#le weekly sneak peek | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wherevermyway · 4 years ago

Text

step out! do what you want (chapter ten)

pairings: reader/bang chan/han jisung, bang chan/han jisung side pairing: seo changbin/lee minho (referenced) rating: explicit | 18+ warnings (read please!): big fat warning for ambiguous HINTS of suicidal ideation, character deaths, mental instability, post-traumatic stress, profanity, use of firearms, graphic depictions of violence (fist fight, gunfight), blood, lots of smoking this chapter, mentions of sex, mentions of drug use, angst, drug dealer!au/organized crime!au. also, don’t drive this fast on the highway. word count: about 9,300 also on my ao3 here chapter/series navigation

chapter ten: je vois la fin avant le début | i see the end before it starts

recommended tracks: black swan by bts, can’t you see me? by tomorrow x together we go by stray kids, 777 by joji, the end/undead by hollywood undead and zero 9:36, simon says by nct 127, turn back time by wayv, begin by bts, tôt ou tard by eli rose, ew by joji, another day by stray kids. playlist can be found here.

note: I can’t believe this is almost done (thank god). I’m gonna warn you one more time: this story is dark as fuck and, if you thought chapter nine was bad, ten is also bad, and eleven is worse. eleven is going to have really triggering content (very explicitly labelled in several places) in it so please don’t hate me. I’m also turning off taglists for these last two chapters because I’m not comfortable tagging people due to the content.

disclaimer: any reference to persons in this work of fiction are purely coincidental. the characters referenced from Stray Kids are interpretations loosely based on their personalities in the group and do not represent the real people behind the personas. if this, or any of the content included in the warnings above make you uncomfortable, please stop reading now.

side note: for the love of minho’s cats, don’t mix party drugs or drugs with alcohol.

It would seem that, even though you’re back in the real world, returning to reality is proving to be difficult. Since returning to Christopher’s apartment, you’ve had a couple of panic attacks that you felt made both Christopher and Jisung questioned their relationship with you. Most of the time, things were fine, but there were moments and entire days where they treated you like you were a fragile piece of pottery with a big, neon warning label slapped on it that said “Danger! Will shatter if mishandled!” in fat, ugly, blocky, black characters.

After screaming and crying at your therapist for an hour and a half, you decided that you wanted to be alone and would take an alternative route home, sneaking out the back door so that Christopher didn’t see you as he waited out front in his car. You peeked through the glass front doors, seeing his car parked there, right on time. It was hard to make out details from so far away, but it looked like he was staring at his phone, mindlessly scrolling along.

Perfect.

You smiled to yourself as you turned away from the front door. The last time you were here, you recognized a service entrance towards the back of the building that appeared to be unlocked. Timidly, you make your way towards it and jiggle the handle. The door popped open with ease, and you walked through, quickly bolting through the alleyway and make your way towards the Mojeon bridge in Cheonggyecheon.

The walk to the bridge wasn’t very long, so you took the long way, weaving in and out of various backroads and alleyways. You loved taking in the environment of small shopping stalls and the scurrying of busy folk. What you had enjoyed the most was the ambient noises of the city life around you. It was night and day in comparison to the past five or so months had been like, trapped in the hospital, then trapped in Christopher’s apartment, leaving only to go to your thrice-weekly therapy appointments.

It made sense why you felt so lonely. Christopher had been keeping himself busy, constantly coming to bed not long before the sun came up. You knew he wasn’t purposefully avoiding you or Jisung, but something about it didn’t sit well with you, likely because it felt like he was just avoiding handling the loss of Changbin, now stuck with all of the stress of dealing with the family.

Jisung had to have been feeling it, too. Neither of them were going out on collection runs or handling deals; they had left it to Seungmin and Jeongin, as well as just sending jobs back to the hyung-nim. Jisung would occasionally spend a few late nights in the studio with Christopher, and he would always come back to bed more frustrated than he was before he went to go assist his superior.

There was one night a few weeks ago where you went to lay down early, settling into a book that you weren’t really committed to reading, but what the fuck else did you have to do, cramped up in this apartment? All three of you were tense from being cooped up inside, save for your therapy appointments. Jisung and Christopher were arguing about something, their voices travelling through the open studio door, bouncing around the open living room and kitchen, finally making its way in through the bedroom door.

It was impossible to completely make out what they were arguing about, but you really didn’t care at this point. Everything was all about hierarchy and other bureaucratic nonsense that had been completely upended with Changbin’s death. Jisung came angrily padding into the bedroom, a scowl on his face as he grumbled and flopped down on to the bed face-first. He let out a long, drawn out, frustrated groan into the blanket.

“You gonna be okay, Sungie?” You put your book on the nightstand, adjusting your position so that you’re able to run a calming hand through the younger man’s hair. “Sounded like you two were disagreeing about something again.”

Jisung huffs, then rolls over onto his back. “I'm never gonna be cut out to be a leader, am I?” He turns his head slightly to look up at you. “Chan-hyung has a hard enough time, and I never wanted to do this, but now I don’t have a choice.”

You roll your fingers through his hair, lightly scratching at his scalp, and smile at him. “You would be a good leader if you wanted be, but I think this entire situation has been stressful on everyone.”

A scoff leaves Jisung’s lips as he turns to face you full-on. “You’re starting to sound like a therapist.”

“Go figure,” you sarcastically grumble as you roll your eyes.

“You’d be good at it,” Christopher’s voice travels through the doorway, startling both you and Jisung. He walks into the room and worms his way around both of you on the bed. “I’m sorry,” he sighs out, “I’ve been so stressed this week with all of the exchanges of power and sheer amount of work that needs to be done. Jisung,” he sits up on his heels, draping his face over his junior. “I’m sorry if I made it seem like I was mad at you. There’s no excuse for that kind of behaviour and I’m sorry.”

Jisung softly smiles, grabbing Christopher’s face with both of his hands. “You can be a real jerk sometimes,” he croons softly, “but I know you don’t mean it, that you’re not taking it out on me, y’know? It’s been a long, chaotic few months. We’ve all had our moments of panic, and you’re unfairly shouldered with handling the family almost completely by yourself. “

Christopher sighs, turning his head to look at you before he grabs you by the waist and pulls you into an embrace, both of you unceremoniously flopping onto your sides. “How about I ignore all of the stuff with the family tomorrow,” he says, pulling you up against him tightly with one arm, reaching out to Jisung with the other. “We can have a day with just the three of us. Get some bad takeout, watch horrible movies, just kind of have a lazy day around the house?”

“I like that idea,” Jisung excitedly nods, then turns to look at you. “What do you think, bunny?”

You were happy with the idea, but you couldn’t find yourself to share the same level of enthusiasm that Jisung did, like you would in the Before Time, as your therapist coined it. Before, you would have jumped at the thought, with both you and Jisung likely driving Christopher somewhat mad. But now, things were just muted and toned down. Mellowed down, like food you would eat when you had the stomach flu. Everything now just emotionally felt like lukewarm, runny juk, when you were used to explosions of flavour and texture on your emotional palette.

“You okay, baby?” Christopher sits up, turning to look down at you. The expressions on his face and Jisung’s face fall flat with concern and nervousness. “Are you going to that headspace again?”

Suddenly, you come back to your senses. You couldn’t have them worry about you, after all. There was already enough, much more important stuff for them to worry about. Honestly, you were just some woman who got strung along for a wild ride, and now had to deal with something a bit more difficult than a modelling shoot being cancelled. You could handle this.

“I’m fine,” you say with a fake smile plastered on your face. That was one good thing that came naturally to you because of modelling: faking emotions well enough, for a short period of time, faking it so well that anyone would believe you. “I just got distracted with thinking about what we could do.”

Jisung flushes, clearly misinterpreting your intention. “Oh yeah,” he breathes out, “it’s been a while since the three of us…” his voice trails off as he alternates looking at you and Christopher, the blush on his face deepening as he awkwardly shifts around.

The blond-haired man rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Yeah, but,” he sighs, “that’s okay. It’ll happen naturally when we’re ready for it to happen, right?”

Luckily for you that night, the three of you were able to share an intimate moment together for the first time in literal months. It was fine and was fun, albeit muted like everything else lately, nowhere near how chaotic it was at the beginning of your relationship. At least you could get them off of your back for a little while longer.

As you reached the touristy area of Cheonggyecheon (when did you get here?), your phone buzzed twice in your pocket and pulled you from your hazy daydream. Nervously, you pull the phone out of your pocket, giving it a quick glance. Nearly all of the texts on your phone are from Christopher, unsurprisingly. There was nobody else, only Christopher and Jisung. Those were the only people you had now; everyone else either abandoned you, hated you, were outside of Korea, or had died.

16:47 | Running late? Figured you’d be done by now. 16:58 | Where are you? it's been a half hour 17:05 | seriously baby where are you?

His texts start to seem more panicked, his texting habits clearly more frantic.

It’s been over an hour since your appointment ended, and your phone won’t stop buzzing. You jam it back into your hoodie’s pocket and continue to ignore the barrage of calls from Christopher. He clearly got a hold of Jisung, because you’ve also started receiving texts and phone calls from him. A smirk creeps up on your face as you reach the Mojeon bridge. You quietly pace up to the middle of the bridge and poke your head over the railing.

It happens without even thinking. Almost mechanically, you take your phone out of your pocket and drop it down into the stream below you. It was almost ironic, honestly, that this was right above the spot where you got shot during Changbin’s funeral. It was a good area for your phone to die alongside where your sanity did.

You can’t help but cackle at yourself, earning some choice stares from passersby. There was no rhyme or reason to why you were doing this, but it felt good. The rushing water beneath the bridge was oddly calming as you stared at it over the railing. There was always something about the water that helped you feel grounded and calm. With all of this chaos around you, you needed something to stay constant.

As crazy as it sounded, the thought of jumping into the stream and letting it carry you out to the Han river did pass through your brain, but you managed to talk yourself out of it. “No,” you say aloud to yourself, “I couldn’t do that.”

The screeching of tires from the street adjacent to the walkway pulls you out of your thoughts. You turn your head towards the noise and see Christopher jump out of his car, haphazardly parked halfway on the sidewalk. He runs to you, yelling your name a couple of times, a horror-stricken expression on his face.

Your heart is about to explode out of your chest as you see him running at you. Part of your brain is telling you to run, but it would appear that your muscles have forgotten how to operate themselves.

Christopher slams into you, causing you to take a couple of steps back as you narrowly avoid being knocked down on to the concrete. His arms wrap around you so tightly, you’re afraid he’s going to pop your lungs. “Oh my god,” he cries out, “oh my god, where the hell have you been?” He puts a hand on the back of your head, gripping your hair, lifting his head to kiss yours with several small pecks, and you can feel his body twitch as he starts to cry.

“A walk,” you manage to quietly squeak out, “I wanted to go for a walk.”

Christopher pulls back, releasing you from his embrace and taking a step backwards. “A walk?” His bloodshot, glossy eyes open wide, his face red as tears streak down his face, and he shakes his head. “Why didn’t you just tell me? I would have -“

“I’m smothered,” you flatly say, not really able to allow yourself to process any emotions. “You and Jisung both have both been treating me like I’m just going to fall apart if you even look at me.” Christopher stares at you in disbelief as the pedestrians around you pointedly avoid getting close.

“Lover’s quarrel?” A hushed whisper travels on the wind.

“Youth always out here with their petty drama,” another whisper follows.

You and Christopher stand there, staring at each other for a while. He eventually runs his hands through his hair, turning to look down the stream as he wipes the tears off of his face. “A walk,” he whispers, repeating back to himself. “Smothered.” He sighs heavily and turns back to you, his brows furrowed in frustration.

“I thought you had been kidnapped, or that you ended up dead somewhere. Do you not understand that there are people out there that want us to suffer or, god forbid, kill us? You were shot right here the last time we were here, for fuck’s sake.” The tears continue to fall down his face as he puts his hands on his hips. “I don’t want you to feel like this anymore. I don’t know how to help you with that, but,” he pauses, dropping his hands from his hips as he takes a step closer to you, “if I could take away all of your pain, I would do it in an instant, even if I had to take it all on myself.” He pulls you into his chest by your hips and wraps his arms around your waist, a bit more gently this time.

“I can’t do this without you. You, me, Jisung: we’ve all gone through so much shit in the past six months and we need each other.” His phone starts ringing, but both of you deliberately ignore it. “Once we’ve dealt with Minho and Hyunjin, Jisung and I are gonna leave the family. I’ve got some connections in Australia that would make it easy for us to move there. Nobody would know us. We can get out of all of this and leave this behind. How does that sound?”

A hint of a smile creeps up on the corner of your face. “It's a good idea, Christopher, but,” you say, staring at a confused police officer standing over Christopher’s car, “you’re about to get a ticket and you might wanna deal with that first.”

“What?” Christopher gasps, pulling away from your embrace as he grabs your wrist and turns to look at the scene unfolding. “Oh, goddammit,” he whines, pulling you along as he walks towards his car. “C’mon, let’s deal with this and go home.”

The encounter with the police officer is uneventful. Christopher uses his charming charisma to talk his way out of it, even name-dropping some high-level official that he knows. Once the two of you are back in the car, he makes his way to an open parking spot and parks, pulling out his phone. He taps the screen a couple of times, and Jisung’s voice comes through the speakers of the car.

“Did you find her?” Jisung panics over the speaker, sounding as if he was nearly crying. “She isn’t answering my calls or my texts and I’m worried and I haven’t seen anything out here and I -“

“Sungie,” Christopher says, calmly, interrupting Jisung’s panicked word-vomiting, “I’ve got her, it’s okay.”

“I’m so sorry, Sungie,” you say, not really sure if he can even hear you.

“Oh my god, bunny,” he exhales, “are you okay?”

You open your mouth to say something, but Christopher interjects. “She’ll be alright. Go back home, and we can talk about it when we get back. We’ve got some things we all need to discuss.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jisung says with a deep sigh. “I love you, both of you.”

“We love you too,” Christopher smiles as he says it. He presses a button on the steering wheel, hanging up the call, then turns to you. He embraces your hand with one hand and grabs your chin with the other. “Do I need to take you back to the hospital?”

You shake your head.

“Okay, but if that changes,” he pulls you closer to him, and he rests his forehead against yours, “I need you to tell me. I can’t lose you, too. Promise me that you’ll tell me.”

“I promise,” you speak with feigned confidence. Liar.

“Good,” he tilts your head up with his hand, then gently kisses you on the lips. A repetitive chime comes from the centre console of the car, startling both of you, and Christopher rolls his eyes, letting go of your jaw and reaching out to press another button on his steering wheel. “Jisung, I swear, we’re -“

“Hyung,” Felix’s voice comes through the car’s speakers, cutting Christopher off. “Minho-hyung knows where we are. I don’t know if he’s coming here, but he knows where we are and I know he’s found out about Hyunjin and he is beyond furious.”

“Shit.” Christopher’s expression instantaneously sours and his brows furrow. “Did you call the hyung-nim?”

“Yes, hyung. He’s the one that told me. Can’t spare any extra bodies to protect us, though.”

“Alright,” Christopher tightly grabs his face and runs his thumb against his jawline. “You’ve got enough gear there? I’ll pick up Jisung and bring Seungmin and Jeongin with. We’ll be there in a little over three hours.” He lets go of your hand to grasp the gear shift, shifting out of park and into drive, merging his way into traffic.

“I do.”

“Understood. Call me if he shows up before we get there. I know there’s another group connected to the family that’s somewhere in Daegu that can probably help you out, but it’ll be the nuclear option and I don’t want to do it unless we absolutely have to.” Christopher deeply sighs, looking into the rear view mirror for a moment before focusing back on the road. “Hyung-nim’s already mad enough at us as is, but I’m not losing another brother today.”

“Will do,” Felix says with confidence, then cuts the line.

Christopher has a serious look on his face as he focuses on the traffic. He pushes yet another button on the steering wheel and tells the AI of his car to call Jisung. The trilling of the connecting line fills the car and everything feels tense.

“Hey, baby, what’s up?” Jisung’s voice comes through the speakers.

“We’ve got a problem with Felix and Hyunjin,” Christopher says calmly, but clearly concerned. “Minho knows they’re in Daegu and I’m assuming he’s on the way there.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah,” Christopher grits his teeth and exhales with force. “I’m on the way to pick you up. Call Seungmin or Jeongin. Have them both meet us at the apartment, alright?”

“You got it.”

“I don’t want her to come with, but,” you hear Jisung whispering to Christopher in the studio as Jeongin and Seungmin grab a few things from the studio and bring them out to the kitchen counter.

“She ran off, Jisung,” Christopher quietly bites back, “I can’t spare any of us to stay out of this just to watch her. You know that Minho is -“

Jeongin interrupts your eavesdropping as he sits down next to you on the couch. “It’s a nice view, isn’t it?” Part of you is upset that you’re socially obligated to socialize now instead of eavesdropping, but at the same time, you didn’t want to know how much you were inconveniencing Jisung and Christopher.

“Yeah,” you honestly agree, turning your head to look out the window. “I’m not sure how Christopher managed to get a property out here, but it’s impressive.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve chatted with each other.” Jeongin turns to look at you, a slight frown tugging at his lips. “Hyung had mentioned you were having a hard time coming to terms with everything. I know we don’t really know each other well, but you can always reach out to either me or Seungmin if you need to talk to someone different for once.”

“It’s true,” Seungmin perks up from the kitchen, walking into the living room and popping a couple of grapes into his mouth before he sits on the chair opposite from you. “We’re more fun than them, anyways.”

You smile at their words, continuing to stare out at the skyline. How was it that they had gone through all of this and came out seemingly alright? Why was it just you that had difficulties coping with everything? Why did you have problems with every little thing lately, but everyone else was doing so much better than you?

Christopher and Jisung come out of the studio, both of them visibly frustrated, but Jisung at least tried to hide it as he walked into the living room. Christopher grumbles something under his breath, darting off through the kitchen and into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

“Hey,” Jisung awkwardly says as the door slams, closing his eyes tightly and sighing. “Are you all ready to go? We’re running a bit behind, so Chan-hyung is a little frustrated.” You knew that was a lie, that Jisung was just trying to keep the peace.

Seungmin lifts his eyebrows and cocks his head towards Jisung. He smirks, almost like he wants to make some sort of comment, but he shakes his head. “Yeah, I think we’re fine.” He turns to look at both you and Jeongin, then looks back to Jisung. “Hyung gonna be alright, or…?”

Jisung rolls his eyes, waving his hand dismissively in the air. “Yeah, you know how he gets. He’s just,” his eyes subconsciously dart to you, then to the floor as he stumbles over his words, “he’s got a lot to deal with right now. You know?”

Jeongin turns to look at you, gently placing his hand on your knee. “Are you ready?” You take a second to catch your breath, then timidly nod your head and he stands up. “Alright. I think we can get out of here.”

A loud clattering comes from Christopher’s room. The four of you exchange panicked glances with each other, and Jisung takes a step toward the bedroom, stopping as the door flies open. Christopher steps out of the room, now wearing a button up shirt and a thin tie, both in black. You notice he has black gloves on as he adjusts his necktie. There’s also an unlit cigarette in between his teeth, which you knew was a bad sign. He doesn’t bother looking at anyone before he grabs his car keys off of the island in the kitchen and making his way to the front door, slipping on a pair of black loafers. “Grab the shit and let’s go.”

Christopher chain-smokes for nearly the entire way to Daegu. He specifically asked you to sit in the passenger seat next to him, and you believe it’s so he could anxiously hold your hand. For the first forty or so minutes, until you get past Icheon-si, the air is so tense, nobody says anything. The bright LED of the dashboard reflects on Christopher’s face, illuminating the panic he’s trying to suppress as he takes another drag off of his third cigarette.

152km/h. That’s what you see when you turn to look at the big, bold digital letters reflected on the console. It felt much faster than you anticipated, and now you knew why, since the speed limit was 100. “You’re speeding,” you quietly say without thinking.

“Felix needs us,” Christopher says, his voice terse. “I don’t give a fuck about the speed limit. Nobody’s on the road right now.”

“Chan-hyung,” Jisung perks up from the back seat, pulling himself up with your seat to be in between you and Christopher, “you should probably slow down a little, at least. 150 is really fast.”

“Not happening.”

“Hyung,” Seungmin chimes in, “I don’t mean to overstep, but Jisung is right. We’re going to be no help if we -“

“Would all of you shut up?” Christopher shouts, letting go of your hand, flicking the end of his cigarette out of his window as he grabs another one from the open pack and the lighter in the cupholder. The speedometer slowly ticks up to 160 km/h, and the numbers change from blueish-white to yellow. “Nobody else is dying today, not if I can help it. We’ve lost too many people already. One person was enough. Changbin was enough.”

He lifts the cigarette to his mouth and his hands tremble as he flicks the black lighter a couple of times before the flame comes to life. The cigarette smoke always smelled terrible at first, until you got used to it about a minute in, but it wasn’t something you were overly fond of. Maybe once all of this was over, you could convince Christopher to stop smoking for good.

His left hand takes the cigarette from his mouth and he leans his elbow against the door, nervously rubbing his fingertips against his forehead. “Fuck,” he whispers under his breath. There’s another awkward silence as you feel Jisung let go of your seat, relaxing back into his spot. Jeongin whispers something that you can’t quite make out, and Christopher holds down a button on his steering wheel. “Call Lee Felix,” he says as the AI chirps at him.

“Calling, please wait.” the AI responds.

175 km/h. The numbers are now orange.

Christopher grips the steering wheel harder and harder the longer it takes for the call to go through. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he grumbles under his breath, eyes nervously darting between the centre console display and the road. “Fucking pick up, Felix.”

180 km/h.

“Yes, hyung?” Felix’s voice fills the car and you breathe a sigh of relief.

“Thank god, you picked up,” Christopher loosens his grip on the steering wheel just a bit, bringing the cigarette to his mouth and taking a drag from it. “Any word yet?”

“Not yet, hyung.”

“Good,” he exhales, and a cloud of smoke leaves his lips and is violently pulled out of the car through the window. “We’re on the way there, just drove past Icheon-si.”

“Icheon-si? Hyung, that’s…” Felix starts to say with a hint of concern in his voice.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been going a bit over the speed limit,” Christopher scoffs, “as it was kindly brought to my attention. Should be in Daegu in about two hours at this pace. Call me immediately if anything changes, understood?”

“Yes, hyung, but -“

“If you’re about to scold me, I highly advise against it.”

190 km/h.

There’s a momentary pause over the line. “Understood, hyung. My apologies for stepping out of line.” Felix’s voice sounds slightly dejected, but it’s barely noticeable.

“See you soon.” Christopher curtly ends the phone call by pressing the button on the steering wheel again.

200 km/h.

The display is bright red and there is a soft ding that brings Christopher’s attention to the dashboard. “Fucking shit,” he says, and the car slows back down as he moves his foot off the gas pedal. “I’ve never gone that fast before. Holy shit.”

You look at him, reaching a hand over to his hair, brushing it back behind his ear. It had gotten shaggier and curlier over the past few months, his dark roots starting to show more and more obviously as time went on, but it didn’t bother you. In fact, part of you was curious to see what his natural hair colour looked like.

“It’s going to be alright,” you softly whisper, rubbing your thumb against Christopher’s temple. He grabs your hand with his right hand and smiles.

“Thanks, baby,” he doesn’t look at you, but you know he genuinely appreciates the little ways you remind him that you care. He pulls your hand down from his face and gives it a quick kiss before he returns it to your lap, only letting go so he can hold the steering wheel when he ashes his cigarette.

145 km/h. That was tolerable.

It takes maybe an hour and a half to reach the safehouse in Daegu. The building is old, like it had been abandoned a while ago. Siding had started to peel off of the side of the building, making it look dilapidated.

“I recognize that vehicle,” Seungmin says with concern as Christopher parks the car.

“I do, too,” Jisung chimes in, and reaches for his phone. “Nothing. Have you heard from Felix?”

Christopher pulls out his phone, glancing at the screen as he turns the car off. “Shit,” he says, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his door. “Minho just got here. Let’s go.” The five of you get out of the car, Christopher and Jisung out in front of you, hands on their pistols as Seungmin and Jeongin are on either side of you.

“Stay behind us,” Jeongin whispers as you go up the stairs of the building. “I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but Minho gets violent very quickly. He’s unpredictable; not to mention, he’s got to be exceptionally angry, given the severity of the situation. Both he and Hyunjin are good shots, so try to stay out of the way.”

You approach the top of the stairs, the sounds of shouting coming through the slightly ajar front door. Christopher throws his hand behind him, and everyone stops moving. He cranes his head around the doorframe, then walks in.

“Minho,” he says, as Jisung follows him inside. “You need to step back.” Seungmin and Jeongin follow their superiors inside, and you can’t help but poke your head into the doorway.

“Oh, of course,” Minho turns around at the sound of Christopher’s voice, laughing sarcastically. “Channie has to show up and save the day. What a hero, right? Or is it that maybe you wanted to have a little revenge on Hyunjin for taking away our Changbin?”

The way that Minho spoke made your stomach turn. Something about it made you feel like you were watching a dark psychological thriller film, like you needed to take a shower.

“We decide together,” Christopher calmly says. “Trust me, I understand how angry you are at him, I really do.” Minho takes a couple of steps towards Christopher and his eyes widen, almost like he’s ready to throw a punch at his superior. The three men around Christopher take their pistols and aim them directly at Minho as Christopher tucks his pistol back into its holster and lifts his hands up. “Changbin was my best friend. I’ve known him for almost half my life at this point. Trust me, I get it.”

Christopher turns his head, looking at Hyunjin, who wavers a bit where he stands. “I’d want to make him suffer, too,” he turns back to Minho, “but you know that Changbin wouldn’t want that.”

Minho scoffs, closing his eyes and shaking his head, tilting it down. “Yeah, I know. Changbin was always the level-headed one out of all of us when it came to the family.” He lifts his head back up and a dark expression covers his face. “Changbin isn’t here anymore, though. So, if you and the boys don’t mind,” he turns his head back towards Hyunjin, “I’m gonna get revenge with my fists.” He lifts one of his hands in the air, “Don’t shoot me, though, I’m just gonna beat some sense into him, mano a mano.”

Christopher sighs, turning his head a bit back towards the men behind him, waving his hand dismissively to indicate that the guys should holster their pistols. “Let him,” he simply says, then moves to adjust his necktie. “If it gets bad, we’ll step in.” A part of you didn’t believe that Christopher was being sincere. With how much he cared about Changbin, it was likely he wanted to see Hyunjin suffer, but didn’t want to be the one to deal with it.

“No the fuck you won’t,” Minho snaps as he walks towards Hyunjin. “Pretty boy is mine to deal with.” He grabs the collar of the younger man and shoves him up against the wall. Felix takes a couple of steps around the men, walking over to Christopher and whispering something unintelligible from this far away.

“You know this is your fault,” Hyunjin says with a cocky look on his face. “If you never fell for Changbin after Shanghai, you know we’d be at the top now.”

Minho takes one of his fists and brings it to Hyunjin’s cheek, it slamming against his cheekbone with a thump. “If you hadn’t gotten so goddamn cocky,” he grips the collar of Hyunjin’s shirt again, shoving him into the wall a little firmer, “we wouldn’t have fucked up that deal. The Triads were fucking pissed at you and that’s on you. I wouldn’t have gotten shot if it wasn’t for your shitty fucking bravado.”

Hyunjin scoffs, drawing his head back a bit and colliding it with Minho’s with a heavy thud. Minho lets go of Hyunjin’s collar and grabs his head, moaning out in pain. “Fucking hell,” he grumbles with a slight slur.

“You were such a coward. Still are,” Hyunjin says, grabbing his forehead as he knees Minho in the stomach. “Temporarily left the fucking family because your precious Binnie was so worried about you. You really thought you were just gonna leave, go somewhere and start a happy family?” He scoffs and rolls his eyes. “As if. No one makes it out of here sane or alive.”

Minho growls as he reorients himself upright. He draws his arm back and literally leaps at Hyunjin, his fist colliding against his face again. This time, however, they land on the floor and throw fists back and forth until their faces and knuckles are bloodied. “If you never got involved with that fucking Triad girl,” Minho spits blood down onto Hyunjin’s face in anger, “we would never be here. Changbin would still be alive, the two of us would be out, then you could have had it all. But you went and flew too close to the goddamn sun, you fucking traitor.” Minho pushes himself to his feet and reaches for his pistol.

A chill runs through the air as Hyunjin calmly stands up, drawing his pistol in response. “It’s not my fault,” he says coolly, then turns to glare at you. “If it wasn’t for her,” he nods in your direction, then turns back to Minho, “Changbin wouldn’t have died. All I wanted to do was to give him a little warning shot so Minji and I could get out of there. But, you know your precious Changbin. Always had to be the brave, strong hero.” He squints his eyes and cockily smirks. “You loved that about him and you know that.”

Christopher tenses, sensing the shift in tone, and he grabs his pistol, motioning for you to get back, but it’s clearly too late to intervene.

It happens in an instant, time slowing down like the time that Christopher got shot in front of you. You see Minho’s arms raise up, aiming his pistol at Hyunjin, who responds in kind by aiming his pistol at Minho. However, he’s a bit too slow.

Minho fires his gun once, square into Hyunjin’s shoulder. The younger man shrieks and recoils, but manages to fire a shot into Minho’s stomach before he collides into the ground. The older man falls forward, crashing into the floor like a rag doll. Blood flies everywhere, painting the room and the men in splatters of deep crimson.

Hyunjin weakly coughs a couple of times. “Idiot,” he groggily whispers before his head rolls away from you.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Minho coughs out, thick blood coming up from his throat. Felix immediately moves towards Minho, but the older man shakes his head once. “Let me fucking die.” The younger man stops in his tracks, nods, then moves to Hyunjin. He pores over the long-haired man, reaching up to his throat, letting out a deep sigh, shaking his head.

Minho lazily rolls onto his back, staring up to the ceiling. “I know you never would have wanted me to get revenge,” he scoffs, more blood coming up and spilling down his cheek, “but you knew me better than that. You were always the, ah,” he coughs a couple of times, “always the wiser one out of the two of us. I might have been older, but you were smarter.” He closes his eyes and lets out a shaky sigh. “I love you so much. You made me so much better. Sorry, baby. Hope you’re there on the other side. Heh. Hope there’s an other…”

A creaky groan comes from Minho, and that’s the last noise he makes. The room falls silent and nobody moves for a while. A few tears fall down your face. Minho may have been flighty and impossible to understand sometimes, but he showed you nothing but compassion and kindness when he first met you.

“Hi, I’m Lee Minho,” the memory of his introduction replays in your head. “Changbin’s probably talked about me by now.” You remember the way he softly smiled as he offered a slight bow to you. The way he looked at Changbin while he was half-drunk and high off of ecstasy, the way he whined at Changbin and pulled him into an embrace when he was half-asleep the next day. “Cuddle me and make it better.” There was no way he was truly a bad person, not by all of his interactions with you. He just loved Changbin and didn’t know how to appropriately act about it at times.

Your knees painfully collided into the ground and you just started sobbing. Sure, Minho had moments where he was absolutely insane, but the memories you had with him physically hurt as they passed through your head.

Daegu. You were in Daegu. You probably weren’t far away from where he and Changbin were for the Colourful Daegu Festival a long time ago. How happy they must have been when they were tripping on acid and listening to music. God, how much they must have loved each other. All of the happy memories they had, only to end in pain and misery and literal fucking death.

“Don’t let Channie intimidate you,” you remember him telling you the day that Christopher came home from the hospital, not long before Changbin brought him home. You were both on the couch, aimlessly talking about life as Jisung took a nap in the bedroom.

“What do you mean?” You had asked, turning to look at Minho.

“He’s a little intense sometimes,” he continued, folding his hands together and bringing them to the back of his head. “but he cares. Once he gets close to someone, he gets protective and it’s endearing. It’s usually just a bit intense at the beginning. I mean, you saw how he got when he found out you and Sungie had been together, but he cares. and just doesn’t know how to show it sometimes.”

You cocked your head to the side and mumbled in agreement.

“I remember when he found out that Changbin and I were dating. Wow,” Minho sighed as he rolled his head up to look at the ceiling. “Man, was he pissed. He yelled and yelled and totally reamed me. ‘First, you get shot for him,’ he said to me, ‘now you’re in love with him? With my best friend?’” Minho smiled at the memory. “That’s how I knew he really cared about Binnie. He wasn’t mad at me, he was just protective of his best friend.”

“Huh,” you mumbled out, then leaned back up against the couch, staring up at the ceiling with Minho.

“He gave me his blessing eventually,” Minho continued, “but he told me that if I ever broke Binnie’s heart, he’d break my kneecaps in two and make sure nobody found me at the bottom of the ocean.”

Your eyes widened and you turned to look at Minho in terror.

Minho tilted his head towards you and smiled. “Real charmer, ain’t he? Very endearing type. He falls fast. Probably loves you already, just doesn’t know how to say it. Be ready for it to come completely out of the blue.”

You run your hands through your hair, rocking back and forth as you sob so hard that your throat started to ache. Someone takes a few steps towards you, then bends down, pulling you into their arms. “It’s okay,” Jisung’s voice whispers in your ear, “it’s gonna be okay, bunny, I promise.”

Liar. Everyone was a fucking liar.

“I’ll take care of this,” Felix quietly says to Christopher as you and Jisung sit on the middle of the staircase. “Don’t worry about it, hyung.”

“You sure?” Christopher flatly questions, his voice devoid of emotion. “I can call the hyung-nim and -“

“Hyung,” Felix presses. “Do you know how many bodies I’ve dealt with over the years? All the time in nursing school? It’s fine. It’s just another part of the job. Besides, the hyung-nim is still pretty miffed at us. Can’t imagine how happy he’s gonna be to hear that two more of us are gone.”

Christopher sighs, and you hear them slap each other on the back. “Thanks, Felix.”

“Not by blood,” Felix starts.

“By the code.” Christopher finishes their pact with a deep sigh. “I want you to come back up to Seoul when you’re, ah,” his breath hitches as he speaks, “when you’re done. Alright?”

“Understood, hyung.” Felix says. “You’re buying the drinks, though.”

Christopher lets out a strained chuckle as he comes down the stairs. “Yeah, yeah.” He slowly approaches you, sitting down on the stairs behind you and Jisung. “I’m sorry you both had to see this. I’m sorry this went so badly so fast.”

“Chan,” Jisung turns his head over his shoulder, looking up to Christopher. “Are you going to be alright driving back to Seoul tonight? There’s the other safehouse, or I can drive down to Busan; it’s only an hour or so from here.”

“No,” Christopher says, probably shaking his head like he did when he pretended he wasn’t bothered by something. “I don’t mind. Just gotta stop somewhere, get an energy drink and another pack of cigarettes and we’ll be fine.”

You lift your head up from your hands, staring off into the horizon as the sun starts to come up. It felt like you had been here for an eternity. A burning, gnawing sensation burned in your stomach as you mentally pictured Minho laying on the floor, blood spilling down his face. A cold sweat broke out over your skin and your body started to tingle everywhere.

Oh, shit.

You were going to be sick. You bolt up to your feet, running down the last couple stairs and prop yourself up against the railing as you spill the contents of your stomach on the pavement, painting the ground in a disgusting shade of green.

“Ah, baby,” Christopher whines, coming up behind you as he rubs his hand on your back, pulling your hair back in a loose fist with his other hand. “It’s gonna be okay, I promise.”

Liar. Everyone was fucking lying again.

Footsteps trail up the staircase, disappearing into the building as you hear Jisung say something to Felix. Your stomach retches again and searing acid comes up and splatters onto the ground, causing you to cough in a panic as it felt like your throat was closing. The cycle repeats itself a couple of times, and by the time you’re almost sure you’re done being sick, Jisung is on the other side of you, rubbing your lower back and handing you a cold bottle of water.

“It’s okay,” he lies, because everyone’s lying. Nothing was going to be fine. Nothing would ever be fine ever again. “When you can, take a drink of this. We can take as much time as you need.”

You snatch the bottle out of his hand with disgust, standing upright and breaking the seal of the bottle, taking a swig of its contents. The pH of stomach acid fluctuated between 1.5 and 3.5, you randomly remember from your university days. Water was neutral at 7. The way the water burned going down your throat made it feel like it was at a pH of 1.

Everything felt like battery acid. The way the stomach acid burned as it came up, the way the water felt as it went down, the way that everyone was lying to you, the way that life seemed to absolutely abhor your guts - literally and metaphorically. Even though you knew that Christopher and Jisung were doing their best at just trying to console you, their hands felt like battery acid burning into your back.

You sighed as you tilted your head up to look at the sky. The sun was coming up, but there was still a deep shade of violet far off in the distance, white spots spattered against the technicolour backdrop. A single red spot in the distance caught your eye. Huh. Wasn’t that supposed to be Mars if you saw a red star?

A red star. A red spot.

Wait a second.

Oh shit.

“Don’t we need to go to a convenience store?” You say, turning to Christopher, trying to sound as calm as possible as you do some mental calculations.

“Yeah, how come?” He responds, tilting his head in confusion.

“I’ll grab the stuff for you. I wanna grab a snack and some things to drink for the ride home.” You lie, a fake smile plastered on your face. “It’ll let you and the guys talk about family stuff for a minute without me, you know? Not like I can run away if you’re right in front of the store, right?”

Christopher’s face falls into a frown and he shakes his head. “I guess that’s fine. Jisung’s going with you, though.”

Shit.

“Chan,” Jisung says with a scoff, “I’ll just wait outside. She’ll be fine.”

Christopher glares at Jisung, then turns away, rolling his hands in the air. “Fine, fine,” he sighs, walking towards the car, “if she runs, you’re going after her.”

Jeongin gets off from the trunk of the car, shoving Seungmin’s shoulder and startling the poor man. Must’ve been nodding off. “C’mon, Seungmin,” he quietly says, “looks like we’re getting ready to go.”

“Is something wrong?” Jisung says as he steps in front of you, calculatedly avoiding your artistic addiction to the pavement. “Something doesn’t seem right.”

“It’s just a lot to process,” it’s a half-truth, really, “figured you guys could use a minute to yourselves and I could use a minute to myself.

“You’re not gonna run, are you?” Jisung sounds concerned as he tilts your chin up to look you in the eyes.

“I’m not, I promise.” For once today, you were telling the entire truth.

Jisung doesn’t really pay attention to you as you wander around inside the convenience store. You grab a couple of snack foods off the shelf, not really thinking or caring about what you grabbed, too busy focusing on the real reason you were there. You walk around the store until you reach the more household-like items. Nervously, you roll your eyes up, checking to see if Jisung was still staring off into space.

Luckily, he still wasn’t paying attention. You eye a box, snatching it off of the shelf, then spin on your heel and grab a few drinks from the cooler behind you. As you walk up to the counter, you ask the clerk for whatever stupid brand of cigarettes that Christopher smoked, trying to hide the box from Jisung’s line of vision.

The clerk eyes you with judgement and shakes her head. She rings up all of the items, saving the box for last, but you grab it from her before she can place it in the bag and you shove it in the pocket of your hoodie. She cocks her head in confusion, then decides it must be too early to really question anything. “₩21,050.” You pull out a few bills from your pocket and slip them to her. She hands you some change then asks, “need the washroom?”

You turn to look at Jisung, who’s staring at you now. “Y-yeah,” you stutter out, “lemme just give this stuff to my boyfriend real quick.”

“First door in the back, to your left. Good luck.” The clerk scoffs, then goes back to her coffee.

You take a couple steps to the door, opening it and passing the bag off to Jisung. “Gonna use the washroom, be back in a second.” He opens his mouth to say something, but follows you into the store.

“I trust you,” he lies, otherwise he wouldn’t be following you, “but you know that Chan would kill me if I didn’t follow you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you tuck one of your hands into your front pocket and open the door. “I get it, just give me a minute.” You slip through the door as Jisung stares at you in confusion.

06:32. You make a mental note of the digital display as you get back into the car and slide your seatbelt on.

“You look a little pale, baby,” Christopher says as he rubs his finger on your face. “I know today has been a lot, but are you alright? You sure you wanna go back to Seoul today?”

“I’m fine,” you lie, swallowing down some of your panic. Subconsciously, your eyes dart to the clock again. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long day. Long month. Long year.”

Jisung sighs from the back seat. “You can say that again.”

Christopher leans in to kiss your cheek, then unwraps the plastic from the pack of cigarettes in his hand. He pulls one out of the package, lifting it to his lips as he rolls down the window. “Everyone ready?”

Nobody really says anything, so Christopher shrugs his shoulders, lighting his cigarette before shifting the car into drive and making his way through the streets of Daegu. He takes in a long drag from his cigarette and lets out a sigh.

06:34.

“What a fucking year,” he says, not really expecting anyone to respond. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do if something else happens to us. I just wanna get out of the family, you know?”

Jeongin chimes in, “Yeah, I think I’m about ready to call it quits, too. Maybe go back to school and get a degree in something. Be a productive member of society instead of whatever this is.”

Seungmin laughs. “I feel you on that. Kkangpae isn’t really a marketable skill on a resume, is it? Imagine how that interview would go. Yeah, I have some good business skills, sir, but you don’t wanna know how I learned them. I can tell you how much a single dose of molly will go for on the street, though. Did I get the job? When do I start?”

The guys laugh, but you offer a polite smirk as your keep your eyes trained on the clock. 06:36. Why was it that when you wanted time to pass faster, it always seemed to go slower? Why was life so paradoxically cruel sometimes?

“Chan-hyung and I are pretty good at music,” Jisung perks up, “maybe we could become some idols or something? I’ve got the face for it.”

Christopher snorts and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, like that would ever happen. I don’t want that kind of life, sounds too busy. Besides,” he looks over at you, then back to the road, “I don’t think they’d take too kindly to the fact that I’m already dating not only one, but two, people. Really wouldn’t like the fact that one of them is another dude.”

06:38.

“Good point,” Jisung says, probably rolling his eyes. “Life is a cruel mistress, isn’t it?”

“I just don’t get it,” Seungmin says, “like, why is it anyone else’s business what people do in the space of their own homes? If it doesn’t hurt anyone, who cares?”

Jeongin scoffs. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want people to find out about your collection of -“

“Shut up!” Seungmin pleads with a whine, cutting off the younger man. “Why the hell do we live with each other again?”

06:40. Good enough.

You tilt your head to the side, pulling out the piece of plastic, pretending you’re looking at a piece of string. Your face falls when you eyes see a bright pink cross staring back at you, as if it were another way for life to slap you in the face.

“You alright?” Jisung’s voice startles you as you jam your hand back into your pocket.

“Y-yeah,” you sputter, “just thinking about how life really is cruel sometimes, you know?”

You were pregnant and you were definitely not okay with the idea of that.

“It’ll be okay, though,” you say as you stare out the window.

Everyone’s fucking lying.

a/n: surprise! i literally cried writing this chapter too. chapter eleven is probably about halfway done as i post this, so hopefully you won’t need to wait too long for it. just a heads up, there will be triggering content in the last chapter, and it will be clearly labelled. the epilogue, step out! see you in the next life will briefly cover part of the ending of chapter eleven if you’re curious but don’t want to read it. thanks for sticking around for this wild ride. can’t wait to see you next chapter.

edit: mano a mano means hand to hand, not man to man btw. just found that out lol.

#tw: suicidal ideation #tw: death #tw: mental instability #tw: mental health #tw: ptsd #tw: firearms #tw: violence #tw: blood #step out do what you want

18 notes · View notes

misssunflowersandsangria · 4 years ago

Photo

Work in Progress Wednesday

Creators: work on or post something from your WIP. This is your weekly reminder to get something down on paper (real or virtual). It’s also a chance to share your progress with your followers and give them a sneak peek of what’s to come!

Fans: leave a comment on an unfinished fic and let the writer know how much you love it. Reblog an artist’s sketch and let them know you can’t wait to see the final product. Send someone an ask cheering them on!

Feel free to repost this image!

Hello all! I’ve been feeling...well I’m not too sure honestly. Writing has been a little weird these last few months weeks so I wanted to use this just as a way to motivate myself a little with what I’ve already come up with and hopefully, it will push me to write/finish some of those WIPs. Be gentle these are still really rough ... and if I do get around to writing them I might change some stuff around...

There are so many different stories that I’ve started that I might never finish so I wanted them to live somewhere.

There’s a few ShikaTema, SaiIno and one ChoKarui (also some starts to my Lemonade Series so be aware of titles/notes)

**I’ll update this as new ideas come about. They will appear first in the post.

Previews after the cut.

Knots (Part 3 of “Ties that Bind Series”- ShikaTema, Suna Sibs)

“I’m worried, she’s really sick.”

“Maybe it's like ya know. That time of the month.” Kankuro’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“You idiot. You absolute moron.” Temari's voice shot back through the layers of blankets.

“I think she's okay.”

“Temari, are you okay?” Gaara asked carefully.

She nodded her head. “I’m fine. Everything is just fine. Why do you ask?”

“Well you’ve been locked in your room for days now. You haven’t snapped at anyone or called me stupid. We’re getting concerned.”

She sighed, taking a deep breath seeing the worry clear in their eyes.

“Shikamaru proposed.”

Their expressions brightened. “Temari! That’s great, congratulations!”

“We should be celebrating.” Kankurou stared at his sister curiously. Gaara was right. Something was wrong. “Why isn’t Nara here?”

“I couldn’t say yes.”

Their eyes shot wide open. “Temari?”

“Shikamaru needs to be in Konoha and I couldn’t leave you two and Suna. Who am I if i’m not Temari of the Desert?” She knew that she made the right decision. She couldn’t just leave her brothers and Suna because of something as trivial as love right? This was the right thing to do. She assured herself but then why did her heart feel like it was tied up in knots?

Candles (SaiIno-One Shot)

The concept of birthdays had always been foreign to Sai. He’d never learned the actual date of his birth and never realized that such days were cause for celebration. So much of his past and the circumstances by which he’d become part of the Root were shrouded in darkness. The one person that could tell him when his actual birthday was, was dead.

There were little events that were celebrated in the Foundation. Completion of missions, not dying on said missions were the two events in which he could remember “celebrating.” Other than that there was little else that would be cause for celebration.

Once he started becoming more a part of the village he learned early on that birthdays were actually important milestones. Whether they were small, intimate gatherings of close family and friends or large, elaborate events, birthdays were something to celebrate. They were time markers and allowed the celebrant to reflect on all their past experiences and look forward to all the wonderful experiences that lie ahead. Perhaps that was why birthdays were never celebrated. No one in the Root had a clear memory of their past. Each mission could be life or death so it was foolish to believe that there was a future to look forward to.

Still, as he began to settle actual roots, and the path in which he wanted to walk a birthday seemed like an important element to have. Everyone had a birthday, he deserved one too. The actual date though was to be determined. There were few actual dates that held any value so selecting a random one out of the year was difficult. It also seemed strange to arbitrarily pick a date as well.

“Ino? I have a request.”

“Of course Sai, anything.”

“Would you mind sharing your birthday with me?”

“What?”

“I don’t know when my actual birthday is. Such things weren’t considered important. One day I’d like to find out but for now if you don’t mind I’d like to share my birthday with you. It’s not something that we need to announce or even really recognize but I’d like to have a date, a number that I can put down. I feel like the day I met you I was reborn in a sense. That my real life started. I can understand if you don’t-”

Stolen (Multi Chap AU ShikaTema ):

Shikamaru watched her closely and saw the shift in her eyes. Where she’d been terrified initially he noticed a kind of calm and peace. He released the shadow binds around her wrists but sent more to surround her creating a maze of shadows and lines.

“Don’t fear the shadows Temari. Learn to dance amongst them.”

Temari with focused eyes and a determined spirit moved gracefully between the lines. She landed in pockets of light and moved swiftly before she could become trapped. He watched on enchanted as she leaped and moved effortlessly avoiding what he threw at her. It was as though she was floating, gliding in the wind above the darkness.

Runways (Model AU ShikaTema):

Unrestrained raged swirled in Shikamaru’s normally soft brown eyes as he held Temari’s shaking body. His glare was heavy on the cowering figure trembling on the floor.

“My family will bury you. I will make sure that you never work in this industry again.”

Temari was taken aback by the ice in his voice and all she wanted was for this night to be over and for life to return to normal. “Shikamaru...” Temari’s voice quivered in a frighteningly unfamiliar way and his protective hold tightened.

“I’m sorry-”

In spite of himself, Shikamaru laughed off the worthless attempt to quell his anger. “It’s far too late for apologies. I suggest that you leave now. That you make it so that no one remembers your name or face because by the time that I’m done you will wish that you never crossed a Nara.”

Stalemate (Mafia AU, ShikaTema)

Shikamaru’s midnight eyes surveyed the crash of sweaty bodies moving and pulsating to a heavy beat. He took a long drag of his cigarette overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and heavy bass. It wasn’t often that he made the trek out here often depending on his associates to check on their businesses. His father told him though that it was important for the king to be seen by his people.

For a while, his family had to operate in the shadows. That was no longer the case. The Naras, Akimichis, and Yamanaka’s ruled this area. Government officials, police officers anyone who had “power” were all on their payroll. Very few things happened in this city without them knowing. Everyone knew who they were and they no longer tried to hide it.

When he was younger he’d complained constantly that this was a drag. He never wanted to become the head of the Nara crime family. It wasn’t his choice, it was his destiny. Still, he grew into the role and had accomplished more than they’d ever dreamed.

He didn’t delight in the benefits of being an infamous crime boss. The club was far too loud. The women who threw themselves at him were too troublesome.

His eyes continued to scan the room before they fell upon one person his heart began to beat wildly. From where he stood he could tell she was a striking blonde but there was something different. Something was drawing him towards her. He studied her for a while. Becoming increasingly frustrated as she flirted and smiled at the club patrons. His hands clutched painfully around the balcony railing as he tried to keep his anger in check.

He called his security detail over.

“The blonde bartender, bring her to my office.”

“Yes sir.”

Protective Instincts (Mafia AU, SaiIno, Mafia Princess Ino, Bodyguard Sai *same universe as “Stalemate” ^)

The tension in the back of the SUV was suffocating. The air heavy, anger rolling off of the man sitting next to her.

“Sai...I-” Ino began before being cut off.

“Don’t, I’m barely holding it together right now. I just need a minute.”

A beat of silence passed. “Are you mad at me?” She pouted and despite how angry and upset he was Sai shook his head.

“No, I could never be mad at you. I’m mad at your actions and the stupid risks you take but no, never at you.”

Satisfied with his response and sensing that he was calmer Ino crawled into his lap settling her head against his chest.

He knew that he should push her away. It wasn’t necessarily appropriate for her to be this familiar with him but she melted so perfectly against him. He felt whole when she was in his arms.

“I’m sorry Sai, I should have told you. I just wanted a regular fun, night out.”

“But you’re not a regular person. You put yourself at risk.”

“Sai, it’s one of our clubs, nothing was going to happen.”

“I can’t take that chance, Princess. I knew that I shouldn't have taken the night off. The person on your guard tonight is fucking dead.”

Her eyes widened feeling guilt crash over her. She still had to learn that her decisions had very real consequences. “Sai, no. Please, it’s not his fault. I snuck out. I manipulated and orchestrated the whole thing. Please don’t take it out on him.”

“Ino.”

She forced his gaze to meet hers. “I’ll deal with my dad if it gets to him. Please.”

“Fuck, fine. He and I are going to have a talk for sure but that will be all. I promise.”

Ino sighed in relief knowing that he’d keep his promise. “Thank you.”

“Why did you take tonight off? It’s not like you.”

He took a deep breath his fingers pushing back stray hairs away from her eyes. “I just needed a break, Beautiful. Clearly, it didn’t last long. I can’t take my eyes off of you for a second.”

She relaxed into his chest. “I like your eyes on me.”

Obscura (NSFW SaiIno- Lemonade Series) -Idea courtesy of @ promptmaker

Sai grinned as Ino moved into the next pose. She was a natural in front of the camera and seeing that smile always made him happy.

He’d purchased the camera recently as an attempt to explore a new artistic medium. Especially now that he had memories worth capturing. Ino happily volunteered to be his subject. He was thankful that after this he’d have a whole set of photos of his Light.

“Great job Beautiful these look incredible.” He complimented her drawing her into a kiss.

“Thank you, Sai.” She paused for a minute before her eyes lifted back to his a playful look in those baby blues.

“I have an idea for a for pictures if you don’t mind.”

He nodded excitedly about the prospect. He enjoyed any time that they shared together. “Of course not Beautiful, whatever you’d like. Let me just adjust these lights.”

When he turned back around he was surprised to see that she’d removed her top and was now leaning forward her breasts heavy and exposed. A mischievous smile across her lips.

“Fuck.” He breathed. So she wanted those kinds of pictures.

Main Course (NSFW ChoKarui- Lemonade Series -Idea courtesy of @ promptmaker

“I made you all your favorite food and this is what you want to do instead.” Karui teased Chouji her honey eyes glowing with anticipation.

Chouji grinned as his mouth descended over her delicate neck. “I think that you’re mistaken Sweetheart. You are by far my favorite thing to eat.” She could feel his grin against her skin.

“Besides, if you didn’t want this to happen you would know better than to make yourself look so appetizing.” He countered his hands grazing over the skin that the apron left exposed.

Goosebumps erupted over her skin her breathing coming out in short pants. “Well, perhaps we should have dessert first.”

So that’s what we’ve got folks. Actually even just making this post is inspiring me to finish/write! Are there any that you’re interested in reading? thank you for getting this far and for supporting me.

12 notes · View notes

sexstoryinhindi-blog · 6 years ago

Text

100% Free Sex Stories, Erotic Audio, Adult Fiction With Wifeslut, Bdsm, Etc!

If you like sexy sounds, stop in at our Audio Section, updated weekly. Don't forget that Literotica now offers streaming full-length movies where you can pay by the minute at Literotica VOD. If you haven't picked your favorite authors and stories, now would be a great time. We've launched the beta of our Favorite's Portal - here's a sneak peek. Literotica does not use pop-up ads anywhere on the site. If you see any pop-up ads or find yourself redirected to weird sites while visiting Literotica - or if you just want to check your computer for spyware - click here to take our new Spyware Browser Test. The Literotica Mobile version is here. The Literotica Book is out, so go get a copy and tell your friends too. If you're in the mood for something naughty, you may want to check out our online toy & video shoppe. Feedback is always appreciated. LitTV - adult story videos. Other Sites - if you must go, go here! By entering Literotica, you are confirming that you have read and agreed to our legal disclaimer. You are also confirming that you are at least 18 years old. We are rated with ICRA to protect children and free speech. Generated with hindi sex stories . Mene apna haath uske mammo par rakh diya, phir ek per uske chutado per rakh diya, mera land uski gaand ki darar me chipak gya. Dhire-dhire, me uske mammo ko dabane laga. Phir apna haath uske kurte ke andar daal diya or uske madmast kabutar dabane laga. Uski tarf se koi virodh ya prtikirya nahi aa rahi thi. Mene apna kaam or jor se shuru kar diya, uske dono mammo ki malish shuru kar di, mujhe pata tha, ki agar ye ek baar garam ho jaye, to ise pelne me aasani hogi. Mene use ab sidha kar diya or uske upar aakar uske mammo ko chusne laga. Bahut saari jagah chumban kiye. Mujhe pata tha, ki ab wo jog chuki hai or maza le rahi hai. Mene socha, chalo ‘twenty-twenty’ khelte hai, mene uska nada khol diya uski chut ko sahlane laga. Uski yoni par mulayam baal the, par phir bhi yoni ekdam chikni thi. Wo or main dono ek saath or ek hi school me padte the. Usi wakt mujhe usse pyar ho gaya tha. Chuki wo rishte me, meri bhateeji lagti thi. Lekin, ek hi umar hone ke karan, wo mujhe hamesha hi naam se bulati thi. Ek din ki baat hai, meri fuferi bahan ki shaadi thi. Main or Neha apni bua, chacheri bahan or jija ji ke saath apni bua ke gawn ja raha tha. Hum train se gawn gye the. Lekin, gawn station se 3 km dur tha, so bua ne gawn se kiray ki texi ka intzaam kiya tha. Jab hum log sab texi me jaa rahe the. To Neha mujhe jija ji ke saath milkar chedne lagi. Main bua or chacheri bahan ke saath me hone ke karan chup tha. Lekin, jija ji ko kabhi jawab de raha tha. Kuch dur jaane ke baad, wo mujhe chutki kaatne lagi. Ab akele me ye kaam nahi kerna chahta tha, mene uski chut ke ched me ungli dalne ki koshish ki, usme mujhe gilapan mila. Me samajh gya, ki ab rasta saaf hai. Ye saali Sonu jaag rahi hai or maza le rahi hai. Me apna land uski chut par rakh kar ragadne laga. Uske sanse or tej ho gyi thi. Me khush tha, ki aaj phir kwari chut milegi. Mere land se bhi pani aa raha tha. Bas ab uski chut chodna baki rah gya tha. Wo jor - jor se bolne lagi. Mene jabaran use chodna chaha, par wo jara bhi ghusane nahi de rahi thi. Wo bahut naraz lag rahi thi. Pita ji bhi dusre kamre me aa chuke the, isliye me usse jyada bahas nahi kar sakta tha. Wo naraz ho kar let gyi. Me bhi dar gya, ki ab kya hoga? Raat bhar me or shayad wo bhi so nahi paayi. Agli subah kya hoga, pata nahi, meri to fat rahi thi. Mene dar ke mare aaj muth bhi nahi maari or subah ke bare me sochne laga.

1 note · View note

keinart · 6 years ago

Text

Game progress, music progress, a lot of progress!

ENGLISH:

This entry was posted one week early in Patreon. You can check the new early update too that includes some interesting news here.

This last week I've been outside half of the week for personal reasons, but that doesn't change that we managed to make a lot of progress. From now on also as I announced before weekly updates are gonna change a bit, a shorter but more intense format with direct bullet points and a highlight of one of the elements.

Scripting: I've surpassed the 30 scenes out of 50 scripting, including some really complex and hard scenes to script. Scripting should be finished next month most likely depending of how much work I do have, at least for the main scenes. Secondary scenes are also a lot of work although shorter so that will be done by December or January the latest.

Translation: we have started English translation and edition. The demo is done and around half of the introductory chapter. I already had translated some parts and scenes for examples and testing, but now we are translating a definitive version. As I said before scripting was being revised before and giving final Spanish edits so now we can start with it. Since I mix it with scripting it will go a bit slower but once I finish the scripting English translation will go to full force.

Art: the art pace has increased a lot and have started some of the CG art plus some other details. This week I did some neat sneak peaks on Patreon to show you some of the new stuff.

Music: this week highlight. Music was heavily delayed due to several issues but this month has been extremely fruitful. 6 new themes, including this one week update and the latest Patreon sneak peek.

youtube

Nothing is wrong. This is the name of the song I'm displaying this week. A relaxed slice of life theme by Chris Thurman that displays one of the main ideas of the game: the slice of life at the end of the world.

"Nothing is wrong" or "everything is okay" should be synonymous, both express the same idea, however they are really different sentences. If someone uses the first one, if someone uses the negative, it's in a certain way indicating that there's no positives either. Something is "missing" or they are lying about it.

I think it represents really well that relaxed feeling of the game, one that express that happy slice of life you'll be living where it is so easy to forget about reality... even when intended.

ESPAÑOL:

La entrada de esta semana fue publicada en Patreon una semana antes. La entrada de la próxima semana que incluye nuevas interesantes noticias está aquí.

Esta última semana he estado fuera durante la mitad de la semana por motivos personales, pero eso no cambia que hayamos progresado mucho. De ahora en adelante como ya dije intentaré que las actualizaciones semanales sean mucho más cortas pero intensas, con los puntos principales y destacando alguno de los elementos.

Scripting: recientemente he superado 30 de las 50 escenas, incluyendo algunas escenas algo más complejas y difíciles en las que trabajar. El scripting debería terminar el mes que viene, dependiendo más que nada de cuánto trabajo tenga mientras avanzo en el mismo. Tras eso le tocará el turno a las escenas secundarias que aunque son cortas requieren también bastante trabajo, por lo que calculo que estarán acabadas para Diciembre o Enero.

Traducción: hemos empezado recientemente la traducción y la edición al inglés. La demo está terminada al igual que la traducción de en torno a la mitad del capítulo de introducción. Ya tenía algunas partes traducidas para probarlas pero ahora estamos intentando traer la versión definitiva. Como ya he dicho antes el scripting estaba siendo revisado y editado de manera que con esas escenas ya terminadas podemos empezar la traducción al inglés al completo.

Arte: el ritmo del arte ha aumentado mucho, hemos empezado con algunas de las CGs y algunos otros detalles. Esta semana ofrecí unos cuantos vistazos al progreso a los Patreons.

Música: la sección destacada de esta semana. La música ha estado retrasada durante mucho tiempo pero este último mes hemos conseguido avanzar con 6 nuevos temas, incluyendo el tema de esta misma entrada y el que añadí como vistazo en Patreon.

youtube

Nothing is wrong, nada va mal. Este es el nombre de la canción destacada esta semana. Un tema relajado que representa este concepto de Slice of Life al final del mundo en el que se basa el juego.

Que "nada vaya mal" o que "todo esté bien" deberían ser sinónimos, sin embargo la realidad es que son frases completamente distintas. Si alguien usa la primera, la versión negativa, es una forma de indicar al mismo tiempo de que no hay nada positivo. Algo "falta" o están mintiendo al respecto.

2 notes · View notes

fumettomania-web-magazine · 3 years ago

Photo

(via Sneak Peek: Aces Weekly heads to the Wild West, with “The Hunter”)

Aces Weekly fa capolino nel selvaggio West, con "The Hunter" <<Sì! Il prossimo volume dell'antologia digitale Aces Weekly presenta il suo primo western, “The Hunter”, di Petri Hänninen e Niccolò Pizzorno, scritto da Glauco Piccione. Sì, è vero, il team di Aces Weekly, guidato da David Lloyd, chiaramente non si accontenta di offrire grandi strisce di fantascienza, avventura, fantasy e umorismo, ogni volume arriva fino a 120 pagine, inclusi gli extra, per solo £ 1 ogni settimana , o qualsiasi altro tipo di denaro che hai. Ora si stanno dirigendo laggiù, nel selvaggio West, portandoti un'avventura armata dall'aspetto fantastico, che segue le orme di registi come Sergio Leone e Sam Peckinpach.>> Articolo completo sul blog di John Freeman

0 notes

downthetubes · 7 years ago

Text

That Was the Comic Week That Was: New Aces Weekly, Strontium Dog, Moomins - and a chance to get your work in 2000AD - and Mr Men!

That Was the Comic Week That Was: New Aces Weekly, Strontium Dog, Moomins – and a chance to get your work in 2000AD – and Mr Men!

The Devil’s Breath by Le Robson and Brian Coyle is running in Aces Weekly Volume 29 It’s been a busy week, and not just in terms of stories posted on downthetubes. Among other things, I’ve been to London (not for London Film and Comic Con, which looked incredible, but to discuss an exciting comics project at the British Library; got a sneak peek at the amazing The Spirit newspaper edited by Sean…

View On WordPress

1 note · View note

tonyduncanbb73 · 6 years ago

Text

August 2018 in Review, From Fried Chicken to Food Halls

The month in openings, closings, top news, and more

August was a hot, slow month in Boston — many restaurants took summer breaks, and locals escaped for weekends on the Cape or enjoyed their final days in a city not full of students. But a few restaurants did manage to debut over the course of the month, including a couple highly anticipated spots from well-known local chefs, a dueling piano bar, a casual dumpling shop, some cafes, and more.

On the closure side, we had to say goodbye to Les Sablons, Lala Rokh, and a handful of other restaurants.

Read on for a summary of August 2018, including the most-read news stories and maps, the openings, and the closings.

Jump to: Most-Read Stories | Top Maps & Guides | Openings | Closings | This Time Last Year

Most-Read Stories

Emily Kan/Fool’s Errand

Butter and Gruyère finger sandwiches at Fool’s Errand

Will Anyone Stand Up for Boston?: A local chef speaks out on the relationship among Boston restaurants, the media, and awards.

Tiffani Faison’s New Fenway ‘Adult Snack Bar’ Serves Small Bites to a Standing Crowd: Take a sneak peek at the food at Fool’s Errand.

Suburban Boston Dining News, Updated Weekly: A round-up of restaurant openings, closings, and other news outside of the immediate Boston vicinity.

Les Sablons Closes Today in Harvard Square: The sibling to Island Creek Oyster Bar and Row 34 opened a little over a year ago.

Bill Murray Allegedly Part of ‘Do You Know Who I Am?’ Fight at Vineyard Restaurant: Plus, stream Julia Child’s The French Chef online, and more news.

Logan Airport Steps Up Food Game With More Than a Dozen Local Favorites: Places like Boston Public Market, Santarpio’s, and Kelly’s Roast Beef are confirmed tenants.

James Beard Winner Taps Southie for Italian Solo Venture: Karen Akunowicz plans to open Fox and the Knife this fall.

Seven-Month-Old Seaport Restaurant Closes: Despite initial reports of a temporary closure, 75 on Courthouse Square is closed for good.

Tim Maslow Opens a ‘Modern American Brasserie’ With a Japanese Flourish: Whaling in Oklahoma debuts in the South End, and there will be karaoke.

Dunkin’ Donuts Doubles Down on Name Change: Plus, Trident Booksellers and Cafe reopens following a fire, and more news.

Top Maps & Guides

Sarah Storrer/Eater

Fried chicken at Southern Proper

The Hottest Restaurants in Boston Right Now, August 2018: Boston’s newest hotspots, updated monthly.

Boston’s Tourist Trap Restaurants That Are Actually Good: If you’re going to be obvious, do so in the best way possible.

The Most Anticipated Fall 2018 Restaurant Openings in Boston and Beyond: From dumplings to deli sandwiches, from fried chicken to Filipino food, here’s what’s coming.

20 Outstanding Boston-Area Sushi Restaurants: From simple perfection to mountains of gold flakes and truffles.

Boston’s Essential Fried Chicken: Crispy, juicy, sometimes spicy.

The Cocktail Heatmap: Where to Drink Right Now, Summer 2018: Spend summer with a cocktail (or several) in hand — here are some hot new cocktail destinations to try this season.

The Food Events Guide: All the local food and drink events you’ll actually want to attend, updated weekly.

One Day Boston Will Have a Food Hall on Every Corner: Here’s a rundown on all the Boston-area food halls set to open in the next year or so.

Food and Drink Crawls Through Boston and Beyond: Multi-stop feasts for every occasion.

Visit These Boston Bars and Restaurants for Cheap Live Music: From jazz to punk to mariachi, the city offers something for every musical taste.

Openings

Brian Samuels/Dumpling Daughter

Pan-seared pork and cabbage dumplings at Dumpling Daughter in Weston

Brew on the Grid (23 Central Ave., Lynn): A Worcester coffee shop (that had a short-lived Cambridge location) has expanded to Lynn, sharing space with sister spot Revolution Pie + Pint (see below.)

By Chloe (399 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston): This is the third Boston location for the New York City-based casual chain, which is fully vegan. There are also Fenway and Seaport locations.

Caffe Pellicano (Mobile): An espresso and biscotti cart from Philip Frattaroli (Cunard Tavern, Ducali).

Capella (45 Chapel St., Needham): An Italian restaurant from an alum of Prezza in Boston’s North End.

Carrot Flower (703 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, Boston): Smoothies, juices, soups, avocado toast, and more.

Casa Caña (Studio Allston, 1234 Soldiers Field Rd., Allston, Boston): Latin cuisine, frozen daiquiris, and more from a collaboration between the Lyons Group (Sonsie, Back Bay Social Club, Bleacher Bar, etc.) and the Trio Restaurant Group (Publico Street Bistro, Backyard Betty’s).

D’s Keys Dueling Pianos (391 D St., Seaport District, Boston): This dueling piano bar serves booze and hot dogs alongside the music.

Dumpling Daughter (73 Ames St., Kendall Square, Cambridge): A second location for Weston’s casual dumpling shop, Dumpling Daughter. Sally Ling — of the eponymous Sally Ling’s on Boston’s waterfront back in the day — consulted on the menu for the restaurant, which is owned by one of her daughters, Nadia Liu Spellman. Spellman’s sister Nicole Liu owns Vester, which is in the adjoining space (see below.)

Ellis Square Social (252 Cabot St., Beverly): Chef Jay Murray (Grill 23) joined forces with the team behind Beverly’s Soma and Barrel House to open Ellis Square Social in the former Barrel House space. Acclaimed cocktail guru Todd Maul developed the cocktail list.

Fool’s Errand (1377 Boylston St., Fenway, Boston): This is the third Boylston Street restaurant for chef Tiffani Faison (a James Beard award nominee and Top Chef alum) and Kelly Walsh (Faison’s wife and business partner). The Sweet Cheeks and Tiger Mama sibling is a standing-room-only “adult snack bar” that draws inspiration from European tapas spots.

Giardino’s Italian Steak House and Sushi Bar (497 Bedford St., Abington): Italian food. And sushi.

Home Taste (1312 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington): The popular Chinese restaurant has expanded to Arlington from Watertown, serving hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, and more.

Idle Hour (1464 Hancock St., Quincy): Owned by Mathew Freid, an alum of Capo, JM Curley, and the Beehive, this cocktail bar also counts Drink alum Ashley Gaboriault on its staff. Food options include latke poutine, burgers, and more.

Intelligentsia (225 Franklin St., Downtown Boston): This is the second area location for the Chicago-based cafe chain; the first opened in Watertown last year.

Kala Thai Cookery (151 Hanover St., Downtown Boston): Right by Haymarket, this casual Thai spot is the sibling to Watertown’s popular Cha Yen Thai Cookery.

MGM Springfield (1 MGM Way, Springfield): Springfield’s new casino is packed with restaurants, including Michael Mina’s Cal Mare, the Chandler Steakhouse, a sports bar, and more.

Mighty Love Food (155 Milk St., Downtown Boston): A casual spot with a mostly-vegetarian menu (diners can add shrimp or chicken to several dishes), focused on “nutrient-dense” dishes and local sourcing (when possible). Open for weekday breakfast and lunch.

Pancho’s Cantina (206 Ballardvale St., Wilmington): The Californian-Mexican restaurant serves tacos, burritos, tortas, and more, plus cocktails.

Reflections (Row Hotel, 360 Foley St., Assembly Row, Somerville): This hotel restaurant serves a New England-y menu with dishes like a soup “duet” of lobster bisque and clam chowder; a lobster roll; tuna crudo; and more. Plus, there’s a “caipbeerinha” to drink.

Revolution Pie + Pint (23 Central Ave., Lynn): Pizza and beer (and more). It shares space with sister cafe Brew on the Grid (see above.)

Tatte Bakery & Cafe (369 Huntington Ave., Northeastern U., Boston): The ninth location for the local bakery and cafe chain, which is known for its beautiful pastries and hearty lunches, from shakshuka to sandwiches. (A 10th opened on September 5 in Boston’s Seaport District, and another will open downtown in the fall.)

Tavern Allston (161 Brighton Ave., Allston, Boston): The Allston location of Tavern in the Square has been renovated, renamed, and refreshed. It’s covered in murals now, and it features dishes like bacon-wrapped mac and cheese bites, taquitos, and vegan broccoli tempura.

Vester (73 Ames St., Kendall Square, Cambridge): A Copenhagen-inspired all-day cafe with salads, sandwiches, and other light fare. Try one of the signature drinks, such as the “camo”: matcha, espresso, white chocolate, and foam.

Whaling in Oklahoma (647 Tremont St., South End, Boston): This “modern American brasserie” focuses on Japanese flavors. Tim Maslow (Ribelle, Strip-T’s) is behind it.

Closings

Noon Mediterranean/Facebook

A spread of food from Noon Mediterranean, which closed two of its three Boston locations in August

August 2018 Closures

75 on Courthouse Square (60 Seaport Blvd., Seaport District, Boston): This sibling to 75 Chestnut and 75 on Liberty Wharf closed after only seven months.

Bon Me (210 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill): This was the farthest-away location for the Boston restaurant and food truck group, and the “finances...just weren’t making sense.” After this closure, the group opened a new Harvard Square location, and a Longwood Medical Area one will open in the fall.

Bruegger’s Bagels (644 Beacon St., Kenmore Square, Boston): The 35-year-old bakery chain, which is headquartered in Burlington, Vermont, still has a handful of Boston-area locations.

Flat Black Coffee Company (1906 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester, Boston): This local coffee company has closed its cafe by the Ashmont T station (where it will be replaced by another cafe, Ripple) but remains open in Dorchester’s Lower Mills and at three downtown Boston locations.

Il Mondo Pizzeria (182 Massachusetts Ave., Back Bay, Boston): The Berklee location of slice-and-sub shop Il Mondo has closed due to demolition of the building, but Il Mondo remains open at 738 Huntington Ave., which is a recent slight relocation of the original Mission Hill location.

Lala Rokh (97 Mt. Vernon St., Beacon Hill, Boston): The Persian restaurant closed after nearly a quarter of a century in business.

Les Sablons (2 Bennett St., Harvard Square, Cambridge): Perhaps the most shocking closure of the month was the sudden shutter of the Harvard Square fine-dining sibling of Island Creek Oyster Bar and Row 34. The two-story restaurant was located in a uniquely shaped historic building and served upscale French-ish cuisine upstairs, while the downstairs section was a more casual oyster and cocktail bar.

Met Bar & Grill (Legacy Place, 680 Legacy Pl., Dedham): This Met Bar & Grill location is now closed — it’ll be replaced by an expansion of an Italian restaurant from Providence — and the Natick location is currently closed for renovations. Sister Boston restaurant the Met remains open in Back Bay.

Noon Mediterranean (545 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston; 267 Washington St., Downtown Crossing, Boston): The Austin-based fast-casual Mediterranean chain, previously known as Verts, closed two of its three Boston locations. It remains open in the Financial District.

Parish Cafe (493 Massachusetts Ave., South End, Boston): While the original Parish Cafe in Back Bay remains open, the newer South End location is gone. More locations might be coming, though, with the Financial District as a potential first target. The restaurant is known for its selection of sandwiches designed by notable local chefs.

Petsi Pies (594 Cambridge St., East Cambridge): The bakery — a sibling to Inman Square Southern restaurant Tupelo — closed its East Cambridge location but remains open on Beacon Street in Somerville (near Porter Square) and Putnam Avenue in Cambridge (near Harvard Square).

Uno Pizzeria (280 Huntington Ave., Symphony, Boston): The deep-dish Chicago chain has closed its Symphony Hall location a couple years after closing in Harvard Square. (There are still over 20 locations in the state.)

Forthcoming Closures Announced in August 2018 That Haven’t Happened Yet

Oishii Sushi Bar (612 Hammond St., Chestnut Hill): The original Oishii location will close in September after 20 years in operation. Spinoffs in Boston’s South End and Sudbury will remain open.

Wonder Spice Cafe (697 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, Boston): This Cambodian and Thai restaurant is slated to be replaced by a new location of Charlestown’s Sweet Rice, a Thai and sushi restaurant, but a closing timeline (and opening timeline for Sweet Rice) has not been announced.

This Time Last Year

Certified Meatball Co./Facebook

Meatballs from Certified Meatball Co. in South Boston

Looking back at August 2017, restaurant openings included a meatball-themed restaurant in South Boston, a burger-and-boozy-milkshake spot in Brookline, a meat-filled Worcester restaurant with a German name that idiomatically refers to emotionally overeating bacon, new locations for several ever-expanding Chipotle-style pizza chains, a cutesy dessert shop in Allston selling ice cream in fish-shaped pancake cones, and more.

Notable closures that month included Drinking Fountain, a classic Jamaica Plain dive bar; the Fireplace in Brookline, which had been open 16 years; Cambridge’s old bowling alley and bar, Lanes & Games; Southie’s Playwright, which turned into the Punk & Poet and just recently reverted back to the Playwright; and Tavern Road in Boston’s Fort Point.

In other news that month, food television personality/author/etc. Alton Brown shared some of his Boston favorites with Eater, including Haley.Henry Wine Bar and Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe; Boston restaurants responded in various ways to a planned “free speech” rally organized by several white nationalist groups; and more.

0 notes