#looking back and seeing the way my art has changed is wild
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
AGH I almost forgot to do an art vs artist for 2024 š here's me & some of my favorite pieces from the year āš»
+ honorable mention to this gem:
#LITTLE BIT LATE but I'm here šš»āāļø#I love the pieces I made this year tbh I'm really happy with the direction my art is going in#hopefully by the end of 2025 it'll look even better & more interesting šŖš»#I have a good feeling abt this year#sleep.txt#sleep.png#art vs artist#this is like the 4th consecutive year I do an art vs artist#looking back and seeing the way my art has changed is wild
137 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
GIVE HIM SOME ATTENTION
What does he do when he wants some attention?
BLLK x S/O!GN Reader
Characters: Isagi, Bachira, Chigiri, Kunigami (Pre&Post WC), Gagamaru, Rin, Nanase, Sae, Shidou, Barou, Sendou, Nagi, Reo, Oliver, Otoya, Karasu, Yukimiya, Hiori, Kurona, Zantetsu, Raichi, Aryu, Kiyora, Kaiser, Ness (In that order)
CW: Suggestive as hell in Aiku & Otoyaās parts, A little angsty in Shidou, Reo & Ness parts
A/N: Idk all of them toooooo well but theyāre all interesting to me so Iād like to try also I excluded some people who are irrelevant in my mindscape (i'm so sorry) (Nagi is honestly lucky to be here with the flopism he has been displaying smh) Gagamaru my goat ntm on him also added Zantetsu in honor of him finally getting his cover art
HCS UTC
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yoichi Isagi
I think if heās craving attention heād probably be a bit hesitant because it's embarrassing for him to ask (since he likes a lot of attention so heād be asking all day LOL). In order to save himself the embarrassment heāll usually just hold your hand and give you a serious lookā if he can muster that (sometimes if heās feeling shy heāll just put his hand on yours while looking away). Well when he does look at you he thinks heās giving you a serious look but surely all you see is him giving you puppy eyes.
Meguru Bachira
Oh if heās craving attention YOU WILL KNOW. Heād probably cling to you as if you were a missing part of his body he was trying to reconnect. Heāll hug your arm or pepper you in kisses and heāll seem way happier than usual because heās just so glad to be around you. Heās a bit ridonkulous he might even jump on you, making you both collapse to the floor, or if youāre in a place with a hard floor heāll instead pull you towards him and squeeze you like a giant teddy bear.
Hyoma Chigiri
Heās a bit tricky honestly. He has a good amount of pride so he doesnāt like to seem too clingy but that doesnāt mean heāll back down if he feels like heās being neglected. If he wants attention heāll try to make you the one whoās embarrassed and craving attention by flirting subtly though incessantly. Heāll wrap his arm around you and lightly ghost his thumb over your skin or even āinnocentlyā kiss your jawline and then just as quickly as he started, heāll stop and go back to whatever he was doing before so youāre the one asking for attention from him now.
Rensuke Kunigami (PRE Wild Card)
Honestly? Upstanding young man ass dude heāll probably just start giving you attention until you reciprocate. Heās stubborn too so you know he wonāt stop until you give in unless youāre seriously not in the mood for whatever reason. Heāll sneak up behind you and hug you and start kissing up your neck; eventually turn your head so he can kiss you on the lips if youāre willing to indulge him. The kind of guy whoād just lay up in your arms and gently lay you down with him after a long day.
Rensuke Kunigami (POST WC)
Ok I know he SEEMS insanely different but tbh I donāt think heād change all that much. Heās probably a little bit more socially awkward because for a while all heās done is train with little social interaction. When he wants attention, I think heād likely use the same tactic but in a different way. Heād probably nip your neck or shoulder (not painfully; he is trying to be playful) and when it gets your attention, heād start to pepper you in kisses or lay his head down on your shoulder if it's been a long day.
Gin Gagamaru
I donāt have a great grasp on this guy (despite being one of my goats š„¹) but I think heād probably have like mannerisms for it like pointing at where he wants to be kissed and kisses you back when you oblige him. He also seems like the kind of guy whoād bring you something from his journeys in the wilderness as like a homemade gift and hopes youāll give him the attention he seeks in return (you can definitely tell because he just stares at you as you open the gift, hoping you like it and then continues to stare expectantly when you do like it)
Rin Itoshi
Imo if Rin decided to get into a relationship with someone heād dedicate himself to them just as he does soccer because he wouldnāt want them to be hurt the way he was hurt (someone you love acting coldly towards you) but he doesnāt really know how without cringing. SO his way of asking for attention would be somewhat sweet although awkward. I think he would likely try to do some semi romantic gesture like laying his head on your shoulder/in your lap (although heās pretty tense) or just making general contact like touching knees or brushing fingers together and will absolutely WHIP his head away if you look at him.
Nijiro Nanase
Nanase is just a guy; another upstanding young man. I think he would probably flatter you if he wanted attention. Heāll probably start talking about the things he likes about you and how much he loves you, giving you a kiss on the cheek along with his praise as well. He is very aware of the fact that you think heās the cutest thing to hit planet Earth and he will use it to his advantage!! Of course, he means what he says but if saying it out loud will get him covered in kisses heāll say as much as you want because heās never gonna run out of things to say.
Sae Itoshi
This guyā¦ Is a real piece of work but, like his brother, I think if heās willing to get into a relationship then that means he's willing to put in the effort but doesnāt know how, although he respects you a ton. If heās craving attention I donāt think heāll even realize it; heāll just get really irritated when you arenāt around and when you are around heāll stare you down so hard he could burn a hole through you but the fact that he doesnāt even look angry is what tips you off to what he wants. The look in his eyes isnāt insanely soft but it's not a hard stare either, he looks like he's daydreaming or zoning out tbh.
Ryusei Shidou
If Sae is a piece of work this dude is a whole project. Itās easy to say heās like Bachira, which he is during the day, but I think itād be more interesting to talk about him during the night. When the day comes to an end he said he ābecomes nothingā so I think it would be the number one time where he craves attention and validation that he exists and youāre really there. Itās a somewhat vulnerable time for him but he plays it off like heās just his usual clingy self and probably places himself in front of you at any opportunity. Looking down? Heāll lay on your lap. Facing forward? Well here he is in front of you. And by the time itās finally time for bed he's completely wrapped his body around yours.
Shoei Barou
Itās kind of hard to imagine how heād show affection in a relationship buttt I think similar to Kunigami, I think he would just give you attention until you give in. However, I think Barou is probably a bit more aggressive about it and heād probably go up to you and kiss you, then pull away just enough to await your next move. If you take too long to decide though heāll start kissing around your face: on your nose, your forehead, etc. Heās pretty bold but he is a tiny bit embarrassed/hesitant when it comes to feeling āsoftā with you so heāll kiss you to distract himself from it.
Shuto Sendou
This guy is peak loserboy activity whew he is a huge sucker for being spoiled so he wants attention OFTEN. I think he probably just stands really close to you and complains about how his day was soooooo horrible and how he worked so hard but if being standoffish isnāt working he holds onto your waist for dear life or plops himself on your lap and hugs you, waiting for attention when he gets desperate. If heās super desperate heāll start kissing around your neck and complain even more. He even starts to say how betrayed he feels at how easily youāre ignoring his woes.
Seishiro Nagi
Heās pretty efficient in the way he shows he wants attention. Since heās the spoiled type heāll usually try to get your attention the normal way first: acting cute and laying his head on your shoulder or on your lap while he plays his game (he is expecting you to play with his hair) but if you donāt heāll honestly be confused at first because heās usually given whatever he wants. At first heāll try to put your hand on his head but if you keep taking it away heāll make you lay down with him and literally try to immobilize you by putting all his weight on your body; will even pretend to be asleep if you protest.
Reo Mikage
Heās a lot bit codependent so if heās feeling neglected heāll do everything he can to get your attention. Heāll usually shower you in gifts and/or take you on a romantic date. Heāll plan out a whole ass day of pampering just because he wants some attention. Please remind him he doesnāt need to do. All that. Because he often feels a bit useless if he doesnāt have time to do that. Not only does he feel useless but heās somehow convinced himself subconsciously that he doesnāt really deserve your attention if he hasnāt done anything for you.
Oliver Aiku
If he wants attention from you, heāll give you an insane amount of attention. Unlike Kunigami and Barou, heās very forward and will text you, showering you with sweet words while heās on his way to yours and when he gets there, heās practically already all over you. Heās going on about how much he loves you and how he missed you so much all while kissing you wherever he can reach you. Tbh if he's craving attention, he probably just wants to have sex since heās not a very clingy guy so he's probably already backing you into a wall and trying to undress you.
Eita Otoya
Honestly his appeal to others is usually him being the ācold but caringā type so, like Aiku, heād probably text you before getting to yours but itād be even more bare bones like, āi miss youā or ācan I see uā even if he DOES genuinely like you he doesnāt really think deeply about his feelings and impulsively texts you when he wants attention. Unlike Aiku, he is a clingy guy and if heās really desperate for attention heāll still escalate it to sex if he can; just slower. Probably wants to lay his face in your chest or lap and makeout.
Tabito Karasu
Oh this smartass. Heās probably similar to Hyoma in the fact that he makes sure it's you who wants his attention by pampering you one minute and acting like nothing happened the next. However he does tend to like smart people so if youāre smart enough to see through his hot-and-cold act heāll eventually hold you and hide his face in your chest, admitting defeat but heād still be smiling because either way he wins. Heās already got you and he won't let go until you fill the quota of kisses you owe him.
Kenyu Yukimiya
Heās the type to feel a bit embarrassed about wanting attention at first but will be more forward if you donāt pick up on his subtle hints. His hints include sneaking glances at you or holding your hand whenever he gets the opportunity. Heās honestly pretty charismatic so I think that when being more forward he would probably kiss your hand and help you with anything you may need to get done or finish anything he may need to do so that you can completely focus on each other when thereās nothing left.
Yo Hiori
Honestly craving attention is a somewhat rare occurrence for him so it's a bit embarrassing, especially since you two are used to kinda doing your own thing. Probably gives you little āhintsā like starting off by asking if you want to play a game with him as an excuse to get you close to him. Another hint would likely be him invading your bubble whether it be by scooting close to you or hooking his leg over yours a bit or whatever it may be. If you still arenāt getting it he probably says something that tips you off while looking directly at you or glancing at you like, āDo you mind me being clingy?ā or something along those lines.
Ranze Kurona
Heās such a sweetie he probably braids your hair if it's long enough (if itās short heāll still try a root braid if you want but heās not very good at it). If not heāll usually get you both stickers to mess around with, putting some on your face, others on various items and sometimes you put them in random hidden places as a nice surprise when you find them again. Typically this is enough to get the attention heās looking for, but if youāre teasing him or simply forgot, heāll lightly nip your shoulder or lightly graze his teeth over your shoulder (Since you two got together you have definitely encouraged him to be comfortable with his teeth around you)
Zantetsu Tsurugi
This guy often tries to be something heās not so heād probably try to do a bunch of romantic gestures that arenāt his style. Knowing him heād probably put together some poems. They arenāt very good but it IS very sweet and heād keep doing this for a while until the poems start to sound the same and he starts to get frustrated. Heād try learning an instrument, impressing you with his knowledge on a subject you like etc. until eventually he would just force himself to suck it up and ask you for attention outright and just straight up admit how much you mean to him because all these other things are draining and they arenāt him.
Jingo Raichi
Heās another guy who finds it a bit embarrassing to be āsoftā so when craving attention heāll often āstarveā himself of it. Usually youāre the one who has to give him attention but if you havenāt for whatever reason then heāll be angrier than usual that day with his teammates. Heāll probably give up by the time he gets home and just crashes into you grumbling about how his day has been SO unsexy. Probably wonāt let you go until he falls asleep tbh and even then he still has a pretty good grip on you.
Jyubei Aryu
When he wants attention Aryu would probably start flaunting his beauty, pushing his hair back, striking poses, modeling clothes for you, whatever stylish thing he can think ofā he will do it and then glance over at you to make sure you were paying attention. If that doesnāt work then heād have you do some stylish things like he might have you try on some clothes he bought you or ask you to style his hair because he is ālacking inspirationā (He actually just knows you like playing with his hair smh)
Jin Kiyora
This dude is a freak, it's a lot bit funny. When he wants attention he probably asks you to watch a movie with him (Youāre already suspicious that he didnāt put on Fight Club for the umpteenth time or another action movie). He honestly put it on as background noise and thought it looked boring so heād probably just tell you to lay down with him and lightly kiss you until you get the picture (Spoil him). Can and WILL turn the movie off and hide the remote if you neglect him smh (He will not enjoy the returned energy next time he wants to watch fight club so for both of your sakes just give him some kisses).
Michael Kaiser
Complicated individual, rightfully so. If he wants attention heād simply demand it. Bye. He would likely just pull you towards him without any further commentary, he might even look a bit annoyed. If you didnāt know him youād think he was in a bad mood and upset with you but you know how he gets. However, heās more clear when itās been a long day and heās feeling a bit beat down or unsure of himself. Heād just shove his face into your back or your midsection and let you play with his hair as he conks theee fuck out.
Alexis Ness
Another complicated individual whew. What is up with these codependent purple dudes who found the worst possible person to depend on? Ness has yet to find a relationship where he is properly loved and not essentially abandoned so if he feels like youāre slipping away heāll panic and do everything in his power to convince you to keep him around. He needs a lot of reassurance tbh and spends a lot of his time in your arms. When heās craving attention heāll usually just be sulking around all day like a sad wet cat. Every now and again he turns to look at you wistfully and walks past very slowly like that damn homeless ant. Show him some love he needs it now more than ever ayayayay.
#blue lock#blue lock x reader#bllk x reader#alexis ness x reader#michael kaiser x reader#oliver aiku x reader#otoya eita x reader#yoichi isagi x reader#hyoma chigiri x reader#chigiri hyoma x reader#meguru bachira x reader#rensuke kunigami x reader#gin gagamaru x reader#gagamaru gin x reader#rin itoshi x reader#sae itoshi x reader#nijiro nanase x reader#nanase nijiro x reader#ryusei shidou x reader#shoei barou x reader#barou shoei x reader#seishiro nagi x reader#reo mikage x reader#tabito karasu x reader#yukimiya kenyu x reader#kenyu yukimiya x reader#yo hiori x reader#hiori yo x reader#ranze kurona x reader#kurona ranze x reader
2K notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
šššššš
Discord 18+Ā -Ā Twitter
Pairing:Ā Model!Shoko Ieri x Female Reader, Model!Utahime Iori x Female Reader, Shokohime x Female Reader
Summary: You're a top Public Relations manager covering Tokyo Fashion Week. All the drugs, sex and outrageous going ons never see the light of day. Why? Because it's your job to cover up scandal.
But that doesn't mean you can't have your own risky fun.
Story Warning: Smut, LESBIANS, Reader works in Public Relations, Mentions of Drugs, Mentions of hookups, Bath sex, Bathtub Threesome, Cunnilingus, Cum Eating, Profanity bc c'mon...it's me, Vaginal Bumping and Grinding, Referenced STRAP usage, Fingering, Secret Flings, Sneaky Sex, Dub-con? (Reader and ShokoHime have a few drinks...but do consent to sex), Sneaking Around, Secret Recordings
Art by: Cake__Sensei (Twitter)
A/N: I FINALLY finished something for my Jujutsu Journal Collab Event! I hope yall enjoy!!! Thank you to everyone participating and for everyone who has helped me to reach 3k followers!!!
Youāve always loved the fast paced feel of Tokyo Fashion Week. The bright lights flashing and catching every crease and detail of the fabrics on display. The music thumping and crowd cheering as the models strut down the runway. The chaos backstage as everyone rushes to slip in and out of the next garment in time for their cue. Yes, you loved being a part of that feeling, you loved capturing that feeling. Because it was your job to catch every crease and detail, the sexy walks of the models, the mayhem that happens behind the scenes while the audience patiently waits.
Itās exhilarating, really. Being invited to such elite and exclusive events has changed your life in ways you could have never imagined. When you first started your career in fashion, you would have never dreamed of making it this far. This was worlds away from filming street fashion on your shitty little cell phone and interviewing small time designers. But youāve worked so hard, worked even smarter and have networked your way to the top of your department.
And now, you're the head of the PR team for one of the top fashion magazines in Japan, currently assigned to cover the after party of Tokyo Fashion Week to collect enough content for a post show documentary.
The after party is as wild as youād imagined it would be. The ritziness and glam of the actual fashion show can hardly be found here. Itās all thumping loud music, raunchy dancing and paraphernalia scattered across various surfaces.Ā
Looking for sweaty bodies bumping and grinding in off the runway Dior? Youāll find it here.Ā
Want to catch someone snorting a line in vintage Chanel? Just turn your head in any direction, really.Ā
Can you see a pair of this seasonās YSL heels peeking out from around the corner where someone is on their knees giving the sloppiest blowjob? Absolutely.
And itās your job to make sure that whatās happening here never sees the light of day.
You love scandal, because it gives you a job, pays your bills and keeps your lights on and food in your fridge. As long as some celebrity is getting into shit theyāre not supposed to, youāll always have a job. But outside of work, you loathe scandal, avoid it at all costs because the biggest cost would be your career. Sure, youāve joined in on the fun, partook in scandalous behavior from time to time, but youāre always careful. There are never any traces, never any receipts, never any damning evidence that could lead back to you.
No one will ever know that you spent a weekend in Bali with famous pop musician Satoru Gojo while his wife waited patiently for him to return from āfilmingā a new music video.
They will also never know about your brief tryst with his best friend, Suguru Geto in Nara, Seoul and Bora Bora. Not even Satoru.
And your romantic holiday trip with award winning actress Yuki Tsukumo? As far as everyone else knows, it never happened.
See, you were that damn good at your job. Thatās why you were the head of your PR team, after all. Itās why you knew exactly where to direct your videographer to point their camera. You spot the rolled dollar bills and white lines before they can react, finger pushing the camera sideways to focus on something else.
Lo and behold, it points to a group of models standing casually off to the side of the party as they mingle with guests. You recognize one face among the crowd, those deep purple bags beneath his eyes highlighted by the flashing neon lights.
Itās Choso, a model, with his hair up in space buns, a part of his styling. Heās dressed to the nines in the most stylish streetwear of the season, his signature Prada combat boots on.Ā
Youāve known Choso for quite some time, often running into each other at these afterparties. Years ago, in the early hours of the morning, youād clumsily attempted a drunk hookup. Every kiss, every touch, every attempt to work each other up to something more amounted to nothing. It ended with you both tangled in each otherās arms, falling apart with laughter. And so, youād decided you were better off as friends, and had become quite close since. It worked better for you both that way. You just werenāt into each other like that.
But Choso has been a good friend to you. You often find yourself hanging out together after the chaos of the fashion show has died down and a new session of mayhem has begun for the afterparty. You havenāt seen him in months, but that doesnāt seem to make a difference because Choso spots you easily behind the camera and waves you over to his group of friends.
āHavenāt seen you since Paris,ā he calls out to you as you approach. He slings an arm around your shoulders, hugging you tightly to his chest and pressing a kiss to the top of your head.
āI know! Iāve missed you!ā You yell back. āHow have you been?ā
āNot too bad, not too bad at all. Dating someone now!ā
You lean back in his hold, brows rising to your hairline. āYou? In a relationship?āĀ
Youāre shocked. Youāve seen Choso go through different women, but never heard him refer to whoever he was seeing as dating. He nods, just as one of the most beautiful women youāve ever laid eyes on approaches you two. Her lips quirk into a pretty smile and you can tell right away that sheās not a model. The smile is far too genuine, but thatās not to say she couldnāt be one if she wanted. Sheās stunning, with smooth caramel brown skin and braids that fall down her back, and big brown eyes that you can already see Choso getting lost in as he pulls away from you to wrap his arms around her waist. He peers down at her, the awe apparent in his gaze. Like he just canāt believe heās got her.
āHey, babe,ā he mutters just before his lips meet hers in a hungry kiss.
Oh, heās in love, love.
Choso introduces you to his babe, Kamila and sheās as sweet as she looks. But you donāt get to talk to her much, because Choso is not willing to spend any time heās not obligated to away from his love. You donāt blame him. Sheās breathtaking. You canāt help but smile, watching as Choso and his girlfriend completely forget theyāre at this party together, surrounded by people.Ā
Which is fine, because itās about time to wrap it up yourself so that you and your crew can also take time to enjoy the rest of the festivities.
Turning to your associate, you signal for them to hand you their camera. They quickly switch it off before placing it in your hands. āGo party,ā you tell them, dismissing them for the night. āNothing crazy,ā you add. āAnd if it gets crazy, make sure thereās nothing that can be traced back to the company. And if something happens that can be traced back to the company, call me.ā
They know the rules. Theyāre the same ones you follow and the same ones the company practically beat into your skull when you were first brought on. So far, theyāve worked for you. No one has been able to outsmart any of you. Your team is solid.
āGot it boss,ā your cameraman exclaims. Then theyāre off to get into whatever trouble the night has in store for them.
And while youāre pondering what trouble you can get into, it seems to find you first.
āBoss, huh?ā A sweet voice questions behind you. You spin around to see Choso and his girlfriend are now nowhere in sight. Instead, youāre face to face with two of the most alluring women youāve ever laid eyes on. Theyāre dressed in skin tight dresses that leave little to the imagination, their long legs exposed and damn they look good. You recognize them from the show and from the model roster.
The beautiful slender one with the cute little beauty mark beneath one of her tired eyes ā Shoko Ieiri. Sheās got a bit of an intimidating aura and a smile that has your heart pounding rapidly behind your ribcage. Sheās a bit scary. And admittedly, you find it sexy.Ā
Youāve never spoken to Shoko. The models are usually too busy working and racing around backstage to have much time to mingle. By the time the showās over, theyāre either back in their rooms or out at whatever party they can get into. But have also never heard anything negative about Shoko from any contacts in the industry, which speaks volumes to you. You hear everything. Itās easy for anyone to get their hands on anything if they try hard enough.
When thereās nothing to find, it means theyāre good at keeping their dirt swept under the rug. Those are the types of people you get along best with.
Then, thereās the slightly shorter one, with a rough scar that runs from one side of her face to the other in contrast to her soft features ā Utahime Iori. Sheās as striking as Shoko ā curvy and looks soft in all the right places.Ā
Again, nothing crazy about Utahime. Youāve heard sheās quite the hothead, which would be quite interesting if it were true. She has a less intimidating air about her. Her big brown eyes make her seem sweeter than the woman standing beside her. It makes her all the more intriguing to you.
Regardless, they both have their pretty gazes on you and for a split second, you feel the roles reverse. In this world, youāre at the top of the food chain. Everyone else is the prey. Because you could spin any story, take any insult slung your way and crush your target. Because no one had anything on you. But for some reason, as these two women stare you down, Utahime with her bottom lip pulled between her teeth and Shoko puckering her lips around the butt of a cigarette, you feel like they could destroy you.
And if thereās one thing you love, itās a woman who feels dangerous.
So when Shoko asks if youād like to join her and Utahime for some drinks, you really canāt say no. And you donāt want to.
- - - - - - - - -
āWhatād you think of the show?ā Utahime asks eagerly. Youāre all seated on one of the expensive velvet sofas on the second floor of this club. Shoko has made herself comfortable, leaning back against the arm of the chair. And youāve made yourself even more comfortable, seated between her long legs and leaning against Shokoās chest while Utahime sits next to you, idly playing with your fingers.
You take a slow sip of your drink. Itāll probably be your last for the night. From the moment you laid eyes on these two, you knew what direction you wanted the night to go. You want to be sober enough to enjoy it.
Utahime peers up expectantly at you with those big brown eyes of hers, long lashes curling cutely and it makes your cheeks heat. The alcohol is not helping with how easily your body is responding.
āIt was really good,ā you finally answer. Utahime beams, a little smile beginning to grow on her lips.
āReally?ā She asks, and you nod. āWe did good?ā
Behind you, you feel the vibration of Shokoās chuckle rumble against your back. And as you stare down into Utahimeās eyes, itās clear why.
Okay. This one likes praise, you note mentally. You nod again. āSo good.ā And youāre unable to stop the smile forming on your lips when Utahimeās grin widens. She looks over to Shoko, who lazily takes a drag of another cigarette, blowing her smoke out of the side of her mouth to avoid suffocating you. Her long fingers trail absentmindedly up and down your arm as she listens to you and Utahime continue on about the show.
Youāve noticed that Shoko isnāt very talkative. Sheās more observant than anything and while that would usually bother you, thereās something about Shoko that puts you at ease. Like you can put your life in her hands and can be confident you would be alright. Maybe itās because everything around you is always so busy, always so loud. Her silence feels grounding amongst the chaos.Ā
But you also find her silence a little funny since she and Utahime seem to be so close. Utahime seems more the party type than Shoko does. Sheās outgoing and friendly, warm and inviting. Itās such a stark contrast to Shoko, and yet theyāre always with each other. Even earlier in the night, if Shoko went to the bar, Utahime was right behind her, telling you theyād be right back before chasing after her. If Utahime wanted to dance, Shoko was next to her. You suppose opposites do attract.
You suspect theyāre more than just colleagues or friends and you file that tidbit away in your mind. If the night is headed where you want it to go, where you suspect itās going to go, you need to collect any pertinent information you can beforehand.Ā
Just in case.
āUgh,ā Shoko groans, leaning forward suddenly to smash her half finished cigarette into the ashtray on the side table next to her. āAll this noise is making my head hurt.ā
Utahime nods in agreement. āIt has been a long dayā¦ā She sits straighter, grasping your hand tightly she asks, āShould we get going?ā
Damn, you think. Youāre a little disappointed to think the night is ending here. āAre you two heading home?ā Youāre sure the frown on your face is clear, even in the darkness of the venue. You donāt want them to go yet.
Shoko snorts, shaking her head. She leans back against the chair, looping an arm around your waist and pulling you back onto her. āNo,ā she breathes, and sheās so close to your ear, you can feel her breath ghost along your skin, can smell the faint mixture of nicotine and spearmint. āWe donāt live anywhere near here,ā she explains, fingers gliding along your skin again. āHime and I got a reservation at one of those onsen hotels up the street.ā
āItās really nice from the pictures I saw online,ā Utahime adds, a cheerful lilt to her tone when she speaks. āCanāt wait to get there.ā
You can feel the shift in the atmosphere when those words leave her lips. The air is thick, heavy. Youāre familiar with this feeling. You know it all too well, and your heart races in your chest. Behind you, you feel Shokoās body tense up briefly before she relaxes.
Then Utahime is crawling along your form, moving closer to you, closer and closer, and you think sheās going to try and kiss you. And damn it, youād let herā¦if it was you she was aiming for. Instead, you watch, eyes blown wide with curiosity and honestly, desire as Utahime presses her plush lips to Shokoās. Normally, youād be elated to know your hunch was correct, that they were in fact more than friends, but you canāt seem to care when you see their lips connect. Their kiss is sweet at first, just a few light pecks, quiet sighs between them. Until Utahime grins into the kiss, pulling back slightly to giggle at the way Shokoās brows knit together. Shoko frowns, bringing a hand up to grip Utahimeās long chocolate tresses.
āDonāt tease me, Hime,ā she breathes through gritted teeth. Then sheās pulling Utahimeās face to hers, smashing their lips together for a messy, passionate kiss. And all you can do is watch as their tongues slip into each otherās mouths, breaths heavy as they quietly moan into each kiss. Itās so sexy, the way Utahime whimpers. How Shoko nips at Utahimeās already swollen lips. How Shoko pulls you tighter against her, pressing your ass against her groin.
Youāre not sure if itās the drinks youāve had with these girls, the cigarettes or the scent of their perfumes that has your head swimming. Hell, maybe itās a mixture of it all, but youāre so turned on watching these beautiful women kissing in front of you. All of their lust being poured into each slot of their lips, every groan and whimper between them, itās all so arousing. You squeeze your thighs together, prompting a soft chuckle from the woman behind you. Shoko breaks away from the kiss, releasing her hold on Utahimeās hair who pouts cutely, sitting back on her knees.
āDonāt look so sad, Hime,ā Shoko coos. She turns her attention back to you. āJust seemed like someone wanted to join us.ā
And you do. You want to join them real fucking bad.
But when Shoko leans forward, just trying to press a kiss to your neck, your brain suddenly crawls out of the fog. Youāre out in the open, in a compromising position with two models, at that. So you move, a hand flying up to push Shoko back a little.
Her brows furrow, head tilting in confusion and she releases her hold on you. āOhā Sorry, I didnāt mean to assumeā¦I just thoughtāā
āNo youāre right,ā you reassure them. Your eyes dart around the venue, and while everyone is likely drugged up or too drunk out of their minds to notice three girls feeling each other up in the club, you can never be too careful. āJustā¦not here. Letās go back to your hotel.ā
Shoko looks at Utahime, who stares at you two with eager eyes and a smile that would melt anyoneās heart. āOkay! Letās go!ā
- - - - - - - - -
Shoko checks you all into the hotel, and the room is as beautiful as youād imagine it would be. Thereās a main bedroom with a fluffy king bed ready to be slept inā¦or not. Off to the side of the room is a small dining area, and through large glass doors is the onsen bath, the water already run by the hotel staff for you. It screams luxury. You can see the steam curling from the water and god, if you couldnāt use a bath to wash away the day.
You set your bag and camera down on the dining table. Stretching your arms over your head, you take in the room, moving across the space. āThis hotel is fucking incredible,ā you gasp. āI canāt believe your agency spoils you guys like this.ā
Shoko laughs, kicking her heels off and setting them in the little armoire by the entrance. āRight? I was surprised myself. Make yourself at home,ā she tells you from the other side of the room.
She didnāt have to tell you twice. You couldnāt wait to crawl into that bed and āĀ
āWhatās this for?ā
You peek over your shoulder, eyes landing on Utahime fumbling around with the camera and panic sets in. You cannot lose that footage. āPlease donāt touch that!ā It comes out more forcefully than you intended and Utahime sets the camera down quickly, holding her hands up defensively.Ā
āSorry!ā
You rush toward her, only to be stopped in your tracks by Shoko, who places her hands on your shoulders. āHey, relax. She was just looking.ā She fixes you with a small smile, running her hands soothingly along your arms. And it does calm you, the earlier fear you felt melting away. āBe glad you caught her before she dropped it.ā Shoko shakes her head, releasing your shoulders before she turns, moving towards the other woman. Utahime stands still, watching and waiting as Shoko slips behind her easily. Shokoās fingers pinch the zipper of Utahimeās dress and drag it along the fabric until her dress slowly loosens around her chest and your gaze falls to the movement. āShe can be careless sometimes,ā Shoko speaks softly. Her fingers glide along Utahimeās collarbone, dragging down to the swell of her breasts. āDonāt mind her.āĀ
Shoko spins around, and Utahime follows, gently pushing Shokoās hair aside. She presses a soft kiss to the back of Shokoās neck and you watch as she trails kisses along the side of Shokoās neck, pulling quiet sighs from the taller woman as she pulls the zipper until the fabric falls to the floor, revealing her bare slim form. Shoko turns back around and captures Utahimeās lips with hers, only breaking away to whisper, āBe more careful, okay?ā before sheās back on her.
And all you can do is watch, the nerves you felt earlier about the camera now melted away. Beneath the soft lighting of the hotel room, they look like ethereal beings. Too innocent to be partaking in such salacious behavior. Arousal pools in your core as the vision of the two modelās tongues tangling sends you spiraling. Have you ever been so turned on, so eager to touch someone, to feel their body on yours? Even your nights spent with the most famous celebrities never had you so tempted to slip your hands into your panties.
Itās the way Shoko holds onto Utahimeās form against her own. How she reaches a hand up to pull down the loosened fabric against Utahimeās chest. How Utahime becomes exposed, her supple breasts falling gently. Utahimeās soft whimpers when the chill air ghosts along her pretty pink nipples, the buds puckering when Shoko rolls them gently between her fingers.
Shoko sighs, pulling away reluctantly. āYouāre so pretty,ā she whispers, hands kneading Utahimeās breasts. āSo beautiful. My perfect girl.ā
You can see the way Utahimeās eyes light up from across the room, a shy smile lifting the corners of her lips. āNo, you,ā she teases and Shoko chuckles.
Her heated gaze finds yours from across the room, how youāre watching them intently with desire clear in your eyes. Utahime follows her line of sight, and itās clear to her what Shoko wants. She raises her hand, inviting you over to join. And you donāt hesitate. Like magnets drawn to each other, your legs carry you to them with ease.
Both women welcome you, the anticipation clear. They want this just as badly as you do, and for a moment, you wonder if their panties are just as soaked as yours. Theyāve been kissing each other, touching each other, getting to taste and enjoy each other while youāve gotten the pleasure of watching from the sidelines. Now youāre about to partake in these pleasures with them. Youāre more excited than you care to admit.
Utahime takes your hand, guiding you closer and closer until youāre standing right in front of her. āAre you okay with this?ā She asks, eyes locked on your parted lips and you nod your consent.
āYes, I want this.ā
Utahimeās bright eyes travel to Shoko, who watches you both with hardly concealed interest.Ā
āThis stays here, though. Right?āĀ
You want to be sure before moving forward. Not that you were concerned, but better to have heard it with your own ears.
āOf course,ā Shoko confirms. She bites down on her lip before looping an arm around your waist. Now she has both you and Utahime in her hold. āNow kiss her.ā
The command has your core aching. Youāve wanted nothing more than to know what it felt like, tasted like, to kiss them. Didnāt matter who first or if it was both at the same time. You just wanted to feel their lips on yours.
And you do, when Shoko dips her head down to bury her face in your neck just as Utahime presses her mouth on yours. The moment their mouths connect with your skin, your body ignites with heat. Utahime is an amazing kisser. She has pretty, plush and soft lips that easily mold against yours. And she makes cute little noises when your tongues touch.
Shoko on the other hand, is a bit rougher, hungrier with her kisses. When she cups your cheek and breaks your kiss with Utahime by turning your head, sheās quick to nip at your lips. Her tongue slips into your mouth the second you let out a moan. While you and Shoko are heavily making out, Utahime takes this time to grab your hands, laying them against her large breasts.
āTouch me,ā she sighs, squeezing your hands beneath hers and moaning at the applied pressure.Ā
You oblige, hands running lightly over the hardened buds and you revel in the way Shoko moans a quiet āI love the way you play with her titsā¦ā into your mouth. āI wanna see you play with her pussy later.ā You whimper into the kiss, her confession making your cheeks heat. Youāll admit, this is your first threesome. Itās hard to focus, your mind is so foggy with the arousal building in your core. Itās all too much ā too much movement, too much touching, too much sound and way too much going on with your own body.
Your lips tingle, almost numb from how hard and greedily Shoko kisses you. Your skin vibrates with the way Utahime is practically helping you to play with her breasts. And your panties are probably dripping with arousal right now. You are desperate to cum.
āWe should get into the bath,ā Utahime groans when you cup her breasts. She leans forward, nudging Shoko away from your lips. Shoko gives her hardly any space at all, taking one side of your mouth while Utahime takes the other. Then itās all three of your tongues tangling together in this sloppy, wet kiss.Ā
Though youāre all reluctant to break away, Shoko moves first, stepping back enough to grab the hem of your shirt and peel it off of you, forcing Utahime back as well. Youāre all breathing heavily, flushed and aroused beyond measure, but you still nod. āYeah, let's get in bathā¦āĀ
++++++++++
āHave you been with a woman before?ā Shoko asks, lacing her fingers between yours as she guides you into her lap. You straddle her, though you donāt sit fully on her lap yet.
Youāve all slipped into the warmth of the deep hotel bathtub. Shoko sits half submerged on the bathtubās built-in bench with her back against the tubās wall. If your body was burning up before, itās on fire now, your pulse racing after spending the last few minutes lathering each otherās bodies and kissing until your lips hurt.
āI have.ā
Shokoās brows rise, almost as if sheās surprised by the confirmation. āTwo women?ā
You shake your head. Nevertheless, Shoko grins as she asks, āWell? The one youāve been withā¦How was it?ā She pulls you closer, until your lips are hovering barely over hers, breaths mingling. āDid you enjoy yourself?ā
The question hangs heavy between you two. Itās not as though answering this question would implicate you in any way, or give them any clues as to who the last woman you slept with was. So you answer honestly, just barely above a whisper. āYeah, it was pretty good.ā
Utahime giggles, gliding through the water to close the distance between you all. āSheās so cute, Shoko.āĀ
Shoko cups your face, eyes cast down to your lips. āShe is, isnāt she?ā She runs her thumb along your lip teasingly before she declares, āI can give you something better than pretty good.āĀ
āYeah?ā You challenge her.
āYeah, she can,ā Utahime confirms. āWe can.ā She closes the gap between you all, placing her hands on your waist from behind. You feel her wet breasts press against your back and your eyes flutter closed. Utahime is curvy in all the right places. You are no better than a man, more than turned on by the feeling of her pressed against you. Your absolute favorite part about her is her pretty, large breasts. You canāt wait to have her nipples in your mouth.
Utahime places light kisses along your skin, along your neck, moving so that sheās on her knees beside you and Shoko. She adjusts her height smoothly so that she sits a little taller, enough so that she can cup the back of your head and pull you to her chest. Your lips latch onto her nipple quickly, eagerly and she gasps, back arching and pushing her breast further into the cavern of your mouth. You hum against her, tongue rolling the pert bud. She tastes of the strawberry body wash you just rinsed off of her. Youāre so distracted, moving back and forth between Utahimeās breasts that you donāt notice Shoko slipping a hand between the other womanās thighs beneath the water. Not until Utahime cries out, hands coming up to find purchase on your shoulders.Ā
And Shoko, the bitch that she is, places her other hand on your thigh and guides you to sit down, mouth falling open with a soft moan when your hips connect under the bath water. Shoko rolls hips, brushing her core with yours and grinning as she watches your mouth fall agape against Utahimeās breast. She does it again, smiling wide when a small whimper falls from your lips. Then she keeps doing it, keeps grinding herself against you until your thighs are trembling, and youāre nothing but a puddle clinging to Utahimeās waist.
And Utahime, sheās not any better off. Shokoās fingers are slowly working her towards her release. Sheās already been pent up, teased and turned on since youād all gotten together at the nightclub. Now, as Shoko scissors her fingers inside her sex, presses her palm to her clit, Utahime only inches closer to the edge.Ā
The smaller woman pushes you from her chest, her hands cupping your face so she can capture your lips with hers. And youāre so overstimulated, your mind reeling while the water sloshes with every thrust of Shokoās hips. Shoko gently cups one of your breasts, rolling your nipple between her thumb and forefinger, moaning as she feels your clits brush against each other repeatedly. She sighs sweetly watching as you ride her, all while Utahime rides her hand while her lips slot against yours.
āYouāre so soft,ā Utahime breathes, tongue pushing past your lips to press against your own wet muscle. One hand finds the back of Utahimeās head, fingers tangling in her soft tresses and you hear Shoko moan beneath you, her hips slamming into yours. Your tongue tangles messily with Utahimeās, all saliva and groans as Shoko moves you against her. Water splashes over the sides of the tub. You canāt be bothered to care about the mess youāre all making. Not when this feels so good, not when Utahime kisses you like this, not while Shoko makes her sob into your mouth, not when you can feel the delicious tension beginning to build in your core.Ā
āFuck, ah ā youāre both so sexyā¦ā Shoko groans. āLove watching you kiss each other. So fucking sexyā¦Play with my tits while I fuck her, Hime.ā
Without breaking the kiss, Utahime grasps one of Shokoās breasts, tweaking her nipple and grinning against your mouth when Shoko gasps loudly. Her thrusts come faster, head falling back as she moans.
āAhhā¦Shokoā¦you make such pretty sounds, baby.ā Utahime coos and you whimper, eyes rolling back when your cunt slides against Shokoās deliciously. āYou do, too,ā Utahime tells you, kissing you one last time before breaking away to lean down and kiss Shoko now.
All the while, Shoko never stops her movements. Itās like sheās an expert with her hands because she never loses hold of your hip, guiding you against her while she fucks her fingers into Utahime with her other hand. The room is full of the lewd sounds of you three whimpering, moaning, and whining at the shared intimacy. If thereās anyone in the rooms next to you, they may complain, but youāre not worried about that. Youāre more concerned with the way Utahimeās voice rises several octaves, her cheeks pink and eyes squeezed shut.
āGonna cum?ā Shoko groans. āCāmere. Cāmere, baby,ā Shoko stops moving, gently pulling her fingers from Utahimeās pussy. Sheās so gentle with the other woman as she adjusts herself so that sheās able to lean her head back enough for Utahime to stand between you and her, legs spread as she settles her knees on the edge of the tub, positioning her core over Shokoās face. Youāve got a nice view of Utahimeās pretty round ass, and an even better view of Shoko pressing a passionate kiss to Utahimeās cunt, tongue running through her folds, lips wrapping around Utahimeās swollen bud.
Utahime gasps, moaning breathlessly when Shoko sucks her clit hard, then teases it with the tip of her tongue. Your hands play idly with Shokoās nipples, eyes locked on the way Shoko devours Utahime, like sheās never tasted something sweeter in her life. Itās such an arousing vision. Utahimeās thighs begin to tremble and youāre grateful for the platform of the bath, where Utahime falls forward onto her hands. Sheās on all fours, riding Shokoās face.Ā
āShokoooo, oohā,ā she hisses through gritted teeth. āGonna fucking cum, babe,ā she warns, and Shokoās lips wrap around her clit again, humming loudly as she gives Utahimeās ass a harsh smack. This has Utahimeās body spasming, a high pitched cry leaving her as she reaches her peak. And as you watch Shoko drive Utahime over the edge with just her tongue, youāre unsure if itās the water from the bath or Utahimeās release thatās running down Shokoās face, absolutely soaking the taller womanās chin.
āFuck,ā you moan quietly, eyes locked on the sexy sight before you. Your clit throbs beneath the surface. Maybe Shoko feels it, because she picks her movements back up after returning both hands to your hips. Your cunt slips and slides against Shokoās again and this time, after watching Utahime fall apart on Shokoās tongue, youāre even more aroused and eager to reach your own release. Itās not too far off, only getting closer as you watch Utahime shudder while Shoko continues making out with her pussy.
When itās clear Utahime is spent, she climbs off of Shoko and slips back into the water, gliding through the liquid to position herself behind you where she begins kissing along your neck again. Her hands finds your breasts and she kneads them gently from behind, the motion such a contrast to the way Shoko is roughly fucking you again.
And once more, youāre all whimpering, hands roaming each otherās bodies. Grabbing soft flesh and squeezing anywhere you can that pulls sweet noises. Youāre riding Shoko hard, desperately trying to cum. Each stroke of your clit against hers has you reeling, the sweet sensation pushing you closer and closer to your climax.
āIām jealous,ā Utahime pouts cutely. āShoko gets to fuck you so good. I wanna fuck you, too.āĀ
You canāt do anything but whimper pathetically at the aspect of your legs crossed with Utahimeās. Shokoās moans follow. āI wanna see you fuck her, baby.ā She thrusts her hips up, a loud moan rushing past your lips. āYou wanna fuck Hime, too? She eats pussy so good.ā
āGod, yes!ā You cry, eyes closed as you focus on your impending climax.
āWe have plenty of time tonight,ā Utahime assures you. āMaybe we can even do this another time.ā
āOh, Iād love that. Get to see this pretty pussy again,ā Shoko grunts, eyes locked on the way your tits bounce with every roll of your hips. āGod, even in the water, your pussy is so fucking wet.ā
Utahime groans, pouting further. āStopppp, Shoko. I already said Iāmāā
āGonna cum,ā Shoko whines. āOh my god, Iām gonna cum!ā
Shoko leans forward suddenly, grasping you by the back of your neck and pulling you close so she can crash her lips into yours. The mixture of Shoko's taste and the tang of Utahimeās cum on Shokoās tongue has your eyes rolling back, and youāre toppling over. Your orgasm hits you like a freight train, the tension and build up throughout the night finally snapping the band that had been coiling in your core for the last several hours.
Your arms wrap around Shokoās shoulders as you keen into each other's mouths, riding out your highs.
āOh wowā¦ā Utahime rubs small circles on your back. āThat wasā¦really hot.ā
Youāre catching your breath, Shoko still holding onto your hips tightly. Her hair is stuck to her forehead, a sweaty mess that somehow looks even more beautiful this way.
āWeāre gonna need another bath,ā she chuckles.
The night carries on with much of the same taking place. After the bath (and second bath), the three of you fall into bed, quickly finding yourselves tangled in the sheets.
++++++++++
The next morning, youāre awakened by the sound of your phone buzzing incessantly on the hotel table. Your head is pounding and youāre not sure if itās the couple glasses of wine you had, or the dehydration from the many orgasms both women pulled from you last night. Probably a mixture of both.
Speaking of Shoko and Utahime, you stretch carefully in bed, remembering you all fell asleep with you sandwiched between them. But youāre left confused when you donāt feel a warm body on either side of you. You open your eyes slowly, wincing when the early morning rays of sun feel like a punch to the forehead. But even the aching in your skull isnāt enough for you to ignore that you appear to be alone in a hotel room that is not yours.
You crawl out of bed, peering around the room. āHello?ā You call out, and it feels like your voice is echoing, bouncing off the walls of this quiet room. You check the bathroom and find itās empty. You check the closet and donāt see any evidence that clothes were inside last night. āMaybe they just had to leave,ā you murmur to yourself. Because it helps soothe the nagging feeling you have sitting in the pit of your stomach at the moment.
Shrugging off the feeling, you go about your morning as you normally would. You shower, brush your teeth, dress in the clothes youād come over in last night and plan on heading back home to report back to work.
Your phone is still buzzing when youāre about ready to head out. You finally pick it up, unlocking the device and seeing a plethora of missed calls as well as several text messages from some of your team members and associates.
Associate 1: Where are you?
Associate 1: 911!! Please pick up!
You roll your eyes, wondering what trouble theyād gotten into last night. What mess will you have to clean up this morning?
Associate 3: PLEASE ANSWER THE PHONE
Director: You need to call me.
Director: NOW.
Slight panic begins to set in, and you continue scrolling through your messages. Thereās one from an unknown number, sent in the early hours of the morning. You open the message, eyes practically bulging out of your head when you see the contents.
Unknown: No hard feelings, okay? We really needed the exposure so we could get booked for more shows. Thanks for last night! - H
Another text comes through, and you think you might be fucking sick when you read it. Itās a link to a news article forā¦Jujutsu Journal? Stupid ass name, but itās a gossip blog so what did you expect?Ā
The page has screenshots of a very familiar scene. You and the models in the bath. You and Utahime on the bed with your heads thrown back in ecstasy. A blurred pic, censoring what may be the dirtiest of all ā you bent over the bed on all fours, with your face buried between Utahimeās legs while Shoko (and her lilac colored strap) destroy you from behind.Ā
Where the absolute hell would they get these?!
The headline reads:
TAKING RELATING TO THE PUBLIC TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL! Head Public Relations manager for one of Japanās top fashion magazines is in quite a pickle! This morning Jujutsu Journal received EXCLUSIVE footage of her in various intimate positions with models Shoko Ieiri and Utahime Iori! Rumor has it these two are already booked and busy. Meanwhile, it looks like this Public Relations manager may soon be booted and broke! Want to see the tape? Click here to sign up for exclusive members only access!
The pieces begin to connect, your mind flashing back to just last night. The camera is right where you left it the night before. Well, where Utahime left it. But when your fingers push the button to open the tape cartridge, you find it empty. All the footage from the night before is gone! You feel like you may faint. All these years of being so careful, at least twenty steps ahead. All the progress youāve madeā¦gone.
And not just that! Now thereās a sextape of you three floating around the internet! Is that why Utahime was fumbling around with the camera? Why Shoko went out of her way to distract you? So that she could buy Utahime time to turn the camera on and hit record? Is that why they showed so much interest in you in the first place? Everything is beginning to make more and more sense, while simultaneously making less and less sense. Youāre so confused.
āWhat the fuck?ā You mutter to no one but yourself.
Your phone buzzes. Youāre scared to look, but you know you should.
āWhatā¦theā¦fuckā¦ā You still canāt believe this is happening. To you of all people.
Your eyes see the name light up on your screen. Itās your boss.
Thereās no way youāll be able to spin this one.Ā
#JujutsuJournal#shoko ieri x reader#shoko ieiri#shoko smut#shoko x reader#utahime x reader#shokohime#shokohime x reader#shokohime x you#jjk x reader#jjk x reader smut#shokohime smut#utahime x fem reader#shoko x fem reader#shokohime x fem reader#utahime iori x reader#shoko ieiri x fem reader#shoko x you#shoko ieiri x you#jjk x y/n#anime x reader#anime smut#jjk smut#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jjk x you#jujutsu kaisen smut#utahime smut#shoko ieiri x reader
1K notes
Ā·
View notes
Note
Hi! Iām working on an original character project that I want to include a lot of casual representation in (ācasualā meaning that the characters donāt need a justification for being disabled/fat/POC/etc, they just are because people can and do exist that way in reality!)
I was wondering if you had any suggestions for finding resources for drawing facial differences(and maybe other visible disabilities), especially in a cartoony style. Iāve looked through the Facial Equality Week tag but would like to see more examples, and since my art is soā¦ goofy, for lack of a better word, I would love any help I can get in integrating differences without being offensive or upsetting.
Sorry if this is a bother, and thank you for all that you do!
Hey!
I'm not aware of any guides for drawing facial differences specifically (or at least, good ones. There's 1 billion tutorials telling you that scars are just a Singular Line, always, but that's not... correct), but perhaps someone in the notes could help out?
For my own advice, you could check out this old post I made. Because you mentioned your art being cartoony, I would specifically urge you to not overexaggerate facial differences the way they often are. A prime example would be how a lot of cartoons portray strabismus;
It's just a funny gag to them rather than, IDK, how some of us look like. Not to mention that one of these is also a mockery of intellectually/developmentally disabled people with "Derp" in the name, but that's beside the point here.
It's the whole "the character is crazy/stupid/wild/whatever and that's why they have it" that's the problem with how it's often shown. You can also see it in how characters who don't even normally have it will be shown with it for a scene where they're saying something nonsensical, etc.
Another example that's nowhere near as rampant is the split-face thing with various facial differences being used. Mostly vitiligo but sometimes also facial palsy. I'm talking about this weirdly perfectly halved face that looks extremely different on each side, often used to imply that a character is two-faced but mostly just signals that the author doesn't know how vitiligo looks like.
[note: vitiligo also shows up on lighter skin. I wanted to make sure it's visible here for tutorial clarity purposes.]
This one is just weird because it straight up doesn't look like that. I have no idea where it came from, but it should go back there. Facial palsy doesn't make someone look like the antique comedy/tragedy theater mask.
Unless I'm forgetting some other annoying cartoon trope, these would be the big ones that you should stay away from.
Outside of that, it's really on a case by case basis on how a specific FD should be drawn because they're so different. A birthmark can just be a differently colored patch of skin, but a craniofacial difference would require some more changes to be included. Alopecia is well, lack of hair, and can be done very easily but ectrodactyly can be more complicated to show properly because of the limitations of a cartoony artstyle when it comes to hands. And while I do think it would be great to see more of those facial differences that tend to not be included in art at all, there's nothing wrong with deciding to go for the things you can represent more faithfully, especially if you're just starting.
I will say that if you're making an honest attempt at being respectful and trying to get it right, most of us will still be excited to see your work. Even if it's not perfect or has some inaccuracies. I will take a "'yeah more or less' correct with a happy, human character" over a "Very Technically correct but tagged as #tw burns and with blood splattered on them" any day.
Lastly, I wanted to share some art featuring characters with facial differences (and other visible disabilities) that are done in a cartoony, or at least somewhat simplistic artstyles (I'm using both terms very widely here) - maybe it will give you some ideas.
Man with Treacher Collins syndrome (also one of the first pieces online where I saw a character with an FD portrayed in such a lovely way. A fav of mine.) Girl with Pfeiffer syndrome Too many characters to count Woman with burns Woman with a limb difference Multiple characters again Animation featuring people with Down syndrome [youtube] Multiple characters, including a girl with neurofibromatosis, a burn survivor, a girl with a cleft lip and another with TCS [twitter]
If you have a more specific art question ("how do I draw a person with XYZ facial difference?") you can send me an ask on @saszor. I prefer to stick to the writing theme on this blog but would still like to help if you need it.
Hope this helps,
mod Sasza
Edit: apologies for the lack of alt text on one of the images, it has been fixed.
700 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Midnight
Din Djarin x f!reader
Rating: E
A/N: Happy New Yearās Eve! ā¤ļø Thank you for being so kind and patient with me this year ā itās been a long one, but this place has made it all the more tolerable. This has been a WIP since 2021 (!!) and it was so wild to brush it off and compare how much my writing has changed since then ā thank you for sticking around, for being so supportive and for being a part of this community. I appreciate you all and hope you all have a great 2025! ššš¾
ā
9PM
The kitchen is already packed.Ā
Itās been an hour since you arrived to the greeting of your coworkers broad smile, getting her for all of two minutes before you promptly lost her again. Youād seen pieces of her since, shimmers of her silver dress in between the crowd of bodies: her arm extended to hand someone a drink, her hip pressed against the counter to refill a chip bowl, her bright laugh above the din of conversation.Ā
The beer in your hand had started out cold, but now borders on luke warm as you take a tentative sip. You grimace at the flavor, yet hold onto it, if only for something to do with your hands.Ā
āWhy are you drinking that?āĀ
She appears in front of you, at last, the only person you know here. Pulling a face at the bottle in your hand, she lifts her eyebrow. āYou donāt drink beer. Couldnāt find anything better at the bar?ā
āI didnāt even see a bar,ā you reply, standing on your toes to look around the room. All you see are shoulders and heads, a sea of pointed hats with shiny poms of tinsel on top.Ā
She rolls her eyes with a smile, plucking the beer from your grip to take your hand in hers.Ā
āOver here,ā she leads, tugging you towards the living room.Ā
Turning your body sideways to get through the crowd, you grin when the bar comes into sight.Ā
The cart is an art-deco elaborate thing, mirrored and gilded. You remember her shopping for it online at the office, hiding the screen whenever your manager would walk by. Its beauty is hidden underneath a crowd of bottles, just as tight as the people in her apartment, and she twists and turns them, searching.Ā
Lifting one up, she offers something else with a familiar smile. āGin?āĀ
You grin. āYes please.ā
ā
10PM
One heavy handed gin and tonic later, youāre feeling much better about the situation.Ā
You havenāt seen your friend in awhile, but thatās okay ā your other coworkers have arrived.Ā
āOkay but why is it such a personal thing?ā you ask, tipping your cup to slip an ice cube into your mouth. āI know which one is yours ā the one with Snoopy on it ā and itās not like it would be wrong if I took it, but it would feel wrong, you know?ā
Your coworker nods earnestly. āCoffee cups in the office are weird thing, man. They arenāt labeled, but likeā¦you just know.ā
He shuffles forward for someone to pass by him, and you back up to make room, your back pressing against the stranger behind you. They are a solid wall of heat, and before you can turn and apologize, the ringing shout of more people being welcomed draws your attention in the direction of the kitchen door. Your friend appears under the archway a second later, leading a train of people through the crowd and as everyone parts to make room, the person behind you reaches back, placing their hand on your hip. Their hold pushes you lightly towards the wall, out of the way.Ā
Looking down, you see a manās hand ā thick fingers, a broad palm and when you turn around, you find the owner.Ā
Jesus Christ.Ā
Heās fucking gorgeous. Tilting your chin up to start with the dark mop of his curls, you hungrily take in the rest of his face: a strong nose, plush lips, jaw covered in scruff. Easily the most handsome person youāve ever seen, youāre frozen in place, and his neat mustache twitches with amusement.Ā
āHey,ā he greets you, turning to fully face you. āSorry,ā he gestures to your hip with a flick of his eyes. āDidnāt want you to get run over.ā
Those eyes. Those fucking eyes. Beautiful and brown, rich and dark ā with creases that fan out when he smiles. He waits you out, and you wonder if heās used to your reaction, or if his silence means heās just as enamored as you with what he sees.Ā
You hope itās the latter, though youāre sure itās the former.Ā
āItās okay,ā you breathe, and he grins, a dimple appearing in his cheek.Ā
A fucking dimple? Are you kidding?Ā
āDin,ā he says, pointing towards himself with the neck of his beer bottle. When you give him your name, you donāt miss the way his eyes slip down the length of your body and crawl back up. So open and blatant with his expression, itās almost as if he doesnāt think you can see it.
Or maybe he knows you can, but doesnāt care.Ā
Giddiness pools in your chest, and he gestures for your glass.Ā
āCan I get you another?ā he asks over the noise of the party.Ā
āSure.ā
You grin, and he mirrors it.Ā
ā
11pm
How can someone be this good at charades?
Itās uncanny, his ability to convey so much with gestures alone. You wonder if maybe it has something to do with his confidence, or the graceful, commanding movement of his body. Itās like youāve been able to read his mind and he yours, the two of you synced up after forty minutes in each otherās presence. He says nothing, and still, you understand every time.Ā
His face is so subtly expressive, thatās what you think makes it. Or maybe itās his hands, ā large, capable looking things that he seems so deft with.Ā
Theyāve been touching you since you met ā a firm pressure on the small of your back to guide you through rooms, a circle around your wrist when you were almost separated. A curved hold on your hip when you signed him up for charades, a gentle brush of his fingers when he slipped the strap of your dress into place after a round.Ā
He comes back from the bar, two water bottles in hand and his weight drops on the couch next to you, his thigh pressing tight against your own.Ā
The cushion forces you to lean into the bulk of his body and turning your head to the side, you whisper conspiratorially in his ear. āWeāre killing them.ā
The divot below his ear holds the best scent ā heady and masculine, warm in the best way ā and he smiles, returning a whisper of his own.Ā
āI know.āĀ
His boyish grin is deceptive, hiding how competitive heās been this entire game, a trait that you find yourself liking. Not boastful like most guys, but more like he brims with a quiet confidence. Like heās just sure of himself, his commanding presence drawing you in.Ā
The other team starts, their shouts fading into the background as his eyes drop down to your mouth. You wait with bated breath for the flirty line that most men would deliver at this moment ā but none comes. Instead, he stays silent, letting his eyes do all the talking.Ā
They roam over your features, blatant and bold in their quest. His smile falters, slipping into something with more intent and the warmth held in his eyes simmers to turn into something darker, hungrier. Your mouth waters in anticipation, your tongue gliding over your bottom lip, and you watch as he follows its path.Ā
His hand rests on top of your knee, encompassing it within his warm hold. The touch sparks a line of want that zips up the inside of your thigh to the damp crotch of your undies, a beat pulsing between your legs. It curls behind your belly button, pooling between your hips ā a sticky slick ache that makes you press your thighs together.Ā
The corner of his lips tug upwards as if he knows.Ā
A chorus of groans declares you winners and he squeezes your knee in victory, his eyes still on yours.Ā
11:59pm
āFIVE! FOUR!ā
The cheer of the guests counting down is deafening, and you wince at the sound even while shouting yourself. Dinās arm drapes around your shoulders, the weight of it keeping you tucked along his side as he protects you from being crushed.
āTHREE! TWO!ā
Lifting your drink into the air, you grin up at him when he does the same. Couples around the room turn to each other, and you tip your chin upwards, your cheek fitting into the crook of his shoulder. He looks down at you, his arm tightening in its hold and itās like a magnet pulling your mouths towards each other, anticipation building to a breaking point.Ā
āONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!ā
The room explodes in cheers and shouts, and he leans down to meet your mouth with his.Ā
Itās a firm, sure kiss; his lips softly molding to yours. You savor it, pushing up on your toes to prolong it and when you pull back, you notice micro-expressions flit over his face: his eyes brightening before darkening with want, his lips pursing like heās already missing the press of yours. He bends to kiss you again, and when his lips part yours to deepen the kiss, sparks burst and skitter through your limbs like the fireworks exploding outside. You lean into it, throwing your arms around his neck, your fingers threading into the curls at his nape and the strength and surety of his hold lifts you upwards, your toes skimming the floor, the wood underneath pulsing with the party.
No one notices when you slip from the room, or when he takes a bottle of champagne from a table as you pass it. No one notices when you climb the stairs, or when you slip into the last door on the right. Lost in their own celebration, the tune of Auld Lang Syne follows you down the hallway, the joyous melody muffled when he shuts the door behind you.Ā
āI thought maybe we could celebrate in here. Alone.ā His voice is so much richer without the noise of the party competing against it, and the boldness of the statement makes you flush with heat.Ā
He takes a swig of champagne straight from the bottle and hands it to you, smiling when you do the same. The bubbles dance and burst on your tongue, similar to the feeling in your stomach when he pulls you in for a kiss. The flavor of the champagne is on his tongue, his mouth moving with intent and the music in the other room shifts to a heavier bass beat when he guides you backwards, his smile felt against your mouth.Ā
You hit the bed with a breathless laugh, the weight of his knee dipping the mattress when he crawls up over you and though you have felt the heat of him next to you all night, itās nothing like how it feels when he settles his body on top of yours.
His mouth immediately meets yours and his hands are everywhere, grasping anything he can reach: sliding from his hold on your nape to caress the round of your bare shoulder. Slipping the strap of your dress down as his touch skates downward, palming the weight of your breast. You arch into his touch, your whine muffled by his hungry mouth and his hips rock forward into yours. Your thighs widen, your skirt falling up around your hips, and his hand continues its way south, curling around the plump curve of your hip with a squeeze. His thumb picks at the band of your panties, and you squirm, forcing contact between the heft hidden underneath his fly and the soaked, delicate fabric that covers your core.Ā
Heās hard ā so hard, so thick with promise ā and his mouth finds the hollow of your throat, smearing over the line of your collarbone before moving down to the swell of your breasts. You tug the collar of your dress down, an action that makes him stop ā but only for a moment.Ā
āJesus Christ,ā he breathes, husky and low, the words of reverence rumbling from his chest. Then heās surging forward, cupping the weight of your tit in his hand, his mouth closing around the peak. The shock of warm wetness and suction when he pushes more of it into his mouth has you moaning shamelessly underneath him, your back arching to encourage the dull scrape of his teeth over your nipple.Ā
You push him back, your hands fumbling with the hem of his shirt, and he sits up on his knees, reaching back to tug it off. He tosses it onto the floor, immediately draping his body back over yours. Your dress and bra tugged down around your waist, the weight and warmth of his firm chest against yours is delicious and heady as he continues to kiss you drunk.Ā
Just as sure and competent as he was in the other room, he wedges his hand between your bodies and finds your clit with the pads of his thick fingers, rubbing it until you soak the crotch of your underwear with need. He can feel it, the sodden fabric slipping under his touch and he breaks your kiss, bringing his hand up to his mouth. His lips wrap around his fingers, a deep, satisfied groan pouring from his throat while you watch from underneath him, your jaw slack with want.Ā
Your intense need for him snaps, your pussy clenching as you watch him suck and you frantically fumble with his belt buckle, working it open. Your hand trembles as he helps you, his mouth capturing yours in another consuming, frantic kiss that has him eating at your mouth and when you pull him out together, your breathing hitches in your throat at the heft that smacks against your inner thigh.Ā
You try to look down, his broad chest blocking the view and itās almost better that you canāt see it. There is something about the anticipation of it, the touch without the sight. You feel his hand wrap around the base of his cock, working to notch it at your entrance and when he breaks you open on the thick tip, you hold your breath, savoring it.Ā
āFuck,ā you breathe, your jaw clenching. Aching for it ever since you turned to face him in the kitchen, the filling weight of his cock is overwhelming, your body being forced to make room for it. The snug, slick fit has you whining underneath him, begging him for something heās already giving you.Ā
āYou feel so good,ā you moan, and he gives you a smug look in return. His expression is laced with pride, his eyes hooded with arousal, his hips pushing forward until heās in all the way down to the base.Ā
āSo do you,ā he breathes just over your mouth, and you pull him in for a kiss, needing his lips on yours.Ā
Expecting a fast fuck squirreled away in a bedroom that belongs to someone else, what you donāt expect is how intense it feels. His cock is a relentless, filling stroke that claims, his mouth breaking contact only when he wants to watch: his dark eyes trailing over your open mouth, your bouncing tits, your pleading expression.Ā
And then heās back on you again, filling you deeper, harder.Ā
Your fingers weave into his sweat damp curls, keeping him close. The muscles in his torso shift against your own, highlighting the hidden strength held in them. His thighs spread for purchase, forcing yours open wider and his hand grasps handfuls of your bottom and of your hip to keep you in place underneath him. Knowing you have to be somewhat quiet, you drink each otherās moans.Ā
You hear another couple stumble down the hallway ā a thud against the wall followed by a loud laugh. The door knob jiggles and his hand clamps over your mouth just as a throaty moan breaks free. You whine into the humid curl of his fingers, and when the people outside jiggle the doorknob again, Din picks up his pace.Ā
He fucks you: the weighted press of his body paired with the weighted press of his hold has you forced to take it, and when the couple outside moves on with a loud laugh to find their own private bedroom, he slips his hand off your mouth, fisting the bedding next to your head instead.Ā
āSorry,ā he pants. āDidnāt want them to hear you.ā His mouth rests next to your ear, his scruff tickling the delicate skin of your neck. āThose sounds are mine,ā he breathes.Ā
The sweet sentiment paired with the filthy confession flings you over the edge of your release, your body curling around his as a means to ground you. You want it all: the sweaty press of his bare skin, the softness of his curls, the humid press of his mouth. He fucks you right through it, restraint etched into his jaw.Ā
āI want youā¦,ā you start, your voice syrupy and slow, still quaking with aftershocks. āI want you to come.āĀ
āIām going to,ā he warns, his elbows resting on either side of your face, his hand curling around the crown of your head. His lips brush against the apple of your cheek, dot the tip of your nose and he tucks his face into the crook of your neck and breathes in, his hips never ceasing. āYouāre so wet. Youāre so fucking wet, Iām gonna come.ā
His voice has your eyes closing tight, his breathless pants for air making you pulse around his cock. The sounds heās making are filthy ā the filthiest coming right as he does.Ā
He pulls out, but just barely ā his hips slam against yours a couple of times: deep strokes that have you keening on his cock and just as his body tenses up with a deep groan that rumbles his chest against yours, his hips snap back, slick smearing from his cock along the inside of your thigh as he spends himself along the soft skin. Bracing himself on your hip, he closes his eyes tight and you take in the way he looks above you: desperate, beautiful. Hot spurts of his release pool on your skin, on the fine hair that dusts your pussy, and on the sheets underneath you ā which has you wondering, for the first time, whoās room this is.Ā
His pulse thrums underneath his tanned skin, and you ignore that line of thought, instead tipping your chin up to capture the beat in a kiss.Ā
You hear him smile, and feel his body relax on top of yours. He hums with contentment, and finds your mouth with his own, pulling you into a deep, sated kiss.Ā
āHappy New Year,ā he breathes into your mouth. There is a beat of silence, his face shifting to nuzzle between your breasts. He kisses whatever skin he can reach, as if heās starved for touch.Ā
Guiding his face to yours, you nip at his bottom lip, loving the way it makes him smile against your mouth.Ā
āHappy New Year.ā
258 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
ON THE ROAD.
PART I
Bangchan, Han & Jeongin x reader. (s,f,a)
Chapters: Part II
Synopsis: A group of friends going on a road trip that, little did they know, will change their lives forever. (19,1k words)
ON THE ROAD PLAYLIST.
Author's note: My inbox is always open for feedback and your wild theories hehehe enjoy this one too! x
A famous author once said that friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too?"
For years, Chan believes that in order to make friends, he has to have common things with them, for example, having the same favorite books having the same hobbies, etcetera.
That's what he thought until he found out that in real life, that's not always the case.
Chan learns all about friendship when he meets his friends. He first met them at the art school 8 years ago and they remain good friends to this very second.
Because they're now living in different places and working in various professions, they have this weekly group video call every Friday at 8 pm.
Chan is so busy editing videos that he almost forgets that it's Friday and it's ten minutes to 8, he hurriedly opens his laptop to start a video call with his friends. He knows it'll take them some time to come online so he notifies his friends through the group chat too, not forgetting to add that he'll not make them watch a foreign movie tonight in the hope that they'll hurry.
That's one thing about Chan, he's passionate about movies and dreams of becoming a great movie director someday. Other than that, Chan has many great qualities about him. He's smart, he's good looking, he lives a healthy lifestyle, and a true social butterfly, something about him that makes people comfortable being around him. Those qualities combined with his dimpled smile create this magnet that attracts a lot of girls.
However, Chan only has eyes on one girl and one girl only.
"Oh, hi, Chris!" A voice that's way too familiar says through the laptop, a voice that evokes something deep within him and sends a tingle down his spine.
"Hi, Jinnie!" Chan says back with a smile.
-
Jinnie's Friday night is like any other night, she's drawing in her studio with the scented candle filling the room with the soft and sweet smell of vanilla. At times, she'll take a break to sip her tea and check her phone for the time.
It's almost 8 and she wonders why the group chat isn't blaring with notifications, she pouts thinking that everyone is too busy to have a video call tonight.
Just like the universe heard her wistful thinking, her phone chimes with a notification and her face lights up as she opens it.
It's Chan sending a link to the video call. Jinnie wastes no time to get on her laptop and clicks on the link that takes her to where everyone is going to virtually meet. A few seconds later, her face appears on the box on the screen next to Chan and that means she's the first to come online after him which is not a surprise.
"Oh!" She delightfully gasps, feeling happy to see a friendly face even though they had one of the video calls a week ago.
"Hi, Chris!" She greets him while smiling and enthusiastically waving her hand through the screen.
"Hi, Jinnie!" Chan replies with his sweet, dimpled smile.
It's kind of adorable to find him waving with his muscular arms and Jinnie can't help but smile. She adjusts her desk lamp to give her proper lighting then stacks her hands together.
"It's always us, huh?"
"What?" Chan asks as he leans closer to the screen.
"It's always you and me," Jinnie says, pointing at him and then at herself while half laughing.
Chan cracks a laugh at that, "And that means Jeongin will come next."
"Cause we all know who will come last."
"You mean who will come late?" Chan corrects him with a smirk.
Jinnie lowly chuckles and grabs her cup of tea from the other desk, "How are you, Chris?"
"I'm doing great, I guess," he answers.
"I guess?" Jinnie squinted her eyes at him as she repeated his words, "You've been staying up all night again, did you?"
"Well, uh..." Chan tries to make up an excuse but fails, he covers his eyes in embarrassment and laughs it off, "I tried not to."
"Are you working on something?"
"Yeah, I'm editing these videos for a short film I did with a friend," he answers.
"Oh? Is it the same one as the one you told me?"
"No. It's a different one."
"I know you're working, I hope you keep taking care of yourself well, Chris," Jinnie warmly tells him, genuinely concerned as a friend.
Jinnie has always been like that, kind, attentive, and a great illustrator, she's as gentle as the colors she uses in her art. She's beautiful but not solely because she's the only girl in this group of friends.
Jinnie's outer appearance matches her inside and you rarely find that kind of person.
The other often think of Jinnie as an angel that unluckily fell on this part of the earth, right in the middle of this friendship, and has become a blessing to everyone ever since.
"Oh, there's Jeongin!" She gasps, showing the same enthusiastic and bright smile whenever she sees her friends.
In other words, there's lucky to have Jinnie as their friend.
-
The letter feels heavy on his hand even though it's only a piece of paper, a piece of paper that holds his future and will forever change his life.
Jeongin should be happy, this is what he wants but something is tugging at his chest. He slips the paper back into its envelope and hides it in between pages of the book he's reading.
He reclines on his chair and runs his hands through his hair, feeling torn but he doesn't know what makes him feel that way. He closes his eyes as if it would help him shutting his mind off and ignoring the chimes that come from his phone until he remembers to check it.
Using his hand, he gropes around the table to find his phone without looking and unlocks it to find some notifications, the first three are coming from Chan.
Jeongin rushes on his chair realizing that it's Friday and he forgot about the video call. He immediately gets on his computer and logs into the link Chan sent him through the group chat.
Despite knowing that he's late, he remains calm because he knows he'll not be the last to join, there's someone else who will come later than him.
The screen takes a moment to load the video call and he appears on the lower box between his two friends, Jinnie and Chan.
"Oh, there's Jeongin!" Jinnie exclaims in joy, as beautiful and bright as usual like she's bringing her own sun wherever she goes.
"Well, Chan said we're not going to watch a weird foreign movie so here I am," Jeongin jokingly says.
"Thank you, Jeongin," Chan says, poking his cheek with his tongue, easily offended as expected which truly shows he's the oldest one in this group of friends.
"But the last one we watched was really good," Jinnie says, defending Chan with his exquisite taste in movies.
So here's the thing, everyone knows that Jinnie and Chan would make a perfect couple but it's a mystery why they're not dating yet.
Jeongin knows for sure that Chan has a feeling for Jinnie and it's so obvious, but he can't say the same about Jinnie even though it's impossible that she missed all of those signs.
Or maybe love is a simple thing because Jeongin is someone who watches from the outside and it's different for those two individuals involved. But still, Chan has been there all along and Jinnie doesn't see it, which infuriates Jeongin at times.
Whenever he sees them together, he gets the urge to point out everything but instead of that, he lets out a sigh and then puts on a smile.
"So, how are you guys?" He asks.
Jeongin has always been the quiet one, but don't take his silence as ignorance, he's very observant. He watches everything and remembers everything to the tiniest details, that's also why the others become extremely careful with what they say or do around Jeongin because they know he has their cards under his sleeves.
But being observant also means he has sound judgments about things, he's fair and sensible and that makes Jeongin the most reasonable one.
"I'm great. I'm having a cup of tea with me," Jinnie says, showing the cup of tea she's holding with both hands with her eyes forming two crescents as she smiles.
"And I'm good, thank you for asking," Chan says with his dimpled smile.
"I'm not asking you, Chris," Jeongin jokes.
Chan presses his lips together until they form a thin line and lets out air through his nostrils with his eyes closed while Jinnie is giggling.
"How was the recital going?" Jinnie asks.
"It went well," Jeongin answers.
Honestly, everything went so well, he's still playing piano as always and has shows to do but something about it makes him feel a little distressed that he feels the need to shift the talk.
"Well, we're not watching Chris' weird movie tonightā"
"It's not weird," Chan groans in disagreement and a glare aimed at him.
Jeongin refuses to correct his earlier remark and continues, "So what we're going to do tonight?"
Truthfully, Jeongin really needs the distraction tonight and he doesn't mind at all even if it means he has to endure three hours of watching a movie he can't understand, plot or language-wise.
"I have an announcement," Chan says.
"What kind of announcement?" Jinnie curiously asks with her eyes comically widening.
Chan swivels his chair to the side and plays with a stress ball in his hand, "I can't say anything yet until everyone gets here," he says.
Jeongin groans as he reclines on his chair and covers his face, knowing that it'll take only God knows how long until the last person finally comes online.
"In that case, I'll get myself a can of soda first," he says to everyone, then gets up from the chair.
When he returns to his room, Jeongin notices that the fourth person has joined the video call. Actually, he can hear it even before he enters the room from his babble.
"I know you guys have been waiting for me. No need to get that excited!" Han says, acting like he didn't just make everyone wait for him as usual.
-
Han is trapped in his own head like usual, arranging words in his head to make good lyrics for the track he made last night. He pictures those words in his head as he hums the melody to himself and then jots them down in his notebook.
He puts the headphones on again to hear the track once more, singing the lyrics to fit the melodies and only realizing that his mom is calling for him once she appears in front of him.
Disoriented, Han sits up on the bed and puts his headphones down, "What's wrong?"
"I've been calling you for dinner!" His mother scolds him.
He lets out a chuckle and takes his headphones off altogether, "But it's only five," he says.
His mother must have been so used to seeing him in his room and unaware of the time.
"I put the dinner in the oven," she informs with a dramatic head shake before exiting his room.
Is it dinner time already? He looks around for his phone on the bed, he's sure it's somewhere in there. He's flinging the duvet and then there's the sound of his phone falling onto the floor.
"Owh?!" He gasps, covering his small mouth with his hand.
Han rushes to the other side of the bedroom and picks it up, fortunately, his phone doesn't crack or break, but the time...
"Oh??!" He gasps again in a rather panicky tone.
It's almost 9, he's late for the video call again. He rushes to his laptop and it won't turn on because it runs out of battery.
"Ugh!" He groans as he struggles to plug it in the first time and groans again as he plops onto his chair.
It's always like this, losing track of time when he starts working on something. He remembers it was only four when he started writing his lyrics and now it's almost 9 pm.
It's like the laptop knows he's in a hurry it decides to take more time to boot and Han nervously taps his fingers against the desk, knowing that he makes his friends wait for him for the umpteenth time.
His fingers are typing as fast as they can to log in to his account but it takes him another moment to load the video call.
"Work faster you piece of aā"
"Welp. There he is!" Chan exclaims, looking annoyed but relieved at the same time.
"Thank you for finally gracing us with your presence," Jeongin says with the right amount of sarcasm in his tone.
"Oh, hi, Han!" Jinnie says, being the most welcoming out of the three.
"I know you guys have been waiting for me. No need to be that excited!" Han playfully says. He knows they're upset and tries to lighten the mood.
In his defense, he didn't do it on purpose. It becomes a habit at this point and he knows everyone will eventually let it slide.
"I guess you've been busy working on your lyrics again, huh?" Jinnie asks, propping her hand under her chin.
"No, I was helping my mom fold the laundry," Han makes a joke out of his own life.
Unlike everyone else, Han is the only one who hasn't figured out yet what to do with his talent for producing music. He's been working on some tracks but that's about it.
"Anyway, what kind of weird movie are we going to watch tonight?" He asks, shifting the talk to something else.
Chan clicks his tongue and says, "Thank you for making it obvious that you didn't read the group chat."
"Well, I opened them but didn't read them like all cool people do," Han confidently says with a sly grin plastered on his face.
Despite the uncertainty of his career, Han thinks he's the coolest of them all and doesn't care if anyone thinks otherwise. He's funny, and he's the mood-maker of the group but in all honesty, he's just being his authentic self 24/7.
"Okay, now since we're all here..." Chan says, sitting upright in his seat.
"Oh, so we're not watching a movie tonight," Han says in utter confusion, this is why he shouldn't be late so he won't miss out on a lot of things.
"Just shh..." Jeongin hushes him with a finger in front of his jutted lips.
"You're not like... dying, right?" Han hesitantly asks because Chan puts on a serious face, "It's cause you look so pale..."
"I've always been pale. What are you talking about?" Chan grumbles in disbelief, not accepting the fact that his pale skin makes him look like he's dying to him.
"Hannie!" Jinnie sharply calls his name, that is her way of sparing herself from using profanities
"I told you to just shh..." Jeongin scolds him more.
"Okay, okay, I'll shut up," Han says with both hands raised in defeat.
"Anyway," Chan reels the conversation back to the main thing and claps his hands together to get everyone's attention, "I need you guys to get days off for a week at the beginning of next month."
"But why?" Jeongin asks.
"Jinnie, Jeongin, I give you guys a month of forewarning so there's no reason you can't do it," Chan explains, not taking any excuses.
"And you're not concerned about me?" Han asks, feeling left out.
"That's because I know you're always available," Chan shortly answers.
"I need to ask permission from my mom!"
"To do what?" Chan squints his eyes at him.
"Permission to go on a road trip with you guys," he innocently answers.
"You're not some 12-year-old going on a school field trip," Jeongin reminds him that he won't be needing that.
"Oh, yeah, okay," Han meekly says with a nonchalant shrug.
"Well, that means I only need to finish some of my drawings early," Jinnie calmly says.
Chan smiles at her through the camera, "I know you can do it," he sweetly says.
"Thank you, Chris," Jinnie says with a smile.
"Wait, wait, you haven't answered my question," Jeongin interrupts the tender moment between the two, "Why?"
Chan sucks air through his teeth and stretches his arms out, not sure if he's trying to show off his muscular arms or just wanted to stretch them out.
"Because we're going on a road trip!" He announces in a cheery tone.
Jinnie grins in reaction and then claps her hands in excitement, "That sounds fun!"
"Where are we going?" Jeongin further asks.
"I don't want to spoil it yet. It's a surprise," Chan replies.
"I doubt that it'll be a good surprise," Han says just to annoy Chan.
"Just trust me on this!" Chan remarks with a confident smile.
"I just can't wait to spend time with you guys," Jinnie warmly says, being not shy to show her excitement which makes Chan get a little flustered.
"For the rest of this month we'll stop the weekly video meeting," Chan comes with a shocking announcement.
It's the only way they can hang out with each other and knowing that they won't meet until further notice kind of bummed him out.
"Why? Why? Why?" Han repeatedly asks like a parrot.
"So you guys can sort things out," Chan explains, "and Jinnie needs time to finish the drawings, right?"
"Yeah, but..." Jinnie looks a little taken aback too, "I'm sad that we'll not be hanging out for weeks."
"But we'll meet again," Chan assures her.
He clasps his hands in front of him and goes into serious mode once more, "I need you guys to gather at Jinnie's on the first day of July and I'll pick you up there," he informs.
Jinnie nods
"What should we pack?" Jinnie asks, even getting her notes ready to write them down.
"Pack clothes for a week, swimsuits, sunblock, hiking shoes..." Chan lists various things.
"Hiking shoes?" Han gasps, "I'm not going then."
"Even better," Jeongin lightly comments.
"Any more questions?" Chan asks everyone.
Han raises his hand even though he's not in a class, "How's your little sister doing?"
This is where Chan gets a little more serious, he hisses and then says, "I'm not taking any more questions then."
"Why are you so against us dating?" Han pokes fun at him, knowing that he doesn't like it, especially when he asks about his sister.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we become in-laws? We can be brothers for real!" Han annoys him more.
"I'm going to say this once and for all, I don't want to become in-laws with any of you," Chan firmly remarks and then crosses his big arms together.
"So that means you're okay with us dating..." Han relentlessly annoys him with a smirk dance on his face.
Jeongin drops his head into his hands and shakes his head witnessing the interaction while Jinnie is quietly giggling with her cup of tea in hand.
"How am I going to survive not seeing you guys for weeks?" Jinnie sadly says with a pout.
"Not me. I'll manage," Jeongin coyly says, reclining on his seat while playing with his hair.
"We'll see each other soon," Han assures her this time.
Jinnie smiles and cups her cheeks with both hands, "I can't wait to see you all," she says.
There's a moment of silence but the comfortable kind and not conjure any questions, everyone lets it go on for another moment before it gets to the time to end the video meeting.
"See you guys soon," Jinnie says, blowing air kisses through the camera.
"See you guys. Don't miss me," Han says with a sly grin on his face.
"There's no being late," Chan warns a specific someone.
"Jeongin, don't be late!" Han averts the blame to Jeongin.
Jeongin shakes his head again and raises his hand at everyone, "Bye, everyone!"
"See you guys in a few weeks," Chan says, waving his hands close to the camera then ends the video meeting.
-
A FEW WEEKS LATER
When you asked Chan if you could tag along on their road trip, he said no for what you guessed these two reasons: one, he hates seeing you around the boys and two, he hates for you to see him act around the girl he likes.
But, of course, in the end, he said yes for one solid reason: because you're his sister and he can't say no to you.
It's so obvious that Chan is nervous and you guess it's because he's going to meet the friends he hasn't met in weeks and more importantly, a certain someone that he secretly misses but can't tell.
As Chan's little sister, you notice these kinds of things, the change of attitude or how he gets nervous all of a sudden.
"Unclench your jaws, Chris," you remind him.
"I'm notā" he stops himself from talking and does as you told him, unclenching his jaws.
He may have unclenched his jaws but now his shoulders tense up. You take matters into your own hands and push his shoulder down.
"You're way too nervous to see a friend," you poke fun at him.
"Shut up!" He spews out and you know it's coming out of his nervous system.
Everyone knows that Chan likes Jinnie and he's always been for only God knows how long, you guess you're not the only one annoyed by the fact that they're not dating yet because they're just so perfect for each other.
"Okay, shutting up now," you say, making a gesture of zipping your lips together to not let the scary mad Chan come out.
The car makes a turn toward an apartment building and Chan parked it next to the entrance. It seems like Jinnie has been waiting for his arrival, she comes rushing down the stairs from the second floor where her apartment is.
"Oh, my God! Chris!!!" She excitedly comes up to him with open arms
Chan is obviously as excited to see her and catches her right into his arms, he even lifts her off the ground for a moment and gives her a spin.
They're so stinking cute that you can't help but smile watching them through the rearview mirror.
"Good to see you!" She says once he puts her down.
"Good to see you too," Chan says back while holding her hands in his.
When you deem that it's the right moment to insert yourself into the scene, you get out of the car and slowly make an entrance.
They're so immersed in each other that you hesitate to burst their cute little bubble.
"Hi!" You awkwardly wave your hand at her.
Jinnie's face lights up when she sees you, "Oh, hi! Long time no see!"
You come up to her to exchange a hug with her, "Long time no see, indeed."
The fact that she, possibly, would become your sister-in-law doesn't bother you at all, Jinnie is as perfect as one can be. She's beautiful and kind, the nicest human you've ever known, you couldn't be happier if that becomes true.
"I hope you don't mind that I brought her along," Chan says, flashing a thin smile at you.
You shoot him a side eye in return and stay by Jinnie's side.
"Are you kidding? I'm happy that I have a girl companion," she says, pulling you close to her side and squeezing on your shoulder.
"Jinnie, do you mind if I use your bathroom?" You ask, getting the urge to pee all of a sudden.
"Not at all. I'll take youā"
"That's okay. I know where to go," you kindly refuse her help to show you where her bathroom is.
That way, you can give them another moment to catch up with each other. As you climb the stairs to Jinnie's apartment, you see how Chan is grinning from ear to ear and it seems like it will stay like that until the road trip ends. Maybe that's also another reason why he agreed to let you join the road trip, Chan needs a good wingman by his side.
-
The moment he got out of the taxi, Han immediately thanked Jeongin non-stop.
"Thank you Yang Jeongin," he says, calling Jeongin by his full name.
"If you didn't pick me up, I'd be dead late," he grumbles, lowering his voice as he's a bit ashamed to admit it.
"I just knew you'd be late," Jeongin says while hoisting the strap of his backpack higher on his shoulder.
Han hurriedly puts on a smile to greet his friends, acting like he almost got here late for the road trip. He sees his two friends, Chan and Jinnie putting their stuff in the back of the car.
"Rejoice everyone. Your favorite boy is here!" Han announces his arrival while walking in big, confident strides.
Chan and Jeongin just leer at him and Jinnie is the only one giving him a proper welcome.
"It's so nice that everyone's here!" She exclaims, smiling even brighter than the scintillating sun.
She gathers everyone into a circle and puts her arms around Han and Chan's shoulders.
"I missed you guys," Jinnie says, jumping on her feet like a child. She really is the special glue that sticks them all together.
Deep down, everyone feels the same way, Han must say it feels good to reunite with them, it evokes the same feeling of coming home. They're huddling together for a big group hug, relishing that longing for each other.
Han breaks away first to take the last empty spot on the trunk for his backpack, "Dibs!"
Chan and Jeongin groan in unison but at the same time, not surprised to see this display of childish behavior from Han. Chan continues organizing everyone's stuff in the trunk with Jeongin's help while Han comes around the car.
"I'm riding shotgun!" Han shouts, calling dibs for the passenger's seat.
Jinnie appears from behind the car, "I think Chan's sister will ride shotgun," she informs.
Han thinks he misheard her, he lingers by the car door and turns to ask her, "Who?"
"Chan's sister, she's coming with us for theā oh, there she is!" Jinnie points at the stairs.
Han's eyes are following where she's pointing and turns his head that way.
"Oh, everyone's here!" You say as you look at everyone from the top of the stairs.
Time suddenly goes so slowly as you descend the stairs, softly smiling as the gust of wind blows your way, sending your hair flying, and with the sun shining down at you, it creates a halo around your head.
Jeongin accidentally bumps him as he opens the car door, "sorry," he shortly says.
Han is completely gobsmacked to care, his eyes just can't stop following you even after you arrive at the base of the stairs and walk up to the car.
"I think it's true," Han foolishly says with a gaping mouth.
"Huh? What?" Jeongin asks in confusion.
"When the love is real... it finds a way," Han dramatically sighs with eyes big and wide like seeing something so wondrous.
Jeongin gives him the side eyes, but he decides to ignore him and gets into the car.
"I'm going to lock my apartment first," Jinnie informs, going up the stairs to her apartment.
"Hi, Han," you greet him.
Han tries not to crumble hearing you calling his name and instead of answering, he awkwardly raises his hand at you with a stupid grin on his face.
"Are you sitting in the front?" You ask.
Han's brain is not well functioning yet and it takes more time for him to compute a word.
"Well, then I'm going to take my bag," you say, stepping forward and getting in between him and the car door to take your bag from the passenger's seat.
The smell of your perfume is sweet and soft yet it's enough to get him intoxicated, he wants more of it. He suddenly has no desire to ride a shotgun and arranges a new plan in his head.
He rushes to the back of the car and yanks at Jeongin's jacket, "Jeongin, get in the backseat!"
"What?" He asks in utter confusion.
"Get in the backseat! Hurry!" He urges him, opening the seat to the back so he can move.
Doesn't want to deal with him, Jeongin reluctantly moves to the back as requested and Han sets the seat right back up, then keeps the car door open for you.
"Get in," Han says to you.
"Oh, thank you," you mutter, carrying your bag in one hand as you get in.
Noticing Jeongin in the backseat, you smile and greet him, "Hi!"
"Hi," Jeongin sheepishly says to you.
Han sees that Jinnie has returned from locking her apartment and hurriedly opens the car door for her, "You can sit in the front, Jinnie."
Jinnie looks at him, perplexed, "I thought you are..."
He can't hear the rest of what she's saying as he gets into the car and sits next to you.
"I hope it's okay that I tag along for the road trip," you say, putting your bag on your lap.
Han realizes that he should get his act together and forces his brain to function, "It's more than okay," he says with a smile.
This road trip turns into a chance of a lifetime for him. What could be more fun than being stuck in a moving vehicle with a girl he likes?
Chan gets into the driver's side, sighing as he's exhausted from arranging the trunk, and puts the keys into the ignition.
Oh, fuck, Han forget about the part that her brother is in the mentioned moving vehicle too, and drives it. Now, his sense of protection is heightened after seeing you sitting next to him.
"What's with this seat arrangement?" He asks, glaring at Han through the rearview mirror.
He innocently shrugs while Jeongin is staying quiet in the backseat by himself, enjoying the spacious seat for himself.
Jinnie is the last to enter the car and lets out a delighted sigh once she buckles her seat belt. She then looks around at the people in the back and asks, "Everyone is ready to go?"
In response to her question, Jeongin raises a thumbs-up while Han is weakly cheering with his fists in the air and you're laughing at him.
Jinnie then turns her head at Chan and says, "Let's go!"
And just like that, the road trip begins.
-
Everyone else thinks that Han's liking toward you is just a joke and he does that as a way to annoy Chan. Unfortunately, it's not.
He admits that at first, he didn't think of you that way. The very first time he received the information that Chan has a sister, he thinks of you not more than that, a younger sister of his friend.
That night Chan invited everyone to the bar to celebrate his birthday and you've recently turned 21 that year which is why your brother finally took you along with him to hang out with his friends for the first time and he believes that was when things take a different turn.
Han met you once, briefly at Chan's graduation and you've just entered college at that time. When he met you again that night, he almost couldn't recognize you because you've grown so much.
You were just a young girl when he met you for the first time and that night, he saw that girl had flourished into a grown woman and attracted him immediately.
He was so deeply mesmerized by you that he just stared at you the whole night that Jeongin had to constantly snap him out of his head.
The one moment that got him enamored is when you decided to take your jacket off that night and revealed the white camisole you wore that night, he could tell you were wearing nothing underneath because your nipples were poking through the silky fabric. He remembers watching you enjoy the night and dancing your heart out with Jinnie the whole night.
Han couldn't get you out of his head ever since, he grew some sort of infatuation with you, and he followed you on your social media.
When he feels bold enough, he slides into your DMs and asks how you're doing. Chan doesn't know and the fact that he's still oblivious about it means that you don't mention it to him and that's good, it spares him from his doom coming sooner than everyone else's.
Now that he gets to see you in person, sitting side by side when all he could do was just admire you through the pictures you posted. It feels a little surreal that he has to pinch himself a few times to convince him that you're real.
Since Chan is busy talking with Jinnie in the front, he takes it as an opportunity to talk with you because he's wasted three hours secretly staring at you.
"So, how are you doing?" He awkwardly asks while still getting used to sitting next to you.
"I'm doing great," you shortly answer, placing your hand on the space between you and him.
"I heard you're working at the magazine now?" He asks, making it sounds like he heard it from Chan but he actually knew it from your Instagram post.
"Yes, I am," you answer with a sheepish smile.
"I think that's great!" He praises and tries to keep his excitement in check.
"I'm just a copy editor for now. I don't think it's that great," you sheepishly say.
"No, I think that's great," Han feels the need to convince you so he seeks validation from a third party, "Right, Jeongin?"
Jeongin scratches his chin and stifles a nod, "Yeah. That's great!"
"Thank you," you mutter with a shy smile and tuck your hair behind your ear, "How about you? How are you doing?
"Good," he shortly answers but he knows you need more from his answer, "I've been working on a few tracks."
When it comes to you, Han doesn't feel like the coolest person but the objective remains the same, he wants to impress you.
"And I worked on that thing," he scratches his head while considering whether it's right to share it with you.
You tuck your hair behind your ear and look at him, "Worked on what?"
"I made this jingle for an ad," he hesitantly shares.
You shift your body toward him and ask further, "Do I know this ad or...?"
Seeing that you're genuinely curious about it, Han gains a little confidence to share more.
"It's for a shaving cream commercial and it goes like this..." Han starts humming the melody and serenading it to you.
"Didn't you do that thing last year though?" Jeongin interrupts his serenading with a truth bomb.
Han looks over his shoulder and glares at him, making Jeongin see his displeased expression that he's not a great wingman at the moment.
"Yeah, but..." he turns his body more to look at him but can't find something to defend himself.
"I did that," he continues as his confidence deflates in each passing second, "nonetheless."
"Everyone," Jinnie says from the front, "We're going to stop for gas."
Even Jinnie makes a better wingman than Jeongin and she's clueless about what happened in the back earlier.
"Oh, great timing! I need to go to the bathroom," you exclaim, gathering your hair to put it into a ponytail.
This is not a good start, he can tell that you're not impressed at all and far from attracted to him. He consoles himself with snacks, eating them right outside the convenience store.
"I blew that up," he sighs, then shoves chips into his mouth.
"That's because," Jeongin says, then pausing to take another sip of his soda, "you keep staring at her like a creep."
Han elbows his side quite hard that Jeongin yelps, "and you didn't help at all," he grumbles with his cheeks full of food.
"You're hopeless," Jeongin easily replies and steals some chips from Han.
"And you didn't think that's why I need the help?" Han grumbles again and shoves more chips into his mouth.
Jeongin coyly shrugs as he drains his can of soda empty then proceeds to crumple it and toss it into the trash bin.
"Hey, what are you guys having?" You appear from the corner along with Jinnie.
"Where's Chris?" Jinnie asks while fixing her hair.
"He's inside," Jeongin points to the convenience store.
Han quickly swallows everything in his mouth and brushes the crumbs on the front of his shirt, "Do you want some?" He offers you his bag of chips.
"Do you have something sweet with you?" You ask.
"I do, I do," he eagerly answers, rummaging through the bag of snacks he bought and pulling out a pack of strawberry jellies, "I think you'll like this."
"Oh, no, I'm allergic to strawberries," you inform.
Han quickly pulls out another pack of snacks from the plastic bag, "How about this?"
You take it from him and delightfully gasp, "Oh, I love these."
Chan comes out with Jinnie carrying packs of drinks for everyone and without warning, he tosses the car keys at Jeongin, fortunately, he has a good reflex and catches it right into his hand.
"Your turn to drive," Chan says to Jeongin.
Jeongin doesn't say anything else but walks up to the car with everyone following him from the back.
Han opens the car door for you when Chan grabs your hand and stops you on the track, "You ride shotgun."
"Yes, sir!" You also obey without complaint.
"And you," Chan points at Han, "Get on the backseat!"
Han frowns that Chan purposely separates the two of you and reluctantly goes to sit by himself in the back while Chan and Jinnie sit in the middle.
From the back of the car, Han can only watch you share the pack of chocolate maltesers with Jeongin in the front.
-
After four hours of driving, the car stops for dinner and everyone gets so quiet once the food arrives.
Chan makes sure everyone has finished so he can have all of their attention as he explains what the next plan is. Before you can ask for his dessert, he slides his plate towards you.
"Can I have everyone's attention?" He says.
Jeongin is mindlessly stirring his glass of soda with the straw but putting his attention on him meanwhile Han is slowly dissociating so Chan snaps his fingers right in front of his face to reel him back to reality.
Han swats his hand away and groans, "I'm listening, I'm listening."
"Okay, so, we're not going to continue to drive," Chan announces.
"Oh? We're sleeping somewhere for the night?" Jinnie asks, then dabs her mouth with a napkin, "And I need you guys to sleep early tonight becauseā"
"Because of what?" Han asks as he lazily brushes his hair to the back.
Chan sighs because Han cuts him off instead of letting him continue talking, "Because we have to leave early tomorrow morning."
"And where are we going?" You ask, sliding the plate back to him. Chan glares at you for leaving a small piece of dessert for him and you grin at him in return.
"Let me guess, surprise?" Han says with a mocking grin.
Chan scoops the last piece of cake into his mouth and ignoring Han's insinuation, he has a way to get back to him.
"Who voted for Han to pay the bill?" He says with his hand already raised in the air and Jeongin is the next one to raise his hand.
"W-what? Why? Why me?" Han blabbers in a slight panic.
Everyone turns their heads at Jinnie and since two of his friends already voted for him, she follows the majority and hesitantly raises her hand.
"Sorry," she meekly mutters at Han.
When it comes to you, you hurriedly shake your head and refuse to be a part of their shenanigans. Chan intensely glares at you, pressuring you to also raise your hand.
"Please, leave me out of this," you plead.
Having no other way to make you do what he tells you to do, Chan grabs your hand and raises it in the air. He then triumphantly grins at Han until his dimples sunken into his cheeks.
"Everyone says 'Thank you, Han'!" He orders.
"Thank you, Han!" Everyone says in unison while Han is slumped on his seat, suddenly not looking drowsy anymore.
With the information gained from the restaurant staff, Chan easily found the motel a ten-minute drive away. Arrive there, he immediately goes to check in while everyone is getting their belonging from the trunk.
Without saying anything, Jeongin hands you a bag and you look at it for a moment until you realize that it's yours.
"Oh, thank you," you mutter.
You also take Chan's bag, it's so heavy and you bet he's taking his laptop and camera with him which only reminds you to be careful with it. Once he gets back with the room keys, you hurriedly hand him his bag.
"This one is for the ladies," Chan hands one of the keys to Jinnie.
"Got it," Jinnie says, linking her arm with you to start walking to your room.
Everyone is heading the same way since the boys are staying in the next room. You can't wait to lie down after spending more than ten hours sitting in the car.
"It seems like we're sharing the bed," Jinnie says, seeing there's only one bed in the room.
"Don't worry, I don't snore like my brother," you immediately remark as you throw yourself onto the bed and sigh in delight.
Jinnie laughs as she unpacks her bag, "Wait... Chris snores?"
You roll to the side and prop a hand under your head, "I thought you knew," you say.
"I've seen Chris sleeping but he didn't snore," Jinnie shares, taking clean clothes out of her bag.
"Of course," you talk to yourself, Chan wouldn't let his crush know about his sleeping habit especially something as bad as snoring.
"What's that?" Jinnie asks, hearing you mutter to yourself.
"I just remember I need to charge my phone," you lie, rolling over to the other side to rummage through your bag.
"Do you mind if I use the bathroom first?" Jinnie politely asks, holding her clothes close to her chest.
"Sure," you answer with your hand still groping around to look for your phone charger. Getting hopeless, you call for Jinnie as she's about to enter the bathroom.
"Hey, Jinnie, can I borrow your charger?"
She stops on her track and then puts her clothes on top of the dresser, "Sure," she says, going back to her bag to get it and give it to you.
"I think I dropped my phone in the car," she mutters as she looks through her bag.
"Oh, no," you mumble but an idea comes to mind.
"I can call Chris to help you find it," you offer, turning her misfortune into an opportunity to set them up.
"No, it's okay. It's probably under the seat of the car," she says but she looks worried.
"Are you even sure that you dropped it in the car?" You ask, making her doubt herself.
Jinnie looks concerned now that she clasps her hands together in front of her, "I don't wantā"
Before she gets to finish her sentence, you hit call on Chan's number and he picks up on the third ring.
"What's up, baby sist?" He slurs his words, he's just as tired as everyone.
Without greeting him first, you talk straight into the phone, "Jinnie dropped her phone in the car. Can you help her find it?"
You hear rustles from the other end of the call and his tone changes all of a sudden, "Just need to get my car keys and I'll be on your door in a minute."
There's no need to plead or beg, you only need to mention Jinnie's name and he's ready to do anything, he'd probably move mountains for her too if she asked for it.
You hold the urge to laugh and calmly look at Jinnie, "He'll be here soon," you tell her.
"Oh, thank you," Jinnie says, canceling her plan to wash up and putting her sweater back on.
A few minutes later, the knocking comes on the door and Jinnie goes to open it. You peek from the side to watch the interaction.
"Heard you dropped your phone in the car," Chan says to her.
"Yeah, I hope I didn't disturb you," Jinnie says.
"Not at all," he immediately says.
Jinnie looks at you and you pretend to be busy looking at your phone, "Hey, I'm going out for a bit."
"Yeah, sure, take your time," you say with a smile then realize that you're not using the right tone.
"Hope you find your phone," you quickly add.
Jinnie is trailing behind Chan as they walk back to the parking lot and he hurriedly unlocks the car at the first sight of it.
"I'm sure it's somewhere in the middle seat," Jinnie says, opening the car door and going straight to feel the gap between the seats.
"I'll look from the other side," Chan says.
He walks around the car and looks from the other side, he turns on the flashlight from his phone and shines it under the seat. All he finds are candy wrappers and he knows who the culprit is.
"Let's get these seats up," he suggests, turning the lever to fold the seats and making it easier to search for the phone.
As they're busy looking for the phone, their heads meet in the middle, and bumps against each other. Chan reflexively reaches for Jinnie's head and rubs on it.
"I'm sorry," he says while giggling, "Are you okay?"
Jinnie can't answer as she's busy laughing and after taking a breath, she nods, "I'm okay."
"You know, it'll be much easier to call you," he says, coming up with a faster way to find the phone a little too late.
"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" Jinnie says, feeling embarrassed as she holds her hair from curtaining her face.
Chan looks for her number and presses the call buttons, he waits for the dialing tone while Jinnie looks around in the dark.
"Oh, I heard it!" She gasps.
The muffled ringtone comes from the back and Chan flips the seat to the front, discovering Jinnie's phone caught between the seats. With his long arm, Chan outstretches his arm to get it and hurriedly hands it to her.
"Thank God!" She sighs in relief and takes the phone from him.
Chan closes the car door and quickly locks it again, he checks by pulling at the car handle to know if it's locked for good.
"I was so scared that I dropped it somewhere else," Jinnie shares, clutching her phone close to her chest.
"I'm glad you found it," Chan says, smiling because he feels good knowing that he makes Jinnie happy.
"Thank you for helping, Chris," Jinnie sincerely says with a smile that is as soft as the moonlight.
Chan would do anything to see that smile on Jinnie's face again, he then looks away before it gets too intense.
"Don't mention it," he coyly says.
As they walk back to the rooms, their hands lightly grazing each other's, and on a nice, summer night like this, Chan feels tempted to hold her hand.
He looks down and her hand is right there, a grasp away from him. All he needs to doā
Jinnie draws her hands and crosses them together in front of her, "I'm so curious where you'll take us tomorrow," she says.
Chan clears his throat and shoves his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants.
"Trust me, you guys will like it," he confidently says, "especially you."
Jinnie looks at him with a bewildered expression, "Me?"
"Yeah," he nods and grins.
"That only makes me more excited for tomorrow," she says, hugging herself tighter as a gust of wind blows their way.
Jinnie stops right in front of your shared room, she looks at Chan who's standing on the door to his room, "Thanks once again, Chris."
"It's not a big deal," he says with a smile.
Jinnie knocks on the door and a while later, you open the door with your head wrapped in a towel, "Did you find it?"
"Yeah," she answers, showing you the phone in her hand.
"That's a relief!" You exclaim, then step to the side to let her in.
Jinnie looks at Chan for one last time and smiles, "Goodnight, Chris."
"Goodnight," he says back, and once Jinnie gets inside, his foolish smile drops from his face knowing that you're watching him.
"Get back inside. Lock the door and sleep!" He strictly orders.
"Yes, sir," you reply along with a salute.
You grab the handle of the door and take one more chance to poke fun at him.
"Goodnight, Chris," You try your best to copy Jinnie's soft tone of saying it and quickly close the door before Chan gets the chance to scold you.
-
When Chan said they needed to leave early the next day, Han didn't think it would require him to wake up at 6 in the morning.
He doesn't know how Chan did that because he was the last one to sleep but he also woke up the earliest and even brought breakfast with him when he came to the room.
"Your turn to drive today," Chan says, throwing the car keys and clanging against the floor as Han fails to catch them.
"Ugh..." he lets out an exhausted groan and picks them up from the floor.
Concerned with his state, Chan grabs his shoulder and squeezes, "You sure you can drive?"
Han knows that if he says no, then Chan will take the task from him and he doesn't want that, Chan already did so much. He's sure he's more tired than everyone.
"Yeah, I can drive," he assures him with a not-so-convincing smile.
The doubts linger in Chan's eyes, he gives him a pat on the back and then says, "You know what? I'll get you another cup of coffee!"
The sun is peeking from the horizon and slowly climbs its way out, the sunray hits his eyes as Han arrives at the parking lot.
He unlocks the car from a meter away and puts his bag in the trunk first before walking to the driver's side.
"Ugh..." he groans again with one hand on the handle of the car door.
The last person who drove was Jeongin and thanks to his long limbs, Han has to readjust the seat because his arms aren't long enough for the steering wheel.
He's yawning as he takes his phone out and connects it to the car stereo, at least, being a driver means he has full control over the music.
"Morning," Jinnie cheerily says, with a smile that shines brighter than the morning sun.
Something about her smile that makes him can't help but smile back.
"Morning," he says back, "Do you need help with the bag?"
"It's okay. I'll do it myself," She says, heading to the back of the car.
Not long after, Chan comes carrying bags on each shoulder but looking unbothered by them, he ends up helping Jinnie with her bag. Jeongin comes next, handing his bag to Chan before getting into the car and sitting in the back.
Han is busy scrolling his phone to compile a playlist for the trip to realize that everyone is already getting in except for one person.
He looks to the back and sees Chan sitting in the middle with Jinnie so that means...
"I have your coffee with me," you say, climbing into the passenger's side.
He turns his head to the back to check if Chan approves of this seating arrangement but he's already snuggled up in his hoodie to sleep.
"Americano, right?" You ask, handing the cup of coffee to him.
"Oh?" Han looks at you and then at the coffee.
The second he realizes that you're waiting for him, he hurriedly gets it from you, "Thank you!"
Sensing that the coffee is hot, he carefully puts it into the cup holder and turns on the car engine. He waits until you're buckled in to start driving.
"So, where are we going?" He asks in utter confusion.
You let out a chuckle thinking that he's joking and Han chuckles as well, maybe it is a joke that he didn't ask Chan where to go before he started driving.
"Chris said you only need to follow the GPS," you inform.
"Oh, yeah, that's right," he feels embarrassed to ask and even more embarrassed to say that he is not good at multitasking.
It feels as if you read his mind, you look at him and say, "Don't worry. I'm a good navigator."
The cool morning air is so refreshing that Han doesn't feel sleepy anymore and with every sip of coffee, he feels more awake than ever.
He looks through the rearview mirror and sees that everyone in the back is sleeping so that means only you and him are awake in the car.
"Oh, wow, look at that," You sigh at the view of the sun rising on a hill, "It's beautiful!"
Han briefly glances away from the road to see it but the view he sees is of you and your hair flying around your face basking in the soft glow of the morning sun.
"Yeah, it's beautiful," he mutters and looks back at the road.
He's only an hour away from the destination but he likes this scene, the view and the road ahead of him, the person sitting next to him, also the faint music that plays through the car stereo. He wants to stay in it for a little longer.
"I love this song!" You exclaim out of the blue as the playlist plays a new song.
Han recognizes the song right away because it's coming from his playlist and it's one of his favorites.
"You know this song?"
"The Beatles, right?"
"Yes."
"It's in one of the playlists you sent me," you tell him.
The playlist is Han's love language. When he likes someone, instead of flowers or chocolate, he compiles a playlist of songs that reminds him of that person and gifts it to them.
When he sent them to you, Han isn't that confident that you will heartily listen to them because it's just a playlist of songs and you'd barely see the romantic gesture behind it.
"I'd like to be under the sea..." you start singing along to the song.
"In an octopus's garden in the shade..." Han joins in on the second line while keeping his eyes on the road.
"He'd let us in, knows where we've been. In his octopus's garden in the shade..." Together you sing the rest of the verse while smiling as the sun is getting higher in the sky.
"In an octopus's garden with you... In an octopus's garden with you..."
The GPS says the destination is only ten minutes away and it's directing him to turn onto the small road with nothing but trees that line up on each side.
"Are we going the right way?" Han asks you in a slight panic, not seeing any road signs.
You check the GPS and turn to look at him, "You're going the right way, yeah," you confirm.
Han bends down to see if there's any sign of life or if Chan accidentally puts the wrong address into the GPS.
"I'll wake my brother," you offer, turning around in your seat and outstretching your arm to reach Chan who's still sleeping.
You manage to grab the sleeve of his hoodie and yank at it, "Chris, wake up!"
Instead of Chan, Jinnie is the one who answers your call, "Mmh, are we there yet?" She asks.
"We're not sure," you answer and yank harder at Chan's hoodie.
Jinnie notices you need the help, she places her hand on Chan's arm and gently shakes him awake, "Chris?"
On the second try, Chan finally wakes up to Jinnie's call and you roll your eyes because it's getting ridiculous now that he recognizes her voice well instead of his sister.
Han decides to pull over to the side of the road and turns his head around, "are we going to the right place?"
Chan pulls down his hoodie and quickly brushes his curls to the back, he closes his eyes for a moment to adjust them to the light.
One glance at the GPS and he slumps back on his seat, "Yes, it's right," he slurs his words.
"Why am I not seeing anything else but trees?" Han hesitates but keeps driving anyway.
"Just keep going," Chan mumbles, getting a bottle of water and drinking it.
A moment later, Han's doubt is answered as a sign appears in front of him and it says that the campsite is 100 meters away.
"Oh, my God!" Jinnie loudly gasps, making everyone in the car startle in surprise, including Jeongin who's just woken up from his nap.
She looks at Chan with eyes widening and sparkling, "We're going camping?"
With a stupid grin on his face, Chan answers, "Yes."
-
While the boys are busy setting up the big tent, you and Jinnie are making sandwiches for lunch. Jinnie does most of the work while all you do is unwrapping the cheese singles and preparing the loaf of bread.
This is one of those moments that makes you think how can someone be this perfect? Jinnie is beautiful, smart, kind, and patient, she's great at drawing and now, you find out she's good at cooking too.
"What can't you do? Really?" You praise in awe as she meticulously arranges the ingredients from the vegetables to the condiments.
She lets out a shy chuckle in reaction and doesn't let it get to her head, she's concentrating hard on putting everything together without making a mess.
"You're an only child, right?" You curiously ask.
Jinnie wraps each sandwich with a food wrapper and does it so meticulously as if she's wrapping a gift, "Yes, I am."
"Would you like a younger sister?" You jokingly say.
She smiles at you and hands you the first sandwich she wrapped, "I already think of you as a younger sister," she says.
You grin at that and put the wrapped sandwich into the basket, "We should make it official then," you teasingly say.
"And what do you mean by that?"
"You know... you can be my sister-in-law," you coyly say while paying attention to her reaction.
Jinnie shakes her head in disbelief and shyly laughs, "You silly!"
It's too obvious for her to miss it, right? She should have known that you're hinting at something and it's your way to cajole her to open up but in the end, you're always the one left puzzled by the mystery of why Jinnie and Chan's ship is not sailing yet.
The peaceful nature sounds are interrupted by the sound of Chan hammering the spike to pin down the tent while Jeongin is setting the canopy. He pauses once he notices that you're struggling to carry the cooler box by yourself. He rushes to get it from you and puts it down next to the tent.
As a form of gratitude, you grab a can of soda from the cooler and hand it to him, "Here!"
Jeongin softly smiles and it's enough to make his dimples appear on both of his cheeks, "Thanks!"
"Baby sist, I want one too!" Chan grumbles as he sits on the ground, also exhausted from setting the tent.
It's fine when he called you that ten years ago but as you grow older, he should know that you've outgrown that pet name. You let it slide because his friends got used to hearing him calling you that around them.
"Catch!" You warn before tossing it his way and he catches it right in his hand.
Jinnie comes not long after, carrying the sandwiches along with some snacks on the side, "Lunch is ready!" She announces, putting everything on the table.
Han hurriedly carries more folded chairs and arranges them around the table. Everyone stops working to huddle around the table for lunch.
"Is it done?" Jinnie asks while distributing the sandwiches around.
"Yeah, we just need to put the mat and sleeping bags inside but we can do it later," Chan answers, ripping through the wrapper and taking a hearty bite.
Despite it being the beginning of summer, there are only two other campers on the site. But that's a good thing, it's not crowded and it won't spoil the serene, relaxing experience of camping.
The lunch feels so rewarding, especially to those who worked on the tent and everyone gets so quiet after. You and Jinnie work together to gather the trash and put it into a plastic bag.
"So... what now?" Jeongin asks, glancing his eyes from side to side.
Chan crumples the empty can in his hand and puts it into the trash bag, "We're resting for now and we'll go hiking in an hour."
"Hiking?" Han asks in panic, not in favor of the idea.
"I told you to bring hiking boots for one specific reason," Chan explains, putting his hat backward and then reclining on his seat.
Han slumps on his seat and makes those high-pitched groans while flailing his arms in the air.
To avoid the harsh sunlight, the hike starts a little after three and the boys are tasked to carry a backpack full of snacks, water, and clean clothes.
The forest hums with life as the five of you walk the trail with the sun breaks through the cracks, lighting up the dirt path ahead, decorated with outgrown roots, wildflowers, and fallen leaves that crunch beneath your feet.
You're gazing up at the canopy, searching for the birds that sing sweetly against the soft sound of the wind whistling between the leaves.
Chan leads the way and once in a while, he looks back to check if anyone needs a break. Seeing that everyone needs a break, he stops on his track and turns around.
"Let's have a quick break!" He announces to everyone, then uncaps a bottle of water to hand it to you.
"Thank you," you mutter.
You lean back against the tree and reorganize your breath to finally have a long sip of water that quench your thirst.
"Is it still far?" Jinnie asks, taking a new bottle of water from Han's backpack.
Chan swallows his water and wipes his lips after, "About half an hour more of hiking."
Han takes off the plaid shirt he's wearing and hangs it on one shoulder, "And how long have we been hiking?"
Chan looks at his smartwatch to be able to answer him, "About 25 minutes."
"Fuck!" Han curses, scaring away the small animals hiding between the bushes, "Why does it feel like we've been walking for hours?"
"That's just you," Jeongin sneers, drinking his water like he's shooting an advertisement video.
"It's going to be worth it, I swear," Chan convinces, brushing his hair to the back before putting his hat back on.
Hanging on to his words, everyone continues the hike, following Chan's lead while enjoying the greenery. Jeongin catches squirrels running in between tree trunks.
"Han, say hi to your friends!" He says to Han.
Funny that Han decides to play along with it, "Furry babies, hi!"
Chan notices that you're getting exhausted as beads of sweat roll down your neck, "Here! Hold the back of my t-shirt!"
You don't see why it would help you walk, "Why should I?" You ask in utter confusion.
He grabs your hands and makes you hold each side of his t-shirt, dragging you along with him as he tirelessly keeps following the trail.
"I swear to God if it isn't worth it like you said..." you grumble as you feel every muscle in your legs strained and screaming in pain, and your mouth is dry from you constantly panting, running out of breath.
The scenery slightly changes the further you walk, there are no more dead leaves on the path and the rich earthy smell is soon replaced by water-saturated air.
"Oi, look!" Chan taps your hand and then points at the view ahead of him.
Getting a glimpse of what lies ahead, you walk past Chan to discover a view that is too beautiful for your eyes to comprehend.
A white, frothy cascade of water falls into a plunge pool with mist billowing out in soft clouds, creating a mystical atmosphere but when the sun hits and refracts the lights, a rainbow appears.
It's a waterfall, a majestic one.
"Be careful! It's slippery!" Chan shouts, watching you walk down the rocky outcroppings. He knows that there's no stopping you and you can't hear him anyway.
Han dashes after you with the backpack bouncing on his back, trailing after you like a puppy.
"I was right to trust you," Jinnie stands by his side and places a hand on Chan's shoulder, "It's worth the one hour of hike."
Jinnie shoots him a warm smile that makes Chan's inside melt and turns into jelly and in response to that, Chan unknowingly grins at her, the kind that shows how much of a fool he is for her.
Unbeknownst to him, Jeongin has been quietly watching this interaction, including the shit-eating grin Chan has on his face.
"You're pathetic," Jeongin says to him once Jinnie leaves.
"Hey!" He yells in disagreement but Jeongin ignores him and walks away.
Taking a little rest from the hiking, Chan sits on the sun-baked rocks while admiring the waterfall and the serene surroundings.
"This is a beautiful place to tell someone your feelings," Jeongin says, taking out a can of soda from his backpack.
Chan scoffs and plays dumb, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, come on!" Jeongin groans and subtly rolls his eyes at him.
"We all know you have feelings for someone," he pauses to gesture at the figure standing on the rocky perch, "There she is!"
This proves two things, their years of friendship and that Jeongin always observes, either way, he feels so caught by his own ineptness.
Worse, Chan decides to keep playing dumb and looks away even though it's too late for him to do that, there's no way he can escape Jeongin's observant eyes.
"Why-why should I..." he scratches his head in a slight panic.
"Just tell her how you feel," Jeongin says, "I think she feels the same thing for you."
At first, Chan wants to keep it to himself but since Jeongin knows already and it's tiring to have to keep hiding, he decides to tell him.
"It's hard," he openly admits with a heavy sigh, "We've been close friends for too long that I can't tell the difference anymore."
It feels so good that Chan is finally able to get that out of this chest and he knows he can trust Jeongin to keep it between them.
"And she's just... she's just perfect," Chan says with a hopeless sigh, he picks up a pebble and throws it into the water, "and I don't want to lose my good friend."
Jeongin leans back by propping his hands behind him and lets out a sigh, "It doesn't matter if the guy is perfect or the girl is perfect, as long as they're perfect for each other," he eloquently remarks.
"Wait, I think I heard that somewhere before," Chan's forehead wrinkles as he rakes his brain to recall where he heard this line before.
All of a sudden, Jeongin punches him in the arm, "It's from your favorite movie. Good Will Hunting!"
"Oh?!" Chan loudly gasps, it feels like a crime that he doesn't recognize the quote taken from his favorite movie.
"At this point, Han will beat you up to it."
"What?"
"He'll date your sister faster than you get to date Jinnie," Jeongin says with sheer indignation.
Chan's eyes dart at you and Han talking under the shade of a tree that stoops so low it's almost touching the surface of the water.
"Ugh, no, that can't happen!" He says in disgust.
"I bet he's serenading your sister with the jingle he made, again," Jeongin mumbles.
At the same time, Jeongin and Chan look at each other and start singing the jingle together, surprising themselves by how well they memorized it.
"Are you guys talking about me?" Jinnie jokingly asks as she walks by.
They immediately shut up and Chan turns his head away even though his eyes are searching for her, demanding her to always be in his sight.
"Are we waiting for Christmas to swim or what?" Han shouts, fussing like a child with his hands planted on each side of his waist.
-
Han once thought that if someone ever gets to see your body, he believes they'd turn to stone and that's because he thinks no one can handle that much magnetism and sex appeal.
Today, he gets to put that notion to a test even though he's risking himself to the possibility of getting petrified. He tries to keep his cool as you stand not far from him, tugging the hem of your t-shirt and then pulling it over your head, revealing the top half of the swimsuit you're wearing underneath.
So far, he still finds himself breathing and able to move his limbs but let's see whenā he holds his breath as you unbutton your denim shorts and pull it down, slightly bending down to get it off your legs.
His eyes immediately travel down your body, admiring every curve of your body as you bask in the warm sunlight and the tiny droplets of water land on your skin.
You flip your hair to the back and slip your fingers under the strap to adjust it on your shoulder, his breath hitches as you pull it and let it slap against your skin.
Now, he's petrified. He knows he shouldn't be ogling at his best friend's sister, especially with her brother around but he can't help it, he's instinctively attracted to you like a moth drawn to light.
Jinnie offers her hand at you as she's already in her swimsuit as well, "Come on!" She says.
You take her hand and giggle as you slowly make your way toward the water with pebbles against the bottom of your bare feet.
"Ack!" You shriek, feeling a shock of cold water touching your feet then back to giggling again.
Han realizes that if he doesn't want to miss anything, he should get changed now. He gets up from the bed of rock he's sitting on and finds Chan is already hallway to get naked, exposing his muscular upper body, his pale skin shines under the sun.
"Show off," he mutters, placing a gentle slap on his abs as he walks past him.
"What's that for?" Chan says with a perplexed look.
The breeze plays with Han's hair as he treads the water and more droplets of water hit his skin the closer he gets to where you are
For a second, he loses sight of you until you emerge from the surface of the water, glistening wet with your swimsuit stuck to your skin, enhancing the features of your heavenly body.
You're saying something to Jinnie as you're floating in the water but the words are lost in the roar of the waterfall. With a grin plastered on your face, he doesn't need to hear it to know you're having fun.
"Hey, come here," you shout in his direction.
Han looks around thinking you're talking to someone else but there's no one else but him there. He looks back at you and you're already making your way to him.
"I want to show you something cool," you say, taking his hand and dragging him with you.
Honestly, he's willing to go anywhere you take him even if you take him to the pit of hell and sweat he'll follow you there.
"Now, we have to dive in," you say, getting to the center of the pool where it's deep enough for a dive.
Han draws a big, deep breath before following you where you lead him, he sees through the blurry water where your figure is diving to and then comes out of the water.
You wipe the water off your face and put your hair away, "It's cool, isn't it?"
Han doesn't realize it at first but once he rubs the water off his eyes, he's standing on the other side of the waterfall, and behind him is a tall, slippery wall of rock.
It's just you and him, concealed behind an iridescent wall of water.
"Yeah," he nods as he looks at you to which you respond with a smile.
Out of nowhere, two figures emerge out of the water and startle you both. It's Jeongin and Jinnie, discovering the spot and finding you both there.
"Wow! This is amazing!" Jinnie gasps as she looks around while wiping the water off her mouth.
Jeongin doesn't say anything but stands close to the back, his skin a contrast with the dark of the rocky wall behind him.
The smile on Han's face slowly fades knowing that someone has shattered the tender moment he's having with you. He looks at you and your eyes are nowhere near his eyes, the next thing he knows, you dive your way out back to the world.
The fun continues as you and Chan team up to fight against Jinnie and Han. He's carrying you on his shoulders and clashing you at Jinnie who also rides on Han's shoulders, coming at each other until one of you falls into the water. Thanks to Chan's strong lower half body, you won most of the time.
Tired from swimming, everyone is chilling on the big bed of rock, drinking and eating the snacks they packed while drying up under the warm afternoon sun.
With your fingers pruning up, you're struggling to open a bag of chips and someone takes it to help you to open it.
"Here," Jeongin says, after swiftly opening it for you.
"Thanks," you mutter.
Jinnie let out a sigh as she hugs her knees, "I think this is the most fun I ever had in a long time."
Han gets up from lying down and puts his arm around her shoulder, "That's true."
Chan triumphantly grins as he uncaps a new bottle of water, "I told you guys to trust me."
"I trusted you," Jeongin mutters in defense.
Chan points at Han as he drinks his water, hinting that he's talking about a specific person. Grinning as he sees Han feeling called out by that.
"I didn't say anything," he defends himself, waving his hand in front of him in strong disagreement with Chan's accusation.
"Yeah but you were like whining the whole hike," Chan says, giving him a head shake of disbelief.
"I didn't," he resists to admit it, then looks at Jinnie to seek someone on his back, "I didn't, right?"
Jinnie looks at him and then looks at everyone, "Well, I wouldn't call it whining," she says.
Han glares at her as he senses a but trailing behind Jinnie's sentence. He puts his arm away from her and grumbles, "You know what? I'll not say anything on the hike way back."
On the hike way back, Han doesn't whine like he promised but he makes grunting noises. Chan knows he wants to complain but he wants to stick true to his own words.
He guides the hike back with you by his side and he's been catching you looking back a few times. He scoffs, knowing his sister so well to know that you're not just looking, you have eyes on someone.
"Who is it, baby sist?" He curiously asks.
You snap your head back and look ahead, "Huh? What?" You play coy.
With his hand on your shoulder, he stops you on your track and looks into your eyes, "I'm your brother. I know when my sister likes someone," he states.
You sigh because that's true, you can't hide the things from someone you've grown up your whole life with.
"Yeah, okay, you got me," you say in defeat.
"I didn't think much about it then but now, he's always in my head," you share, surprised that you don't find it awkward to tell personal things like this with him. Deep down you know it's not awkwardness you feel, you fear that Chan wouldn't be accepting of your choice.
"So, what do you think?"
Chan softly laughs and offers his hand at you as support to climb the outgrown tree roots, he waits until you safely land on the other side to answer.
"Well, I don't really have a say on that, do I?" he says.
"As far as I remember, you're really against it," you say, reminding him of the same ultimatum he says to his friends plenty of times.
"Yeah, but you know, as long as you're happy," he answers, along with a coy shrug.
Out of the blue, he playfully nudges your shoulder with his, "Ooo, baby sist is falling in love," he teasingly says.
You shove him hard until he's staggering to the side, "Stop calling me that!" You slap his big arm with each word.
Chan is as protective as a brother can be but he knows that he can't dictate every aspect of your life, including the person you like. However, as your brother, his opinions matter and it feels good to know that you have his approval.
-
The sun is setting when everyone returns to the campsite, painting the sky with bursts of red and yellow, gradually sending the day into the calm of night.
Before it gets dark, Chan orders everyone to work for dinner, he and Jeongin immediately build a campfire and the rest are setting the gas stove to cook.
"Can I help you with something?" Han offers his help to you and Jinnie who's busy prepping ingredients for dinner.
Jinnie hands him a pot, "Can you fill it with water?"
"How much water?"
"Just fill it full," she answers.
"Got it!" He takes the pot with him and comes back a few minutes later, carrying the pot of water with a lot of focus and cautiousness.
"Where do I put it?" He asks in a panic.
Jinnie gets out of the way to make space for him, "Here! On the stove!" She says.
He is concentrating hard on putting it right on the stove without spilling a drop, "How do you turn it on?"
You look away from the vegetables you're chopping and notice something on Han's leg, it seems like he scraped his knee without him knowing.
"Goodness, Han!" You gasp.
"Wh-what?" He asks in panic, looking at you in worry when he should be worried about himself.
"Your knee is bleeding," you point at the blood gushing out of his scraped knee. You scramble to find something for his wound.
Jinnie gets ahead of you, she comes with a bottle of water to wash the blood and tells him to sit down as she runs to the tent to get a first aid kit.
"Does it hurt?" You ask, finally find a napkin for it.
Han is surprisingly calm about it as he gently places the napkin over his wound, "I think I hurt my knee when I was getting water."
Chan pauses on grilling the meat to know what the ruckus is about, "What's going on?"
"Hannie scraped his knee," you shortly answer.
Jinne comes through with her bag of first-aid kit and pulls out a tube of ointment, she takes a dollop with a cotton bud and with so much gentleness, she dabs Han's wound with it.
Han hisses and winces in pain, reacting to the treatment and Jinnie quickly blows on it to soothe the pain.
"I just need to put a band-aid on it," she says and proceeds to take one from the pack. She puts a lot of care into covering his wound with it then sighs in relief.
"Thank you, Jinnie," Han sincerely says while holding the side of his knee.
Jinnie looks up as she's kneeling in front of him and warmly smiles, "You're very welcome, Han."
Despite the minor incident, dinner was a success as everyone finished the food in under an hour, and there was no better way to end a tiring yet fulfilling day than with cans of cold beer.
The night brings such a silence that the crackle of the campfire is all that could be heard with the sparks flickering and drifting upward. The smell of smoke mixed with the sweet smell of roasted marshmallows.
Being the good brother he is, Chan hands you the smores he made and takes the stick of marshmallow you're still roasting.
"Thanks," you mutter, wasting no time to bite into that gooey, crunchy sweetness.
Han wants to do the same for you, he makes smores out of the marshmallow he roasted a little too long and nudges Jeongin by the elbow.
"Pass it to her," he whispers, asking for his help to deliver it to you.
Jeongin doesn't say anything but takes it from him and without hesitation, he bites right into it.
"Hey, I made it for her!" He scolds him, putting his hands around Jeongin's neck to choke and force him to spit the smores he ate. That doesn't faze him, Jeongin has another bite to finish it and has no problem swallowing it down.
Thinking that Han is mad because Jeongin ate his smores, Jinnie gives the one she made to him as a consolation, "Here. You can have mine."
Han looks at it and feels bad to take it, "Iā It's okay, I'm full anyway," he lies with a grin.
The night is a special kind of blackness, the kind that wants only to hold the stars and help them shine all the brighter.Ā You tilt your head up and see those stars like pinpricks against the dark of night.
"Woah, look at those stars..." You sigh in wonder.
Everyone else follows suit, looking up at the night sky and feeling the same feeling of awe. When we realize how vast the universe is, our matters suddenly feel so small, don't you think?
"I have something to share with you guys," Jeongin suddenly announces.
Everyone stops staring at the night sky and looking at Jeongin, some are merely curious and the rest are anticipating what he tries to share.
"Remember when I told you guys I auditioned to join the Royal Orchestra?"
"Yeah, a couple of times," Chan says, bobbing his head at him.
"Last month I got the letter," he shares further.
"Oh!" Jinnie gasps in excitement even though Jeongin is not finished with the announcement yet.
Jeongin looks down at the blazing fire that gnaws on the logs of wood, making everyone wait for him to continue. After a while, he looks up and finally announces, "Well, I got in."
"Oh, my Gosh..." Chan sighs in relief with one hand clutching his chest.
"Yeah, man!" Han gives him a celebratory punch in the arm then puts his arm around him, "I just knew you'd get in."
"Duh!" Jinnie eggs in, "You're a great pianist, they're stupid if they didn't let you in."
"Congratulations, Jeongin! We're so proud of you," Chan says, giving him a pat on the back and a proud smile that exudes his paternal side towards Jeongin.
Jeongin looks at you and his eyes drop to his hands, "Which also means that I'll leave soon," he continues with shocking news.
The smiles on everyone's faces slowly fade at that announcement, it turns quiet again as everyone processes that there's a downside to this happy news. Jinnie looks devastated and she rests her head on Chan's shoulder to seek comfort.
"When do you have to leave?" Han asks.
"Next month," Jeongin replies.
"So... this will be the last time we're going to be together?" Jinnie sadly asks even though she's on the verge of tears already.
"Guys, I'm not dying," Jeongin says with an attitude.
Everyone lightly chuckles at that, Chan rearranges the logs to keep the bonfire alive and looks at Jeongin.
"How long will you be there?"
"It's a two-year contract," he answers.
Jinnie sniffles and puts on a small smile, "Just promise us that you'll always come to our weekly video meeting," she demands.
Jeongin chuckles and nods, crossing his fingers together as he says, "Promise!"
"Two years isn't that long," Han coyly says, poking the burned log with a tree branch.
"By the time I get back, I expect one of you to already be married to someone," Jeongin jokingly says, secretly throwing a glance at Chan and raising his eyebrow at him.
"I'm getting drowsy," you say, stretching your arms up and tilting your head side to side, "I'm going to head in and sleep."
Jinnie lifts her head off of Chan's shoulder and crosses her arms together in front of her, "Yeah, I'm going to sleep as well," she says.
It's getting late and the night only grows colder, Chan decides that it's time to sleep. He volunteers to put out the bonfire while Jeongin heads straight into the tent.
After taking a quick trip to the bathroom, Han enters the tent and sees that the sleeping bags have been arranged. Jinnie takes the farthest right and you're sleeping next to her, bundled in the warmth of your sleeping bag.
The middle one belongs to Chan and since Jeongin takes the farthest left which means he's going to be sleeping between them. He slips himself into his sleeping bag and turns his head only to find that you're still awake.
"I thought you're sleeping already," he lowly mutters.
You don't say anything but smile at him with your eyes soft and tender, blanketing his heart with warm feelings.
When it occurs to him that he's sleeping in this shared space with you, he gets that fluttering feeling inside, a kaleidoscope of butterflies flying around in his stomach.
"Goodnight, Han," you lowly murmur.
"Goodnight," he murmurs back, not taking his eyes off of you until you turn your head to the other side.
Han continues to admire your profile from the side, your eyes, your nose, and the plump of your lips that he's dying to taste. You're so beautiful and he gets to enjoy that beauty as much as he pleases.
"I'm surprised I didn't find you snoring already," Chan says as he enters the tent and zips it close.
Then there's the brother who always ruins this special moment. Han turns his head away and scoots slightly to the side to make more space for Chan, knowing how big he is.
"Let's see who gets to snore first," Han dares him.
The next thing he knows, Han finds himself in the forest again and he can hear you laughing. He looks up and finds you standing next to him with your hair wet and your feet bare.
"Take you somewhere..." you vaguely say.
Han doesn't answer but takes your hand, together you're walking through the forest. He feels the rough stone handholds against the palms and fingertips and tall lush grass sliding across calves.
Then he looks at you and you're smiling at him, your eyes bright and droplets of water are dripping down the end of your hair.
"It's cool," you say, laughing at him.
He thinks you find something funny about him so he starts to grope his body around and checks what is it that makes you laugh.
"Come here," you say, giggling with your hand still holding his.
"What?" He asks.
"It's cool," you say again, then you take the straps of your swimsuit and pull them down your shoulders. You're giggling while keep pulling the straps down, revealing your bare chest to him little by little untilā
"Han, wake up!"
The image blurs as someone shakes his body awake. He ignores it and tries to go back to sleep, hoping that he gets to continue the dream.
"Wake up!"
"Ugh... mmh," he incoherently complains and curls up in his sleeping bag.
"Just let him sleep," you say to someone.
Han's eyes snap open the second he hears your voice, he then scrambles out of his sleeping bag, disoriented with his hair tousled.
"Are you coming?"
Without looking, Han can tell that it's Chan's voice.
"I'm coming, yes, coming," he mumbles with half-shut eyes.
He shivers as cold air blows into the tent, he gropes around for his jacket with eyes barely open, "What time is it?"
"It's four," Chan answers.
"In the afternoon?" He gasps in shock, can't believe that he slept through the day.
"In the morning," Chan corrects him.
It's even more shocking that he wakes up at four in the morning when the sun is not even out yet. He opens his mouth to complain but he sees you coming into the tent.
"Chris, can I borrow one of your hoodies?" You ask.
Han grabs what he assumes is his hoodie and hurriedly gives it to you, "You can wear mine," he offers with a sleepy smile.
Chan takes it from his hand and then gives it to you, "Hurry up! It's sunrise in any minute now," he rushes him.
Han is barely functioning but he tries to keep up with the group, walking through the path in the dark of the night that still lingers and the stars that insist on shining bright against the bruised sky.
He rushes to walk next to you while hugging himself to shield himself from the cold, "Where are we going?"
"Just to the top of that hill," you answer, looking beautiful even with your face bare and your eyes puffy from the lack of sleep.
It gets tricky as the path turns into climbing the rocky outcroppings and it's a bit embarrassing that you're the one helping him not the other way around.
"There she is," Chan says, pointing to the golden disk that rises on the horizon with its honeyed glow.
It is the time when the day casts away the cloak of night and makes an entrance with a bright, gold light of warmth, making it known that she rules the day once and forever more.
Jinnie walks up to Chan's side and stands so close to him, arms brushing and elbows grazing.
"It's like you have to whisper," Jinnie murmurs, thinking that she would disrupt the serene view by talking loudly.
When Chan looks at her, he realizes one thing. Jinnie is like the sunrise, she doesnāt care if anyone watches it or not, she will keep on being beautiful, even if no one bothers to look at it.
"You know what, Chris?" She suddenly asks.
"Yes?"
"This is one of those moments that I'll share with my future husband and children," she says, her eyes set on the sun that keeps on rising, gently and swiftly at once.
Hearing her talking about the future makes Chan wants to make it all true for her and have the chance to tell her future children, 'Yes, Dad was there too'. Just the thought of it already makes him so giddy that he finds himself smiling.
Jinnie slowly rests her head on his shoulder to enjoy the sunrise together and Chan gets what she said earlier, he also feels like saying things out loud would only ruin the moment so he decides to keep it in his heart a little longer.
"Ugh! He's stressing me out," You mutter to yourself, seeing Jinnie and Chan sharing an intimate moment and instead of using this as an opportunity to say something, Chan does nothing but stare at her like usual.
"That's my hoodie," Someone says.
You turn to the side and find Jeongin there, "Sorry?"
"You're wearing my hoodie," he says, pointing to the hoodie you're wearing which you thought belonged to Han.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know," you meekly say, torn between keeping it on or not, but you know you need it, it's so cold to take it off.
"That's okay," Jeongin says, leaning on the rock next to you.
It's hard to interact with Jeongin because he rarely talks, he only talks when he has important things to say or has savage takes on things. You hesitate to talk to him without feeling like you'll waste his time. Still... you muster up the courage only to get interrupted by Han's head lolling onto your shoulder.
You check on him and see that he's falling back to sleep. You quickly put your arm around him to keep the back of his head from hitting the rock.
"We should have let him sleep," Jeongin says.
"Yeah," you respond with a soft laugh.
Now that he's speaking to you, you use this as an opportunity to congratulate him, "I didn't get the chance last night but congratulations for joining the Royal orchestra," you tell him.
Jeongin brushes his hair to the back and then clears his throat, "Thank you."
"I went to one of your shows two months back," you share and instantly regret doing it, what are you expecting though? For him to thank you.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Jeongin asks, he seems to find it important to know the reason.
"Well, I just... I don't know, I don't want to disturb you and I was with a friend anyway so..." you vaguely explain.
There's no other reason why you came to his show except to watch him playing his piano, you thought of seeing him after the show but you were afraid that he'd be too busy for that.
"We could have hung out. I'd treat you to dinner," he says while scratching his ear.
"That sounds nice," you comment with a smile.
"I'm not a cheapskate like Han," he jokingly adds with a soft laugh.
"Well, I was thinkā Oh!" You abruptly stop talking as Han nuzzles his head further into your neck and puts his arm across your chest.
Jeongin gets on his feet and makes you switch places with him. He takes Han's arm from around your shoulder, offering himself for him to lean on instead of you.
"Is Han sleeping?" Chan asks, noticing his friend is draping on Jeongin's shoulder.
"I told you to let him sleep," you grumble at him.
The walk back isn't as bad as the climb, Han is being dragged by Chan to make sure of his safe return to the campsite. Jeongin is tasked to brew coffee for everyone while Jinnie and Chan are making breakfast together. You volunteer to tidy up the tent and fold the sleeping bags.
Once you're done, you join everyone around the campfire and Jeongin immediately hands you a cup of coffee.
"Thank you," you mutter, holding it with both hands to absorb the heat.
Chan mischievously slaps Han's shoulder, startling him awake from his sleep and making him jolt on the chair.
"Time for breakfast!" He informs him.
He looks at him with wondering eyes, stretches his arms out, and then lets out a big yawn. Even with a barely functioning brain, Han knows that it's time to eat, he takes a plate and a piece of toast.
"Here. Have an egg," Jinnie says, sliding an egg onto his plate from the frypan.
She then turns at you and says, "You too."
You hurriedly grab a plate and mutter your gratitude at her, wasting no time to start digging in. Soon, everyone is stuffing their mouth with food and it gets quiet that you can hear the forest come alive around you.
"We're going to drive the whole day today," Chan informs out of nowhere.
"Can we know where we're going now?" Jinnie asks, taking a bite of her bread.
Chan pulls out something out of his jeans pocket, a piece of paper but he continues to unfold it open. With an excited grin, he turns it around and reveals a poster.
"How long have you been keeping that poster in the back of your jeans?" Jeongin curiously asks, then takes a small sip of his coffee.
Not getting the reaction he expected, Chan frowns and his shoulders slumped. Han snatches the poster from his hands and looks at it with utter bewilderment.
"What? Did you get tickets to this? How?" He asks with his cheeks full of food.
You don't recognize it at first until you see the logo of the band and gasp in surprise, "Am I seeing The Hare concert poster?"
The grin blooms on Chan's face once more, "More like the poster for their secret gig this Friday night," he humbly brags.
"What?" You ask again with eyes widening.
Han roughly yanks the sleeve of Chan's sweater, "How did you get the tickets?"
"Let's say I knew someone who knows someone," Chan cryptically says, deciding not to tell everyone how he acquired those tickets.
"Anyway, I think it's better if the girls take turns to drive first," he continues with the planning.
"Yep. It's best if you boys get some rest before driving all night," Jinnie agrees, already collecting the trash from around the table.
You're representing everyone when you say that Jinnie and Chan make a great team, they're the ones who came up with the planning and handled the financial stuff, and they make sure everyone is doing well and having fun. They're basically playing parents to you, Han, and Jeongin which adds one more reason why they should date as soon as possible.
-
Jinnie offers to take the first turn to drive and Chan is the last one to get into the car as he has to return the rented tent and pay for it.
"Everyone please make sure you've checked your belongings," Chan says as he puts his safety belt on.
Jinnie turns on the car engine and checks everything, her safety belt, and the angle of the rearview mirror, and then adjusts the seat.
"Do you mind if I play music from my phone?" You ask.
"Not at all," Jinnie replies, tucking her hair behind her ear as she backs the car from the parking lot and starts driving.
Not long after the car driving through the main road, Han startles in the backseat and then asks, "How long have we been driving?"
Chan glances at his smartwatch and turns his head to the back, "About 35 minutes. Why?"
"I want to pee," Han says, his face doesn't show any expression but it makes his face appear so round.
"Can you hold it?" Chan asks.
Han considers it for a moment then slowly leans back on his seat, "Yeah, I'llā I'll hold it," he doubtfully says.
"Distract yourself, you know, think of something so you don't want to pee anymore," Chan suggests.
"Think of the waterfall we went to yesterday," Jeongin playfully adds with a suppressed laugh.
"Hey!" Chan slaps Jeongin's arm, saying the opposite of what he suggested.
"I'll try to sleep," Han finds a better solution to detain his urge to pee.
"That's a great idea!" Chan says.
It's a good thing that Han is one of those people who can sleep anytime anywhere. He manages to sleep through two hours long of drive until the urge comes back.
"Guys, I don't think I can hold it anymore," he mutters, biting his lower lip until it turns pale.
Jinnie looks at him through the rearview mirror and sees how he can't hold the urge anymore, "The sign says rest area is only 10 kilometers away," she informs.
Han grips the headrest of Jeongin's headrest, "Okay."
"Are we good?" Jinnie asks.
"Yeah," he meekly answers.
"Just a few more minutes," you convince him.
There's nothing you can do to help him but you can relate to that feeling, you look back to check on him once in a while.
"Jinnie?" He calls again.
"Yeah?"
"Please step on the gas!" Han says, looking a little pale now.
Considering the urgency of the situation, Jinnie allows herself to go above the speed limit, she steps on the gas and the car picks up the speed, launching the car forward.
Sensing the change in speed, Chan wakes up from his nap and looks around in confusion. But the first thing he does when he gains his sense is check on Jinnie.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"Han needs to pee," you answer for her since she focuses on driving.
"Almost there!" Jinnie says as she changes the lane to enter the rest area.
Han hops out of the car once the car gets to the parking lot of the rest area and immediately runs to search for the bathroom.
Once the car is parked, Jinnie lets out a sigh and leans back on her seat, "That was the most intense ten minutes I ever had in my life," Jinnie says.
Seeing the hilarity of it all, the three of you burst into laughter almost at the same time, making it one of those memorable little things that happened on this road trip.
The laughter wakes Jeongin up from his nap and he looks confused as to why everyone is laughing, "What's happening?"
No one is answering him but keep laughing until we're running out of air. Oh, there's nothing like the deep breaths after laughing that hard.Ā
-
Since they're stopping at a rest area and it's close to lunchtime, they may as well take a break from driving to ear. Everyone scatters the second they step into the food court to order the food they want. You decide on a bowl of ramen and get in the queue with Jinnie behind you.
Even though he's already carrying a tray of food in his hands, Chan stops next to the queue and scans the menu.
"Hey, baby sist!" He loudly calls you.
The people in the queue turn their heads to see who he calls baby sist, you hurriedly turn your back to them and glare at Chan.
"Please don't address me with that name in public," You scold him through your gritted teeth.
"Order a portion of fried dumplings for me," he says, ignoring your complaint and leaving with a grin.
Everyone gathers at one of the long tables in the middle of the food court with their choices of lunch, you slide the plate of fried dumplings at Chan and steal one piece with your chopsticks.
"You better not drink a lot of sodas if you have a weak bladder," Jeongin and his savage intake make an appearance.
Han pretends not to hear him and continues to stuff his cheek with more food.
The lunch is not enough, so everyone scatter once more to buy snacks. You're getting a bag of mini fish-shaped cakes for desserts and Han appears behind you with a big smile on his face.
"Got you ice cream," he says.
"How nice of you!" You delightfully exclaim.
"I don't know what you like so I chose three flavors at once," he explains the different flavors of ice cream in one cone.
"Thank you," you mutter your gratitude with a smile.
"I have to go for another bathroom break," he says with a grin lingering on his face, then leaves the other way.
The ice cream would make a great dessert if it didn't have strawberry ice cream in the mix. It's obvious that Han completely forgot that you're allergic to it, you can't eat it, or throw it away. You can give it to Chan but Han would know that you're not eating the ice cream he specifically bought for you and he would find that disrespectful, or worse, upset him.
Making your way out of the food court, you carry the bag of snacks in one hand and the ice cream in the other, still have no idea what to do with it.
Out of nowhere, Jeongin comes from the side, also carrying an ice cream in hand. He takes the one from your hand and switches it with him, a chocolate-flavored one.
"You can have mine," he says, not waiting to bite right into the ice cream.
Not only that he remember your allergy, but he also comes with a new ice cream and you find that endearing. You let out a mix of scoff and laugh, "I've never seen someone bite into ice cream."
"Well, there's always a first time to everything," he coyly says.
-
It's your turn to drive now and thankfully, you have set up an hour-long playlist for it. Jinnie remains in the front, sitting on the passenger's side and putting her legs up as she draws on her sketchbook.
The boys don't find it hard to fall back to sleep after a hearty lunch, you lower the volume of the music and only hum along to the song currently playing in the car to not wake the sleeping beauties in the back.
"What do you think?" Jinnie asks, holding her sketchbook out to you.
You keep the steering wheel steady to glance at the rough drawing of you from her point of view, then look back straight ahead.
"Wow. That's good!" You compliment.
Jinnie is a great illustrator, she mostly does illustrations for children's books and magazines which explains her exceptional talent for drawing.
"Please tell me you'll finish it and then email it to me," you say, already planning on making it your profile picture for your social media.
"I'll finish it when I'm not in a moving vehicle," she says, putting her pencil back into its case and putting it on the dashboard along with the sketchbook.
"I think it's cute," Jinnie says while stretching her arms to the front.
"What cute?" You ask with a perplexed smile.
"The way Chris calls you baby sist," she answers.
Oh, she must be talking about that little incident that happened back at the food court. You nod and tap your steering wheel to the rhythm of the song playing.
"Look, I don't mind when call me that in front of you guys. Just don't do it in front of a bunch of strangers," you explain, briefly shifting your focus to driving by a big truck.
"I mean... what if there are cute guys there and they heard it," you playfully remark.
Jinnie softly chuckles and grabs a bottle of water from the cup holder, "You're beautiful and smart, you shouldn't have any problems getting a cute guy," she says.
"That I agree!" You jokingly say with a sassy eyebrow raise.
When it occurs to you that this would be the perfect opportunity to have another crack at her, you arrange the words in your head before saying them out loud.
"I can say the same thing about you, Jinnie. You're beautiful and smart, except you have a lot of patience in you," you pause for a chuckle and briefly glance at her, "you shouldn't have any problems getting a hot guy."
Jinnie gets quiet and you begin to think that your words offended her in a way yet you give it another moment for her to digest your words thoroughly. She suddenly looks back, probably making sure that none of the boys are listening in on this conversation.
"I'm just a girl," Jinnie meekly says, lowering her voice as she slightly slumps in her seat, "All I can do is wait for the other person to profess their feelings to me."
Oh, finally! You manage to successfully crack her this time. You keep your cool and continue to crack deeper into it.
"I have to stop you right there!" You tell her with your hand raised, making a stop sign at her.
"You're not just a girl, you're incredible!" You may have exaggerated your tone a little bit but she needs to hear the truth in your words.
"You're not just beautiful and smart, you're kind, compassionate and you're strong and gentle at the same time. And if I'm being honest, I look up to you a lot," you openly admit.
"Aww..." Jinnie coos, she seems to be taking your compliments well along with a shy smile.
"And a girl like you shouldn't wait. A girl like you take matters into your own hands and you know, tell him how you feel," you encourage her.
Yeah, okay, maybe there's an underlying motive here but that doesn't make what you said to her a lie.
"It's a different thing when the person you like is your friend and you've been close with that person for so long," Jinnie sighs, her voice drops lower and she seems smaller than ever.
However, the mystery is now solved. Jinnie is indeed having the same feeling, she's hesitant only because they've been friends for too long. You get it that sometimes it's a bit scary to date someone who knows so much about you but if you focus on the good side, it means that they'll be more accepting and understanding towards your qualities.
If there are two people who truly deserve each other, it's Chan and Jinnie.
"Isn't that a good thing? You've known each other long enough to learn so much about each other and understand each other better," you give her your opinion and secretly glance to see her reaction.
Jinnie plays with the lint on her jeans as she digests your words while looking at the ever-changing scenery as the car keeps moving forward.
"You're right," she finally responds to your words.
Now, that you've tried your best to give her that little push, you can only hope for the outcome and hopefully, it'll be the best one.
"I know I'm right," you confidently remark, then burst into laughter.
Unbeknownst to you and Jinnie, Chan has been listening all along and behind his dark hoodie, he's smiling from ear to ear.
-
After stopping for dinner, the trip continues with Chan behind the wheel and Jeongin on his side. Jinnie takes the middle seat with Han and you occupy the backseat, using the extra space to curl up and sleep.
It's a bummer that you're not sitting next to him but this way, Han can easily look to the back and see you peacefully sleeping with a hand under your head, lost in your sweet dream.
"Hey, Han, can you get me a can of soda?" Chan asks without looking at him.
Since he's too busy watching you sleep, Han doesn't hear it the first time and snaps his head to the front, "What?"
"Get me a soda," Chan repeats while holding his arm out to the back so Han can hand it right into his hand.
Han rummages inside the small cooler box next to his feet, grabbing the first can that rolls into his hand and putting it into Chan's hand.
"Thanks!" Chan shortly says to him.
The road is eerily empty as it turns smaller from four into two lanes and the last sliver of sun has fully disappeared, replaced by the soft moonlight on a hot summer night.
Having nothing to do, Jeongin looks into the GPS to assess the route and the final destination.
"It says we'll arrive at 7 in the morning," he says.
"Yep, there's no hurry. We have plenty of time until the gig," Chan calmly says, still holding the soda in his hand, unopened.
Jeongin reclines on his seat and crosses his arms together on his chest, "And what we're going to do until then?"
"I booked us rooms at a hotel nearby," Chan informs, "we'll have some rest before leave in the afternoon."
"Hotel, right? Not motel?" Jeongin asks with suspicious eyes because the last time they stayed at the motel, he had to share the bed with Han.
"Yes," Chan hastily answers.
"I'm going to get my own room," Jeongin says.
"I thought you like sharing the bed with me," Han jokingly says.
"That's the least of my worries," Jeongin says, then gives each of them a glare.
Han pops his head in the middle of them, "Then what's the problem?"
Jeongin gives each of them a glare, "It's you guys snoring. It's like a whole orchestra in there but all the instruments are tuba," he says with a shiver.
Han grabs the front of Jeongin's shirt in response, "My snore sounded nothing like tuba!"
"How do you know what your snores sound like?" Jeongin asks, giving him the side eyes.
"Last time I checked it's Beethoven's Symphony No. 9," Han answers without a beat.
Jeongin leans at him and gives him a perplexed look, "What?"
"What?" Han asks back with daring eyes.
"Beethoven's Symphony No. 9," Chan says, finding himself giggling to it and his giggles gradually turn into laughter that fills the small, enclosed space.
Chan slows down the speed and holds the steering wheel steady with his forearms to open his can of soda. The second it pops open, the carbonated drink fizzles and spills out of the can.
"Oh, no, man..." he groans in complaint, seeing the soda get all over the steering wheel and dripping onto his lap.
"You made a mess, Chris," Jeongin grumbles, pulling multiple tissues out of the box and then handing some to him. He helps to wipe the droplets that somehow land on the console.
With one hand steadily holding the steering wheel, Chan keeps on dabbing the wet patch on the jeans with a ball of tissues.
"Ugh, it's sticky," Chan groans in disgust and then looks down at his lap to see if he misses anything.
The moment Chan's eyes are off the road, the headlights shine on an object that comes into sight, and Jeongin, as the only one aware of the deer standing in the middle of the road, reflexively grabs the steering wheel and turns it hard to the right.
Losing control of the car, no one can do anything to stop it. The tires are screeching against the asphalt as the car spins around, and eventually stops as it hits something with a loud banging sound, but no one is moving.
-
Support my blog by kindly reblog, comment or tip me on my ko-fi!
@svintsandghosts @abiaswreck @ppiri-bahng @drhsthl @idkluvutellme @biribarabiribbaem @skz-streamer @biancaness @hanjisunginc @elizalabs3 @laylasbunbunny @kpopformylife @caitlyn98s @hann1bee @mamieishere @is2cb97 @marvelous-llama @bluenights1899 @sherryblossom @toplinehyunjin @hanjisbeloved @yourmomscuntis2tighy @sunnyseungup @skz4lifer @stellasays45 @severeanxietyissues @avyskai @imseungminsgf @silentreadersthings @army-stay-noel @rylea08 @simeonswhore @jebetwo @yubinism @devilsmatches @septicrebel @rairacha @cutiespaghetti @ven-fic-recs @hyunjiinnnn @lostgirlinthewoodss @schniti-is-in-the-house @jisunglyricist @9900z
#stray kids smut#skz smut#skz x reader#stray kids imagines#skz imagines#stray kids scenarios#skz scenarios#skz fics#skz fanfics#kpop smut#kpop fics#kpop fanfics#seospicy smut
293 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Where the Wild Things Are, morals for kids, and queer art
One of my favorite things about this children's book is that the way adults respond to it is a great litmus test for how much theyĀ getĀ kids.
At it's core, Where the Wild Things Are is a book about a tantrum. Max misbehaves, is sent to his room without supper, imagines a world where he gets to be in charge and let all his monstrous rage out, but when he's had his fun?Ā "Max the king of all wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all"Ā he says goodbye to the beasts and makes his way back home whereĀ "he found his supper waiting for him. And it was still hot."Ā It'sĀ stillĀ hot. The book describes his journey into and out of Where The Wild Things Are as taking "years, weeks, days" that he can smell his supper "far away across the world" but that's because everythingĀ feelsĀ so big when you're a kid. Your tantrums feel like they last an eternity but by the time you're back from it, your supper is still hot.
Deep down, Max understands that his mom sent him to bed without supper because she cares about him. Because when he's out having a wild rumpus with the beasts that follow his every command, he still sends them to bed without supper. Max might not understand why, but he sure does repeat that action to the beasts he watches over as king. Supper is still waiting for Max when he returns because his mom understands that even though Max misbehaves, it's not coming from a place of malice. It's a tantrum, and kids come back from that. They don't mean the cruel things they say or do.
So when I see grown ups read this book and go "what the heck?' This book is about a spoiled jerk who gets to boss monsters around and come back home to a nice meal? Where's his punishment??? He didn't learn a thing! What's the lesson?" I'm just amused. "he threatens his mom and she lets that slide??" Dude, the mom calls him aĀ "WILD THING!"Ā and he respondsĀ "I'LL EAT YOU UP"Ā a child can't threaten you. "what if this book influences my child to act out, thinking they'll be rewarded??" Kids are going to act out no matter how you raise them.
This book has stayed with me because it's pretty to look at, it scared me, understood me and as I grew older I learned that the author, Maurice Sendak was queer. Sendak was also the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants escaping the Holocaust. He never told his parents he wasn't straight.Ā "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew."Ā Adults constantly demand moral closure from kids' media. To them, kids have to be taught and disciplined and influenced into the right behaviors. But Where the Wild Things Are isn't that kind of book. This book gave me a space to let out my messy, ugly, tantrum feelings without being judged or punished for it. I didn't have to learn a lesson. I got to go to Where the Wild Things Are and come back when I'm ready.
I'm a children's book author now, and there's something so special about being able to connect to another queer creator through their work like this. My book also talks about how important it is to have the space to justĀ feelĀ and make sense of change. A lot of queer art is inherently challenging. To know that even the stuff we craft to nurture kids can still confound and challenge their parents? "What if this book influences our kids??" some things about queer art never change.
#media criticism#ramblings#jesncin cohost essay repost#where the wild things are#maurice sendak#just a bitesize thought today#halloween relevant right? it's got monsters
176 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
PERVERT!JAEMIN
genre/cw: pervert!jaemin, smut, stealing panties, slight somnophilia, best friends au
warning: 18+ content, minors dni
a/n: happy birthday to my princess boy <3
Pervert!Jaemin who is your best friend and thatās enough of an excuse for him to stay at your place for however long he wishes, just to stare at you in your comfiest setting. He knows how you trust him blindly, to the point you donāt bother wearing a bra around him, which he loves.
Pervert!Jaemin who loves to help you with your chores, leaving your favourite chocolates on the highest shelf just so you call him for his assistance, which would provide him with the perfect opportunity to sandwich you between him and the counter, subtly rubbing his cock on your clothed ass as he gives you back your chocolates.
Pervert!Jaemin who offers to do your laundry, not wanting to be around your place without extending some kind of help. It only ends up benefiting him when he steals one of your lacy, soiled panties for his own use, wrapping the dainty material around his thick cock, defiling it further.
Pervert!Jaemin who loves showing affection. His arms are always wrapped around your figure, even more so when you cuddle and sleep next to him, giving him the perfect opportunity to rub himself on your ass, maybe even using your hand to get off if he feels bold enough.
Pervert!Jaemin who acts clumsy at times to garner attention, forgetting to close the door just to see you change through the slightest door opening, accidentally spilling water on you and panicking, only to get a towel and tap it all over your chest in an attempt to feel your tits.
Pervert!Jaemin who loves photography and asks you to be his muse, posing for him in all ways possible, exactly how he guides you. Manipulation is an art he has mastered, and thatās how you find yourself in nothing but your lingerie, posing for Jaemin to help him with his portfolio (read: getting off at night).
Pervert!Jaemin who helps you in the gym, being consistent at exercising. Little do you know itās all his plan to see you in those yoga pants, to touch you while correcting your postures and guiding you through it all, however, he might lose himself midway when he hears you whimper softly.
Pervert!Jaemin who doesnāt waste a second in pulling you to an empty changing room, the dazed look in your eyes being enough for him to know how much you crave his cock, not knowing that you, in fact, are just the right match for him when it comes to being wild. So, he sternly asks you to keep your eyes on the mirror as he thrusts into you, groaning and nibbling on your earlobe.
Pervert!Jaemin who doesnāt mind the people around you and shoves his fingers down your panties, glad you wore a skirt while sitting in the bus with him, asking you to keep quiet with a chuckle as he successfully makes you fall apart on his fingers.
Ā© jaylaxies | tumblr
#nct smut#nct dream smut#jaemin smut#na jaemin smut#jaemin drabbles#jaemin x reader#nct#nct dream#jaemin#jaemin imagines#na jaemin#kpop smut
2K notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Who will you be tonight?
Synopsis: In the night you try to get the 'King of thieves' behind bars, while in the day the thieve is celebrated by the whole world- even by the little boy you babysit and his annoying uncle Sukuna Ryomen.
Pairing: Thieve! Sukuna x Detective! Reader
Warnings: fem! reader, pet names, a bit of cursing, crimes, maybe a bit ooc Sukuna
Word count: 3.2k
"There he is! Get him!"
Sirens were playing, alarming everyone in the building that the danger was near. Danger for the lovely diamond that was trying to be protected. That he was hear.
The king of thieves.
Tonight would be different. The reign of his crimes would fall down. His cockiness finally biting him back. The big diamond you were assigned to finally safe.
"I have to say, Mrs. Detectiveā¦" your client Mr. Suzuki spoke. "We have to thank you. The work is flawless, like always."
Mr. Suzuki was trying to get this thieve, who called himself a king, for a long time. The treasures in his possession being bait for the cocky bastard.
Just like you were trying to get him for a long time.
"It's not flawless if he gets away." you narrowed your eyes as you watched the screen. "So save your gratitude for later."
The diamond was a big one. Called 'the blue ocean' it was one of the most beautiful diamonds you have ever witnessed. And you have seen many, since you tried to protect them from him.
The diamond was on a pedestal, behind glass. On each side of the pedestal a police officer. Ready to strike the thieve. But that wasn't your work. No your plan had something else in it.
"The pedestal has a sensory of the weight, which is on it. Is the diamond removed, even just slightly moved, a sleeping gas will be released." you muttered for yourself.
"We did like you said-" Mr. Suzuki started but you raised your hand to hush him.
"And since he will come through the roof like a madmanā¦" you finished your thoughts. "We stationed many guards there. And even if he got the diamond, he will be trapped inside the room, because of the sensory."
"Impressing, like always." Mr. Suzuki nodded.
The cameras showed the lights in the room flickering. The guards looking around, but there was nothing in sight. No one in sight.
"And you really don't want to be mentioned by name when we write about our victory?" The business man looked at you confused.
"Not in a million years." you shook your head. "I don't want people standing before my door because I destroyed their Thieve romance fantasy. I want to stay anonymous."
It was a crazy world. The tabloids reported the failed attempts of capturing the infamous king of thieves like he was a genius. And the people loved this mysterious man who vanished right in front of the officers.
Your walkie talkie made a sound. "He was seen near the art collection, but since then he vanished." The inspector Mikaru spoke. "He could have gone through the vent there, we will station some guards outside the office of Mr. Suzuki."
"Wait." your mind was running wild. "He could, but that isn't the only possibility."
You heard him grinding his teeth. "But that is the only way out of the gallery. You know that, little Mrs. Detective."
"I do." you looked back at the screen. "But that's just if we think he really went in there. He is a master of disguise. The police man who told you that, could be him. So don't change our position. The top priority is the diamond."
After a couple seconds of silence he sighed. "Yes, Mrs. Detective." The connection broke up.
You had him. The last months of humiliation were finally finished. Tonight would be different.
"What is going on there?" Mr. Suzuki pointed at the second screen, which showed the roof. The guards there running towards something, or someone but you couldn't see what. Then the camera turned black.
"He is on hunt." you smiled to yourself.
"Listen up!" you activated your second walkie talkie again, that was connected to the guards near the diamond. "He is coming. Be on guard."
You broke the connection and watched the last screen.
And then the lights went out. Only darkness and shadows were visible as you knew that he was in there. But he could try like he wanted. He couldn't leave with the diamond.
"Come onā¦" your voice was not louder than a whisper. "Get him!"
The lights went on again. The guards laying on the ground, the sleeping gas having affected the room. The locked door still untouched. But behind the flawless glass the diamond wasn't in sight.
"NO!" you shook the screen before you. "THAT CAN'T-"
"A smart plan really."
And you knew it was that arrogant asshole, when your walkie talkie spoke again.
"I see the princess has decoded my message rightfully. But next time you have to try harder."
"Oh don't worry I will get you." your teeth were pressed together like never before. "Just wait and see."
"If you say so." His deep voice chuckling. "Till next time, My Lady."
With that the connection broke. And you knew he had escaped right in front of your nose. Again.
"Fuck!"
ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«
"And like always the great thieve escaped!" yuuji jumped as he read the tabloid that trended right now.
The little boy was eating those stories up, what wasn't surprising. Many people loved the story of an 'elegant' criminal.
"I think that's enough of screen time." you took the IPad from him, as he whined loudly.
"But I haven't read the interviews yet!" the six-year old hated reading, but if it was about his 'idol' he was practically begging you.
"I don't think that's necessary." you hated to deny the boy, what wasn't ideal since you were his babysitter, but you couldn't keep talking and thinking about yesterday. About your failure.
"Please! I will clean my room! Orā¦ Pay you!" yuuji jumped up and down as he followed you. You laughed as you placed his IPad on the closet so he couldn't take it again.
"You should clean your room regardless. And your parents pay me already." you tried to ignore his puppy eyes. "Let's go to the park instead. We can go for hot chocolate!"
His face lit up. "Okay-"
"Why not let him read the article?" Like always Sukuna interrupted your session of babysitting his nephew with a cocky smile. He went down the stairs and stood there with such confidence you wanted to smack him. "I see no harm."
"Shouldn't you be in your own apartment?" you raised an eyebrow at him. "I heard you finally got a job."
He gasped. "I always had a job! And why do I have to hear that from the babysitter?"
"I have another job too." you narrowed your eyes at his remark. "And you didn't answer my question."
He tilted his head. "Neither did you."
You felt your face heating up, because of the anger that came up when you thought back to yesterday. And your usual banter with Sukuna just made your frustration worse.
Of course he was a fanboy too.
"I want to go get hot chocolate!" yuuji pulled at your hand impatiently. "Can we go??"
"Yeah, get your jacket. It's cold outside." you smiled at the little boy as he hurried to the wardrobe.
"Why not let him read about the king of thieves?" Sukuna kept pestering you as you took the spare keys.
"He had enough screen time for the day. I'm not getting paid for letting him be on the IPad the whole day." you shook your head. "Now why are you here?"
He raised an eyebrow at your obvious excuse. "I couldn't make it home yesterday so I slept here. My brother still has a room for me when I stop by."
"You sure you have a job? Or are you just selling drugs?" you backed up a bit. "Because you look a bit high."
"First of all." he followed you to the wardrobe. "Selling is still a job. Secondly I would have to buy them to be high, not sell them. And no, sweetheart, I don't sell drugs on the street."
"No, he is a good painter!" yuuji practically spawned next to you out of the sudden. "He is really good!"
You couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Oh is that so?"
Sukuna shook his head as he petted yuuji's head a little bit harsh. "That's just a hobby."
"Well whatever it is, it's not important right now." you took yuujis hand. "We have a cafƩ we have to go to."
"Why can't Uncle Sukuna come with?" yuuji looked up at you confused.
"Yeah, why can't I come with?" Sukuna tilted his head again with this smile.
"Because I'm sure he has things to do." you opened the door. "Now let's go, Yuuji."
"Do you have things to do?" Yuuji didn't move, just looked at his Uncle.
"No, nothing."
"Then can he please come with us??" yuuji now pulled your hand and you made this time the mistake to look at his puppy eyes. "Pleeeease?"
ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«
"He is so cool! His cards are so fancy and how he is tricking the detectives is so cooool!!" Like usual when you were babysitting when Sukuna was around, Yuuji gushed over the so called 'king of thieves' .
"I hear you kid. It's really impressive how the police officers can't even get him, even though he tells them when and how he will do it." Sukuna took a sip out of his black coffee.
"He doesn't just tell him. He makes riddles that confuse the police, they are not that stupid." you hated this dumb gushing over a criminal. A. Criminal!
"That's so smart!" yuuji clapped with those big eyes that you couldn't be mad at him. He was just a kid who found it exciting.
"Well, the press would say otherwise." But you could be mad at the adult here, gushing over the criminal. "They are not talking nice about the police."
You wanted to smack the smile from his face. "Well, if you mean all the tabloids, yes they are not talking nice. Like always."
The hot chocolate here was really good. You always took Yuuji here, he loved it. It was nice seeing him so sincerely happy. Yuuji was like the little brother you always wanted.
"Oh, they are talking nice about the Detective who helped the police. Something along the lines 'The only competent person there' and 'Police would be doomed without'." Sukuna glanced at Yuuji, who burned his tongue.
"Really? Are they that smart?" Yuuji looked up shocked, his face red, because of the slight burn.
Before you could say something, the man surprised you. "Oh they are!" Sukuna looked smugly at his nephew.
"Some say the police only knew that the king of thieves would come, because the detective solved his riddle!"
"That's sooo cool!" Yuuji's eyes became un normally big again. And you would never admit it but it felt nice to have them talking about you like that.
"You know awfully a lot about this whole case." you couldn't help the little smirk that stole itself on your face.
"Well I do work at the police, soooā¦"
"You do?!" you couldn't believe what you were hearing. Sukuna? Working in the police department? That doesn't add up.
"Yeah. In the administration, so I'm not a police officer, but still." he shrugged and looked at his watch.
You didn't really know Sukuna. He was the younger brother of your client. In short you were only the babysitter of his nephew. But Sukuna made his way into your sessions regardless and even this wasn't the first time he came with to drink coffee.
The only thing you were certain of, was that he was a big fanboy for that arrogant bastard of a thieve.
The first time you met him was not your best hour. It was the day after your first failure of capturing that thieve. The times after, the 'king of thieves' always taunted specifically you in his notes.
And while you tried to swallow your pride and take good care of yuuji, Sukuna showed up. And Yuuji wanted to talk about this really super cool thieve that was in the media.
Not your best moment.
"And you don't think he is a little bit cool?"
You shook your head and tried to not let your destain show. "He is a criminal for God's sake! Why should I start to admire him, just because he escaped? That's such a stupid reason."
"I see your point." he laughed a bit. "But he did bring the jewel back, so I see no harm."
"Maybe you see no harm." you gritted your teeth. "But that doesn't make it right. That thieve is just an arrogant asshole who makes himself feel better by showing how much he can do. How much the security and police suck. Instead of fixing anything, he let's himself be celebrated."
After that Sukuna was a bit taken back you could see that. But as you saw his almost smug smile you knew that he didn't understood you.
Yeah, your destain did make it through that day. And since then Sukuna always talked about this thieve with Yuuji when he came by. Trying to get a reaction out of you.
And to know that he works at the police? Even though he was such a fan? Hard to believe. But you somehow did believe it, just because he looked so serious about it.
"We should head back." you looked at the watch on the wall, while Yuuji whined.
"Nooooo, please no!" he looked at his uncle. "Unc, you would like to stay, right?"
Sukuna smiled apologetic at his nephew. "No, I have to go too. And you have to listen to your babysitter Yuuji."
Yuuji didn't look thrilled. His cup of hot chocolate long empty he frowned. "I have to go to the toilet." he mumbled and stood up.
"Okay, but no locking yourself up there!" you called after him. You gave the employee a sign that you wanted to pay, and packed your things.
"So, what do you have in mind for the rest of the day?" He leaned a bit forward and had this smile again.
"Well I do have something to do after I am done babysitting, if that's what you mean. But I don't have to tell you what it is." In fact you had to solve the new note that came in.
That thieve brought the diamond back this morning with a note. A new riddle and challenge especially for you.
"What, you have a date or something?" he didn't smile so smugly anymore.
A date? You couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "No, I wouldn't say that."
"Well I have to get going." Sukuna stood up while taking his things. "And good luck. I think Yuuji locked himself in the toilet."
"What?!" you looked at the toilet door and hurried at it. "Yuuji, get out at this instant!"
Sukuna only laughed as he left.
"But I want another hot chocolate!" you could hear his pouting.
"Maybe some other day, Yuuji. But it's late and if you don't get out you won't get any for a week." you tried sounding as mad as possible. "So come on!"
A very guilty looking Yuuji came out of the bathroom and got finally ready to leave. "Okay, sorry.."
"It's alright, just don't try to force anything. Talk to me, okay?" you gave him his jacket from the tall wardrobe and went to the cashier.
"We were on table 3. Can I pay now?"
But the cashier smiled at you knowingly. "The handsome man that sat with you two already that, don't worry."
Oh, did he?
"Can we go and watch the show where they talk about yesterday?" Yuuji pulled impatiently your hand and you couldn't help but smile.
"I guess we could."
ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«
"I'm sorry for all the difficulties we give you." The police officer that gave you the note that evening seemed really ashamed.
"It's not a problem." You weren't mad at those poor officers for the difficulties that he was giving you.
The police department was almost empty as you made room in your office. The same in which you were yesterday. All the things still in place, the screens, the walkie talkies and your notes.
It was a mess.
"Alright, concentrate." You looked at the small piece of paper. "Let's get this over with."
Dear Ms Detective, I hope you are not too mad, but this isn't the jewel I hoped it was. The blue is beautiful but I think My lady deserves better.
Your favorite Thieve.
Now this wasn't like the riddles before. No it was just straight up taunting. There was no hidden message, nothing that could tell you when and what he would steal next.
He was messing with you. That entitled asshole was messing with you.
"Rhhhhhhrrā¦"
"AH!" the sudden rustling behind you caught you of guard. And as you looked back you saw your second walkie talkie making noises.
Was one of the officers trying to reach you? Why over that thing when there was no mission?
"Hello?" you spoke into it and the rustling stopped.
Maybe it was just a technical issue with the old thing and you should swap it out. You looked back at the note. If only you could just see right through him-
"Hello. Have you gotten my message?" You couldn't help but look at your walkie talkie in horror. "I hope you are not that mad."
You knew it was that thieve. He still had the walkie talkie from yesterday. And now he was speaking to you. The criminal was speaking to you!
"I have gotten your taunting, yes." you tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "And there is no riddle for the next time. You tired of stealing?"
The chuckle that came after that was so familiar. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no I don't have any riddle right now."
This was surreal. Why was- "Why are you speaking to me?"
There was a couple seconds of silence after that. If only you could hear his real voice. But the bad quality of the walkie talkie made that really hard.
"Well," he stopped again, but even though it was so bad quality, you could still hear his smirk. "I wanted to ask you out on a date."
"What?!" all nonchalance was thrown out of the window, you were caught of guard.
"Maybe next friday? I like it when the moon is high up. And I haven't danced in a long timeā¦"
"What are you talking about? Why, what, why??" you were so confused and you hated that your face was growing red.
"What's your answer?"
What the hell was he trying to achieve right now? Why was he telling you-
Wait a second.
Next Friday was the Exhibition of the Suzuki concern. And the old with juwels set heels of the princess Saiko are there. Her old dance shoes.
Called the love dancers.
"You mean in the exhibition?" you couldn't help but smile. It was so nice to understand his games.
"Well, I was thinking of that, yes." he sounded satisfied.
"Then the game is on."
"So it's a date?"
"Oh, shut up."
ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«ā«
#jjk x reader#jjk#sukuna x reader#sukuna#sukuna ryomen#sukuna x you#enemies to lovers#jujutsu kaisen sukuna#Why is my writing so lackyyyyy#Baby yuuji#jjk x you#sukuna x y/n#Crime is bad guys
132 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Astro observationsšŗ
FYI Iām not a real astrologer, just my observations :) TWš
The cancer moon men I know are pretty chill and laid back + funny, but the women are so bitchy and moodyš with a big sweet tooth
Every twin I know either has Gemini or Pisces placements
You ever meet someone and their neck just stands out for some reason added points if they smell good, most likely theyāre a Taurus rising/ mars. Good example is Megan thee stallion her neck is so cute to me hehe
Aries in the chart can show you the things you were introduced to at a very young age, the early memories that you think of and say āThat was wild lolā
3rd: couldāve started learning way before you started school(like flash cards and things) siblings and cousins, music, having access to electronics early
4th: erratic home life, the woman around you could be go getters
6th: couldāve got a lot of injuries when younger, probably couldnāt have a peaceful day even if you tried, bad experiences with animals
7th: domestic abuse, might have seen people having affairs, lots of disagreements between couples
12th:ļæ¼paranormal events, you couldāve had a lot of deja vu moments without even knowing, tend to have strong spiritual gifts,people having ill intentions towards you
Aquarius moon or degree/ moon in the 11th tend to have a āsecond momā a person that treats them like their one of their own children, sometimes even better than their own mother does. š
The people with mars in the first house I know have so many battle scars on their body
Moon/cancer in 3rd love changing their voices, and they have a bad habit of not telling the whole truth / white lies
Water sign on the descendent- people are always wondering what youāre up to, no matter how much you show them theyāll still wanna know what youāre hiding
Your first house correlates to how you came into this world, I have Chiron (ruled by Virgo) in my 12 conjunct my ascendant, uhm she said she almost d*ed having meš and I was a C-section baby. And the hospital did her so dirty(you know much they hate black women) they didnāt even stitch her back up correctly or drain her fluids and to this day she still has problems. The also gave her extra dosages of drugs just cause sheās a plus size woman- honestly I could go on and on but it really correlates with my cap rising and Neptune/Uranus in 1st
Mercury ā Sun, these people voices are justšš they sound so sensual and unique ugh hard to explain it but š„“ ex. Jungkook , Tupac
Gemini/ Libra in 2nd love collecting things like figurines makeup clothes candles plushies, could easily be a borderline hoarder tho
Ives noticed that sun in 10th have a strained relationship with their father, but their later years in life their relationship gets better, or not could really go either way, also could have money issues in their early years but ends up climbing the corporate ladder. It may take you a while to tho but just know itāll be worth it in the end :) also they always stand out at their work place in some way, the coworker that youāre glad to see clock in at rush hour cause you know they gonna handle shit
Venus- mercury positive aspects love giving out nicknames to their favorite people š„ŗif theyāre always calling you cute names just know they really care about you lol
Sag moons and degrees have no chillš like calm down bae sag anything tbhš¬
9th house ruler in the 11th could go to the same college with their old friends or could become very popular in the area theyāre in, I think theyād make good bloggers
Air signs or degrees in 5th are trend setters.
Aquarius you inspire people, they could take things and make it into their own like art
With gemini here people will ācopy & pasteā ur looks. But no matter what it just looks like a knockoff version of what you did lmao it just never look as good as yours
Libra here people are very opinionated on how you express yourself either in a good way or bad, neither less you guys get a lot of compliments on your style
Every time I see a Capricorn rising with Neptune in the 1st itās like their skin is see through and fragilešÆmakes sense tho since caps rule the skin and Neptune fogs things up. A good example is Ariana Grande her skin looks so delicate
Pluto/Scorpio in the 11th/11th house ruler in 8th, your friends could hate each otherš¤ŗ also they could have a rough life/childhood, trauma bonding or just experiencing traumatic events together is common here
Chiron in Aries (honestly any Aries placements it just depends on where it is), most people didnāt pay attention to them in their childhood in some way so they learned to be independent because of their lack of support cardinal things fr
Thatās all for today! Give me a follow if you enjoyedš
#follow for more#astro observations#capricorn#astro notes#astrology transits#asteroid astrology#astro#ask me anything#celebrity astrology#hi#Scorpio#moon#caps#cancer#Gemini#Pisces#pac#pick a card#full moon#follow#fill my ask box#send me asks#send asks#tarot#tarotcommunity#ask#libra#taurus#aquarius
2K notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
The Art of Misdirection - Part 3 (141 x Gen Z Reader)
Main Masterlist Modern Warfare II Masterlist A/N: Hello everyone I know it has been a while and I haven't updated is so many years, I think i am back, but I don't know where to go with this story anymore. I wanted to post because I had this in my drafts. I appreciate all the support. i am going to be doing a bit of a blog update because it has been the same for a while. Feel free to request anything COD related. it doesn't have to be from my promt list. I am trying to ease my way into writing again. Have a good day! Summary: Joining the 141 was a wild roller-coaster. Everyone had been apprehensive to you joining due to your age, but you are here to prove them wrong. Now as of this mission and maybe your last they are going to figure out what your nickname means. Ā
"What the fuck were you thinking!" Soap exclaimed as he stormed toward Ghost.
"Johnny we need to be quiet an..." "Fuck being quiet! What happened to us being a team!" He says as he gets face-to-face with him.
He can feels the slight warm breaths of Ghost through his balaclava. He can feel the intense stare as he looks up at him. He is sure Ghost could feel the anger rolling off of him. He hopes that Ghost feels the slightest bit intimidated but he knows that isn't the case.
"We are a te-" Soap makes sure to lean up as far as he can. Trying his best to puff out his chest and make himself bigger.
"No apparently we're not because we just left her behind! What happened to the Ghost that would stick his neck out for his squad member!" Soap exclaims as his anger seems to rise.
"He is still there Mactavish! I needed to get you both out of there. You were injured and I had no idea what Gaz's condition was! I had to assume she was dead in an effort to save the rest of you!" Ghost says as his voice begins to rise in turn.
"You hated her the moment she stepped foot on base... You didn't bother to confirm if she was alive! She is one of us!" Soap says shoving Ghost which causes Ghost to Step back a step.
"Was this some opportunity to get her off your back?! You were probably glad she was dead!" "You need to hush it John-" Ghost bellows only to be cut off by Soap once again.
"Just because she is younger than us doesn't mean she isn't capable! Was she just going to be another name in your already red ledger? Do you only see her as collateral damage?!"
Ghost stays silent. Not because Soap is right, but because he is unable to come up with an answer. Technically yes she was. He didn't want it to be that way, but she dug her grave and now she had to lie in it, and that is exactly what he said.
"She dug the grave for herself and she had to lie in it! It was sacrifice the few to save the lives of the many! You need to understand that I made a logical choice! You need to separate your emotions from situations like this or it will get you killed!" Ghost sees Soap change stance.
He knew that Soap was going to punch him in the face the moment he stepped outside the tent. He knew he deserved it, but just because he deserved it doesn't mean he was going to let it happen. Before any action could take place Gaz steps out of the tent.
"What the fuck are you both doing out here!" Both Ghost and Soap turn to Gaz.
"It doesn't fucking matter. Medical evac is seven klicks out. We need to get a move on before you alert anyone else of our position..." He grumbles as he walks back inside the tent.
Soap grunts before going around the fire and packing up things that are needed. Ghost walks toward the tent and begins to pack up everything that is inside. Gaz is walking out with the radio and some medical supplies.
Ghost looks over to you laying nearly lifelessly on the cot. If it weren't for the rise and fall of your chest he would have been convinced. He begins taking things off the foldable tables and folding them up before exiting the tent. He does this for the second table as well. When he comes in a third time he sees Soap sitting on the ground and running his fingers through your hair.
"We're going to move you alright Lass? We need to finish packing up and then we will get you out of here." He says softly.
Soaps hand goes from your hair to your cheek as the back of his hand caresses the side of your face. He then turns his hand so his thumb can wipe away the wet residue of your tears and blood. Soap then turns his head to Ghost and glares. He stands up and goes to pick you up when Ghost stops him.
"You aren't fit to pick her up Sargent. Go wait in the jeep." Ghost says.
Soap looked like he was about to argue but he knew Ghost was right. It would only injure his leg more and he would jostle her around to much in an effort to avoid causing further injury to it. Soap walked out and Ghost sighed.
"Gotta stay with us Corporal. I need you to be alive so I can rip you a new one for being so fucking stupid." He grunts as he bends down and collects you in his arms.
He walks out of the tent to the last standing vehicle and opens up the back seat. He lays you down in it and you groan at the change of body placement. Soap then hops in the back seat as well using his right thigh as a pillow to support your head. Ghost looks between the both of you as he sees Soap run his hands through your hair.
"You'll be alright m'eudail (My dear)... We will get you better." Soap looks up at Ghost and sighs.
Ghost takes that as a sign and gently shuts the door and sighs. Ghost swiftly goes over the layout of the camp to see if there is anything else needed to be packed, but Gaz seemed to have already packed everything and put out the fire. Ghost goes to the passenger side and gets in which is soon followed by Gaz in the drivers seat.
"Drive easy Gaz... Please." Ghost hears from behind him.
Gaz nods into the rear view before he stops driving. "Keep the lights off until we are a Klick out or so got that Gaz?"
Gaz nods but stays silent as he goes a snail pace. Once they are out a bit the head lights go up and he begins to drive a bit faster. Soap has been whispering soothing words to you this entire time. Every whimper you make when there is a particular harsh bump he is there to comfort you. Ghost can only listen as he keeps his eyes out on the horizon. He feels his heart pinch in his chest. He allowed you to get hurt. He left you behind. He needs to make sure you are okay, but he knows that Soap can handle it. He needs to get out of his head and focus on the task at hand and keep an eye out for potential threats as well as the helicopter that will be evacuating them. Ghost doesn't want to be harsh, but he is going to talk to Price about your behavior. You were down right suicidal today and he will not have that threaten his squad.
"Why do you call her Misdi?" Ghost asks in a low tone.
"It's uh... it's short for Misdirection. When she was in Iraq under American command she was the best at distracting the enemy from the main task at hand..." Gaz says in an equally low tone.
"However she had her own squad for that." Ghosts eyes widen.
"She is only a Corporal how is that possible?" Ghost says keeping his tone level.
"Well she was on the promotion board, but that was cut short for some reason and she was nominated to be on this task force." Gaz murmurs.
"Must've gotten in some trouble with the bullshit she pulled today. I wouldn't be surprised..." Ghost growls.
That is when there is a whimper from the back seat which was louder then the others. Your eyes are filled with tears as you adjust to what they assume is consciousness.
"I'm here lass, they bein' to loud huh?" "Bear..." you mumble. "Hurts..."
"I know lass... I'm here you can squeeze my hand as hard as you want." Soap says as he slips his hand in yours and you squeeze.
"Scared Bear..." you whimper.
"I know, but we are here and we are heading home." Soap says using his other hand to run through your hair and gasps slightly.
"What is it Soap?" Gaz asks.
"Her head started bleeding again. 'Ts bleedin' through the bandage..." Soaps voice cracks.
"She'll be fine, keep pressure on it." Ghost says as he taps on Gazs shoulder to get him to speed up. Gaz nods before speeding up.
"I got to put pressure on yer head alright?" Soap says as he presses down on your wound.
You let out a cry and he tries his best to comfort you. "I know, I know. You got this alright?" Soap says as he continues to murmur to you. ---
You weren't unconscious that entire time. You were up ever since he put you in the car. You hate that Ghost thought so little of you. You couldn't help but let out a small whimper. You just hope they assume it was out of pain. Then again it is pain. Pain of the heart because they have no idea what you went through. Only Laswell and Price know and you want to keep it that way. You wish you could have said a snarky comment, but your eyes fell closed. Only to open at the rendezvous point. You were lifted onto a stretcher and into the helicopter. You look up to see Soap, Gaz, and Ghost in the seats and strapped down and that is when you realize your head is strapped to the stretcher and unable to move.
Your chest begins to heave up and down as your eyes strain to look either side of you.
"Let me out... Let me out!" You cry out and the three snap their head down to you.
You begin to thrash and strain in an effort to get out. Your vision starts to blur with tears as you feel the other restraints binding you. You suddenly see a head pop into your vision.
"Get away from me!" You shout.
"Ma'am if you don't calm down we are going to have to sedate you." The person above you says, but this only causes you to panic further.
"Love we're here." You hear Gaz say and suddenly you feel a hand enter your own and you immediately dig your nails into him.
"It's just me love. It's big G. Remember when you gave me that nickname? It's really stupid innit?" Gaz says with a laugh.
You go to nod but the restraint on your head is limiting the movement. You feel the moment of hyperventilation beginning to take over once again, but Gaz squeezes your hand, grounding you. "Try and sleep, okay? We'll be out of here in no time." He says. You take in a deep breath before closing your eyes and letting the darkness encompass you.
#x reader#angst#task force 141 x reader#simon ghost riley#john 'soap' mactavish#captain john price#gaz#john mactavish x reader#captain john price x reader#simon riley x reader#x gen z reader
101 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Marry You
Summary: Garreth proclaims to anyone and everyone, including you, that he is going to marry you one day ā despite the fact that you havenāt even agreed to court him (not that he's asked). Set during 5th year. It was supposed to be a bunch of short drabbles. One of them got out of hand (oops).
Garreth Weasley x Gryffindor F!MC
A/N: I added Garreth to DADA b/c in the game he only has like 2 classes with MC. Itās a crime that they didnāt give him the same schedule as Leander, honestly. You know those idiots would be besties and take all the same classes.
Warnings: none, pure fluff for a change, pining, *slight* Seb bashing if you squint but really he's just his moody self
Word Count: 6330
To Imelda
Garreth was elated when you handed him the fwooper feather. āBrilliant! This is going to take a moment to brew. You should get back to brewing your Edurus Potion, and Iāll tell you when this concoctionās finished.ā
āDonāt keep me waiting too long,ā you replied before leaving to work on your own potion. Garreth watched you walk away with stars in his eyes.
Imelda came up beside him. āCausing trouble again, Weasley?ā she asked.
Garreth jumped at the girl suddenly so close to him. āJust getting started. I think Iāve got a partner in crime now,ā he said.
āOh?ā she asked, raising an eyebrow. āDragging that new fifth-year into your schemes, are you?ā
He gave her a cheeky smile. āI may be dragging her into my schemes, but Iād let her drag me anywhere,ā he said.
Imelda scrunched up her face in disgust at the mushy proclamation. āUgh! Down boy,ā she said. āYouāve only just met the poor girl.ā
He sighed dreamily as he watched you work across the room. You seemed to have a knack for potions like he did. āMaybe, but Iām gonna marry her one day,ā he said, imaging a future running a shop in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley with you.
Imelda rolled her eyes at the dramatic boy. āWhatever you say, Gryffindor,ā she said before walking off.
When his potion sparked out wild fireworks, he caught your eye in the chaos. You looked thoroughly amused, and he couldnāt help but feel that the potion had been a resounding success if it got you to smile that way. He did feel a bit guilty that he had gotten you in hot water with Sharp, but the ex-auror didnāt seem too fussed about things.
To Sebastian
Garreth was enamoured when you knocked Sebastian on his ass. Again. You were all duelling in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and Professor Hecat seemed to enjoy seeing the Slytherin knocked down a peg as much as Leander did since she paired you and Sebastian together a second time. Garreth cheered even louder than Leander for you, and you gave the dorky pair a little salute.
Personally, though, Garreth had never had an issue with his fellow freckled classmate. He was friendly, had a good sense of humour, and enjoyed helping other students with their studies ā or, at least, he used to before his sister was cursed. They had even teamed up on a prank here and there over the years. So, when Garreth saw the way the brunet looked at you, he had one thought as he smirked to himself: Game on.
You helped Sebastian back to his feet. āNice job,ā he said. āAll your extra practice is paying off.ā
You shrugged. āI suppose so,ā you agreed. āYouāve been improving, as well, though.ā
āIād like a fair fight sometime. Get to use all my tricks,ā he said. āThough, I could show you one or two beforehand if youād like.ā
You smiled slightly. āI might be interested,ā you replied.
āIāll be in touch, then,ā Sebastian said with a smirk. He brushed himself off as he walked back to Ominis.
You walked back to your fellow Gryffindors. āGodric himself would be proud,ā Leander said as Garreth gave you a congratulatory hug.
From across the room, Sebastian eyed the redhead as he embraced you. Garreth caught him watching and sent him a wink and a cheeky grin.
āThat was bloody brilliant!ā Garreth said as he let go of you.
āThanks,ā you said, beaming at him.
Leander resisted the urge to roll his eyes as his curly-haired friend seemed to dominate your attention and vice versa. He busied himself talking to Andrew. You and Garreth started talking about your recent encounter with a kneazle den out in the forest, barely noticing your friendās absence. Soon, though, Professor Hecat stole you away to talk about an extra assignment.
Garreth took the opportunity to saunter over to the Slytherins. āYou put up a good fight,ā he said to Sebastian.
āThanks,ā he replied before cutting to the chase. āSo, you and MC seem pretty cozy.ā Sebastian had always been the jealous type.
āI should hope so,ā Garreth replied. āI am going to marry her, after all.ā
Sebastian raised an eyebrow at that. Weasleys were a known pure-blood family, but most of them werenāt those kinds of pure-bloods that had their children pledged to suitors from a young age.
Ominis gave the Gryffindor a pitying expression, though Garreth didnāt notice as Sebastian spoke up at the same time. āDidnāt realize your family was into that sort of thing. Arranged betrothals and whatnot,ā he said.
āOh, no, weāll marry for love,ā Garreth said confidently.
āWait, so are you even engaged?ā Ominis asked.
Garreth laughed. āNo, of course not! Weāre fifteen,ā he replied. āWell, Iāll be sixteen next month.ā
āSo, are you courting?ā Sebastian asked.
āNot yet,ā Garreth said simply.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the ginger. āSo, what youāre saying is, you have no actual claim to her,ā he said.
Garreth shrugged, looking unbothered. āI may not have any official title yet, but I wanted to give you fair warning not to fall too hard for her.ā
Sebastian laughed. āYeah, thanks, mate,ā he said sarcastically. āWhat makes you so certain sheād choose you, anyway?ā
Garreth smirked at him. āI just am.ā
He let that be his final word, as he saw you walking away from Professor Hecat. Sebastian just gaped at the overconfident boy as he left. āGryffindors,ā he grumbled.
āYou do realize that includes MC,ā Ominis pointed out.
Sebastian rolled his eyes. āOh, shut it.ā
To Leander
Garreth overheard you telling Professor Shah that you didnāt have a telescope. He was disappointed when she paired you with Amit before he could offer. He felt a pang of jealousy when Amit offered his old telescope to you. He tried to refocus on the stargazing he was supposed to be doing. Leander was struggling to find Sirius. He helped his best friend before they hurried downstairs, seeking the warmth of the castle.
On the way down, he overheard Amit asking you to go out to an astronomy table with him. The small pang of jealousy he felt earlier bloomed into anguish. Was Amit really trying to earn your affections? He expected to have to compete with Sallow, but he felt bad at the idea of stealing you away from the good-natured Ravenclaw. Not bad enough to back off, of course, but still.
He and Leander walked all the way back to the Gryffindor common room. Garreth flopped into an armchair with a huff.
Leander raised an eyebrow at him. āWhatās got you so worked up?ā he asked.
āAmitās trying to flirt with my future wife,ā Garreth grumbled.
āOh, not this again,ā Leander muttered to himself.
āYes, this again,ā Garreth replied firmly. āIām serious, Lee. Sheās the one.ā
Leander just shook his head in amusement. āYes, youāve made that very clear,ā he said. āAnd why is it you think Amit is trying to steal her affections?ā
āYou didnāt hear him?ā Garreth practically yelled. He jumped to his feet and started pacing. āFirst, he was all, āOh, let me adjust the telescope for you.ā Then he just gave her his old telescope. And then, he invited her out exploring the grounds to go find an astronomy table.ā
āHe might as well have proposed right then,ā Leander replied nonchalantly, still reclining lazily on the couch and biting back a smirk.
āI know! Iāā Garreth started, but he paused, spinning around to face Leander. He glared at the taller boy. āYouāre mocking me.ā
Leander let the smile break onto his face. āA bit,ā he admitted. āGar, Amit is just friendly. Heād give an Ashwinder the shirt off his back if they said they were cold. Youāre reading too much into it.ā
āAm I?ā Garreth asked seriously, putting a hand on his hip as he eyed his friend.
āYes,ā Leander replied equally seriously. āAnd, with all due respect to your undying love, you barely know MC. What if youāre not compatible? What if she wants to move to Peru or something when she graduates? What if she doesnāt want kids?ā
Garreth shrugged. āI donāt need kids,ā he said.
Leander rolled his eyes. āHave you met your family?ā he asked. āAnd you practically knocked me into the Black Lake jumping into my arms when you got the owl saying your brother and his wife are having a baby.ā
Garreth blushed at the memory. āOkay, but theyāre out snuggling up in the cold to go look at the stars,ā he whined.
āYour brother and his pregnant wife?ā Leander asked.
Garreth let out a frustrated groan. āNo, MC and Amit! Keep up, Lee! Thereās no chance heās not trying to woo her in such a romantic setting. Theyāll probably be out all night, knowing MC. Theyāll cozy up as they watch the sunrise and kiss just as the sun peaks out over the horizon.ā
āAh, youāre back to the whole Amit thing,ā Leander observed.
āHeās probably got his arms around her right now to āhelpā her focus the telescope,ā Garreth said. āMaybe I should go out there andāā
Garreth fell silent at the sound of the portrait creaking open. He was glad he did when he saw you stepping into the common room. āYouāre home early!ā he said. He had meant to say it in a cool, casual tone but ended up shouting it in excitement, instead.
āAm I?ā you asked, giving him a confused look. āI didnāt know I had an appointment.ā
āWell, I just heard Amit invite you out stargazing and figured youād be gone a while,ā Garreth blurted out. Leander smacked a hand over his face as he shook his head at his moronic friend.
āOh,ā you said. You shrugged. āThe table was just on the castle wall. It didnāt take long to find.ā
āDo you want kids?ā Garreth asked, stunning both you and Leander.
You looked at him with wide eyes. āRight now?ā you asked. āBecause Iāll have to pass, thanks.ā
Garrethās face flamed with embarrassment. āMerlin, no, thatās not what Iā¦Not now, justā¦in the future. Possibly. I mean, do you like kids?ā he corrected.
āOh. Yeah, one day. I love kids,ā you replied.
āGreat!ā he said before he could stop himself. āBecause, um, my brother is having a baby soon, and Iāll have to do a lot of babysitting. I might need a hand, and Lee here is useless with kids, soā¦ā
Leander glared at him, and Garreth just gave him an apologetic smile.
āThat sounds fun!ā you replied.
Garrethās eyes lit up. āBrilliant! Iāll reach out if I need assistance, then,ā he said with a dopey grin.
āSounds good,ā you said as you made your way toward the stairs up to the girlsā dormitories. āGood night, you two.ā
They both wished you a good night. Once your back was turned, Garreth smiled wildly at Leander and mouthed āI told youā rather aggressively at him. Leander just rolled his eyes.
To Poppy
Garreth sprinted down the corridors to reach the faculty tower. He took the stairs up it three at a time, grabbing the handrail to whip sharply around the landings. His legs were on fire by the time he reached the infirmary. He was too out of breath to form a proper sentence when heād met Nurse Blainey at the entrance.
āWhereā¦Howā¦MC?ā he managed between pants as his lungs heaved to get the oxygen his body so desperately needed.
āSheās okay, so just take a momentāā she said, holding up her hands to try to get the boy to pause and catch his breath.
āI need to see her. Please,ā he urged.
He looked as if he might burst into tears at any moment, and the mediwitch took pity on the boy. She led him to your bedside. āSheās stable but hasnāt woken up yet. I gave her a sedative so I could change the dressing over a rather painful wound on her leg. It should heal completely in time, though,ā she explained as she walked him over.
She held the curtain around your bed back, so Garreth could step inside of it. He gasped when he saw the cuts and bruises on your face and arms. The rest of you was hidden under the blanket, and he could only imagine how much worse it got. Poppy was sitting in a chair on the far side of the bed. Garreth sat down opposite her, pulling the chair closer to the bed while turning it around so he could face the head of the it. He held your hand gently in both of his.
You were a force to be reckoned with, but right now you looked soā¦fragile.
āWhat happened?ā he rasped, looking over to Poppy.
āWeā¦It happened so fast,ā she said, head bowed in shame. āWe were fighting a camp of poachers, and a manticore sprang out of their tent. It had a collar of goblin metal they used to control it. It attached her, scratching her, and biting her leg.ā She dropped her face into her hands. āMerlin, her scream.ā Poppy winced at the memory.
āA manticore?ā Garreth repeated in disbelief. āGodricās heart, Iām glad it didnāt sting her!ā
āIt almost did, but I cast depulso and knocked it off of her,ā she said. āI just wish Iād reacted sooner.ā
āHey,ā Garreth said gently as he held a hand out to her across the bed. She sheepishly took it as she finally raised her eyes to look at him. āYou saved her life. I canāt thank you enough for that.ā He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled gently at her.
āO-oh. Are you twoā¦? I mean, I didnāt realize you were more than friends,ā she said, pulling her hand out of his grasp and linking it with the other one in her lap. She trained her gaze on her hands rather than the boy sat across from her.
āWeāre not. Not yet, anyway,ā Garreth said as he looked at you with a fond smile on his face. He turned back to Poppy with a devilish grin. āMake no mistake, though, Iām gonna make her my wife one day.ā
āWow. Thatās, um, wonderful,ā she said, giving him a pained smile.
Garreth chuckled. āI know everyone thinks Iām crazy for saying it, but I really do believe it. Sheās captured my heart and soul, this one,ā he said.
āSheās a lucky girl,ā Poppy said sincerely.
āI hope so,ā Garreth replied with a grateful smile. He looked back at you. āI know she hasnāt been here very long, but I donāt know what Iād do if I ever really lost her. Iād have to find a new supplier for all my potion ingredients and everything!ā He spoke sincerely until the last sentence.
You let out a groan as you rubbed your head with the hand Garreth wasnāt holding. āI think Iām gonna have to close shop for a week or two,ā you croaked out.
Garreth chuckled. āAll the cute things I said, and you wake up for that part?ā he teased.
You gave him an apologetic smile. āSorry, Gar,ā you said. āIāll try to time it better next time.ā
The sincerity in your voice nearly broke his heart. He reached a hand up to stroke your cheek. āHey, no, I was just joking,ā he said sweetly. āBut there better not be a ānext time,ā and Iām very serious about that. No more close calls like this.ā
You nodded your head slowly. Your eyes were half closed. āThat sounds good to me,ā you said.
He managed a small smile. Heād been a nervous wreck when he heard you were in the infirmary with serious injuries. It was a relief just to talk to you. āGet some rest now, okay? Weāll be here,ā he said.
āMākay,ā you agreed with a soft sigh. Your eyes were already closing again, heavy with exhaustion.
Garreth stroked the back of your hand as he carefully watched the bruises on your face fade. It was slow ā barely noticeable as it happened ā but after a few hours the dark, angry purple marks had shrunk with the remaining areas turned faded hues of yellow and green. He delicately brushed the hair back from your face. Your cuts were now thin lines of new flesh, pink and tender-looking. Garreth traced some of the lines on your arm carefully with his left index finger. His right hand continued to hold yours.
Curfew came before you roused again. Nurse Blainey came to dismiss the students still by your bedside. Poppy stood to leave, but Garreth requested to stay.
āI assure your sheās in capable hands, Mr. Weasley,ā the mediwitch said. āIām afraid visiting hours are over for today. You may come back when they begin tomorrow. After breakfast.ā
He had skipped dinner, though he didnāt know how Nurse Blainey had known. The meal had just begun when he got the news of your injury.
Garreth trudged out alongside Poppy. āIām glad she has someone who cares so deeply for her,ā the mousy girl said as they left the hospital wing. āSheās my best friend ā and only friend, really ā and I want her to be happy.ā
Garreth nodded with a pensive look on his face. āThank you, Poppy,ā he said. āIām glad sheās got you to watch her back out there.ā
She gave him a tight smile and a nod. She still felt responsible.
They parted once they left the faculty tower, heading to their separate common rooms. Garreth had a fitful night sleep before getting out of bed before the sun was up. He ate a rushed breakfast before returning to the hospital wing. You were sat up in the bed, eating your own breakfast from a tray set over your lap. You smiled when you saw him approaching.
āIf it isnāt my favourite customer,ā you said with a smirk.
Garreth rolled his eyes playfully. āHow is it that was the only thing you got from my visit yesterday?ā he asked.
You chuckled. āI was heavily medicated,ā you replied with a shrug. You shifted to sit toward the left side of the bed, grimacing as you pulled your right leg over.
Garreth lunged forward to help when he saw your pained expression, but it was gone in an instant. You patted the newly open spot on the bed next to you. He carefully sat down, keeping an eye on your leg so he didnāt bump it.
āSo, what else did you say when you came to visit?ā you asked. āI have it on good authority it was quite cute.ā
Garrethās cheeks flushed. āJust, um, that I was very relieved you were okay and wouldnāt know what Iād do without you.ā
āYes, well, it would put a damper on our marriage if I was dead before it began,ā you joked.
Garreth just gave you a shy smile.
You had known for a while how Garreth liked to tell people he was going to marry you one day. You thought it was funny and would join in on the joke from time to time. You took it as a compliment. He usually tied it to some praise of your skill, whether in combat, on a broom, or brewing potions. He had a flare for the dramatic, so you didnāt read too much into it. Youād heard him tell Leander he could kiss him when the taller boy had bought him a set of rare potion ingredients for his birthday.
Garreth was warm and affectionate, but he didnāt show signs that there was real weight to his jests. There were no intense stares or lingering touches like there were with a certain Slytherin. He was affectionate with you but not in an intimate way. He would give big bear hugs and would sometimes grab your wrist to drag you somewhere exciting. However, he never rested his hand on your lower back as he led you somewhere nor held your hand. Well, last night was an exception. You were fairly certain that when you had awoken last night, he had been holding your right hand, while Poppy had held your left.
Poppy. You two had become fast friends. She was the reason you wouldnāt entertain his affections even if you had thought them genuine. She had quite the crush on the kind-hearted ginger. Sheād fallen for him shortly after you introduced them. She gushed about him constantly. You could never hurt her like it would if you started courting Garreth. She would be devastated.
āHow are you feeling?ā Garreth asked. His brow was furrowed with worry.
āAs well as can be expected. The bastard took a nice chunk out of my calf,ā you explained. āHuman face but wicked sharp teeth, apparently.ā
He looked at you with sad eyes. āNurse Blainey said youād recover fully. It that still true?ā
You nodded. āFar as I know.ā
āGood.ā He bit his cheek as his hands fidgeted with the edge of the blanket. He put on a brave face before looking back at you. āAnd until youāre 100%, Iāll be by your side. Whatever you need.ā
You couldnāt help but smile. He really was the sweetest boy youād ever met. āI think Iāll be more than taken care of between you and Poppy,ā you said fondly. āSpeaking of, itās cute that you two stayed with me together last night.ā
Garreth gave you a puzzled look. āCute?ā he asked.
You gave a noncommittal shrug and forced your smile to broaden into a playful grin. āYeah, I mean, I think itās sweet. You two are just cute together.ā
Garreth was really baffled now. Together? he thought. He and Poppy had hardly been ātogether.ā They sat on opposite sides of your bed, tending to you. Did you think he fancied Poppy? He was confused how you could. He thought heād been rather obvious in his affections for you, while always trying to be respectful.
āOh,ā was all he managed to say.
You couldnāt tell if he didnāt like Poppy back or was just being shy about his feelings. So, you decided to probe a bit. āHave you ever thought about asking her out?ā you said, attempting nonchalance.
āErm, no. I canāt say I have,ā he replied honestly. He swallowed a lump in his throat. He didnāt claim to know much about girls, but he was fairly certain they didnāt try to set up boys they fancied with their friends. āDo youā¦think I should?ā
You blinked rapidly. You didnāt know what you thought. He and Poppy seemed a good fit. They were both so bubbly. You couldnāt imagine theyād be anything but happy together. But the imagine made you curiously sombre. āWellā¦ā you started, unsure how you would finish the sentence.
Nurse Blainey pulled back the curtain. She scowled at Garreth sitting in your bed.
āMr. Weasley,ā she said sternly. āIf you could step out, I need to examine my patient.ā
He quickly did as told. Blainey changed your bandages on your leg, and he could tell two things from the stifled noises you made. The first was that you were in more pain than you let on. The second was that you were trying to hide it for his sake. That was only further confirmed when Blainey let him back in. You were smiling wide, but your knuckles blanched with how hard you were gripping the sheets.
āHas she had anything for pain today?ā Garreth asked the mediwitch timidly.
āNo, sheās refused the pain potion since she woke up,ā Nurse Blainey replied.
He shot you a stern look. āSheās obviously in pain.ā
She arched a brow at him. āSheās perfectly capable of requesting the potion herself.ā
āI donāt like the potion. It makes me feel foggy,ā you told him.
āSo?ā Garreth asked, a bit irritated by your stubbornness. āYouāre recovering. And itās Sunday. You should be resting, anyway.ā
He looked to Blainey for support. āAre you in pain, dear?ā she asked you kindly.
āNothing I canāt handle,ā you replied genially, though you gave Garreth a hard glare.
He crossed his arms over his chest. āIf you grit your teeth any harder, youāll shatter them,ā he argued. āYouāre being ridiculous.ā
āI donāt want to sleep all day. Iād rather be able to hang out with you,ā you said.
āWell, I donāt want to see you suffer!ā he shot back, his voice cracking. He winced at his own volume.
āMr. Weasley!ā Nurse Blainey hissed. āI will not tolerate you yelling at my patient.ā
āIām sorry,ā he said earnestly. He sank into the chair beside you, not wanting to draw further ire from Blainey by getting back in your bed. āPlease, MC. I donāt like seeing you in pain. Iāll read to you or something while you rest.ā
āYou wouldnāt be bored?ā you asked.
He rolled his eyes as a slight smirk came to his lips. āWith you around? Never,ā he replied.
āCould I maybe just do a half dose?ā you said to Nurse Blainey. āMy leg is starting to ache pretty badly.ā
Garreth resisted the urge to insist you take a full dose. It was a start, at least.
The mediwitch nodded and fetched the potion.
āThank you,ā he murmured after you downed the liquid.
āThank you,ā you replied. āI shouldāve taken it sooner. I wasā¦being stubborn.ā
He scoffed. āYeah, you have a habit of that,ā he teased.
You gave him a playful glare.
The sounds of hurried footsteps announced the arrival of a certain two Slytherins. āMC!ā Sebastian said. āI just heard what happened. Are you all right?ā
āIām fine,ā you assured him. āBlainey said I should make a full recovery.ā
Garreth saw you wince as Sebastian wrapped you in a big hug. āBe careful!ā the Gryffindor hissed.
Sebastian ignored him. He held your face in both of his hands when he pulled back. For a brief, terrifying moment, Garreth thought the Slytherin was about to kiss you. āNo more taking on poachers alone,ā the brunette ordered.
āI wasnāt alone,ā you argued.
Sebastian side-eyed Garreth before looking back at you. āYou still didnāt have proper help. You need to tell me when youāre going to do something dangerous,ā he said, still holding your face. āPromise me.ā
āPoppy is proper help,ā you said defensively. āWeāve been fine every other time. Fought dozens of poachers. The manticore just caught us by surprise. I donāt need you to babysit me, Sebastian.ā
Sebastianās hands dropped to his sides. āYou were with Poppy?ā he asked.
You nodded.
āWell, I can still help keep you safe. Obviously these poachers are getting more dangerous animals,ā he said. āLet me help you.ā
āYou canāt come running off with us every time. Youāve got Anne to think about. You should stay focused on helping her,ā you argued.
Sebastian tensed. āThen stay and help me,ā he asked.
You chewed your lip āIā¦I canāt just stop. Anneās got you, but no one is stopping these poachers. Poppy and I are the only ones saving those creatures.ā
Sebastianās jaw clenched. āSo, you care more about those beasts than Anne?ā he growled.
āThatās not what Iām saying!ā you insisted.
Sebastian scowled. āThat seems like itās exactly what youāre saying.ā Without another word, he stormed out of the hospital wing.
āSebastian!ā Ominis called after him. He sighed when his friend didnāt stop. He rested a hand on your shoulder. āFeel better, MC.ā
Ominis pressed a kiss to the top of your head before leaving, as well.
Garreth was seething until he saw the tears slipping down your cheeks and grief gripped him. āHey,ā he said gently, sliding into the bed next to you. He wrapped his arms around you in a gentle embrace. āHeās being an idiot. Heās probably just scared. Iām sure he didnāt mean it.ā
You shook your head. āNo, he did. Heās always getting upset with us about not doing more for Anne.ā You sighed. āI mean, weāve tried. I justā¦I donāt know what else to do.ā
Garreth was shocked at the treatment from your supposed friend. He had half a mind to track the Slytherin down and try to shake some sense into him. But he knew it was better to stay with you, so he did. You leaned into him as the potionās effects took hold and the drowsiness set in.
Garreth stayed with you the whole day. Poppy came by later that morning. Leander brought him lunch and a book to read to you. Natty and the other Gryffindors came to visit you in the afternoon. Even Imelda stopped by before dinner. Sebastian came back and apologized late in the evening. He seemed less than pleased to see Garreth cuddled up to you, but he didnāt comment on it.
Garreth helped rush visits along when you would start to get tired and drift off. Blainey was in and out of the curtained-off space throughout the day. She kicked Garreth out when she needed to do dressing changes. She didnāt say anything about Garreth sitting with you in your bed, though. Nor did she kick him out when you both fell asleep to him reading the book Leander had brought.
Blainey released you the next day. Garreth thought it was too soon, but you were eager to get out. He convinced the teachers to let him follow your schedule so he could carry your things for you.
āI couldāve levitated them,ā you said.
āYou shouldnāt exert your magic, either,ā he argued. āBesides, I told you Iād be by your side until youāre all better.ā
You blushed at the thought. You had always hoped to find a way to spend more time with him. This wasnāt exactly how you would have chosen to go about it, but you would take it.
To You
The manticore incident had brought you and Garreth closer than ever. Shortly after, Poppy told you she no longer had a crush on the outgoing Gryffindor. No longer holding yourself back, your own feelings for him bloomed. Frustratingly, you felt that you constantly got mixed signals from him. He still had a running joke where he would assert to others that he would marry you one day. However, he never asked you out. Though, on rare occasions, he did hold your hand ā grabbing it to drag you off to see his newest brew or to comfort you when you were upset.
Unbeknownst to you, Garrethās own feelings had grown similarly. He was head over heels for you. But he was scared. The stronger his feelings became, the more terrified he felt that you wouldnāt return them. Leander had to practically shake sense into him that he had better ask you out before someone else did. The taller boy even threatened to ask you out himself if Garreth didnāt soon. The threat almost started a brawl between the best friends until Leander explained that he wasnāt actually interested in you ā just trying to motivate Garreth to get his head out of his arse.
So, Garreth came up with a plan. He went to Honeydukes on the next Hogsmeade trip, buying all your favourite sweets. He even added a bottle of his newly-perfected Fizzing Whizzbeer that youād raved about after trying. He arranged it all in a decorative box and tied a nice ribbon around it.
He brought it to you at dinner. He hadnāt even sat down when he handed it over.
āThank you,ā you said, surprised and a bit confused as you took the present. You were elated, if a bit puzzled, when you saw the contents. āWhatās all this for?ā
Garreth cleared his throat. āWell, everyone knows weāre going to be married one day. And, mark my words, we will be,ā he started. You rolled your eyes at his theatrics but couldnāt help smiling. Everyone else just nodded along, having heard his proclamation many times. Natty was the only one who looked shocked by the news.
āThey are betrothed?ā she whispered to Leander.
He rolled his eyes. āNo, but itās a long story,ā he replied.
She just shrugged.
āSo, I figured it was about time I started the formal process. Iād like to court you, MC, if youāll have me,ā Garreth said. He looked exceptionally nervous.
You set the box down on the bench before springing to your feet. You threw your arms around Garrethās neck. āOf course!ā you said.
āReally?ā Garreth asked, dumbstruck.
āDefinitely!ā you assured him.
He wrapped his arms around your waist, lifting you up as he spun around. āBrilliant! Will you go to dinner with me this Saturday?ā
You beamed at him as your feet returned to solid ground. āThat sounds lovely.ā
Natty gave Leander a confused look. āI thought they started courting months ago,ā she said.
āYeah, you would think, wouldnāt you?ā he replied with a chuckle.
To Your Dad
Garreth shifted his weight from foot to foot nervously. He checked his hair in the glass of the tavern window for the eight time. It wasnāt the first time he was meeting your father. They first met three years ago when Garreth visited you over the summer between fifth and sixth years. When the door to the establishment opened and he spotted the familiar broad shoulders and greying hair, Garreth immediately stood up.
āGarreth, my boy, good to see you,ā your father greeted genially.
Garreth shook his hand. āYou, as well, sir,ā he said. āIām glad you were able to meet today.ā
āSo, what brings you out to my neck of the woods?ā your father asked as he took his seat.
Garreth could feel the heat rising in his collar, and your dad had to hold back a smile. He had strong suspicions on why the young man had reached out.
āWell, sir, I wanted to discuss some things with you about the future,ā he said. āOf course, I asked you to join me for dinner. I donāt want to get too bogged down in the details on empty stomachs.ā
āOh, nonsense,ā your father replied, waving him off. āLetās hear these plans.ā
āRight,ā Garreth said, a bit shellshocked. āWell, sir, Iāve just finished my apprenticeship with J. Pippin. I took a job with a potioneering company in London, where I intend to stay until Iāve saved enough to start my own shop. Iāve just purchased a home in Marylebone, where I hope to settle down, you see.ā
āLondonās a far way from Plymouth,ā your father interjected gravely, unable to help himself.
Garreth swallowed thickly. āIt is,ā he agreed. āThough, itās within floo range.ā
āQuite right,ā your dad agreed with a slight smile. āSorry to interrupt, lad. You were saying about settling down.ā
āYour daughter and I have been discussing our plans. Weād quite like to settle down together. That is to say, we intend to marryāā
āDo you, now?ā you father interjected again. His brow was arched.
Garreth nodded, steeling his nerves. āI havenāt proposed yet, of course,ā he continued, and your father visibly relaxed. āBut, like I said, weāve discussed it, and I feel quite certain she would say yes. I wanted to meet today to ask for your blessing.ā
Your father smiled. āYes, I thought that might be the case,ā he said. āMy daughter, my only child, is quite an exceptional young woman, as youāre aware.ā
āI am,ā Garreth agreed as worry began to set in.
āNot just for her rare magic. She has many talents. And sheās quite driven.ā He levelled Garreth with a rather frighteningly intense gaze. āI have very high standards for the man with whom she endeavours to spend her life.ā
āOf course, sir,ā Garreth said, trying not to feel crestfallen.
āI dare say sheāll need a man of equal ambition to keep up with her,ā he said. āThough, he must still put his family first. I would never condemn her to a marriage with someone less than madly in love with her. And, indeed, I would do everything I could to prevent such an unfit union. I assure you, I am not an adversary to be taken lightly.ā
Garreth had prepared himself for the possibility that your father would not give his blessing, but he had not foreseen him actively trying to prevent your marriage.
āI donāt think any man fully capable of deserving my daughter, though I am aware that I am biased on the matter,ā your dad continued without giving Garreth a chance to speak. āHowever, I donāt think I could have hand-picked a better partner for her than she has chosen for herself.ā
āIām sure I canāt fault you for feeling that way, sir. Iāā Garreth broke off as the meaning of the sternly spoken words sunk in. He gaped at your father briefly before collecting himself.
A grin broke out on the older manās face. āIād be honoured to have you in the family, son.ā
Garreth stood, shaking your fatherās hand again. He pulled his future son-in-law into a hug. āThank you, sir. I know itāll mean a lot to MC to have your blessing,ā Garreth said.
Your dad clapped a hand on his shoulder. āWell, it means a lot to me that you care for her so deeply,ā he replied. āYouāre a good man, Garreth. Even if you were a bit of a scamp at school.ā He winked.
Garrethās cheeks flushed. āYes, well, Iāve come to have a certain respect for the rules these days.ā
Your dad chuckled. āThatās good to hear,ā he said. āI got into my fair share of trouble at Hogwarts back in my day. And I know my daughter took after me.ā
Garreth laughed. āShe certainly has an adventurous spirit.ā
Your dad shared some stories about the hijinks heād gotten up to in school as they shared a meal. Garreth was glad heād gotten the asking done before eating, as his stomach settled considerably. He couldnāt wait to tell you that your dad gave his blessing. More than that, he couldnāt wait to propose. But, most of all, he couldnāt wait to finally make you his wife like he swore he would years ago.
#garreth weasley#hogwarts legacy#garreth weasley x mc#garreth weasley x reader#garreth weasley x f!mc#hogwarts legacy fanfic#hogwarts legacy fanfiction#garreth weasley fanfic#garreth weasley fanfiction
479 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
PART 9
parts 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09
Timeās armor was convoluted.Ā
He had perfected the art of getting it on on his own years ago, but he always appreciated a helping hand, usually Malon, but recently one of his boys, or his big brother would take the time to help him.
Right now though, Twilight was still sitting by Wild while the camp was dismantled around him and the others set about getting themselves ready. So, Time went through the motions of putting on his chainmail, his tasses, and his fauld alone first.
It had so many pieces and so many straps, heavy and unbendable. Armor such as this made the impression that there were no weaknesses to the wearer nor any openings, but there could never be a perfect armor set if it wanted to allow freedom to its bearer. He remembered learning the hard way that he needed to be aware of where he was vulnerable, where the armor was left open so that he could bend his knees, his arms, have maneuverability of his groin, his neck.Ā
It was a statement, it was formidable, and it was an old friend.
Every now and then, however, he missed when he was young and spry, when his fighting style relied on speed and being small without being weighed down by all this armor. But he also remembers when he was young and spry wishing he could deal more damage then he did with one strike, to be more of a force to be reckoned with to protect the Captain and Tuneās back. It was a wish he made every time he had donned the Fierce Deity mask.
If he wanted to do sweeping, debilitating damage in one swing of his Biggoron sword, then the armor was a necessity.Ā
In the process of donning the set, it was his chest piece and his pauldrons where things got more difficult. He used his teeth to hold straps while he maneuvered his arms around locking everything in place.Ā
But he must be out of practice, too spoiled by the helping hands around him, because the chest piece started to slip and he went to catch it knowing he wouldnāt be fast enough.Ā
The chest piece stopped falling in midair, and Time blinked.
āLet me help.ā
The Captain had caught it, of course, that made more sense.Ā Ā
Warriors was smiling when Time looked at him.Ā
āYouāre wearing makeup,ā shock spilled the words out of him.Ā
It wasnāt the type of makeup Warriors would put on when he was feeling especially happy, where it made him prettier doing something with charcoal to make his eyelashes more prominent or more playful with colors and patterns. It was the natural, utilitarian style he used during the war when he didnāt want his men or enemies hidden among friends to see him weakening, or when he covered up bruises and scratches and scars.Ā
Warriorsās eyes dulled slightly but the smile was one made for him and it was patient and loving. āArms up.āĀ
Time didnāt listen. The Captain must be getting slow if he expected him to just accept the drop in conversation. He stared and waited.Ā
Wars sighed, muttering something like, āalways been stubborn,ā before forcing the chest piece against Timeās chest and instructing him to hold it while he grabbed the back piece.Ā
Time obediently held the armor in place while Wars set about tightening the straps and speaking, āI thought it wouldnāt be great for our remaining morale if I looked ugly.ā
āYou donāt have to do that,ā Time said immediately. āYou donāt have to pretend with us.ā
āI know. But I guess old habits die hard. This makes me feel more secure.ā Warriors patted him on his pauldron to punctuate his point.Ā
Before Time could organize his thoughts enough to respond, the Captain asked, āWhat were you thinking about before I came over?ā
Twilight still hadnāt moved.Ā
Legend was right. They did look like two corpses.Ā
āI was thinking about how much my fighting style has changed over the years,ā he was saying, āHow speed was a familiar weapon but something I can no longer wield. How Iām now weighed down by this armor.ā
āIām relieved that you wear it now,ā the Captain said with a fond, wistfulness in his voice. āDo you know how stressed I was seeing you on the battlefield without any sort of armor? Iāve thought about scooping you up and dumping you into a full set so often I had dreams about it. But I knew youād be a little brat about it if I ever brought the idea up.āĀ
A little bit of childish indignance made him frown. āTune didnāt wear any either back then.ā
āYeah, well. He at least was mature enough to ask for leather armor as the years passed and he grew bigger.ā
Time remembered that. Remembered being jealous when the Captain gifted Tune specially crafted leather armor he had bought just for him and then took the time to spar with the sailor for a couple of days to get used to fighting in it. So jealous in fact that when he was asked if he wanted his own, instead of the truth, he told them it looked dumb and that he was good enough to fight without it unlike some people.Ā Ā
A funny look had twisted Tuneās face. Back then, Time thought he was laughing at him, but now he knew exactly why. How silly it would be to see a man you had looked up to acting as spoiled and childish as he had been.Ā
āYou were our armor, shield, and sword back then,ā Time told the Captain as he now looked over at where Wind was speaking with Sky. āI was never afraid when you were around. Maybe more afraid of what would happen to you.ā
āAnd that was never your burden,ā the Captain went to stand in front of him, finished with the armor. The weight was comforting and secure. Time looked at how the foundation was caked on below the Captainās eyes. āIām a hero. And so are the rest. You canāt take responsibility for us and our pains,ā a knowing look, āor our deaths.ā
Time met his gaze daringly. āYou didnāt fail us.ā
āIt was a miracle, and not by my hand that you two outlived the war,ā the Captain said sternly, the grain of the powder lessening the lines of his frown. āDonāt hold yourself up against me in comparison.ā
āTwilight almost died, Wild has died under my leadership, under my protection. If I had diedāā
The Captain closed his eyes and turned away as if the thought physically pained him.
Time continued to land the blow, āāyou would have blamed yourself.āĀ
His brotherās voice was fragile and quiet when he said, āWould you have wanted me to? Would you have agreed if I did?ā
āYou would believe it no matter what I thought,ā he said ruthlessly. āYou blame yourself even now for Wild.ā
Time saw exactly when the Captainās walls came up. The makeup looked at home on this expression. āThis isnāt about me.ā
Hypocrite. Time wanted to shout. You would have me blameless while you wore the same blame on your face! When it was my burden, my son, a curse I set upon my own flesh and blood for being so inadequate my descendants had to make up for it! Even when I am with them I canāt protect them! This was anger, this was grief, this was ā¦uncalled for.
Time rubbed a hand down his face, taking a steadying breath. This was a moment where he needed to step back and get some space. He started to walk away. The Captain didnāt deserve this, his big brother only meant to comfort him and here Time was attacking him like a child. He just needed a moment.
āYou decided not to use the ocarina.āĀ
The words stopped him in his tracks.
The ocarina used to be an easy fix. Goddess knows how many times heās played the song when he was a child.Ā
The moment he saw Wildās body, it had been a burning presence in his pouch. Always there.
It was a possibility that had taken over Time as he sat there for hours beside Wild and Twilight. Not really in his body, not really out of it. He had listened to Twilightās whining, his howling. The answering silence of Wildās body. How many more times must he sit helplessly by a loved one?
āIf I used it,ā Time said carefully, āI donāt know if itāll rewind for all of us, or split the timeline again. I could disappear from this time, leaving you all behind.ā
He would never know. If he used the ocarina, he would never know if the timeline split or if he rewound time for all of them. Heād die never knowing for sure. He wouldāve died ignorant of split timelinesāof the timeline he abandoned āin the first place if it werenāt for this goddess-given mission. But regardless, thereād be a life where Wild was alive. He could make sure of it. What use was the title the Hero of Time if he couldnāt even make this right?
āI think,ā the Captain replied from behind him, just as carefully, āI would rather grieve with you, than to try to undo something without knowing a hundred percent if itāll work.ā
Even with so many secrets shared among their family, not everyone knew about the ocarina, Time wasnāt the type to flaunt the instrument around after all. Wind, Sky, and Wild were there when they talked about the possibility of a split timeline. One less person who knew his secret. Ā And he had confided in the Captain after the revelation.
Twilight didnāt know.
After that life-altering conversation, before Twilight almost died, Wild had sought him out. The young man had plopped down next to him on the ground, looking at him with those unnerving, blue eyes of his that seemed to see things in Time that even he didnāt know about.Ā
āI was thinking,ā Wild had said, āI was so ready to go back in time when I thought you had the power to. It was a dream come true for a moment, I could go back, fix everything and things would be right again.āĀ
Something wistful and wise settled around Wild like peace. āBut if it meant that I would have to leave you all behind, leave this timeline behind, I donāt think I could do it. After meeting all of you and hearing about all the other adventures youāve gone on, I canāt expect that my job is done. I abandoned them once before,ā Time still remembered Wildās small smile, āwhat if they still need me?ā
Back at the inn, back in that room where Twilight lay dying, Four had told Time the confrontation he had with Wild outside of Twilightās sickbed like the guilt of it was killing him. Time remembered being ready for Wild to storm in and demand he use the ocarina should Twilight die. But when, instead of a grief driven little brother, an insightful and inspirational hero came to them, Time realized he was using Wild as an excuse. It wasnāt Wild who wouldāve used the ocarina, but him that was tempted in the first place. He was anticipating it, hoping for Wild to give him a reason to.Ā
āBut thereās a chance,ā Time continued, turning around to look at his big brother as the man walked over to close the gap heād made, āif I decide not to take that chance, how could I bear to face him?ā
If Twilight knew about the ocarina, would he be the one to demand Time use it?Ā
Time had never been good at moving on.Ā
As always, the Captain seemed to know exactly what ailed him, āTwilight wouldnāt risk losing you too. Itād kill him to ask you to use that ocarina as much as itād kill him if you actually did. And, goddess dammit, Sprite,ā a small crack in the Captainās voice, āI canāt bear to lose you again. And maybe thatās selfish. I would give anything to have Wild back, butāāĀ
Time reached out as his brother bit his bottom lip and looked away, trying to pull it together. He held onto his Warriorsās wrist and saw how he could completely wrap around it now. He hadnāt been able to before.Ā
āBut not you,ā Warriors finished quietly, like the words were poison, like he was disgusted with himself. āIām asking you to stay.ā
āI want to stay,ā he had cried through angry, scared tears, clinging to the Captainās scarf and glaring up at his big brother, the portal that was to take him home a sickly cold presence behind him. āYou canāt make me leave. You still need me and you know it.ā
āAnywayā Wildās small smile had stretched into a mischievous grin, āwhat would you all do without me and my food if I up and vanished? Wouldnāt last a day, I bet.ā
His silence must have gone on for too long, because the Captain took a step back from him, pulling out of his grip.
Warriors had schooled his expression back, smoothed the cracks out on his porcelain face. He was looking past Timeās shoulder. āYou should talk to him. Then youāll know that he loves you just as much as Wild and you can forget about this misplaced guilt.ā
Warriors was the one to walk away this time. Time didnāt stop him.
First | Previous | Next
@naxamiss @theyellowfriend @st0rmyskies @chaos-advocate @mothielad @jenniferchaulam @originsofevil @links-in-time @homewardwander @gothroughthelookingglass @seaotter-17 @alicewritingstories @silvrash-797 @niffty24
wanted to get one last part out before the end of the year!!! thanks as always for all the comments, reblogs, and likes! see you guys in 2025!
#Please Perennial#linkeduniverse#linked universe#lu#lu fic#lu wars#lu warriors#lu time#lu mask#this one was a mess of a part compared to the others#definitely one of the parts i'll need to go back and fix#honestly wasnāt planning on having these two fight#but it ended up that way#still not sure if I like it#spookswrites
46 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Interview with Mad Rupert, author of Sakana
September 2023
Sakana, the story of life and love in a fish market, is coming back from its hiatus soon! The strip comic style webcomic began in 2010 and follows Jiro, Taisei, Yuudai, and Chie as they navigate their relationships and learn to face their feelings. We asked creator Mad Rupert, author of Robber Robert and artist of Bunt!, for an interview to celebrate the series return.
Read Sakana | Shop books & merch | Read more Hiveworks comics
Sakana has been your baby for 13 years. What has the webcomic journey been like for you over the past decade?
It really has been over a decade, hasnāt it! There have certainly been ups and downs, periods where I was updating as much as I could, and also long hiatuses. I feel like webcomics have always been an amazing space to practice my craft and stretch my writing and drawing skills alike. You can kind of do anything you like with webcomics, and oftentimes people come up with wackier, and imho more interesting concepts than if they were beholden to a large publisher. Not that I havenāt made my fair share of traditionally-published comics and graphic novelsā¦ but thereās just something so gratifying about coming up with your own wild story and working towards its end on your own time. Webcomics are incredibly tough and time consuming, but also the ultimate form of self expression.Ā
What is the origin of Sakana? What made you want to tell this story?
Sakana actually started as a class project when I was a junior at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I had been accepted into the Sequential Art departmentās yearly Japan trip to study comics and cartooning in Tokyo for a few weeks, and our final project was to create 11 comic strips based off of something that made a strong impact on us during the trip. We had visited the old inner market (now demolished) of the Tsukiji Fish Market at 4am one morning, and it was the most incredible place Iād ever been, so I decided to craft a short story that took place in the market. Beyond the first 11 strips, I decided to continue the story for as long as I could as a way to practice the comic techniques I was learning in class. That was over a decade and 600 strips ago! It really has become the most ambitious project Iāve ever undertaken.
Do you have the ending already written? Do you see a conclusion in sight?
Yes! Iāve always had something at least resembling an end in mind throughout most of the comicās lifespan. For a long-format comic like SAKANA, I think itās very important to have a rough ending planned out as early as possible, otherwise it becomes difficult to keep the narrative moving in a satisfying direction, drop little tidbits of plot that will pay off later, or even maintain your enthusiasm for the project. To be clear, the details of Sakana's āendā have changed many times, which is only natural with a very long project like this. But Iāve always kept crucial details the same: basically certain characters in a certain place at a certain time doing certain things (to keep from getting too spoilery haha.) HOW they get there, WHY theyāre there, and WHAT exactly theyāre doing will ebb and flow as the years go by and I myself get older and older. But having a general sense of the end in mind has kept things moving all this time. The storyās got one more volume to go, and then Iāll be done!
Your hiatus is a result of working on a traditionally published graphic novel, coming in 2024. Is there anything you can tell us about your book?
My new graphic novel is called Bunt! and itās a collaborative effort between myself and my dear pal, Ngozi Ukazu (author of popular webcomic Check, Please!) Ngozi wrote the book and I drew it, and weāre both really proud of what weāve made! Itās already available for preorder all over the place and it will officially be out in stores in February 2024. Weāre really looking forward to getting out there this fall and winter and spreading the word about it!
You recently successfully completed a Kickstarter for an 18+ comic, Robber Robert, as well. What is it like balancing these different narratives, genres, and mediums of publishing comics?
Itās definitely been a struggle at times to balance everything, and I definitely donāt recommend working on 3 giant projects at the same time! I finally had to admit that I couldnāt do it all at once, which led to me putting Sakana and RR on hiatus to finish Bunt!, and then keeping Sakana on hiatus while I finished up RR. I really burned myself out on comics for a while, and itās been a huge struggle to get myself back to a good place with my work. Finishing Bunt! and RR Chapter 1 has really helped reenergize me, but I can always feel myself trying to overload my work schedule again and again. Itās my greatest weakness as a professional artist.
What keeps you inspired?
Making something for myself, practicing my craft, and putting my own stories out there are all huge driving forces in my life. Learning to stop overwhelming myself with work has also helped a lot. Looking back on all the art Iāve made and all the different things Iāve tried makes me feel like I can do anything I put my mind to, so long as I give myself the time and space to enjoy the process.
Do you have any webcomic or graphic novel recommendations?
Iām a big fan of anything fantasy or sci-fi, especially if the narrative approaches the fantastical elements in a weird, unique, and kind of gay way haha. My favorite manga is currentlyĀ Delicious in Dungeon, but Iām also a fan of historical series likeĀ Golden KamuyĀ andĀ Brideās Story. For webcomics, I love anything by Evan Dahm, like his long-format seriesĀ Rice BoyĀ andĀ Vattu. As for Hiveworks comics, thereās too many to list individually but my current favorites areĀ FairmeadowĀ by KP, andĀ Tiger, TigerĀ by Petra Nordlund.Ā
Any advice for new readers of Sakana?
I would sayā¦despite its high page count, itās not that long of a read! The strip format keeps it moving at a pretty quick clip when read all at once (but it certainly didnāt feel like that over the last 13 years updating one page at a time!) I know that the format and the black and white rendering might feel a little dated in the current era of Webtoons and full-color stories, but Iām too stubborn to change now, and I really appreciate anybody giving it a shot! Also, no matter who you are, or how much you dislike him in the beginning, Yuudai will probably be your favorite character.
You can read Sakana for free at sakana-comic.com and print books are available at hivemill.com
451 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
1st off I have to say I LoVe ā¤ļø @cubbihue itty bitties fairly odd parents Au as well as @jessadamsdraws the Deal fairly odd parents AU
That i wanted to add my fairly odd parents Fairy Oc to their auās
But to do that Iām gonna have to explain about who my Fairy oc Felicity
Well she was a human child when British were sending Convicts to Australia between 1788-1868
She was a child excuse at stealing food and was given a choice of going to overcrowded prison or being sent to Australia š¦šŗ at the time (she chose Australia)
She then got Jorgenās Nana Boom boom as her godmother who was only one who seemed to care for her and support her creative talents so when she wished she was a real fairy and could live with Nana Boom boom and she was raised by nana boom boom to become the Fairy of the creative arts and records keeping (she gets to work with Father Time to make sure the records are up to snuff and no fake information is in them) but most fairies know her for helping to inspire humans & fairies alike in art and tend to forget she holds records for all their histories until fairy Timmy or Lawyer Timmy realises they need to look back on records of evens to help with keeping the Da Rules from having too many loopholes or where it could maybe need to change some rules to better help fairy world as a hold ( or to help beat the pixies & anti fairies from taking over fairy world)
She will be a little star struck when she 1st meets Timmy Cosmo Wanda and Peri because she has all the records of when they saved the universe and fairy world (also she hates Timmyās parents; cocker and Vicky being as she has all the records of how they treated Timmy Wanda Cosmo and even peri and will be herd complaining how humans could ignore all that abuse they put a CHILD through is beyond her) sheāll also be Hazelās fan because she saved Fairy World from anti fairies (she most likely ask for them to sign her autograph book) Jorgen will be confused on finding out heās a little related to her through Nana Boom boom adoption of her back in 1788
She loves all animals but cats (big and small so going from your house cat to wild lions)
Watching history documentaries or cat ones
Art and craft shows
And anything thatās art related
Sheās always got a paint brush and a pencil stuck in her very very curly hair with cat & flower shaped hair clips and her wand looks like a big pencil with a star āļø on top of it
(Oh and sheās asexual)
If sheās In the Itty Bitties AU
I think sheās a pixie fairy but the only girl one being as in the original show all the pixies were all male or appear to be (didnāt see a single female one in that bunch at all) but being as so many see her as the Artist fairy not many realise sheās a pixie fairy at all so donāt bother to tell her sheās supposed to wear the grey uniforms but then when they realise she is one and has been keeping records for EVERYTHING in fairy world they do Attempt to get her to wear grey uniforms but realise the uniforms were not designed for a female pixie being as it would seem a vast majority of them are male so then give up trying to get her to wear the grey uniforms so then fairy Timmy by that gets to keep his pink outfit being as A) heās a great worker on keeping the da rule up to date and B) being as heās related to both Jorgen and like felicity was once human they just have to let it slide being as he was the only one who figure out Felicity was the only fairy who was keeping track of all of fairies records
In the Deal au Timmy has grown up to be a pretty good lawyer and when he has to save fairy world pixies trying to take over with anti fairies because Felicityās anti fairy likes to keep track of what people did wrong so she can backstab people with that information or find loopholes to get anti fairies to get their way; So of course Timmy will ask for all of fairy worldās records so he can defend fairies against them at first most fairies donāt know whoās been keeping the records for them so hazel steps in and wishes for fairy who keeps track of all of fairy worldās records and Felicity appears has a bit of a excited to see lawyer Timmy rambling until her anti fairy starts pointing out all the bad things Timmy did and then of course She starts telling her anti fairy off and listings down all the good Timmy Turner did with Wanda Cosmo and peri while all the other fairies are gasping in surprise over finding out sheās not just the Arts fairy
And thatās just what Iāve gotten down so far and I really need to go to bed Iām work later
#fairly odd parents fanart#fairly oddparents#fairly odd parents hazel#fairly odd parents timmy#fairly odd parents oc#itty bitties#fop deal au#fop timmy turner#timmy turner#my drawings#my artwork#my art#my sketches
86 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Long rambling incoming in 3,2,1...
I know that I'm not really any kind of big celebrity in the Stobotnik world. The only thing I've got going for myself is the fact that I've been there since the very beginning, with my one 'I'm so proud of this community' Meme getting a like or two every full moon or so. It's also been a hot second since I've written a Stobotnik Fic, and yet, I've never really left the fandom. Far from it.
So boooooy, when that trailer dropped, let's just say, I've been going wild! That being said, I have calmed down a tiny bit and woud like to share my two cents with you all.
Especially since, considering how gay the trailer was, I've noticed people kind of leaning into either of two camps.
Team 1: They might actually make it canon y'all. This is not a drill!!!!
or
Team 2: This is the most intense queerbaiting I've ever seen, but fuck it, take my money!
Now, I will tell you where I'm standing at the end of things, but let's talk facts before I do, shall we?
I know Jim & Lee were having fun on set during Movie 1, but I doubt either of them expected us all to get quite this feral over these two evil man. In fact, I'm not sure what their plans were for Agent Stone in general. I'd love to believe that they saw us freaking the fuck out and decided to make Stone a big part of the sequels because of that. But then I look at the Robotnik Mushroom Planet scene and think: They gave this man an actual stone to hold onto, going so far as to carve Stone's face into said stone, just so he could pretend he wasn't alone and Stone was still with him. Clearly, Robotinik was never willing to admit that he cared, admit that there could be someone who he had allowed to get close, given that there had never been anyone before who had cared enough about HIM, so why should HE make the mistake of caring about someone else either. Cause, you know, it's easier to pretend there's noone than admit that there could be, just to realise that you were wrong actually. And yet. Despite all that he held onto Stone the stone, like his life depended on it. I love that scene because it's hella gay, but I love it even more because it's amazing writing, giving us the payoff for the forshadwed "I won't miss you when you're gone" scene from way back when. They didn't have to do that. And yet they made that choice. Included that moment for a reason. So I'd love to think that even back then, they were very willing to play with the dynamic of them going forward.
Clearly things and plans changed After Movie 1 , after we saw these two and made Stobotnik as big as it is. I'll talk about movie 2 in a hot second, but let's return to the way they promoted 2 first. Cause THAT was CLEARLY queerbaiting ... or was it... ? For you see, they knew what they were doing, they knew how to get us all excited , posting this on Valentine, letting Sonic make a heart, drawing the whole thing in a romantic light, going so far as to include bi-lighting in the trailer. On top of the latte art that was designed to get us queers to show up. I saw that art, freaked out and showed it to all of my friends. One friend, let's call her Barbara, smiled at me, like you smile at somone who still believes in the Easter Bunny and told me she hoped I knew they were playing with me. In fact, she was kind of dissapointed I allowed them to get to me so much. And I KNEW. I knew they were trying to bait me. I'm not stupid. This isn't the first time I've been queerbaited after all. And it won't be the last time, that's for sure. And yet, I didn't care because I loved that they acknowledged us. Loved that they were willing to give us something, even if it wasn't actually real and they were clearly NEVER going to include actual ship latte art of Stone & Robotnik together. Cause that would be gay. Haha. And those two totally weren't gay. Ain't I right? :)) Queer rep has gotten more common and yet, so has queerbaiting. Cause nowadays the chance that something could be actually made canon is way more likely than it was, let's say, 15 years ago. So companies love to use that, love playing into that even more. Like, do I have to remind you all what they were doing for the Deadpool & Wolverine movie marketing ??? Just saying.
As much as I love Lee and as much as we're loosing our marbels every time he as much as winks in our direction, I'll not be using any of his posts as evidence for the points I'm about to make further down. Cause, you know, at the end of the day, he's just one of us as well. Another shipper. A hella supportive shipper who may or may not have had a hand in the way he portrayed Stone, but still. Love you Lee. Thank you for having our back!
So now. Movie 2. And the godforsaken Maid Dress Scene. I hope we are all proud of ourselves. Cause that scene was our doing. I promise you, promise you!!! they didn't have that planned before the fandom happend. They saw us and were like "You can have this. As a treat :3". Personally I didn't freak out as much as the rest of you all, but I'm glad you guys had fun. It was a gift to us after all, so I guess it's fine if we enjoyed it. Jokes aside though, let's get back to what movie 2 did, even though they may or may not have realised it at the time. As in: They made Stobotnik canon. What do you mean by canon, Smartie?????, you might ask. And I'll answer, cause it's simple: I mean canon, as in canon. Yes, that's right. Stobotnik has been canon for a while... or... at least 50% of it. Let's get back to the Latte, shall we? Back then I thought they were making fun of us. Queerbaiting at it's finest. And then the movie happend and Stone confessed his love right then and there for the world to see, basically drawing fanart into Robotnik's caffe for who knows how long and Robotnik? That stupid -3000 IQ genius knew. He fucking knew!! Has always known and was either unwilling to read between the lines or mistook the affection for simple loyalty. Not-Spoiler: It's the later by the way, because we have that deleted scene. That beautiful deleted scene. But let's get back to the art for a second. Because I was basically dying in my seat. And I didn't think people were talking about it enough, cause it was the proof, not that stupid maid outfit that was simply put in as a joke that audiences were supposed to laugh at. But this. This! The whole scene were Stone was lovesick and heartbroken, drawing art of his lost non-lover, the way the life returned to his eyes the second said man returned, on top of literally all of him for the rest of the movie prooved one thing to me: Agent Stone was in love with Dr. Robotnik. It's clear he's never said so out loud, and for a good reason, but he didn't have to. It was so obvious anyone with an IQ lower than 299 could have seen. Just a shame that that one 300 IQ guy couldn't. So now, deleted scene time. Woopwoop. :P Recall how they had planned to make Stone even more in love and heart-eyed - JESUS CHRIST MY GUY - but went for an alternative scene instead? In case you aren't familiar with the scene, it's basically Stone telling Robotnik how he's followed his guide-lines, making the Stone Comic Canon, how he's made sure noone touched his babies, how he's known he'd return, how he's waited for him all this time cause he knew KNEW he'd come back and for a second there Robotnik doesn't know what to say. He looks that man in the eyes and for a split second he wonders, questions, and then... then he's scared. Scared of what that could mean. Scared that he could actually mean something to someone and he panics and decides to use violence to laugh it off, to refelect, to pretend that in that moment, he didn't actually feel something. That Stone didn't make him feel ... vulnerable. Because at that point, he cares too. He's not ready to admit it, at least not without having to joke about it. But he does. He does!! And the thought of it being mutual scares him. Probably more than anything ever has. Because if he allows this, this feeling to settle and bloom, he's got to admit that this, whatever it is, has the power to destroy and hurt him. And he can't do that. Maybe not again. Maybe not ever. Not now. Not now that he's what... 40? and has found peace with the fact that he'll die alone.
I know they were leaning into Stobotnik a lot, but they also... kind of didn't, following the natural consequences of the stuff they had set up in the prior movie, allowing Robotnik to go through an actual character arc. It's subtle, and he's still and asshole - always wil be - but that doesn't change the fact that his arc still exists and is actually very well done. Stone doesn't really have that obvious of an arc. Because it's not really much of an arc, we're just learning more about him, fleshing out his character. The only thing we know for certain is, that he adores and loves Robotnik and that he's willing to betray everyone and everything for him. Even if Robotnik never loves him back. He's accepted that, as long as he's alowed a place at his side.
And now, my fellow shippers, movie 3. Or rather, pre-movie 3. And the much discussed question: Are we getting queerbaited? Well, that depends how you define queerbaiting, doesn't it? Is it queerbaiting if it's unrequited love? Cause that's our current standpoint. Stone has found his doctor, nursed him back to health, lived with him, been by his side for months (years) and the only thing that is standing in their way now is: Robotnik's feelings. They have great build-up, put this man on a path, shown us how he's grown and now all that's left is to see, how they'll decide to finish his story. If I look at all that's happend up to this point, from a writing/writer stand-point, I'd say, that it would make sense for Robotnik to admit, that he cares. Cause that has been his arc, his journey. To admit that yes: He doesn't care about humanity, but he does care about Stone. Has for a very long while in fact. Be that platonic, or romantic. Doing literally anything else would not make sense at that point and would actually be an insult to their own work. And their writing has been pretty solid, so I'm confident we will get something. Especially since... I HAVE seen the leaks. Now, storyboards are just that. Something from early development, something that could change. Which is why I'd normally ignore them.... iiiiiiiif it weren't for that one line from the trailer. That one. fucking. line. That made me realise: Holy shit, those mad lads are doing it. They are finishing Robotnik's arc. That's when I understood why Team 1 was loosing their marbels. Because,
SPOILER!!!!! he is going to admi it. He is going to admit it to himself, and he's gonna do something so wild and crazy it scares me more than you understand. The only question is. Will he surive to tell the tale? And if he does, will he be brave enough to share that admission with Stone?
END OF SPOILER
I don't have links to the storyboard. In retrospect, I should have saved them. But what's done is done. Not that I cod delete the knowledge of what I've seen even if I tried. People seem hesitant to tell people all they have seen, cause those of us who have, and know the Sonic 2 story seem to have a good understanding of what and when that spoiler is taking place. And especially what outcome it seems to be leading into. But, if anyone asks, I am willing to share what it was I saw. If you really wanna know. If you are truly sure.
That being said. How do I feel about Stobotnik? I don't think we're getting a kiss. But I think (and hope) we're gonna get a moment. A moment of Robotnik being open, of him sharing that Stone means somethig to him. They even have the potential to include a joke here, of Stone perhaps attempting to hug Robotnik, for him to allow it for 3 seconds or so, only for him to punch Stone and say something along the lines of: "Okay, that's enough." You know, something close to the High Five moment, just THIS TIME they actually do the high five (or hug). You can have the feels and the joke. It's still Robotnik after all. It's what I'm hoping for, actually, cause I don't think Robotnik is ready for THAT admission quite yet. A hug though? That I could see.
I know we still have to fight against being exploited and played with, but that being said, I don't think love confessions have to always be that huge thing, that clashing of tongues and body parts. They can also be soft and quite. A moment of vulnerability and trust. Of openness. In fact, if Robotnik were to allow Stone a hug, it would be even more impactful than a kiss could ever be. He's hugging Gerald in the trailer, so they have shown me that they are not afraid to make this man hug.
It gives me hope. And it - and the leaks - are the reason why I'm Team 1. I think we could actually get canon Stobotnik you all. And I'm so hyped you don't understand. Let's see what Stobotnik marketing they are going to feed us over the next few months. I, for one, am looking forward to it. ^-^
Live long and prosper š„š¤šŖØ
#stobotnik#dr robotnik#agent stone#agent stone x robotnik#sonic movie#sonic movie 3#sonic movie 3 trailer#queerbaiting#ivo robotnik#doctor robotnik
77 notes
Ā·
View notes