#literally spent the entire show begging for them to get along for more than 10 minutes on screen | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

astaroth1357 · 4 years ago

Text

Brothers Accidentally Make the MC Cry

Hello, this is the obligatory italics blurb that I have to put under my titles or else things look weird and it bothers me. Don’t mind the blurb. The blurb is a friend. (Though I could start writing pieces of a little story up here just to see if anyone even reads them… Hm…. Ideas, ideas...)

Warning: Angsty

Lucifer

If he were being honest, he’d say that a part of him had always feared this would happen...

Lucifer likes to tell himself that he’s invincible, but everyday stresses can get to him just like anybody else. And like other people, he may not always act his best when he’s dealing with a full plate…

The MC hadn’t meant to make his day harder when they told him that they accidentally broke a lamp. It was a genuine accident! But Lucifer was still dealing with the fallout from another one of Mammon’s failed schemes, Satan had cursed all of his ties again, and Beel had eaten every scrap of food in the House… for the second time that week...

In comparison to everything else, a broken lamp was quite minor, but for Lucifer it was just the last straw and, for just a moment, he lost control…

His palm slamming against his desk hard enough to snap its legs and send it crashing to the ground. He scarcely knew what kind of look he had on his face, but whatever it was, he had made his human jump back in shock...

Really, it was silly for them to assume that he had gotten that upset over a lamp, but he saw tears starting to gather in their eyes all the same as they stammered out a quiet apology…

It felt like an ice spike to the heart. Damn his temper… He really ought to have been more careful with them after… well, everything he’d done before…

He was quick to go over to them, catching their face with his hand and giving them the most sincere apology he could muster while wiping away their tears… Overreactions aren’t becoming of him and he hated to cause them pain…

He, of course, took care of the lamp himself as penance and on the surface that seemed to be it (but to anyone paying attention, he had softened up on the MC considerably for at least a week. They probably could have sworn in front of Diavolo and he’d let it slide, he felt that bad about it...)

“I’m sorry, MC, I shouldn't have reacted like that… You haven’t done anything wrong, I promise… Please, there’s no need to cry…”

Mammon

Oh? What's that? His heart is now in a million pieces now...? Well, that seems fair…

He and the MC were out on one of his gambling nights and he was actually on a killer winning streak for once! Jackpots around every corner, he was rolling in it!

The MC had tried to convince him to just throw in the towel early, take his winnings while he had them and bail, but he wasn’t hearing any of it.

In hindsight, their insistence must have really shown how much the MC cared about him and wanted him to keep his earnings... but in the heat of the moment all he saw was someone trying to spoil his one night of fun.

To be fair to Mammon, it’s rather rare for him to lose control of his anger like he did. But when they tried to pull him away from the roulette table, he genuinely snarled at them and told them to get lost...!

Fortunately, he regretted his actions immediately after he saw the hurt in their eyes…

If their goal had been to get him to step away from the table, they achieved it. But only because he got up to pull them into a hug while stammering out apologies… Watching them actually shed tears hurt worse than any rope Lucifer had ever tied around him...

He spent the rest of the night away from the casino and trying to cheer up his human like his life depended on it... Seeing them in pain just tore him up that much.

"Ah, come on MC… I'm sorry, honest…! Please don't look at me like that, I'll do whatever ya want okay...? Just no more cryin…"

Leviathan

Now thinks he's the worst, literally the worst. Lower than lesser demon spit. Lower than Cerberus' shit. Lower than… well, you get the idea…

Levi can get very… intense when things involving his passions are brought up. This can be a fairly endearing quality… but it also means he gets disproportionately impassioned about seemingly minor things.

Levi ended up snapping at the MC when they let him over-sleep one day. This wasn’t unusual for them to do as Levi’s sleep schedule was notoriously shitty, but they shouldn't have done it that particular day…

An item he wanted on Akuzon was going to go live that morning and he had to be awake to participate in the bidding. He had mentioned it to the MC the day before, but he blew past it so quickly they didn’t actually remember…

He found out that he missed the bidding after he woke up and he was pissed. Genuinely enraged that they didn’t remember to wake him up to the point that he was shouting and baring his fangs!

… Really it was not a good look and he should have known better.

The look of fear and the tears gathering in the MC’s eyes snapped him out of it like a hard slap to the face, and somehow, it stung even more than that would’ve... It wasn’t long before he was crying along with them, practically begging for forgiveness...

He made it up to them by having a private showing of their favorite movie using a projector in the Planetarium, cuddling with them under a blanket while still, occasionally, muttering apologies under his breath.

“M-MC…? MC don’t cry…!! Please don’t cry, I- I’m sorry!! I… MC… I’m so sorry…”

Satan

Like Lucifer, he always worried this would happen and he hated when it finally came to pass…

He’d spent all his life learning how to restrain his temper, but it’s not a perfect science. There are the occasional times where the heat of the moment gets the better of him and he does something he regrets…

The MC had walked in on him one morning while he was fuming about Beel leaving the fridge empty again. It hadn’t been the first time they’d seen him like this, but this time he was absolutely furious.

He had told Beel again and again and again to get his snacking under control or to, you know, get up early and get more food so the whole family wouldn’t spend the morning starving but noooo! Mr. I’m Hungry never thinks about anything but his own stomach and then leaves whoever’s on kitchen duty to pick up the slack like some dimwitted muscle-bound meathead and THEN-!!

When the MC tried to take his arm to calm him down, he jerked their hand away from him and roared right in their face. He may not be a lion, but the full sound of a pissed off demon could make humans have breakdowns all on its own…

Which was more or less what the MC began to do as he gripped their wrist, panicking while taking shallow, stuttered breaths…

Satan's anger left him swiftly and he let them go, only reaching out to touch them again when he tried to wipe the tears from their cheeks… He had to coo and beg for them to calm down, which was only so successful because he was fighting back tears himself…

On a scale of 1-10 of the worse things his temper has ever done, he'd rank this a firm 200... He refused to touch them for about a week afterwards and it took a long time for him to trust himself again… He just didn't want to hurt them...

"MC?? MC…? M… Oh no… MC, I'm so sorry, I would never hurt you! I… I wouldn't dare… please believe me..."

Asmodeus

Oh baby! Sweetheart! Love of his life!! No, please no… don't subject him to this…

MC and Asmo were out dancing and some witch came by to try and flatter him.

Now, Asmo is a flirt normally, but get a few drinks in him and well… Let's just say his love of attention overrides his better judgment far more often than it should and friends don't let friends go home with creepy witches.

When the MC told the witch to scram, Asmo was confused and, frankly, quite irritated. That lovely lady had been stroking his ego in all the right ways and his human just scared her off so rudely!

Under most situations, Asmo would have kept his cool better but the haze of Demonus made his tongue loose... which let the venom fly…

He couldn’t quite remember what he said. The words left his mouth so quickly that they slurred together on his clumsy tongue, but it must have been enough because the MC flinched away from him.

That hurt all on its own, but as he started to process the pain in their eyes… he had never sobered up so fast...

He had their cheeks cupped in his hands and were kissing away their tears within the instant. Though the loud music at the club should have drowned out his apologies, the MC could see it written all over his equally tearful face…

He pulled them into his arms and then out of the club shortly after, the fog of Demonus that plagued him just moments before had long left him and all he knew was that the MC needed to be brought home and cuddled… stat.

“M-MC…? I’m sorry was it something… did I…? I’m so sorry… Please don’t cry…!”

Beelzebub

He really didn't mean to shout so loud… honest...

Beel becomes a completely different person when he’s hungry. He’s not entirely to blame, as his hunger can get so intense, but he still can snap from time to time when he really doesn’t mean to…

It was right after one of his practices and Beel hadn’t gotten a chance to eat in a few hours by the time the MC came to grab him from RAD. That already had him in a bad mood, but practice hadn’t gone too well for him either…

He honestly didn’t realize how sharply he snapped at the MC when they asked him how he was. The irritation and frustration of the day all hit him at once and he became much harsher towards them than he ever intended…

It must have been the shock of seeing ever-sweet Beel suddenly get so aggressive with them that startled them so. He saw a couple tears gathering in their eyes before they could hide them and his heart just sank…

The MC was picked up in a crushing bear hug before they even let out their first sniffle. Beel didn’t even have to say how sorry he was, they could feel it in every squeeze he gave them. All while he completely ignored the growling of his stomach...

Beel wouldn’t let them go until he was certain they’d forgiven him which, honestly, took a while. Mammon was the one to ask why he had carried them all the way back to the House like a baby but… well, he didn’t need to know, now did he?

“MC, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have shouted… Are you alright...?”

Belphegor

Stubborn boi is stubborn and trying really, really hard not to crack right now...

That's not going to last long.

Belphie can be a bit of a brat and since he's the baby of the family so he's used to getting his way. He and the MC don't argue a ton, but when they do, he always digs his heels in and refuses to budge an inch on anything.

So what started out as a simple disagreement on how often Belphie would flake out on his chores turned into a kick-the-door-down argument over how much his laziness left the MC to pick up the slack...

It ended as all their barn burning arguments do, with demon-form Belphie sitting cross-legged on his bed refusing to look at them and the MC angrily pacing about the room until he cools off…

And then he heard it.

First a sniffle… and then a hiccup. Another sniffle then muffled whine…

Oh no… not this… Why are they crying…? They don't normally cry…

To his credit (or perhaps discredit), he managed to hold out for about two minutes before he finally glanced back at them. Seeing the MC wiping their tears all alone on the floor crumbled his resolve real quick.

The MC found themselves enveloped by Belphie's arms before they even noticed he got up. Naturally, he was pouting and trying to make it seem like "not a big deal or anything" but they could tell by the nervous twitch of his tail that he was hurting too…

Needless to say. Belphie started remembering his chores a lot more after that.

"Humans are so fragile… I didn't mean to make you cry, you know? I'll get things done just… Don't cry… please…"

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me scenarios #obey me imagines

7K notes · View notes

dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

Text

Club Takamagahara (End) - Dating Game

Woo Doggy! This has been fun to write and I mean FUN. Having no real holds barred and getting really silly was a lot easier than I expected and I had a great time with this arc.

One of the biggest complaints in the mobile game fandom is the Main Story offers no love interest for the MC and it trails off at this part as the MC is reduced to a go-fer for every NPC’s sidequest. Well I say NO MORE, you will be quite literally the center of everyone’s attention from here on out.

Cars lined up around the entire block of the street and women were lined up along the sidewalk for their tickets. From 8 to 10 p.m., the busiest time of the night was when the stage was filled with shows by the performers, from ancient erotic dramas like Cleopatra and Marc Antony to Chu Zihang's swordplay; off stage, the guests were already drunk. The guests who came late were often groups of girlfriends who had eaten dinner elsewhere and came to join the singing and dancing party in Takamagahara, the performers had to go over and greet them, there was a shortage of manpower everywhere. Both the escorts and waiters were running to work, Whale was roaring outside the dressing room backstage, like the circus troupe master.

The message of the Romanceable MC Contest had caught fire and boosted to epic proportions. Princess Night was in full swing and featured all the top names in Male Escort business. Even before they got out of the cars, the women were screaming and taking pictures having lined up for hours.

The white Cadillac Escalade stretch limousine rolled like an anaconda and reflected the millions of electric lights of the Tokyo night. It took up half the block, but there was space left for cars like this, reserved for the VIPs of the Takamagahara elite. No one could park there on pain of towing and a hefty fine.

A man in a hooded cloak pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. His bright green eyes scanned the crowd waiting outside. He crossed his legs one over the other and leaned back. “What percentage of the fans out there are mine?”

“From the ticket sales it seems that you are about 30% of the crowd today, Master Inoue.” The driver, a veteran and son of drivers, had been there for him since he first made it big hosting the Bliss Hall. This driver was so skilled at avoiding paparazzi that he put him under a lifetime contract. Now he was much older, but his driving was still as sharp as ever.

The man in the back seat was barely visible, dressed in all black and keeping the lights down so that it looked just like an empty limo. He huffed with a slight smirk. He crossed his arms and looked down. “Wow. And I’m supposed to have competition?”

“You are the top male escort in Tokyo, Master Inoue,” rumbled the driver again.

That sharp green eye flicked up to the rear view mirror. “Second… to the top. If you would, sir. But apparently Ruri Kazama isn’t competing.”

Ruri Kazama. The name was so legendary among the escorts of Japan that they scarcely dared to utter it. Although he rarely appeared outside private showings, the man reigned supreme as the king of the male escort business.

“He’s unlikely he would have been able to respond on short notice, Master Inoue…”

“No one skips the Takamagahara…” He looked back outside, pushing back the thick velvet curtain slightly.

“You’ve skipped it by 3 hours sir.”

“I”m only here to see one woman. There’s no need to see any others or stay here too long. I come here, win her little heart, and leave with my prize money.”

“You’re really not going to entertain your fans, sir?”

He grinned, his radiant and white smile shining in the dark of the limo. “There’s value in scarcity. If I popped up in full all the time, there’d be no chase. And as you know very well, my most excellent driver… It's all about the chase! If you would, please?”

The driver put the truck in park and stepped out in his sharp suit and driver’s hat. He pulled the handle on the pearly side door and opened it.

Shining black cowboy boots covered in sparkling rhinestones stepped down from the limo. He moved as smooth and graceful as a dancer in skin tight leather pants. His black leather jacket was open to reveal his bare chest and sculpted abs. His hair, bleached white streamed from a black cowboy hat decorated with shark’s teeth.

His appearance sparked immediate mayhem, screams, and mad panting. Dozens of hands reached out desperately, stretching their fingers towards him as though they were pulled by an extremely powerful magnet. They were all screaming, “Diamond!”

Master Inoue - or to his fans, Diamond - stood still as a statue, hat tipped over his eyes, listening to their desperate pleas with his eyes closed.

It seemed arrogant, but for him, it was always like this. From the time he was a child, people couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. When they caught sight of his brilliant green eyes they were drawn to him before he even knew the difference between boys and girls. Sitting in the stroller, all he had to do was smile and the women would come and coo and smile and ask, please, can I hold him. Please!

“Please! Hold me, Diamond! Never let me go!”

Diamond lifted his head toward the voice. It was a woman in her thirties, tears in her eyes, begging with the desperation of a leper before Christ. If he just wanted to, he could heal her broken heart. He walked casually towards her and saw her eyes get bigger and bigger and then he took her delicate hand in his and gently kissed it.

The woman, struck with a Pentacostal frenzy, trembled and fell to her knees sobbing in desperation, clutching her hand and rocking back and forth. She would probably never wash that hand again.

The little favor revved the up crowd even more and the bouncers hurried to line up and make a barrier. That kiss was all he would grant. He turned and walked through the velvet rope staffed with burly workers with black masks over their eyes. They opened the doors to Takamagahara and he stepped inside. Immediately, two more workers turned to lead him to the VIP area.

“So who’s the lucky lady tonight?” Deep down, he was quite excited. His clients were usually 35 and older. For thousands of dollars, he would have dinner at a fancy restaurant, followed by drinks in some VIP Lounge. Or he would be asked to clean the house naked. Or pretend to be her boyfriend for the night. There was the common misconception that his clients were old or undateable. But that wasn’t his experience at all.

People who had $5,000 to spend on a naked butler could have anyone they wanted.

And they wanted him.

This challenge was new for him. The club picked his woman and they would be paying his escort fee.

His only task would be to ‘Love her.’ If she felt that then she would give him tickets. Whoever got the most tickets was the winner. When she picked his ‘route’.

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

It wasn’t that you got a private party, MC. This was a show. You were on the floor with everyone else. Rather than sticking to the edge of the crowd you got your table in the shape of a figure 8 in the middle of a raised platform filled with fish swimming about and surrounded by plush red couches in the shape of women’s lips. And already, the bottles were open.

You’re wearing another dress, not a cheongsam this time. It was a light green satin tube dress that hugged your figure and barely covered anything. Your hair was long and down your shoulders and your make up again was light. For such a simple look, you had spent hours in the spa that day while they made sure your hair was softer than it ever had been. You smelled like lilac and roses.

A man with short blond hair cropped above his ears, blue eyes and a black shirt so tight it conformed to every muscle in his body yelled above the music. “Where are you from?”

“Uh… Russia!”

“Russia! Woooow! Are you some sort of Oil Baron?”

“Yeah!” You yell figuring nothing you said mattered. They wouldn't remember anything anyway would they?

He flicks his wrist and produces an unopened rose stem, seemingly from thin air and offers it to you. “To me you’re worth more than all the oil in the world. I hope we get to know each other well, MC.”

Below the shirt, He wore pale form fitting jeans that hugged his considerable muscle just like Caesar’s outfit did. But his shoes were casual sneakers without ornamentation.

You accept the rose he offers you, feeling a bit shy.

Another man in a golden blouse that is made of fabric so sheer you could see the belly button piercing underneath, pulls out a cigarette and lights it up. He puffs out a perfect ring of smoke between his thin lips. “That would be Oil Baroness, Calypso…” He says. “She must have more pull than just money to bring us all to the same table.” His voice was deep and carried through the noise. He pulled another drag and sipped his liquor. But he was looking at you with calculating dark eyes.

A silver coin goes spinning on the table. A man in fiery red hair tied back in a ponytail, puffy red coat and a long chain over his bare chest lifts his chin at you. His eyes are as silver as that coin. “Heads or Tails, MC?”

“What am I betting on?” You ask.

His smile spreads further. “I just said heads or tails.”

“Hey, go easy, she’s new!” The man in the skintight black shirt returns with a bottle of vodka and pours it into a glass.

The redhead slaps his hand over the coin. It’s painted with an elaborate henna tattoo, elaborate, like stained glass. “You’re not going to win by going easy…”

The smell of the vodka is the mix of rubbing alcohol and gasoline. Light a match and it might produce a plume of flame! You lean away, repulsed, but the man next to you brazenly pours himself a glass and downs it. Sighing roughly like he might breathe fire, he grins. “That’s the good stuff! But you must drink it every day right?”

“Yeah!” You take cautious sips but the burn builds and builds until it overwhelms you and forces you to stop and cough into your arm.

Caesar, Mingfei and Chu Zihang were nowhere to be found. It was clear this club was over occupancy and over staffed so there was no rescuing you. All the waiters were running around. From somewhere in the hall, glass breaks.

A finger taps your shoulder. You’re met by a bright green gaze in a pale face.

You flinch as a crown is laid on your head.

“Your Majesty…” The man bows to you.

“Your Majesty!” They all echo with bows and kittenish smiles. For years, you’d never considered trying to date anyone. You lived like you were preparing for war. Then the war came and never let up. Now, you’re surrounded by men who could honestly be called the handsomest in Tokyo who were placing their hands on their broad chests and bowing their heads in fealty.

Off stage, the women on the floor whooped with delight.

Cowboy hat tipped over one eye, shirtless in his jacket, with a bare hairless chest, the man who gave you the jeweled tiara leaned over the couch. Every muscle stood out in carefully carved relief and your eyes followed them down to where they disappeared below his waist. The elastic band of his boxers peek up from the pants. You’d seen naked people before. But they were all familiar, people you knew and were fine with. This is the first time encountering the bare chest of a complete stranger and he’s so close you can smell his sweat. “Wow…” He says quietly, in a low purr next to your ear.

“I’m sorry?”

“You are… beautiful.” His eyes roamed about your body with a lopsided smile, his eyebrows raising. “I have to say I am caught by surprise.”

If your face gets any hotter it might catch fire.

He vaults over the couch, plops next to you and leans in, filling your vision. He gives a quick wink. “I’m yours for the night.”

“Diamond is always this forward but the truth is, he’s the most inexperienced of all of us.”

Diamond shoots the yellow shirt a glare. “I’m experienced in everything she would possibly want, Armani.”

“Yes, but we must go gently, gently…” The black shirt lightly rustles your hair. “We don't want to scare her off.”

“I’m here to do what she wants me to do…” Diamond waves the other men away before addressing you again. “Well, what’s your name?”

You tell him.

“Beautiful… let me guess? Russian?” His hand crept over to envelope yours in a steady grip. His fingers were so much larger than yours and soft like they were bathed in milk every day. There were no calluses. When Mingfei or Caesar touched you, there were roughened, thick patches of skin from hours of practice at the shooting ranges. His nails were even, shining and unbroken.

He raises your hand to his lips and gives it a small kiss. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. You can call me, Diamond.”

“Okay, Diamond.” You glance up at his eyes. He follows your gaze down when it falls again, trying to hold it as much as possible to the point where he leans over and tilts his head to do so. Every time you look up, those eyes are there, to catch that glance, like a serpent hypnotizing his prey.

He holds your drink out to you and you accept it with thanks.

“Are you cold? I noticed you’re keeping your feet tucked under.”

“Yes, it’s… a little cold.”

He shrugged off his jacket and laid it over your shoulders. It was very warm and you realized that the smell of the cologne he was wearing surrounded you like a thick heavy fog. You could now see his body in all its glory. You belatedly realize that the observation of your being cold was just an excuse for him to remove one of the few pieces of clothing he had!

His shoulders.. The way his neck curved into them and then down to his back. You’d seen shoulders like his before but for some reason, in seeing someone new, made your eye rest on it that much longer, on the way the muscle hugged his bone . The cold in the room made his nipples stand out and...

“Anything else I can do to make you more comfortable, Your Highness?” He stayed turned to you. The way his abs wrinkled. That little valley on his side that disappeared when it met the leather pants. You were naturally observant. Everything you saw was getting laser etched into your mind. In an effort to stop it, you return to his eyes but even that wasn’t safe. He was so close, you could notice small flecks of blue and gold that enhanced the color.

“Your eyes are really pretty.” You say this, but it doesn’t sound right even in your own ears. It wasn’t really his eyes you wanted to say something about.

He gives an easy relaxed smile, his eyebrows lift once. “Your eyes are prettier.”

“No they’re not.”

“I think I’m gonna barf. Let a pro show you how it’s done.” The redhead plants one arm between you and Diamond and ignores his furious glare.

His lips were really pink, almost cherry red, but you don’t see any sign of gaudy lipstick that Caesar wore. Everything about this man was gorgeous, even the light smatter of freckles on his nose. And everything about him was natural, save his hair color. The breath from his nose tickles your lips. He’s not backing away, he only tilts his head a bit.

You start to imagine what it might be like to kiss him. He draws a bit closer… closer. You close your eyes and wait. Wait… nothing.

“Can I?” He asks, quietly pleading.

“Uh...huh?” You press the words out from a stomach that was already squeezed tight like a fist.

“Good. I’ll keep that in mind for later.” The redhead pulls back and sashays back to this spot on the couch, giving Diamond a sharp snap of his fingers, just inches on his face. “Get on my level.”

“Alright, Alright, point taken.” Diamond pours himself some vodka.

The man in the yellow blouse, Armani, tilts his glass a bit. “Popularity is just a sign of good marketing and ubiquity. None of us can doubt your social media prowess, Diamond, but this is much higher class.”

He’s then staring at you with a half-lidded gaze. “Perhaps the baroness should accustom herself to someone who has dined with high officials. The ones with real power.”

“Okay…” You whisper, you’re completely captivated, unable to move.

“But that’s boring.” The Redhead sighs. “She needs to have more anticipation and suspense!”

“Your name is Chance because whether or not you’re any good is a complete crapshoot.” Armani sips his whiskey.

“But you could hit the jackpot.” He winks at you. “I’m one in a million.”

A loud popping sound made you suddenly duck but he held you close. Confetti and glitter rained from the ceiling and cascaded over your skin. You look at your arm and watch the play of the disco lights on the sparkle.

“It’s time to give out Star-Heart Tickets! Who is the Ikemen who’s won this round?!” Whale is still emceeing this event and apparently was watching you. A waiter comes by with a basket full of stars with hearts in the middle.

You look at face after glorious handsome face. They were all leaning forward, smiling, waiting. Off stage people were yelling. Bets were being taken. “Diamond! Diamond!”

“PIck Armani he’s the best!”

“You’ll love Calypso!”

“Go with Chance!!”

“I don’t know…” You say, your voice weak. You look at your glass but it seems like the level has hardly moved even though you already feel dizzy.

“No one!” Whale shouts loudly.

There must be a microphone because you’re not sure how he’s hearing what you’re saying. A gasp ripples through the crowd surrounding you and they fall to a confused silence. All the men sitting around you sit up straight, their faces each registering different levels of surprise and consternation. Save Chance, who whooped loud. “Yeah! Now this is what I’ve been waiting for! Let the games begin!” He pumped his fist.

Chance makes a mighty leap on the table and stands in front of you, all six feet of masculine bravado. “Let me give it to you straight. It’s true, I’m not always everyone’s cup of tea, I go buck wild sometimes.” He sweeps his arms across the table at the other men. “But if girls just fall into your lap at the first sight, how do you know how to compete? Ya don’t!”

Armani stares up at Chance and slowly sets his whiskey down. The others also suddenly changed their demeanor, grave determination and desire in their eyes.

#Dragon Raja

13 notes · View notes

ruewrites · 4 years ago

Text

We’re Blooming Together Chapter 12: Epilogue

AO3

Ships: Solomon/Asmo (and a litte Diavolo/Lucifer)

Word Count: 4633

Warnings: None

Chapter 1-Chapter 2-Chapter 3-Chapter 4-Chapter 5-Chapter 6-Chapter 7-Chapter 8-Chapter 9-Chapter 10-Chapter 11-Chapter 12

Asmo stood on the balcony listening to the soft crash of the ocean in the distance. He leaned against the railing, wine in hand and ring glinting in the moonlight. Everything was so perfect,so peaceful, so serene. Not even the birds dared to break the silence. He’d need to send out thank you notes. Everyone had put so much thought into their gifts for them, and the notes from his brothers had brought tears to his eyes. But he could focus on that later once he got home. For now he would relish in this moment.

Arms curled around his middle and lips slowly made their way from the base of his neck up to his jaw line. “Are you going to stay on the balcony all night?”

Asmo chuckled, feeling Solomon’s grip on him tighten slightly. “It’s nice out, and I’m not going to get a view like this back home.” A shudder ran through him as Solomon’s lips started traveling back to his neck. Ever so slightly, he tugged down the collar of Asmo’s robe to reveal a dark purple spot on the junction of his neck and shoulder. Asmo could still feel every wonderful movement that led to his hickey. How his fingers had twitched above his head, Solomon’s hot breath against his skin, the fluid motion of his hips. It made Asmo shudder in the best of ways.

“It looks better with you out here,” he murmured against soft skin, “You make any place a miraculous view.” Asmo had to put his wine down as Solomon went straight back up to his lips. Asmo’s arms tangled around his neck as Solomon dipped him slightly.

How did he get here?

Solomon pulled back ever so slightly. He was still so close. Asmo could practically feel his smirk against him. “My beautiful husband,” he murmured softly. It made Asmo blush, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

“Who I promise to love, adore, and cherish for all of my life,” he murmured in between kisses that travelled from his lips down to his shoulder, and back up again, “Who’s laugh brings joy to my very core, who takes my breath away whenever he walks into the room. I promise to fuel his passions, be the flint to the sparkle in his eyes, and to wipe away tears whenever they fall.”

Solomon’s fingers brushed against his cheek gently, as tears rolled from his eyes. “If you keep reciting your wonderful vows to me, I will start crying again,” he smiled, bringing Solomon down to him once more. They had always been a touchy couple. One of his brothers threatened to sit in between them at the reception. Asmo couldn’t remember which one, he’d been too busy mooning over his husband. He did know that Lucifer had stopped the two of them from disappearing from their own wedding multiple times. Only for Diavolo to ask him if it was such a crime for the newlyweds to want to be alone together, he himself should have been familiar with the feeling. After all, they had years to make up for. Years in which they hadn’t been together. Years in which they had made excuses. Years in which they were too scared to say a thing.

They had to make up for it, there was no other option.

Asmo felt his feet leave the ground and he let out a yelp. Solomon had quite literally swept him off of his feet and was carrying him through the double doors of the balcony and into their room. “Nooooo, my wiiiine,” Asmo whined, reaching out for his glass that was still on the balcony.

“I’ll grab it for you love, but I do believe that I’m a little more deserving of your attention.”

“Well it’s a good night for wine.”

“It’s also a good night to spoil a husband.”

Solomon carefully let go of Asmo’s legs, letting him sit on the bed before going back out to get the forgotten glass. It really was a nice honeymoon suite. When they’d first arrived there were towels folded into the shape of swans on the bed surrounded by rose petals, balloons had been tied to their bedpost, and their tub had been surrounded by candles. To top it all off, they had a lovely view of the perfect clean beach below.

“I’m so happy I bought that ring,” Solomon murmured, handing Asmo the glass. Asmo let him take his free hand to kiss as he sipped at his drink. He had genuinely thought that Solomon was going to ask if they could take a break when he proposed. After all, with the transition into his post grad program and struggling to find internships at the time, Asmo wouldn’t have blamed him. Things were stressful. He’d had a knot in his stomach for weeks before the proposal thinking that Solomon was going to cut things off with him. He was ready to go out to buy a ring himself. He’d never been so tense in his life when Solomon asked him to go out that night. He’d prepared himself to beg and plead. To promise Solomon that they could make it work even if he didn’t believe it deep down. Because he was scared that if they went on a break, they’d never get back together.

When Solomon had proposed instead of doing any of the other terrifying things Asmo had prepared himself for, he’d burst into tears. Honestly, everyone had probably been looking at them, Asmo hadn’t been quiet, and it hadn’t been graceful sobbing. Meanwhile Solomon had been frozen, completely terrified that he’d done something wrong.

As if Solomon ever could do wrong.

As if Asmo would ever say no.

His social media had been filled with pictures of his engagement ring along with photos of him and Solomon together. Asmo’s eyes had been a little wet throughout most of the pictures, but he didn’t mind. His engagement ring was also something he wanted to show off every chance he got. His hands were a little more animated than usual, his left always on top of his right when folded. Why shouldn’t he show it off? After all, Solomon had clearly spent quite a bit of money on it, and it was gorgeous. Asmo had made sure to take care of it so it shined brighter than the stars in the sky. He’d made sure Solomon knew how much he loved it, and how much he loved him.

Sure they had to keep the fiance title for a while, but oh was their wedding worth the wait. This was all worth the wait. Asmo wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“I’m surprised you did.”

“I had the money, that’s never been an issue.”

“I know, it’s just-”

“Hey,” Solomon stopped him in his tracks, and tilted his chin upwards, “I love you okay? I wouldn’t have proposed if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have said what I did if I didn’t mean it. You’re special Asmodeus. So special, that I was afraid you wouldn’t say yes. I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t say yes.”

“I would be brainless to say anything but yes,” Asmo countered.

Solomon hummed and pressed their foreheads together, “And I love that about you, that my husband is a very smart man, he’s also an incredibly talented man.”

Asmo yanked his husband forward back into their kiss and they fell over. He couldn’t get enough of Solomon, their lips only parted enough to whisper soft ‘I love you’s before coming right back together. Solomon tried to pull back a little further, meeting resistance from Asmo.

“Darling, I need to breathe.” The breathlessness in his voice made Asmo shudder.

“Haven’t you had enough practice baby? I am breathtaking after all.”

Solomon snorted as Asmo drew him back in. It was his fault that such cheesy things left Asmo’s lips. The entire time they’d been dating had been filled with Solomon’s terrible pick up lines along with awful nicknames.

Was there anything more perfect? Asmo didn’t think there was any better lifetime he could have been more wonderful. He didn’t think he could live any other life time without Solomon. Life would be so much emptier without him.

Asmo felt Solomon brush his fingers not-so-innocently between his shoulder blades. It was just enough pressure to cause Asmo to make the sweetest, shortest, little moan. Oh the things Solomon had discovered while they were dating. The accidental touch here or there, a response, and then repeat. Solomon had made this particular discovery during a make out session earlier on in their relationship. He could still see the way Asmo had squirmed and gasped on his lap as he touched him over and over and over again. He was adorable. He was beautiful. For Asmo, having a partner that cared about him and wanted to make him feel wonderful in any situation was a pleasant change. He was more than happy with the fact that Solomon was the partner that became his spouse. Asmo knew he was with someone that would care for him and pay attention.

Then there was the gentle tug on the ribbon of his robe. It was slight, but just enough for Asmo to feel it. “Again?” he murmured playfully, tapping Solomon’s nose, “What will we tell people if they learn that we went on this extravagant trip for our honeymoon only to stay in bed the entire time?”

“We’ll tell them that I was giving my husband the love and attention he deserved,” Solomon chuckled. One of the silk ends of the ribbon rolled through his fingers slowly, mimicking the waves of the ocean outside their room. “And can you really blame me? I can’t get the way you looked out of my mind… The entire reception… When we got here, you looked so beautiful, and even now,” he sighed, brushing their lips together, “My husband. My wonderfully perfect husband.”

Asmo loved the way those words sounded against Solomon’s lips, He honestly couldn’t tell if he was getting drunk off of the wine or Solomon himself.

“Oh Solomon, you dog,” he squealed, chastising Solomon with a playful swat to his husband’s back as he latched onto his neck, hands scrunching up his robe at his hips. Not that he minded. No. He loved it when Solomon touched him, especially like this. He loved the feeling of being wanted, of being craved. A small noise left Asmo as he tilted his head a bit to give Solomon better access to his neck. Every movement was just right, just how Asmo liked it. “Haven’t you marked me up enough already? I thought we wanted to go down to the beach tomorrow.”

Maybe Solomon was the one drunk on him.

“Just one more-”

“That’s what you said with the last one.”

“I want everyone to know that someone loves you more than anything. Plus, you can be covered, we don’t have to go swimming. The ocean is overrated anyways.”

Asmo snorted.

The only reason the two of them had come here for their honeymoon was because they had agreed it was rather romantic, but Solomon’s one condition was that he would not step foot in the ocean. He couldn’t help but shake his head, nails working up to Solomon’s head to massage and gently scratch at his scalp. He swore he felt Solomon shudder and then go limp for a moment.

“I almost forgot you got your nails done.” Solomon’s voice was hot against his neck, and he could feel his lashed fluttering against his soft (and now marked) skin.

“Specially done for our special day.”

“They feel nice.”

“Oh you’re adorable.”

“My husband spoils me too much.”

Asmo stopped and leaned back a bit. Solomon mirrored his movements and propped himself up on his elbows. He cocked his head to the side, as if to ask what was running through his head.

“I swear, if you call me ‘my husband’ one more time, I’m going to burst.” Everytime Asmo thought he was in full bloom, another petal or two started to unfurl.

“Oh? Is that not who you are Mr. Asmodeus?” Asmo swore his heart stopped, as the words slipped past Solomon’s lips. He almost didn’t process the way Solomon crawled on top of him, eyes locked, and forcing Asmo into the plush pillows beneath them. “Is my Asmodeus, my dear, darling, light of my life, little strawberry, baby, sweetheart Asmodeus, not my adored husband?”

Oh this was so not fair. It wasn’t fair how quickly Asmo’s mouth dried out or how his brain immediately decided to stop working at that moment. And it certainly wasn’t fair that his cheeks were almost positively perfectly pink. Especially not when his husband was being a dork on purpose. He turned his face into the pillow closest to him and screamed. “How are you so hot? It’s not fair. You don’t even try! Especially when you’re purposefully trying to say the most unsexy things in the world!”

“But pooki, you react to it oh so-” Solomon got a pillow right to the face, followed quickly by a flurry of pillow smacks. Solomon laughed as he tried to shield himself from his husband’s fluffy fury.

“Why. Are. You. Like. This?” he pouted before dropping the pillow and sitting on the edge of their bed. He turned his attention away from Solomon and to a little bowl of candies next to the bed. He unwrapped on and popped it in his mouth. After a few moments before he felt the bed shift. Solomon’s head was resting on his shoulder and his arms were tightly wrapped around his waist. Without a word, Asmo unwrapped another candy and pushed it past Solomon’s lips. “No more awful pet names,” he murmured, kissing Solomon’s cheek.

Of course much sappier little nicknames had been exchanged at their reception. They had been playing with each other’s rings, swapping sickeningly sweet words quietly, sometimes they would laugh. Even when they split up to go greet their guests their eyes wanted the tables until they found each other. If they didn’t meet, they would stand there and admire the other until they looked up and noticed. Eventually they met once more at one of the guest tables and their hands immediately met once more. Belphie made a gagging noise at one point, signalling that the two of them were getting a little too mushy.

“You’re not on your honeymoon yet,” he’d said, making a few of his other brothers laugh. Even now, if Solomon was overdoing it, Asmo had to admit some part of him deep down still loved it and Solomon knew it.

He felt Solomon’s grip tighten. “But my darling, how can I possibly stop?” he smiled, “Especially when you’re oh so wonderful my dear. You make my heart soar.”

Asmo shoved another candy into Solomon’s mouth before untangling himself from Solomon and looking for his suitcase under the bed. “Whatever am I going to do with you? After this I’m going to be moving in with my sappy husband who loves to spoil me with morning kisses before he has to start his day. And every morning I fall for him all over again,” he hummed. It had to be in here somewhere. He knew he brought it. He’d made sure he’d packed everything before he left. Just what did he want to show first was the question.

“Oh?” Asmo felt a hand caress underneath his jaw and the side of his face. Solomon had his signature smirk on his face, the one that made Asmo melt. He just had such a powerful energy around him. It was addictive and flooded all of Asmo’s senses. “Are you saying you aren’t just as sappy and loving my Asmodeus?”

“Now I never said that,” Asmo smiled, learning into his touch, “It’s just that you’re the one who got a tattoo pretty soon after we started dating.” He reached up to touch the area where he knew he’d had Solomon put his tattoo. He’d had more than enough time to study Solomon’s tattoos before deciding where he wanted his. It looked nice on his sternum, Asmo had made sure it would. He was Solomon’s center and always close to his heart, so the position was fitting. Countless nights and a lot of wasted paper finally resulted in something that Asmo had been happy with. It didn’t include his name, but it was unique and pretty and perfectly Asmo.

“True, but you’re the one who has designs based off how in love you are with me,” Solomon teased, flopping on his stomach to get closer to Asmo.

“I’m not the only one in love,” he giggled, letting Solomon peck his lips once, twice, again. He could feel Solomon’s hand leave his face and trace whatever part of his body he could reach. He knew every inch of Asmo, and the way his fingers traced out long memorized curves and edges was divine. Solomon really did know him inside and out, he knew every last little detail, he was attentive, and Asmo adored him.

However, he had something he wanted to show Solomon. He made a small noise, before pulling away from Solomon’s lips so he could go through his suitcase once more. It didn’t take long before he found exactly what he’d been looking for.

“But, I do have something I’d like to show you.”

Asmo opened up one of his older sketch pads and held the image out to Solomon. It had taken him forever to finally finish this project, but he couldn’t have been happier with it. There were two outfits on the page, and Asmo had made sure that they both complemented and contrasted each other. One was dark and sharp, filled with blues and blacks. The other was softer and bright, filled with yellows and pinks. Both were modeled after flowers in one way or another, and both had petals decorating the outside outlines in silver and gold respectively. They balanced each other out and brought out the beauty in each other.

“I started it before we started dating. I might make an alteration or two, I’m thinking about calling it Blooming Together, or something along those lines,” he said, “I thought you might like it.” He watched as Solomon’s fingers ghosted over the outlines of the art.

“And why might I like it?”

Oh he wanted him to say it. Not that Asmo minded, he loved telling Solomon how much he loved him. It came like a second nature to him. He’d started saying ‘I love you’ to Solomon before they were even together.

“Well, like you said before, I often base some of my designs off of how in love I am with you,” Asmo said. Solomon was one of his favorite muses. He’d never known one person could make him feel so much before, yet here he was. “I would hope you’d like anything you were an inspiration for.” Asmo put the pile of things in his hand on the nightstand before crawling back up to join Solomon, and he was quickly reminded how he hadn’t been able to avoid Solomon’s lips since they’d said their vows. A slew of laughter escaped him as Solomon went to work once more, lips meeting every inch of soft skin they could possibly find, and then more as quick hands manipulated the silky robe. The fabric moved easily out of his way, allowing him to reach every part of Asmo he wanted. Asmo’s nails gently raked against ink covered skin, drawing another content hum from Solomon.

How did he get here?

“You know I love anything you do,” Solomon murmured, pressing another kiss on Asmo’s body. “How could I not when you put so much passion and effort into everything you do? I’ve always loved that about you, you know, your passion.”

Asmo nodded, eyes fluttering shut as Solomon continued his work. Each touch set him ablaze, sending a warmth through Asmo that he had never felt with anyone else. Everyone around them had given them their best wishes for a happy marriage, but Asmo didn’t think they needed wishes. He and Solomon knew where they stood with each other, and Asmo couldn’t imagine their future as anything but happy. Sure, he had been insecure about his place in Solomon’s life, but Solomon proved those doubts wrong time and time again. Solomon loved everything about him, everything he thought no one would ever care about. There was so much to Asmo, and Solomon made sure he paid attention to every little detail. Asmo wrapped his legs around Solomon’s waist before falling backwards and reaching for his things on the nightstand.

“You know I still have evidence of how much my husband loves me. I wasn’t the only one pining before we got together,” Asmo said, gently bopping Solomon’s forehead with worn pink envelopes. Asmo had taken care of them and always kept them safe. He watched Solomon’s eyes widen as the recognition crossed his face. That little recognition made Asmo smile, and hand the letters over to Solomon. “I’ve always wanted to hear you read them to me you know, sometimes I imagined your voice when I read them over.”

Solomon took the letters, “You kept them.”

“Of course I did.”

“And you brought them with you.”

“Like I said, I’d always wanted to hear you read them. Why not on our honeymoon, it would be so romantic,” Asmo sighed, leaning back again. He was a sucker for romance, he always had been, and Solomon knew this.

With a chuckle, Solomon started moving their position, being mindful of the letters in his hands. He grinned and motioned for Asmo to come closer. Instead of gently scooting over, Asmo jumped into Solomon’s arms, the playful atmosphere still surrounding them. After a flurry of kisses and laughter, Asmo finally settled in the crook of Solomon’s arm with his head resting on his chest. The steady drumming of his heartbeat lulling him into comfort.

Solomon cleared in his throat for show, making Asmo roll his eyes, before he read off the first words of the letter, “How could any person ever glow so brightly?” His voice rumbled through his chest, as he read the letters. Every now and again he’d pause to kiss Asmo’s forehead or interject with another thought he had. Asmo’s eyes sparkled all while listening to the words.

How did he get here?

Well, Asmo knew how. The feelings in his chest were undeniable. He just couldn’t believe that he had something like this, something so wonderful. It seemed like a dream. Like a beautiful fantasy. Solomon was the best thing Asmo ever could have asked for.

He got here because Solomon was home. Solomon had promised Asmo that they’d be together forever, and he made good on that promise. Every morning he’d be able to wake up and see his husband, come home to his husband, get lunch with his husband, text his husband when he couldn’t see him, and sleep next to his husband. Solomon was his husband now. Solomon loved Asmo and wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives.

Solomon wanted to be with Asmo, and Asmo wanted to be with Solomon.

They were meant to be together, and Asmo knew there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

By the time Solomon finished the last letter, Asmo’s eyes were lowered and a wide soft smile crossed his face. Solomon was his entire world. The mere thought of him would make Asmo’s honey colored eyes would sparkle with pure adoration. Solomon met his gaze. The only word he could have used to describe Solomon in that moment was spellbound. Slowly, Asmo found his hand, and started to play with the ring on Solomon’s finger, refusing to break eye contact with his husband. Solomon brought him closer, starting to mirror Asmo’s expression.

“I meant every word,” Solomon said softly, “And I still mean all of that. Sometimes I still wonder if my words truly did you justice.” Solomon’s other hand caressed his figure. Solomon’s touches were soothing despite his cold hands. Sometimes Asmo would still jump, especially if Solomon shoved his hands under his shirt on purpose, but that didn’t mean he loved his little touches any less.

“Even if you didn’t, your love does more than make up for it. You give me everything I could ever ask for and more than I ever could have imagined. The fact that I have you is enough for me.”

Asmo nuzzled underneath his chin and held him closer. He wasn’t always sure how he got here, or what he did to deserve this, but he did know that Solomon was his. He felt Solomon kiss the top of his head and bury his nose in his soft hair. This was perfect. This was the life he’d always wanted. This was the future he’d always dreamed of. As Solomon held him close, Asmo couldn’t help but let go. He wasn’t so much falling as he was floating. There was a vast and endless love surrounding him, one that was warm and comforting and that Solomon constantly surrounded him with. He lifted up his head ever so slightly to press light butterfly kisses against Solomon’s neck and jaw. He wanted to express everything he was feeling and words simply lacked the complexity of what he wanted to say. Solomon lifted his head to look down at Asmo, hand moving up to caress his cheek before his fingers slipped underneath his chin to tilt his head up. Slowly he leaned in, letting his lips move gently against Asmo’s. They molded together perfectly, everything about this was perfect. They were moving gently against each other, there was intent behind the movements, but nothing about it was either vigorous nor hasty. Asmo had never felt so vulnerable with another person before, never enough to bear everything he was to them. But Solomon took every piece or him, every soft petal, and held it close to his heart. This was what Asmo deserved, and nothing less.

Even when the movement of their lips halted, they didn’t halt, foreheads gently coming together. No matter how close they were, they always craved more.

“I love you Solomon.”

“I love you too Asmodeus.”

The words exchanged between them were soft, almost at a whisper. It was as if they were exchanging the most precious of secrets between each other and trying to keep the world from listening. It was beautiful, absolute bliss had never felt so perfect before. The world outside could disappear. Nothing else mattered except for the man in front of him. No matter what happened everything would be okay as long as he had Solomon by his side.

The love of his life.

His Solomon.

His husband.

Things would be okay with Solomon. Things would be more than okay with Solomon. He’d be safe, and adored, and loved with Solomon. Solomon would protect his heart and help him explore every wonder of life that there was to see.This thing that they had together was special, and Asmo knew that they would protect it, nourish it, and help it grow and bloom together.

The moon glowed softly outside, reflecting against the waves which gently caressed the shore outside. The entire world was quiet. Not a single soul dared to disturb the two lovers, who were tucked away from the rest of the world with only moonlight as their witness. For now they could focus on each other and revel in the start of the newest chapter of their life together. A chapter filled with little wonders and an ever flowering love.

#solodeus #soloasmo #asmodeus x solomon #asmosolo #WBT #ruewrites #obey me #obey me asmodeus #obey me solomon #love letters #friends to lovers #slow burn #fluff #human!au

20 notes · View notes

jebazzled · 4 years ago

Text

Level Up! Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced RP and You

Hello there! Coming to you again with tips & tricks for a top-notch roleplay experience! Today we're going to talk about writing levels and what they mean for your roleplay experience. We'll cover what these levels mean, how to gauge where you're at, and how you can improve your roleplay writing specifically!

WRITING LEVELS

"Writing levels" are often a descriptor sites will use in their advertising and site buzzes. They might be "semi-literate," "intermediate," "literate," "advanced," or any other sort of buzzword. The key here is that these descriptors are used by site staff both to advertise what type of writing is most common on their site and what type of writing they want to see on their site.

What writing levels are not is a value indicator. There's nothing wrong with being an intermediate writer or a beginner writer; advanced sites are not inherently better than intermediate ones, beginner sites are nothing to be ashamed of! Think of writing levels as an umbrella within the rp community. The same way a forum rp-er might narrow their search to jcink sites, a writer might narrow their search to sites which cater to their style of writing.

That said, it is good to define what each of these levels look like so you can figure out where your writing might fit.

BEGINNER Beginner writing is often very short and direct, without much in the way of literary flourish. Characters might be fairly undeveloped (or developed around one trait, for example, "goth" or "prep") and there's usually more discussion of their appearance than you see in advanced writing.

Examples:

Susie was short and very skinny, with big eyes and long mermaid-wavy hair dyed blue at the ends. She was sitting outside Firefly High in blue skinny jeans, silver Converse, and a black t-shirt. "I hope someone can give me a ride home," she said.

Raven sneered at Susie. She didn't like blue because she liked black, because she was a goth. "Are you listening to popular music? What a phony."

Bramblepaw sat down in the clearing. "Hello" he meowed.

Some guides will also give an example like

patty threw a pom pom at susie! "take that u nerd!"

But I am choosing to believe that you're past that if you're deep enough in this hobby to be seeking out resources - I certainly never had that self-awareness until I was more in intermediate territory!

Beginner-level writing gets the job done, and can certainly move a story along. But if you've been writing a while, you might be ready to build more multifaceted characters, and to invest more effort in your writing.

INTERMEDIATE/SEMI-LITERATE WRITING Intermediate writing tends to be longer than beginner writing, with more variety in sentence structure and with more advanced word choices. There are likely more "beats" per post, by which I mean that instead of just answering a question or getting on the bus or etc, a character will likely do more actions in each turn writing. Characters are less likely to be a stereotype (see: Raven the goth who only wears black, Patty the popular cheerleader who is blonde and brainless, etc) but applications likely reveal one-dimensional characters. Common application styles I see from intermediate writers are "interviews" and "journals," as well as listicles (10 Things Raven Likes, 9 People Raven Hates, etc); this likely means a character is told rather than shown.

(Wondering what's so intermediate about interviews and journals? See my guides to interviews and journals!)

Examples:

Susie was born on March 20, 2003 in Farmville, Iowa. She didn't like how similar her classmates all were - they all listened to the same music, read the same books (none!) and had the most fun when drinking on a tractor. Susie was more deep, and liked to write poetry and sketch the animals that lived on her family's farm. Today she was sitting outside Firefly High, twirling the ends of her blue-dyed hair and waiting for a ride home.

Raven wasn't like most girls. She didn't like horses or rabbits, but only liked goats, because they represented the devil. Raven also wasn't like most girls, at least in Farmville, because she worshipped the devil. She wore a lot of black to represent this, and when she saw Susie, she sneered. Blue! Susie must be a normie. "Are you listening to popular music?" She asked. "What a phony."

Bramblepaw had spent all morning hunting and was feeling lonely. All he wanted was to share a squirrel with a friend, and maybe have someone groom the tricky spot behind his ears. He padded from the apprentice den to the warriors', to the elders and no one was home. He sat forlorn in the middle of the clearing. "Hello?" He meowed.

Another common trait of both beginner and intermediate writing is that posts might not leave much for a partner to reply to. The whole point of this weird hobby is to collaborate with a partner - if you're finding that it is hard to keep writing partners, you might take a look at my guide for writing posts that beg a response.

Intermediate writing is stronger than beginner writing, but still sometimes falls flat when it comes to collaboration with a partner, and is almost never beautiful to read. Intermediate writing is when advanced writing is just over the next hill - and that hill comes with a fair amount of work.

ADVANCED/LITERATE WRITING Advanced writing can be long or short, but the writing in either case packs a punch. Advanced writers use a variety of sentence structures, words, and literary devices. They might have specific imagery they use for specific characters, specific literary constructions for different characters, and there is a strong character voice in each post. Advanced writers write multifaceted characters with genuine flaws and fears, and advanced writers produce writing that is enjoyable to read, elegant and emotive. Applications will usually be anecdotal - will demonstrate key moments in a character's life, allowing the writer to show them in action rather than tell the reader what they are like. (A guide to anecdotal freestyle applications is available here.

Examples:

Everything felt the same in Farmville: identical rows of corn stretching endlessly over the horizon, pockmarked by the occasional farmhouse, white clapboard and falling shutters. Every person felt the same - Susie and Mary and Sarah and Joseph, strong peasant names living strong peasant lives, and never straying more than twenty miles from the town in which they were born.

Even Susie knew she had her place in the sameness: the once-every-generation girl who fancies herself to be more, as though her sketches of the sheep and pigs are any better than her grandmother's before her. As though dying her hair blue were enough to make her different when she knew she belonged here as sure as the hogs in the barn.

The only difference between Susie and her classmates was that she didn't have a car to get her to her evening job at the Road Ranger gas station, and her bike had disassembled itself after she'd pedaled it into a gopher hole, so here she was, sitting pathetically outside Firefly High, waiting for a ride. She'd almost rather be fired than beg for one.

It’s the principle of the thing, Raven had told her mother that morning. Yes, it was 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity; yes, there was not a cloud in the sky and the fields absorbed heat like a winter sweater; yes, she was aware that her white makeup and Wet n' Wild eyeliner was falling off her face like The Scream. But it was the principle of the thing, wearing the long-sleeved black shirt with the hand-cut thumbholes, a long dark skirt; her only concession to the heat, a pair of thin gray flip-flops instead of her beloved Docs. She listens to Death Wish; she doesn't have one.

But nothing makes a Satantic rebel feel more a phony than feeling it drip off of them in the rural Iowa heat, and Raven wanted to take it out on someone. Fair? No, but life isn't fair; she's got that on a sticker on the electric guitar she saved up her Hy-Vee salary for and never learned to play. Maybe pretending to be an asshole has turned Raven into one.

She has no real problem with Susie - Susie Q., from math, or Susie C., from human geo; who knows, they're all the same - but she scoffs at her anyway, loud enough to catch Susie's attention. "What top-40 garbage are you listening to?"

Hunting is something they do together, or they're supposed to. But in the whole time he'd been out in the woods, Bramblepaw hadn't seen a single other cat - not playing at the stream, not waiting in a tree for the finches to return, not sitting along the RiverClan border to taunt their neighbors. If he'd been a Loner, just passing through, he would have thought the entire territory abandoned.

It was unsettling, and when he returned to the Camp, it was more of the same: everyone gone, without a trace; had he imagined them being here at all? Was it all in his head?

His mew sounded small and pitiful to even him, the mewl of a lost kitten. "Hello?"

Advanced writing makes more time for descriptions, scene-setting, and other narration. It doesn't feel "cringey," by which I mean if you read it 10 years from now you're probably not going to want to drown yourself. Please do not ask me about the 2005 Proboards forum I adminned and referenced for this tutorial.

So now that we can recognize what writing our level might be at - how do we shop for a site?

FINDING YOUR FIT

Now that you have a sense of where your writing sits, it's time to use that data point in searching for a new site to call home. Some sites make it easy for you by self-identifying as beginner, intermediate, or advanced; some sites may use "semi-literate" and "literate," but I know I stray from those labels because it feels like a value judgment, and as I said before:

there is nothing wrong with being part of a beginner or intermediate community, if that is what makes the most sense for your writing and for what you aim to get out of your roleplay experience!

Before applying to a new site, you should do a little bit of digging around to see if it's a good fit for you:

Look at accepted character applications. How do these compare to your own writing?

Skim some threads from top posters. How does this community write and structure their threads? Could you see yourself regularly keeping up with their speed, length, literary quality?

To the above point - does it seem like the community has a tendency towards your personal writing pet peeves? (For example, I personally cannot stand purple prose, and if the site community is prone to it, I am OUT.)

This is in addition to all standard due-diligence site-hunting routines, e.g. not diving into the world of Southern Gothic supernatural if you're looking for, say, urban fantasy.

It's also worth thinking about how the community behaves on the server, if you join it:

Is there a thread shoutout/compliments/etc channel? What passages are members calling out in there as exceptional writing?

Do the members strike you as open-minded and friendly or as more of a closed group? If you choose to shoot for a level above your standard writing as a growth exercise, this will be easier to achieve with an open-minded and friendly group than with a group of snobs.

Do you enjoy the vibe? Something frequently overlooked, I think. If you don't like the energy of the community, just don't join the site - that is going to be much more productive for everyone than you joining and then trying to get the staff to fully re-engineer their community.

Be honest with yourself! Regardless of how much you like a site's plot, lore, and community, joining a site that sits above your writing proficiency is challenging. You might find your characters routinely pended for lacking the development of other characters onsite. Other members may not be enthusiastic to write with you - not necessarily out of snobbishness or elitism, but because it's not fun to feel like you're not getting equal effort or quality from a writing partner. And you might find yourself feeling insecure about how your writing stacks up to others (I've been writing on advanced sites for 10 years and I feel insecure about my own writing sometimes!) which might sap your muse.

If you are looking for a minimal-effort, minimal-stress rp experience, stick to sites that are at or below your writing level. Writing with people of similar skillset will help take the edge off any insecurity, and because writing will be lower-pressure and lower-effort, you will be better positioned to juggle multiple characters and more big plots. "Lower effort" doesn't mean "lazy" - it just means that you free up headspace that otherwise you might spend on the mechanics of writing versus the excitement of plotting.

If you are an intermediate writer seeking to write on an advanced site, you need to take a much more deliberate approach.

One thing I see often is intermediate writers applying multiple characters to an advanced site at once. This is a losing proposition. While staff might be willing to pend an app and work with you on revisions, if they see you submitting multiple applications that require major revisions and overhauls, they see a pattern. While staff might be willing to help you develop one character to their site's standard, if they anticipate you needing that level of coaching on every character, they will question your ability to keep up with their members in threads. Staff cannot be expected to assist members on writing each thread post - at that point, it becomes easier to decline all of the intermediate writer's applications.

If you are an intermediate writer seeking to write on an advanced site, you need to treat this as a "quality, not quantity" project.

When I was 13 I was writing very much at a beginner and intermediate level, just little Neopets rps with my friends. Then I joined a horse rp - an advanced rp - with a 1000 word minimum per post. While I am beyond thankful ridiculous word count minimums aren't common anymore, I can credit this rp with much of my growth as a writer.

I wrote one (1) character. And I only plotted her with a couple of others. I was very active in the OOC community, and was eventually made a mod - but when it came to IC activity, I focused all my energy on one character and just a couple of plots, because I spent hours on each post, making sure that I was matching my writing partners as best I could. It was much more work than the beginner & intermediate forums I was on with my friends, and much more work for much less action. But stretching like that is what made advanced writing get easier and easier - until I could balance two characters on an advanced site, then four, until now, when I write 12 characters on multiple advanced sites with relative ease. The real challenge is in keeping up with threads - not in matching quality anymore.

If you are an intermediate writer seeking to improve your writing, joining an advanced site is a great option for growth, but you need to adjust your expectations.

Here are my best tips for intermediate writers looking to make the jump to advanced - or, for that matter, for beginners to make the jump to intermediate:

Focus, focus, focus. Choose one (1) character to write - no matter how tempted you are by want ads, no matter how many other ideas you get, no matter what your muse is throwing at you. Use all those on sites at your current level. For your reach site, pick one character.

Be receptive. Your one (1) character might take a revision or two to get out of a pend. Remember that staff don't pend apps to be assholes - they do it because they believe in you and think you have it in you to do the necessary revisions! If they thought you were a lost cause they wouldn't have wasted their own time with a pend. Be open to the idea that they know what works and is expected in their community. After all, if your character and your writing aren't appealing to the site community... you're not going to have anyone to write with!

Focus, focus, focus, part 2. You should not choose this character based on the volume of plots they can attract. Choose a character who has one or two very close plots for you to focus on. You might consider identifying a particularly kind member of the community and filling one of their want ads, so that this close plot is ready-made for you, and so this person can be a friendly face on your writing journey.

Be realistic. You might think: well, if I focus on one character for a few weeks, then I'll be ready to take on another, right? You might be or you might not. Don't rush it. This entire journey is about deliberation and intentionality. Don't take on a second character on an advanced site until writing the first to the same standard is noticeably easier.

Be kind to yourself. This is a lot of work! If you have the time for it, you might consider also staying active on a site that is at your writing level, so you have a place for easy writing, indulging your plot bunnies, etc.

I hope this tutorial has been a helpful resource to you, both in identifying how to find the right rp for you and in figuring out how to improve your writing, if you so choose. Happy writing!

#rp guides #resources #writing resources #rp writing

45 notes · View notes

illneverrecover · 5 years ago

Text

breathe for you | jjk

➛pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader ➛genre: Marriage!AU, domestic!AU, slice of life, fluff with a nice little smut undertone. ➛word count: 2006 ➛rating: 18+ (mature themes, mentions and descriptions of foreplay). ➛warnings: cursing, heavy petting, marking, dry humping/grinding, slight hair pulling, making out like horny teenagers, Jungkook being a goofy soft ass whole entire angel. ➛summary: You’re always cold, but Jungkook comes up with the sweetest and most creative ways to warm you up. ➛notes: This entire thing was written for one of my beautiful besties, @quinnkoo . Happy Birthday, Quinny baby! I’m sad we’re not celebrating this years at a BTS concert (or in a GCF!) like we did last year, but I hope this at least makes you smile. I’m so glad to have you in my life, to get to call you a friend, and to get to finally be close enough to squeeze you. Don’t tell anyone but I love you. Actually just don’t read this. ➛song: Love U - Monsta X & Breathe for You - Monsta X

“It’s freezing in here.”

“No it’s not. You’re being dramatic again.”

Huffing, you slide the soles of your feet until they’re pressed against one of Jungkook’s sweatpant clad thighs. “I’m never dramatic literally ever. Feel my toes,” you wiggle them, giggling when he squeaks at the pinch.

“Why do you always want me to touch your feet? Listen, baby, if you have a foot fetish, we can discuss some boundaries-”

“Jungkook!” you yell, laughing when he grabs your feet, tickling them briefly before slowly squeezing. His hands were so warm, which was a gentle reminder that your husband was practically a human furnace.

Scooting closer to him, you fling your legs completely in his lap, sighing with relief when large palms slide up and down your legs, the friction warming your bones. You were always cold, no matter what the weather, but it was one of the many quirks that Jungkook loves about you - and loves teasing you for. Nuzzling into his side, you rest your eyes in the cozy peace of the moment before Jungkook shouts, plopping your legs to the couch to stand.

“I have an idea!”

You scoff. “Is your idea microwaving my socks again? Because they almost caught fire last time and it was awful-”

“No! This idea is way better,” he grins, winking at you before darting away.

Despite the exasperation on your face, you couldn’t help but feel a little giddy. Finding the match to your soul was a feat that you hadn’t thought possible, and yet here he was, dressed like a teenager and armed with a toothy grin, ready to take on the world for you. It may seem silly to others, but every moment spent with him was more than you could ever ask for. He was so caring, so considerate. He always wanted to make you laugh, always going out of his way to make you smile.

So many bad days that he had turned for the better by attempting to make your favorite food, or demanding a movie night with all your favorites. Days when you had left work exhausted and drained and so damn soul weary that you didn’t think you could leave your bed - and instead of trying to make you, he instead joined you, holding you tight and letting you tell him all your fears and concerns. Jungkook was the most attentive partner, and he made the most mundane things unforgettable - one of his many charms.

He returns with a pile of blankets in his arms, doe eyes dancing with mirth just above the visible line.

“You know where you can’t be cold?” when you shake your head, he drops the blankets on your lap, throwing his arms in the air. “Inside the formidable and impenetrable Fort Nochu!”

You roll your eyes, but your smile is already hurting your cheeks. It was a cheesy nickname, a silly word, and yet it was something so undeniably him.

“Impenetrable, huh?” Unfolding the top blanket, you drape it over the couch until it reaches the top of the nearby recliner until a makeshift ceiling is formed. “Is the fort itself impenetrable or does that go for the inhabitants as well?”

His dulcet chuckle is music to your ears, long hair shifting to fall into his eyes as he looks up at you through thick lashes. The look was more lethal than he realizes, and your blood starts pounding, pooling low in your gut.

“Well, you’ll just have to come and find out, hmm?” He tries to wink, but both eyes close, and you feel your heart clenching.

Did he have to be so damn cute? Honestly, the whiplash was maddening.

It took less than 10 minutes to finish the construction, your ideas for the optimal blanket fort perfectly aligning and allowing you to work in tandem. The futon mattress from the spare room has been dragged as the makeshift floor, a mountain of pillows and blankets adorning the top until it was truly lush and luxurious. A small door had been left open to the elements so that the TV screen could be seen, though Jungkook assures that this is not a design flaw and does not change his previous statement regarding the fortitude of Fort Nochu.

He gestures for you to crawl inside before following, remote forgotten shortly after he puts some Netflix show on for background noise. Instead you were content to lay facing each other, his long arms circling your waist and rubbing smooth patterns along the ridges of your spine. Your face is pressed to the firmness of his chest, his scent heady mixed with the gentle thumping of his heart, and you couldn’t help but to breathe him in, to wish you could pull him in deeper.

He’s humming a song, one that you don’t recognize but it’s beautiful and soothing as one hand slides up your back to nestle into your hair. “So, how about it? Did it work? Are you warm yet?”

Honestly, your limbs and heart had been heated through long before climbing into the blanket fort, but he didn’t need to know that. Instead, you trace the silk line of his jaw, thumb tugging at the corner of his plush bottom lip until his darkened gaze focuses on you.

“I’m pretty warm, but I think I could be warmer.”

He glares then, question evident on his brow but instead of answering further, you hitch a leg over his hip, pulling him closer until your faces were almost touching. Your nose sweeps against his gently, a ghost of sweetness, before trailing down to his pulse point, to the hollow of his throat. You press a lingering kiss there, wet and soft, before moving to leave another, making a small path until you reach the barrier of his hoodie.

He shakes loose a breath as his hands tighten around you, tugging in an effort to bring you closer, but you ignore it to continue your leisurely ministrations on the column of his neck. His skin was sweet, as if the lingering scent of his soap had melded with his natural scent to create the most perfect flavor, one that you couldn’t get enough of. You grin against him when you hear him whine, swallowing thickly.

“What’s wrong, baby?” you murmur, teasing the lobe of his ear with your teeth. Sliding a hand through his long locks, you tangle your fingers near the root to give a gentle pull, awarding you a low moan from his throat. “Is there something you want, Jungkook?”

His voice is rough, gravelly with misuse, but you hear him clearly all the same.

“You. All I ever want is you.”

Now it’s your turn to groan, swinging your body up onto his hips until you are straddling above him, hands resting against the tight planes of his chest. He looks beautiful pinned beneath you; lungs heaving, face flushed, tawny eyes shiny and lust blown. His long hair is fanned around his face, almost making him look angelic - if you didn’t know any better, that is.

Unable to resist any longer, you crash your lips to his, licking against the seam of his pout until he opens, always so pliant for your kisses. You kiss him until he’s breathless, until his mouth is love bitten and his taste is burned onto your tongue. You’d be content to kiss Jungkook all night, to just enjoy the feeling of his lips moving in sync with your own, but the growing hardness pressing against your inner thigh is begging for your attention.

Who are you to deny Jungkook attention?

Rolling your hips, you finally pull your mouth away, gasping for air as you keen against him. “So what were the rules regarding penetration inside of Fort Nochu again?”

A choked laugh fades into a moan of your name, palms digging into your waist, bruising. “I concede. You’re the queen of this fort now, you make the rules.”

Victory of your win flooded your veins, and you give him a cocky grin before suckling his bottom lip between your teeth, nipping the flesh gently before letting it drop.

“Good.”

Your hands slide under his hoodie to feel the feverish skin of his torso, lean muscles shivering under the contact as he gasps, and you love how responsive he is; how sensitive he is to your touch, how worked up he gets for you - only for you.

Nudging him to sit up, you rip the material over his head to toss aside, eyes greedily drinking in the revealed skin before you like it was the first time all over again. Latching your mouth to his collarbone, you start to suck evidence of your claim against his golden skin, hips rocking gently against his length in sync with his soft mewls.

Each glide against his clothed cock was delicious pressure against your aching core, and you knew you were wet enough that you wouldn’t even need anything more than to slide your panties to the side to have him sheathed fully inside of you. Dropping a hand down to your center, you move to sweep the offending material away when a sudden tug at your shirt has you yelping.

“Mama? Papa?”

The voice is tiny, dripping with sleep, and you will your pulse to slow its pace when you turn to see your son clamoring his way into the fort.

Sighing, you drop your head to Jungkook’s chest, snickering alongside him when he presses a kiss to your temple, allowing you a moment of reprieve before slipping out of his lap.

“Hey little man, why are you still awake?” he questions, hands reaching for the boy who happily scrambles into his father’s embrace.

Tiny fists rub at his eyes, hair sticking out into an excellent mad scientist impersonation. He looks just like his father, could almost be his twin, and as he got older and more of his personality started to show, it became evident that you had created some sort of Jungkook clone.

Something that the world should perhaps be worried about, but it only made your heart swell.

“I had a bad dream, I got scared. And then you weren’t in your room.” He pouts, lip jutting out, causing Jungkook to crinkle his nose with an amused grin.

“I’m sorry, rabbit. We decided to build a blanket fort,” leaning forward, he cups his hand towards the child’s ear, whispering conspiratorially. “I named it Fort Nochu.”

At the name, your son's eyes widen, turning to look at his father. “Nochu? Like who comes and helps me sleep at night?”

Jungkook chuckles, catching your eye as you stifle back giggles of your own. It had been an old trick, a silly story to tell your little boy that ‘Nochu would come through’ to help him sleep, but it had worked like a charm and clearly left a lasting impression.

“Exactly like that!”

Your heart tightens in a vice at the scene, and you muse if you could possibly love your husband - your little family - any more for probably the millionth time since you brought your son home. There’s a smile on your face as you make room between you, adoration smooth in your eyes when you pat the bed encouragingly.

“Does that mean I can sleep here?” he slides into the opening, a yawn ripping from him as he cozies under the copious blankets.

“I bet if you sleep here, you won’t have any more bad dreams,” you coo, running a hand through your sons dark hair as he settles onto his side, eyes already closing.

Jungkook slips in behind him, elbow propping him up so he can admire you both, the comfortable silence lulling in the space between. Reaching over the now sleeping boys form, his hand searches your own, fingers interlocking, giving you a quick squeeze.

“Are you warm now?”

His voice is low, dripping with adoration, and you know what he means; what he’s asking without ever saying the words.

Your eyes close as you hum.

“Definitely.”

2K notes · View notes

t0ngue-tech · 5 years ago

Text

All Yours | Seven

“’Was I not enough for you…?’

Seolhyun parted her lips but hesitated to say anything. She also dropped her head, possibly trying to get everything in her mind organized.

‘Yoongi, I’m so sorry.’ She said sadly.”

↠fluff, angst, universityAU↞

word count: 4.5k

↠series: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ↞

A/N: yall idk what’s gotten into me. i literally just uploaded a story and here i am with the update of all yours lmao. tbh ive also been working on this chapter for a while so tyj i finished it huhu. enjoy ^-^

“Come on, Yoongi. Just text her.” You stood in front of your mirror and adjusted your hoodie.

From the moment you woke up, had a cup of coffee, took a shower, and changed into an outfit, Yoongi spent the entire time debating if he really wanted to text Seolhyun. You agreed to go with him to see her because it was his stipulation, but he was the one hesitating.

“You know what, maybe I don’t need closure. It’s all good.” Yoongi placed his phone on your nightstand and laid back down.

“Ugh. Yoongs.” You grumbled and strode over to sit beside him. “Sure you may not need closure, but I know deep down you want to talk about your feelings. You don’t deserve to be cheated on—nobody does. Please text her.”

Yoongi glared at you for a few seconds before he softened his eyes. He mumbled something along the lines of I hate it when you’re right and reached for his phone but took a detour to grab your hand first.

“So, you promise you’re going to come with me? You’re not going to flake out?” He kept his eyes on your fingers as you lazily grazed the back of his hand.

Could he get any more adorable?

“I promise.” You replied earnestly. “But I start work at three today, so keep that in mind.”

Yoongi squeezed your hand and locked eyes with you. Never in your life did you ever picture yourself to be in this position. He held your hands before, mainly to guide you around places when you were extremely drunk but nothing like this. Yoongi had a sweet look in his eye with a smile to match and you were so sure you were dreaming. Yoongi was perfect. Why would Seolhyun want to cheat on him in the first place?

“Okay. Now, go to class.” Yoongi lifted your hand and kissed it. Your cheeks flared a bit and you probably failed to hide the disappointment in him not kissing you on your lips instead.

“Fine. But go outside and take a walk,” you gave him your dorm key. “You need some sunlight.”

After listening to Yoongi’s bullshit excuse about how sunlight was never necessary for him in the first place, you left his side to slip on your sneakers.

Why can’t time just fast forward to later? I just want Yoongi and Seolhyun to meet already so it can all be over with and done. How am I supposed to even focus in class?!

“Wait.”

Yoongi’s voice broke your thoughts and you stood up from your floor. He scooped you by your waist to press your body against his before stealing a long kiss on your lips. You felt your entire body relax and you clutched onto his nape to support yourself.

“You may have more knowledge about people’s behaviors and shit, but I know you well enough that you were waiting for that, right?” Yoongi said with a smirk after breaking the kiss. Your face bloomed crimson and you playfully shoved him a few inches away from you.

“Bye, Yoongi.” You walked away from him with bliss coursing through you and just before you stepped out of your dorm, you caught the satisfied grin on Yoongi’s face.

↠↞

I will die in this developmental psychology class, I swear.

Time in your psychology class always ticked on like you had nothing else planned for the day. You jotted down chicken scratch notes, promising yourself to fix them up when you had time later; thank goodness your professor put up the lecture slides at 7pm on the same day of class. You began to mindlessly doodle at the bottom of your paper.

So many things could go wrong later.

Three stick figures were drawn at the bottom; one with a crude drawing of a beanie, one with hair just below its “shoulders”, and one with long hair blacked out with your pen. You drew scribbles of symbols around the drawing of the figure with long hair indicating how pissed off Seolhyun would be if she saw you two together.

Ugh. I can hear her voice now.

“Why did you bring her?”

“Unless you were cheating on me first!”

You scribbled all over the drawing and turned over the page.

The same stick figures were drawn at the top this time and instead of symbols, you drew tears coming from the figure with long hair and hearts around the beanie figure; Seolhyun would be in tears, apologizing and begging Yoongi for forgiveness and he would play right into her and fall in love all over again.

This time, you fiercely scribbled over the drawing.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Like clockwork, you drew the stick figures. Hearts were drawn around the beanie and medium haired figures while the last one had a giant X covering its face; Seolhyun is completely cut out of the picture and forced to watch how lovey-dovey you and Yoongi were.

This drawing caused your face to heat up a little. There was no way Yoongi would show any affection towards you in front of her because he wasn’t the type to purposely make matters worse.

One last time the figures were drawn back onto your paper and this time, you drew speech bubbles with squiggly lines inside that ended with periods and a few exclamation points. The most likely scenario would be a calm conversation with a few outbursts between Yoongi and Seolhyun. The last thing anyone would want is making a huge scene in front of everyone—

Wait, I don’t even know where they’re meeting!

[10:32] You: hey, where are you two going to have this conversation anyway??????????

Yoongi’s reply came through like lightning.

[10:33] Yoongz: You know the benches outside of the library?

[10:33] Yoongz: There.

Great. We’re going to be in public…

His texts didn’t stop there.

[10:35] Yoongz: I told her to meet me at 11:15 so that you have time to be here before she comes.

[10:35] Yoongz: I’ll be wearing the light brown coat you gave me for my birthday and the blue beanie you hate so much

[10:36] Yoongz: You’ll be able to find me pretty easily.

That damn beanie.

The mental image of Yoongi in the blue beanie made you snicker, but you quickly cleared your throat realizing you were in class laughing to yourself like an idiot.

[10:40] You: okay. i’ll see you then

[10:40] You: fuk that beanie doe omfg.

↠↞

“So you’re seriously going to be there? With Yoongi and Seolhyun? Possibly arguing in front of you? Right in front of your salad?!”

Walking to the library, you gave Hani a quick call to update her with everything that had happened since you told her about Seolhyun cheating on Yoongi.

“Yes, right in front of my salad.” You laughed. “To be honest, I’m kind of scared. Like why did Yoongi have to say he kissed me! Actually… I don’t know what would be worse, her knowing the truth or his lie.”

“Either way she’s going to raise hell, but if you need me, you call and I’ll come running!”

You smiled softly. Hani was serious in the most endearing way possible.

“I know—” Yoongi’s blue beanie stood out at a table underneath one of the large trees. “Yoongi’s there. I’ll call you later Hani or better yet, I work at three so you can come to the coffee shop anytime after that and I’ll update you on what happens.”

“Okay. Be safe. I love you!”

“I love you, too.”

You took a deep breath and approached Yoongi who had two cups of coffee and two sandwiches sitting in front of him. As much as you hated that damn beanie, he still looked as handsome as ever.

“Hi, Yoongs.” You smiled.

Yoongi instantly smiled at the sight of you. “Hey—no, sit by me.” He reached for your hand to stop you from sitting across from him and tugged you over to sit beside him instead.

The action startled you and almost made you lose your footing, but Yoongi supported you by the waist to let you sit down without injury.

“Th-Thanks.” You stuttered.

“Oh, here you go by the way.” He handed you a paper gift bag that he probably stole from your closet. “You left your work shirt and shoes. There’s also a water bottle in here because you need actual hydration and not just coffee swimming throughout your bloodstream.”

Everything he mentioned was sitting neatly inside the bag and your smile was impossible to hide. You’ve been nervous and jittery about meeting with Seolhyun that you completely forgot about your work clothes. Yoongi was a life saver.

“Thank you, Yoongi.” You breathed.

“Of course. Now eat, you didn’t even have breakfast this morning.”

As you had brunch, you spent the time complaining to Yoongi about how developmental psychology makes you want to jab multiple pens in your eyes. He argued that you say that about every class you have and even flicked your forehead.

“You’re doing great though, so keep on keepin’ on.” Yoongi rubbed the spot he flicked with the pad of his thumb.

You felt the weight of your school work elevate at the touch of his finger. Yoongi had the power to relieve any stress that you had in the palm of his hand and it amazed you. Maybe this was just the effect of you being whipped for him for almost a year. It sounded pathetic, but you enjoyed it nonetheless.

“A-hem.”

Both you and Yoongi tore your eyes away from each other to find Seolhyun standing at the opposite side of the table with her arms folded across her chest. Her eyebrows were furrowed and daggers shot from her eyes right into your own. The aura that came off of her was no less than intimidating and you felt as if your soul left your body.

Fuck.

↠↞

“What is she doing here?!” Seolhyun barked as she took a seat.

“I asked her to come so just leave her be.” Yoongi spat.

You silently observed Seolhyun’s outfit; she wore a casual black dress that stopped above mid-thigh and had a deep v-neck line. A cream cardigan hugged her frame and she even made time to put on makeup and curl your hair. If your suspicions were correct, she dressed that way on purpose to use her looks to win back Yoongi somehow. Seolhyun was honestly gorgeous which made you nervous. What if it reeled him back in?

She cleared her throat again and avoided eye contact with Yoongi. “Thank you for meeting with me.” Her voice grew softer and softer towards the end of her sentence and she fiddled with the ends of her hair. This gave off a vulnerable look, almost “cute”.

“Okay.” Yoongi said sharply.

The tension in the air was suffocating and all you wanted to do was run away, but Yoongi kept his hand on your knee underneath the table to keep you at bay.

“So? Anything else you need to say?” Yoongi kept the same tone of voice, annoyed. He truly didn’t want to be here.

“Sigh. I’m sorry okay? God, can we just talk without you being mad at me?!” Seolhyun raised her voice a bit.

“Of course I’m mad! How the hell am I supposed to be feeling? You cheated on me!” Yoongi raised his voice as well and you were even more nervous. You three were sitting in public with students walking by and you were praying to God that everyone was just minding their own business.

“Y-You cheated on me too! You—!” She pointed at him. “—kissed her!” Her finger was now on you.

Yoongi furrowed his brows and squeezed your knee. “Alright, fine. I kissed her once and like I said, I knew I had to tell you because I was feeling so fucking guilty about what I did. You were my girlfriend, Seolhyun! I had to be honest with you.”

Seolhyun tightly pursed her lips together, probably stopping herself from saying anything else.

“How…” Yoongi breathed. “How long have you been…”

Your eyes softened at the sight of Yoongi faltering. He didn’t want to say it. You reached beneath the table to hold that had that was on top of your knee. Instantly, you watched his shoulders relax.

“Um…” Seolhyun chewed on her bottom lip and picked at the skin around her nails. “Just-Just once..”

Bullshit.

“Don’t you think Yoongi deserves a lot more honesty that?” You boldly questioned. Talking was never part of your agenda, but it’s true, he deserved to know the truth after tearing himself apart from agonizing over his self-worth.

“Excuse me?” Seolhyun stared you down and you couldn’t back down no matter how much you wanted to.

“I–I don’t think you’re telling him the truth.” You tried to sound confident, but your stutter gave it away.

Seolhyun scoffed and crossed her arms. “Who do you think you—”

“She’s right. I don’t think you’re telling me the truth either.” Yoongi interjected. “For Seung Ho to talk to y/n about our situation kind of shows how close you two really are.”

“My thoughts exactly.” You said softly.

Seolhyun aggressively scratched the back of her head. “Ugh. Two months!” She blurted out. “Two-fucking-months! There’s the truth! Happy now?”

Your eyes widened then turned to Yoongi who was looking in Seolhyun’s direction with an empty expression. After remaining quiet for about a minute, a low chuckle pushed past his lips.

“Is that why we’ve been fighting so much lately?” There were hints of both sadness and anger in his tone. “This was why you’ve been so short with me? You would cut our dates short—it was because you would rendezvous with Seung Ho?”

“Y-Yoongi.” You whispered and gently rubbed the back of his hand, trying to calm him down.

“Do you know what the fuck I’ve been going through because of this?! I continuously questioned what I was doing wrong—was I not making you happy anymore? Did I do something to piss you off? Was I not buying you enough flowers on the weekends? Altering my class schedule to match yours wasn’t enough? Skipping class to spend time with you? I talked my friends’ ears off trying to figure out why I didn’t seem important in your eyes anymore…” Yoongi kept his head down and squeezed your hand to the point where his nails could draw blood from your skin. “Was I not enough for you…?”

Seolhyun parted her lips but hesitated to say anything. She also dropped her head, possibly trying to get everything in her mind organized.

“Yoongi, I’m so sorry.” She said sadly.

For the first time in a while, she sounded genuine.

“You were enough for me, but I—I guess… I guess I was being selfish and I wanted more.” Seolhyun lifted her eyes in search of Yoongi’s but he still kept his head down.

“You could’ve told me.” Yoongi choked out. “You could’ve talked to me about how you were feeling and maybe—maybe things could’ve worked out.”

It was your turn to lower your head. This was truly an issue between Yoongi and Seolhyun. There was no reason for you to inject yourself into the conversation anymore.

“Is there any way we could work past this?” Seolhyun asked.

Yoongi finally met her eyes. “No. No way in hell.”

He fumbled with your hand to let go and reached into his pocket to pull out his keyring and wallet. He detached Seolhyun’s dorm key and pulled out a polaroid photo of her from inside his wallet. “Here. I don’t need these anymore.”

Yoongi reached back underneath the table in search of your hand and you stealthy met him halfway.

“Please. Just go, Seolhyun. We’re done here.” Yoongi said firmly.

Seolhyun sat there for a couple seconds and then reached forward to retrieve her belongings. As she stood up from the table, she kept her eyes on Yoongi hoping he would say something else, but he remained silent. Shortly after, Seolhyun took her leave without Yoongi sparing her a single glance.

↠↞

Even with the hustle and bustle of students walking all over campus, the world had never been so quiet. Yoongi had his head down, face buried in the crook of his elbow while still holding onto your hand. You weren’t sure when was the best time to speak, so you kept quiet waiting for him to break the silence first.

It almost physically hurt staring at Yoongi. He had been bottling up so many painful emotions to the point where it almost consumed him. He didn’t deserve to go through this.

“Y/n?” Yoongi finally spoke, but the rest of his sentence was muffled behind his coat sleeve.

“I-I’m sorry, Yoongi. I can’t really hear you.”

“Thank you for coming with me.” He turned his head and made heavy eye contact with you. “Saying all those things… I don’t think I would've been able to do it on my own, but you being here gave me strength to do so.”

His words caused a noticeable blush to form on your cheeks. He chuckled and sat up straight to tuck a few of your hairs behind your ears.

“I think you have enough time left to get to your next class from here. I’ll walk you.” Yoongi lifted you up by your arm and you almost didn’t want to go to class. All you wanted was to sit around and hold his hand all day. The thought of that made you blush even more and this made Yoongi laugh a little harder. “What’s the matter with you? Come on.”

Unfortunately, Yoongi didn’t hold your hand when he walked you to class. This was probably because it felt too soon to do so in public. It’s not like he and Seolhyun were the campus couple, but people might get the wrong idea if they knew they were dating.

After the whole thing with Yoongi and Seolhyun, it made it even harder for you to concentrate. Now that they were broken up, who knows if Yoongi still had anymore underlying feelings for her. They were together for a year, so there had to be some leftover right? Plus, Yoongi made a comment the other night about how he thought about why you kissed him and that he “figured it out.” This meant a whole new conversation, a whole new reason to be nervous.

Fucking great.

This was a conversation you weren’t looking forward to. You needed to prepare yourself somehow, but it seemed like no matter how much you could mentally prepare yourself, you still wouldn’t be ready. After knowing Yoongi for roughly a little over two years and falling for him like an idiot, never in your life did you imagine him finding out about how you felt about him.

You would be lying to yourself if you said you weren’t even a little happy. You kissed Yoongi, held his hand, and even shared a bed with him with your feelings unknowingly exposed in the air. It made you giddy; butterflies roaming around in your stomach, fighting the urge to smile whenever you thought about him. If only the circumstances were different, life would’ve been near perfect for you.

Class dragged on, notes were written down, doodles were drawn, and next thing you knew, you were tying your work apron around your waist.

“Where’s Yoongi? He didn’t walk you here?” Seokjin asked.

“Nah. His energy gauge was pretty much empty by the time he was done talking with Seolhyun so he decided to just nap for a few hours.”

“Okay, so, what’s the tea?” Seokjin stood near you, eagerly waiting for you to tell him all the juicy details.

You playfully shoved him away and walked over to the espresso machine. “I’m not saying anything until Hani gets here.”

“Aw, come on, y/n. She won’t be here till like five or something!”

You chuckled to yourself and continued to ignore all of Seokjin’s pleads for information.

The moment Hani walked through the coffee shop doors, the first words she shouted was “okay bitch, bring forth the tea!”—this was said with a shop full of students. You were immediately put on the spot, but Hani’s intentions meant well.

You made sure to include all details of the confrontation when you told Seokjin and Hani about it. You also made sure to keep your voice low because you weren’t sure who knew Seolhyun, Yoongi, or even Seung Ho. This wasn’t your story to tell, but both Hani and Seokjin were there from the beginning so it seemed fitting for them to know it all too.

Evening came just as quickly as your shift started. Hani didn’t mean to stay so late, but she got pretty invested in the situation between Seolhyun and Yoongi. Both you and Seokjin did his best to keep all of Hani’s reactions at bay, but you had to admit, it was entertaining. At least she was nice enough to help the coffee shop employees close up.

“Wouldn’t your knight in shining armor show up by now?” Hani joked.

“You need to relax—oh, bye!” You chuckled and threatened her with a broomstick and waved two of your co-workers who were heading out.

“It’s true, y/n. He’s supposed to waltz in here and be like ‘my lady, I have arrived. Your chariot awaits.’” Seokjin pranced around the room and even bowed and took your hand in his.

“And by ‘chariot’, you mean his legs right? Because the dorms are within walking distance?” You laughed.

“Well, yes, b-but anyways let me finish,” Seokjin cleared his throat. “So your knight in shining armor swoops in—” he went from holding your hand to picking you up bridal style. “—picks you up and saves you from the dungeon aka the coffee shop! And then Yoongi says—”

“Seokjin, what in zakum’s name are you doing?”

At the mention of his name coming from behind him, Seokjin froze in his tracks and turned around to find Yoongi staring at him with a questionable look.

“I—uh—” Seokjin panicked, almost dropping you on the floor but he still managed to place you back on your feet. “Alrighty-roo, well, Hani—babe, shall we take our leave?”

All Hani could do was laugh until her stomach hurt and Seokjin dragged her out of the coffee shop by her hand; she laughed so much that she could barely properly say bye to you and Yoongi.

“Do I even want to know?” Yoongi asked hesitantly.

“No, you really don’t.”

Yoongi helped you flip up the chairs onto the table while you continued to sweep the floor. As you two cleaned up, you proceeded to tell him about your day and apologized for telling Seokjin and Hani what happened in the afternoon. He brushed it off because he also trusted them.

Unlike your busy day, Yoongi spent his entire day eating, sleeping, and watching netflix; he exaggerated that it was a packed schedule. He even mentioned that Seolhyun still tried to call and text him, but he ignored every single attempt.

“You know, I think she dressed up that way today to lure you back to her with her looks.” You confessed.

“Huh. You think so?” Yoongi walked behind the counter where you were wiping around the sink.

You shrugged your shoulders. “Yeah, I mean, it’s been pretty cold lately and she shows up in an outfit that could barely keep her warm. She curled her hair, put on makeup, like why is doing all of that necessary to meet up with you? It seems so—what?”

Yoongi was just staring at you with a smirk plastered on his face. “Were you worried that it was going to work?”

A blush bloomed on your cheeks. “N-No. I just think it was ridiculous, that’s all.”

He stepped closer and stood behind you, placing his hands on the metal countertop to cage you in between his arms.

“You know, you observe others pretty well but from my observations from knowing you, you kind of suck at lying.” Yoongi laughed and you forced a chuckle out. You weren’t going to even deny it.

From the counter, Yoongi lifted his hands to secure them around your waist, hugging you from behind. You made a few attempts to move around to clean the counter properly, but he remained.

“Yoongi, I have to clean.” You chuckled.

“Just—” He briefly let you go to spin you around so he could hug you from the front. “Five minutes. Let’s stay like this for five minutes, please.”

It was such a genuine request, how could you say no?

Yoongi was leaning into you with his face buried in the crook of your neck. You had your arms lazily slung around his shoulders and just listened to his faint breathing. The blonde tips of his hair tickled your nose a bit, so you gently slide your hand across his nape to brush down his hair. He hugged you tighter at your sudden action and sighed.

“You’re really going to touch me like that, y/n?” The teasing tone in his voice was enough to raise your temperature and cause a blush to appear on your cheeks.

“Y-Yoongi!” You tried to push him away, already feeling embarrassed, but he just continued to hold you.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Yoongi snickered. “It’s fine, keep touching my hair.”

You were still feeling embarrassed because that was the first time Yoongi used that tone of voice with you. Nonetheless, you listened and continued to stroke his hair. Thankfully he didn’t wear that awful beanie.

Yoongi didn’t say another word and every once in a while, he’d caress your back and readjust himself. Small sparks ignited at the simplest touch and for some reason you wanted to laugh. This was everything you wanted but it did confuse you as to how comfortable Yoongi was doing all of this to you. All you did was kiss him once and the next moment he’s acting as if you two were dating for years.

“Okay, I’m recharged. Continue your cleaning.” He emerged from your body and cupped your cheek. Even if you were the one embarrassed, Yoongi still had a hue of pink displayed at the tops of his cheeks.

For the next ten minutes, you swiftly cleaned up the stations and tossed out the garbage in the dumpster out back. Yoongi waited patiently and even gathered all of your things for you from the back room.

“So you’re opening tomorrow?” Yoongi asked whilst helping you adjust your hoodie.

“Sadly, yeah. So we can talk first then I’ll head straight to bed.”

“We can talk tomorrow, it’s fine. You need your rest.”

“B-But—”

Yoongi stole another kiss from you, probably to shut you up and it worked; it left you utterly speechless. You had to get used to this somehow.

“Tomorrow.” Yoongi whispered. “For now, let’s go home.”

Home?

There was no doubt that Yoongi was referring to your dorm as home since he stayed there the entire day. The idea of him considering your place as “home” gave you butterflies.

Home was a safe sanctuary. Home was a place where someone can easily unravel themselves to be at peace. Home was where the heart was and Yoongi was there with you.

“Yeah.” You blushed. “Let’s go home.”

♡ rae jagi

40 notes · View notes

zuluoscarecho · 5 years ago

Text

It’s A Party - Ch 3

Part 3/5. Below the cut ‘cause…you know (Part 1 here) (Part 2 here) Read on AO3

Isobel’s latest charity event was another in a long string of events ever since Noah’s disappearance had been converted into a sad tale of him leaving his beautiful, innocent wife because she couldn’t have children for him. As far as Roswell knew, he’d run off to New York and left Isobel all alone.

The pitying, bored, housewives of Roswell had deep pockets for Ann Evans’ poor, abandoned daughter and Isobel was lapping up the attention, and the work.

Michael had been in attendance at said events more and more since Alex and Isobel developed a friendship, but he’d never dressed as nicely as he was tonight.

Michael was wearing a burgundy sweater that Alex distinctly recognised as being a part of his closet, not Michael’s.

He had a very distinct memory of sitting outside the airstream in exactly that sweater and his leather jacket, waiting. He’d felt more like himself that day than he had since coming back to Roswell. He pushed away the memory and instead looked at Michael, here and now.

The sweater fit him well, stretching across his shoulders and bringing out the colour in his skin from working outside. His curls barely brushed the collar and the burgundy brought out the gold so he looked more angelic than Michael Guerin had any right to, especially considering the things he could do with his mouth.

Alex swore under his breath, he’d been looking for that sweater for months. Sure it had some relatively negative connotations attached to it, but he knew he looked good in it and he was willing to let go of the past now that Michael was his.

It was completely unfair how good Michael looked when he scrubbed up, especially in Alex’s clothes.

The sweater was tight on Alex, showing off his toned upper body and it was a little looser on Michael but it still looked amazing and Alex felt a thrill go up his spine at the idea of Michael wearing his clothes outside of the house.

Michael’s wardrobe had been limited due to funds and also his relatively outcast lifestyle, and while Alex had spent the majority of his time in fatigues for the past 10 years he’d still managed to acquire a quite extensive wardrobe of clothing and Michael had taken to wearing his shirts around the cabin. It gave Alex a thrill every time, especially the faded Air Force basic training shirts that Michael lounged around in. Seeing Michael in a piece of clothing that was so obviously his drove him crazy and tonight was no exception, even if he was the only one who knew it was his shirt.

He reached Michael’s side just as Isobel did and realised he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Michael’s clothing choices.

“That’s a nice sweater, Michael, I didn’t know you owned anything this nice,” Isobel commented, sliding a hand across his shoulder and admiring the fabric. “It looks good." She cocked her head to the side as she examined it. "It’d probably look better on Alex though, it’s more his colour. You should let him borrow it.”

Michael turned to face Alex’s knowing gaze and smirked. “I’ll think about it Iz. I’m not sure we’re quite at the sharing clothes point yet.”

“Whatever Michael, you’re basically married.” She rolled her eyes and glanced up as someone called her name. “I have to go, don’t duck out early!” Isobel turned and fluttered away, off to deal with some aspect of the event.

Alex raised an eyebrow at Michael once Isobel was gone and stepped into his space, sliding his hands up Michael’s arms along the soft material to rest around his neck. “Not at that point yet, huh? You know I found my old Air Force hoodie in the airstream last year. I lost it 7 years ago.”

Michael shrugged innocently. “I didn’t know it was there, you must’ve left it behind.”

“It smelled like you, and had grease stains on the sleeve.”

“Awww you know what I smell like, that’s cute.” Michael pressed a kiss to his cheek and pulled Alex against his chest.

Alex pushed against him, more in half-hearted protest than out of shame or fear of being seen with Michael in public. “You steal my clothes all the time, Guerin,” Alex said, exasperated. “The only thing that doesn't smell like you is my uniform.”

Michael went still for a minute and he pulled back to look at Alex carefully. “I didn’t realise it bothered you. I can stop.”

His voice was quiet, eyes serious but Alex could see the sadness there. Michael would stop, if Alex asked, but he didn’t want to. He thought it was worth it to keep the peace, peace between them that still seemed so fragile despite months of being together and how they’d settled in as if the past 10 years really had been just a long distance relationship not an on again off again fling neither of them could let go of.

“No, Michael, I don’t want you to stop, I-” Alex stopped and sighed, rolling his eyes up to look into Michael’s again. They’d been working on this open and vulnerable communication thing and Alex still struggled with voicing his wants, with believing that what he wanted even mattered. “I like it when you wear my clothes.”

Michael grinned, the smile lighting up his face and he leaned forward to kiss Alex. “Good, me too. Besides, you clearly have better fashion sense than me.”

“My high school clothing choices beg to differ.”

“Iz literally just said so and you know she’s the leading expert on the topic.”

At that point Isobel stepped on stage and called the crowd’s attention and Michael and Alex wandered over to watch.

Barely two minutes into Isobel’s opening speech Alex felt Michael move from beside him. He took a step back and to the side to press against Alex’s back and Alex could feel his lips brush against his ear and he repressed a shiver.

“If we go now, we can get a quickie in before Iz even finishes her speech.” Michael punctuated the statement by pressing his hips up against Alex’s ass in a slow grind that would be hardly noticeable to people watching them but Alex could feel the entire hot length of Michael’s body pressed against his, their torsos, their hips, their knees all lined up and slotted together like spoons.

Michael twined one finger around one of Alex’s belt loops and tugged gently, not wanting to upset his balance. “I promise, I’ll make it worth your while.”

Alex turned to face him and Michael’s arm stayed in his belt loop, wrapping around his waist. “You always make sure you make it worth my while, Guerin.”

“Damn right I do, Private.”

Alex rolled his eyes and pushed at Michael to lead the way.

They were barely out of sight of the rest of the guests before Michael was turning around and pulling Alex into a kiss, letting Alex guide him the rest of the way into the bathrooms. Alex pushed Michael through the door, noting the conveniently empty stalls and urinals, the rest of the crowd tonight obviously thinking the speeches more important than a bathroom break. Alex pressed himself back against the door and flicked the lock, pulling Michael against him.

Alex slid his hands under Michael’s shirt (his shirt) and up his sides, pulling it up and over his head to drop on the counter so he had full access to his chest. He let his fingers trace paths they’d mapped before, down over Michael’s ribs, around the small of his back, then back up through the centre of his chest, the hair there tickling at his palm, before they inevitably made their way to his curls. Alex felt the soft silk of Michael’s hair slide through his fingers as he tugged Michael into a kiss he was more than willing for.

It had been a long time until they’d been able to kiss like this, soft and slow and in no rush. For so long they’d been all desperate, hard kisses as if they were both afraid the other would disappear from their grasp if they didn’t kiss hard enough. Or there’d been the sad goodbye kisses when Alex knew he had to leave and this would be the last time for who knew how long and it was desperate and heart breaking and they’d done it over and over again. And then they’d come back to each other and tried to mend the cracks in their hearts with time spent with lips pressed against skin, as if each kiss would make it better.

But now, they got to be soft and slow and teasing.

Alex could lick into Michael’s mouth and make him groan, pulling back with a smirk only to make Michael chase him. Alex could push all of his love for Michael into the kiss without being afraid he wouldn’t understand because now he backed it up with his words, with his actions, with staying.

He could feel Michael’s cock, hard in his jeans, pressed against his. He rocked his hips forward and let Michael grind their hips back, pressing Alex against the door.

For all that his training rallied against him being pinned to a hard surface, a not too insignificant part of Alex would never get enough of Michael pressed up against him.

Michael’s fingers made quick work of the buttons on Alex’s shirt and pushed it off his shoulders, the sleeves catching on his wrists. He ignored Alex stuck in his shirt now that the obstacle was out of his way and went straight for the fly of his jeans and got his hand down Alex’s pants and on his cock.

Alex groaned at the feel of Michael’s warm palm around him and fumbled faster with the buttons on his cuffs. He whined as he struggled with one button and felt Michael squeeze lightly. “Michael wait, please, I want to touch you too.”

Michael leaned forward to press sucking kisses down Alex’s neck to his chest as he began to slowly stoke his hand up and down Alex’s hard length. “That’s what you get for wearing a shirt with too many buttons.”

“I could’ve worn a nice burgundy one if someone hadn’t stole it,” Alex shot back as he yanked on the cuffs of his shirt and heard a button go pinging off the wall. He resigned himself to fixing it later but in all honesty it was 100% worth it to get his hands on Michael even one second faster.

Finally Alex’s hands were free and he reached to grab Michael through his jeans making him groan and his hand stutter on Alex.

Alex squeezed again, slow and steady making Michael let out a whimper and his head fall to Alex’s shoulder, hips bucking into Alex’s palm. “You’re the one wearing a belt with a buckle the size of Texas," Alex observed, rubbing him through the thick fabric of his jeans. "Maybe that extra obstacle means you don’t want me touching your dick.”

He felt Michael still against him and a second later his belt and fly were undone beneath Alex’s hands.

“No obstacles now,” he panted, pressing a kiss to Alex’s jaw in victory and turning back to rest against his shoulder. Alex couldn’t see the smirk on Michael’s lips, with his face pressed into his shoulder, but he could hear it. He knew the shape it made, the way he bit the inside of his lip to keep from grinning too hard, pleased and smug.

“That’s cheating, Guerin.”

Michael ignored him, looking down to focus on Alex, still hard and aching. He pulled his cock from his jeans for better access and started up the rhythm that drove Alex crazy.

“You never seem to mind when I’m using my powers to open you up while I suck you off.”

Alex groaned and a trickle of precome leaked from his dick at Michael’s words and Michael turned his face into Alex’s neck to press a kiss there.

They had tried experimenting with Michael’s powers to great success. Alex liked to test his control and Michael liked to tease him, all in all it was a very welcome addition to their sex life.

Alex wrapped a hand around Michael’s cock and squeezed in retaliation. He slid his hand up to palm the head, sliding back down and spreading the little bit of precome. He sucked biting kisses down Michael’s neck and along his collarbone, marking him up in his wake. He stopped to tease and tug at a nipple and Michael groaned, hips jerking forward and his rhythm on Alex stuttering momentarily before he redoubled his efforts.

“Whoever comes first gets bragging rights?” Alex panted, bucking his hips into Michael’s grasp.

Michael pulled back to look at him, keeping eye contact as he brushed his thumb over the head of Alex’s cock, making him groan and his eyes fall shut.

Alex opened his eyes a second later to catch Michael’s smirk.

“You’re on, baby."

Without any preamble, Michael started to jerk him off in earnest, picking up a steady rhythm and Alex could feel his orgasm building in the way his stomach tightened and his breath came out in pants against Michael’s hair.

Alex felt Michael’s lips at his ear and he groaned, knowing what would come next. Any time that Michael opens his mouth, pure filth spills out.

“Fuck Alex, you’re so gorgeous like this. I love the feel of you, so hot and heavy in my hand. I love watching you come, feeling it on my skin, the taste.”

Alex made a low sound in the back of his throat as he came, spilling over Michael’s fist and spurting onto his chest and abs. Michael kept pumping him through it until Alex pushed him off, whining at the overstimulation.

Michael looked at him in victory but his expression changed when Alex blinked away the haze of orgasm and focused on Michael.

He kept his gaze on Michael’s face, watching as his eyes slipped shut and he let out a moan as Alex dragged a hand through the cooling come on Michael’s stomach and used it to ease the slide on his cock. His hand sped up and he bit down over a mark on Michael’s collar bone. Michael came with a sound like the air’s been punched out of him and Alex grinned in satisfaction. Alex continued stroking him, milking him dry until Michael shuddered and pushed his hand away.

“Fuck, this is so messy,” Michael complained, running his hand through the mix of come on his stomach and chest.

Alex nodded in agreement and moved over to the sink to wash his hands and wet some paper towel to clean off his own skin and Michael’s.

“Worth it though, right?” Michael said with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Would I keep letting you drag me into bathrooms if I didn’t think it was worth it?”

“Me?” Michael scoffed. “Last week at Kyle’s I was just minding my own business when you came up and whispered filthy things in my ear, what was I supposed to do with that?”

Alex passed Michael the paper towel and started buttoning his shirt up while he watched Michael wipe the come from his abs. He tore his gaze away from the view of their come mixed together on Michael’s skin and looked around for the button he’d lost. He found it sitting on the floor and tucked it in his pocket, rolling up his sleeves to the elbow to hide the missing button on the cuff.

Once he was clean Michael tossed the paper towel into the rubbish and turned to look languidly at Alex.

Alex stepped forward to run his fingers across the damp skin of Michael’s torso. He slid one hand up Michael’s chest to one nipple which he pinched lightly.

“You could always say no,” Alex murmured against his ear, nipping teasingly at the skin behind it that always made Michael’s knees go weak.

Michael whined squirming against the door but not pulling away. “C’mon Alex, we can’t do this again, the others will be pissed, you know how they get, especially Iz.”

Alex kissed him again, hard and filthy, tongue seeking its way into Michael’s mouth to tangle with his and fingers coming up to tug at Michael’s hair the way he liked.

Michael moaned, pressing his hips against him and Alex could feel Michael’s cock twitch against his stomach in eagerness.

They pulled apart panting and Michael dropped his head to rest against Alex’s shoulder with a tortured groan. “Seriously Alex, we cannot go again, just because my dick says we should go again does not mean we should go again.” Michael’s eyes were closed as he shook his head back and forth against Alex’s shoulder.

Alex ran his hand down Michael’s stomach to hold his dick in his hand and squeeze lightly before he tucked him back into his pants and zipped them up carefully around his half-hard cock.

“We’ll have to wait till we get home then.” He ducked out the door leaving him alone to finish getting dressed and wait the appropriate amount of time before exiting after Alex to avoid suspicion.

“You’re the worst!” Michael called after him.

At least he had some positive memories with that shirt now, Alex thought as he rejoined the crowd as inconspicuously as possible.

#malex fic #michael guerin #alex manes #untitled bathroom fic is here #no longer a WIP!#my fic

10 notes · View notes

hekategoddessofthenight · 5 years ago

Text

Reunited Pt.1

Daniella

Welp here I am, going home for the 10 year high school reunion, after I talked myself into going just to rub my success in my old classmate faces, granted I only had a day to decide seeing as it's Friday night and it's currently Thursday, I packed my bags and bought a ticket for the next flight out to Alabama, I felt my IQ plummet the second the planes tires screeched along the tarmac, I grabbed my overnight bag out of the overhead compartment and dragged my feet off the plane and walked into the airport terminal.

My big brother Cash who is 5 years older than i am and who never left the state, and his wife were the ones to come and pick me up seeing as our parents moved to the beach after I moved away leaving the house to Cash and his wife Ashlyn.

Cash is your typical good ol southern boy, never without the bluejeans with the dip ring in the back pocket of every pair thad been permenatly rubbing into it from years of rubbing again the seat of his pick up truck, his work boots that I had to hide from him when he and Ashlyn got married during the summer of my junior and senior year of high school.

“So Dani, how is the big city?” Ashlyn asks me as I toss my bag into the cab of the truck, it's been awhile since I been home and by a while I mean like 4-5 years and in that time not only have I lost some of my southern twang but I keep forgetting what my family sounds like and wow.

“it's a new adventure every day, I can’t get enough of it.” I tell her

“Cash, do you hear her my god she’s lost her southern drawl and picked up a northern accent! You really need to come home more Daniella or at least call more.” she says and Cash pulls away he just sits there nodding his head in agreement going mhmm as he spits his chew into the bottle.

“I will do just that when I have the time, works been crazy, I have so many books to read and decide if they are worth publishing I hardly have time for anything else, I had to beg my boss to even let me come down here for a few days.” I say as I pull out my ipad and skim over the latest manuscript of an up and coming romance author.

As we pull into the driveway of my childhood home I grab my bag and head in the house to my old room, Cash and Ashlyn boxed up alot of my stuff and shoved it in the closet to make my old room into a spare when mom and dad come up to visit but the posters of New York on the walls, and the millions of pictures I took when the senior class trip went to Manhattan are still up.

That trip, that was it from the second I stepped onto the busy city street and smelt the ammonia filled subway I knew that was where I wanted to be, where I belonged.

I toss my bag onto the bed and start to unpack my bag, hanging up the strapy V-neck Chanel dress before it wrinkles and setting my black Louboutin below it all ready to go tomorrow night.

I change into some jeans and a T and head out to the living room, and watch them for a little bit. Cash is working the computer seeing as he does some kind of online job and Ashlyn is getting ready for the night shift at the local nursing home. “I'll be back.” I say as I steal the keys to the truck and head for town, it's been awhile since I been home but DAMN, after being in a city that never sleeps and going to a town that literally closes at 5 pm sucks, I wonder around town, its small but when I was little I thought it was huge but now this is small, as I wonder peering into some of the old shops I use to go to I can see that they have been closed up for some time also there is a thick layer of dust collected onto the glass, as I keep walking I’m waiting the the enviable shoe to stop and someone I went to school with or someone that has known me my entire life to recognize me and then word spreads like wildfire that I am here and I’m not ready for that.

not only have I changed emotionally but I have physically as well, I lost some weight, which I didn’t have to work so hard at seeing as I live in a city that I walk everywhere in but I also changed the way I ate when I moved their, I tried every single place that was labeled as southern comfort food in the first year I was their and nothing compared to my momma’s cooking but my taste has expanded now and I’m sure that I will not be able to find good fresh sushi here.

after touring the town I made my way up the the next major town for the world famous Gibson BBQ, after walking out with the few things I have been craving I manage to make it back home, I settle down in my room with my food and read some more of the newest novel I have been assigned to read over, after a few hours I finished the book and decide that it is worth publishing, I sit my iPad down and scan my old room, I rummage threw the closet and spot my old years book on the shelf and seeing as I have the reunion tomorrow it might be best if I figure out who is who again, I’ve kept up with some people when I moved thanks to social media, but its sad looking back and seeing that almost 80% of the graduating class is all ether married or have a few kids by now. Except me.

As I flip threw the book I happen to come across Aiden Rose, I use to help him pass English he was the high school heartthrob every girl wanted him including me and every girl was always trying to be my friend to try and get close to him but it never worked, I mean the closest thing I ever came to what one would mistake for a date with him is when we went to the diner for a last minute english paper he needed help with.

I had the biggest crush on him I mean for christ sakes I was a bumbling idiot when he was around, always stumbling over my words, tripping over air and up stairs it was sad, I would often have the thought of what if, what if he asked me to prom or what if he asked me to go to homecoming, or even asked me out on a date and gave me a kiss, but the biggest what if was what if i didn’t look the way i did, i was the short girl with the dopy looking glasses who always got her work done well before anyone, i was the girl who spent most of her free time in the library reading books all the time or writing in my notebook of stories i thought of, all of them being romance novels. to him i was just the girl that would help him pass his classes nothing more.

I wonder what he’s been up to since then, last time I saw him was the night of graduation after the ceremony, he hugged me and thanked me for all the help over the 4 years I was helping him, the next day I was on my way to NYU for journalism, I occasionally would look him up over the last 10 year but people change so much that I wouldn’t know if it was him or not. I wonder if he will be their tomorrow, I sure would like to know what he does now, I’m sure he maybe took over his family’s ranch or maybe he works at the local store, who knows but I’m sure I will know more tomorrow, that is if he even shows up, no point in worrying about it time to get some sleep.

3 notes · View notes

luvknow · 6 years ago

Text

sincerely, hwang hyunjin

genre: ceo!fem reader x assistant!hyunjin | light humor ; fluff ; fake dating ; swearing ; alcohol consumption ; you have Lots of Money summary: being the company’s youngest ceo of one of the top soju brands in the country does not get easier as the days pass. you’re forever thankful for your assistant, hwang hyunjin, who knows everything about you and what it takes to keep your head on your shoulders. wc: 6.5k a/n: inspired by this post!

“Good morning, Miss _____!”

You were barely walking down the hallway towards your office when you heard Hyunjin’s greeting echo loudly, as it always did. When you asked him his first year of working here how he even knew it was you, he told you it was the way your heels clicked on the tiles. Apparently you just exuded CEO vibes by the way you walked, and it was one of the best compliments you’ve ever received. You’ll never understand why he doesn’t just wait for you to approach his desk to say hello, but you’d rather not question his, uh, uniqueness. It’s been like that for five years now, so there was no use in asking him to change his ways.

“Good morning, Hyunjin,” you replied groggily. “Do you want to get some coffee with me -”

The boy eagerly hands you your long-awaited iced americano with an extra shot of espresso. A sense of pride spread through his body as he saw your eyes glitter adoringly at the bitter drink.

“You’re a lifesaver,” you cried out.

“I know ~”

“Do you know what’s on the schedule today?”

“Yes, and you’re not going to like it.”

“Great... Break the news to me.”

“At 9, you have a conference call with the presidents of the company; at 10, you have a quick meeting with the quality assurance and control team to taste batch #003267; at 10:30, you have an interview set up for the opening office position; and at noon, you have lunch with your father.”

“Uuuuuuggggghhhhhhhh,” you groaned loudly and unladylike at the last part.

Ever since you took over the company, the only thing your father ever talked to you about was work. He’d ask about his favorite employees, how the product was selling, and how the competition was doing. He’d never how you were doing, or what was going on with your life outside of work - hell, he’s even asked how Hyunjin was doing! But never you.

“You’ll be coming with me to lunch, right?” you practically begged him.

“... Do I have to?”

“No, but I would really love it if you did ~ Please ~?” you pouted cutely.

Hyunjin sighed exaggeratedly. He could never say no to you when you looked at him like that. Who was he to say no to his boss, after all? “... Fine...”

“Thank God.”

“I feel like ever since I started here, I’ve been with you to every occasion where you’ve had to meet up with your father.”

“Not every occasion... It’s not like I have you there for the Holidays.”

“But you have tried to get me to be,” he accused. “You even bribed me with overtime pay.”

“Which you so foolishly rejected.”

“You know salary workers don’t get overtime pay, right?”

“Overtime, holiday bonus, potato, tomato, it’s all the same! You get more money out of it,” you muttered bitterly.

Hyunjin just rolled his eyes. You were always grumpy like this on Mondays, so your attitude was no surprise to him. He never found it annoying, or anything anyways. In fact, he thought you were quite cute like this, but he’d never admit that to your face in fear of you calling Human Resources on him.

From the start of your schedule until lunchtime, things went smoothly as they usually did. Of course your favorite part was the Quality Assurance testing - you never cared much for the chemistry behind all of the brewing and details of the soju, but you still took part in the testing because you got to drink shot after shot on the clock to make sure the flavors brewed tasted how they normally do.

“You know you can have a taste, too ~” you tempted the tall boy beside you before downing the last shot.

“No, thank you. I’ll never be able to take five shots of soju at 10:00am ever again,” he groaned.

“Ah, yes... I remember I had to have my driver take Little Trainee Hyunjin home because you were puking.”

“I was so sure you would have fired me after that.”

“No way! You did everything I asked of you when you were a trainee. I couldn’t lose such a valuable person so soon.”

“Glad to hear that my value at this company relies on me doing anything you say and almost dying because of it...”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Hyunjin,” you scoffed. “Though it is your job to do what I ask.”

“... So...”

When lunch rolls around, you’re not surprised that your father picks some fancy, probably Michelin Star restaurant with no customers inside because only people with your father’s money could afford to eat at a place like this. As you begrudgingly walk inside, you could tell Hyunjin was nervous. He wasn’t nervous because he was meeting your father - he’s done that plenty of times already. He’s nervous because he always felt out of place whenever he’s in public places with you. Whether you’d take him with you to business trips or simply treating him out to a nice lunch as a close friend, he always knew someone like him didn’t belong in places like these. No matter how hard you tried to convince him that being with you meant that he belonged, too, it never eased his nerves, so you learned to just let him calm down on his own.

You spotted not only your father, but your mother also, sitting at one of the tables and panic began to rise in your chest. Your Mom never liked to talk business when the whole family was together, so this must have been some other serious matter. Now you regretted bringing Hyunjin along. The poor boy was about to witness how dysfunctional your family was.

“Hi, Mom and Dad,” you greeted nervously. “I, uh, brought Hyunjin along because I thought this was a business meeting...”

“That’s all right, I should have told you your mother was coming,” your father smiled uncharacteristically. “It’s always a pleasure to have Mr. Hwang around.”

“Hello, Sir. Ma’am,” Hyunjin bowed deeply.

“No need for formalities. Please, have a seat.”

You and Hyunjin gave each other a quick side glance before sitting as if you two were kids caught doing something bad and now you were in trouble. Hyunjin probably was clear of all scolding that would be said today, but you were as ready as you’d ever be to receive all the nagging.

“The reason we wanted to meet with you today is because the big Charity Gala for foster children is coming up soon,” your Mom began. “You’ll be representing the company.”

“Of course.”

“Do you have anyone in mind you’ll be bringing as a date?”

“Uh, no? Can’t I just go alone?”

“Honey, this is the biggest Charity Gala of the year! You can’t just show up alone to these events,” she tisked. “It’s bad for publicity. Besides, wouldn’t this be a great reason to go out and meet someone?”

“Mom, where am I going to find a boyfriend in that short amount of time?”

“I’m not saying find a boyfriend just like that, I mean...”

Your father sighed at your mother’s lack of words. “What she’s trying to say is don’t you think it’s time to start dating...? Find someone you could marry one day?”

“What? Where is all of this coming from?”

“Nowhere! We’re just worried about you."

“What’s there to worry about? That I won’t bring a date to yet another gala full of your stuck up business friends? Who has the time to worry about that, anyways? Or the time to even consider dating when I’m running an entire enterprise on my own!?” Before your once-normal volume could reach the point of yelling, Hyunjin kicked you lightly under the table to let you know you were getting out of hand. You cleared your throat after you calmed down.

“Ok, you don’t have to bring a date,” your father began. “But I want you to talk to people while you’re there. Maybe you’ll meet someone you really like. I know a lot of men and their sons who will be attending and I can assure you they are good people, so just socialize a bit, ok?”

“Fine.”

“Good. I think this calls for a bottle of wine, if you ask me.”

The meal was mostly spent talking about work and the upcoming gala. Your father had already donated a healthy amount to the organization and instructed you to prepare some bullshit speech about how much you cared for everyone involved. The latter end of the meal was then spent catching up with Hyunjin’s personal life. Somehow you always knew that Hyunjin was like the son your parents had always wanted, so it was no surprise seeing how much they grew to love him in these past five years. There were times when you’d be so jealous of the little bits of affection he received, but what parent wouldn’t love him? He was a sweet, handsome, and smart boy - the poster child for the perfect kid.

“God, can you believe them!?” you groaned when you two arrived back at the office. “Forcing me to talk to their crusty old friends and their snobby sons as if I can’t get a man of my own - you know, they never believed in me as a child.”

“Yes, you’ve mentioned that before...”

“And like, why is bringing a date to these things a social requirement these days!? I don’t want to lug around some stupid boy as an accessory!”

“You don’t have any friends you’d want to bring?” Hyunjin asked.

“They’re all going, too, and with dates probably...”

As you both arrived to your desks, Hyunjin went ahead and sat back down in his, but you hadn’t walked into your office yet. Curiously, he looked up at you with a raised brow and noticed the childlike pout you had on your lips.

“What...?” Hyunjin asked nervously. Then it clicked in his head what you were silently begging for. “Oh, no.”

“Please ~?” you begged cutely.

“I refuse to attend a Gala where men’s cufflinks cost more than my paycheck.”

“I will literally buy you cufflinks, just please be my date!”

Shamelessly, you got down on your knees in front of his desk and took his hands in yours. Your pouty, bug-eyed face was now in full-view in front of Hyunjin and he had no way of avoiding it. He should be used to this by now, since he always caved in to what you wanted when you did this, but he’ll still always blush whenever you held his hands.

“C’mon, please? You’ll be with me the whole time and we get to dress fancy, eat good food, drink expensive champagne - it’ll be fun, I promise.”

“I don’t have the proper attire -”

“Not a problem, let’s go shopping!” you cheered, pulling the confused boy up from his desk.

“Miss _____, we have a lot of work to do today -!”

“Which can be completed tomorrow.”

Hyunjin dramatically groaned as you dragged him out of the building, though he wasn’t complaining. These past couple of days, there was a lot of work to be done, so he was thankful for a break finally. It’s also been a while since the two of you spent time together outside of the office, and it was even more rare to see that you were excited about something. He’d never been so eagerly dragged out of the office before, let alone being hand-in-hand with you. You hadn’t let go until you walked into the elevator, went down thirty floors, walked out of the building, and into the car, as if you were afraid Hyunjin would make a break for it if you hadn’t been holding onto him.

You always adored how your hands fit so perfectly.

Hyunjin had one, maybe two suits buried somewhere in his closet. He’d wear them when you two went out to business dinners with potential buyers, but other than that, he had no reason to wear them, so he was excited to finally dust them off for this gala. Thinking you two were only going to to shop for cufflinks and maybe a tie, Hyunjin was surprised when the car pulled up to one of the country’s top suit stores, or whatever you call them.

“Eh? What are we doing here?” he asked when you both walked in.

“Buying you a suit?” you stated obviously.

“Wait, what? Miss _____, you don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to. Think of this as a present for tolerating me these past five years.”

“Miss _____...”

“And what did I say about the Miss?”

“To not call you that.”

“Yet you still do, huh? We’re friends, you know that, right?”

“Of course I do, but you’re still my boss.”

“We’re not even in the office!” you pouted.

“Ah, Miss _____, you’re so cute like a child,” Hyunjin snickered. “How are you so scary and cute at the same time.”

“That’s the best compliment I’ve ever received.”

Hyunjin didn’t have the worst taste in clothing - in fact, he’s consistently won best dressed as a superlative at the office - but when it came to actual formal wear, he had no idea what to look for.

“You said you’re wearing black, right?” he asked while flipping through his tenth rack of suit jackets.

“Yeah. The fabric is satin, if that helps.”

“I didn’t think that mattered...”

“Oh, Hyunjin, you helpless boy...”

You really hoped he would be the one to find something he liked, but after an hour of searching, you figured he needed a little help, so you shoved five complete designer suit sets in different shades and fabrics of black for him to try on. You knew this decision was going to be hard when he showed you wearing every single one and he looked good in all of them.

“They all look good on you,” you sighed. “I hate you.”

“I can’t help that I’m beautiful,” Hyunjin wore a bashful smile on his face as he smoothened the velvet suit jacket in front of the mirror. “I think I like this one the most.”

“Me, too. Let’s buy it.”

Hyunjin had never felt so embarrassed to purchase something before. When you were checking out at the register and you handed the cashier your heavy credit card, they eyed you both suspiciously and Hyunjin avoided eye contact out of embarrassment. In the eyes of the cashier and your blushing assistant, it must have looked like you were his Sugar Mama, or something.

“Why are you always so shy when we go shopping? People are going to have the wrong idea about us,” you scolded in the car.

“It’s embarrassing! Not even my Mom buys me things anymore...”

“Ah, so ungrateful.”

“Miss _____, that’s not what I -”

“Relax, I know you didn’t mean it that way. You don’t always have to be so tense around me, you know. We’ve worked together for a long time.”

“I just... I feel bad because I can’t pay you back.”

“You already have.”

“How!?”

“By dealing with me, of course.”

Throughout the rest of the car ride, Hyunjin can’t help but wonder if you would have done the same to anyone else. If you asked someone else to go with you to the Charity Gala, would you have bought them a suit, too? And why didn’t you ask someone else to go with you? He knows you have guy friends of much higher status than him that would give up their own arm to be in his position. It would do wonders on your reputation if you went with someone who was as highly-regarded as yourself to this gala and yet you chose someone as lowly as him, and for the past five years, he still doesn’t understand why.

What surprised him the most was how you’ve been single for nearly your whole life. Sure, you’ve been on a couple of dates here and there, but he’s never heard of you ever having a long-term boyfriend or even going on a second date. But how was that possible, when men of all ages and bank accounts have lined up for your attention ever since you took over the company?

Though looking back on all of the guys you once dated or the ones who pined over you, none of them could ever measure up to you. None of them even deserved the dates you so generously went on. To even share the same space with you was a privilege in itself, and for that, Hyunjin was grateful.

No one ever saw you the way Hyunjin did everyday. Others only saw you as cold and bossy and described you as such. Maybe if you were your father, or just a man, you would be seen as hard working and a natural leader, but that wouldn’t be the case for a long time. But Hyunjin saw you as hard working and a natural-born leader. You had a lot of pressure on your shoulders, so of course there were moments when you weren’t your most pleasant. But no one ever saw you during the holidays when you’d leave little presents on people’s desks, or when you giggled at kitten videos on your desktop, or the way your lips pouted when you were really tired.

No one else saw you as a girl or even a human. They only saw you as the boss. Hyunjin saw you as everything. You were his boss, a beautiful woman, and most importantly, his friend. You two have come a long way in five years, and Hyunjin hoped the years would continue on.

But one day, you’ll find someone you’ll fall in love with. Someone who will look at you for you, and not for your money. He would see you the way Hyunjin would see you and you’d return his gaze with such love in your eyes.

Whomever your future was with, he’d be a lucky man.

Tonight was another night spent with dry, old people dressed in fabrics richer than even your own paycheck. At least you’d be able to milk out the bar and the hors d’oeuvres platters with Hyunjin by your side.

As you were fixing your hair almost ready to go pick up your date, the doorbell rang. Curiously and cautiously, you went down to open the doors only to reveal a nervous, but suave Hyunjin on the other side.

Your handsome assistant was dressed in his all-black with the velvet jacket suit you bought him last week. He wore his hair completely different than when he did at the office. Rather than his bangs covering his forehead, he styled them with a charming curl that revealed his forehead.

“Hyunjin, what are you doing here? I was going to pick you up.”

His mouth was open, but no words came out, for he was too stunned to speak when you swung the door wide open to reveal you in your dress. He’s seen you in probably a million dresses before this one, but none ever made him as speechless as this one.

You were so, so beautiful.

His gawking was making your cheeks burn.

“I-I, uh...” he stuttered. “I didn’t want you to go out of your way...”

That boy was a real sweetheart. What did you ever do to deserve him?

“C’mon, let’s get this night over with,” you said, trying to hide your embarrassed smile.

Pulling up to the Gala was like pulling up at a red carpet event. The driver dropped you two off right at the front door where all the other CEOs and their sons filed in with their arm candy. Hyunjin was too afraid to open the door.

“Can you do me a favor tonight, Hyunjin?” you asked.

“Of course, Miss _____. Anything.”

“Will you pretend to be my boyfriend?”

The boy nearly choked on his own spit. “Wh-What!?”

“You can say no, of course.”

“No, I’ll pretend, but why? Is it so you don’t have to explain to anyone that you don’t have one?”

“Well yes, but I just thought it’d be fun.”

With a playful smirk, you exited the car first and strut your way to the main entrance with a stumbling Hyunjin following closely behind you.

“Ready to play house?” you teased.

“I practically play house with you whenever you drag me along to meet with your parents,” he scoffed.

“Good. Pretend this is one of those times.”

Pausing in the foyer, you held your hand out to your date, who only looked at it questioningly.

“Hm?” he asked, raising his brow cutely.

“Pretend boyfriends usually hold hands with their pretend girlfriends.”

With a sudden, foreign confidence, Hyunjin laced his hands with yours and followed your lead inside the main ballroom. Your eyes twinkled with the string lights that dripped from the ceiling and although your eyes danced about the room, taking in all the flowers and decorations, Hyunjin never took his eyes off of you.

“Miss _____!”

Not even five minutes inside and one of your father’s old business pals was approaching you and Hyunjin eagerly with his wife by his side.

“Hello, Mr. Choi,” you greeted respectfully.

“It’s so nice to see you again! I see you’re doing well. Who’s this?”

All eyes landed on your assistant and you can tell he’s nervous by the way he squeezed your hand tightly as if begging you for help. It was quite cute, actually.

“This is my boyfriend, Hyunjin,” you answered quickly.

“Boyfriend? Is that so? What do you do, Hyunjin?”

“O-Oh, well, I...”

“Oh look, Mr. Park wants to say hello! If you’ll excuse us.”

Before Mr. Choi could stop you, you dragged your date to the other end of the room and ended up hiding behind some waiters handing out the hors d’oeuvres. Shamelessly and bitterly, you let go of Hyunjin’s hand to shove a few pieces down your throat.

“Wow, I’ve never seen you so... barbaric...” he snickered. “You couldn’t think of a made-up profession for me?”

“Trust me, if I did, we’d be stuck in an hour-long conversation about the one semester you spent overseas for medical school, or some bullshit like that. There’s no use to lying to these people. All they want to do is one-up you and see who has the most money...”

“You think we can avoid all of those conversations tonight?”

“We can definitely try. Champagne?”

You stole two glasses of sparkling champagne from a moving platter and handed one to an eager Hyunjin who looked equally ready to loosen up a little with some drinks.

When the drink touched his lips, his face twisted cutely in disgust.

“This shit’s gross!” he groaned.

“I know, right?”

“How do you rich people drink this!?”

“By chugging it.”

“You know, it’s a real mystery why you don’t have a boyfriend when you exude so much class.”

“Hey, low blow, fake boyfriend.”

Throughout the night, while you both were avoiding all questions directed towards Hyunjin and his made-up profession (to which you decided he was an up and coming fashion designer), you recognized a bunch of peers who have now done the same as you and took over their father’s companies. You could say you grew up with some of these people - as a kid, your parents would sometimes take you along to business dinners and you’d along play with their kid and your parents would be weird and comment on how one day, you two would get married.

That only really happened with a couple of them, but one boy in particular was your parents’ favorite.

“If it isn’t my childhood sweetheart, Miss _____,” you heard a familiar voice call.

Hyunjin had left you to go to the bathroom, so you were stuck at one of the tables scrolling through your phone. When you looked up, a cheeky smile grew on your face when you saw who the owner of the voice was.

“If it isn’t my future husband, Mr. Joshua Hong,” you teased.

The boy hopped into a seat next to you with a wide grin and boy, did you forget how handsome he was. Unlike all the other business men, Joshua liked to wear red to events, and he stood out amongst the crowd so easily, but red was definitely his color.

“How’s my mistress doing? Your empire doing well?” He asked, referring to your company.

“Whoa, if anything, you’re the mistress.”

“I can’t be the mistress if I’m the one with the fiance!”

“You have a fiance? You, Playboy Joshua Hong?”

“Yeah, she’s over there talking to some of the other wives,” he pointed out.

A beautiful woman made eye contact with the both of you and Joshua happily waved over to her. She grew a gorgeous and loving smile and waved back to the man she was so in love with. In more ways than one, jealousy bubbled in the pit of your stomach. Whether it’s because you wished you were her or because even a former playboy like your friend was able to find the love of his life and you still haven’t, you were so jealous that even he found someone to spend the rest of his life with.

It seems that everyone here has.

“Sorry I took so long,” Hyunjin apologized, sitting on the opposite side of you.

“Oh? Miss _____, are you cheating on me?” Joshua teased.

“Huh...?”

“Shut up, Hong. This is my co-worker, Hyunjin. Hyunjin, this is Joshua Hong, an old friend of mine. We kind of grew up together.”

“Co-worker or assistant?” Joshua scoffed.

“They’re the same thing, you asshat.”

“Are you two dating?”

“No, we’re just pretending.”

“Ah, so you’re still single ~?”

“Go back to your fiance, you weirdo,” you blushed, playfully shoving the boy out of his seat.

“I really should, she looks desperate for help. The wedding invitations are being sent out soon, so look out for one, ok? Bring Hyunjin along if you’d like,” he winked.

After the charming man left, you watched him run up to his fiance and wrap his arms around her protectively. He whisked her away from the nasty women of the business she was talking to and planted little butterfly kisses on the side of her head. At one point in your life, you thought that could have been you getting married to him. But you never liked him in that way and you’re happy that he found someone who could ten-fold. If only you had someone who saw you the way Joshua saw his fiance.

“Is he an ex-boyfriend?” Hyunjin asked.

“Not really. We never dated, but our parents wanted us to, so it’s an on-going joke that even if we’re seeing someone that we’re each other’s mistress, or something.”

“How come you never dated?”

You shrugged. “When we took over our respective companies, we haven’t really kept in touch. I thought I would never get the time to date, but somehow he did, and now he’s getting married...”

A deep, lonely sigh escaped your lips at the thought of your future with someone else. It seemed like you were the only one here without a legitimate partner and the fear of never finding someone to pour your love into was seeping in.

Hyunjin suddenly got u from his seat and held his hand out to you.

“What...?” you asked.

“Let’s dance.”

“Huh? Why?”

He shrugged. “I like this song. And I don’t like seeing you like this.”

Gladly, you took the hand of your handsome date and he led you to the dance floor where you danced the night away to the DJ’s odd mix of pop and waltz. Hyunjin really knew his way around the dance floor and you were quite surprised. It was like you didn’t know him at all. Time seemed to pass over you because as the night ended, you and Hyunjin were one of a few couples left in the venue.

“Oh jeez, we lost track of time, huh?” you noted.

It wasn’t unusual for Hyunjin. He always seemed to lose concept of time when he was with you.

“I’m hungry. Wanna get some pork belly and soju?” you asked, practically begging him with your eager and sparkly eyes.

“More drinking?” Hyunjin groaned. “I am hungry, though...”

“Loosen up a little, Jinnie, it’s the weekend,” you said, walking ahead of the stunned boy. You’ve never given him a nickname before.

“But I didn’t bring a change of clothes.”

“So?”

“Aren’t we a little over dressed?”

“Hyunjin, my love, if anything everyone else is under dressed.”

How much champagne did you drink tonight for you to be calling him these nicknames and pet names? And since when did you not care about ruining your clothes? Either way, he kind of liked this side of you. He wondered if he ever met you in college, would you act as careless?

Normally, you’d ask for your driver to take you, but the restaurant wasn’t that far away from the Gala venue and it was a beautiful night to be strolling the streets. Humming softly, you led the way and Hyunjin followed behind as he normally did and watched you adoringly. Your normal work walk was a powerful and dominating stride, but in this moment, you were dancing and skipping about like a little girl. Sometimes you’d look back to make sure he was following, and when your eyes met, you made sure you smiled with your cherry-red lips.

He hoped he could see you like this more often after tonight.

On a Saturday night, your favorite barbecue place was packed with all sorts of people - young college students, old business men, laughing wives - you and Hyunjin fit right in, if you said so yourself. When you walked in, only a few heads turned to gawk at you both, but then kept at their business afterwards.

“This place is huge... Do you come here a lot, Miss _____?” Hyunjin asked.

“Once in a while.”

“_____-ah!” one of the aunties yelled from the kitchen. “Back again this week, huh? Are you having the usual?”

“Yes, please!” you grinned. Next to you, Hyunjin gave you an accusing side glance. “Ok, so I come here a couple of times in a while, sue me.”

You led Hyunjin to your favorite table in the back where it wasn’t too loud but it wasn’t too secluded, either. Your usual waiter, already knowing your order, brought over your favorite bottle of soju and said the barbecue would be out for you to cook shortly. Hyunjin was amazed at how well the workers here knew you and your order. How often did you come here? And with whom? Were you sneaking off with someone he didn’t know about?

“So who do you usually come here with?” Hyunjin asked, hoping he didn’t sound too curious.

“No one,” you shrugged. “I usually come here alone.”

“Alone? Why?”

“Because I like the food? And who would I even go with?”

“You never ask me to come here with you.” Hyunjin sounded a bit insulted that you didn’t even think to ask him to come here with you, but at least you weren’t with someone he didn’t know about.

“Hyunjin, I could never ask you to spend even more time with me than you already do.”

“But you know I’d gladly do so.”

“It’s part of your job, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but I like my job, which means I like spending time with you. So please, don’t come here alone anymore. I’ll come with you.”

“Are you worried about me, Hyunjin?”

“N-No, I just don’t want you to feel lonely.”

You sighed deeply at the lovable boy across from you. “I often wonder what I ever did to deserve you.” You poured Hyunjin a shot of the soju and held it up to cheers. “Cheers to us, hm?”

“Wow, you’re drinking our competition? You’re cheating, Miss _____,” he teased.

“As long as you don’t tell my father ~”

Hyunjin didn’t drink much after the first shot you poured. He only really cared about the pork belly that kept on coming out plate after plate even before you guys finished the previous one. He wasn’t one to complain, though - the gala only served hors d’oeuvres the whole night and he was starving. But you weren’t eating as much as him. Rather, you opted for the soju and even when Hyunjin stopped drinking you kept on going until you finished a couple of bottles. You hadn’t eaten much before arriving, either, so he can only imagine how the alcohol was affecting you right now. He was thankful he was here with you so you weren’t alone.

The whole night, you two reminisced about the good ol’ days when he was still a trainee and all the silly mistakes he made.

“Remember when you ripped your pants during your presentation?” you tried to spit out between giggles.

“How could I forget? Your father bought me a new pair for keeping my composure throughout the whole thing...”

“Aha, and you had your little Ryan plush boxers on, too!”

“Hey, those are my lucky pair! Don’t make fun of them!”

“I’m not! They’re really cute!” you hiccuped.

“I think that’s enough soju for you,” he scolded, taking away the almost empty bottle.

“No wait, lemme just finish it!” you pouted. “As your boss, I am ordering you to give me the bottle!”

“As your friend, I’m putting my foot down and saying no more. C’mon, I’ll walk you home.”

You sighed dramatically as Hyunjin dragged you to pay out your bill to which you literally shoved him away before he could hand auntie his card. You would never let Hyunjin pay for you! Your precious date only rolled his eyes in response, but he couldn’t even pretend to be upset with you, especially when your cheeks were so pink.

While walking next to each other, Hyunjin made sure to keep a close eye on you. Luckily, you were still able to walk properly. You even proved further how fine you were by dancing and skipping again. You looked so happy like this. Again, he wondered how you were still single when even in your most vulnerable moments, you were so pretty and likable. But then he watched your smile quickly melt into a lonely frown, your eyes staring at nothing but the sidewalk, and he thinks that maybe you’re thinking the same thing.

“Miss _____, can I ask you something?” he asked when you stopped dancing.

“Only if you drop the Miss once and for all.”

“I’ll drop it for tonight.”

“Deal. What’s your question?”

You saw Hyunjin fiddle with his fingers. “What your parents said the other day, about finally dating, and what not... Do you not want to date anyone?”

A pathetic smile casted upon your painted lips. “Where is this coming from all of a sudden?”

“I just... don’t get it.”

“Why?”

“You’re so... I-I mean, how... Anyone would be so lucky to be with you. And so many do, but you never go on dates with them.”

“Hyunjin, of course I want to date. Of course I want to fall in love - to be loved. I want to come home to someone who will kiss me hello and go to sleep with someone who will hold me against their chest. I want to feel like I’m flying, like I could conquer the whole industry - no, the world - when they’re standing next to me. But how can I when I dedicated my life to the business world? I barely get five hours of sleep a night. The answer is I simply don’t have time, and...” you paused.

“And...”

“And who would love someone like me? A cold, bitter workaholic. I’m simply not lovable.”

Hyunjin halted in his tracks and grabbed onto your wrist, pulling you in so you were forced to look at him. Your eyes looked so tired - five years worth of staying up late and waking up early, having the weight of the business world on your shoulders. But more than anything, you were lonely, and he saw it right in front of him.

“What are you doing?” you asked.

“Don’t ever say that about yourself,” he said sternly. “You are so special, Miss _____. Yes, you’re a workaholic and you’re strict and sure, sometimes you’re a bit bitter -”

“I feel ten times better.”

“Hold on, I’m getting to my point,” Hyunjin giggled cutely. “You’re also intelligent, kind, silly, selfless, and a million other things. Miss _____, anyone would be so, so lucky to have you.”

Hyunjin looked down at the hand that held your wrist. Gently, his thumb traced little circles on your skin and you raised a teasing brow at your lovable assistant.

“Hwang Hyunjin,” you addressed, making him snap his head up quickly. You only said his last name when he was in trouble.

“Y-Yes?”

“Are you in love with me?”

“Huh!? I-I... W-Well, uh -”

“Are you in love with your boss, Hwang Hyunjin?” You adjusted his grip on your wrist so that he held your hand instead and took a step closer to the nervous boy. Who wouldn’t be nervous after a blatant confession?

“I... Of course I am,” he muttered quietly.

“Hm? I couldn’t hear that,” you teased. “One more time for me?”

“I love you, Miss _____,” Hyunjin said, tucking your hair behind your ears.

“Mm, I could get used to that,” you hummed, dragging Hyunjin down the street.

“I’m really hoping you don’t remember this in the morning.”

“You know I never forget anything, Mr. Hwang ~”

“That is unfortunately very true...”

The walk home was incredibly brutal. It was an hour walk away from the restaurant and yet neither of you bothered to call your driver or a cab. When your feet began to hurt in your heels, Hyunjin didn’t hesitate to bend down and give you a piggy back ride home.

“You must really love me if you’re doing this,” you giggled, pressing your cheek to his.

“Will you ever let this down, Miss _____?”

“Will you ever not love me anymore?”

He knows you’re joking, but behind all the alcohol and the teasing, he thinks there’s some genuine worry behind your words. But there’s no need for you be.

He shook his head and the little curls in his hair tickle your cheek. “No. I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”

“Then no, I’ll never let this down,” you sighed happily. Your grip on his neck tightened. “Hwang Hyunjin... I love you, too.”

“I know.”

“Oh, yeah? Am I that obvious?”

“When I’m the only one you smile at, giggle in front of, and allowed to give you a piggy back ride, it’s pretty obvious. But don’t ever stop either, ok?”

“Ok, boss ~”

#hyunjin #hwang hyunjin #skz #stray kids #skz hyunjin #stray kids hyunjin #skz scenarios #stray kids scenarios #skz imagines #stray kids imagines #ceo au #got a ceo au down LMAO

1K notes · View notes

yamadcs · 6 years ago

Text

wey hey, it’s a me...a madio here at long last!!! but rlly i’m mads, i’m twenty, and i’m in pst so im almost always fashionably late to things set with est time in mind. my last meal would be chicken alfredo but that feels really wrong bc i’d really love to own a chicken someday....anYWAYS moving on to the serious stuff! this intro is probably a shit show but so am i so it fits...i tried to keep it concise but who rlly knows idk pls plot with me

( NANA KOMATSU, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER, MUSE M ) did i just see CONSTANCE YAMADA touching down in italy ? rumor has it this 22 year old DIRECTOR is on their way to reunite with the brat pack.

so first thing’s first, as promised, constance has two moms!!! one of them is an actress and the other is an activist (specifically feminist and lgbtq+ rights if that matters) and they’re both extremely well-known within hollywood.

her activist mom is definitely outspoken on social issues and she taught constance to be too, so the family is definitely known for pushing buttons in hollywood if only because they voice their very strong opinions VERY loudly. she probably had a lot to do with herself and her wife being ostracized in hollywood, or otherwise branded as brats. her actress mom, however, is much more soft spoken and was once probably an america’s sweetheart type. she’s a classic beauty, an actress that had so much potential until her reputation began to dwindle. she still acts, though in much smaller projects, and appears to be happy simply maintaining a home life (spoiler alert, she’s cheating). she taught constance humility and self-love

her mothers are so loving to her and to each other that she’s definitely a big romantic, however she’s also extremely naive so i’m sure that will pose a lot of issues in terms of plots and whatnot. she literally grew up witnessing true love at all times and is so in awe of her mothers’ relationship that she strives to have something just like it

sPEAKING OF NAIVETE! constance’s mothers actually shielded her from the spotlight until she was about 15!! her parents were really nervous about putting her in the limelight because they didnt want her to have a fate similar to theirs (the blacklisting and public humiliation of being branded) so they kept her life as private and “normal” as possible. rather than having a private tutor, she simply attended private schools so that she could have a semi-normal social life. her parents were very cautious about who she spent time with, which led her to be a bit sheltered. she had lots of friends, but she was never allowed to go to their houses and they needed extensive screening before being allowed at hers, so it was easier to just keep her friendships at school. it wasn’t until she got to high school and made the choice to insert herself into the media that the world truly met constance, and she’s been basking in the hollywood glow ever since

being lonely is actually part of what ignited her passion for film. she had so much free time at home during her early years that she stumbled upon a tub of old movies, as well as the video recorder that was used to capture them. from then on, she was in love and it seemed that no one could pry that camera from her grasp. years 5-10 of her life feature many clips of her moms’ double chins and feet, the angles of a girl too small to see the rest of the world.

i like to think that the first real paparazzi pictures ever captured of her and published across the nation featured her at a rally with her moms, holding a sign and very proudly leading a chant for the right for her mothers to legally marry. she’d been photographed before, of course, but none of them never made as bold of a statement and those pictures are what truly began her entrance into the spotlight, which was extremely intense and trying.

since the world was so desperate to know the daughter of two notorious starlets, it only made sense that they would do nearly anything to obtain that first private interview with her, those first talk show appearances, anything that she had never been able to do before. it was super overwhelming and she very quickly became aware of what vultures the press are

uhhh so yeah basically constance has only really been in the “spotlight” for the last 7 years, but she became very notorious and admired very quickly since her existence had been so “””normal”””” and basically mysterious to the public until then. like her moms posted pictures on their socials, but all of her own were private until then and the media only got to know her on a surface level so it was a drastic change both for herself, but also for the world

i’d like to think her friends, THE BRATS, are what really got her through it like once she started working in hollywood and getting more film projects and running into these ppl and building connections i think constance really would have relied on them as mentors (even if theyre rlly just manipulation her...plot idea ?) and just....ppl who understood what this type of fame was like and understood how crazy this transition was. like she went from eating cereal in the living room w her moms and living her lowkey life to being on magazines and becoming the new “GIRL NEXT DOOR” of hollywood and that’s....a lot

she is a pretty notorious director now like a lot of jobs were kind of just,, handed to her once she started but she proved she had real talent so her entire reputation is something she really built herself bc her moms tried to detach themselves from her career to give her a fair chance to prove herself and her own prestige but like,,, she literally loves filming people and directing them and it’s her whole ass life like she almost always has a film camera and/or an old video camera on her person at all times so watch out for that in the morning ladies and gents she will make u a star

oh and if her career goes south she’s hella gonna go into the adult film industry she’s directing sexy time baby !

i feel like there is still so so much i could tell u all about her but i rlly hope that this sums it up nicely bc it’s getting so long and so ugly....bUT BEFORE I LEAVE I HAVE CONNECTION IDEAS AND ALSO i just wanna say i think she would be on??? pretty okay terms w the bratpack like i know she has select ones she doesnt get along w but theres probably a big part of her thats excited to be back with them and happy to be in milan meeting up with them all again so idk if that changes things but yeah my girl’s naive and loves almost everyone so pls,,plot with mE

CONNECTION IDEAS....just gonna drop some lame ones here rlly quick to maybe get us started

uhh like i said many times, constance is rlly naive, so she’d be super easy to take advantage of. this could be something that happened when she first introduced herself to the limelight, like maybe someone latched on to her bc of how excited the media was to finally know her and they sort of road her coattails, or maybe it’s smth that’s happening as adults. im down for literally any kind of manipulative plots like fake friends, using her for shit, idk just mess her up ig

i think unrequited crushes are cute and i’m sure constance has TONS just bc she’s such a romantic at heart and so eager to have a fairy tale love that i feel like there would be this one person who she’s had a crush on for years who she just...keeps going back to bc she thinks she loves them and maybe they use her to keep her around or maybe theyve been honest about their feelings and theyre trying to just be friends but things are rocky/she’s just repressing shit idk we could do a lot with this i think

i’d love it if she could just have a best friend bc like...idk i dont want her to have NO real friends u know? good vibes only for constance and ur muse man u feel

she was pretty innocent growing up since she was so sheltered so maybe ur muse smoked her out for the first time when she was 16 and now shes 420 friendly and theyre just smoke buddies or smth i cant believe shes gonna be a stoner now her whole personality i talked about up there? gone. it’s weed central now baby !

does ur muse need a tastefully directed sex tape? constance has their back im not kidding this is my plot idea ur all welcome

this is a novel so im ending it here but i will once again beg that u all come plot with me and love me and disregard these shitty connection ideas bc i KNOW we can come up with truly good ones okay love u all bye

#my gif resources are a little scarce rn so pls bare with me until i make my own #bratsintro #oh i talked about weed in this a little so possible drug tw love u guys <3

10 notes · View notes

vantekay · 6 years ago

Text

valentine ||jhs

word count: 3.2k

estimated reading time: like 10 ish minutes, maybe? I haven’t been timing these sksks I’m sorry I will eventually come back and time it

genre(s): fluff fluff fluff and more fluff also a scene where you stargaze because I’m self indulgent and like every fic of mine that has a date scene includes stargazing sksksk sorry

warning(s): none

“throughout all the seasons, in this transition of winter-spring you've been here beside me with the sweet nothings you're whispering”

hoseok has always called you his rock because you kept him grounded whenever he needed it, reminding him in times of hardships that he was more than enough and that those bouts of feeling like he wasn’t enough would pass. he also called you his rock because you had been in his life for as long as he could remember, literally. you had known hoseok since you guys were kids. teeny tiny tots playing together at the daycare your mothers had both decided were good enough to watch you while they were busy. it all started because you, a very shy kid who kept to themselves in the corner, was crying and you immediately caught hoseok’s attention. you had come to find very quickly that he was the literal embodiment of sunshine and rainbows and everything else that could possibly bring you joy. he had been the only kid to approach you in the daycare since you arrived, and he made it his mission to make you happy. he had introduced himself to you as hobi, and from that day on it was hobi and y/n against the world. as you grew older, you had found that hoseok actually lived in the same neighborhood as you and this led to you and him growing closer as you aged. enter your tween and teen years and you were pretty much bound at the hip, doing anything and everything you could together. you had begun going to the others family gatherings, parties and other special events together and there came a time when both of your families had begun teasing you both about being an item. this would always prompt your cheeks to turn a deep rose color as hoseok denied any chances of getting together with you, claiming you were more like a sister to him. this had hurt you a bit the first few times he had said it, seeing as you had feelings for hoseok that were definitely not brotherly and you had always silently hoped he felt the same but you learned to quickly push those feelings down and laugh along with him whenever family members brought it up. this continued for a couple years until one drunken high school party where you had confessed your feelings for him and, to your surprise, he felt the same. the next day was spent soberly clearing things up and properly confessing, marking the beginning of your new relationship with hoseok. he learned very quickly that you were supportive of him. you always had been, but now that you proudly wore the title of girlfriend it had been enhanced ten fold and it made hoseok's day. whether it was cheering him on at his tennis games or during his swim meets, you never failed to bring a smile to his face when he caught you waving at him from the sidelines, the widest of grins on your face as you showed him how proud you were. you’re praises never stopped on the field though, no, hoseok would hear them the entire way back to your homes, and if you were spending the night at his then you would continue to praise him there too. when he had finished getting ready to relax and you were waiting for him on his bed with open arms, he would happily clamber into bed with you and accept your cuddles, you held him close to your chest as you ran your hand through his hair and continued to talk about how proud you were of him, how amazing he did during the game and so forth, until finally his eyes would flutter closed and the smile on his lips stretched wider.

“you're a lovable, angelic piece of perfect and anything i do for you is worth it times a million and a half”

it should come as no surprise that hoseok loves to do for other people, especially for you. whatever it was you needed him to do he would do it in a heartbeat. you needed a new pair of pants because you spilled coffee on your old ones? hoseok was already on his way to the mall as soon as you told him. you had a really bad day at work and you wanted takeout and a movie night in? hoseok has your favorite takeout place on speed dial and your order memorized and could make it to your apartment in 10 minutes flat with your favorite movie. you were his angel, his world, and he loved doing things for you. hoseok always made it known that you could count on him, constantly telling you that it didn’t matter how busy he was or what he was doing. reminding you that he would always drop whatever it was and help you in any way he could. this made touring a little difficult for him, seeing as how he wouldn’t be able to stop in the middle of a show to help you if you needed him but you knew he would help you as soon as he could. there was one time, however, where in the middle of a show he had gotten a message from your coworker telling him that you had fallen at work and were rushed to the hospital. it wasn’t anything major, just a preemptive trip to make sure you didn’t break any bones from the fall but it was still enough to plant that seed of worry in hoseok. what made this worse was the fact that he was in the middle of a show, in between songs and getting a quick change when he had heard the news from a staff member. they tried to reassure him that you were okay and that you weren’t actually hurt that badly, that your coworker just wanted to make sure you hadn’t broken any bones but it was still enough to drive hoseok mad. he tried to brush it off for the rest of the show and not worry ARMY but you were all he could think about. of course he immediately thought of all the worst case scenarios he could, like you being stuck at the hospital all by yourself because your friend had to leave, or you having broken every bone in your body and having to be put in a full body cast for a couple of months and many other unlikely scenarios. as soon as the show had ended, he rushed off stage to video call you, not even bothering with a text to make sure you were still up. his heart was relieved for a split second when you answered on the second ring, and he didn’t even let you speak before he was already blubbering off his concerns.

“oh god angel I’m glad you answered, I got the text from your coworker saying you were in the hospital as we were in the middle of the show and I was so worried about you. are you okay? did you break anything? do I need to sue your company for the fall? psychological damage that you may have suffered? god baby I’m so sorry I’m not there to sit with you in the hospital right now and- wait, are you at home?” hoseok furrowed his eyebrows and squinted down at his phone screen as you leaned your head back to let out a loud laugh. he backs away from his intense staring with his lips down in a frown and a pout on his face, waiting for you to explain.

“I got out of the hospital like, an hour ago love. it was just a trip to make sure I didn’t break anything, which I didn’t, I just twisted my ankle s’all.” as you spoke you could watch the worry physically drain itself from hobi’s face, his heart shaped smile beginning to form itself on his lips at the thought of you being okay.

“oh thank god, y/n I couldn’t even begin to tell you how worried I was about you, I was starting to wonder if management would let me fly home to see you in case you had been put in a full body cast or something.” now you both laughed, hoseok blushing slightly at how ridiculous he sounded but you assured him that you loved it, loved him for caring so much about you and being ready to do whatever he needed to take care of you. you meant a lot to him, and he would be willing to give you his heart in a split second if you needed it, that’s how much he loved you.

“cause i love you and i'd like to spend forever in the subtle warmth inside your arms”

hoseok’s favorite thing to do with you has to without a doubt be cuddling. he loves it when you cuddle him or he cuddles you, he doesn’t mind either position as long as he can feel the warmth radiating off of your body and onto his. he loves holding you close, head pressed up against his chest so you can hear his heartbeat while his hand runs through your hair as he talks to you about his day and you talk to him about yours. hoseok always wants to be touching you in some way whether it be hugging or cuddling or holding hands, he always wants to feel your warmth. whenever you go out in public he is holding your hand, if you have to separate for whatever reason he always makes sure you part with a hug and if you guys are just spending time at the dorm or at your apartment you better believe you’re cuddled up on the couch together. hoseok loves it the most when he wakes up with you in his arms, the way you’re always wrapped up in his embrace like you haven’t moved since you fell asleep in the same position. he loves it when it’s raining really heavily and you beg him to sit out in the living room with you, huddled up on the couch with your favorite blanket and a movie on the tv, drowned out by the sound of the rain hitting the glass of your window. he loves it when you rest your head on his shoulder while gazing at something, whether it be your phone or whatever else may be holding your attention and he just enjoys being close to you, and he never wants to let you go.

“i'll keep on creating for you until my final days, dancing in the living room and smooching while the vinyl plays”

one of hoseok’s favorite memories with you is whenever he had a day off and you insisted on dancing with him, since he would continue to practice even if he was meant to be relaxing. the day usually goes something like this, you begin by sitting in the living room and watching him dance, then he insists on teaching you some of the moves so now you’re up and dancing with him and then eventually you convince him to do some kind of slow dance with you as a cool down from earlier. he would never admit it but he loves it when his days off go like this, getting some practice in and then ending it with you and him slow dancing while your bluetooth speaker plays whatever love song you have in your playlist. he loves holding you by the waist, watching as you lean your head forward on his chest while you dance, hands intertwined and the soft sounds of your breath mingling as you sway together in the living room. hoseok will begin his kiss attacks with simple smooches to you hair, and then gradually makes his way down to your face after you’ve removed it from the warmth of his chest to look up at him. he starts his descent at your forehead, leaving a kiss there before travelling to your nose, and then both cheeks, your chin, the corners of your mouth and then finally landing on your lips. the kiss is always soft and sweet and makes butterflies erupt in your stomach and you can’t get enough of him which leads into a makeout session. hoseok’s hands grip your waist a little tighter as your hands move to play with the hairs at the nape of his neck, not once breaking apart for air. you continue like that for what feels like hours, just holding each other and sharing kisses under the dim lighting in your living room until hoseok’s stomach begins to growl louder than the music playing in the background and you break apart with a laugh, walking into the kitchen together to prepare a meal.

“cause we can both hear the compliments coming in from these pals of mine and I've been wondering if you would be my valentine”

hoseok remembers back in highschool, when you had just started dating, and valentine’s day approaching faster than he would have liked. he was nervous seeing as it was the first holiday you would be spending together as a couple and he wanted it to be perfect. his friends had encouraged him, telling him they would help him with any planning or preparations he had. what he really wanted to do was take you out for a picnic date at the park you really liked that was a bit of a drive out of town and then watch the stars with you. he tells his friends about his plan in hopes that they will get the hint to leave him alone, but something about the way they smile at him after he’s done speaking tells him otherwise. brushing it off, he waits for you in the school’s parking lot and gets ready to put his plan into action. when you get into his car, he starts to drive towards the location of the park which is on the opposite side of town where you both live. you’re confused, and look over to ask him what he’s doing to which you only get a “you’ll see” out of him. you sit back and enjoy the ride, wondering what he could possibly have planned for today. when you arrive at the park the sun has begun its descent and hobi is quick to pull you out of his car and towards the location of the picnic dinner he has had set up for the past few hours. you laugh at his enthusiasm only to be wowed by the location for which he has picked out. the spot he found has a perfect overview of the horizon ahead, and it perfectly shows off the current setting sun and all of the orange pink and purple hues stemming from it. you stand there in awe, mouth hung open as you watch the sun set and hoseok can’t help but take a couple photos of you, some from a few feet behind you showing off both the setting sun and your silhouetted frame. he smiles down at the photos before walking up behind you and wrapping you up in a hug, head placed on your shoulder as he places soft kisses into the crook of your neck. you giggle before attempting to get away from him, claiming that his shows of affection tickle and that you want to eat. he leads you back over to the blanket and begins to pull out the food he had prepared. to your surprise, he pulls out a bunch of fruits and what looks to be kimchi made from scratch. you look up at him in awe while a blush blossoms on his cheeks. he dishes out the servings of food between the two of you before starting to eat, striking up conversation with you about school that day and what plans you had for the weekend. after you both finish eating and the sun has promptly set, he asks you to lay down with him on the blanket to stargaze for a little. it takes you by surprise, seeing as hoseok has never addressed the idea of finding stargazing particularly interesting but you assume that maybe he had seen posts about it on twitter or instagram pertaining to how it was a cute date idea. you lay hand in hand and watch the stars for about an hour before you pack up to go home, the cold air beginning to nip at your skin and creating goosebumps. once you’re back inside his car hoseok pulls out one last surprise gift for you. you assume it’s a ring, considering the box he occupies in his hands is too small to contain a necklace or bracelet and you feel your heartbeat begin to pick up. hoseok smiles before opening the case and showing off a beautiful gold promise ring set, one for you and one for him. he takes the one meant for you out and begins to place it on your ring finger as he speaks softly.

“I got these because even though we just started dating, we’ve known each other our whole lives and I can’t imagine the rest of my life being with anyone else but you. I want to continue making memories with you and I want to build my future with you, y/n. so I want us to make a promise that we will always be there for each other.” hoseok looks back up from your hand with a smile on his face as he finishes talking and you quickly lean forward to place a chaste kiss on his lips. “of course I want to spend the rest of my life with you hobi, I promise.” you extend your pinky finger for him to latch onto and he does so with a small laugh, leaning forward to kiss you again. it isn’t until you hear whooping and hollering from outside that you pull away, looking around quickly to spot the source of the noise. hoseok rolls his eyes and leans his head back until it hits the headrest, promptly bringing his hands up to run down his face with a groan. “I knew they were going to follow us here.” he mumbles before his friends arrive at the driver’s side window, smirks plastered on their faces as they show hoseok a big thumbs up. when he turns to unlock the door their expressions all drop, quickly running off into the direction of their own cars in order to escape hoseok’s wrath. you laugh from the passenger's seat as you watch him chase his friends around the parking lot, yelling about how they “need to respect his privacy” and “can’t you guys get your own girlfriend instead of living vicariously through me?!”

when he finally gets them to leave and has returned to his spot behind the wheel he turns to apologize to you, “as you can see, they were very excited for our valentines plans, and they wanted to see if you would turn me down or something I’m not too sure what they were expecting.” but all you can do is laugh some more and tell him that you didn’t mind, that you thought it was cute his friends wanted to see how things would turn out, and maybe they would finally listen to hobi and stop living as though you were their girlfriend as well.

51 notes · View notes

cynically-optimistic · 6 years ago

Text

With a week to sit back and think “what the fuck did I just watch,” I thought I would now do a review of American Horror Story: Apocalypse.

As we know (and may or may not agree upon) ahs8 had its various strengths and weaknesses. Many aspects of this season I found riveting but unfortunately by the end of episode 10, the season is left chalked full of plot holes and continuity errors that effectively make so much of this particular story obsolete. This season had all of the components we have loved for years and the potential to be the most amazing season yet, however it fell flat either in the writers room or the editing room. They cultivated this story for 8 years but with the vast underdevelopment of this season and it’s protagonists, they have effectively caused us to ask more questions like what was the entire point of season 8 of American Horror Story?

So here are some notable plot holes and criticisms I have for AHS: Apocalypse.

First and foremost, my biggest problem with this season is that we have almost no information about Mallory at all and they never spend time developing her character. And what the actual fuck is she? There is no way she is a witch, and this season was drastically underwhelming in this regard. I think we were all expecting an epic, biblical battle for the end of days to be fought between the Antichrist and the second coming of Christ or even an Archangel, but no such luck. It is only ever said that Mallory is just a witch...just a witch who got on my fucking nerves. We spent the whole season in flashbacks pertaining to Michael and never developing Mallory any further beyond “oh well her powers are cool,” and honestly, what gives? She has these amazing powers, never before seen by the witches, and we’re just supposed to believe that she isn’t some sort of celestial being? By the time she does defeat Michael, she is not a character we empathize with, she was basically an empty shell of the potentially badass character she was supposed to be. She has all of these powers and runs a 4 year old Michael Langdon over with an SUV...thrice….three times… Mallory could have been an amazing character and I would have completely rooted for her to defeat Michael with all the righteousness of Heaven, regardless of his tragic backstory that the writers spent too fucking long cultivating. But since we know practically nothing about her, all I can say is that she’s just ended up being a dick who murdered a child. Yeah, he was going to end the world, but he had the potential to be turned around, as depicted in his extensive backstory. Too many people wanted him to survive and just be allowed to end the world because Cody Fern is hot and Michael Langdon falls into the typical “tragic backstory, white, villain dude who is moderately conventionally attractive and therefore should be allowed to murder people without scrutiny.” He fits in that trope to a T and it works regardless of it being a tired trope fandom culture tends to fawn over. But no, I truly think, because of the amount of time they cultivated his character in both the light and dark, he could’ve been not such an evil son of a bitch. I cannot say the same for other examples of this trope like Tate Langdon, or Kylo Ren from Star Wars, or even Loki to some extents. This paragraph was supposed to be about Mallory but here again, I have veered into talking about Michael since he is her direct counterpart with way more backstory. I wish I had more to say about Mallory but she was such a blank slate. It’s sad that Coco of all people had more of a personality and backstory. We knew everything we needed to know about Coco and we knew literally NOTHING about Mallory. Ugh. In no way is this a criticism of Billie Lourd, I honestly think she just fell victim to bad writing this time around.

How did Emily and Timothy conceive the new antichrist when in season 1, Billie directly states that the antichrist, who would bring about the end of days, had to be conceived via human and spirit - like Michael. Furthermore, what is this “special DNA” Emily and Timothy have? We can surmise that it makes antichrists but HOW? And how did the Cooperative isolate and identify this DNA makeup to send these two individuals to Outpost 3 in the first place? And if the Cooperative knew that they could potentially make a new antichrist, did Michael know about it? My guess is no, but we will never know. Which begs the question, is the new anti christ going to be worse and if so, what was even the point of this season? Either way, in a few years, the entire world is fucked…again. The only redeemable aspect of that for Michael was that he craved to be loved and spent most of his time looking for someone to care about him rather than carrying out the Devil’s plans. Constance didn’t do this so he went searching for it and was systematically turned away which lead him right into the arms of his true father. This new kid is deeply loved by Emily and Timothy, and without the potential failsafe of him wishing to be loved and cared for, I believe this kid will be so much worse than Michael.

What is the Rubberman? The only new information we have gotten on this since season 1 is from Cody who says that Rubberman is not always Michael or Tate, but something else entirely. Like what? A demon? And it’s literally never addressed. Rubberman shows up unexpectedly (unexpectedly because you know, the world ended…) in Outpost 3, fucks Mr Gallant (why doesn’t he have a first name by the way? ) and is then the catalyst for Mr Gallant murdering his grandmother. So what exactly is this entity?

Also, what was the Sanctuary supposed to be? I don’t think it was just bullshit on Michael’s part to fuck with the desperate people in the Outposts. I do believe there was a sanctuary but we never see it and we never get any further information. I saw some interesting theories that maybe the Sanctuary is the Murder House, which would have been so interesting given that everyone in there rejected Michael, but he might still care about them, and potentially save the house in the nuclear blasts.

{Trigger Warning for sexual assault on this one regarding Tate Langdon} I think the theory Madison has about Murder House is a little off base. She tells Violet that the house made Tate evil but… here’s the thing: yes, we have watched the house and it’s resident ghosts interfere and influence people’s actions, but ultimately they all make their own choices, like Lorraine who set the house on fire which killed herself and her two daughters, and then influences Ben’s sleepwalking and fabricating his obsession with fire, but nothing drastic ever comes from this. So, I honestly don’t believe the house forced Tate to set Larry on fire (as revenge for Larry killing Beau) and shoot up his high school, killing 15 people, because those atrocities did NOT take place in the house. I don’t even know if I can believe that the house possessed and forced him to r*pe Viven and impregnate her with Michael but that seems to be the only horrific thing he did that could even begin to be blamed on the house. The house is a Hellmouth but doesn’t affect those who leave it’s property lines apart from encouraging them to return, almost like an addiction, but one that you can dismiss by just not going back to the house. So while Return to Murder House is a lovely nostalgic experience, I call bullshit. Ultimately though, I do think Madison was just trying to help and give the souls trapped there a little peace which was nice of her, but I’m not fully convinced she was right about Tate.

What happened to Kyle? This season was a crossover between Murder House and Coven but he is never mentioned by Madison or Zoe and is never shown at Miss Robichaux’s Academy. So where is our favorite unproblematic zombie Evan Peters at?

One huge problem I had with this season was Cordelia. She spent this entire season fighting her own fear of decay and death, while trying not to be like Fiona, and ultimately bringing them all to their doom. She sees a vision of the future apocalypse and every single step she takes thereafter to avoid it is a contributing factor that leads them all directly to it. Michael only fully set his sights on murdering all of the witches after Cordelia burnt Ms. Mead at the stake. Mead wasn’t even a witch, so how was that acceptable under witch law? Cordelia wasn’t even allowed to light the fire to burn the warlocks, so how was she allowed to murder a normal human? Mead may have been a ruthless spy and a satanist, but she was human all the same. Then Cordelia tells Michael, as he is devastated to find the charred corpse of Ms. Mead, that he can still choose to be good. Let’s be real, anyone of us would tell her to fuck off and set our sights on revenge if she did that to one of our loved ones. By having another maternal figure taken away from Michael, the only one who accepted and loved him (in her own way) Cordelia put the nails in her own coffin and that of the world. She is among the notable figures that push him along the darkest path, such as Constance, Ben, Tate, Viven, the Warlocks, Ms. Mead (even though she loved him, she loved Lucifer more), the Satanists, The Cooperative, and Mutt & Jeff. He is manipulated at every turn to bring about a future of mass destruction that other people want, and Cordelia was a definite contributor, but let it be known that Michael’s actions are ultimately his own.

The fact that Madison never met Charles, Nora, or Thaddeus while she was at the Murder House is a travesty. That would have been SOOOO interesting.

What the fuck was Ms. Venable’s issue? She was such an asshole to everyone and we never really figure out why other than she works for a bunch of idiots.

I enjoyed the culture around the warlocks because it was so ridiculous, they were the whiniest bunch of assholes, but I also hated this because they were the whiniest bunch of asshole. They were so desperate to overthrow Cordelia, even though none of them even come close to being able to do so (sorry not sorry boys) that they basically invite the apocalypse into their school. The only one who was like “nah, this is probably a bad idea,” was John Henry Moore, played by the incomparable Cheyenne Jackson, who I wish had bigger role to play in this storyline. He was the only warlock worth a damn, but ultimately they were all murdered. Or wait, no they weren’t. Time travel..

Some of the things changed by Mallory’s time traveling:

The warlocks are never murdered but they are still a bunch of whiny assholes

Tate and Violet don’t get back together (good)

Michael never destroys those nice lesbians’ souls, or anyone souls, which is good but who knows what this new Antichrist is capable of and when he will begin to tap into those powers

Constance (as far as we know) doesn’t commit suicide in the Murder House

Moira never finds peace in the light with her mom

Viven and Ben never reconcile

Which also means that Ben is still spending all of his time with Tate and crying while he masturbates out the window so…

Michael never lives in the Murder House

Ben never connects with Michael, Tate never screams at him in disgust, and Viven never tries to kill him

Queenie is never murdered in the Hotel Cortez by Ramona Royale and James Patrick March

Cordelia never has to bring Myrtle back from the dead, so she is still gone

Madison is still trapped in her own personal hell and Mallory doesn’t feel the need to bring her back even though Madison was way more useful this season than Mallory was. We knew Madison, we cared about her, we watched her grow into being a caring person this season, and Mallory is the self righteous ass that thinks Madison doesn’t deserve to leave hell

Michael is never taken in by Ms Mead. He never attends Black Mass and he never eats that poor girl’s heart (all of this was encouraged and initiated by the Satanists - not Michael)

Marie Laveau is still in hell with Papa Legba. She was anyway because Michael ripped her heart out of her chest 2 seconds after she got back but she never returned at all thanks to Mallory

Dinah obviously never gets her talkshow but she is still out here being shady as fuck and will inevitably betray the witches and voodoo queens again, probably for a fucking talkshow, when the new antichrist is running around burning the world down

The end of days doesn’t come, but again, we don’t know that for sure. At best, Mallory only bought the world and the witches a few extra years. So we can only really say that the apocalypse might not happen the exact way Michael (the Cooperative) makes it happen

Some of the thing I actually liked about this season:

THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF WAS INCREDIBLE and it’s really the lack of development throughout the final 4 or 5 episodes I had an issue with

Cody Fern is undeniably a spectacular performer and I very much enjoyed all of the layer and nuance that he brought to the character of Michael Langdon even though in the end it didn’t amount to much. Still, I can’t wait to see what he does next.

I have always loved Cordelia, and even though I very much expected her to be an influence of growth for Mallory and she never really got there, she was still a lovely presence and she spoke some of my favorite lines in this season being “Satan has one son, but my sisters are a legion, motherfucker,” and “I only knew you for a short time, but I missed you forever.”

DayFoxx or MistyXCordelia. You cannot convince me they are not in love, you just can’t. Their interactions were nothing short of magic.

Other than DayFoxx interactions, hands down the best line was, “the stew is Stu!”

Return to Murder House was arguably one of the best episodes of the entire series, directed by one of our high queens, Sarah Paulson in her directorial debut. It had everything we loved about season 1 and I would have loved to watch 5 hours of Madison walking through Murder House, meeting all the ghosts, instead of the last 5 hours of the season we got.

As much as I grew to hate Constance this season, it was still so lovely to have our Queen Jessica Lange back.

Sign me up anytime to see Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau like holy hell yes

I absolutely LOVED the idea of Zoe being a teacher at the Academy.

We could have all benefited from seeing more of Bubbles. Joan Collins was a fantastic addition to the AHS family.

FRANCIS CONROY. Need I say more? I don’t but I will, Myrtle dragging the patriarchy cleansed my soul

It was actually really lovely to see Connie Britton as Viven again. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Viven and I feel terrible for everything she has been through. She never gets closure because of Mallory’s new timeline but I just hope she does find peace at some point.

With this rich of a storyline, I think we can all agree that 10 episodes was simply not enough to fully deliver this story after a build up of 8 years. Other seasons of AHS range from 11 to 13 episodes, with the exception of Roanoke which was also only 10 episodes. But with those extra hours, Apocalypse could have been incredible. There simply wasn’t enough time, and what time they did have and utilize was almost entirely spent on Michael which we find didn’t matter at all by the end.

Leave your thoughts in the comments if you have anything you’d like to add.

100 notes · View notes

backtothestart02 · 6 years ago

Text

25 Days of Westallen Fanfiction: Day 10 - Fallen For You

A/N: For @barryslightningrod on her bday! I hope you enjoy it, girl! I know you liked the FP!WA dynamic and the possibility that the FP timeline continued after our Barry left, so here’s if he hadn’t left and he’d lost all his memories from his original timeline but he was still more or less the same person and he and Iris still started dating. (Oh, and also Wally didn’t die.)

Enjoy!

*Many thanks to @valeriemperez for beta’ing.

...

Summary: 3x01 - Canon Divergent - Almost a year after Barry decided not to erase Flashpoint, he takes Iris out for her birthday.

...

Iris West sat at the small table by the window at Jitters and told herself to be patient.

It wasn’t something new, Barry being late. He always made up for it once he got there, and she was sure this time would be no different. She couldn’t help her fingers madly tapping on the table though, or her foot bouncing underneath it, one leg crossed over the other. She was excited. Today was her birthday – her first birthday since she and Barry had gotten together – and he’d told her he was planning something big.

She’d had to work, but she’d rushed home, put on a simple yet fashionable dress and the drop earrings he’d bought for her for Christmas, curled her hair, freshened her make-up, and sat herself down at the same table where she and Barry had their first official date. Since then she’d gone through two regular cups of coffee and a piece of coffee cake. She’d gone to the bathroom twice to make sure her lips were void of all crumbs and reapplied her lipstick. She couldn’t wait to stain his skin with her lip prints. It made him blush a bright pink, especially when she applied it to his forehead.

“Property of Iris West,” she told him the first time she did it. He blushed but did not deny it.

She let her mind wander now to help her with her impatience.

The beginning of her relationship with Barry had been complicated to say the least. He’d literally asked her out during their first meeting – and in the most adorable, nerdy way he possibly could. She’d had guys ask her out on the spot before, and it never made her cave. In fact, she’d started to think of particularly clever ways to reject them. But with Barry…she just couldn’t. And when she went to meet him for their date, she couldn’t stop smiling. And he was smiling right back at her. Her dad’s instant disgust at the idea hadn’t thwarted her in the slightest, and it obviously hadn’t change Barry’s mind either, which she loved.

Some guys got so intimidated by Joe West’s overprotective glare that they decided she wasn’t worth it. Not that it made any sense. She and her dad hadn’t spoken more than two words to each other for years. Over the last few months, Barry had made several attempts to mend that rift, which impressed her further, but for the time being he’d ceased. She was fine with that. It gave them more time to focus on each other, in particular for him to focus on her.

She wasn’t ashamed to admit it. She was a glutton for Barry Allen’s attention. He gave it easily, and she ate it right up. Despite the odd mess of him saying he was a speedster from another timeline, she had found herself drawn to Barry and never once feared that he was crazy. He had actually wound up saving her brother’s life. even if Wally had fallen into a coma for several months before coming to. Plus, in this other timeline the two of them had been in love. It wasn’t hard for her to imagine, since every minute she spent with him she was falling harder and harder.

After a series of crazy events spanning just the couple days after she met him, Barry Allen lost whatever memories he’d claimed to have before. She’d been so concerned for his well-being that she took him to the doctor and informed his parents. Aside from being a little out of it, nobody else appeared overly concerned. So she, along with Mr. Ramon, Dr. Snow, her brother, and herself swept it under the rug. It was not as if Barry could explain himself. He no longer remembered anything he’d told them before the incident that nearly took Wally’s life.

Sometimes it bothered her, what those first couple days all meant. But she still found him to be very similar to the person she’d just started to know. And she still felt a pull towards him. He was a little less confident than he’d been before, but after she hesitantly initiated a few dates – and their first kiss – his confidence grew until it was nearly boundless. He made her feel so alive and so wanted that she stopped thinking about those first couple days and what it all meant.

He had warned her what was happening before all the memories faded and told her he hoped she still felt the same about him when they finally went, because he was 100% certain he would still feel the same way about her. In every timeline, in every version of reality, of himself and her, he was positive he would love her and that they would belong together.

Quite a thing to say to a girl he’d just met. But she supposed for him, they hadn’t just met. They’d known each other for decades, had been best friends and then were on the brink of being lovers. And those precious memories had been on death’s door for him.

She remembered asking him why he’d want to lose those memories when he could keep them, and he’d told her it wasn’t that he wanted to lose them, but he was willing to sacrifice them if it meant keeping all that he’d gained – his parents, her, a life of peace and just being normal.

She didn’t know what he meant by all that, but he didn’t have time to explain – and maybe she wouldn’t have fully understood if he’d tried – before the memories disappeared entirely. He was a little panicky at first, because he couldn’t remember anything. Not his own name or who she was or what he was doing on the steps of a house he didn’t recognize. But after a few days, memories started to surface. He remembered everything he’d told her that had seemed strange. He remembered being a speedster, but he couldn’t remember why or how he’d been able to do those things. She’d reassured him that as long as he was okay now, they didn’t have to talk about it. He’d taken her up on that offer.

Now, eight months since the day he’d awkwardly shown up, Barry Allen was late to her birthday date. Or maybe she was early? It suddenly didn’t matter, because the door swung open, and in walked her boyfriend, looking nicer than usual and actually pretty nervous.

She waved to get his attention and the corner of his lips twitched in a smile.

What has gotten into him? She wondered, but stood up and joined him halfway across the shop anyway.

“Hey,” she murmured after pulling him down for a sweet birthday day kiss. “Nice of you to show up.”

He grimaced. “I deserve that. I’m sorry, Iris.”

“It’s okay. I was just teasing anyway.” Still holding onto his lapels, she pulled him down to her for another kiss. “I’m glad you’re here.”

She felt the tension leave his shoulders.

“I’m glad too,” he said, then pulled a small bouquet around from behind his back. It was filled with irises and some baby’s breath. The greenery fanned out the flowers in an attractive, beautiful way. “I know the irises are cheesy, but it felt fitting for your birthday.”

Her eyes sparkled as she took the bouquet from his hands. She lowered her face to inhale the scent and felt a warmth spread all the way to her toes at the sweet fragrance.

“Thank you, Barry,” she said when she lifted her head. “I love them.”

A smile spread across his face, his dimples making her weak in the knees as he offered his arm to her and they walked out of Jitters to stroll down the street.

“Where are we going?” she asked when they were halfway down the block. She didn’t really care all that much, but she was a little bit curious. “The park? The lake? Your new apartment?”

She heard his breath hitch when her voice lowered on the last suggestion. She loved when he got flustered, and he got especially flustered whenever she hinted at their sex life in even the slightest way, which often took place in his new apartment since he’d gotten it a month ago.

“Ah, none of the above actually,” he said.

“No?” She pouted.

“Don’t worry.” He grinned, fully recovered. “You’ll like it.”

She didn’t doubt it.

Barry hailed a cab, quietly gave instructions to the driver, and within a matter of minutes – which went by fast with Iris’ head on Barry’s shoulder in the back seat, their fingers intertwined – they’d arrived at their destination.

“What’s this?” she asked, but Barry only smiled in silence.

They stepped inside the average looking building downtown, only to ride the elevator up to the tenth floor and find themselves on a rooftop café overlooking the city and the lake in the distance.

Iris gasped.

“Barry.”

She turned to look at him, clutching at his jacket sleeve.

“You remembered.”

He shrugged innocently and nodded to the waiter who quickly guided them to their seats.

“Of course I remembered,” he said.

In an old journal of her mother’s she’d found in the attic in high school, there had been detailed the first date Francine had been on with Iris’ father, Joe West. Her father had never taken her, though she’d begged and pleaded. She hadn’t told him why the sudden interest, but he had probably suspected. Either that or he didn’t want to relive the memory of when he’d last been there, or a significant time in which he had.

“It’s too expensive, Iris,” he’d said as an excuse, but he’d never made an exception for any birthday or graduation, either from high school or college.

She gave up asking after a while, but apparently it was never far from her mind, because she’d offhandedly mentioned it to Barry on their first date – and he’d remembered.

“You’re a better man than my father is, Barry,” she said, lifting a glass of the white wine poured to toast to her marvelous boyfriend.

“How about we toast to you instead,” he suggested. “It is your birthday after all.”

She smirked. It was ever so Barry-like to avoid directly putting blame on Joe West for the estrangement between father and daughter. But he didn’t put it on her either, so she let it slide.

“All right, what about me, Barry Allen?” she teased, leaning in. “What’s so great about Iris West?”

She could think of a million things she was proud of about herself, but she liked to hear him flatter her, and she liked to reward him later for his efforts by pleasuring them both.

He smiled sensually, and she was instantly turned to goo.

“What’s not to like?” he asked. Lifting his own glass, he continued, “Iris West is beautiful, stunning, smart, talented, a vision in that creamy number she’s got on right now-” If she could blush, she would. “And I’m the luckiest man in the world to have fallen in love with her.”

Her heart nearly stopped. All the oxygen inside her instantly escaped her lungs.

“You… You love me?”

Because, yeah, it was the first time he’d said it.

He smiled softly at her.

“You don’t have to say it back, Iris. I’ve just been waiting to say it for a while, and I thought your birthday would be the perfect occasion.” He lifted his glass up further, intending to meet hers halfway, but hers lowered, and he frowned worriedly. “Iris? Is it…too soon? I didn’t mean to ruin-”

“Too soon?” she asked, shock and he couldn’t tell what else plain on her face. “It’s been eight months, Barry.”

He lowered his glass, unsure where this was going.

Iris set hers on the table and got to her feet, walking over to him and pulling him to his, or at least far enough so they were at eye-level.

“Iris, I-”

And she kissed him.

“I love you, too, Barry Allen.”

He melted, pulling her upright with him.

“Yeah?” He stroked her cheek.

She was dazzled by the green in his eyes and the tenderness in his touch. She was so, so in love.

“Yeah.”

They came together for another kiss and smiled shamelessly.

Iris heard people whispering for a nearby table, wondering if a proposal had just happened and unsure if they should clap – they hadn’t seen Barry going down on one knee or a ring being exchanged anywhere. So, she figured they should sit back down, let Barry finish with his toast and continue with their romantic dinner.

Besides, she was nowhere near ready to say yes to an engagement ring.

But a confession of love from the man she’d been falling for the past several months?

That was pretty much the perfect birthday gift.

Happy Birthday to me.

...

*Also posted on AO3 and FFnet.

#25 days of westallen fanfiction #westallen #fanfiction #backtothestart02 fanfiction #for barryslightningrod #fp!westallen #i think i mostly did good heh #i mean i might change the title for this one too but whatever XD

69 notes · View notes

steve0discusses · 6 years ago

Text

Yugioh S2 Ep 26-27: Marik Also Tries Mind-Crushing, Except Literal and With A Very Large Storage Unit

Ah, Yugioh, where two children are possessed by ghosts and two other children are possessed by just some guy named Marik.

He’s still pretty sure he has a plan. To be honest, at this point it just seems like he’s desperate, but I have to hand it to Marik, that he’s doing more than just relying on a spooky golden maraca thing he keeps in the side pocket of his cargo pants. Something that a lot of shows do really wrong with villains (pointing fingers directly at My Hero Academia while I’m typing this) is that they rely too much on their fancy looking superpowers to show they’re a bad guy. It’s fine to have super powers but you gotta back it up with making sure you’re throwing your heroes into a psychological nightmare--at least once.

At least once, MHA, it is Season 3. Please. You have such a huge budget and the best animators in the world. Please. I beg of you.

Yugioh, on the other hand is like...when WON’T we be in a psychological nightmare?

And so Marik has decided, after the bandsaw murder clown incident, the blown up skyscraper 100 story fall to your death incident, and the spooky mime incident, that he was ready to just really go to town on effed up villain stuff today. It’s time to pull all the stops. He’s got Yugi’s BFF’s all ready to turn on Yugi, he’s got an abandoned shipyard...for some reason...

All in all, as much as I rat on Marik, I very much appreciate that he didn’t monologue in some Mahjong bar for twelve episodes about all the reasons he wants to do evil stuff, he just goes out and does it. Let me rephrase, he just goes out and makes other people do it, but at least someone is doing something in every episode. Can’t say that about all the TV I watch.

You do have to hand it to him he never does the same plan twice.

(read more after the cut)

So, spotting Joey from afar, Kaiba lands his helicopter dangerously close to him, and just walks out unarmed, his smallest brother standing next to him. Mokuba is still taking everything in from last episode apparently and he’s just really confused most of the time as Joey starts going off about himself in the third person to Yugi.

And Seto decides to just watch? He doesn’t call for help, he doesn’t use his crazy amount of leverage, and he doesn’t do the smart thing which would be to run the hell away, he just kinda soaks this all in and has decided that he lives here now.

So, Marik, who can do a lot of the dark magic stuff Pegasus and Bakura have showed us, decides to instead go old school and forgo magic for most of this fight (other than some possession of course.)

Like I said before, if you’re gonna write a villain, they gotta get in your hero’s head a bit. It’s villain 101. Should it ever go as far as a Yugioh villain on kid’s TV? I mean proooobably not necessary? But something this episode does is show that a villain does not need superpowers. All they need, is to test your hero’s greatest insecurities to the breaking point, which is something Marik does really well, and surprisingly a lot of shows I don’t need to mention, because I already have, don’t do. They kinda rely on “well he’s got evil powers, so he’s evil and they punch a lot” while not understanding that it was never the powers that gives a show that tension that villains bring.

Like, Yugioh does a lot of things wrong, but surprisingly, they know how to write a clearly evil villain who’s just overheard that Yugi’s big thing is this bond of friendship--which is really childish--but he goes with it anyway. So he makes this bizarre Joker-like card game scenario that is based on breaking those friendship connections. But leave it to Yugioh to have something really pure in theory but in practice turn into this screwball nightmare. Yugioh is kind of like a really simple chocolate cake but there’s a tire on it and it’s on fire.

I will say, it is odd that Seto got dragged here into the friendship battle, as he is the worst friend. So now he also gets to go through friend torture with some school mates he occasionally has class with. TBH, I don’t think Seto has even realized yet that he has also been 100% abducted since the moment he walked off that helicopter. Seto lives in a nice denial place.

So lets go over Marik’s Big Plan #7.

First, off you gotta put on these shackles, seen here:

I feel like Shackles are this seasons Maze Labyrinth. I mean I guess Yugi’s shackled to his destiny? Or at least the destiny of the ghost he’s attached to? Anyway, so many shackles this season.

And then these shackles and chains are connected to Joey as well as this anchor we see here:

What nice symbolism to illustrate that Yugi’s friendship will drag everyone he knows along with him--as it has for the past 2 seasons. Not really a big spoiler for everyone involved in this battle.

And then this was a thing Marik added just for kicks, which can be symbolic, too, but I don’t feel like diving into it:

I actually never thought these two would actually cancel a game. Mokuba decided against blowing his whistle at it though, he decided it was probably too late for that. Aaaaaand it was:

Yo, how do you sneak up on people with a 70 ft crane?

Honestly I was surprised that Seto cared enough about Tea to not move, but I guess he couldn’t kill Tea in front of Mokuba. And I dunno, Seto and Tea never really talk to eachother, so I guess I’ve never noticed that he thinks she’s decent enough to continue existing. He might like her better than anyone else on this show other than Mokuba. And I’m not saying that to ship them, although I’m sure it’s a fine ship sailing around out there, I’m just saying that it is notable when Kaiba accepts that someone else besides a Kaiba deserves to live.

And then one last touch:

I guess no one told Marik that Tea and Yugi aren’t actually dating? I mean how much would it suck to go on one date with a guy and then all of a sudden you’re dealing with all of his villains?

Accurate, actually, that is exactly how dating works. You go one date and then you casually run into him in an elevator and then all of a sudden he’s like “So my ex fiance took me to court over the engagement ring and it’s so unfair that I can’t get that money back when she’s gonna marry this other guy she’s only known for a month anyway.” and it’s like “You were engaged?”

But, for his credit, 2 weeks later I needed a date, called him up, and he was like “Sorry, I’m in the hospital because I got an ulcer removed because apparently there’s too much stress in my life pulling these allnighters for my classes, and my car died and it’s gonna cost 2k to fix it, and then my ex fiance visited me in the hospital which was hella weird because my Dad is here. Anyway I got a tube down my pee hole and it was the worst pain I’ve felt in my life including the ulcer they removed from my gut. But I dunno. When’s the date?” and I just assumed he was pranking me but turns out, the next day, my teacher confirmed the kid was in the hospital and as high as balls.

Anyway, Pharaoh isn’t the worst person in the world to date, I guess.

It’s nice that Yugi was able to find all of his accessories in blue leather and silver rivets.

The duel begins, everyone cries, except for Tea who’s just screaming from the sidelines that Joey needs to remember how much he loves Yugi. She reminds him to think of the experiences they’ve shared and it was like oh boy maybe skip the part where you bullied Yugi to to hell and then he got cursed with a ghost that lives in his body.

TBH, I feel like it would be bad to introduce Serenity to the fray? Like if I were Marik I’d be like “woah get Joey’s sister out of here, that’s gonna snap him out of it.” but it’s not like Marik gets the whole family love thing anyway, living with Ishizu.

In case you were wondering, yes Mokuba actually tried to explain to Tea what was going on, so the show went over what the hell was going on I want to say like 3 times. Which is something you kinda have to do when you’ve turned your card game into Mousetrap.

And so this is where the episode ended, and I was capping along and felt like this could be a two parter post for this weekend, so why not? Lets continue.

Ah, and it starts out with Marik on a boat.

That boat gets mysteriously bigger and bigger every time it shows up. How many Rare Hunters are there? Like 10? And do they have to rent an apartment on this boat, like how does this all work? And if they do rent an apartment on the boat, who’s cooking? Like Marik, obviously is not a cook since he’s a living disaster, but I want to know more about boat life. Did Bandit Keith ever make them a crunchwrap supreme? Is one of the Rare Hunters always playing Wonderwall? Do they tan on the bow? Why would this boat ever need to be this big?

And I know this isn’t any of the Yugioh spinoff shows, but if I were to write one it would absolutely be Marik’s Boat Life. That would be the name.

Anyway, Yugi decides to fly over Pharaoh’s shoulder like a little angel. It’s been kind of a while.

So like it’s foreshadowed pretty strongly that Yugi’s decided “why even bother, Pharaoh, we don’t need your card talent today. At least my life will end as I lived, short and very awkward”

On the other side of town, Tristan has to go up a group of these Rare Hunters, and from everything we know about Tristan, this shouldn’t be so difficult? Like he punched out Bakura and threw Double Spike Mullet over his shoulder at one point, but unfortunately, punches don’t seem to work. But do you know what does?

I completely forgot Duke Devlin was a character in this show. Surprised he’s not in this competition, but apparently his game he’s making alongside Pegasus is really panning out--which is kind of effed up because Pegasus is a murderer. But youknow...I guess that everyone in the show decided to overlook that?

Whatever, I spent an entire episode trying to understand that, lets get back to the friendship plot line. Yugi decided to play a card that lets Joey take a card from Yugi’s hand, which gives him an opportunity to show Joey’s dragon. But will Joey overcome Marik and take this very good card to use on Yugi? (bro just corrected me and told me this card is actually not good but wtv)

He takes a different card. Friendship triumphs over...this card that I should know more about but I don’t watch the card games so I’m just gonna wing it here.

And then Yugi plays it anyway, and the music swells and it’s meaningful again.

Because the Red Eyes is connected with his heart now. Not sure when that happened exactly but it apparently happened at some point.

Seriously, when did this happen? I ask a lot of questions rhetorically but feel free to answer that one. Did I miss something? S1 this card was just kinda there.

Pharaoh, sensing that Yugi has very well lost his mind and will be absolutely hit by a fireball, decides to take over. Remember that the last time Yugi got hit with a fireball, he passed out pretty much before it hit him. And then he died. Yugi died last time a fireball hit him (I’m pretty sure that was a fireball in the Pegasus fight? It feels like years ago). Mind, that was a shadow duel, but apparently that doesn't matter this season because all the cards are real and no one cares that this is a very big problem.

Pharaohs legs are either three times the size of his torso OR they’re wearing extremely high waisted pants. Both scenarios are good.

And he gets hit in the face with a fireball.

And doesn’t pass out. Good for him. He is about 15% alive though, Yugi is basically going to die if he gets hit with another fireball. Like his lifepoints still say 1000 but it takes him like ten minutes to walk all the way around this pier and give Joey this:

Luckily, Marik as Joey plays cards so slowly, that the ten minute walk was still shorter than a single turn in Yugioh.

Also this is a thing? Just anyone can put that on?

so this whole time anyone could have been wearing the ring to Mordor? Just anyone? OK then.

Anyway, next week, on Yugioh:

Does Marik have any lag on that superpower of his, because I feel like it would make this show make some more sense on his part? Did the mime just walk home? If they all did die this way--not saying the will or won’t because they’ve died so many times now, but if they DID--weirdest way to die, amiright?

And if you’ve stumbled onto this blog which is halfway through S2, let me direct you to this handy link, which gives you all the recaps in chronological order from S1

#Yugioh #yugioh recap #photo recap #ep 26 #ep27 #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #Marik Ishtar #Tea Gardner #Seto Kaiba #Kaiba #Mokuba #Duke Devlin #Tristan Taylor #Serenity Wheeler #Boy there's a lot of characters in this show now and so many are like...possessed

36 notes · View notes

youvegotyourvictory · 6 years ago

Text

Hamilton on Broadway

08.25.18

Yesterday was two months since I saw Hamilton with one of my very best friends. Making a list of some things I never want to forget.

1. I imagine death so much, it feels more like a memory

I’ve been listening to Hamilton for almost two and a half years. This line still hits me the same way it did when I was first learning the words.

2. Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now

At the most random times, this line hits me like a bus. It’s not every day, but sometimes I do think about how miraculous it is that any of us are alive. How lucky we are.

3. King George is even funnier live and the album really doesn’t do his facial expressions justice, there’s no way it could. Just.....every time he was on stage, I laughed

4. Dying is easy, young man, living is harder

I think about this line all the time. Washington says it to Alex and obviously it speaks to Alex’s character, because he’s always willing to die but never really willing to use his strengths to stay alive. He always wants to fight and is ready to verbally take down anyone he deems fit—willing to die in a war that’s never really going to be his own, just to prove himself. All of that is so much easier than living.

5. Eliza in Helpless

I already love Eliza so much—both fictionalized character and real life woman—but she’s so cute in Helpless. It’s so great to see her this in love.

6. King George saying, “Everybody!” in You’ll Be Back and people coming out of the woodwork just so they can sing along with him

7. If there’s a reason I’m still alive when everyone who loves me has died then I’m willing to wait for it

I’ve spent a few late nights thinking about this, thinking of the legacy Burr left behind—how he just wanted to keep his mouth shut and stay out of trouble, until the moment it really counted. I can’t imagine all that must’ve motivated him, knowing he was the only person he had left. Everyone around him had died, and still he wanted to keep his head down and wait for a reason to do more.

8. Tomorrow there’ll be more of us

It’s probably for the best that this song isn’t on the original cast recording because if it was I would definitely cry every time I listened to it. I can’t even begin to express how much it kills me that John Laurens died before he could lead his regiment to safety—and ultimately, freedom. And Alex’s reaction to it, his pause and then, breathless, “I have so much work to do”—his immediate need to work faster and harder than he had before. There’s no doubt anywhere that he was deeply in love with Laurens.

On Tuesday the 27th, my son was killed in a gunfight against British troops retreating from South Carolina. The war was already over. As you know, John dreamed of emancipating and recruiting three thousand men for the first all-black military regiment. His dream of freedom for these men dies with him.

9. The part of Non-Stop when Angelica and Eliza are on the outer ring of the stage and then Hamilton is talking about both of them and once he’s done talking to Angelica the stage starts moving so she drifts away from him and then Eliza comes in to view

This is really one you just have to see in person to fully appreciate

10. Jefferson in the purple suit

I have never seen an article of clothing transform someone so easily and completely. Before, Lafayette was careful, calculated, etc, but as soon as the purple suit came out, he did a total 180 and strutted everywhere, fully in control of the stage. It was like magic.

11. Hamilton’s green suit

It’s a look and probably an aesthetic choice that some people don’t care for, but boy do I love it

12. The cabinet battles

Honestly what took everything to that next level was the fact that we were in New York watching it. Hearing “You could’ve been anywhere in the world tonight, but you’re here with us in New York City” felt so....incredible because I had never even listened to Hamilton in the city before. And it was true—we really could’ve been anywhere else, but we were there, in the theatre, watching it all unfold.

13. Take a Break

One of my favorites in the play, due entirely to Alex and Angelica’s exchange in the second verse. Also, Eliza’s beatboxing and Philip’s pride when he raps for Alex is something I wish I could replay forever. Hearing the screams of “un, deux, trois, quatre, and CIIIIIIIIIINQ” was something that made all of us burst into cheers and applause

In a letter I received from you two weeks ago, I noticed a comma in the middle of a phrase. It changed the meaning—did you intend this? One stroke and you’ve consumed my waking days. It says, “My dearest Angelica” with a comma after ‘dearest.’ You’ve written “my dearest, Angelica.”

The breath between ‘dearest’ and ‘Angelica’ is so much more pronounced live and I really wish I could live in that moment for the rest of my life

I also really love how they both take the time to focus on this and show that it holds a lot of weight and meaning to each of them, and then after a pause Angelica says, “Anyway, all this to say...” completely moving on from the subject

14. Southern motherfucking democratic republicans

No need to even say more than that. Y’all already know.

Actually I lied. I didn’t remember a lot from the bootleg going into this because it had been a decent amount of time since I’d last watched the whole thing—usually if it pops up on YouTube again I just listen to the few songs I know will make me sob, the ones I really want to hear, and then I leave it alone. I think in my head I kind of wanted to save it until I could finally see it in person. Before seeing it live, I think I’d only watched the bootleg all the way through maybe two times. It just felt like something I needed to wait for. It was well worth it. Anyway, like I said, I didn’t remember much so I certainly didn’t remember the shot of Burr, Jefferson, and Madison all walking together across the stage with the spotlight on them as they sang this part. Power move.

15. King George pulling up a stool so he can watch everything unfold, see all the drama as it happens, and watch Hamilton destroy his own career

I lost it at this part. I knew that he does this, but seeing it in person just made it so much funnier. Again, I think it was mainly due to really being able to see his facial expressions there. Just the thought of King George sitting there as all of this is happening in the 1700s is so funny to me and it’s just.....god it’s good

16. King George throwing Reynolds pamphlets and dancing around Hamilton was just....top-tier comedy

17. Hamilton’s black suit

That velvety suede one. If you know you know

18. Eliza’s scream at the end of Stay Alive (Reprise)

This was one of the moments I couldn’t forget the first time I watched the bootleg. No matter what I’m doing or where I am, if I’ve been completely fine throughout the rest of the songs, this is the moment that gets me every time. It’s always guaranteed to make me start crying. Not only is it heart wrenching to hear her scream after Philip has just died, but to see her yank her hand away from Alex when he tries to comfort her is something that’s been with me ever since that first watch. I don’t think I’ll ever really forget it.

19. It’s Quiet Uptown

I knew I wouldn’t make it out of this without sobbing. I usually don’t make it through the OCR without crying, and seeing it in person is so much more painful. Alex pleading with Eliza, telling her he’d change everything if he could, telling Philip that he would love where they moved to. Seeing Alex grieving, and then to see Eliza come in and be completely stoic, refusing to even look in Alex’s direction. Also the fact that literally everyone looks weary and so incredibly run down—even Angelica in her narration looks like she’s been crying for weeks.

Can you imagine?

Alex turning one of Eliza’s phrases back on her—look at where we are, look at where we started—he knows he’ll never be able to make this all up to her but he still begs her to let him in and let him try to help her.

It speaks volumes that all records state that Hamilton was never the same after Philip died—a large portion of him died that day too. Can you imagine?

Eliza, do you like it uptown? It’s quiet uptown.

One of the parts that gets me every single time, without fail: Look around, look around, Eliza.

I started crying during the last song and didn’t stop through the entirety of this one, but one part that made the tears flow faster was Eliza’s gentle “It’s quiet uptown” and Alex’s breakdown as soon as she speaks for the first time.

There’s a part in the Hamilton companion book that Lin wrote where he describes something that happened to the company during rehearsals and every time I read it I cry and cry, so I’ll just leave you with it:

The power of “It’s Quiet Uptown” was intact from its first day: Actors cried while singing it, the production team cried while listening to it, Andy couldn’t bear to choreograph it, not with his daughter, Sofia, fighting cancer, and getting sick on the way to school, and the whole family hoping the next round of chemotherapy would work. ... On November 16, 2014, Oskar and Laurie Eustis’s beloved son, Jack, died. He was 16 years old. ... Oskar and Laurie were about to spend half a year or more in the world of a show that pivots on the loss of a child. ... Two weeks later, the full company assembled for the first sing-through of the show ... when Oskar and Laurie walked in. ... Hearing “It’s Quiet Uptown” for the first time since their unimaginable loss was bound to be wrenching. It was wrenching, for everyone. When the sing-through ended, we offered words of consolation that were heartfelt but inadequate before a grief larger than anyone could comprehend. There was one thing that the Hamilton company didn’t know that day. When Lin had learned of Jack’s death, he had sent an email to Oskar and Laurie expressing his deepest condolences. He also sent them the demo recording of “It’s Quiet Uptown.” “If art can help us grieve, can help us mourn, then lean on it,” he wrote. If they preferred to delete the song, he would understand.

Oskar and Laurie did lean on it. In the rehearsal studio that afternoon, nobody knew that “It’s Quiet Uptown” was the only song they had listened to in their first week of mourning. They had listened to it every day.

20. Best of Wives and Best of Women

This one gets me every time. I know I’ve said that about everything so far, but god....this one is so meaningful.

I can’t say anything that will be better than what Lin has already said about the song so I’ll leave you with the liner notes he wrote from the Hamilton companion book:

In the musical of my life after I’m long gone, my wife Vanessa is going to be the one who steps forward as the hero. Vanessa is not particularly fond of musicals—she only likes good ones. She is not effusive in her praise, or boastful. But when I looked up from that Chernow book and said, “I think this is a hip-hop musical,” she didn’t laugh, or roll her eyes. She just said, “That sounds cool.” And that was all I needed to get started. As I fell in love with the idea of a love triangle between Eliza, Alexander, and Angelica, she said, “Can you have Angelica rap? That would be cool.”

I am someone who is so averse to travel that I wrote a whole musical about not wanting to leave my block in Washington Heights. It was Vanessa who booked us trips and time away from New York. “You don’t get any writing done here because life keeps popping up.” Thanks to her, Hamilton was written in Mexico, Spain, Nevis, Sagaponack, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic—long trips where Vanessa would take me there and then leave me alone to write while she explored. She is my first audience, and she’s a tough audience, so I know if I impress her I’ve cleared the highest possible bar. She’ll come home from work and say, “Your king tune was stuck in my head all day—that’s probably a good sign.”

This started out as a note trying to explain how my wife really is the ‘best of wives and best of women,’ but I’m trying to get at something more important—this show simply doesn’t exist without Vanessa. It’s a love letter to her.

21. The World Was Wide Enough

There’s nothing I could say here that would accurately sum up this one, so I’ll simply put this:

Death doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints—it takes and it takes and it takes. History obliterates. In every picture it paints, it paints me and all my mistakes. When Alexander aimed at the sky, he may have been the first one to die, but I’m the one who paid for it. I survived, but I paid for it. Now I’m the villain in your history. I was too young and blind to see. I should’ve known. I should’ve known the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me. The world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me.

One thing I’ll always remember: in the Hamilton documentary, Leslie Odom, Jr. is talking about Burr’s legacy, basically that he did all of these other things in his lifetime—a long war career, accomplished lawyer, worked with Hamilton on the first murder trial of the country, etc—but the one thing he’s most remembered for is being the man who shot Hamilton in a duel. Leslie talks about how much more Burr could’ve done if the duel hadn’t gone down the way it did, that it was a really sad moment in history, that Burr wasn’t a lonely man when he shot Hamilton. Burr had friends, a great job, so many things going for him, but still he chose to shoot Hamilton in that moment. Leslie goes on to say, “I think that our show is doing a really good job of...reminding us that....all of us are more than one thing.”

There’s another moment, from Lin’s episode of Drunk History, where he describes the duel and says, “And so, Burr’s the monster. And what’s ironic about that is Burr was never the monster. Burr was the cautious motherfucker who never let his opinion be known. And Hamilton was the reckless motherfucker who let his opinion be known about everything. And in the one moment where it counted most, Hamilton was cautious, and Burr was reckless. And that defined their legacies forever.”

22. There’s a moment that Lin took out that we don’t get to see, but I’m going to include it here anyway. Eliza, reading Hamilton’s last letter to her—the one he was writing when she begged him to “come back to bed, that would be enough.” Among his last words are these:

I need not tell you of the pangs I feel, from the idea of quitting you and exposing you to the anguish which I know you would feel. With my last idea; I shall cherish the sweet hope of meeting you in a better world. Adieu best of wives and best of Women. Ever yours

23. Eliza in the finale

As I said, I already love Eliza so much, but hearing this final song is something I’ll always think about.

Eliza lived fifty years beyond Hamilton’s death, something I can’t even begin to imagine doing. Of all the things Hamilton put her through, she still loved him in the end. In her own words—I am so tired, it is so long. I want to see Hamilton.

Again, during this I couldn’t help but remember the fact that we were in the very city where much of this musical takes place. All of these real events occurred in this city.

Hearing Eliza recount all she had done after Hamilton’s death is inspiring and exhausting and amazing, but the line that always got me and I knew would hit me even harder in New York City....

Oh. Can I show you what I’m proudest of? [The orphanage.] I establish the first private orphanage in New York City. [The orphanage.] I help to raise hundreds of children. I get to see them growing up. [The orphanage.] In their eyes I see you, Alexander. I see you every time.

Not only does she establish this orphanage, but it still lives on today. Eliza’s orphanage lives on in the form of the Graham Windham organization, a fact that always blows me away. She established and served as director of the orphanage for 27 years—she dedicated a significant portion of her life to this work. And to know that we were in the city where she did this, where she got to see the Hamilton legacy growing before her very eyes in the form of these children—I lost it.

Oh, I can’t wait to see you again. It’s only a matter of time.

Two months have passed and I still can’t believe I was there, really seeing Hamilton the way it was intended to be seen. I’ll never forget it, and I hope someday I’ll get to do it again.

#finally I got around to typing all this out!!#sorry for the long post I just really had a lot to say!!!!!!#hamilton0825 #text #personal

2 notes · View notes