn: finn tsks at you once again, but is no longer in the mood to start arguments, for once. he follows you.

Keva stares at the group roaming about trying to discern anything about them but they seem pretty covert, she can tell for sure that they're guarding the upper scaffolds down here, and that there seem to be a good number of them. Seeing nothing to do she sighs and heads back over to Renny’s the same time Finn and Han do.

In the meanwhile the other group make their way over to the east dive from nickel's storefront, its easy enough for them to find their way as they remember heading to the area to check out Sammy's abode. As they look around they find what seems to be a populated area of sorts and a few crowded buildings.

Nearby they spot a rickety wooden building with a white skull painted across its front, in front of if a few figures huddled on the front stoop, sounds of chatter and laughter coming from inside. It appears they’ve found the place.

The figures huddled near the door don’t really move as the group approach so they find themselves having to step over and around them to get into the building.

> 🎵  Bridge to London / Vampyr OST

Entering the busy bar they see a number of seedy looking individuals peppered about, hooded figures and the more overt looking cutthroats and mercs, as well as any other wayward traveller nursing a drink looking for somewhere to lay low. Looking about they don’t recognise most of them, noting a stocky looking bartender behind the bar and a few hired guards standing at the doors, though in the corner of the room they see a smaller group huddled around a table.

Staring closer they recognise them as Rickert and part of his gang, four people sitting around with what looks like nothing better to do, including Henrick. from this distance they can see Rickert angrily arguing with one of the goonies while holding them in a headlock, Henrick looks on wearily taking a sip of a drink while him and the other one try and play cards.

Nervous about talking to Rickert out of disguise, the group all nominate Rokka to head over and get Henrick’s attention so they can talk to him instead while Rickert’s not around. He nervously walks over in his disguised form whistling as the others watch from across the room.

Cimmorro: everyone watches rokka miserably Psalm: miserably is right we owe him the 70 gold after this

Rickert: as you approach you see rickert's head turn up in your direction and squint along with the goon in the headlock. the other two at the table also peer in your direction "...what do ya want?" Rokka: his whistling dies down like those cartoon sounds of a falling missile "uh.......... i uh........... " he looks between rickert and henrick "i saw my old bud henrick!!!!!!! hey!!!!!! henrick!!!!!!!!!"

Psalm: oh yknow i have invisibility we could've gone about this a completely different way how did that slip my mind Plum: I WILL KILL YOU Cimmorro: AOIGJAIWJGAJGADG Plum: you could've whispered surreptitiously in henrick's ear and changed the whole genre of this encounter Psalm: suddenly the rating goes up

Rickert: he glares at you before whipping his head in henricks direction Henrick: he stares at you utterly confused before his eyes widen a fraction, but then he looks confused again "uh..?" Rokka: nervously laughs "HAHA....long time no see buddy!!!" rokka moves to give him a big unintentionally tight hug and whispers in his ear "im psalms friend pleaase come with me emergency" he laughs again when releasing him "MIND IF I BORROW THIS RASCAL FOR A DRINK?" Henrick: he grunts with surprise at the crushing hug, trying to hold onto the cards in his hands "uh-!" he listens to you whisper in his ear and whispers back a "...w-who...?" Rickert: across he lets out a cackle "wow didnt know you actually had friends henrick" Rokka: nervously laughs again and slings his arm around henricks shoulder and gives tight squeeze "YEAH!!! he and i go WAYYY back! thought i would never see him again!!" he begins to pulls henrick away "ANYWAYS!! I'LL BRING THIS GUY BACK TO YA ASAP!! ILL EVEN BUY U A ROUND OF DRINKS!!! LATER!!" moving => henrick Henrick: he lets you drag him away confused "uh- guess ill fold for this round guys" and lets you drag him away from the table, you see rickert look at his hand after he places it on the table and he lets out another cackle

Rokka: quickly says everything in one breath bc hes scared rickert will call him back "remember that tall red tiefling with the group w the lupin and goliath? im the lupin we need ur help please just come im so sorry" and quickens our pace to the grounders Henrick: he nods at you confused as you drag him along "....sure but why are y-" then he turns as hes presented before you all "oh...hello..?" Rokka: heaves a sigh of relief once reaching the group and lets go of henrick "i........brought him.........." Plum: 'yeah, somehow that mess actually worked! good one" Cimmorro: raises a hand like a weak greeting

Rokka: mumbling like "i need a drink" Psalm: "We can do that after, right now maybe we should step outside for a bit?” Rokka: sighs again and slings his arm over henricks shoulder and moves him towards the exit Psalm: "Cheer up Rokka, once we're done with all this you can get me that drink you owe me." Rokka: "aww man i thought you forgot about that!!" blows raspberry Psalm: “you wish” 

Henrick: he tilts his head and looks back at rickert scratching his neck “sure though i dont know why…seeing you guys a lot lately huh” his eyes back towards psalm “you just here to hire us again for something?” he yelps as rokka pushes him towards the exist and goes Plum:  "hell no" Psalm: "You free for hire? Although my friend's right, not really here for that right now. Kind of on an urgent mission right now actually." Henrick: he tilts his head "ah yeah rickerts always doing whatever pays, i figured you'd know because of your friend here" and he points at cimmorro Plum: "cimm, the fuck does that mean?" Cimmorro: cimm just looks like this O_O???? "excuse me???" Henrick: he squints in confusion “the other day at the pier, you uhh” and he points at cimmorro “hired us to move some crates round the caves, didn’t really know if was you though till we got paid at the end of it though” he gives cimmorro a curious look “was kinda funny to see the boss’ reaction… are bounty hunters fond of hiring people they’re out to grab for odd jobs like that or is he not on the radar anymore…that’d be nice for a number of reasons…..” and he kind of looks away scratching his neck Psalm: Psalm just looks at Cimmorro wide eyed like HUH? Cimmorro: cimm JUST LOOKS AS SURPRISED AS YOU ARE "DONT GIVE ME THAT LOOK. I WAS WITH YOU GUYS THIS WHOLE TIME???"

Plum: "the other day? do you remember how many days ago or so?" Psalm: "Wait you're saying he hired you? *points at Cimm * You're absolutely sure you got a good look?" Cimmorro: "loathe as i am to remember the fact that i've done nothing but hang out with you all but by the goddess" Psalm: "Ok that bits just unnecessary although I get it."

Henrick: he stares at cimmorro and psalm's confused reactions "uh...same day i saw you again actually, kinda strange?" he gives cimm a good stare at your request then turns back to psalm "uhh...yep not many people look like him frankly" Cimmorro: cimm just pinching the bridge of his nose rn Psalm: just pinches his eyes like i have a fuckin headache rn "Mind telling me where you moved the crates?" Henrick: he taps his fingers nervously on his arms "im getting the feeling.... somethings weird here huh" he turns to you psalm "it was somewhere in the caverns, looked pretty nondescript but then so are all drop off points...?" Psalm: "Yeah just a little weird. I'm guessing you don't know what was in them?" Henrick: he shakes his head "nah they were nailed shut, clients can tell easy if you mess around so we didn't bother, though i was curious" Cimmorro: "where were these drop points?" Henrick: he scratches his head nervously "uhh i dont really remember, like i said in the caverns, its a popular place for smugglers to make deals so i dont think much of it" he looks more anxious as the conversation goes on Psalm: “Maybe we should head back inside and see if boss man will know? Amazing, this isn't even what we wanted to find out and yet here we are."

Han: gg henrick u were an unknowing assistant in the plot to turn the whole city to zombieland Psalm: imagine being that guy Plum: moe through helplessness

Attempting to move on from the revelation from Henrick about Cimmorro’s doppelganger, the group then get about to asking what they dragged him over for in the first place.

Cimmorro: "guess i can just waltz in there for a chat later huh.... in any case we're looking for an elf man, pretty large scar on the face? any clue?" Psalm: "Missing a right eye also, was with a blue tiefling before they went missing." Henrick: he tilts his head and thinks "i know a few guys who match that description honestly" as you keep talking his face kinda goes still “….uh….” he starts nervously tapping his hand on his leg “right that guy from the other day….i didn’t get much of a look at him when our base got busted but I guess he’s with you, makes sense…” Cimmorro: "so have u seen him recently... down here?"  Henrick: he looks away to stare at the street "uh...dunno, you'd be better off asking rickert..." Cimmorro: STARTS SLOUCHING AS I HEAD TOWARD THE BAR Psalm:* picks you up and throws you into the ring * Henrick: he watches you go nervously and puts a hand to his face with a woeful expression, following after

The group all stroll their way back into the bar as a group and head over to rickert's table, as they do he turns his head in cimmorro’s direction

Rickert: “aha would ya look at that, this ones come slinking round again” eyeballing cimmorro “need us again big boy? the hell d’yall need to transport round caves anyway” as he speaks he takes a sip of his drink Cimmorro: BIG BOY HE SAID Psalm: i hate rickert more than anything

Cimmorro: "haha yeah it's nice to see you too... listen, i'm looking for someone. you remember that elf with a face scar from your base's basement? have you seen him recently down here?" cimm trying to not look as strained as he is rn Rickert: at that his face seems to light up with a wicked glee “the other bounty hunter who chucked that vial of acid right into my beautiful face? hah! yeah i’ve seen the bastard recently actually, though I dunno if I wanna tell ya why or where” and he leans back on his hands whistling “whats in it for me?” Plum: just say i'll make it worth your while Han: do a blowjob motion at rickert Psalm: hhuhuGHURJAF Finn: what happened to cimm usually being so easy going huh, just do the blowjob motion coward

Cimmorro: "aha of course, you son of a gun. you know little ol' me. i'll make it worth your while" Rickert: he hmms to himself before scratching his chin “so charitable of ya, you know i know just the thing, beat me in a game of cards and I’ll tell ya everything you’d ever want to know free of charge, thieves’ honour” he gives you all a smirk as he leans across the table “you lose then you pay me, considering how important this information seems to alla’ you …..lets say 350 gold?” he spits the terms out while smiling Cimmorro: "does it have to be me? i... don't really have to time for cards right now" Rickert: he leans back into the booth lazily "doesn't have to be you, can be any one of your friends, two of you, well go best of three playing kings gambit, you against me and one of my boys. if you're too busy then i guess ya can buzz off and quit wasting my time" he leans forward with a grimace Cimmorro: i look at the rest of you like "well... anyone wanna play cards? guess i'll play if we have no other choice" Psalm: "I'll play as well."

The group however quickly tell Rickert to wait a moment before shuffling over to another end of the bar to figure out how theyre going to cheat, leaving Rokka alone with the gang again. Rickert snorts into his drink with disinterest watching them shuffle off. Rokka quickly looks for an excuse so he can shuffle off as well briefly.

Rokka: yeah honestly rokkkas like hahha...........time to fetch those ales!!!!!!! ahahha crying at his wallet

Cimmorro: [casting guidance] Psalm: "Ok, obviously losing 350 on this guy is a waste, so we're gonna need your help to cheat." Plum: "right i think i can guess what you have in mind' Psalm: "Great, saves having to explain." Plum: "just tell them i went to go report back to some friends wed be late returning to our meet up point or something, if they asked where i went i suppose" Psalm: "Wow you read my mind. As for how to cheat.. well I'm sure you can think of something." Plum: "er... i'll try Psalm: "I guess we can come up with a system for you to check their dice for me." Plum: "maybe i can just draw the number on your palm or something" Psalm: "Fine with me."

Psalm: "Ghester you want to help me cheat here?" Plum: "what the fuck is a ghester" Cimmorro: plum and cimm looking at psalm like elaborate... Now Ghester: you hear ghester laugh in your head psalm "i could only focus on one of them but perhaps if they aren't too quick with their hands" after a minute you hear a voice in your head cimmorro and plum out of nowhere "hello again" Plum: "did one of you just say something?" Cimmorro: "ohhh!!! it's you!!" Ghester: you hear the voice continue cimmorro "yes me" Psalm: "Great, so out game plan can be Ghester you focus on whoever's playing that isn't Rickert, Plum you can take Rickert and maybe write the number in Cimmorro's hand instead of mine. Ghester can just tell me the other guys numbers if.. he can. We can just figure it out like that." Plum: "ghester is that voice i heard just now?" Psalm: "I'll explain after we finish this. But yes." Cimmorro: "you have a lot of explaining to do after this but sure that sounds dope"

The three continue to discuss their means of leverage while Rokka attempts to buy a round of drinks for Rickert’s gang, the chatter and boisterous activity of the bar booming around them. ---

Notes

🐺 Rokka handed 70g to 👛Nickel

The Western Scaffolds are on alert... 🔎

---

「 King Gambit 👑 」 Rules

King’s Gambit has a buy in bet of 5 gold, though in this game with Rickert you'll be using chips. 

Each card player rolls 1d8, keeping the die hidden. each player has the chance to raise the bet, call the bet (meet it), or fold. This continues when all bets are equal.

Then each player rolls a 1d6, keeping it secret as well. A final chance to raise, call, or fold. Each remaining player rolls 1d4. They then all reveal the 1d8, 1d6, and 1d4, adding them all together.

The person with the highest total dice number wins the round and takes all the chips. by the end of the three rounds the person who has won the highest amount of chips is the ultimate winner

[allnightthot]

“Despacito”: Zig fanfic

pairing: Zig x MC

Rating: NC-17

This story is very NSFW. Since Hartfield could be located mostly anywhere, I took the liberty of assigning Zig’s hometown as Las Vegas. It just fit better with the theme of travel, and the general tone I was going for. Feel free to be flexible with the fantasy. ;). I always think of Zig and his “latin lover bad boy” facade when I hear Despacito, and I really wanted to do a fan fic influenced on this very sexy, summery, vacationesque song. Hope you enjoy!

Slowly

I want to breathe your neck slowly

Let me tell you things in your ears

So that you remember when you're not with me

Slowly

I want to strip you off with kisses slowly

Sign the walls of your labrynth

And make your whole body a manuscript

Turn it up turn it up..... turn it up, turn it up

I wanna see you dance

I wanna be your rhythm

I want you to show me

Your favourite places places places Places

Let me surpass your danger zones

To make you scream

And forget your name

Zig took a huge sigh of relief. Fiery red leaves swirled around him, his breath causing them to waltz on their way to the ground. In a few moments he would be in the locker room taking off his uniform for the last time this football season. Each step he took, his lungs burned, and each muscle exhausted by the months of wear and tear of pushing himself. He made it in one piece though: he proved himself to be an asset to the team, made a few friends and earned that scholarship, showing he deserved that second chance. All in all it was a great experience, but with the semester winding down he was looking forward to just being Zig. He was looking forward to there being no one else in the world but him and her.

Izzie.

She came to all of his games with her “Ziggy+Iggy” sign, yelling the loudest out of anyone else in the bleachers. God damn if she wasn’t sex on a stick wearing his jersey number...it took everything to not throw off his helmet and rush the rows to get to her and take her right then and there. As he put on his white t-shirt and jacket, thoughts of her flooded his mind, calming the flow of adrenaline. She was his safe space. Just as soon as the moment came it passed once he slammed that locker door. It shook him back to reality. “Oh God, it is this week!” Zig exclaimed under his breath. Izzie and him talked about this milestone, and game after game passed, but now it was here. She was coming home with him for Thanksgiving to meet his family. He was confident they would love her, but would she love them? Could his family fit into her world?

*****

“Hey baby, what you thinking about?” Izzie smiled at him in the passenger side, flicking away a hair out of his eyes. Zig was grinning and staring into the distance. “I was just thinking about how you and my sister are so alike. You guys are going to get along so great, I bet I will be the third wheel after this trip!”

“Really? You think so?”

“I know so. You are beautiful...funny...smart. They would be blind not to see what I have.” He kissed her on top of her hand, as they pulled into the driveway of his family's’ Las Vegas home.

Within seconds, a small army of children barricaded the couple. “TIO!!!” A boy, almost 8, and a girl, almost 5 screamed at Zig. “COME HERE YOU LITTLE MONSTERS!” He swooped down and gave them an almost suffocatingly strong hug. At the same time, the two children noticed Izzie and she waved back at them, “Hi guys!” Paolo and Yuliana, this is my amor, Izzie” and he gave a jokingly sneering look, “so be nice you two.” The two kids giggled.

Yuliana tried to grab Izzie’s hand to get her attention and whispered, “Are you a princess? You have a dress like my dolly.”

“Nope, just Izzie. I bet you are a princess though! You have such a pretty hair!” Yuliana beamed. Then the girl darted into the house, “MAMA MAMA TIO ZIGGYS FRIEND SAID IM PRETTY!!” Izzie giggled, “Cute kids.” “See, I knew they would love you. No worries.” He pulled her hand and led her inside.

Zig’s mother Maria, was a strong and hardworking woman, who was a maid at several Las Vegas strip hotels. Her face held tired, long lines from years of supporting and leading a family. Her eyes however, held a new sparkle and a new life from her oldest son making a better life for himself. Through his future, it sparked a happiness that softened her visage. She was reborn. As Zig walked into the kitchen for a hug, he saw a new woman: “Mama! You look so good!”

“Aww, thank you! Zig! You are skinnier! Are you eating? Is that football team of yours making you diet?!” She poked and prodded.

“No Mom, I just don’t have you making enough tacos to feed an army!” He playfully joked with her as he picked up a tortilla chip and she slapped it out of his hand, “Ow!”

“That is for dinner!” Marie grew serious and turned to Izzie. A warm smile spread across her face. “This must be Izzie. The woman who saved my son….and stole his heart.” Maria drew the stranger not just into her home, but into her arms. “Oh!” Izzie was shocked at the sign of affection, and had braced herself for a handshake. Izzie was not prepared for what she heard next: “As long as you are with my son, you are mi familia”, Maria whispered, drawing away. “Thank you so much, you have a lovely home and your son is the best guy in the world! You are an amazing woman!” Zig beamed, drew Izzie in and said, “I think we need to get you some of this amazing food!”

******

Laughter bellowed all across the table throughout the day, as salsa music wafted through the air. Plates and plates of food were passed down, and to anyone else, the amount of relatives around and the din would have been claustrophobic. Yet, as Zig and Izzie looked at one another, the world around them became quieter...smaller..until only those two existed. Zig’s Tia or Abuelo would say something, and immediately they would be smacked back to the present, but every so often the magnetism between the lovers would become impossible to ignore, and it was as if they were feeding off each other's love. They were most themselves with one another, and each second their passionate chemistry yearned for them to be alone.

A Latino family cookout rarely lasts only a few hours, but the activity and conversation began to draw to a close once the futbol game started and the dominos were brought out. Izzie gave a huge yawn, but Zig interrupted her: “Hey, don’t fall asleep on me now. My family is getting distracted, and I was thinking we could have some time alone for awhile. I would like to show you something.” “Sure.” On their way out after extending goodbyes and adios, Izzie and Zig headed off into the Las Vegas sunset for their surprise.

*****

“I’m really glad you took me here, Zig. I’ve always wanted to go to Las Vegas but I’ve never had the chance. Thanks.” Izzie breathed, staring at the awe inspiring lights glowing against the sunset and sand, creating a magical, technicolor tapestry.

“No problem, consider it the VIP tour,” he replied, giving his famous smirk, “Besides, since we are only here for a few days, I wanted to show you as much of the city as I could. What better than the panorama view?” They both stared over the ledge, sharing a cigarette. After sexily blowing smoke, he continued: “When I saved money to take my sisters to the movies, we always drove past The Strip to get to the theater. Sometimes my mom would even let me skip school and hang out at the hotel. I’d help fold clothes and stuff, and then we would go for a “lunch break” but my mom would get me the biggest sundae I could find.” Zig’s voice started to crack with emotion, and Izzie placed a supportive hand on his shoulder to let him know to take his time. However, at that point, the words just began to flow out of him: “She never got herself anything though. She just smiled, watching me eat that messy ice cream. I felt so proud that I was helping. I made a promise to myself that I would take care of her, just like I did with my sisters.”

“Oh Zig--” Izzie reached to embrace him, but he pushed against her, with waters building at the corner of his eyes.

“No..no..it’s okay.” He wiped a tear away. “So when I got locked up, my whole world was destroyed. I disappointed my mother, and worst of all, I would never be able to give back to her..to take care of her. My life was going to go nowhere.” Izzie was beginning to cry, her lips quivering. Her strong bad boy slowly unraveling himself to her. “That was, until I met you and you believed I could get that scholarship. When I met you, I began to have a future.” Zig grabbed her hands in his and smiled.

“I saw my future again tonight, Izzie. I saw it with you.” Izzie began to make ugly sobs, dropping her head in her hands. Zig pulled them away though so he could hold her face.

“When I saw you with Yuliana...as you helped my abuela get food…” Zig’s throat tightened with fear but his eyes were filled with love. Finally, he breathed out, “I saw our future. I saw our babies. I saw our life together. Each moment more blissful than the one before it. I knew you were my family.” Izzie was getting emotional. Zig tried to rein it in and get control of the situation, but his heart was overflowing with happiness. “I’m not proposing!” They both giggled. “Way too soon for that! But..” he trailed off and reeled himself back in: “I just need you to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you someday.”

Izzie grabbed Zig and embraced him with her whole body, tears staining his face. She cried out: “Oh Zig! I’m yours forever. How could you not have known that?!” Their kisses were so strong and powerful, so magnetic, their hearts skipped beats as they came up for air. Finally, Zig chuckled, “I’m so glad my family sees you as one of them too.”

Izzie coyly smiled, batted her eyelashes and said, “Well, I was on my best behavior.”

Immediately they began to give each other looks. Sexual tension was building up and slowly simmering throughout the day, and the lovers were tied and wound up, unable to breathe. They were acting good for too long. Zig’s deft, strong fingers slowly ran down her arm, sending a shiver through her body. She was a lit match and he was stoking her flame. “I noticed” Zig panted with desire, “You were a very good girl today.”

“Oh yeah? Who says?” Izzie feigned an attitude as Zig placed slow, feather light kisses all across her shoulders.

“Me, and I don’t think I need your attitude young lady.” He began to run his hands over her nipples through her shirt. Izzie’s eyes closed with joy. Her panties became sticky and moist...nothing turned her on like the cat and mouse game they played. It took everything inside her to keep going and not fall over with sexual desire. “I...can...will...say...whatever...I...want..” she breathed.

“Are you really going to disrespect me like this? Where is this naughtiness coming from?” Zig’s demeanor is turning aggressive, pulling open Izzie’s blouse to expose her breasts. In his eyes, Izzie saw the anger inside of the man, the anger that existed in the moment he beat up his sister’s boyfriend and when anyone crosses him. However, Izzie also saw fiery passion, and both scared her but also aroused her. She met him with renewed confidence.

“I guess I’ve just been a bad girl.” Izzie seductively ran her hands over his shirt, going lower and lower until her fingers grazed over the hardness in his jeans. He held his breath with desire as she teased him.

Zig’s eyes clouded over with a laser like intensity. “If you are going to be naughty and not listen, then maybe you need to be punished!” He took her to the front hood of the car and pushed her to lay down. Izzie squealed with joy and anticipation. In one swift motion Zig pulled his belt off and tied her wrists up above her head. Tightness didn’t matter: he just knew he was going to drive her wild.

“What...are..you..going to do?” Izzie breathlessly asked. “This is your consequence for not listening.” He was totally in control. She was his clay to mold. Zig kneeled and pushed her legs apart with one hand and lifted her dress up with the other. The flimsy white fabric covering her decency was soaked through, wetness glistening across her tanned skin. “Mmm...baby….you are so wet…” Zig murmured with amazement. “You know how you get me….I want you so bad..” Izzie was getting delirious with want.

So as Zig leaned closer to her and made contact with her core, she almost shattered from the pleasure, barely able to hold what shred of control she had left. Zig licked through her panties, teasing her, slowly sucking on her taste. Oh God, what was he doing? Izzie wondered to herself. Where is this going to go? A part of her was scared, and it was as if he could read her mind, because at that exact moment Zig rubbed her leg to reassure her: “Don’t worry baby, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do every step of the way? After all, how else am I going to teach you?” He made a small laugh. “Okay.” She sighed in relief.

Now Zig poked his tongue into her hot pussy, in and out, alternating with slowly rotating his tongue on her clit. Jolts of electricity ran across her skin. “I want you to become a part of me. I can’t wait for your juices to feed me.” He breathed into her skin. Zig flicked and massaged each fold with his tongue, making love passionately to her sex. As each second passed, Izzie felt her core getting hotter, tremors shaking her limbs. Zig stuck two fingers in and massaged her clit, starting slow but progressing to a frenzied paced and dialed back down again. “Mmmmm…”she moaned.” He was taking her higher and higher, it was unreal. She could feel herself about to explode..but not quite. Then, he did something that shocked her. Something that drove her wild. Zig lifted up her hips a bit, tilting her so he could get a better grasp of that sexy ass of hers he loved. He placed kisses until he got closer to there. What the fuck! She exclaimed in her head. Her found her cavern however, and began to suck and eat at her hole like a peach. With his intensity, and his fingers working nimbly in her pussy, she came violently on the hood of his car, shaking and hitting. She came so hard and for so long she thought she entered a new dimension. It was unreal. Her legs were noodles, and it took several seconds to acclimate.

Once Izzie’s breath subsided, Zig continued: “Now you know how you hurt me when you talk back. I think it is time for you make amends.” He stood in front of her, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. She got the message, and Izzie drew a wolfish smile. Here is where she could be in control...she could show her want. “Oh Zig, I’m so sorry.” She gave him puppy dog eyes as she got on her knees. Zig took a sharp breath as Izzie slowly kissed his head, and then his shaft, with playful intention. No matter how many times she did this, he could never get over that she did this for him, loved it and was so fucking good at it. He didn’t deserve it, but he was addicted nonetheless. “Baby, you deserve the best. Let me try harder.” Izzie backed up a few inches to speak, but then brought her mouth back down again, lips fully over him. Slowly her head dipped lower and lower, taking all of him in. Shit! Zig was already tensing up. He overplayed his hand: he thought he would have control in this game. Izzie was playing dirty. She was playing for keeps.

Izzie bobbed up and down, the wet, sucking sound filling the space. She would change the pace, but kept up the veracity and passion. “Damn” Zig kept trying to grab his breath, barely choking out “I’m going to….” Then that is when it happened. Right as he was at his most powerless, she placed a finger in him, massaging all while she grabbed his rock hard ass and sucked him until kingdom come. There was sensation everywhere...this fire building inside him….that was burning him from the inside out….”Shit..shit…” Zig gritted his teeth as he was losing control to the waves of pleasure. Fireworks and stars exploded in his brain as his cock tensed and pulsating, releasing his hotness into her willing mouth. With one last jerk, he hit the hood of his car with his hand and she giggled. When he came back to reality, he muttered, “Not fair.”

As his voice calmed, tension subsiding, he grew serious again: “Now, I think it’s time to teach you exactly how to behave.” In one swift quick movement, he flipped her over, hands on car, pushing her to a downward position. With his left foot he swiped her left foot out, kicking her into a wide, doggy style stance so she could take him in completely. If she wanted to be a bad girl, then she was going to be fucked like a bad girl! With one hand on her back, he took the other and completely ripped her panties off. “Oh!” Izzie exclaimed with shock at his force. “Don’t worry, no one is going to know these are gone..this will be our little secret.” He winked. Zig slowly slid in, feeling the tight wetness around him. This was what heaven felt like. Once he got as far as he could, her love fully taking him in, he pulled her up closer to him. His hand massaging a breast as he pulled her face directly next to his. His breath hot and seductive next to her...it was a toxin that paralyzed her to his will.

He whispered to her, tickling her ear: “Tonight you will know how much I love you.” Their panting was heavy as he slammed against her tight ass. He was taking her to the brink of sanity, and she was addicted to this warming and numbing feeling in between her legs. He continued, “You are never to doubt my love again...I am yours and you are mine…” Bodies so close and tangled that they became as one person. Sweat flowing, hearts syncing, they were united. Slowly then sped up they found the perfect rhythm. Izzie was going crazy: with love for him and because he was so good at this. She had never felt more cared for by a man or more vital to him. Zig was about to lose his balance from feverish ecstasy, but just then he caught himself and got out: “When strangers see you walk, they will know you belong to me. I’m going to mark your walls with a fucking you will never forget.”

“I...can’t..leave you...long enough..to forget..I need you…” Izzie barely panted out. Zig was so fucking turned on by how much she wanted him. He started grinding, pounding, swirling his hips to hit every spot of hers. Nothing would be left untouched. Izzie was drowning in her wetness, the world around her growing smaller and going blacker as she was sent to the precipice. “Now! Now, Daddy!” She screamed with desperation. Izzie needed to come or she thought she might literally die. “Me too, baby” He groaned, grabbing her hair as the intensity flowed through him. Her hand instinctively went to her clit, rubbing it, pressure building and growing from her stomach all through her limbs. She fanned the flames with vigor, as Zig clenched every muscle in his body and yelled, “Fuck Izzie!” Stars brighter than the Las Vegas skyline invaded their vision. Both of them fell in a heap on the car, catching their fall. Sweat covered their foreheads, with Zig pushing her hair back to place some well earned kisses on her forehead.

Zig giggled and asked her jokingly, “So..do you think you learned anything from that?” “Yeah..” she breathed, slowly getting the words out, “I learned I can only be with you.” Blinking, she tried to calm her bated breath and continued: “It doesn’t matter where I go, as long as it is with you.” Zig laid his head on her, smiling, as the Las Vegas lights illuminated their beauty, and the sunset gave way to the dark night.

[jjkfire]

Wrapped Around; pt.6

Jimin x Reader x Tae // College!AU // 11.8k words 

Summary: Freshman year was a mess and sophomore year doesn’t seem to be looking too good either. You know boys like them are no good for you but maybe they’re just your kind of type

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut

A/N: hur hur finally!!! I always feel horrible for making y’all wait for a month for each chapter haha. also, im running out of appropriate vmin gifs lmaooo

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 2.5 | Part 3 | Part 3.5 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 7

Previously…

Jimin silently stuffs a spoonful into his mouth and although he had no appetite, the mere thought of this being something you made is enough to push him to forcefully swallow it. He thinks perhaps if he ate enough of it, it could help fill the vague emptiness he felt in his chest but he knew that only one thing could do that and that was you.

“So, he went to the ball with this Mina girl?” Solji asks, her voice slightly fuzzy over the phone speaker.

You let out a low hum of agreement, sinking down onto your bed, the phone still pressed to your ear.

“Because she asked?”

“Yes,” You sigh, setting your phone next to your head after selecting the loudspeaker option on your screen.

"And you had a week to ask him to the ball but you didn’t?”

“Well, I mean… yeah… but whatever, that’s not my point,” You groan. “My point is that he slept with Mina.”

“And is that a surprise to you? You really can’t blame him can you?” She asks. “He probably waited for you to ask him out to the ball and when you didn’t, he assumed you weren’t interested and went for someone else who was.”

“But I am interested,” You grumble, running your hand over your face in frustration.

“Well, how would you expect him to know you’re interested in him if you never show it?” Solji questions. “He’s not a mind reader you know…”

“But we— he knows it, I’m sure he does.”

“Y/N, trust me when I say boys are daft sometimes.”

“Forget it,” You sigh, waving your arms in the air in defeat. “I’m over it, over him.”

“Sure,” She laughs and you can just imagine her rolling her eyes at you.

“I’m serious!” You frown. “This is all probably just a fun game to him. I don’t want a guy who isn’t able to keep it in his pants for like 5 seconds.”

“Won’t you look at this? Kettle calling the pot black,” She scoffs. “Do you need a reminder of the number of boys you burned through freshman year?”

“Shh, we do not speak of the cursed freshman year,” You scold but you find yourself laughing along with Solji by the time you end your sentence.

“Anyway, stop ignoring the poor boy. I’m tired of seeing all of his cryptic emo tweets about you on my timeline.”

“I’m not ignoring him,” You retort. “I’m just busy.”

“Doing what? Lounging around the house in your pyjamas?”

“Hey I’ll have you know that simply doing nothing is a privilege we lose every time the semester begins so, I’ll spend as much time lounging around without judgement, thank you.”

Idiot, Solji mumbles under her breath and you laugh along with her.

With time, the conversation switches focus and you listen about her talk about her winter break so far. As you hear her speak about her calm, drama-free holiday, you can’t help but agree with Solji, that it was you who had created all of this mess for yourself. 

Just because you had shared a few intimate moments with Jimin, didn’t mean that he had to be exclusive with you because the truth was he didn’t owe you anything, not even an explanation which he so graciously offered. Honestly, you were just being a huge baby by ignoring him, refusing to deal with the feelings you had for him, dragging him and others down in your state of confusion. You end the call with Solji feeling much lighter about everything. Maybe you could salvage this winter break after all.

Jimin’s heart skips a beat when he hears you calling out for the boys come movie day on Monday. You throw your arms over the shoulders of both Hoseok and Taehyung before sending a blinding smile Jimin’s way.

“Well, well… look who finally decided to show up for once,” Taehyung glowers.

“Oh come on,” You groan. “I only missed one week.”

“So you’re not busy anymore?” Taehyung lifts his eyebrows at you, his tone so condescending you almost feel like slapping him across the face.

“Yup,” You answer with a warning glare before your lips curl up into a soft smile. “My aunt didn’t have any errands for me to run today.”

“Ahh, it’s good to have you back,” Hoseok smiles, slinging his arm across your shoulder, completely unaware of the silent conversation you were having with Taehyung.

Jimin stays quiet, watching the whole exchange cautiously. You smile warmly at him, as if the two of you hadn’t argued just a few days ago and he’s completely baffled. So, you suddenly weren’t mad anymore? Had Mina told you the truth about the night of the ball? That had to be it. You were practically seething the night he found you in his home but here you were joking around with all of them like nothing had happened. Jimin wasn’t complaining of course, he missed your playful jests, your adorable scowl.

The three of you prance around the adjoined arcade, playing a few rounds of assorted games. Many of which Jimin lost on purpose just so he could see you rub it in his face, a million-watt smile gracing your lips but there’s something that seems to be missing from your smile that he can’t quite pinpoint. 

Everything seemed rather normal… well at least normal enough after all that’s happened. Although he notices that you’re keeping a notable distance, choosing instead to cling to Taehyung but hey, baby steps… at least you were here at all.

After spending a sizable amount on game tokens and snacks, the three of you finally pick a movie to watch, some action-comedy movie and as silly as it seems, Jimin was giddy at the thought of finally being able to sit next to you.

As usual, he takes his place beside you, the other boys sitting next to him on the opposite side. He spends most of the movie glancing at you rather than the screen, looking for a hint of a playful smirk that you would usually send his way but your eyes were practically glued to the screen the whole time. Perhaps the movie was just that good? 

Jimin tries to pay attention to the battle happening on screen but his heart starts palpitating at the thought of finally being able to interlace his fingers with yours again. He felt like a twelve-year-old who had finally scored a date with the prettiest girl in school and he wonders if you knew you had that effect on him, how your presence alone was enough to render him into nothing but a nervous boy.

Halfway through the movie, Jimin spots your hand resting below the arm rest that divided the space between the both of you and a light smile graces his lips. Although you usually did place your hand there earlier towards the beginning the movie, at least it was there now and this was his chance. 

His hand inches towards yours, his pinky brushing yours and suddenly he feels your hand jerk away, retreating towards the popcorn bucket instead. Jimin’s heart drops, the feeling of pain pinching at his chest and if the lights were switched on, you’d be able to see the undeniable sight of worry etched into his features. He glances at you, the bright flashes from the screen illuminates your face for a few brief moments, revealing an unreadable blank expression and he sighs, rubbing his hands down his thighs nervously.

For the rest of the movie, you place your hands on your lap, not wanting a repeat of the attempt and Jimin’s frown only grows deeper. So, he was wrong. You were still mad at him or not... and he’s not sure if this was better or worse because when you were angry at him a few days ago, at least that meant that you were upset with him, that the situation had bothered you. Now that you were smiling at him, as if you were unfazed by it all, did it mean that you no longer cared for him? That maybe you weren't mad at him at all... Maybe you secretly detested him. Jimin just needed to get you alone, corner you into answering him. He knows you hate being put on the spot but your mixed signals were literally driving him insane. 

When the movie ended, Jimin had meant to ask if he could talk to you alone but as the four of you stand in the lobby of the theatre listening to Taehyung rant about the movie, you suddenly bolt the moment you see your bus arrive, frantically waving the boys goodbye as you shout your apologies for your sudden leave. Jimin only lets out a heavy sigh as he watches you disappear into the bus. It was almost as if you could sense the impending serious conversation he had been planning to have. He should have known something wasn’t right. Your smile seemed empty and you hadn’t actually uttered a direct sentence to just him all afternoon. Damn it. His heart aches, painfully so and he hates it. He hates you.

You jump onto the the bus, letting out a long exhale as you plop yourself down onto the nearest empty seat. Pretending Jimin had no effect on you was a lot more tiring than you thought it would’ve been. No matter how many times you’ve told yourself to let it go, that it was fine that he had slept with Mina, half of you was still unbelievably mad at him while the other half of you craved to be held in his arms. Pathetic, you scoffed. Why couldn’t you just make up your mind about him and stick to that decision? 

God, you remember how you panicked when you felt his hand brush up against yours. You weren’t sure if it was deliberate or by accident so you tried to play it off by pretending like you wanted to grab some popcorn. You think you did a pretty good job of trying to hide your emotions but when you saw his constant glances while Taehyung was talking, you knew that Jimin knew something was off. Knowing Jimin, he was going to be straightforward and ask you point blank what exactly was happening between the both of you and truthfully you didn’t have an answer to that so rather than trying to figure it out with him, you took the coward’s way out.

Mina strolls over to your house as you shovel the snow out of the driveway, watching on as you curse each time you plunge the shovel into the layer of white that blanketed the cobblestone path. You notice her a few moments later as she climbs up to sit on the short wall that divided your houses and you finally put down the shovel to greet her with a smile.

The both of you indulge in small talk, about how the last few days went for each other and truly you feel a little guilty because you had been giving her the cold shoulder over something that wasn’t really her fault. She makes no mention of Jimin for the first solid 10 minutes and it surprises you because she usually opened her conversation with the mention of him but then just like clockwork, he comes up in one of her stories. Apparently, he had been avoiding her, refusing to reply to her texts and you shake your head knowing that this was classic Jimin. It was as if he was begging for you to hate him. Unbelievable that he’d give his childhood friend the exact same treatment. An A class asshole, he was.

“He’s a douche,” She grumbles and you nod your head, agreeing to the fact. “But I still like him,” She groans, head in her hands and you frown, stopping yourself short of saying me too.

Breaking two hearts at one time… you expect nothing less from Park Jimin to be honest. 

She leaps off the wall, dusting the snow off her pants with a deep sigh before turning to you with a large smile on her face. She informs you of a last-minute party she had decided to hold in celebration of her parents both leaving yet again for another work trip, singing gleefully about the set-up she had managed to get done within such a short span of time. It’s obvious that she was throwing the party in a ploy to lure Jimin to her house and boy is she smart because say the word party and he would come running. You didn’t really want to go, especially with how you had left the theatre abruptly yesterday but the promise of alcohol and good music has you nodding your head yes… even if you weren’t too happy with the guest list.

At a quarter past 9, a few people have already begun to show up but what surprises Mina is Jimin strolling in this early into the night, alone too. He had given a rather vague answer of we’ll see over text so she wasn’t even sure he was going to show up at all but she had mentioned that you were going to be there too in the following text and although there was no reply to that, she should’ve guessed that it was all she needed to say to have him come running.

“Hey, Mina,” He greets, handing her a bottle of liquor. 

“Hey stranger,” She smiles, placing the bottle down on the counter. 

He laughs off the greeting awkwardly, grabbing himself a beer bottle from the fridge.

“I’ve got a question to ask,” Jimin grunts, having trouble with the bottle opener.

“Shoot,” She smirks. Mina has a feeling she knew just what he was going to ask. After all, she knew just why he had been ignoring her.

“Why did you tell Y/N about us sleeping together—” He whispers the last two words, his two hands brought up to mimic quotation marks. “—when I specifically asked you not to?”

“About that,” She laughs. “I didn’t tell her personally as per se. Her cousin asked about my hickey so I told him and she just happened to be listening to our conversation,” She licks her lips, pouring herself a drink. “I kept my promise, I didn’t tell her.”

"Mina,” He groans. “Telling the story while she is in the vicinity isn’t exactly what I’d consider keeping your promise.”

She simply shrugs her shoulders, unbothered, choosing instead to move into the living room where the other guests were gathered.

“Fix this,” Jimin demands with a stern grip on her shoulder.

“How do you suggest I do that?” She questions, whipping around to lift her eyebrows at him. “It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think?”

Jimin stares back in confusion. He doesn’t recognise the girl standing before him at all. Her words seemed to drip with poison and envy, almost malicious, nothing like the sweet girl he grew up with.

“Look, I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” He starts. “But just—”

“Jimin!” Taehyung shouts as he climbs onto the boy’s back, clinging onto him like a koala and Jimin lets out a groan. Tae always had horrible timing. As he struggles to shrug Tae off his back, Hoseok snags the bottle out of Jimin’s grasp, downing most of the drink before he places it back into his hand.

Mina greets everyone, smiling as she sees you striding into her home, your cousin by your side, the sight reminiscent of that of the night of the ball. You pull her into a hug before both you and your cousin make your way to the drinks table, your insides bubbling with excitement as the atmosphere of the party hits you. You fill your red solo cup with a multitude of assorted liquors, a mistake, you know, but you just wanted to reach that alcohol high as soon as possible. 

Jimin watches you carefully, unsure of what mood you were in today. Were you going to be furious with him like you were a few days ago? Or maybe just like yesterday, you were going to be surprisingly warm to him, with a side of mild confusion of course because nothing was ever straightforward with you.

It seems like you choose the latter when you sit down next to him, flashing him a curt smile before joining in on the conversation, shifting a little further up the couch to put some distance between you and him. Jimin silently thanks Taehyung who hands him a drink because lord knows he needed one if he was going to stay sane tonight. Between your confusing behaviour and Mina’s annoying one, he’s surprised he hasn’t screamed out in frustration yet. Why couldn’t Mina just clear things up for him and why couldn’t you just be open with how exactly you were feeling? Women, he sighs. They simply drove him mad.

Taehyung sits next to you, giving you a belated hug before encouraging you to down your drink with him. You meant to refuse the request but he flashes you that puppy dog smile and you find yourself throwing back your cup in one huge gulp. The alcohol stings your throat and you scrunch your face at the burning feeling which earns a laugh from Taehyung. Weak, he teases and you shove him away lightly with a frown on your face.

The drink had just about settled in your stomach when Hoseok comes barging in with shot glasses lined up. You refuse, obviously, but he brings up the topic of tradition and friendship and you groan, reluctantly agreeing to what is basically a one-way ticket to spending the night hugging a toilet bowl.

You’re not sure how Hoseok had managed to line up over 10 shots that quick but here the 4 of you were having 3 small glasses to each person. Your stomach churns when you lift up the first glass and as you chant the classic line before throwing back the drink, you can’t help but think back to how this very moment is usually the last memory you have of every crazy night you’ve ever had. If all goes to plan, throwing back this shot might very well be the last thing you remember tonight as well, which for the first time, might be a good thing.

Two shots in, you try hiding the last one underneath the coffee table but while doing so, Hoseok catches you and he sends you a disapproving look before he makes you drink two extra shots as a penalty. You beg Hoseok, asking him to let you off the hook but he starts pouring a third, warning you that you’d have to take another if you don’t start drinking. Letting out a groan, you twist the glass in your hand making a face as you bring it up to your lips. Taehyung, ever the gentleman starts pouring himself a shot to accompany you on carrying out your penalty. Well, if you were going down, at least you weren’t going down alone.

By the time you’re done, you don’t even dare to stand up because you’re sure your feet will just buckle underneath you. You lay back into the couch, your head nodding along to the music blaring over the speakers while your arms hung off the shoulders of both the boys seated on either side of you.

The next two hours are a blur in your mind. You find yourself enjoying the music and cheering on the boys as they - in your opinion - have one too many drinks and soon enough everyone on the couch is at your level… except for your cousin. Your cousin is having the time of his life, collecting a year’s worth of photos to blackmail you with, chuckling with each click of the camera. You shout for Hoseok to join the photo session but he’s nowhere to be found, probably in some corner of the house, shoving his tongue down the throat of that cute girl he liked. The boys on either side of you were just as drunk as you though and they comply to every photo request. Usually, you’ve had enough after one or two photos but tonight, you were way too gone to object, the three of you smiling as you all pose for yet another photo, as per your cousin’s instruction. In your state, you don’t notice the way Taehyung’s hand sits extremely low on your hips, neither do you notice the fact that Jimin has kissed you on your cheek close to 5 times now, each time whispering something a little too inappropriate in your ear when he pulls away. 

An ungodly amount of empty glasses lay upon the coffee table top, the sight an indication of how the three of you have managed to hit the sweet spot of being drunk. Each one of you had on the same smile, your heads lightheaded but your minds calm. Sober enough to remember tomorrow when reminded of significant events of the night before but drunk enough to be unable to tell when exactly the three of you had excused yourselves to the toilet to take an obscene amount of selfies on Taehyung’s phone.

“I’m tired,” Taehyung pouts.

“Aw baby, c'mere,” You coo, patting your thigh. Taehyung smiles delightedly before laying down, his head comfortably placed on your lap. He grabs your hand and places it in his hair, encouraging you to play with his soft locks and you do, a light smile gracing your lips as your fingers grazed his scalp in a quiet rhythm.

Jimin frowns at the mention of your pet name for Taehyung. He wanted to be called baby too. In the most innocent and childish way, he hates Taehyung. He hates how he knew all these details about you. He hates how you treat Taehyung with such endearment while he himself only got the cold shoulder or this fake warmth that you’ve recently begin to show him. Jimin wants you to smile at him genuinely or run your fingers through his hair. In other words, he wanted to be Taehyung. Jealousy nips at his insides and he finds himself cursing his best friend in his head. In his slight rage, Jimin reaches for Taehyung’s shoulders, lightly shoving him in an attempt to get him off your lap. He has had one too many shots though so all that’s really happening is his hand lightly gliding off Taehyung’s shoulders, his palm grasping nothing but air. Even so, Taehyung whines swatting away Jimin’s hand that hovered above him. 

“Babe, stop doing that,” You frown, removing your hand from Taehyung’s hair to pull away Jimin’s hand.

Babe. Hmm, he likes the sound of that. 

“Okay, babe,” He smirks, interlacing your fingers with his, an absolutely stupid smile on his face. He returns to his previous position his head resting against your shoulder, a sweet sigh escaping his lips as his thumb glides over yours in a soothingly repeated fashion. With a whine, Taehyung tugs your other hand prompting you to go back to stroking his hair and you oblige. You shut your eyes, tilting your head until your cheek rested against Jimin’s soft hair. 

Your cousin watches all of this, feeling like he was halfway between vomiting at how cringey this all was and laughing because he’s never seen you this affectionate before. He takes at least another dozen photos, knowing that this was a moment you’d love to forget but he will never ever let you live this down. In fact, he would never let you forget this whole night. Might even make a slideshow out of all the pictures as a special birthday surprise for you. You’ll love it for sure.

As it almost approaches midnight, the party has seemed to calm down a fair bit and you feel yourself drifting off to sleep. You shift uncomfortably, trying not to wake either of the boys but you’re unsuccessful. Jimin awakes from his short nap and gives your hand a short squeeze before nuzzling against your neck, letting out a hum of delight.

“I like you when you’re wasted,” Jimin yawns. “You’re a lot nicer.”

“So you hate me when I’m sober?”

“A little,” He hums. “But I hate you a lot when you ignore me,” He pouts, his sentence slightly slurred due to the alcohol that’s coursing through his veins.

“I have never ignored you,” You answer, feigning surprise.

“Tell that to all the messages I’ve sent to you that went unanswered,” He points accusingly in his drunken stupor, a single finger swaying in the air.

“I was busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Stuff.”

“You’re still angry at me,” He groans, noticing the blank expression you often wear when you’re trying to hide your emotions.

“I’m not.”

“You are and you won’t let me explain myself,” He whines, lifting his head to look at you but your eyes don’t meet, your gaze completely fixed on Taehyung’s head.

“I’m not,” You sigh. “I don’t want to hear an explanation because I just really don’t care.”

“So… you hate me?”

“What? I don’t,” You laugh. That was lie. You did hate him. “I said I just—”

“Then, kiss me.”

“What?” You question, your mouth going slightly dry at the way Jimin was staring at you.

“Kiss me,” He repeats.

“Why?”

“To prove you don’t hate me.”

“I’m not kissing you,” You frown. “I don’t hate you and I don’t know where—”

“If you don’t care and you don’t hate me, kiss me.”

“No.”

“So, you do hate me… and you do care about what happ—”

There he goes again, sounding like a broken recorder. You put a finger to his lips, interrupting his sentence.

“If I kiss you, will you shut up?” You ask, annoyed with his constant badgering that did nothing to help with the throbbing sensation you felt in your head.

“Definitely,” He answers, his eyes wide with anticipation.

“Great,” You smile, turning your head fully to face him. Your lips are a hair’s breadth away and Jimin could feel his heart start to pound. Was it the alcohol or was it just you? He wasn’t sure. He wills himself to sit up straight, to sober up because shit, you were about to put your damn lips on his and he wants to be able to fully remember this tomorrow.

Except, he never feels them.

“Y/N,” Mina calls, tugging you off the couch roughly and instead of lips touching lips, your forehead bumps against Jimin’s harshly, a groan of pain leaving your throat as you rub the aching spot. Taehyung who has tumbled onto the floor, lets out a yelp of pain before he pulls himself back onto the couch, settling his head down in Jimin’s lap in the absence of yours.

You stumble into Mina when she pulls you forward again and she holds you up, before dragging you away, up the stairs and into her room.

Jimin sits on the couch feeling 1 part confused and 3 parts frustrated because you were so close to kissing him just seconds ago and then you were gone, being whisked away by Mina. What was with everyone and their shitty timing tonight? Your cousin who had been recording everything was on the floor, laughing like a madman and he wonders if a night out with you guys on a regular night during the semester was like this because if it was, he was going to get started on his request to transfer.

Mina guides you to her bed before she shuts the door with a frustrated groan, a look of pure disappointment on her face.

“You shouldn’t have drank so much,” She sighs.

“Blame Hoseok!” You exclaim as you laid down on her bed, your legs dangling off the edge. 

“You were this close to kissing Jimin,” She glowers, her hand in front of your face, her thumb and index finger almost touching. “This close!”

“He asked me to!”

“And if he asked you to eat a pile of shit would you have done that too?”

“No… but—”

“You know how I feel about him,” She frowns.

You did. God, you’re a horrible human being but Park Jimin is the devil reincarnated and he tempted you at every turn.

“Sorry,” You mumble.

“You ruin everything,” She groans, kicking at the miscellaneous clothing on her floor.

A pang of pain runs through your chest and you stay silent, your anxiety beginning to claw at your throat.

“I didn’t sleep with him,” She exhales out of a sudden and you perk up, confused. “Because I wasn’t ready,” She quickly adds.

“That’s… that's—” You leave your sentence hanging, unsure what an appropriate response to a sentence like that sounds like so you shut your mouth, swinging your legs in silence.

“And he’s mad at me now because of that whole night and it’s all because of you,” She huffs, fully emphasising her last word.

There’s a second of silence, almost as if she was waiting for you to ask what exactly you had to do with all of this but you know better than to question her because Mina is seething at the moment and she looks absolutely terrifying.

“So, just do me a favour and stop getting in my way,” She grumbles, as if your existence in itself was a burden to her.

“Sorry,” You mumble again. Maybe you should’ve fought her, told her that she was getting in your way too but you were tired and you just wanted all of this damn drama to be over with. You wanted to go back to your first week here, the week where you hid from everyone… Everything had been much simpler then because no Jimin equaled to no problem.

Honestly, why was Mina here, getting mad at you when Jimin was just at fault, if not, even more so? He was playing the both of you, leaving both of you sad and confused but you know telling her that would get her even more riled up and if what she had said to you earlier was any indication of what she’s like when she’s truly angry, you didn’t really want to provoke her any further. She was simply too blind to see the truth.

With just a few words, it was as if the party had died and everything seemed to have dulled to grey. The elation that came with the alcohol was now replaced with a solemn feeling, one that seemed to swallow you whole. Mina had stormed out of the room after spitting out her final line and you laid on her bed, trying to collect your thoughts. With a loud exhale, you push yourself off the bed, and make your way towards the stairs, ready to go home and grab some much-needed shut eye.

When you find yourself in the living room, you see Mina talking to an obviously disinterested Jimin and you laugh to yourself. The poor girl was so in love with him and it seemed like he barely cared for her. You tap your cousin on the shoulder, pointing towards the door to signal that you were ready to go home and he simply nods, already having in mind just the conversation Mina just had with you.

“Babe, what about my kiss?” Jimin pouts with his head tilted to the side when he notices you saying your goodbyes.

Mina sends you a warning glare and you don’t know why but it makes you bubble with anger. You had planned to stay silent but who was she to threaten you like that? In that moment, you thank Hoseok for all the shots he had fed you throughout the night for you’d never let thoughts like these cross your mind but with a little bit of liquid courage, you feel a surge of confidence course through your body. A pinch of rebellion never killed anyone, right?

You smile sweetly at Mina and the look she gives you sends shivers down your spine but you’re turning towards Jimin, your mouth already moving.

“Sorry, babe. The host says you’re completely off limits,” You frown. “I’ve been told to stop getting in the way of things… to stop getting in between the both of you sweet, sweet lovers,” You sigh, a condescending smile on your lips.

You know you probably shouldn’t have said that but you were feeling rather spiteful especially after having had the time to fully digest everything Mina had said to you. Shame, you had really liked her before she revealed her true colours. If she thinks you ruin everything, then hell, you were going to make it your mission to.

“What the fuck?” Jimin growls, an immeasurable amount of anger behind his words. He turns to Mina, his eyebrows furrowed, jaw taut and fists clenched. Maybe it’s the alcohol that has him feeling this way because you’ve never seen him this angry before. You tug at your cousin’s sleeve, wanting to be far, far away before you have to witness a shouting match between the two of them and your cousin obliges, quickly ushering you towards the front door.

“Honestly Mina, what’s wrong with you?”

“She’s fucking making shit up, I didn’t say anything like that!” She exclaims, a crowd beginning to gather around them.

“No, I’ve had enough,” He shakes his head. “The last time you told me you didn’t say anything, you said exactly what I told you not to and who are you to—”

You don’t hear the rest of his sentence, your cousin promptly shutting the front door behind the both of you.

“Holy shit, aren’t you guys a dramatic bunch,” Your cousin exhales, guiding you down Mina’s driveway.

“I was just having fun,” You shrug.

“Hell yeah, you were,” He laughs, as he opens the front door to his house. “Just wait until tomorrow when I show you all the wonderful photos I’ve taken of this lovely night.”

You nod, fully aware that he probably has one too many embarrassing photos of you now but really how bad could they be? All you know is that you’re drunk, a little sad and unbelievably tired. All you wanted right now was to curl up into your bed and sleep. The best thing about being this wasted was that you didn’t have time to stop and recount the events of the night because the moment your head hits the pillow, you’re already falling deep into sleep.

You wake up with an absolute killer headache and a heavy sense of regret. Unfortunately, unlike most nights, you remember most of this one. Goddamn it, the one time you wanted to have no memory of the previous night, your brain decides to work against you.

The final sentence you had uttered before leaving Mina’s house still tastes bitter on your tongue but that is one thing you do not regret from the night before. You’ve never met someone who was so manipulative, showing you one side when needed and showing you another when things weren’t going her way. To think you felt bad for her, felt guilty for pushing her away. You shake your head in disappointment. Perhaps your subconscious knew better.

At breakfast, you get a full recap of the night before, completely against your will of course. Your cousin shows you photo after photo, each one more embarrassing than the next but at least you were having fun? The finale is of course the video of you with Taehyung on your lap and your face mere centimetres away from Jimin’s. You cringe while watching it and break out into laughter when you see the look on Jimin’s face as Mina drags you away. 

“Why did you have to go and piss off the only person that throws a decent party in this stinking town?” Your cousin frowns.

“Look, she definitely had bitch flakes for breakfast yesterday because the girl was downright nasty last night,” You huff. “I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Guess we’ll just have to raid my mum’s alcohol cabinet to get drunk,” He sighs.

“I’m sorry I ruined the remainder of your winter break,” You laugh, patting him on the head.

“Oh, don’t worry, all I have to do is look at this picture and it makes me feel all better,” Your cousin smiles, turning his phone to show it to you.

There’s a gasp and then a shriek that tears through the house.

“Delete that now!!!”

Your cousin is up on his feet, laughing wildly as he tries to escape from your killer grasp. 

“It’s really one of my favourite pictures of you,” He chuckles, ducking down to dodge the arm that you swing at him. “You look like such a sophisticated lady in it, don’t you think?”

“No!” You scream. “If you ever post that picture, trust that I’ll kill you with my bare hands,” You seethe.

It’s a picture you would later print to keep in a scrapbook hidden far, far away. One to remember your horrid teenage years by. 

It’s really not too bad of a photo. There’s three of you in it; yourself, Taehyung and Jimin, the drunk triplets. You’re sat in the middle of course, with Taehyung and Jimin on either side of you, which sounds normal except they’re both kissing you on the cheek and have one hand each on your breasts while you have two middle fingers raised with a look of fake shock on your face. Thank god movie day is cancelled today because you can’t even think about seeing the both of them before blushing bright red.

You finally get your cousin in a headlock, forcing him to delete the picture in front of you and he pretends to be upset at the loss of a great photo. He’s laughing internally at your proud look of success. You truly underestimated him. Did you take him for an amateur? Of course he had multiple copies of this very photo, all stored away for a day in which it would come in handy.

Ding!

[10:07] Jimin: nerd

[10:07] Jimin: the season finale is out…

For a second the world stands still and you release your cousin from your hold. You’ve been waiting for the release of the finale for a whole week now. Wasn’t it supposed to be awkward between the both of you after last night? No, none of that matters not when it comes to the TV series that is basically the foundation on which your friendship with Jimin stands on.

[10:08] You: crap!!!!

[10:08] You: i’m not ready

[10:08] You: wait have you watched it already?

Watched it already? Without you? Never. 

[10:09] Jimin: nah not yet

A sudden realisation dawns on you and you let out a small cry.

[10:09] You: fuck my netflix subscription expired

Holy shit. For once the universe was working in his favour. He had made just the right purchase last month.

[10:09] Jimin: come over then

[10:09] Jimin: you have 10 minutes

You slip into your winter coat, putting on your boots in a hurry. Your cousin gives you a quizzical look and with the mention of the TV show and Jimin’s name, he lets out an exasperated groan. 

“Have fun talking about the whole Mina incident after you finish the episode!” He shouts but you slam the door shut, pretending that you didn’t hear a single word.

[10:10] You: bitch give me 15

[10:10] You: i’m legit running rn

Jimin smiles, getting off his bed to put his plan into work.

[10:10] Jimin: 9 minutes

[10:10] Jimin: tick tock, tick tock

You arrive at Jimin’s house almost 20 minutes after his last text, horribly off schedule, you know but really, you’ve never ran so hard in your life. You hope that he hasn’t started without you and if he did, you would force him to start from the beginning anyway.

Jimin hears you running up the stairs and he quickly pulls the blanket over him, placing his laptop gingerly on his lap.

“You’re late,” He exhales, giving you a disappointed look when he sees you pop your head into his room.

“I’m so sorry,” You apologise, shrugging your coat off to hang it up. “It’s snowing a shit ton outside and—” An awkward shiver runs through you and you rub your hands down the side of your arms. “—fuck it’s cold in here,” You mumble before diving under Jimin’s blanket.

The moment you join Jimin in his bed, he hits play and he watches in delight as your face lights up the moment you hear the words previously on…

As the hour-long finale plays, you slowly inch closer towards Jimin, searching for more of his warmth, his thick blanket doing nothing to stop the chilly air that was pinching at your skin.

“Why is it so cold?” You murmur, mostly to yourself but Jimin hears you loud and clear.

“Yeah, the heating’s been a little cranky lately, sorry,” He answers, slipping his arm under you to pull you closer.

A complete and utter lie. 

Jimin had fiddled with the thermostat before you came, putting the heater onto its lowest setting just so you would have to scoot closer to him. It’s a genius plan, he thinks and one that’s obviously working since you were practically laying in his arms at the moment.

You’re so engrossed in the show that you don’t really notice how you were basically cuddling with Jimin currently. Perhaps you don’t realise it simply because it was so normal for you to be in this position with him. Either way, you’re happy because you’re warm and Jimin’s happy because you’re- in his opinion -right where you’re supposed to be. It’s a win-win situation really.

The episode had started off with a thrilling chase, the plot developing slowly as it went on and with 10 minutes left, you don’t think there’s much that can happen but it takes a dark turn, leaving you stunned as you watch characters whom you thought have main roles, start to drop like flies. A knife to the heart, a bullet to the head, each kill hurting more than the one before. You wince away in horror every time and there’s an accompanying squeeze to your side, a telltale sign that Jimin too was literally shitting bricks at the moment. At the end of the show, you’re left speechless as the closing shot shows a room full of dead people, all characters you have come to love.

You turn to Jimin to see a matching stunned expression and he utters three words, 

“Feel good movie?”

You’re nodding your head so fast that he giggles as he goes through a selection of movies. He makes his way down the list of rom-coms and stops at the one he knows to be your favourite. You smile at him, as if to say good job, and he only replies with an annoyed huff. A fake one of course. He secretly loved that movie too.

You barely get through 20 minutes of the movie before you find it hard to keep your eyes open. The activities from last night catching up to you, calling for you to shut your eyes. After 10 minutes of nodding off and waking up, you finally give in, choosing instead to curl up and go to sleep.

Jimin only notices some time after that you’ve fallen asleep. Your signature murmuring notifying him that you’ve drifted off to catch some shut eye. He shuts his laptop and sets it aside, shifting quietly so that he was now facing you. You let out a groan, squirming about in his hold and Jimin holds his breath, hoping that he hadn’t woken you up. You simply settle against his body, draping your arm across his middle while your leg wrapped around him, pulling him closer to you. 

He felt like he was in a dream. You being this close, tugging him towards you? Definitely had to be one especially with everything that has been happening between the both of you, last night being the obvious highlight of the whole disaster of a situation. Jimin had stood there arguing with Mina, the girl he would have given everything to had she asked him 5 years ago. She seemed so different standing in front of him, unrecognisable almost. Perhaps like she said, he had changed or maybe he was finally seeing her for who she truly was now that he was no longer under her spell. Taehyung and Hoseok always did say she was a little scary, that despite her bubbly personality, it seemed as if every move she made was calculated but Jimin had always dismissed that, unable to see anything past that teasing smile she always flashed him… until now.

Jimin tries to make sense of everything that has happened so far and he wonders how one innocent ‘yes, i’ll go to the ball with you’ had led to all of this mess. It’s all a little too much for him to process and all he truly wants is to enjoy this very moment of you laying in his bed, in his arms, all by your own will. Just the feeling of your warmth is enough to make him smile and he pulls you just an inch closer, tucking your head under his chin before he too shuts his eyes to nod off to sleep.

Jimin stirs from his sleep about an hour later, shivering wildly and he curses himself for turning down the heater so low. He dismisses that thought when he feels your breath against his neck. It was worth it. He’d bear the few hours of cold again if it meant seeing you in his arms.

Jimin lets out a light sigh before he moves downwards, wriggling slowly until he was face to face with you, pulling back ever so slightly to look at your calm features. It’s risky, he knows, but he can’t help himself and before he can think twice, he’s leaning in to place a light kiss on your forehead. He backs away quickly, hoping that you hadn’t felt that. You remain unmoving, your breathing still at the same pace and he lets out a sigh of relief. With a smile, he swoops down to place another kiss at the space between your eyebrows, letting that one linger for just a fraction longer before he moves to the tip of your nose. 

Jimin’s lips had barely left your nose when he notices your beady eyes staring back at him. He backs away slowly, truly hoping that you would somehow shut your eyes and go back to sleep but he knows he’s been caught. Damn.

“What are you doing?”

“Sorry,” Jimin mumbles, his head hanging low.

“I didn’t ask you to apologise,” You laugh. “I asked you what you were doing.”

“Kissing… kissing your nose,” He answers, his cheek beginning to glow with the slightest shade of pink.

You let out a short hum and Jimin is left slightly confused. He had fully expected you to have been hitting him or running out the door by now but you’re still here, completely relaxed in his hold, wearing a smile of mischief.

“What were you going to do next if I hadn’t woken up?”

“Nothing,” He answers, his voice quivering slightly at the way you seem to be staring darkly at him.

“You sure about that?” You question, a smirk playing at your lips.

Of course he wanted to go for your lips next but he had drawn the line there. That would have been borderline creepy, wouldn’t it?

“I’m sure,” He replies, this time his voice is strong, completely certain of what he was saying.

You shimmy your way closer to him, your nose bumping his and he could feel your breath on his lips as you spoke.

“Really?” You ask. “Pretty sure you were begging to kiss these lips last night.”

He shouldn’t… not when the both of you haven’t cleared things up yet but your lips were practically brushing against his as you whispered those words and he was just a man. A weak, weak man.

A whimper leaves his lips as he holds on to his last strand of self-control. Your eyes flutter shut and he gives in, surging forward to capture your lips between his own, completely entranced with the taste of you. Warmth blooms in his chest as your hands come up to grip the side of his face, his own hands sliding down to hold you delicately, pressing you as close to him as possible.

You had woken up a few minutes before Jimin, the cold cutting into your bones making it almost impossible for you to stay asleep. You keep your eyes shut, basking in the little warmth that radiated off Jimin, melting at the way he seemed to fit perfectly against you.

The first kiss on your forehead had taken you off guard but you try your best to pretend you were asleep, putting all your energy into making sure your smile didn’t show. The subsequent kisses cause a fluttering that feeling in the pit of your stomach and it was getting harder to maintain a blank, relaxed face. He moves further down your face, towards your lips and when his lips grazes the tip of your nose, you open your eyes to look at him, taking it as your chance to watch a flustered Jimin when he comes to realise that you’re awake.

You egg him on, feeling him tense beside you as you move closer and closer to him, your lips almost on his. The finale aside, you were a woman on a mission. When you had woken up in the morning and recounted the events of last night, you had made a decision. Though Mina’s belated confession made you smile a little, it didn’t change the fact that Jimin had intended to sleep with her that night and that if she was willing, it would’ve happened. You had thought it all out on your trek to Jimin’s house, planning to use his very own moves and words against him. A personal vendetta of yours, to see Jimin get all worked up over the things he said to all the girls he wanted to fuck. 

You were going to get him to play a rom com, hold his hand and kiss him at the crux of the movie. Then, you were going to have him moan and beg underneath you and for the finale, leave him alone and broken in his bed. Although, you have a feeling the last part wouldn’t work. You simply didn’t have enough power over him to make him feel that way. In any case, all of this was for you, for you to finally rid yourself of the player that was Park Jimin.

As much as you liked to believe there was something more going on between you and him, you realised that all of this, all of your feelings for him stemmed from that one night you gave into lust. That’s all it was between you and him, a manifestation of lust and you knew the only way to get rid of it was to get him out of your system. One more time, you tell yourself. It wasn’t going to be hard, you knew that. After all, you were giving Jimin exactly what he wanted. One more time with him and the both of you will go back to being former quiz partners and perhaps even just strangers. Perhaps it was a good thing that you had fallen asleep. It would have been a true shame if you had allowed Jimin to ruin what was your favourite movie of all time.

Jimin pulls away from the kiss momentarily to back himself up against the headboard, his hands tugging you along, your legs now on either side of him and he watches on in awe as you made yourself comfortable in his lap. If cuddling with you felt like a dream then having you straddle him and kiss him senseless felt like heaven. He takes his time with you, moving his lips languidly, wishing to drag this out for as long as you would allow him to.

You break away from the kiss to mark his neck, leaving petals of blue and purple on his soft skin. It’s so hard for Jimin to think clearly when he feels your ass grinding against his cock but his mind clears up just enough for him to remember that there’s still so much he needed to say to you.

“N-nerd,” He stutters, he intends to finish his sentence but you’re biting that spot behind his ear that has him writhing under you. His hands slip under your shirt, roaming your back before gripping your waist with such force, as if he was afraid you were suddenly going to leave.

Your hands tug at the hem of his shirt and he holds your wrists to stop you. Once you get his shirt off and he tears yours away, he knows his mind will no longer have the power to construct full sentences.

“Babe,” He whimpers. “We— fuck—” A roll of your hips causes his words to become mangled moans. “Fuck, okay,” He breathes, barely able to concentrate. “We need to t-talk first before—”

You press your lips against his, cutting off his sentence and he responds with a whine. You were really making this difficult for him.

“We can do that later,” You mumble. “I need you right now,” You whine.

Need. You needed him. Not want but need. He lets that sentence ring in his head one more time before he loses himself completely to your touch, your kiss.

Jimin shoves your hand away, opting to pull his shirt off to speed things up and in that time, you remove yours too. He marvels at your body, his nimble fingers unbuckling your bra in a split second and a guttural moan leaves his lips the moment your breasts come into view. His hands explore every single inch of your body, memorising each curve and dip while your hands tug at his locks, urging him to do something, anything.

All the pictures, all the events, everything that you and Jimin are plays in the back of your mind, warning you of what you are so adamant on destroying but you can’t find it in yourself to stop. Not even the horrifyingly embarrassing pictures from last night can prompt you to stop rolling your hips against him. He was extremely intoxicating, his signature smirk, his scent, all things that had you wanting more… even if it meant you were digging yourself deeper into a hole of despair. As you sat on him, his aching member pressing against your centre, you come to a realisation that you had horribly miscalculated just how much he affected you and that your grand plan was falling apart with every second. Regret. The emotion fills every crevice of your body but the heat pooling in the pit of your stomach makes it easy to forget it all, to simply stop thinking for a second and bask in the way Jimin was staring at you, his breaths already shallow.

“Baby, fuck, you need to stop that,” He groans. “My mum will be back soon.”

Damn, you loved the way the word baby rolled off his lips. Even if he called numerous girls by the same name, it still made you weak in the knees. You ignore his pleads, continuing your ministrations, watching as Jimin struggles to hold on to his sanity.

“We can be quick, can’t we?” You ask. “I bet I can have you coming in your pants before she gets here.”

Fuck. Jimin’s mind spins at the words that are falling from your lips and all he wants is to hear you say more, speak with more confidence about all the things you wanted to do to him. He can’t bring himself to say anything, his mind only able to prompt him to grab your hand and guide it towards his member that was growing achingly hard.

A light laugh bubbles from your lips as you saddle down further his thighs, your hand tugging down his sweatpants to reveal his member pressed against his boxers, a dark spot forming at where his tip was, pre-cum already leaking through. You palm him slowly through the thin sheet of cloth, the whines that escape his lips causing a pleasurable twist in the pit of your stomach and it takes everything in you to stop yourself from ripping his boxers right off.

“Babe, please,” He begs. “No teasing. I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” He whines.

You silence the rest of his protests with a kiss, letting your tongues dance together, a ton of unsaid words swallowed between the both of you. Your hand slips into his boxers, pumping him once, twice and Jimin detaches his lips from yours, his head rolling back to hit the headboard, rapid breathy whines falling from his lips.

You tug his boxers just enough to let his erection spring free, revealing his cock that made your mouth water, his tip red and angry. You build him closer to his release, your hand spreading his pre-cum down his shaft, gripping with just the right pressure before twisting your wrist to come up to his head, your fingers teasing at his slit. His head now buried in your neck as he tried to muffle his moans with kisses that he left on your supple skin.

Jimin’s almost there, your dirty whispers bringing him closer and closer to his high. Just a few more times and you’d have him blowing his load. His chest rises and falls rapidly, his hips thrusting upwards into your hand to chase his release.

A sharp ring sounds from your back pocket, slowly falling into the melodious tone you recognise as the one you had set as your aunt’s ringtone. Your hand stops dead in its track and Jimin continues thrusting his hip into your hand to urge you to keep going but you let your hand fall limp.

“Don’t,” He whines when he sees you reach for your back pocket. “Don’t answer that. Baby, I’m so close, please,” He begs.

You tilt you head to your side, flashing him a polite smile before pressing your phone to your ear.

“Hi Aunty!” You greet, tucking his member back into his boxers, wiping his pre-release all over the front of his sweatpants. Jimin lets out a frustrated groan, his head resting on the headboard with a thunk! as he gives you a disappointed frown. 

“Y/N, do you think you can stop by the store to pick something up for me?”

Jimin reaches for your hand, pulling it towards his cock, urging you to continue where you had left off but you simply shrug off his hold and send him a warning glare.

“Sure,” You answer. “What do you need me to get?”

Your aunt begins listing a few ingredients, a variety of vegetables but fuck, Jimin has on an evil smirk and you know you’re in trouble. He wraps a single arm around you, pulling you closer, while his other hand comes up to caress your breasts.

You frown at him, and mouth the words stop that to him but he simply shrugs his shoulders at you before his lips wraps around one of your buds, his tongue darting out to swirl around it. You’re delirious as you feel him suck at your skin, his mouth moving to leave patterns down the side of your breast, his hand massaging the other. The words slipping out from your phone’s speaker goes unheard as you tuck your bottom lip between your teeth, devoting all your energy into making sure your moans stay silent. Park Jimin really is the devil, is all your mind can conclude.

Your hand slips between the strands of his hair, tugging at them lightly before you pull harder, forcing Jimin to detach his lips from your nipple. He stares back at you with a sly grin, only to be met with your signature scowl and he leans in to peck your lips, to stop you from saying anything.

You hum into your phone, hoping your aunt hasn’t realised that you’ve been way too silent or worse, that she had heard anything that would have given her a clue of what exactly was happening behind the scenes. 

She’s still listing more ingredients, letting you know on what she was planning to cook and you let out another hum, wishing she would just end the damn call already. Jimin lets his hand slip to your waist as you speak to your aunt and when you give him no attention, he lets them venture further southwards, thumbing the waistband of your pants. He looks up at you but you’re staring into space with your eyebrows furrowed, like you were actually trying to listen to whatever your aunt was saying. As if, he scoffs. His finger slips into your pants, snapping the waistband of your panties against your skin teasingly, knowing full well that this would definitely get your attention.

You pull your phone away, your hand covering the mic as you send him another warning glare. “Jimin, stop that!” You whisper-shout and he only laughs, letting his other hand slip to your behind to leave a hard slap. A tiny gasp leaves your throat and you pray your aunt heard nothing. You move to climb off his lap, unable to tolerate him anymore but his strong hands hold you in place, not letting you move an inch. 

“Okay, I’ll stop,” He whispers into your ear, his light chuckles punctuating his sentence before he nibbles at your lobe. You bring back the phone to your ear just in time to hear your aunt ask if you had got all that and you answer with a curt yes. Crap, you were so screwed.

Jimin shifts under you, pulling you closer to him, your chest touching his and your centre pressed against his erection. It seemed like the word stop had a very different meaning in Jimin’s dictionary. You wriggle around, hoping he’ll release you but your efforts are futile and if anything, only riles him up further. His hips roll into yours letting your core feel his throbbing cock, aching for something, any form of friction. His lips busy themselves by returning the favour, marking your neck as you did his earlier. Low whimpers escape from your throat and your knuckles turn white from gripping your phone so hard, your mind screaming at you to not give into Jimin’s tricks.

There’s too much going on and you feel your resolve slowly crumbling, your mind on the verge of telling you to just toss your phone across the room and succumb to your desires. There’s a murmur on the other side of the phone and you let out a shaky yes, hoping that it had been a question your aunt was asking because you really hadn’t heard anything past ‘I need you to get me some vegetables.’

“Y/N, are you listening?” Your aunt questions, her tone clearly frustrated. “I need you to get them for me now, yeah?”

“Huh?” You question, mind still hazy from the way you felt heat pooling at your centre, the knot in your stomach growing tighter by the second.

“Y/N,” Your aunt grumbles. “Are you in the middle of something?”

“N-no, I’m listening,” You answer and Jimin giggles when you reach out to push him away.

"I said I need you to get me all of that right now.”

“Right now?” You repeat and Jimin backs away to look at you in confusion. Hell no. You’re not going to leave him here with blue balls are you?

“Yes and—”

"Wait, I-I caught most of what you told me,” You lie. “But I think you should still text me the list just so I don’t miss anything out.”

“Ah, my boy will meet you at the store and he has the list, so don’t worry about that.”

What. The. Fuck. She made you sit through all of that torture only to tell you that your cousin had the full list? What the hell was the point of this phone call then?

“He should be there already so meet him as soon as you can,” She chirps. “He always manages to miss something even when he has the list,” She groans.

“Sure, I’m on my way now,” You huff, trying your best to hide your annoyance before bidding her a curt goodbye.

When you hang up and put your phone back in your back pocket, you’re greeted with a look of bewilderment on Jimin’s face.

“No, no,” He growls. “You’re not going anywhere until you fix this,” He grunts, thrusting upwards. A light moan bubbles up your throat, completely betraying your thoughts.

“I-I can’t,” You mumble, trying to hide the moans that threatened to escape your lips. You search his bed for your bra, your hips still attached to his since he refused to let you go. 

“You have to baby,” He groans, running his hand through his hair. “You can’t leave me like this!” He exclaims, pointing to where you were sitting on, finally releasing his hold on you. 

You take the chance to climb off him and he whines, trying to pull you back to him but you slap his grabby hands away with a laugh.

“You said you were going to have me coming in my pants.”

“I failed,” You shrug.

Jimin flails around in his bed, throwing a temper tantrum like a child.

“I’ll eat you out, I’ll do anything,” He begs. “You can’t do this to me,” He whines like a 5-year-old.

“So you mean you weren’t planning to eat me out to begin with?” You question, hand on your hips.

“O-of course I was.”

“You’re stuttering, Park,” You tease. “That’s not very convincing.”

“That’s because your girls are literally staring me in the face right now,” He points towards your chest. “They make it really hard for me to think straight, you know?”

“Shame,” You shrug, while putting your bra on. “If you didn’t stutter maybe I’d be getting undressed,” You sigh as you pull your shirt back on.

“Baby please,” He cries, stalking over towards you. “What am I supposed to do with this if you leave?” He groans, fingers directing you to look at his member.

“You’re a big boy,” You smile. “Figure it out on your own, baby,” You tease, patting him lightly on the cheek. “Or maybe ask Mina… I’m sure she’d love to help.”

Jimin’s face immediately turns sour and you know you’ve gone a little too far but really, he walked right into that one.

He lets out a loud exhale as he watches you move towards his door, leaving him to deal with the problem in his pants, alone. He’s never been in this situation before. A girl actually leaving him with blue balls… but you’re a girl he’s shared quite a few firsts with. Most notably, the first time he’s felt himself slowly being driven insane by a girl.

Shit, he really didn’t want you to leave and not because of his semi-hard cock but because he just didn’t like seeing you go. Today was the first time you had smiled at him since the night of the ball. A genuine smile, not that crappy half smile you’ve been giving him lately or the other smile that never quite reach your eyes, one that had fake warmth behind it. This smile was that rare toothy grin that he thinks is reserved just for him. It’s not, but he likes to think that it is. On top of that, you even called him baby, albeit teasingly, it made his heart soar. It was like you wanted him to melt into a puddle right before you. 

You had to stay… and if you weren’t going to, he had to see you tomorrow. He has a second to decide what to do and before he can really think anything through, he hears his own voice ring around the room.

“Nerd,” He calls and you look back, lifting your eyebrows at him. “D-do you maybe… want to watch a movie tomorrow?” He asks, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

“You mean with the boys? Sure, just text the group—" 

"No, I mean… Just you and me,” He gulps. “Like last time… you know? and then maybe we can talk about last night, about everything,” He adds quickly. His mind is racing as he awaits your answer, his heart thudding against his ribcage, so much so it felt like it was going to jump right out of his chest. Christ, even his pre-competition jitters had nothing on you.

It’s interesting, watching Jimin shift around nervously and you almost feel pity for him. He’s a convincing actor, you’ll give him that. You mull over the invite for a while, seeing it as your chance to carry out your plan, perhaps a little better this time. Talk. He wants to talk… that’s new, you hum. The both of you rarely speak about the things that happened between the both of you, choosing to ignore it until it becomes forgotten. You absolutely didn’t want to ‘talk’ but just like today, you think you’ll be able to wriggle your way out of that.

“Sure,” You smile. “Text me the details later yeah?”

“Y-yeah, of course!” He answers, almost shouting out his reply. He had meant to say goodbye but he’s so excited that his mind is unable to string the right words together. By the time he finally gets his act together, you’re already running down the stairs and out of his house.

Jimin takes a lengthy shower, stroking himself to thought of you, pretending it was your lips around his cock but even then, the euphoria he felt didn’t compare to hearing you say yes to the movie date. He paints the tiles with spurts of white, his breath heavy as he comes down from his high and all that clouds his thoughts now was how good you looked sitting on top of him but how much better you looked sitting beside him, your hand in his.

Being infatuated with someone made him feel so lame, he sighs but the warmth that bloomed in his chest with every thought of you made it feel like it didn’t matter.

By the time Jimin is done with his long, long shower, his parents are already sat at the table, lunch completely laid out. His mother complains about how it’s freezing in their house and he nibbles at his lips, a light feeling of guilt swimming in his chest.

Jimin’s parents notice their son being a lot more perkier than usual and they don’t have to ask why when he starts dropping some trivia about you, something or rather someone he had stopped talking about for a while. It’s endearing really and they watch on in fascination as he lights up, eyes crinkling when he smiles. Oh they couldn’t wait until you came over the next time, excited to finally be able to fully embarrass their son in front of you, a few choice stories already lined up.

Midway through the lunch, there’s a faint ding that comes from Jimin’s back pocket but he’s far too preoccupied with the conversation at hand to notice. A string of messages light up the front of his screen, your name flashing above them.

[1:42] You: hey i’m gonna have to take a rain check on that movie tomorrow

[1:42] You: because

[1:42] You: guess who my aunt’s cooking for tonight?

[1:42] You: my parents!!!

[1:42] You: anyway i’m leaving for my hometown tonight

[1:42] You: so i’ll see you when we’re all back on campus :)

Ah, the universe strikes again. It’s mysterious ways forever working against Jimin.

There’s a dull pain that sits at the bottom of your chest when you type out your messages to the boys, your uneasiness intensifying as you typed out Jimin’s. You had definitely made the situation worse with your stunt this afternoon, further confusing yourself but maybe your short trip home would be able to clear things up for you or even better, help you forget all of it ever happened. Maybe like always, after returning to campus, both you and Jimin would pretend like nothing happened… the both of you were really good at doing that anyway. 

You shake your head, refusing to think about all of it anymore. You’re sure it’ll all work out because by the time the semester starts, you’ll all be back on campus where there would be a 100 other girls that Jimin could distract himself with and you’ll fade to the background, simply becoming another one of ‘those girls’ that he had had his fun with. Just another fuckboy, you tell yourself. Just another mistake. That’s all he was. Looks like you were going to have to look for another cuddle partner when you get back on campus and you had just the right person in mind…

A certain Kim Taehyung perhaps?

A/N: a lil insecure about how this chapter turned out bc i know this chap is kinda jumpy with the constant switching of viewpoints but I just idk hahaha I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! As always, thank you so much for reading and feedback is welcome!!!

[araminthe-ispwitch]

hi so i love your writing its amazing i especially love gay highschool romance its my favourite i was wondering if i could have some advice im trying to write a school fic and im not sure how to transition between different characters since theres quite a lot. its in third person if that helps. if you have any other tips for school fics id be happy to hear them :)

WOWOKAY HOLY SHIT IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE SOMEONE PRAISED MY KNB FIC

(Alsoshit I have to update OTL)

((butalso wOW??? SOMEONE’S ASKING FOR WRITING ADVICE FROM ME???))

(((Okay,I rambled way too much here with advice when you were just asking aboutcharacter transitions… so uh I’ll just put this under Keep Reading. Anon, yourspecific question is answered on #6. If anyone’s interested in writing tips, feel free to skip some ramblings.)))

Well,okay, actually, The ExaggeratedlyPerilous Journey of a Gay High School Romance or GHSR had been my veryfirst school fic (I can’t count that one DNAngel fic ‘cause the setting washalf-outside of school…) and the one thing I noticed while writing it was that ahuge cast of characters needs to be handled with care, otherwise things cangrow way out of proportion.

Letme give a little more exposition on what happened to me exactly first, so you’llunderstand how important writing this fic had been for me:

GHSRwas my second fic in my entire life. After my DNAngel fic (which I really don’t encourage you guys to readunless you want a cringe-y flashback to your teenage weaboo days), I took along break from writing until KnB came along and inspired me. Now, whathappened in that break was that I got slowly influenced by other writers’styles as I read and read, so once I started creating GHSR, it was oodles morerefined than my first fic.

Butit still had that weaboo factor in it somewhere. I hadn’t practiced in a while,so I haven’t gotten rid of that thing yet.

(Andhere I will admit that my first writing style was really heavily inspired by acertain DNAngel fic author. She had written crackfics and I unfortunately adoptedher habit of using “blunette, blue orbs, teardropped, etc.” Yeah. Are youcringing yet? ‘Cause I am. Still, thanks for inspiring me, lady.)

Now,when I wrote Ch. 1 and 2 of GHSR, I was still using my old style. But as Iwrote chapters 3, 4, and 5—and as my word count climbed higher and higher forevery chapter jesus christ—I finally started to find my own style and startedcorrecting all the cringe-y habits I had before (hence why I had refined Chapter1 a while back). So what I’m saying here,anon, is that that experimental school fic of mine practically made me realize howto properly write a school fic.

(I’msorry this will be a bit longer pls bear with me let’s focus on the advice partnow)

Okay,first of all, if your school fic will be having a huge cast (because you canactually writing a fic set in a school without writing a lot of characters init), it’s best to really know each character’s persona. This is easy since if youread a lot of fanfics about the fandom you’re going to write for, you will havea lot of references on how the character is written by the majority. Forexample, I learned how to write Takao by reading works about him, and then Ijust added my own interpretation of him a bit and viola, I now have a Takao whofits my “everyone goes to one school” AU. It’s amazing because a lot of myreaders tell me Takao is so in-character in my fic, but when you really thinkabout it, his entire character isn’t completely shown in the canon as opposedto Kuroko or Kagami, right? But I managed to write him well enough that heseems natural to the readers because they’ve read other works about him, too—andall because I did my research on how his character works!

Anotherexample for this is when I fucked up Kagami’s character. OTL

Backin GHSR’s Ch. 1, I freely wrote Kagami as this food-loving delinquent who ispretty much down to fight. I was sofucking wrong. Watching the next seasons of KnB, I realized with horrorthat I fudged him up so bad and was really so embarrassed and basically, Iwanted to delete my fic right then and there. He’s a food lover, yeah, but he’snot actually actively looking fortrouble. He’s actually a well-mannered kid who is just skirting close todelinquency due to his looks, but is actually just a huge basketball dork.Those times he gets in trouble with authorities? Not actually his fault becausehe’s a mischievous kid—he’s just really unlucky lmao.

(Andthat is why I rewrote Ch. 1. I didn’t do enough research on him and I felt bad.OTL)

Okay,so basically this first advice is me telling you to read other fanfics and do your research. Major characters arepretty easy since they’re popular. It’s the side/minor ones you have to payattention to if you’re going to make them protagonists like what I did withGHSR, since they’re not fully fleshed out and it’s up to the fans to give themtheir own interpretation (like what I did with Sakurai Ryou). A word ofcaution, though: you have to be carefulin distinguishing canon from fanon during your writing. Fanon tends tooverwhelm the canon when the fandom accepts it more—when in reality, the fanonis inaccurate. I can’t think of an example in KnB, but in Yuri on Ice, OtabekAltin had become an Ensemble Dark Horse character in the anime because of hisconnection to Yuri Plisetsky, one of the major characters. Despite his littlescreen time, he’s now one of the most popular guys in the fandom and because ofhis character profile’s small size, the fans have pretty much supplied itthemselves—which kind of ruined his persona a bit. I’ve seen some fanworkswhere he seemed out of character, and that’s a bit dangerous when you’rewriting. So tread carefully when researching characters through fanworks.

Secondadvice: research school fics by reading school fics. Yep, this oneis pretty simple. Just find a school fic, and if you can’t put it down, keepreading and enjoy. You can come back for serious studying on it. (You can do soon my fic lol.) Even better: find a school fic on the fandom you’re going towrite for! If its style is within your standards, then go ahead and use it as astudy material. You might think I’m telling you to copy it, but oh no, I’m actuallytelling you to let it influence yourknowledge of how school fics work. For example, when I was inspired towrite for DNAngel, I never bothered about the mechanics of how schools incertain countries work—because I thoughtthat all schools in the world worked the same. (I hate teenage me.) It wasonly through spending enough time with anime and fanfics that bothered todescribe the Japanese schools’ inside slipper system that I realized that “oh fuck I’ve been basing Japanese schoolson my country’s schools oH SHIT”. Now, I can get away with that in DNAngel,where the rules and the world are a bit screwy. But I cannot bullshit my way through KnB, an anime that is fucking based in Japan. I, as a writer, amexpected to be responsible enough to research the setting of KnB, which is Japan’s education system. So not only amI telling you to research by reading school fics, I am also telling you toresearch the setting of the story. Chances are, there will be some differencesfrom what you know and what is actually real. And not only the setting, too, butthe culture of the school—not all schools mandate their students to clean theirrooms by themselves, and not all schools freely allow their students to go therestroom (looking at you, America). These are simple things you can look up onGoogle, and if you’re lucky, you’ll come across stuff like this in Tumblr, too.

Thirdadvice: it’s okay to be vague sometimes.There’s no need for you to be specific on a lot of details or even reverentlywrite what happened to a character the whole day. You can skip the time to amore interesting event or just be general about something. Because if you getway too focused on giving out every detail, not only will it bore your readers,it will also bore you and tire you out. Take GHSR, for example. In Ch. 5, thetimeline was from Tuesday to Friday, but despite my overly-long chapter, I didn’tactually write every single day on the story from morning to night. I showedwhat was happening in school in general and skipped to the really important andeventful moments for my characters to give movement to the story. Because I can’tjust put so much interaction if it doesn’t mean anything—that would be pointlessand exhausting. This really helpswhen your school fic has a huge cast, like mine. (In fact, the only reason thefirst few chapters were reverently following each day was because the startingcast was small, but it’ll soon grow and I’ll have to put plenty of time-skips.)

Eventhough what you’re writing is a school fic, you still have a designatedprotagonist, so most of the story revolves around them, hence the need to notdetail every single aspect of their life. It’s only called a school fic becausethat’s their setting.

Fourthadvice: your protagonist doesn’t have totalk to everybody in the room. Imagine Kagami in his classroom in my fic,with Aomine beside him, and Kuroko and Sakurai at the back. And then all theother classmates have been replaced with the cast of KnB—so technically, everyoneknows each other inside that room. Now, just because Kagami knows everyonedoesn’t mean he’s entitled to chat all of them up—nor are you entitled to forcehim to. Some writers (most especially those starting out, as I saw this yearsago, but hopefully, this generation has learned) think they have to forceinteractions for everybody so it won’t be boring, but actually, that would besuch a tedious process. You have to think about this realistically, even thoughit’s fiction. Even the most social butterfly in KnB would get tired if theyhold conversations with everyone in the span of a certain period of time. Thepurpose of a school fic is to emulate a school setting, and you don’t reallysee everyone interacting with each other, right? That would be chaos. Let therebe peace—in intervals. For example, when Misdirection was having their firstpractice in GHSR back in Ch. 4, everyone knew each other in the clubroom, but Ididn’t write them all talking to each other. Aomine and Midorima were isolatedfrom the rest and hadn’t talked to the others unless necessary. So unless your character wants to interact with someone specifically, it’sokay to just let them be silent.

Fifthadvice: DON’T PHYSICALLY DESCRIBE YOURCHARACTERS WHEN YOU’RE WRITING IN THEIR PERSPECTIVE.JUST DON’T. There’s this post I’ve found in Tumblr  (which I urge you to read) after finishing Chapter5, where it’s a bit demeaning to refer to the character you’re using with blandtitles/epithets like “the blonde” or “the male”, as if that was the only thing going for them. I admitted that it is, but at the same time, I gottause this style sometimes becausethere will always be scenes where several characters are all altogether. InGHSR, I can’t help but refer to Hyuga as the “bespectacled one” because thereare other black-haired upperclassmen besides him. Even with Kagami and Akashi—Ihave to distinguish the two. It helps that you describe their other features,but giving them titles like the ones above can be a bit too much if there’s noone else in the area that has the same description, ya know? So I propose this:

Don’tdo this:

The black-haired and blue-eyed kickboxer stared at the mop of blondehair he could see outside the gates and sighed.

Do this:

The kickboxer stared at the mop of blonde hair he could see outsidethe gates and sighed.      

“ButAra!” you say, with shocked eyes, “isn’t the first one your style? That line wasin the beginning of Chapter 5!”

Yes,it is. But you know what else? I wrote that line over two fucking years ago. I posted the chapter over a year ago and I didn’t edit that lineout. But over the course of a year, my style concerning this naming thing haschanged, and now I am actively trying to lessen that kind of thing in my works.I didn’t have to remind my readers that Kasamatsu Yukio had black hair and blueeyes. That was just my ego talking,being fancy as I add the descriptions to his title. That whole thing wasone of the very habits I’ve retained from my DNAngel days—and I fucking hate it actually so please don’t emulate me and just keepyour character’s self-perspective simple. Please.

Okay,sixth advice (and the last one for now because this has become too long): transitioning between characters inthird-person perspective is easy as long as you keep things SIMPLE. Sobasically, you just have to apply the simplicity above when leaping from onecharacter to another! It’s actually pretty easy when it involves dialogue:

Sakurai chuckled nervously at the answer. “I-I’m sure they canimprove, Sensei.”

“Oh, I’m hoping for it. Otherwise, we’ll all be in trouble,” said Kogawith an aggravated sigh.

“Maybe if you didn’t suspend us, we wouldn’t be struggling right now,”muttered Aomine, glancing sideways at the door.

See?For every line of dialogue, there was a corresponding character assigned to it.Dialogue tags and extra exposition helps.

Onthe other hand, for internal narration:

As much as Kise wanted to see Kasamatsu as soon as possible, hedecided to hold back since it was obvious his best friend needed a companion—anotion that Midorima rejected almost immediately, of course. Shintarou didn’tneed anyone tagging along with him as he switched from one department toanother. And he most definitely didn’t need Kise Ryouta pestering him withquestions about Takao.

Seehow in the first half, the narration was in Kise’s third-person POV, and thenon the other half, it’s Midorima’s? As long as you’re referring to who is thinkingat the moment and showing the readers whose mind it is you’re narrating,everything will be fine.

Thisalso works with dialogue-to-narration:

“You four are already in an agreement, correct?” he askedmatter-of-factly. The four high-schoolers paused at his words, staring at himin surprise and bubbling dread. There was something about the way the lightglinted off the math teacher’s glasses that warned them to be cautious, and sothey reluctantly nodded.

Thefirst sentence was in Koga-sensei’s POV, then the rest was showing what Kagami,Aomine, Kuroko, and Sakurai were experiencing.

Justkeep things simple. The best tip I can offer here is “if you’re gettingconfused by the transitions yourself,then chances are, your readers will be, too.”

Soagain:

1)Study your characters’ personas.

2)Research by finding similar works.

3)Being vague in storytelling is alright sometimes.

4)Social interaction with each character in a large group isn’t a must.

5)Don’t dump descriptions on your character all the time. (Unless you’re writingcomedy, but that’s for another lesson.)

6)Keep things simple so character transitions aren’t confusing or jarring.

That’sall I can think of for now. If you still have specific questions, don’t beafraid to message me! Honestly, though? Just keep on experimenting andpracticing with your writing. Read fanfics and do your research. That phasebetween DNAngel and KnB was my dominant experimental phase and actually, I’mstill improving and refining my own style, which you’ll notice if you check outmy new fics. Go and find your own style, too! :)