#maybe post them here while promoing the fic...? yeah. maybe that

[clowningaroundmars]

yeah so im doodling some stuff for this miles g fic now.

yeah im deep in it now i suppose lol no turning back

[magicshopaholic]

Words Unsaid (Jungkook x OC)

Summary: Jungkook has something he wants to ask you, but the timing just never seems to sit right.

Pairing: Jungkook x OC

Genre: Fluff

Rating: 18+

Word Count: 7.3 K

Warnings: none

A/N: This took longer than expected to post (but a surprisingly short amount of time to write). Savour it, for the angst will be back in full force next fic :D Takes place a couple of weeks after Unfinished Business and can be read standalone.

Tagging: @bbl32 @ggukkieland @bangtannoonalvg @pb-n-juju @juciu @jeoncookie-bts @quarter-life-crisis2 @dreaming-with-happiness @meirkive  @faearchives @margopinkerton @sumzysworld @purpleseoul7 @kflixnet (italics cannot be tagged. If you want to be added to the taglist, drop a comment or ask)

Listen to: "thinking out loud" by ed sheeran

jungkook masterlist | main masterlist

The sun is near setting when lunch comes to a natural end. Namjoon places his credit card on the bill out of habit and, somewhat conscious that it’s not just the two of them here, Jungkook drops his on top of it.

“All good, kid.” Namjoon good-naturedly flicks Jungkook’s credit card off the bill just before the waiter picks it up.

Feeling Lia’s eyes on him, vaguely amused, Jungkook feels his ears heat up and quickly pockets his credit card. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” he asks, desperate to change the topic.

“Not much.” He shrugs. “Probably pick up some stuff at this store we saw earlier today, then maybe a walk down the Han if it gets cooler…” He turns slightly as Kaya returns to her seat, fluffing out her hair a bit.

“Seoul has never been this warm, has it?” she remarks. “I’m glad I cut my hair before I came here.”

“It should rain soon,” answers Lia, in her accented English. While her grasp on the language hadn’t necessarily been a surprise to Jungkook, the way it sounded - and how much he liked it - definitely was. She hadn’t ever spoken much English around him, for there was never much of a need, but when Kaya visited and they’d finally met, Jungkook discovered he was obsessed with her English accent. It made her sound older, unattainable and - ironically – more Korean.

“Maybe it will,” says Namjoon, nodding and looking out the glass windows at the sunlight.

“Maybe it will while you’re walking down the Han river,” points out Jungkook. 

“Looking forward to it.”

“Oh, that reminds me - can we make a detour home before we head to the market?” Kaya asks him. “I need to pick up my power bank. My phone’s almost dead.”

Namjoon nods. “Sure. You guys need a ride?” he asks Jungkook and Lia.

“Oh -” They exchange a look, for they were dropped by a company car after Jungkook finished filming a promo. “Actually, yeah,” says Lia, nodding. “We also need to stop by, uh, Jungkook’s house for a minute. You’ll want to change, I guess?”

Jungkook nods mutely, his neck getting hot again. He avoids Namjoon’s eyes; the older member’s subtle questioning a couple of days ago, about how serious is this getting, had been one thing. That, coupled with the abrupt way he and Lia had stopped talking when Jungkook had returned from the men’s room earlier during lunch, made him uneasily conscious that something was still unsaid.

They head out of the restaurant, waiting until Namjoon’s car is brought out by the valet before ducking inside quickly, Kaya in the driver’s seat and Namjoon in the passenger seat next to her. Jungkook notices a few phones out in the open and pointed towards them as they drive away.

“See you tomorrow!” Lia waves at them as they drive away from the porch of Jungkook’s building in Hannam-dong, where his new penthouse sits tucked into the top floor. As the car disappears around a corner, both of them turn around and head inside together.

In the lift, Jungkook watches the numbers increase, his hands in his pockets and his bottom lip between his teeth. The words are there, somewhere, in moments at the tip of his tongue and in others, so far away that they may as well be someone else’s.

“Hey.”

He’s jerked out of his reverie. “Yeah.”

Lia is looking at him, frowning slightly. “Everything okay? You’ve barely said two words since we left.”

“I’m fine,” he answers as the lift stops and they step out, the doors opening right in front of his apartment. “I just, uh…” He pats his pockets and pauses. “... forgot my keys. I think. Shit.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she mutters easily, reaching into her small sling bag for her own keyring and selecting the shiniest one. “This is when it helps to have a spare set with someone else,” she points out.

Jungkook nods sheepishly and steps aside so she can unlock the door to his home. “Actually, Lia…” He takes a deep breath as Namjoon’s face swims to the forefront of his mind, the familiar raised eyebrow and chin tilted upward that, irritatingly knowing but unwilling to give him the answer. No, he would want Jungkook to come up with the answer himself. 

He clears his throat as Lia pauses. “Yeah?”

“Um, I was wondering -” He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Just say it. Say it. He makes the mistake of glancing at her again, her raised eyebrows and - to his slight anxiety - hopeful expression.

Shit.

“Would you, um… do you think you would you like to…” 

Come on now, Jungkook, Namjoon would say sternly. Say it already.

“... try a beef bulgogi tonight? I know we usually do pizza on Sunday nights but I saw this recipe online and I really wanted to try it. Plus, we won’t even have to shop - we have that fillet in the freezer so part of the work is really already done, if you think about it…”

He’s rambling, he knows, but it’s only to try and distract himself from the annoyance at himself as well as the brief but clear disappointment in her expression. Her shoulders fall slightly and she bites her lip, turning back to the door and pushing it open halfway.

“Beef bulgogi sounds great,” she says finally, looking up at him after a moment’s hesitation, and giving him a small smile. “Thanks.”

He follows her inside, still deflated. Lia goes straight to the fridge for a bottle of cold water while he heads into his room, shedding his t-shirt on the way. Turning on the bathroom light, he grabs his facewash from the wall-mounted shelf, half-stocked with haircare products, face scrubs, masks, serums and a tub of scrunchies and claw clips. A Dior perfume he’d gifted her earlier this year was also there next to his own Calvin Klein cologne. 

Realising he’s been staring at her belongings for over a minute with emulsified facewash on his face, he quickly scrubs it off and hurries out, passing by her chest of drawers next to the closets. 

Jungkook wishes he wasn’t such a coward. He wishes he had the exact right words and that his mouth moved on its own to deliver the message to her. She’d helped him set up the apartment when he’d moved in last month; most of her belongings are here, she returns here more often than not after work, half the groceries in the pantry are stocked by her. She has a set of keys, she uses his extra parking space - but none of it matters as long as it’s still Jungkook’s house. 

In the kitchen, Lia is standing by the counter with a bowl of watermelon in front of her, scrolling on her phone. She looks up when he enters. 

“I cut the other half that was in the fridge,” she informs him. “Rest of it is inside.”

He swallows. “Thanks.”

Jungkook doesn’t know what he would do without her. The house feels far too big and empty when she isn’t around and he wishes there were some way for her to get that message without him having to spell it out.

But if you do spell it out, comes Namjoon’s voice again, what’s the worst that could happen.

She could say no and then I could die, he thinks, shuddering.

He stands on the opposite side of the counter and leans over to examine the pink fruit. Lia raises an eyebrow and pops a piece into his mouth. 

“Wow. Sweet,” he comments, voice slightly muffled. 

She half-chuckles and nods, going back to her phone and taking a piece as well.

Say it. But is this really the moment? Does there need to be a moment? What would that moment even look like? What would she want that moment to -

“Kook,” says Lia, slowly placing her phone down. “I was thinking… I’ve been coming over here after work the last few days. And I’ll probably be here tomorrow as well, so…” She bites her lip.

“Yes,” whispers Jungkook breathlessly. If Lia were to ask the question - nothing like it. No chance of rejection, no scope for awkwardness. Of course, if any of the guys got wind of the fact that she had been the one to ask, they wouldn’t let him live it down, especially Jimin. Suddenly, he half-hopes she isn’t asking.

“Do you think it would be weird if, you know…”

Holy shit. Screw Jimin and his opinions. Despite a crappy first date a year ago, if this is really how far they’ve come since then, he should consider himself the luckiest man in the world. Unexpectedly, Jungkook’s heart begins to race. 

“… if I went home on Monday evening? It’s been a while and I have an important meeting on Tuesday and all my blazers are at home so in a way, I have to…”

Jungkook nods mutely, barely hearing her, for his heart is hammering so loudly he can hear it in his teeth. It occurs to him that Lia might have been anticipating the same question and subsequently felt the same disappointment, and it only serves to make him feel worse.

“… take my car, too. Jungkook?”

He looks up warily, irrationally worried his shame might be written on his forehead for her to see, possibly triggering her to pull the plug on this entire thing, this whole relationship, to save herself the embarrassment of dating a silly pop star who can’t string six words together -

“Hm?”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m fine,” he chokes. “Thanks for the, uh, the fruit.”

Lia raises her eyebrows, but there’s a flash of knowing in her eyes. Not wanting to decipher it, for there’s no telling where his mind will take him, he shakes his head slightly and leans forward, kissing her on the cheek.

It doesn’t end there. Later that evening, Jungkook is still reeling from his horrendous inability to pluck up the courage to ask his girlfriend a simple question. The general mood between them seems to have gone back to normal, somewhat, but it nags at the corner of his mind.

They are heading to the executive floor gym in his building, accessible only to the handful of residents on the top floor, when another opportunity seemingly presents itself.

It’s a glorious workout in one of the best gyms in the country; in fact, Jungkook is rather upfront about it being one of the main reasons he chose to buy a property in this particular building in Hannam-dong. Towards the end of a particularly difficult set of reps on the bench press station, Jungkook looks up to see a face, upside down and hovering above him.

“Shit!” he gasps, gripping the barbell tightly so it doesn’t fall on him. 

Eunwoo grins. “What’s up? Wasn’t expecting to see you here today.”

“I could’ve died,” points out Jungkook, sitting up and giving him a friendly dap. “No, Lia wanted to work out, too, and it’s been a, uh… somewhat stressful day.”

“Yeah?” Eunwoo, also sweating and glowing, looks around the gym with his hands on his hips. “Lia is here? Oh, there she is…” He nods at the treadmills where she’s jogging fast, AirPods in and the rest of the world shut out.

They chat for a bit about nothing in particular, catching their breath. Somewhere during the conversation, while they’re at the water station and filling up tiny glasses with fruit-infused ice water, Jungkook wonders if the time has truly come to pick another’s brain. Eunwoo is a good friend and they’ve known each other a while, but it would be the first time he’s actively confided in someone else about his love life. From his experience, it could go either way.

While he’s pondering this, Eunwoo nods and flashes a smile at something over his shoulder.

“Hey, guys.” Lia walks over and pours herself a glass. Her skin pale and glowing, her cheeks flushed lusciously. The ends of her high ponytail stick to her damp collarbones and Jungkook bites his lip without thinking, ridiculously attracted to her at the moment.

“Noona, do you agree with JK’s plan of building a home gym?” Eunwoo asks, seamlessly continuing their discussion. “It’s going to be so much maintenance of equipment,” he tells him, shaking his head.

“Really?” Lia turns to Jungkook, frowning. “When did that happen? I thought you were happy with this gym.”

“I am - and I’m not planning on building a home gym,” he clarifies, suddenly anxious with both sets of eyes on him. “I was just discussing the merits of possibly having one.”

“Such as?”

“Well… privacy, for one. I know the building has good security but they're also fairly lax with allowances,” he points out, not wanting to specify the incident last week that had prompted this train of thought, when he was half-certain he’d spotted someone pointing their phone at him and Lia. 

“Allowances? You mean guests?” Eunwoo wrinkles his nose. “They don’t allow guests in here.”

“Yes, they do.”

“No, they don’t. They don’t allow anybody but residents in the gym.”

There’s a brief but painful pause following his words. 

“They do, actually,” says Lia.

“I don’t think so.”

“Yes, they do,” adds Jungkook tightly, glaring at Eunwoo and moving his eyes deliberately in Lia’s direction, hoping to God he’ll drop it.

Eunwoo frowns slowly, apparently working this out. “What?” he mutters, shaking his head at Jungkook. “No, I’m just saying… wait, how are you so sure?”

“Because I’m technically a guest,” says Lia lightly.

“You are?” Eunwoo raises his eyebrows. “But I thought you were - oh.” To Jungkook’s horror, a blush creeps up his friend’s face. Lia goes still next to him and it takes every ounce of Jungkook’s strength to not turn in her direction.

For the next few seconds or so, the three of them stand there in silence, scarcely making a movement. 

“Excuse me? May I?”

“Yes! Of course, of course -” Jungkook immediately blurts out while Eunwoo practically trips over himself to take a step back and make way for another patron. 

“I’m going to stretch and cool down for a bit,” says Lia, touching Jungkook’s shoulder. “How far along are you?”

“Oh, I still have a bit to finish,” he answers, a bit apologetically. “I was going to box for a bit before ending with cardio.”

“That’s fine, I'll just head back h- uh, to your place and shower… if that’s okay?”

Not least because she hasn’t needed to ask such a question in months, Jungkook nods wordlessly. She gives him a small smile and moves away, and Jungkook watches her leave before turning back around to see Eunwoo giving him a look.

“Shut up,” he mutters.

Eunwoo chuckles as they head over to the boxing bag. “Man, I am so sorry about that. I really thought you’d asked her to move in with you - I thought part of the reason you bought a new house was because you wanted her to move in. You were asking about bathrooms with his-and-her sinks, man. What happened?”

“Okay, first of all, I only asked if you’ve ever seen one in real life - not that I wanted one,” he corrects immediately, strapping on his gloves while Eunwoo gets behind the bag, ready to hold it. 

“And the other thing?”

“I’m working on it,” mutters Jungkook, going into stance and holding his hands up. “I just want to do it right. Make sure it’s a good time, that I’m not hurrying anything - that kind of thing.”

Eunwoo hums and nods. “Well, if it helps, she didn’t seem freaked out. If anything, she looked a little annoyed.”

Jungkook freezes. “She did? She looked annoyed - wait, really? Are you serious?”

His eyes widen. “Wh- no. Not - not annoyed like that. Not like a pissed off annoyed, more like a… like a chill annoyed.” When Jungkook says nothing, he shakes his head. “You know what? Don’t worry about it. Maybe it is too soon. Or maybe it isn’t,” he amends quickly. “What do I know? You know my last three relationships lasted, like, four months each - so I’m probably not the best person to be giving you any kind of advice.”

“That’s the most airtight thing you’ve said so far,” mutters Jungkook. “Alright, I’m coming in.” Waiting a moment for Eunwoo to grip the bag, he cocks his elbow back and punches it.

—

Despite his deadly faux pas, Eunwoo had inadvertently provided Jungkook with a rather helpful bit of direction. Perhaps it is time for him to lean on a friend for advice, but Eunwoo was also right that he is not one of them, not with his flighty flings and lack of depth in them. The advice matters and so does the friend, prompting Jungkook to ask himself: which of his friends is the expert on the opposite of short-term flings?

“Namjoon hyung!”

Namjoon stops in his tracks at the sound of his name and turns, waiting for Jungkook to catch up with him. 

“Oh, thanks,” says Jungkook, taking a cigarette from the pack Namjoon offers him and leaning forward so he can light it. “Thanks for getting us the evening off, by the way.”

“Kaya is leaving this weekend,” is all Namjoon says in response, shrugging.

“Right.” Jungkook nods, taking a drag and blowing it out, wondering briefly if he should care that they might be seen smoking right outside the Hybe building. “Won’t this make you a couple minutes late, though? If you want to make the best of the next few days?”

Namjoon chuckles. “I don’t want to smoke inside the house.”

“Uh-huh. Speaking of which…” He exhales, suddenly nervous. “I was hoping for some advice.” He clears his throat. “Regarding… relationships.”

Namjoons raises his eyebrows but says nothing else. “M-hm.”

“I have reason to believe,” he begins slowly, “that Lia might want me to ask her to move in with me.”

“Okay.”

Jungkook pauses, searching his leader’s face for a hint. Finding none, he continues. “Well… I want to ask her. But I also don’t want her to feel like I’m asking her just because she wants me to ask her. And I also don’t want to mess it up.”

“How would you mess it up?”

“I don’t know… maybe I’m completely off track and she doesn’t want to move in with me at all? Maybe she thinks it’s too soon?”

Namjoon nods, hearing him out. Then he shakes his head. “Well, personally, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“What isn’t? You think she wants to move in?” Jungkook’s momentarily relief is interrupted by a horrifying thought. “Oh, my God - did she say something to you? Yesterday, at brunch, when I went to the men’s room?”

“Jungkook, you were gone for two minutes.”

He’s about to argue but stops himself. He knows Lia and she is hardly the type to secretly vent her feelings to his friends behind his back, hoping it will get back to him. No, she’s more straightforward than that.

Somewhat satisfied, he takes a different turn. “Okay, let’s get down to it, then. How did you ask Kaya to move in?”

“Well…” Namjoon frowns thoughtfully. “Actually, I didn’t.”

“You… what?” Jungkook squints. “Wait, so… you didn’t ask? You both just knew, telepathically, when to start living together?” he asks incredulously, thinking privately that it could just be believable.

“No,” says Namjoon patiently, chuckling again and flicking some ash off his cigarette. “I didn’t ask because I didn’t have to. Where else is she supposed to live when she comes to Seoul? Where am I supposed to live when I go to see her?”

“Yeah… okay, but… well, would you say you live together?” he presses. “Or do you just, like, crash at each other’s place when you visit?”

“Well, we definitely don’t crash at each other’s place,” he mutters. “Maybe we did right in the beginning? I guess I’d say we live apart, but it’s only because we have to. I don’t know - when she came to Seoul for work last year while I was in service, she stayed at Hannam even though her aunt lives in the city, too.” He shrugs. “If that helps.”

“Huh.” Jungkook considers this. “So, like, do you guys ‘go home’ or do you go back to ‘your place’?”

“Home,” he answers casually, not skipping a beat. “Even her apartment is home. ‘Home’ is what you make it, to a large extent. It’s a place of comfort - an apartment is only part of that,” he says wisely. “I feel more at home in her studio apartment in London with her than at Hannam by myself. The people make the home - and that’s for you to decide.”

Jungkook stares, feeling his cigarette burn away in his hand. “That’s really not the kind of thing I’m looking for, hyung,” he states, before dropping his face in his hand.

Namjoon clicks his tongue and stubs his cigarette on the tray atop the trash can next to him. “Don’t overthink it,” he says, clapping him on the shoulder. “Go about it logically: she’s been your girlfriend for six or seven months now, you bought a new place which is significantly bigger than your old one and she’s in her thirties, meaning she’s most likely thinking long-term.” 

Jungkook gazes at Namjoon’s raised eyebrows, quite certain he’s meant to pick up some meaning out of this. “So…”

“So… if you’re worried she might say no…”

“Chances are… she probably won’t?”

Namjoon grins and nods. “Exactly. Just be yourself, be genuine, be honest - and remember you’re both together for a reason. And I think - I think - she has a thing for you, too,” he adds seriously.

“One can only hope,” he mutters, albeit slightly mollified. “I really don’t want to mess this up.”

Namjoon observes him - for too long. For a moment, it seems as though he’s about to say something that makes Jungkook’s stomach jolt unpleasantly, but at the last second, he shakes his head.

“Impossible to mess it up. Honestly,” he says reassuringly, and Jungkook almost believes him. “It’s a part of the journey and if you think she’s expecting it, just take the plunge. Don’t add unnecessary pressure by trying to make it perfect.”

While the last bit simply isn’t in Jungkook’s DNA, he nods anyway. 

—

“Damn it.” 

Lia doesn’t look up from the email she’s writing, despite Dal’s repeated exclamations from the kitchen. Finally, he sticks his head out around the door.

“Did you know the faucet is leaking?”

“Yes,” she mutters, still not looking away from her screen.

“And did you know it’s dripping out of the sink zone and onto the floor?”

“Yeah?”

“And did you know it’s fucking disgusting?”

Lia sighs and finally turns her head to glance at him. “Yes, I know. I mopped it up this morning.”

Dal steps out, frowning. “So this much water leaked in the last six hours?” When Lia nods, he sighs heavily and trudges into the living room, falling onto the sofa. “I suppose we can text the landlord but I don’t know what good that will do.”

“Probably as much as it did when we told him about the seepage in the bathroom ceiling.”

“Yeah. Didn’t realise the kind of shoulder strength you need to baste upwards.” A moment later, he chuckles. “Helped that there were three of us there, though. Jungkook was really looking for any excuse to be around you back then, wasn’t he?”

Without meaning to, Lia feels a smile creep up her face at the memory. “It was cute,” she says, slightly defensive. “And we really needed the extra hands, especially to clean up.”

“Oh, sure.” There’s a comfortable silence, the only sound being the clicking of Lia’s keyboard. “Speaking of,” he speaks, and his tone is slightly different, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

Lia doesn’t look up, but she’s certain she knows where he’s going with this. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. You haven’t been around much.”

“You think so?”

“M-hm. In fact, I was starting to wonder if you’d moved out or something and I missed the memo.”

“You were still paying only half the rent, though, weren’t you?”

“Lia.”

“‘Sup.”

From the corner of her eye, she sees a movement and ducks out of habit.

“Lee-lee,” he says again, and she finally meets his gaze.

“I know what you’re getting at, and no,” she says dryly, “no updates on that front. I’m still your roommate for the foreseeable future.”

Dal raises his eyebrows. “Okay.”

Lia turns back to her laptop but doesn’t resume her typing. “What?”

“What what?”

“You’re still looking at me.”

“No. I’m just looking in your general direction.”

She gives him a look. “Just say it.”

“I thought you were moving in with Jungkook.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because he told me last time he came over that he wanted you to move in with him.”

Lia scoffs. “No way did he say that. Liar.”

“Fine, he didn’t use those exact words,” he admits, rolling his eyes. “But he just happened to mention that his new place is bigger, that the gym is fantastic, that it has a really good running trail or something…”

“Maybe he was just making conversation?”

“... and how much closer it is to the Hybe office.”

He works at Hybe, too, technically. The words are on the tip of her tongue, but she can’t deflect anymore; Dal will see right through it. She sighs and puts her laptop away.

“What do you want me to say?” she asks steadily. “We aren’t living together. It’s not the end of the world.”

“I’m not saying it is, at all.” He holds up his hands. “Do you want to, though?”

Lia is silent for a moment. “He needs to ask first. But… yeah, I guess. Could be fun. We’ll save on a lot of fuel.”

“Ooh, stop, I’m swooning.”

She flashes him an embarrassed sort of smile. “You know what I mean. We basically do live together already - but this is a big deal for Jungkook. He’s never done the long-term relationship, adult couple milestone thing before. The last thing I want to do is scare him off.”

Dal nods thoughtfully. “Well, hopefully it’ll go better than your last adult couple milestone thing.”

She snorts, covering her face. “Hey, to be fair, I did move in with him,” she points out. “Kind of.”

“You lasted less than a month before you were back here.”

“Yeah. God, he was such a manchild. Can’t believe I was ever attracted to him.”

“I told you he had an asshat kind of face. But you didn’t listen. Didn’t he have a shrine to his ex-girlfriend in the bathroom or something?”

“It was a couple of bottles of her shampoo and lotion, not a shrine,” she corrects him, “but, sort of. He was so blown away when I asked him to get rid of it - like, sue me, I don’t want to live with my boyfriend and sentimental haircare products belonging to his ex. It just goes to show, you never know enough about your partner until you actually share a living space together.”

“You think there’s more to Jungkook? Because I like him for you, honestly. But he seems to be a more…” Dal grimaces, trying to find the word, “... what you see is what you get… kind of person.”

“That’s a good thing,” she remarks. “Means there’s no lying, no games. None of that shit.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Well, it’s good you know what you want. How long are we planning to wait for him to pop the question?”

“We are not waiting for anything. I, on the other hand…” 

It’s a good question, unfortunately, one that Lia has deliberately tried not to think about because there’s simply no correct answer.

“... will take things as they come.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She narrows her eyes at her oldest friend, recognising both teasing masking genuine concern. “I’m not going to pressure Jungkook. And I’m not going to get my hopes up either,” she states, trying to ignore the quiet tugging at her heart and standing up, stretching.

“Hey, just say the word and I will -“ Dal makes a flailing kind of gesture and flexes his triceps, “- whip him into shape.”

“Oh, really? Not only will it probably be evenly matched, but who’s going to help you both carry cartons of beer into each other’s houses if you’re both maimed?” She taps her temple sarcastically.

“Well, you’ll be a resident in one of our houses at any given time so I guess we’ll be looking at you.” Dal shrugs in satisfaction as Lia chuckles and starts heading inside her bedroom, considering a shower before bed.

“Oi, Lia.” 

Lia turns in her doorway, recognising the subtle change in tone once again. It wasn’t surprising that Dal and Jungkook got along easily enough; despite her boyfriend’s initial reservations, most of which were based on Dal’s gender and inopportune timing, he had eventually moved past it to begin actually enjoying his company. Oh, he would never admit it, but Lia had woken up more than once in her own bed, alone, while hearing two male voices laughing in the living room with the television on.

As for Dal, the only thing he had needed to say was “Lee-lee, for once, you’ve found a good boy.”

Therefore, while Lia prefers to handle her relationships herself, she recognises the value of her oldest friend’s opinion.

“I just want to let you know,” he begins seriously, and she feels the muscles in her face go slack. He bites his lip. “I just wanted to let you know,” he repeats, “that if Jungkook has a shrine to his ex in his house, you can always move back in here.”

There’s relief, and Lia doesn’t want to admit there’s relief. “Shut up,” she mutters, turning back around as Dal laughs at his own joke behind her.

It’s not the greatest comfort, but Lia uses it as such after that. Worst case, I move back in with Dal, she thinks. We stay roommates until we’re eighty, when either I die first from stress about work or he does driving his car like a maniac. Jungkook brings a carton of beer to the funeral and shares it with whichever one of us is still alive.

It’s a mildly depressing train of thought, especially when she imagines her eighty year old self heading back to her apartment while seventy-seven year old Jungkook, in his infinite wisdom, still hasn’t asked her to move in with him.

Nearly a week later, Lia has successfully kept her desires to herself, while Jungkook has continued trying to pretend he isn’t thinking about it just as much.

“Remind me again why we’re going to this club?” she asks him as they walk to his car in the basement parking. “It doesn’t really sound like your scene.”

“It isn’t,” he admits. “But the DJ tonight is a friend of a friend… of an acquaintance, who’s also kind of an ex-colleague.” He wrinkles his nose. “I wouldn’t normally go but he helped me out during the production of my debut album and I accidentally told him I owed him.”

“Ah. Mistake number one.”

“It might be. You look quite club-ready for someone who doesn’t really enjoy clubs either,” he remarks, playfully smacking her backside. “Leather pants and everything.”

“Faux leather,” she corrects, leaning over and bumping his hip with hers. “I figured I may as well look the part of a popstar’s girlfriend. Plus,” she adds after a moment, as they climb into the car and begin strapping in, “it’s the only party outfit I have at your place.”

Predictably, Jungkook freezes for a moment before clumsily buckling himself in. He doesn’t meet her eyes and swallows as he looks ahead.

“By the way, I hear the gin martinis at this club are to die for,” he declares, completely transparent. “Did you know, the martini is one of the top five drinks people order on a first date?”

Abrupt subject change coupled with a random fact that doesn’t sound completely true; Jungkook is nervous. It’s exasperating and endearing all at once.

“That’s… interesting. Maybe you should’ve invited your single friends tonight. Or if this DJ is an ex-colleague, at least the ones in your group.”

“What, all two of them?”

“Isn’t it three?”

“I don’t think so.” Jungkook shrugs as they pull out of Hannam Hill. “Or maybe it is. I don’t know. Yoongi hyung isn’t very forthcoming about his dating life and I’m too afraid to ask.”

Lia chortles as they turn into the main road, reaching for her party clutch for her phone, when she realises…

“Oh, no,” she mutters under breath.

“What?”

“I, uh…” She bites her lip, internally swearing at herself. “I was moving stuff from my regular bag to the clutch and I forgot… you know what, can we make a quick detour to my apartment? It’s on the way.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is. If you take a right after the signal then you can take the parallel road to the church at the end of my street.”

“That’s not the same road - and come on,” he whines, his shoulders falling. “I don’t want to take a detour. What did you even forget? Power bank? Because my phone is fully charged.”

“It’s not a power bank - look, it’s kind of important, Jungkook. It’ll take, like, five extra minutes.”

“But -”

“Kook!”

“What? What did you even forget that’s so important? Is it make-up or something? Because you look -”

“It’s tampons, Jungkook.”

“It’s -”

“Tampons,” she repeats. “And I don’t want to stop at a drugstore because they may not have the exact brand that I use and most of the others chafe… down there.”

There’s a few seconds of silence while Jungkook stares out of the windshield as the car zooms down the road, his ears turning red.

“Which signal was it again?”

True to her word, they reach her three-storey apartment building a few minutes later and jog up the stairs together.

“I swear, I just need to pick up a couple of extras,” she promises him. “The last time I was caught without any on me and then I had to borrow one and it was just the worst time I - oh, my God!”

Lia gasps as she stops in her tracks in the doorway of her apartment, Jungkook right next to her. 

“Is that -”

“Water,” she sighs, shaking her head. “Shit, it came into the living room? I thought we fixed that damn leak,” she mutters. She places her hands on her hips and looks up at Jungkook.

“Well?”

Jungkook looks blank. “Well… what?”

“Well… I’m going to have to wade in there,” she says slowly, already dreading it. “Do you want to come?”

“Ordinarily, I would love to because that sounds so fun, but these are Balenciaga.” He raises his right leg to show her his shoes, mimicking her position until Lia looks away.

“Alright. Wait here then,” she tells him, before gingerly placing one heeled foot into the water and cringing in anticipation. It reaches ankle deep, missing the hem of her pants only due to the height of her heels. With no specific attachment to her shoes, she takes a couple of more hesitant steps.

“Ugh, I can hear the faucet dripping from here,” she grumbles. “Sure you want to just wait out there?”

“Totally. You’re doing great, though, baby.” He grimaces as she walks further in. “Is it cold? It looks cold.”

“No, it’s room temperature. I’m just glad it hasn’t reached the sofa or the cushions or anything in the - whoa!” Lia grabs the arm of the chair beside her as she slips, thankfully saving her ankles as her knee breaks the fall.

There’s a sound of splashing before Jungkook is right next to her a second too late. “Shit, you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. No injuries, I think.” She twists to see him kneeling next to her. “What happened to your Balenciagas?”

It seems to have occurred to him only now. “Oh…” He looks down at his shoes, now submerged. “I can try blow drying them, probably?”

“Probably.” She tries to hide a smile before giving up. “Take them off before they get any more damaged, though.”

He takes her advice this time and they both rid themselves of their shoes, tossing them on the chair before splashing their way into the kitchen.

Jungkook whistles. “Wow, that’s some leak,” he remarks, following her as she falls to her knees to get a good look at the thin but steady stream of water spilling from a crack in the pipe. “Is this the only leak?” he wonders out loud before pressing his hand against the crack so the water suddenly stops.

“No, there’s a small one here, too,” she answers, squinting at something on the other side of the pipe, a little higher up. “It’s only a few drops out of this one but it’s still bad enough.”

“Maybe we can -” Jungkook grunts and tugs at the pipe, “- wrench it into place? To block this crack?”

“Doubtful. It’s a really old pipe, too, so I’m afraid it might break.”

“It’s metal - can metal break?”

“I mean… yeah? I guess? Look, it’s all rusted up here.”

“Oh, yeah…”

In his effort to look, Jungkook’s hand slips off the crack and the flow of the water resumes. 

“Okay, this can’t go on - we need to block this for now so we can get rid of this fucking flood,” she decides, noting in worry how the water level is slowly rising. “And I’m calling the landlord tomorrow and giving him a piece of my mind.”

“Um -” Jungkook looks around from his position by the pipe. “We have a towel, some flour and stuff… maybe we stick some dough onto it?”

“Worth a shot but I don’t know if it’ll hold till tomorrow. Maybe we should try moving the pipe,” she admits, holding the top of it and wondering if it’ll work.

“Okay, let’s do that. Worst case, we find a plastic or metal box, cut it in just the right dimensions to cover the crack and fix it around the pipe.”

“Worst case.” 

Jungkook waves her over and they grip the pipe together. “If this goes south, just remember that I love you.”

Despite the chaos and the fact that her faux leather pants are damp and disgusting, Lia snorts. “Shut up, you dork. Come on, let’s do this.” Both of them pull the top part towards the lower one to try and close the gap.

“A little to the left, come on…”

“It’s - not - moving -” Lia bites her lip and jerks the pipe back, accidentally slipping again and falling back onto her boyfriend. The jolt makes Jungkook tip over and the pipe twists on the rust, bursting.

“Oh, my - “ Jungkook’s words are cut off when a jet of water hits him square in the face. Lia gasps and reaches for the pipe as he fumbles, sputtering, and lunges towards the pipe to turn it away.

“Jungkook, no! It’ll break if you -” 

But Lia is cut off as well and almost knocked backwards by the force of the water. It’s everywhere now; her clothes, her hair - she’s fully drenched. Next to her, Jungkook looks like he’s been dunked into a lake, his long thick hair sticking to his forehead.

“Take cover!” he yells, pulling open a cabinet behind him with one hand and yanking something out, while the other hand covers the jet of water uselessly. He replaces it with the lid of a cooking pan and tosses her another one which splashes into the water next to her.

“Thanks! I - Jungkook!” She brandishes the utensil while trying to dodge the water. “It’s a sieve!”

“What?”

“It has holes!”

“I can’t see! Wait -” He crawls towards the cabinet but slips midway, swearing loudly. 

“Careful!” She ducks and tries to get to the pipe but feels him grip her forearm and pull her back.

“You’ll hurt yourself!” he yells, handing her another pan. “Jesus - how did you guys let this stupid faucet get this bad?”

“I told you - our landlord is a jackass who ghosts us if we bring up fixtures!”

“Well -” Jungkook pauses, wincing a little as the water continues to ricochet off the pan he’s holding up. “In that case, this is probably as good a time as any to ask you this, but do you want to move in with me?”

Lia almost swallows a mouthful of tap water. “What?”

“Just - I mean, this apartment is unlivable!” he says loudly. “And I’m a much better landlord! And also -” He gags and spits out some water, “- I love you and all!” He shrugs awkwardly, drenched to the bone with his oversized t-shirt sticking to his shoulders and chest.

Lia tries - she really tries - to keep a straight face, to attempt to understand what goes on in Jungkook’s head. But it’s a lost cause, for at the end of the day, whatever it is, it just works. Through the irritation at her landlord and the general shock of being waterboarded by a broken pipe, she sees it. A shine in his doe eyes, a hint of nervousness. 

She doesn’t realise immediately why the water hits her suddenly with force or why Jungkook’s eyes widen belatedly.

“What are you doing? The water is - oh.” The anticipation turns into the beginnings of a smile when he works out why she has knee walked all the way towards him and he stands on his knees as well, just as she reaches him and places her arms around his neck, and kisses him.

When she pulls away, he’s grinning. “That’s a yes?”

“That’s a thank God you finally asked.” 

Jungkook nods sheepishly. “I wanted it to be perfect, honestly. I was just waiting for the right time and -” He sighs, shaking his head so droplets of water fall from his hair.

“You know what? I think this, unexpected as it was, is pretty perfect,” she says honestly. “So… I guess that’s a yes,” she clarifies, meeting him in a kiss once again.

There’s a muffled sound and then a splash, followed by a gasp.

“Oh, my God! What the fuck?”

Jungkook jerks away, pursing his lips. “As long as he is never allowed in our house,” he declares, glaring and pointing in the direction of the living room.

She gives him a look. “Pretty sure you’ll crack before I do on that front,” she guesses, just as Dal appears in the doorway of the kitchen, looking incredulous.

“What the fuck happened in here?”

“What do you think? That damn faucet,” she snaps, pointing at it. “This is the landlord’s problem now - he and his insurance can handle it.”

“I agree, but - God, are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we were using lids…” Jungkook picks his up and places it in front of the stream of water, much more unfazed about it now than he was before. 

“Lids? Why didn’t you guys just turn off the water?” Taking a long step across the flooded kitchen floor, he reaches for a panel behind the left-most cabinet and twists a lever - and the water stops.

Speechless, Lia turns to look at Jungkook who is looking back at her with equal dismay. “We thought of dough before we thought of turning off the water,” he mutters, shaking his head.

“And we’re taking it to the grave,” she replies, squeezing his hand.

He’s wet, his designer clothes ruined - but Jeon Jungkook is glowing. A moment later, he squeezes her hand back.

“Deal.”

—

Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to leave a review :)

[ovobawrites]

𝐵𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽: 𝐸𝓅𝒾𝓈𝑜𝒹𝑒 𝐸𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 ♡ 𝐹𝒷𝑜𝓎𝓈 𝒜𝓃𝑜𝓃𝓎𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓈

disclaimer: this has already been posted on ao3 and quotev, i'm just reposting this beach episode special as a promo for the fic. after this is all my previous author notes.

this is a fem!reader and also a half chinese!reader insert.

previous ♡ next

It took thirty minutes for you, Ruggie and Silver to convince Malleus that lifting up the villa was not, in fact, a good idea. It didn't help that Leona kept egging him on, smug grin on his face as Ruggie glared at him. Lilia was no help at all, too busy finding amusement in the chaos, while Kalim simply watched everything go down with a bright smile on his face. Too bright. Just what did he want with that boulder?

Jamil kept an eye on Kalim with a wary look, but seemed distracted enough by Azul and Idia's pain. You think you saw him smile when Azul was moved to tears by the crushed sandcastle. You took the opportunity to get closer to Kalim, and tilted your head imploringly when he made eye contact. 

"Hm? There's nothing to worry about (Y/N)!" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I just wanted to see how big this boulder was! Plus, it was sooo cool when Malleus brought it over with his magic!"

He was definitely up to something. "Why do you need a boulder?" You confronted him, straightforward enough to catch him off guard. "Is it for a prank of some sort?"

Kalim paled at that. The last prank that went down in NRC was... something to say the least. Riddle still hasn't uncollared that one brave Heartslabyul boy who participated in it. "No! Never!" He looked around nervously. "How could I after... that incident?!"

"So it isn't something completely foolhardy, then?"

He chuckled at that. "Nope! I just wanted to prepare a surprise for everyone." Kalim's bright smile morphed into a much softer, kinder, real expression. "Everyone's been getting along so well... so I figured I might as well do something to celebrate!"

You could see why. You still were shocked that Riddle hadn't tried to kill Floyd in his sleep yet. Or that Azul hadn't been tossed into the ocean by Jamil. Or that Rook and Leona and Malleus hadn't gotten into a blowout fight-

Okay, so maybe your brother was right when he said that your friends were completely dysfunctional a week back. 

You nodded slowly, implying agreement to Kalim, and resolved to distract everyone else from what he was doing. "Do you want to move it somewhere else for now? So that you can prepare, whatever it is, in secret?"

Kalim brightened up at that. "That'd be perfect, thanks! Maybe we should get Malleus to-"

He popped up next to the two of you immediately, eyes glowing with subtle pride. "Do the two of you require me for a task?"

Kalim nodded excitedly and started to animatedly describe what he wanted Malleus to do for him, complete with rapid motions and hand gestures. Everyone else was too distracted to notice, thankfully. Leona and Ruggie were laughing amongst themselves, sly looks on the pair's faces. Vil, Rook and Cater were still distracted by their photoshoot. And Lilia was carrying a sleeping Silver while trying to help Idia and Azul resolve their differences enough to rebuild their sandcastle. Ortho had moved off to talk to Jade about the meal prep, most likely. And the splashing from the water was definitely Riddle being almost drowned by Floyd. Poor Trey.

"Oh- that's right! (Y/N), wanna come help us out?" Kalim turned to you, Malleus and him pleadingly staring with begging eyes for you to join them.

"Sure." You smiled placidly, mind spinning with thoughts and predictions and-

Malleus placed a hand on your shoulder and Kalim grabbed your hand. "Shall we depart?"

"Yeah, let's start!"

It was. An effort. On your part that is. Usually Kalim and Malleus's excitement wouldn't have had you so off kilter but... You weren't at your best today. That was all. 

"Then we just need to trim this part down here and-" Kalim wiped the sweat off his brow. "We'll be finished for today! This is gonna be so cool!"

You nodded absentmindly, floating with the help of Malleus's magic to chisel down the part he just pointed out. "I think we should cover it in some sort of sealant or resin though." You remarked absentmindedly. "I'm afraid the stone might be too soft and our work will be washed away by the water."

"There is no need for worry," Malleus smiled, "I have all ready casted a spell that should mitigate the effects of any of the natural world."

"It won't be too much of a drain on you?" Kalim fretted, "I don't wanna knock you out! You've already helped so much Malleus and-"

"This is nothing to me, Kalim. Fret not." Malleus said in reply, lowering you to the ground with a wave of his pen.

"Thank you." You nodded at him and brushed the dust off of you. "We must leave now. Before the others get suspicious." You reminded Kalim and Malleus gently. 

"Right!" Kalim hissed at that, "Jamil's probably gonna kill me- oh god."

"Then we better start to hurry." You smiled, and then a thought. "Race you there!"

A laugh and you were off, blind to Kalim and Malleus's shocked and joyful smiles behind you. Laughter bubbling up as they chased you down the shore to the group.

"Catch me if you can Zhìzhi[1]!" A childish laugh and the patter of footsteps down the long hallway. Servants moving to the side, silent as always while the chase ensued.

"You can run, but you can't hide sister!" A burst of speed and a shriek of joy. A warm hug and rough hands messing up your hair.

"Hey- wait that's not fair!" Kalim laughed, bright and cheerful. "You got a headstart!"

"There you are," Jamil raised an eyebrow at Kalim, preparing to scold him if necessary. "what were you doing?"

You sighed. Looks like you were gonna have to take the lead on this one. Neither Malleus nor Kalim could lie very well, and Kalim's nervous laughs were not helping to assuage whatever Jamil's suspicions were. 

"We were just seeing how strong Malleus's magic is!" You remarked in a lilting voice, swaying to and fro with your arms behind your back. "We wanted to see him drop boulders into the water to create some big waves and..."

"We didn't want to risk Riddle drowning if we did it over here!" Kalim chimed in, looking awfully proud of himself.

"Are... are you implying I'm short?" Riddle started slowly, already starting to flush a violent red.

"Hm? No?" Kalim tilted his head. "I just thought, 'cause Jade and Floyd can breathe underwater they'd be fine. And I-" He paused for less than a second, unnoticed by everyone but you. "I wouldn't put it past Floyd to drown you..." He looked away for a second at that, hiding the glimpse of the smile that threatened to spread across his face. Redirection was Kalim's specialty, after all.

"Sea Otter's right~" Floyd threw an arm over Riddle's head, using him as an armrest. "I would totally let Goldfishie sleep with the fishes." 

Jade grinned. "Maybe don't reveal your intentions so early into the game, Floyd." 

The two laughed amongst themselves, turning into straight up howling when Riddle launched himself at Floyd in an effort to pound him into the ground. It did not work, only forcing Trey and Cater to try to temper their Housewarden's mood once more. You turned your head away from the scene, a complex mix of feelings flooding your chest. Muddy browns made from greens, reds and blues made your heart pulse painfully.

You walked away from the scene to instead inspect the sandcastle Idia and Azul made. It was sprawling in magnitude, elaborate with each detail planned to the t. Something about the temporary state it lived in made the structure even more beautiful. Before you knew it, you had unintentionally crouched down to look upon the tiny city the two had made.

"I-it's amazing, isn't it." Idia stuttered for a moment, avoiding eye contact, hair tinged pink. "You know, I based the entire thing off of the map from Star Rogue. It's this old game Ortho and I used to play and-"

Azul interjected Idia's rambling, smirk on his face. "Please, Idia. Would it kill you to stop such long winded rants? Don't you think (Y/N) is more interested in the process of making this, anyways? She is a student of the arts."

"Oh, I don't mind listening to his rambles," you remarked offhandedly. "I enjoy listening to what Idia's passionate about." You moved in closer to the small town, an unbidden smile on your face from the remarkable care put into the piece. "...I think it's rather striking how you made such a beautiful piece, all while aware of the futility of it all. Tomorrow, this sandcastle will be knocked down by winds and the night, yet you built it anyways. It's a wonderful example of how, at the end of the day, the only thing that separates us from animals is our desire to create. To make something so meaningless, simply because you wanted to," You tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, glancing up at the two boys with a warm gaze. "I think it's rather lovely."

"I-it's a s-sand empire actually-y" Idia choked out, hair weaving pink trails of light in the darkening evening. He reached for the hood of his pale blue sleeveless hoodie with shaking hands, fiddling with the strings. A small smile on his face.

Azul blinked, the tips of his ears a deep red. He opened his mouth uselessly, flapping it like a fish before simply walking away with a muffled shriek. The tweels rushing over to him at his embarrassment like sharks to blood.

"Oh- sorry, sand empire." You blinked, a little shocked at their reactions. 

Idia looked away in reply, hair still in that shade of fuchsia. But he still leant down to offer you a hand up. 

You took the proffered hand, slightly bashful from the look Idia was giving you. It was an intense stare, only present when you looked away from him. You think you might be...

No. You can't afford it right now. Or ever.

You still held his hand for the entire walk back.

The group had walked back to the villa for showers, leaving only Jade and Ortho to prepare the food of the night. After last night's fiasco, it was a welcome change. Not even Leona had a negative quip when the two chefs left for the kitchen, though that might have been from Ruggie's stern glare. And so you all parted ways, though you couldn't help but miss Idia's hand in yours.

Even if your isolated dorm had running water and working showers, it couldn't compare to the luxury of these bathrooms. Seems Crowley really splurged on this villa. How kind of him!

But you had heard rumors of him wanting to go on this trip himself, held back by only the mountain of paperwork he needed to complete.

That might explain why Crewel was so ecstatic about the trip. The staff likely held a raffle of some sort, you knew Trein would have killed to be in Crewel's place.

You snickered at that thought, toweling your hair softly and finishing up your nighttime routine. It'd only been an hour since the group had gotten back, but you still wanted to know how Jade and Ortho's cooking was going. You wanted to see the harmony present from Trey's morning cooking. You had no doubt the two would practically dance around the kitchens and- 

You missed Zhìháo, just a little. 

Even when you had turned 10, Zhìháo 14, you had still cooked and baked together. It wasn't as filled with childish chatter like before, your mother had made sure of that. But the silence was comforting nonetheless. Something about simply existing with the one person you'd ever loved in the room was just perfect. It had filled you with blooming pink and yellow flowers, hummingbirds and butterflies buzzing in your stomach to create a warmth that you could only ever attribute to this nebulous feeling of home. You had wanted to stay with him, in your private little sanctuary. Just the two of you, together, until the end of time.

(It didn't last forever, though.

At some point, when you had turned 13 Jiànhóng had joined you both, when he wasn't busy with paperwork and his own retainer duties. He'd lightly bump Zhìháo's shoulder and laugh loudly when there was a smear of flour on his liege's face. Jiànhóng would teach you how to cook french toast[2], the streetfood greasy from oils and the peanut sauce. Yet it had still been the happiest moments in your life. Eating horribly unhealthy food. Just you and your two brothers. The only family you've ever known.

And then-)

You shook the memory from your head, not wanting to dredge in those dreadful days. Instead, you walked down the stairs and went to enter the kitchens. 

Whirring from the ventilation fans and from Ortho's cooling system could be heard from the bottom of the staircase. But the noise was overwhelmed by tense voices, raising in volume, only interrupted by the dinging of egg-timers and the clanging of pans. 

This probably wasn't good.

You slowly walked into the kitchen, making sure your footsteps could be heard as you peeked past the door frame to see Jade and Ortho. The two of them were obviously upset, Ortho making snipping comments at Jade who retorted with cutting remarks. While Ortho's anger was clear from the red flames, Jade's was only belied by his strong grip on the cooking utensils, practically bending pan handles and spatulas. It was almost funny, but the anger had you scared.

Sure, NRC was filled with testosterone and the fury of the students within, but something about seeing your friends truly angry, to the point where they looked ready to snap and hurt those around them-

It had a black snake coiling in your guts.

You had stood there, frozen and pale (unnoticeably so, the jade of your mask containing not even one crack) until you were noticed by Ortho. 

"Oh! (Y/N)!" He brightened up immediately, hair turning back to its usual blue. "What are you doing here? Did you come over to help?"

You smiled placidly. "I'd like to, but I doubt I'd be of any help. But, forgive me if this is too forwards, is something wrong? You and Jade seem rather-"

"Nothing's-" Jade lowered his voice at the slight flinch you had made from the yell. "Nothing is wrong, Ortho and I... simply disagree on a few things."

"It's not my fault you're mathematically inferior to me, the numbers prove it!" Ortho pouted and crossed his arms, "Besides, if you had just listened to me-"

"Maybe you should listen to the experienced chef, hm?" Jade interjected, hand on chest while the other seemed to have tightened its grip on the pan.

"And maybe you should listen to the chef with more knowledge!" Ortho replied snappishly. 

Jade opened his mouth to retort but you cut him off, injecting just the slightest hint of timidity in your voice. "What were you two disagreeing on, exactly?"

"Cooking techniques." The two spoke mulishly in unison, glaring at each other. Ortho jumped at a timer going off and returned to a pan on the stove top right by Jade.

"I see." You didn't. "But how come you two are both so angry?"

"I'd be calmer if there wasn't this tinny, robotic voice in my ear critiquing my every move." Jade spat out in a rare display of true frustration.

You turned to look disapprovingly at Ortho. "Ortho, is this true?"

He shrank back a little, looking put off. "Well- yes but," he gathered up confidence and raised his voice once more. "Jade kept on ignoring my suggestions for meals and told me to just follow his lead! I want a chance to cook something other than Mostro Lounge recipes-"

"Well, you can do that on your own time. Preferably far away from me-"

"Anyways why should I listen to someone who can't even baste properly-"

"Not that you even need to cook for yourself as someone who doesn't even have tastebuds-"

"Well at least I can-"

You sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose. You were going to get a headache from this fighting. "How about... the two of you compromise?"

They both snapped their heads towards you, fierce looks on both of their faces. 

"No way!"

"Absolutely not."

"How could I collaborate with a creep like-"

"This child can't even-"

"Enough." You didn't raise your voice, but there was no need to. The two froze just from your tone alone. "Either compromise or have one work on the main course and the other on appetizers and desserts."

"...I wanna do desserts!"

"I'll gladly work on the main course, then."

Figures neither of them could even force a compromise. NRC boys. No matter. It wasn't your job to teach them how to work together anyways. You walked out of the kitchen and settled on the couch.

"(Y/N), you look... haggard." Vil looked up from his phone, face mask on while he lay down on the couch opposite you.

"Jade and Ortho don't get along well at all." You groaned, "Surprising, no?"

He stared at you flatly. "You thought two people from different dorms would get along?"

You giggled at that. "Well- I had hoped-"

"The first step is to not hope at all. Keep your expectations low." He glanced back at his phone and tapped on the screen for a moment before focusing his attention solely on you. "But that's not all that's bothering you, is it?"

You almost snapped to attention at that, the only thing stopping you being months of training on composure and masks. "Hm? What makes you say that?"

"I'm an actor, remember?" Vil sniffed disapprovingly. "Besides, you have a crease between your brows."

"Oh, I didn't realise," You looked away, off into the distance as you considered what to say, scratching your arm. "It was merely a bad memory, that's all."

Vil's stare pinned you to the couch, a warmth in it similair to the passion of the sun. "Do you want to talk about it? It apparently helps with," He finger quoted, "bad memories."

You didn't know what to say. You couldn't talk about it and even if you wanted to it was-

"You don't have to, you know. Just say no." Vil jolted you from your thoughts. His brows furrowed in slight worry before he smoothed his expression out once more. "It was a suggestion, you don't need to."

You nodded stiltedly. You hadn't realised how affected you were by the thought of that time. Even now it rested in the back of your mind, a viper ready to strike.

"Listen," Vil sighed. "You don't have to tell me what's going on with you- would you rather I talk about something to distract you from," he gestured his hand up and down at your form. "whatever is bothering you?"

"I-" Your voice almost broke and your throat felt thick, tongue heavy. "I'd appreciate that."

Vil stared at you appraisingly for a moment, searching for something you didn't know of. He looked satisfied when he found it and then launched into an elaborate rant featuring the problems with makeup brands, celebrity endorsements and... Neige? Whoever that was. But either way, his soothing voice helped to calm you down, matching your shaky breathing to the rhythm of his speech and-

Eventually you locked those thoughts away. The nails against your arm soon turned into a comforting rub of hand against raw skin. And in that moment, you once more wished for a forever that would never stay.

[1] Zhìzhi here is just a cute nickname (y/n) used when they were younger. very childish but it was theirs? you know. [2] So chinese french toast (that's the name I know it by) is a fried bread sandwich sort of thing? Stuffed with this salty peanut paste sauce and coated in condensed milk. It's absolutely delicious and a comfort food for me! Even though it's really greasy and probably super unhealthy haha...

Mini Theatre Jamil: Wait where's Kalim- Azul: NOOOO THE SANDCASTLE Idia: NOT AGAINNNNNN Jamil: Nevermind, I've got more pressing things to pay attention to Silver, in a pile of sand: Oh, did I fall asleep again?

Idia and (Y/N)'s relationship is essentially: Idia, ranting passionately about some game franchise while (Y/N) is nodding along and either resting against his shoulder or drawing Couple goals lol

and here is the eighth part of the beach ep. if you'd like to read the rest of the fic, you can read it on ao3 here, and on quotev here.

[radiaurapple]

Lucid Dreams of New Orleans: Chapter 9

CHAPTER SUMMARY: IN WHICH Lucifer suffers the consequences of an unexpected oversight.

FIC SUMMARY: Lucifer has always kept his distance from sinners. It's what keeps him (relatively) sane — if he gets too close, he is haunted by visions of the tragic mortal lives that landed them in Hell.

But in his new life at the Hotel, it is more difficult than ever to stay away — and when it comes to light that his daughter's insufferable facilities manager is gravely wounded, it falls to Lucifer to deliver his soul from Death.

In so doing, he falls headfirst into the sins, past lives, and heartbreaks of the one human whose contradictions he is powerless to resist.

[AO3 LINK]

It's Saturday so it's new chapter time, and I'm very excited about this one!! No promo art this time, but I do have a shiny new fic summary 📻🍎

Chapter preview below!

The days pass. On one slow afternoon, Alastor slips out of the hotel for tea with Rosie. He returns as the violet of evening bleeds across the horizon. The bar is deserted — Husker has vacated his post.

There is a low, menacing chuckle behind him. Alastor turns, sighs in fond exasperation, and plucks Niffty from her perch above the doorframe by the back of her dress.

“Alastor’s home!” Niffty screeches.

“Great!” Charlie calls from the next room. “Will you ask him to join us in the dining room, please?”

“Charlie wants you in the dining room,” Niffty says.

“So I hear,” Alastor says. He sets Niffty down and she scampers off — Alastor follows.

The hotel’s residents are gathered at the table, mid-meal; a plate has been set out for him between Charlie and Angel Dust. It is piled high with what he can only hope is spaghetti — he notes with resignation that everyone at the table is ignoring their food, apart from Niffty, who has clambered back up onto her chair and is digging in with reckless abandon.

“Okay!” Charlie claps her hands together. “Now that everyone’s here, I can finally share the good news!”

Angel grips the edge of the table with four hands. “I’m unbanned from the ice cream machine?”

“Absolutely not,” Vaggie says. “After what happened last time, you are never touching that thing again.”

“Neither am I,” Husk mutters.

Angel frowns and slumps back into his chair.

“Actually, the news is a little more exciting than the ice cream machine!” Charlie says. “Emily reached out to me, and Heaven has invited my dad and I to visit Sir Pentious! While we’re there, they want to meet with us about the redemption exercises we do at the hotel.”

Vaggie smiles. “Charlie, that’s amazing!”

“I know!” Charlie says. “Maybe they’re finally taking us seriously.”

The table erupts with chatter — but Alastor is hardly listening. He is looking at Lucifer across the table. He has gone very still, his expression neutral apart from the faintly downturned corners of his mouth — his shoulders are drawn inward, slightly, and Alastor is reminded of the blanket he wrapped around himself when he was crying, in the memory Alastor caught only a glimpse of.

A disquieting emotion churns inside of Alastor. He himself has certain memories he would rather run from.

“It’s interesting that they requested Lucifer’s presence,” he says lightly.

“Yeah, I was a little surprised,” Charlie says. She turns to Lucifer. “Emily seemed convinced that you were the reason for our success, even though I explained that you only joined us after Sir Pentious was already redeemed.”

“Well, if they’re sure they want me there,” Lucifer says, and the thread of tension in his voice only strengthens Alastor’s assessment.

“Hold on. Lucifer — are you sure you can spare the time? I’d be happy to attend in your stead,” Alastor says — and then the gears in his mind come to a screeching halt as he processes what he’s just done. What he’s just volunteered to do. He scrambles for a way to back down and still save face, but comes up empty — when that fails, he searches for an explanation to smooth over his uncharacteristic lapse in self-interest. What dynamic was he meant to have with the King of Hell, again? Ah, yes — antagonism. “Besides, if Heaven asks any pertinent questions about our operations, I’m sure they’d prefer accurate answers, as opposed to whatever meaningless folderol you might see fit to share.”

Not his most convincing barb, but Charlie frowns anyway. Lucifer, however, seems to see through the deception and recognize the olive branch Alastor has extended. His expression is pure, unfiltered gratitude.

“I, uh — yes,” Lucifer says, too quickly. “That’s fine with me. I don’t mind at all. I’ve got lots of — uh — stuff on my plate already. Thanks.” Then he tacks on, as an afterthought: “Asshole.”

So Alastor’s interpretation was correct — and now there’s nothing else to be done but see this through. He widens his smile.

Charlie’s mouth snaps shut and she blinks in surprise. “Okay, then! It’s settled,” she says after a moment of floundering. “A week from today, Alastor and I will go to Heaven.”

Alastor clenches and unclenches his fists beneath the table. “I look forward to it,” he says.

Lucifer lasts scarcely five more minutes at the table before he mutters something about a project he needs to get back to and slinks from the room.

Alastor watches him go. There is a tightness in Alastor’s chest, one that is completely separate from the newfound dread of his imminent trip to Heaven. No — this is somehow related to the sight of Lucifer across the table, frozen in shock — to the barely-concealed tension in his voice.

“I had best be going,” Alastor finds himself saying. “Thank you for the lovely meal.”

He drops his napkin on the table and leaves the room — once he’s out of sight, he dips into the shadows.

So it seems his self-sacrificial episode in the battle with Adam may not, in fact, have been an anomaly — it may have been the beginning of a new and troubling pattern of behavior. Why this surge of protectiveness? Alastor has always been defensive of his allies, but the Devil hardly warrants such behavior.

He reforms and realizes belatedly that he has not gone to the radio tower — he’s standing at Lucifer’s door. He raises his fist to the door, hesitates —

Well. He and Lucifer have only recently settled into a mutually beneficial routine, and it won’t do to disrupt it now. So he knocks.

[AO3 LINK]

[itsallyscorner]

“Move the plans”

Pairing: Florence Pugh x actress!reader (platonic)

Summary: Florence tells you to cancel your plans when she ends up in New York.

Warnings: Nothing really bad. Mentions lactose intolerance? Idk if that’s sensitive to people. Probably some spelling errors.

A/n: Hello darlings! I’m back from my unannounced break. I decided to write a platonic Florence fic because she’s a sweetheart and I loved her as Yelena! Also for those who follow me, don’t worry, I will be working on a sequel to my Tom Holland “Sour” fic!! But for now, please enjoy this fic!😚💕

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

(Loml)

✧───── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *. ☽.* :★. ─────✧

You stood backstage in front of a mirror, looking at your appearance and making sure there were no wrinkles on the dress you wore. Your hairstylist was behind you, fluffing your hair and managing the stray baby hairs on your head. You were currently at NBC Studios in New York City, about to do an interview with the infamous, Jimmy Fallon. Tingles buzzed through your skin as you heard the cheers and music from the stage. Jimmy’s voice can be heard faintly backstage, only adding to your growing excitement.

The sound of heels clicking approached you, it took less than a second for you to feel the warm presence of Florence behind you. The both of you were starring in the upcoming Black Widow movie alongside Scarlett Johansson; after months of working together and spending days hanging out, you and Florence had become very close friends. She was, without a doubt, your favorite person in the world. Since the moment you met her, she had always been the most sweetest and caring person you’ve ever met—and you were proud to say you had her in your corner.

You met Flo’s eyes in the mirror and bright smiles were instantly on your faces. Turning around, you open your arms wide, and wrap them around her. Bear hugs were a must in your friendship with Flo, you both just loved receiving hugs from each other.

“Ahhh! I told you that dress would be perfect for tonight, you look stunning!” She squealed, tightening her arms around you. A day before Jimmy Fallon, you and Flo had been at your place with your stylist, picking out which dress you should wear for the interview. The dress was casual, but the color was so ever vibrant that it made the dress pop.

You pulled out the hug and looked at what she was wearing. Her gorgeous blonde hair was curled into loose locks and her dress was just as vibrant as yours. The pink of her dress and the orange (yellowish?) of yours complimented each other. Which coincidentally enough, was a parallel of your lovely friendship with Florence.

“Me? Flo, you look gorgeous! I’m so obsessed with this look!” You help her twirl, hyping her up as she showed off her outfit. After sneaking in a little mirror selfie and posting it onto Instagram, the two of you were given a five minute warning from one of the crew members. You and Flo were moved to stand behind the curtain, waiting for your cues to walk onto the stage.

While the two of you were getting mic’d up, Florence leaned closer to you.

“Can I be completely honest with you?” She mumbled, her stare remaining on the curtain before her. Your brow raises in curiosity as your head slightly turns to look at her.

“Of course, hun. What’s up?” You ask, your attention on her. She sighs and leans even closer so only you can hear her.

“I feel like I’m about to shit my pants.” She admits, swallowing nervously. Your mouth gapes, “Did you have iced coffee too?”

Flo’s face scrunches up in confusion, “N-no! That was me telling you I was nervous! Did you have iced coffee?” She fully turns to look at you and judging by the look of guilt plastered across your face, you did in fact have iced coffee.

“Maybe?” You answer, though it came out more like a question. Florence rolls her eyes at you.

“(Y/n), how many times do you have to be reminded that you’re lactose intolerant?” She scolded you.

You scoff, holding a hand up at her, “Trust me, I’m reminded every time I sit on a toilet.” You shake your head, trying to refocus the conversation.

“This isn’t about my poor digestive system—why are you nervous?”

She sighs, “I don’t know why I’m so nervous, I’m used to doing interviews and stuff. But I haven’t been on Jimmy Fallon, and there’s an audience out there and I don’t want to mess up or accidentally spoil the movie.”

You place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “You may be British, but you’re not Tom Holland. You won’t spoil anything.” You start. She quickly shoots you a look that screams, “you’re not helping”. You make a gesture physically telling her that you’re getting to the point.

“You’re going to be fine! I mean you did Jimmy Kimmel right? This shouldn’t be that different, it’s the same thing—just different studios, in different states, and different Jimmy’s.” You point out. She nods along as you continue, “Plus, I’m gonna be up there with you. You won’t be alone.”

With the help of your reassurance and witty little comments, Florence felt her anxiousness simmer down. They weren’t completely gone but the fact that you were gonna be up there together made her relax more. Being part of Marvel had its pros and cons. Sure, the movies are spectacular and the actors are outstanding. Though when it comes to doing promo for said movies, it can be quite stressful. It’s a known fact that Marvel and it’s executives can be quite strict when it comes to interviews with anyone involved in the making of their films—their strictness made sense, although for first time MCU members, it took some getting used to.

Florence smiles at you, “Thank you.”

You playfully nudge her shoulder with yours, “Don’t worry about it.” You say with a kind smile.

The wholesome moment was interrupted by one of the stagehands telling you and Florence that the two of you were on in 15 seconds.

“Our guests tonight are making their big MCU debut in the new Black Widow film, please welcome (Y/n) (L/n) and Florence Pugh!”

⚘

“So in the movie, there’s three of you guys—where’s the other one?” Jimmy asked, motioning his hand to the small space between you and Flo.

“She’s at home I believe.” Florence answered, glancing at you. “She’s busy doing stuff, you know—adult things.” She added.

You took the opportunity to make a joke and said, “Yet here we are promoting her movie.” You roll your eyes playfully. The crowd bursts out laughing, along with Jimmy, who smacked his desk.

“You know, we deserve a raise for this.” Flo considers, going along with your joke. She slightly snorts and nudges your arm with her elbow. “We could take Scarlett’s check and just split it in half for ourselves.”

“Problem solved.” You shrugged, high fiving her.

Another round of laughs fill the room as Jimmy says, “So you’re both taking Scarlett’s money?”

Jokingly, you nod in approval, “By the end of this interview? Definitely.”

Dropping the bit, you shake your head with a grin on your face. “I’m kidding! I’m only joking, I wouldn’t do that to her, even if I were forced to.”

Jimmy moves on as a picture of you, Florence, and Scarlett pops up on the screen. The picture had been posted on your Instagram and was taken while the three of you were filming in between takes. You were taking the selfie while Scarlett and Florence were poking their heads out from behind you making funny faces.

“I can’t imagine how exciting it is to be on a Marvel set, and to even work with one of the first ever heroes in the MCU—that must be insane!” Jimmy exclaims, motioning to another picture of the three of you.

“It’s unbelievable. To work alongside Scarlett and to follow this kind of path that she’s paved in the MCU is an honor. She really was like our older sister behind the scenes, because she was always guiding us and taking care of everyone. She’s the best.” Florence responded while you nodded in agreement.

“I watched the movie last night and one of the things I enjoyed the most was the dynamic the three of you had. You guys were like actual siblings.” Jimmy mentioned, motioning between you and Flo.

Florence giggled before squeezing you into a tight hug, “Yeah, she’s my big sister.” You smiled beamingly, patting her cheek before she let go.

“No, really! She’s like my actual younger sister.” You tell the audience, who “awed” at the hug you both shared. “We spent months on this movie and we spent every single day with each other. By the middle of production, we were basically roommates.”

“Roommates?” Jimmy questioned, leaning his elbows on his desk.

“Because I was always at her house.” Florence answered in a ‘duh’ tone. “I’ve actually grown an attachment to (Y/n), she’s like my comfort blanket. So I need to have her with me at all times. If she’s not with me, I just won’t leave the house.”

“Speaking of your attachment to (Y/n), there’s this video of you that you apparently sent her?” Jimmy gestured at you, “And you posted it on your Instagram and now the whole internet is obsessed with it.”

“Yup, that’s the one.” You confirmed.

“I know there’s probably some people who haven’t seen it, so here’s the video.” The video of Florence popped up on the screen and began to play.

(This fic was based on this TikTok😭)

Jimmy looked at you and Florence in amusement, “Can we get some context?”

Florence waved her hand at the screen and said, “As you can all see, I’m very persistent.”

“This wasn’t your first time sending her these kinds of videos?” Jimmy asked. You shook your head, a feign look of annoyance on your face.

“No, she does this all the time.”

“In my defense, I was unexpectedly flying out to New York for a project. I knew I was gonna be in the city for a few days, so I decided to call (Y/n) and make the most of my trip.” Flo defended herself, slightly pouting.

You leaned your head on her shoulder, “To be fair, it was also our first time seeing each other since we wrapped Black Widow, and we really missed each other.”

“(Y/n), did you have to move any plans?” Jimmy turns to you. Florence does the same.

“You know what, you never told me if you had plans or not.” She squints her eyes at you. Your arms crossed while your body slowly sunk into the couch.

You pretend to fix your lipstick, quickly muttering, “I might’ve moved some plans around.”

Florence’s mouth gapes in shock, her entire body freezing. She grips onto your shoulder, “Wait, you actually moved plans for me?”

“I might’ve rescheduled a lunch with someone, but that doesn’t really matter.” You replied, trying to move on from the topic. Jimmy pointed at you, a giant grin on his face, “You actually moved plans for Florence!”

Florence’s mouth was still wide in shock, “I can’t believe you actually moved plans for me—(Y/n)!” She whined.

“I missed seeing you, so of course I had to move them.” You bashfully explained, the corners of your lips turning upwards. Florence pulled you into a hug.

“Gosh, you really do love me!” She exclaimed.

“I really do!” You said, your arms wrapping around her as well.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

🏷 Tags:

*if there’s a line through your url, Tumblr won’t let me tag you :(*

Marvel cast/Avengers x reader tags ↴

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↪︎ @bucksmotel @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @agustdowney @thegirlwiththediary @rqmanoff @sesamepancakes @stardustofreading @alyssathesoftie @ifyouknewhowmiserylovedme @kaitieskidmore1 @6r4cie @bi-lmg07 @pogueslandia

[duuhrayliegh]

my hero - request

request: anon: hi could you write a sebastian x female reader fic where she suffers from anxiety and feels bad because of it but he comforts her and tells her there’s nothing wrong with her and how strong she is even though she has this disorder

pairing: sebastian stan x female!reader

warnings: self-esteem issues, anxiety, toxicity in the fandom, language?

a/n: hey nona! you weren’t super specific on what type of anxiety that you wanted to reader to have, so if this isn’t what you had in mind, lmk and i’ll write you another fic! other than that i hope you like it!

p.s.: my requests and tag lists are open!!

xoxo ray

check out my m.list

You and Seb met at a coffee shop in New York. It was totally cliche and seemed straight out of a storybook. You had somehow managed to spill coffee on that specimen of a man, and he was kind enough to let you pay for his dry cleaning. Your relationship didn’t grow until you ran into him again while you were at a bar with your friends. If he had any say in telling the story of how you met, he spotted you from across the smoky bar and he knew then and there that he had to get to know you. Truthfully, you liked his version, but the real one was just indescribable. It seemed, to you at least, that you were destined to be with this man. Seeing him twice in one week? Come on, that’s possible if you were in the small town you grew up in, but not New York.

You obviously had recognized him as an actor, but really you didn’t care. That’s what drew Sebastian to you in the first place. You treated him as if he was any other guy on the street, he was able to be a normal person around you. Now, two years later, you lounge on the couch of your apartment in LA that you shared with the man you love. He’s still auditioning for any role that catches his eye and you’re supporting him no matter what.

His fans for the most part adored you and your relationship with Sebastian. The fans who didn’t like you were your only issue with this whole affair, but they had nothing to do with Sebastian other than flood his socials with nasty messages about you. You weren’t perfect, that you knew all too well, and you tried to let the comments roll off your shoulders. Most of the time you were successful in your efforts, but other times they clung to your skin like an unwanted disease.

Sebastian was currently promoting his new project Endings, Beginnings. You were so unbelievably proud of Seb, he was doing something that made him happy. In this particular film, he was acting alongside Shailene Woodley, who was just amazing. Seb always came home gushing about the new inside jokes that they had come up with. One of your favorite things that Seb did with you was run lines. You liked having the inside scoop on his new works, but this one was harder for you. It had quite a few sex scenes between Seb’s character Frank and Shailene’s Daphne.

Not that it bothered you. Nope. Didn’t bother you. At all.

...mmm, okay maybe it bugged you a little. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust Sebastian, it was… well you couldn’t really describe what it was. Whatever the case may be, it was putting you deeper and deeper into a funk, one that you were having a hard time coming out of. And Seb’s fans who weren’t in your corner, weren’t really helping you any.

A few nights ago, Seb surprised you with a casual night out in LA. He texted you before he got home and told you that he was going to be taking you out. Did he give you a dress code for the evening? No, he did not (wonderful, thanks so much Seb). You decided to dress in a half business casual, half rail me when we get home outfit. You ended up wearing an adorable bustier top that was embroidered with pretty blue and pink flowers, a pair of destroyed jeans covered your legs. You finished it off with a pair of nude heels, when you looked in the mirror, you thought you looked hot as fuck. It was around seven when Seb picked you up, mouth hanging open, in awe of your outfit.

“Oh my god. You look so beautiful, Y/N.” He opened the passenger door of his car after he hugged you, giving you a small peck on the lips. Sebastian drove you to a restaurant a block off of Thai Town called Home Restaurant.

“Babe, this place is so cute!” You squeezed Sebastian’s upper arm, jumping up and down beside him. “How’d you find this place?” Sebastian shook his head, smiling at you.

“I asked Shai, actually.” He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, and your heart sank a little. Why did it do that? “She said that the paps hardly ever come around here.” He leaned down pressing a kiss to your temple. “I thought that draga mea deserved a quiet night out on the town.” His voice rasped as he spoke in his native tongue, making a shiver race down your spine.

“Well, tell her I said thank you.” You offered him a small smile. He wrapped his arm around your waist, drawing circles on the exposed skin above your jeans. He spoke with the hostess as your mind drifted away. You were pulled out of your thoughts when he guided you to your table. Sebastian sat across from you, staring deeply into your eyes. You brought your hand up to rest your chin on it, staring back at him. “How’s everything been going?” You were genuinely interested in the answer and it made your heart warm watching his face light up.

“It’s been going really well. Everyone we worked with was real nice, it made all the scenes more comfortable.” Seb’s eyebrows rose at the mention of the scenes and you knew which ones he was referring to.

“Oh, right.” You tried not to let your emotions show.

“Yeah, we’re about to start teasing some of them to promote the show.” Seb sighed at the thought of having to use social media, you shook your head at him.

“I’ll help you with it, you dork.” You laughed to hide your discomfort. “Which scene did they approve for the posts?” Sebastian began to speak when he was interrupted by your waitress. After the two of you ordered your food, the waitress returned with your drinks. Sebastian took a large gulp of his before answering your previous question.

“They want me to post the trailer and then the scene between Frank and Daphne at the bar.” You tried to think back to the script, remembering the context. Frank and Daphne were meeting after Daphne had gone out on a date with Jack. Daphne was claiming that she didn’t want to be a wedge in their friendship, then proceeded to make out with Frank. If you were recalling correctly, Frank and Daphne’s first sex scene followed soon after.

“Okay, we can do that. Do you have any behind the scene pictures you wanna post too?” Seb got out his phone, scrolling through his camera roll to see. He had several different photos of him with Jamie and then him with Shailene. He showed you his phone on a picture of Shailene leaned against him on a couch, her arm over his waist. A red filter colored the photo, you had to hand it to him, it was a good one to use. “We can post it whenever we get home, love.” Sebastian locked his phone and shoved it in his pocket, to focus solely on you.

“How has your day been, draga mea?” You bit your lip as you thought about what you’ve been doing. You’ve been working towards your Master’s, so your days have been filled with preparing for your dissertation. On top of that, you’ve become a bit of an influencer on different social media platforms. Really, you believe your popularity came from your relationship with Sebastian. You’ve been giving his fans the content that they’ve always wanted. Not only that, but you’re active with them.

“My day was good today. I had to edit a few papers from my other classmates but other than that I didn’t do much. I did make a few TikTok videos, but really today was a bit of a lounge day for me.” Seb smiled at you, proud of how hard you’ve been working.

“I should be getting a few days off soon, so we can relax together in the apartment, if you aren’t too busy with your classes.” He stretched his arm across the table, palm up waiting for your hand. Seb pulled your hand up to his mouth, placing a sloppy kiss onto the back of it. His eyes settled on you lovingly. To Sebastian, you were the greatest thing that had ever happened to him.

The two of you managed to finish your meal in peace. No fans came up to Sebastian asking for photos, no paparazzi swarms when you left, just a quiet meal for a normal couple in love. After you got home and you were snuggled in your pajamas alongside Sebastian in your comfortable bed, he handed you his phone to read over his post for his Instagram. The paragraph was sappy, about his time working with Drake, the director, and working with the rest of the cast. Seb always was a softy, never was able to hide it, especially in promo posts.

“It looks good to me. Are you going to post it now? Or wait until tomorrow morning?” Seb debated, he probably should wait and do it tomorrow, but he was most likely going to forget to do it. He clicked post, putting his phone on charge and snuggling into you.

“Thank you for always being there for me, Y/N.” He kissed your jawline, nuzzling his face into your neck. “It really means a lot to me, baby. I love you so much.” He wrapped both hands around your waist, pulling you to his front. You smiled wide, momentarily forgetting all of your troubles.

“I love you too, Seb.” You turned your head slightly, pressing a kiss against the corner of his mouth. “Now let’s get some sleep, love.” Little did you know that a single post could ruin all of the progress that you thought you had made.

*********************

You woke the next morning, alone in bed. You could hear pots clanging in the kitchen of your home, bringing a smile to your face. Before you left the safety of your bed, you checked your socials out of habit. You opened Instagram first, seeing an absurd amount of notifications this early in the morning. Your smile dropped as soon as you opened the first post. Comments on Sebastian’s post about Endings, Beginnings and his chemistry with Shailene weren’t entirely out of the ordinary. They were to be expected, they were playing parts in a love triangle. People were ‘shipping’ Shailene with Seb and Jamie, so that wasn’t too crazy.

What hurt you were the comments saying, “living for shailene and sebastian! she’s a much better match for him than y/n.”

“never thought that y/n girl was going to last, glad he’s going w shailene”

“shailene and seb supremacy”

“yes! i’ve always supported seb in everything he’s done, but i rlly questioned him when he got w that y/n girl. what was he thinking?!”

Tears gathered in your eyes as you continued scrolling. You never thought you and Sebastian never fit. You knew that people had issues with your relationship, but you never let it get in your head this bad. You checked your explore page, pictures of you and Sebastian from last night were riddling the page.

Your heart dropped.

There were pictures of the two of you from last night with parts of your body circled. The exposed skin above your waistband, the excess skin on your neck and arms. You don’t know where they got these pictures, but your stomach was steadily sinking with each picture you saw. The door of your room opened, revealing a smiley Sebastian with a plate full of eggs in one hand and a cup of orange juice in the other.

“Good morning, baby.” You quickly shoved your phone away from you, wiping your tears away from your eyes to meet his. His brows furrowed immediately. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” You snuffled quietly, before answering.

“Uh, nothing. I’m just so proud of you.” You smiled at him, not wanting to bring down his already happy mood with your problems. Was that entirely healthy? Probably not, but you were doing it anyway, consequences be damned.

“Oh, well you don’t have to cry for me, Y/N. Even if you’re proud.” He walked up to your side of the bed, placing the cup and plate on your nightstand. He brought his hand up to your cheeks, wiping away your tear streaks. “You know that I only like to see tears whenever it’s me causing you so much pleasure you beg me to stop.” He winked at you, smirking at your rising blush. To say that didn’t lift your spirits for about half a second would be a lie. Sebastian brought the plate to your lap, waiting for you to start eating. At this particular moment, after seeing all those horrible pictures of your body, your appetite had gone out the window, but he was so smiley.

“After you eat, I want ya to shower.” Sebastian’s hand came up to your jaw, cupping it as you used it to chew the eggs. “We’ve got a long day of lounging and enjoying each other's company ahead of us.” Sebastian stood from the bed, throwing a wink at you as he left the room dramatically. You stopped eating soon after he left, the food tasting like ash on your tongue. At some point, you got into the bathroom, staring at the reflection in the mirror.

Your phone was in your hand again. The pictures flooding your Twitter feed. Shaky breaths left your mouth as you watched your reflection tilt its head. Tears began gathering in your eyes as it felt like you weren’t in your own skin anymore. You had worked so hard to be comfortable in your own body.

It’s amazing how just one picture can ruin everything.

You leaned forward on the countertop, hands holding up your weight. You shifted towards the mirror, examining every miniscule detail that your eyes could see. Your lids came down quickly, tears dragging down your cheeks. You squeezed your eyes closed, shaking your head back and forth.

“You are not going to let this get to you.” You took a few deep breaths as you turned on the shower. Not wanting to be around the mirror anymore, you kept your bath short, talking to yourself the whole time. By the time you left the bathroom, it was steamed completely, you couldn’t see your reflection even if you wanted to.

“He loves you.” You had a mantra and you continued to repeat it as you walked into your shared closet. “He loves all of you.” You pulled one of his old t-shirts off a hanger. “Sebastian loves you.” A pair of your underwear and his loose boxers covered your lower half. “Sebastian loves all of you.” You shoved your feet into a pair of fuzzy pink socks, leaving the closet still muttering to yourself. You tucked your phone into your waistband after checking your socials again. You know you shouldn’t have, but there was some part of you that just wouldn’t let you not.

The same shit covered your For You page on TikTok. Videos from the trailer of Seb and Shailene and then videos of you and Seb, comparing the two relationships. “They do fit well together.” You thought to yourself. A part of you wondering why Seb was with you in the first place.

“Did you say something, love?” Sebastian looked at you from the couch. A blanket was strewn over his lower half, his upper body inviting, waiting for you to join him. His smile dropped when he took in your glassy eyes instead of your usual happy expression.

“Oh baby, what’s wrong?” He started towards you, eyes running over your body for any outward injuries. An understanding look crossed his face when he saw your phone clutched in your hand. “Y/N, talk to me, baby.” Sebastian’s hands rested on your shoulders, lightly caressing your biceps. You recoiled from his touch, feeling uncomfortable in your own body.

“Just some stuff that some fans posted.” Seb’s thumb traced just under your eye, wiping away the tears. He held his right hand out for your phone, to understand what you were talking about. His brows furrowed deeply as he scrolled, not fully processing how destructive his fans could be. Sebastian always believed that they were the best fucking people in the world. He knew that they could be mean, but this was something else.

“They don’t know what they’re talking about, Y/N.” Sebastian’s voice was firm. It was almost strong enough to cut through the fog invading your brain, but not quite. You had officially zoned out. Dead to the world. Lost in your own thoughts. No matter how destructive those thoughts may be.

Sebastian noticed that you were already too deep, having experienced this with you many times before. He was aware that you were self-conscious, insecure, however you want to describe it. Your anxiety always got worse when you were stressed. Prepping for your dissertation was definitely a stressful time. Add on top of that, Sebastian was constantly pulling you from your work for various reasons. Had he contributed to this? Scratch that thought, he didn’t have time for that. He needed to bring you back down to Earth, back to him.

“Y/N.” His hands hovered over your hips. “I’m going to touch you for a second.” He directed you to the couch, settling on the coffee table in front of you. His fingers lightly traced circles onto your knees, as he assessed how he should approach this.

“Y/N. Baby?” Sebastian hesitated before bringing his fingers up to your chin, not wanting you to react badly. “I’m right here, Y/N, it’s Sebastian.” His left hand hadn’t left your knee, continuing to trace small patterns into your skin, giving you something to ground yourself with. He watched you blink and swallow harshly, inhaling sharply before opening your mouth.

“Why are you with me?” Your chin trembled with unvoiced sobs. “You deserve the world, Seb. I’m not even--” Your sentence was cut off by a loud whimper causing tears to start streak down. Sebastian wasn’t sure if this was a situation where you wanted him to be involved, so he waited for a sign.

“I’m not even worth a glance from you.” Your hand came up to wipe at your runny nose. “They’re so right. You need to be with someone like Shailene.” A bitter sob racked your body, making your body fold in half. Sebastian caught you before you hurt yourself.

“Y/N. I love you.” He always heard you say that to yourself when you thought he wasn’t listening. He knew that you suffered from anxiety, so he was always watching. Always paying attention to your little cues. The little things that he could use to help you as much as he could. “I love all of you.” He held one of your hands, running his thumb over the back of it.

“I don’t care what they say, baby.” He lifted your face to his, steel blue eyes locking with your cloudy pair. “I picked you.” He pecked your right cheek. “I want you.” A peck to your left. “I want only you.” One to your forehead. “It’s always been you, Y/N.” Another on your chin. “I love all of you, Y/N.” Sebastian landed a final short kiss to your lips, lingering for only a second.

“I want you to understand something, Y/N.” His gaze never left you. “I’m not going anywhere.” His brows raised as he hardened his voice. “I’m especially not going anywhere at the behest of my fans. I love them to death, but they don’t get to decide who I love.” Sebastian shifted to sit next to you on the couch. “Is it okay if I put my arms around you?” All he got was a brief nod in return, which was expected.

“I’m yours, Y/N. As much as you’re mine.” His arms descended around you, wrapping you in a loving embrace. You turned to face him fully, bringing your own arms around his waist, shoving your head into his neck.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with all my shit, Seb.” Sebastian almost missed your comment because you spoke into his shoulder and through loud snuffles. He backed away to look you in the face.

“I signed up for this, Y/N. I’m here for whatever we go through.” He tucked a stray hair behind your ear. “We go through ‘your shit’ together, Y/N. This is a partnership, a two-way street.” He looked at the weak smile on your face, heart warming slightly at the sight. His face turned serious, casting a glance at your phone on the coffee table.

“How long have you been sitting on this?” He knew how quickly your mind could twist things, so he wasn’t sure what to expect. You bit your lip, not meeting his eyes anymore.

“Just since this morning.” He held you away from his body, watching your expression.

“Is this why you were crying earlier?” You gave him a meek nod in response. “Baby, I thought we talked about this. We have to talk to each other when we think we’re going to go into a funk.” The two of you had talked about it before, but you didn’t think this was going to be a funk.

“I should’ve been able to just shake this off because I know you love me and you won’t leave me because of something that some people on the Internet say.” The words left your mouth before you could process everything, your mind quick to defend itself.

“It’s okay, Y/N. You don’t always have to be able to shake something off. We just have to keep each other in the loop.” Sebastian looked over your tear-stained face, pressing a kiss to your forehead again. “Let’s ditch the phones today. Just spend the day in each other’s arms, how’s that sound?” You smiled softly, nodding at the man in front of you. He got up quickly hiding both of your phones in the kitchen somewhere.

This definitely wasn’t a solution to dealing with your anxiety, Sebastian knew that. It also wasn’t dealing with the toxic people on the Internet, but you didn’t need that right now. You needed to be immersed in an environment that accepted what you were going through without judgement, Sebastian could provide that. Seb hummed happily when you snuggled into his side under the covers on your couch while he searched for a movie. He kissed the top of your head and he felt you smile against his stomach.

“I’m proud of you, draga mea.” You turned to face him, a confused expression lacing your features.

“For what, Seb?” He stroked your face with a single finger, mapping out your features.

“I’m proud of how you handle yourself. I’m amazed at how strong you are, even when you think you’re not.” He leaned closer to you, whispering his next words. “You’re my hero.” One corner of your mouth twitched upwards, not wanting to accept it. You rolled your eyes playfully, settling back onto his stomach before speaking.

“I love you, Sebastian.”

“And I love you, Y/N.”

[thebibliosphere]

Hey Joy! A friend of mine is publishing her first novel, and she's said the re-writing/editing is going fine but the self-advertising has been somewhat difficult. Her publisher is having her make social media posts every day to gain interest but she's only got about half of the audience she's supposed to collect so far (70 people total atm). Do you have any advice as far as advertising goes?

Congrats to your friend, I’m glad her edits are going well. Unfortunately, it’s a truth well acknowledged that publishers will try to do as little as possible to help with marketing unless you make big money for them. 

Some of my trad-published friends are expected to do the same level of promo work one would expect from indie publishing, with ridiculous milestones that are hard to achieve if you don’t know how to effectively self-promo or garner a readership. I had a friend get told recently to “just go viral” like yeah, sure okay. It’s almost like something their marketing team should be doing, but whatever. 

Anyway, first of all, what’s her online presence like? Does she have an author website? A newsletter? Active social media accounts that use her author name/brand? If not, she needs to get on those asap and give people a good landing point to find her work and also promote herself. Also worth looking at is how she’s engaging with her social media. I’m going to assume it’s Twitter, cause that seems to be the big one these days, but she’ll want to keep her feed active, and not just posting her own stuff constantly. You need to promote and boost others: it’s a vital way of building community online. And while some publishers take a very dog-eat-dog-world view of social media and numbers, it’s absolutely not the way to succeed. You’re not competing with other authors, you’re working alongside them, and our chances of mutual success are increased when we lift each other up, rather than trying to trample downward.

Another good way is to start interacting with other authors. Facebook groups can be good (I don’t use them, Facebook just triggers my flight or fight reflexes these days, but I know lots of friends who find a lot of support on Facebook) as can Twitter. Some authors will do follow-for-follow because they’re also being put under this “must amass X amount of followers” pressure by their publishers. 

These groups can also be a good way to find out if anyone is doing newsletter swaps, where other authors promo your work, in exchange for you promoting their work to yours. You’ve maybe seen me doing a giveaway a few times with some of my trad-published friends: this was a promo swap. (Or it was supposed to be. I’ve given up holding my breath.)

Another good way could be through fanfic if she writes it. I’m terribly lax at this, but for anyone looking to build up an audience, it’s not a bad idea to leave links to your socials in the note at the end. It gives your readers another place to find you, where they might not have previously thought to look. I know not all publishers like their authors writing fanfic (which is nonsense: it means your author is coming with a pre-built audience), but if there’s nothing in her contract about not doing it *shrug* there’s more than one way to build a readership, and it can start with fic.

I hope some of that helps? I’m really not that great at doing these things myself... I’m lucky that my audience is just here for the sporadic chaos, tbh. I’m sure there are other good points I’m missing in my post-dinner-haze, so if anyone wants to chime in, that’d be grand!

[cttrajan1206]

#arrow sys#Love them#Absolute sweethearts all of em#And suoer fun to sprint with

FIRST OF ALL SOBS /pos

second,,, i know nothing abt twst or obey me but grabby hands at a ramble; i will absolutely listen if you wanted to talk about it :starry:

JSHDJF [WAILS ALOUD] I TOOK SO LONG SO GET BACK TO YOU THAT I FINISHED ONE OF THE WIPS IN THAT TIME LMAO!!

Well!! This is good promo! :> The one that i was typing up is finished now and it's the obey me fic! You can find it here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33644662

Mammon and Movies:

Basically! Someone read another fic of mine that included my self insert flappy stimming and also getting mental breakdown so it asked if i could include a couple other stims in another work since he enjoyed my first one! I. Took that request and made an entire fic dedicated to him lmao. So! I asked it later on for what it would like me to include and which character to use and here we are!

This is a 4K fic of Mammon from Obey Me paired with a Neurodivergent!Reader. The plot is that of him showing you a magic trick and smoothly whipping out a movie ticket!! You've been wanting to ask him to see a movie with you for a while so this is perfect! So perfect in fact that you're overwhelmed with happiness and have a brief moment of being nonverbal as you're overwhelmed with euphoria. Then the next day, you meet him at the venue and the date begins! Other scenes include him allowing you to hold onto his bracelets as it's one of your stims (he wears one of every texture to accomodate to your tastes), you dissociating out of anxiety in a movie theatre and him helping to ground you, and finally! Him sleeping on your shoulder before the movie ends.

Ik i kinda just said the majority of the plot lmao but! Its just a fluffy and sweet movie date! I enjoyed writing it a lot although i got about 80% of it done a month ago and tyn didn't touch it for like 2 weeks sjdbsjd i was p sad abt that. I like finishing things quickly esp when its for other people!! But it was a comfort during a hard time to write this work at 2am under the light of a night lamp and to the tune of street life ambience.

ALSO I FOUND OUT THAT MAMMONS OFFICIAL SONG "ARE YOU READY" LEGIT HAS NO HOURLONG LOOPS AND THAT WAS A HARD HIT TO ME BC LIKE I WANTED TO LISTEN TO IT ON TV BUT IT WASNT HAPPENINGGG TWT WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE ALL THE OTHER OTHER BROTHER'S SONGS INSTEAD LIKE PLSSS

Anyway lmao i'm quite happy with this work, it feels very round and finished to me which makes me happy because it means I didn't need to worry about editing it to feel satisfied. The requester liked it a lot too! Which made me super super happy. :>

Now!! For the twisted wonderland!! That’s a comfort plotline of mine that doesn’t really have a title yet and is still a wip that is written through my friend’s DMs BUT! I will also take the time to promo my twst writing blog! It is dead QvQ On there, you can see a bit more about the self insert in question but for now, i’ll just put the ship name as the title.

https://twst-sumi-squad.tumblr.com/

Kalim Al-Asim X Sumi Bint Khattar (Plot line):

So!! This one stemmed from me drawing something out of self indulgence and to show it to my friend, I described Sumi B in full and then I told them about my ships and around that time I had like five love songs I was obsessed with. And for each of them. I had. A separate animatic. For like at least 1 ship, the average was two but one had three. Sumi B was the centre of the most ships but not the only one. Anyway!! I told my friend about this and asked if I could dump my ideas onto them! They agreed and I started with a summarised version but then realised I needed a bit more build up so I started to write it in a bit more detail. Hah. It ended up being a Lot More Detailed but even then, I would write the scenes in a much more fluid and descriptive way if it were Real Writing so! I call it a Plotline. It is very long.

The plot itself is. long now. it’s a slowburn lmao because most if not all of my self insert ships tend to be slowburns. But this one? This particular self insert? Sumi B? Yeah she’s the only one with trust issues so she mothers the BIGGEST slowburns known to history. It takes them a year before she even considers him a friend despite seeing him every day and also having multiple deep conversations with him. Anyway though, this one is a big comfort becuase it has something I didn’t really dare to do before. Kalim, the canon character, falls in love with my oc first. Normally I have it the other way round becuase I’m too scared to assume that I would be like, deserving or like desirable enough for someone to have a crush on me. But with Sumi B, even I have a goddamn crush on her lmao. I indulge myself a bit with this one and really play around with emotions and!! In the most recent scene! We have finally reached the part where she actually starts to love him back! :D

I started this one a loooong time ago, at least a month and maybe two? It was Intended to be finsiehd in one night and then i got carried away and my friend got invested and then I ALSO got invested and so I started to develop the plot further so make it more interesting and keep the buildup going. It’s very fun and though i try to limit myself to summarising actions and dialogue, i fail. very often. so it often has little tidbits of more beautiful sentences and tension lmao. 

This particular fic is based off of my imagined animatic for the song “Would you be so kind” by Dodie! I didn’t know about the song until i saw other people’s animatics and I ended up taking it and running away haha! I’m currently really happy with it however I am really dreading the day where I actually write it out properly. If I don’t? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll post the plotline by itself. I have another fic just like it, one with a different self insert who (in fact) is very very close with Sumi B and considers her his older sister, that i ALSO wrote in semi detailed plot lines in someone’s DMs. Both are massive comforts to me and though i love them, their plot lines are so goddamn long that i will dread the day i decide to write them all out.

So uhm!!! Yeah!! XDD Those are the two fics I was talking about! I hope you enjoyed my small ramblings about them haha. I’m starting college soon though so I fear I might have much more time for fanfic.

[mediawhorefics]

Ok, I know you probably have this asked of you a lot but one thing that always stays on my mind after each re read of TTS is how H introduces L to his public life. I’ve sat there wondering so many times (especially after reading your extra writings) how, when, where it would play out and whilst imagining scenarios is entertaining I’ve always wanted to know how you picture them first appearing before the world?

oooohhh. that’s a really interesting question. and not one i think i’ve answered before? nor something i’ve thought about particularly.... when i think about them it’s always either before or after their relationship is announced to the world. that transition is not something i’ve clearly envisioned, either as i was writing, or even after when thinking about their shared future. but i can give it a go now! 

as always, these are just my today ramblings and aren’t meant to be official canon thoughts and if i write something here that contradicts something i’ve talked about before in relation to their future then oops. i don’t have all the asks i’ve ever answered about tts memorised hehe. so yeah, very much just a little thinking out loud type of exercise....

so my initial instinct is to think that it would take a while for harry to open up to the world about louis and their relationship. a lot of harry’s inner conflict in tts is this desire to be open about who he is and to have the things that he shares with his fans/the world be authentic but at the same time, he’s also struggling with this undeniable desire for privacy and to no longer be in this aquarium environment, glass walls everywhere, eyes everywhere, etc... so i think it would take him a little while to find the balance between those conflicting ideas within himself. and to decide how he wants to approach a public relationship that is real for the first time. 

i def. think that he would come out, without mentioning his relationship or introducing louis to the world, first. just as a step for himself. i actually think he probably does it right after the fic ends, somewhere in his new album promo cycle. i envision it as maybe he does like... one in-depth interview to promote the album and a few performances and that’s it, yk? something really lowkey. since he’s asked to be able to do this on a smaller scale for his mental health. and yeah, i think he would be as candid as possible in that one interview, talking both about his sexuality and his struggles with substance abuse, but since the relationship with louis is still very fresh, i don’t think he would touch on that yet. 

i do think he would talk about going somewhere isolated (without saying where) and meeting a really important friend whose support was crucial to him figuring out he still wants to be in the industry. so he would mention louis in a roundabout way but without saying anything re: the true nature of their relationship. of course, a lot of the album is filled with love songs so i think that would potentially invite some speculation and assumptions.

somewhere between the whirlwind of his new album and his new tour, they’d meet each other’s family and the relationship would get more and more serious. and harry would officially ‘move in’ the lighthouse when it’s the offseason and he’s not working. 

there’s a part of me that’s like... maybe they don’t tell anybody until like.... years later and they’re married and everything. like... not necessarily a ‘secret relationship’ but a super lowkey one. like.. harry doesn’t post about louis on social media or talk about him in interviews or anything like that. maybe it’s just known and understood that he’s in a committed relationship with someone not in the industry and that’s that. but that’s a bit boring. actually, the best way this would work is if it’s revealed super dramatically at an award show. like maybe louis sits with harry & his team at the grammys and no one knows who he is until harry wins and kisses him in front of everybody before thanking his husband in his speech and everyone is like /????????? SINCE WHEN ???????? and then there is an EXPLOSION of interest re: the b&b and their social media accounts, which louis runs half reluctantly with inputs from h & his sisters. unfortunately for him there ARE pictures of him on the website and IG so everyone pieces it together like little sherlock holmes and they all realise that’s the place harry went to find himself again and he found love there too. 

they’re booked for a solid year after that which louis HATES because he knows it’s just people wanting to meet harry and he doesn’t want his privacy and safety compromised. harry lowkey thinks it’s kind of hilarious because while YES he values his privacy more than anything, he does thrive on chaos. part of me thinks he’d schedule a mini-tour for their busiest season JUST to be a nuisance, but he’d never leave louis to deal with the extra work and the fallout alone. 

if we don’t go the dramatic route, then i’d think it would be super super lowkey. once he’s ready, h starts mentioning his partner in interviews and maybe sometimes louis shows up on harry’s ig and vice versa without it ever being a really big deal or an announcement or anything yk? just them living their lives and sharing what they’re comfortable with when they’re comfortable. 

i don’t know if that’s what you wanted/pictured, but that’s where i’m at today re: tts!hl and their public relationship <3 

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

k i woke up to thirteen unread messages, so let’s just do a fucking blanket text post covering everything so that i can go curl up by the fire with my aus and pussy eating fics in peace, yeah?

spoilers under the cut

hi, yes, hello, i’m still chill and hype

“but diz,” you say into my ask box. “how can you still be hype when kang has clearly demolished everything we’ve worked so hard for?”

because she hasn’t.

“but aren’t you tired of kang doing all this crazy, inconsistent writing? aren’t you sick of her doing everything for the shock value and not being true to the characters?”

sigh.

y’all.

don’t come for my girl like that.

call me delusional if you want, but to me all of this fits perfectly within the same narrative, which has been leading to canon from the day she took the helm. 

i have already done a thousand and one breakdowns as to why carol getting with zeke was caryl-positive, so i’m not gonna go there again, but the leah thing is too.

“but diz--”

shh, i’m still talking. 

picture this: you are a lonely, lonely man who has gone through hell and back, and it took you years to open up to your found family, only for your best friend to explode and the love of your life to go marry a guy who probably worked at medieval times to pay for college, and now you’re all alone in the woods trying to figure out wtf to do with yourself. 

you tell yourself you can keep visiting your niece and her mom now and then, but that kind of sucks bc of the aforementioned best friend exploding, and also you and your niece’s mom had to murder a bunch of small children and that tends to be kind of traumatizing to remember, so it’s not the ideal situation

but at least you still have your girl, even if she is in an indefinite LARP game for the rest of her life. 

but!

then she says, “actually, i can’t come visit you much anymore, what with the whole community, and husband, and child thing,” 

and then you are actually Alone.

and it’s for the first time, because every time before that you at least had your brother, who might have been a piece of shit, but at least he was there. 

so you meet some chick on the road. you’re sad, no longer feel like you have a family (after it took you so long to get one that you actually loved), and you’re more alone than you have ever been, and you meet this chick who is a loner like you, and you’re wary at first. the two of you don’t trust each other, bc you don’t trust easy. but over time you start to build that trust, and she offers you companionship that you are so desperately in need of, and maybe you wouldn’t usually be into it, but given the Literally Everything Else going on, it’s like, why the fuck not? you have N O T H I N G left.

so she gives you an ultimatum--her or what little is left of your family. well, your family is scattered to the wind and being around them only hurts you more, and this person is offering you a chance for something new (and when things get rly bad, hasn’t your go-to move always been to run anyway?) so you say okay. you say you’ll go.

except nvm, she ditched you, lol, you’re all alone again! sucks to suck.

skip ahead, you’re back with your family, and your og girl has dumped the LARPer, and maybe things can be good again, except there’s a bunch of people going full hannibal lecter wearing other people’s faces on their own and murdering everyone, and your og girl is actually insane rn due to years’ worth of unresolved trauma, and you’re suddenly a dad, and you’re being asked to make nice with the guy who literally tortured you, and honestly? it’d be hard enough as is to trust again, but this whole situation is NOT HELPING. 

so by the time the war ends you are tired, and you are hurt, and you are wary, because you keep losing things that matter. and you got back the one person in the world who mattered the most, except she did some super questionable shit, and you’re having a hard time reconciling it, and finally you just Lose It, bc goddamnit, you’ve earned it, mkay? you are entitled to a little blow up. if she gets to literally blow shit up then the least you can do is yell a little, like damn.

but. 

she’s the one person in the world who matters most. a rebound fling over the course of a few months =/= ten years of being soulmates. you’ll forgive her, she’ll forgive you, and the two of you will ride off into the sunset together, almost as if you were suddenly in your own spin-off show. 

what a concept?

/fin/

“alright, but diz--”

OH MY GOD HOW DO YOU STILL HAVE OBJECTIONS?

listen. here is what daryl/leah teaches us:

-daryl is willing and capable of having intimate relationships

-that being said, daryl being in a relationship has been a Big Thing for everyone, regardless of who they ship him with, since s1, so if it was supposed to be The Most Important Relationship Ever to him, the juicy parts would not happen off screen. there’s a reason the sex is only implied. they’re not showing it until it’s the Real Thing

-we now know daryl has had sex in the past ten years, so maybe he’ll actually last more than six seconds when he bones down with carol! very good!

-this also teaches us that hoo buddy, y’all have some mixed morals when it comes to these characters. the “daryl would only be in a relationship if he rly loved them, so how could he possibly love carol still?” thing is like. dude. carol is MARRIED during this, and he doesn’t get to see her much anymore. is he supposed to just walk around jacking it while crying for the rest of his life? the man tried to move on, and the tragic thing is that he got screwed over. i do not think this is out of character at all. i think daryl fell in love with carol, she got married, he was lonely, tried to move on and convince himself he could be happy with this other chick (who might be rly cool, who knows??), and then he got his heart broken again, before it ever really healed to being with. the boy is a giant bleeding heart who is getting stomped on constantly, and y’all better stop yelling at him for trying to feel better or i’ll come for you. this is like carol having rebound sex with zeke. if you want your characters to be realistic then you have to let them do human things, holy shit

this is getting excessive, let’s tie it up.

the main takeaways here are:

-no it’s not out of character

-yes it fits the narrative, kang isn’t just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, it all has a purpose, which is why i’m totes fine with it

-leah might not actually die, which thank god, i thought it was douchey of them to kill off another woman for Man Pain. i’m glad i’ve been wrong about her and connie both

-oh yeah, connie...i have no new feelings on connie

-daryl now has sexual stamina, so we can all update our headcanons now

-“i can’t believe they end the episode on such a sore note! their friendship is almost destroyed, how will it ever recover??” ...how are you surprised? that was...that was literally the description of the episode, my dude. that one didn’t exactly come out of left-field. it’ll be okay, they’re gonna make up. hopefully through a bunch of hyperbolically tragic misadventures. it’ll be a good time, calm down

-there is a FUCKING SPIN-OFF coming, how can you think they won’t reconcile?

-actually it’d be super funny if they were just giving each other the silent treatment throughout the entire thing lmfao

-“have you seen that new caryl show?” “yeah, it’s fucking weird. there’s no dialogue??”

-anyway

-does it help if i said i secretly thought they might fuck the whole time, specifically for the reasons stated above, and i’ve been kinda into it since the promo but didn’t say so bc i didn’t want to get hanged? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-idk y’all, that’s all i got. drink up ig?

i just found out that i’m literally anemic, and y’all are still more exhausting than anything else. it’s okay to just like. enjoy things. i promise.

now if you’ll excuse me, i have aus to dive head-first into. i’m not gonna say a whole bunch else about shit unless it gets rly necessary. i think i will make this blog relentlessly positive out of spite, and will just post fics and shippy gifs. i have a photoshop free trial (thatigottomakeaberniememe), mb i’ll make sappy caryl gifs as practice and bombard you all with them. feel free to come by for cheering up, but i’m not gonna repeat myself six thousand times, either

stay hype, STAN KANG, and get daryl to call carol sweetheart 2k21,

-diz

[oldsmobile-hotdogs]

Questions for crossover jatp ghosts crossover fic: I hope Julian and the sunset curve boys talk about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Yugoslav wars that happened when they were alive + Bill Cilnton. I wonder what pat and the band would talk about considering that they would of been kids when pat died? Do you think Julie would think of Les Mis and Hamilton cos Thomas and Kitty are from about the same time period as those musicals? I hope Julie calls Fanny Mary poppins.

Anon, or "Mimi", or "Lulu", or, heck, maybe even "Carl Birtles": Update: Not Carl Birtles. Carl Birtles sent me an ask and is cool, actually.

Stop. Right now. I'd say stop while you're ahead, but you are so far away from ahead at this point it's laughable.

For everyone confused, this is that "commenter from AO3" I joked about making a 2017-esque story time video about.

A couple days ago I uploaded the first chapter of a Julie and the Phantoms/BBC Ghosts crossover fic.

You know what? I’m gonna promo it here bc it’s my callout post and I can shill if I want to: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30681704/chapters/76661471

It was generally very well received and I've had a blast interacting with readers.

Except for this.

Honestly, there's so much to get into, so I’m putting it under a cut:

This was their first correspondence (email notif bc I deleted the comment, the deletion to be explained later):

(Funnily enough, the links very much do not work on AO3, making the comment only more jarring)

I gave you *so much* benefit of the doubt when I saw this comment, and assumed that maybe you're an ESL user, just very enthusiastic to share ideas, and I pretty much said so in my reply, but know that at that point I'd already had friends- who fucking know about this, don't you dare think you're getting me alone- tell me that you were being very demanding.

Below was my reply (another email notif):

I'm gonna be honest, I think I responded really well to what I was given, and now that I'd replied, I was pretty certain the situation was dealt with. You, evidently, didn't agree, as shown by your reply to my reply:

A word of advice: when replying to someone, at least pretend like you read what they wrote.

At this point I'm left wondering two things:

What do they expect from me, if a general reply is not it?

How much more shit do they have waiting to tell me to put in my- reminder, JATP/BBC Ghosts crossover, rated T, comedic- fic?

In order to avoid finding out either, I freeze the thread on AO3. I'm liveblogging all of this on Discord.

It's then that I notice that the username on AO3 isn't clickable, so even if I wanted to block or report them I couldn't. I assume, therefore, that they've deactivated, and since them seeing their comments gone and getting angry was the only thing stopping me deleting the comments, I delete the comments.

It's also at this point I see "Mimi" never left kudos. I guess I don't deserve praise until I mention "Bill Cilnton".

There's relative calm for a short amount of time, until I get another comment:

This one is much kinder than the others and doesn't mention any specific, weird, historical events, so the extent to which I think this is "Mimi" is debatable, but bestie I'm weirded out enough that anything that even uses the enter bar unnecessarily and misses out conjunctive words like "because" and "and" is going to activate fight or flight. Update: Carl Birtles is not Mimi or Lulu. Carl was just being genuinely kind and I misinterpreted it and that's on me.

However, "Carl"'s case is not helped by the fact I can't click his account either, that AO3 offers me the ability to report it as spam, and that guess who replies to "Carl"'s comment: Update: Carl, having done nothing wrong as he has, is therefore also a victim in the situation that is being replied to by Lulu. It would seem Lulu is trying to correct??? some of Carl's commentary.

You must think I didn't get a 7 on my English Literature GCSE because you seem to underestimate my ability to compare two texts.

So clearly this is "Mimi", who has also just replied to "Carl". "Lulu" is also deactivated, and I've fallen off the end of my tether, let alone reached it, at this point so I mark it as spam. "Carl" gets to stay bc he said the idea for the crossover was good. Update: Carl also gets to continue to stay because I have it on good faith that he's a stand-up dude.

So at this point you've readily admitted through your inability to shake up your writing style to using at least one sockpuppet to convince me to talk about the "Yugoslav wars".

If "Carl Birtles" is the real(-est) of them, and "Mimi" and "Lulu" are the sockpuppets, by the way, I have questions and ideas about what you do on your free evenings and I want them neither confirmed nor answered. Update: This is slanderous and I want to apologise wholeheartedly to Carl for making assumptions about him and judging his character. Once again, he is not Mimi or Lulu. He's just a normal, cool guy.

And now you come to me, on the day of my daughter's wedding on a different platform, leave me an anon ask in the exact same format as you're so fond of, and expect any different ??

Well, yeah, then I guess I'll give you special treatment this time.

Here's exactly why I will never include anything you have told me to include:

Julian and the Phantoms discussing the Berlin Wall would be highly inappropriate for the largely fluffy, cracky tone of my fanfiction, especially given how recently the event occurred, how many Eastern Germans still experience prejudice to this day because they were born within the old borders of the DDR, and because of how nuanced this, essentially proxy war, was and how ill-informed a huge amount of the world is on the actual factors in play during this time and the Cold War in general.

Julian and the Phantoms will not discuss Yugoslavia dissolving, nor the fallout and conflict that resulted, because it was genocidal. There is nowhere I can fit Julian, pantsted, casually asking Luke “hey do you remember when the Herzegovinas were killed en masse by the Serbs?” Not gonna happen.

They won’t discuss Bill Clinton because all of them know who the current world leaders are: they don’t have amnesia, they’re ghosts. The fic is also rated T, so it would be inappropriate to make any explicit reference to “sexual relations”. None of them play saxophone.

Julie wouldn’t think of Les Mis or Hamilton because Thomas is Regency, not French Revolution, and Kitty is Georgian, not Colonial.

Julie won’t be calling Fanny Mary Poppins because she is perpetually stuck in a white dress, doesn’t wear a hat, doesn’t own an umbrella or a purse and was not the nanny or housekeeper of Button House.

The ghosts will not discuss the marvels of modern transportation or how long it would’ve taken to cross the Atlantic on dinghy because the ghosts have seen Friends. The house irl is on a flight path. They know airplanes exist. Alison and Mike pulled up in a car.

I will probably have the phantoms and Willie talk to Pat and Julian about being from the ‘80s and ‘90s. That I will actually probably do.

The Captain will not mention FD Roosevelt because, again, they all know who the current world leaders are, and I doubt he expects a ‘90s pop punk band to have any insider knowledge on the man.

It was interesting to think of the phantoms’ grandparents having been alive during WW2. I wasn’t lying. But there is nearly nothing I can do with this information.

But above all: both sets of ghosts have already adapted to modern life. Because the shows are shorter, and meant to actually be able to fit jokes in them.

If you want to see any of this, write your own damn fic. I don’t own the concept of a JATP/BBC Ghosts crossover.

What you will not do, “consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel”-nim, is hound me on multiple accounts and then change platform to hound me again. I’m absolutely not having it.

I have never received an interaction quite like this before, and I cannot help but wonder if this is because this is my first work in the Ghosts/HH/Them There/Six Idiots/Yonderland/Bill fandom: that this is where you primarily camp out.

So it’s at this point I ask the Them There/Six Idiots fandom if they have/if they know anyone who has had a run-in with this person or thinks they may have, or if anyone perhaps even knows who this is? Maybe I’m just one of many. Maybe this is a necessary fandom evil I was unaware of.

This experience has left me royally freaked out, as one might imagine, especially since my anxiety in general has been acting up due to it being exam season. I want to thank everyone who’s read my rambles on Discord and on here and even listened to them irl and offered support from the bottom of my heart.

I’ve enabled comment moderation on the fic. I will continue to write it, and I will put exactly what I, and only what I, want in it.

Believe it or not, I wanted to do literally anything else today.

Anon: Fucking Leave Me Alone.

Update: Just reiterating: Carl is not Mimi or Lulu. Carl is a cool dude and I want to sincerely apologise for having brought him into this mess, passing judgment on his character, and making him feel like he should stop practicing English online.

[ryuichirou]

Don’t u think that actually a lot of Artists ruin Eren’s character in fan arts, making him way too much feminine? Maybe I’m exaggerated — cause I’m really obsessed with him, and I love him a whole lot — but when I see him being portrayed as a really feminine boy and being treated as a pretty princess it makes me burst with rage😞, cause it really is a disservice to his character to me...😞😞😞

Also, I love your blog so much. Thank u for making your amazing arts and feeding us with your gorgeous and absolutely IC Eren😭👌🏽👌🏽 Spread the word, Eren is one hell of a TOP😤👌🏽👌🏽 

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

Thanks a lot, Anon!! I’m happy you enjoy our content and especially our Eren! <3

I agree with you on Eren being misinterpreted a lot. We can talk for hours about how off the fandom’s portrayal of Levi is, but Eren is the most misinterpreted character in the fandom, I think. You can still dig around and find some examples of Levi being not as dominant as he’s usually portrayed, but when it comes to Eren… hoo boy. You’re absolutely right, this is exactly how he’s often portrayed: a pretty princess, a precious baby boy for his lover to care for (be it Levi or Mikasa or whoever else). When in reality Eren hates this type of treatment (we’ve seen his reaction to Mikasa lots of times). He doesn’t want to be babied around, he wants to be treated as an equal. He’d see himself as a burden if treated like this in canon, and he addressed it.

Here’s my post about top!Eren once again for those who missed it, just in case.

Eren also has 0 concerns over his own body: he’s quite dismissive of it, to the point where he’d chomp the meat off of his own hand while trying to bite himself into a titan. Isayama also mentioned that Eren just stopped cutting his hair at some point because he didn’t even think about it; this is why it’s gotten so long. So yeah, I don’t see him dressing up or trying to look pretty either – he’s clean (if he’s not in his hobo mood lol) but that’s about it. His face is very pretty, can’t argue with that, but Eren feels like a type of person who wouldn’t even know about it + he looks “like a villain” (© Armin in ch31) anyway, so…

You know, I don’t mind emotional pretty princess-like characters. I don’t mind whiny characters either, in fact, I love them. And I don’t hate characters who want to be taken care of and babied, but this just isn’t Eren. Eren that I know looks and acts like this:

Of course, there is more top!Eren content now that people see how he acts when he’s 19, but I said it before and I’ll say it again: he’s always been like this. Nothing changed about how Eren acts. Circumstances changed, and now Eren is more broken and yet chadier than ever, but the core is the same: it’s animalistic, it’s determined and it does whatever it believes is right. It hates being considered weak, it hates being weaker than Mikasa, it hates depending on Levi and Mikasa to save him and it hates being not free and powerless.

He used to be extremely emotional and anger-driven, and he’s still empathetic, but that doesn’t make him a crybaby who whines when the smallest obstacle arises. This fucker fought with bullies twice his size when he was little. So I just can’t see him as someone who is even remotely soft and gentle and princess-like.

I don’t mind if you like this portrayal of Eren, it’s none of my business after all, and you can enjoy whatever you enjoy, I just find it frustrating that this is the majority of Eren-centric content that exists in the Western part of the fandom. It feels like people don’t actually care about Eren and his character and have to rewrite everything about him to change him into something else, something that is so alien to him that at a certain point it just stops being Eren. Might as well write an OMC fic or something… This is an option too, you know.

So yeah, I know what you’re talking about, Anon. I wish we had more Eren content that isn’t about him being bridal carried, pampered and scared shitless of Levi all the time.

 PS. And what I absolutely adore is the fact that Eren is often ooc in the official promo material too. Like?? WHY ARE YOU SO HAPPY? ARE YOU OK MY BOY??

This smile creeps me out, I hate and love it at the same time.

[defyingthestars]

a wee drabble

just the tiniest bit of New Year’s fic that I had going through my head this morning. a very sweet and healthy New Year to us all. 

Froy/Richard, very PG and very short

Auld Lang Syne

“Are you gonna do a New Year’s post?” Froy asks around 11pm. He nudges the stack of their two phones, on the coffee table next to the remotes, with his socked foot. The stretch feels good, so he raises his arms too and stretches his whole body from toes to fingertips, using it as an excuse to fall over onto Richard.

“That's quite a move to put on me at this stage in the game,” Richard says, adjusting himself on the sofa so he can be a better lounge for Froy to slump over onto. 

“Yeah, is it working on you?” Froy says, looking up at him from his shoulder, batting his eyelashes when Richard turns his head to look at him. Richard squints one eye.

“Well somethin’ you did worked, as I’m currently sat here with you in bloody Dallas instead of freezing drunk outside somewhere for Hogmanay,” Richard replies.

Froy hums. “Mmmmm yeah I like having you here better. Where I can keep you out of trouble.”

“You are trouble, love,” Richard grins and twists his neck awkwardly to kiss him. He pauses for a moment and clears his throat. “And why? Are you makin’ one?”

Froy closes his eyes and lets Richard kiss him some more while he ponders it. “I’m not sure. I have been thinking about it, though,” Froy says, between kisses. Richard stops, nods his head, bites a tiny nip at Froy’s bottom lip.

“Yeah...I dunno. I thought about it, too, but...” Richard says, softly kissing him again.

“Me too,” Froy breathes out against his lips. “I don’t know what to say. I can’t exactly say everything I would want to, so…”

Richard nods. “Exactly. Like I roll it ‘round in my head and it just sounds like, this year was shite but I met the love of my life… I cannae—”

“Awwwww,” Froy interrupts him. “You’re so fucking sappy,” he says, crunches from his abs and sits up a little more so he can kiss Richard from a better angle. Richard moves his arms up around his waist to hold him.

“Ye made me all sappy!” Richard says on a breath. “I can’t write some shite on instagram, what, here’s to a better 2021, thinkin’ o’ marryin’ this bloke I met on Raya...” 

“Oh, no, we have to come up with a better story, first of all. Get your publicist on that...we’re not doing a Raya promo,” Froy giggles, chewing on his lip a bit. “I mean, we always could...just say it,” he says with a shrug.

“I know. We always could. But we only get the one. Once it’s out…” Richard says, smoothing a hand down Froy’s shoulder. 

Froy sighs, rests his head on Richard’s chest. “Can’t put it back in, I know.”

“But we could,” Richard says, again with a soft shrug. 

Froy looks at Richard’s face carefully, at his slightly wild stubble, his untamed, expressive eyebrows—the feature of his boyfriend’s face that had a way of telling Froy things about him in the days and weeks before Froy picked away at his hard, crackly shell, and got him to speak them out loud. 

“We could,” Froy repeats him, his eyelashes heavy again. He reaches his toes out to the coffee table again and kicks his phone closer to him, then sits up a bit to grab it. He flips it open and lays back down in Richard’s lap, feels Richard’s arms cradling his head and shoulders. He opens the camera and takes about five selfies of the two of them, just as they are. 

He doesn’t realize until he sees the picture that he has some tomato sauce on his shirt from dinner. His hair is a mess and he’s also unshaven, and his eyes still a little puffy from watching Soul a few hours ago. He holds it up to show Richard, and they both snort.

“We’re not quite camera-ready,” Richard says, his lap jostling a bit with his laughter.

“I guess that means we’re not ready,” Froy says, as if that’s what decides it. It’s not...he knows it’s not, and he knows, in his heart, that one day they will both wake up and know: today is the day.

Richard reaches for the phone so he can lean over Froy and toss it back down, on top of his own.

Froy settles back too, feels Richard’s hands brush his hair back from his face, feels his thumb trace the curve of his lower lip. Richard breathes in, breathes out underneath him. “Maybe next year.”

[purple-cat-demon]

  Her Big Bad Wolf

Pairing Gavin x Hazel (pre-marriage but in an established relationship)

Genre: 18+ smut

Word count: 3,007

Warnings: unprotected sex

This is actually the second fic I wrote right after His Tiny Dancer.

*I suck at titling*

This post is very long and I apologize...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hazel was diligently typing away at her computer. The latest proposal was coming together quite nicely so she decided to take a quick break and rest her eyes. As she stretched her arms, Kiki ran over to her desk excitedly.

“Boss! You got an invite to a photo shoot!”

Hazel turned to her subordinate while sporting a confused look.

“Huh?”

“Yeah! This company saw our Group Fairytale Wedding shoot and they want you and Gavin to participate in their upcoming magazine spread.”

Hazel pondered over the invite for a bit. Tossing the idea back and forth; she finally responded.

"Well, what’s the theme?”

“It didn’t really mention the theme but it did have an email and phone number to contact them. Let me pull up the email.”

Kiki commandeered Hazel’s computer and pulled up the invite in question. Hazel looked it over herself but still remained skeptical.

“I don’t know… and I don’t even know if Gavin would be up for it.”

Just then, Minor piped up.

“Boss, you know he would if you just ask.��

Hazel jumped at Minor’s sudden appearance.

“Minor! Don’t scare me like that!”

Minor just grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry, Boss”

Hazel let out an exasperated sigh at her subordinate.

“I’ll just give this company a call later.”

Later that day, back at her place, Hazel stared at the phone number she typed in. She hesitated a bit before pressing the dial option. After a couple of rings, a male voice answered.

“This is Twisted Dreams Photography, how may I help you?”

“Hello, is this Jacob Cordova?”

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“This is Hazel May from Anaheim Electronics Company. I’m calling in regards to the photoshoot invite.”

“Ah yes! Thank you so much for calling back. I saw your promo shoot and was floored at your chemistry with the groom you were with. Compared to everyone else, you two stood out the most to me. Do you think you can both participate?”

“Well, I’m not sure. I would like to know more about this photoshoot, if you don’t mind sparing some details.”

“Of course. I apologize for not including that in the email. Okay, the theme for the shoot is Twisted Romantic Fairytale. I was hoping that would be our Red Riding Hood and your friend would be the Big Bad Wolf. Nothing explicit or too risqué and you’ll be able to take the outfits home after the shoot. The article itself will be featured in the popular magazine CosPLA and of course, you two will get copies of it before it even hits the shelves. So what do you think? Will you accept?”

“That sounds delightful, but let me talk it over with my friend and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. How soon do you need to know?”

“Can you respond in the next few days?”

“Yes”

“Awesome. Oh, and I’ll need measurements from both of you as well. Your outfits will be tailored to you both. I look forward to hearing from you, Miss May. Have a nice day.”

“Thank you and you too.”

Hazel ended the phone call while sinking back into her couch.

‘Will Gavin even be available? Crap, I didn’t get the date for the shoot’

She proceeded to text Director Cordova.

-I forgot to ask when the photoshoot takes place-

Five minutes passed and Director Cordova responded.

-July 29th-

Hazel paled at the date, Gavin’s birthday. She really hesitated before responding.

-Okay, thank you-

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. 

‘That’s Gavin’s birthday. Is he really gonna want to do something like this on his birthday???’

She let out a frustrated huff as she scrolled through her phone contacts, finally landing on Gavin’s name. Hazel paused for a bit, then pressed ‘dial.’ Gavin didn’t pick up and it went to voicemail. Though not even two minutes later her phone rang, Gavin’s name was on the screen; she quickly answered.

“Hey Hazel, are you okay?” His question laced with concern.

“Yes, yes. I just had a proposition but I don’t know if you’re up for it.”

“What is it?”

“Well, remember that shoot we did a while back?”

“Yeah”

“Well, another agency saw it, particularly us, and wanted to know if we were interested in being a part of their photoshoot.”

There was silence on the other end, then he responded.

“Hmm.”

Hazel went on.

“The theme is Twisted Romantic Fairytale and you and I would be dressed as the Big Bad Wolf and Red Riding Hood.”

Again, silence, and little longer than the first pause.

“Uh, Gavin? Did I lose you?”

“No, no. I’m still here”

“What do you think? Would you be interested?”

“Hmm, when is it?”

Hazel gave a small squeak.

“Yeah, that’s the issue I have… It’s on your birthday.”

“Oh?”

Hazel got nervous over his answer so she tried to back pedal out of the awkward conversation.

“If you’re not interested, that’s totally fine. I can call up the director and —-“

“I’ll do it”

Hazel blinked and questioned if she heard right.

“Huh?”

“I said, ‘I’ll do it’”

“A-are you sure?”

“Yeah. I had fun at the wedding shoot, this might be fun too.”

“But… your birthday…”

“Look, as long as I’m with you, it doesn’t really matter what we do for my birthday.”

Hazel gave in to her boyfriend.

“If you’re sure then.”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Then I’ll confirm it with the director. I’ll also need your measurements too, when you get a chance. Talk to you later”

“Sure thing, bye”

After she got off the phone with Gavin, Hazel then texted Director Cordova with the official confirmation.

July 29th: Day of the photoshoot.

Gavin was leaning up against Sparky while he waited for Hazel to come out of her apartment building. A few minutes later, she came bounding out, excited to see her boyfriend.

“Hey Birthday Boy!”

She handed him a small gift box.

“What’s this?”

“Open it and find out, silly”

Gavin went ahead and opened the small box and held up the necklace that was inside. It was a simple black leather cord, done up cinch style. The crescent shaped pendant was made of obsidian with a silver outline. Hazel beamed at the birthday boy.

“I saw it and thought that you would like it”

At this point, Gavin hadn’t said anything yet, which made Hazel anxious.

“I-I figured it wasn’t too flashy, a-and it can long or a choker and—-“

A chuckle interrupted her rambling,

“I love it”

She put the necklace on him and admired how it looked against his white shirt.

“You want it to hang down or be a choker?”

“Hang down, please”

Gavin caught her hand and kissed it, causing her to blush a tomato red.

“Thank you, my love”

Hazel flustered but manage to croak out,

“A-anyway, we should get going or we’ll be late!”

Hazel guided Gavin to the facility with some time to spare. As they headed in, they heard commands being barked out. A tall, lanky man clad in blue jeans and a black t-shirt, Jacob Cordova was busy setting up.

“Hey! I need some lighting over here, please!”

A studio helper came by with some fake foliage.

“Sir, where do you want this?”

The director looked up from his tablet and then looked around.

“Uh… Oh! Over here would be good, thank you”

He eventually spied Hazel and Gavin walking on to the set, he lit up immediately.

“Welcome! I’m glad you two were able to make it. I really appreciate it!”

“Pleasure to be here,” Hazel said while extending out her hand. They shook hands, and then the Director instructed them to go to the makeup area and get ready.

Gavin was greeted by a young makeup artist. She was dressed in blue denim capris with a black Muse tank top. Her hair was short, spiked and streaked purple, which brought out her blueish grey color eyes.

“Hello, I’m Trish. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Gavin said as they shook hands. Trish went behind the changing curtain and got his outfit for him: black, ripped jeans, dark blue, ripped t-shirt and black combat boots. She then got a good look at his eyes.

“Oh! Your eye color is perfect! You won’t even need the contacts,” she said, marveling at Gavin’s unique eyes. However, Gavin felt a bit awkward at the friendly scrutiny.

“That’s great…?”

“Oh Yes! The contacts are a real pain to wear. Okay, go get changed. Oh and we’ll keep your jacket as part of the ensemble. I’ll be back to do your makeup”

Meanwhile, in the room next door, Hazel was greeted by a makeup artist from Australia. She was clad in black denim shorts with a blue, baby doll, Vocaloid shirt. Her jet black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, her green eyes glimmering as she adjusted her glasses when Hazel stepped in.

“G’Day. My name is Nancy. How are you today?” 

“I’m good, maybe a little nervous,” Hazel answered as they shook hands.

“All right then, let’s get your outfit,” Nancy said with a nod. She ducked behind the curtain and came back with the Red Riding Hood costume. It was a different twist on the whole look: red and black plaid dress that stopped just above the knees, a black corset with red lacing, black fishnets, and black wedge heels. The red hood part was about four inches longer than the actual dress and it tied in the front, the sleeves flared out and stopped at the wrists. Hazel was a little apprehensive about the length of the dress but went along with it anyway.

Gavin waited outside in the hall for Hazel. A few minutes passed and she emerged from the changing room. He uttered a barely audible “wow” as she smoothed out her dress. He could feel a slight blush creep up his face as he looked at her. Hazel finally looked up at Gavin and it was then her turn to blush. 

“You look amazing!”

She spied the necklace she gave him earlier around his neck. Gavin blushed even more; he then cleared his throat.

*ahem* “Shall we go,” he asked, holding his arm out to her. Hazel giggled a bit and then grabbed his arm. She noticed all the makeup details on him as they walked over to the set. The first thing she pointed out was that his actual ears were expertly hidden.

“How did they cover your ears?”

“Uh, with some extensions, they’re annoying though.”

She then saw the fangs the more he spoke.

“Oh! You have fangs too!”

Her gaze dropped down to his hands, then marveling at the claws on them. Gavin felt his face get warmer as she examined his hands more closely.

“They did a wonderful job on you,” she said as she reached out to touch the wolf ears on his head. 

Director Cordova hailed them down when he saw them reach the set.

“You two look wonderful! Okay, come with me and we’ll get started.”

The director led them to a small forest scene where they did various generic poses. He seemed pretty satisfied with the shots but he wanted to ramp things up a bit. 

“Okay, for this next shot, could either of you do something unexpected or surprising?”

The two photo subjects looked at each other, unsure on how to respond to this request. Hazel then had an idea. In a bold fit of spontaneity, she grabbed Gavin’s shirt and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. Wide eyed with shock but not making any kind of move to stop, Gavin just stood there as the clicking of the camera shutter rapidly went off. Hazel broke the kiss off to breathe and immediately flushed a bright red over the realization of her action. Gavin’s blush nearly matched hers as he looked away. They both turned toward the excited clapping coming from the director.

“That was perfectly executed! Hey, listen, you two take a break and be back here in about an hour and a half and we’ll finish the last few shots. How’s that sound?”

Somewhat bewildered, the photo subjects both responded with an “okay.” There was an awkward silence between the two as the director and crew walked away. Hazel decided to break the silence.

“I’m really sorry if that was way too bold of me,” she apologized while fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

“It was definitely unexpected,” Gavin’s voice lowered, “though not unwanted.”

Hazel blushed a beet red once again, and then noticed the somewhat weird placement of his jacket. She went to take the jacket off his hands but he denied her that action. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to hold that?”

It was now Gavin’s turn to blush the beet red.

“Uh no, no. That’s gonna stay right where it’s at.”

Hazel gave her man a curious look and then caught on to the meaning behind his refusal. Her eyes went wide with shock.

“Y-you’re…?”

“Yeah, that bold little kiss caused it, thank you very much…” he responded, feigning indignance.

She blinked and looked around, then gestured to lower his head.

“Should we, you know, take care of that?”

He scoffed at the idea.

“Where exactly?”

He gave her a skeptical look but soon saw the gears turning in her eyes; she most definitely had a plan.

“I’ve been to this facility quite a few times so I know there’s a couple of storage rooms down that way,” she pointed towards a hallway. 

“And they’re usually unlocked, follow me.”

They made their way down the corridor, thankfully no one was around. Hazel tried the first door; much to her dismay, it was locked. They moved on to the next door which wasn’t locked. After successfully ducking into the room, Hazel promptly locked the door behind them.

Hazel turned and pounced on Gavin, causing him to stumble backwards into a wall. A flurry of fervent kisses ensued as Gavin turned to pin Hazel against the wall. Since time was dwindling fast, they hastily disrobed their lower halves. He then hoisted her to wrap her legs around him. Hazel snaked her arms around his neck to further close the gap between them. Warm breaths intermingled in the anticipation for what was about to transpire. His hard length slipped in smoothly causing Hazel to bite her lip, stifling a moan that threatened to escape. The fear of potentially getting caught made Gavin’s thrusts quick and intense; he had to bite his own lip to keep quiet as well. The clenching of her walls around his length was a sure sign that she was close. As both of their coils snapped, they locked lips to swallow each other’s moans. Heavy panting still prevailed as they came down from their sexual high. Gavin buried his face into the crook of her neck, trying to steady himself as he pulled out of her. Her legs were like jelly as she tried standing on her own. She looked around the room for something to clean themselves with and found some brand new packages of paper towels. She handed a paper towel to Gavin who was gathering up his pants and shoes. 

“Well, that happened,” she said, giggling.

His hands came up to cup her face and kiss her.

“Happy Birthday to me,” he said into the kiss. They both gazed at each other lovingly, the afterglow still present in their faces.

“There are bathrooms down the hall, let’s get cleaned up better there,” she instructed.

“Right.”

They cleaned up and headed back to the makeup rooms to refresh their looks. Not much had to be done with Gavin’s look but Hazel had some issues. Nancy took one look and was a little worried for Miss Riding Hood. 

“Whoa, is it blazing hot outside,” she inquired, noting Hazel’s messed up eye makeup.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Hazel responded sheepishly.

Ten minutes later, both Gavin and Hazel headed back to the set where Director Cordova was waiting for them. 

“All right, let’s get this last shot and then do some reviewing of the photos.”

The final shutter click signified the end of the photoshoot. The three of them sat in front of the director’s computer and started to pick and choose the best shots for the article. 

“Awesome picks! Here, give me a minute,” the director reached for a thumb drive  and transferred all the photos taken that day.

“Here, for you two, and I’ll be sending a copy to each of you before it officially releases.”

Hazel’s eyes lit up with delight.

“That’s great! Thank you so much!”

“Thanks to you two, this’ll be an awesome spread.”

As Hazel and Gavin walked out to where Sparky was parked, Hazel nudged his arm to get his attention. He turned to her and leaned in to hear her whisper.

“I think we need a repeat performance but this time, “ she paused, “we can be as loud as we want.”

The tips of his ears flushed a bright red but the smile never left his face.

Two weeks later, they each received a copy of the magazine. Hazel headed over to Gavin’s place to look the article over together. They marveled at how well the article was written and put together. They were also surprised that some candid, ‘behind-the-scene’ photos were included as well.

“This came out really well, huh?”

“Yeah, I like this shot especially,” he said while pointing to one of the candid shots where she was smiling brightly at him. Hazel blushed a bit before responding.

“That’s a good one, but I like this shot a lot,” she was pointing to the ‘unexpected shot’ with Gavin’s shocked expression. He cleared his throat.

“You would like that one,” he chuckled as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

“I love you, my Little Red Riding Hood.”

Hazel leaned in close, nabbing his chin in the process.

“And I love you, my Big *kiss* Bad *kiss* Wolf.”

[luxshine]

So, besides finishing that damn meta (am on act three of Salvation! I see the light!) I think I need to a) maybe write that fic of the bureaucratic clusterfuck that leaves Dean unable to die, and b) finish my wips. However, I am unsure which one to finish first.

So in a blatalant self promo (And I will be honest, a nice way to have all my SPN wips linked in one post while I prepare the ACTUAL fic masterlist post) I decided to ask you guys for your opinion, which one would you like to see me finish FIRST. 

(I will finish ALL of them, one day. I just... need to organize myself. you guys know I do a comic, right? And panels, and stuff. But I do want to finish my fics. I mean, I can’t do worse than the actual series, can I?) So far all are Gen, BUT with hints of Destiel here and there because I ship it.

So, the fics:

Secret Weapon, Secret Family

Michael did something very stupid when Dean was six months old, and now he is definitely not on board with the apocalypse as he only wants to see his son safe. A long fic (16 chapters so far) where Dean was feed grace as a baby so now he’s sort of a Nephelim and Michael’s son. Oh, and Raphael’s a doting uncle, and the demons are really pissed that some rogue angel is messing the plans to free Lucifer. (Nice!Michael, Nice!John, and in a timestamp, Mary hits both with a pan. Sam is a bit of a jerk in some chapters, but he gets better, I swear)

Communication Breakdown

Set after season 5, Sam finds himself out of hell but now Dean is missing. Afraid that Raphael wants to jumpstart the apocalypse, Sam and Cas have to find Dean, and, once they find him, figure out why he doesn’t remember them, and more importantly, why he can only speak in enochian. 6 episodes so far. 

Wayward Son

Raphael is appalled at how John is not really taking care of Dean right after the fire that killed Mary, as the Righteous Man can’t go to hell when he’s the Righteous Toddler. And after a little misunderstanding and the sudden appearance of pagan god Loki, They find themselves as the sole caretakers of one Dean Winchester. What can go wrong? (Sort of silly fic, where a genderfluid Raphael ends up as Dean’s mom. So yeah, Nice!Raphael. Kid!Dean. Undercover!Gabriel that is not sure what the hell is going on in Heaven. 4 episodes so far, includes Raphael making pancakes and getting addicted to telenovelas. Warning, Sam may end up not being THAT good in this fic)

Dude Looks like a Lady

During Scarecrow, in season 1, a pagan god curses Dean when he’s alone and turns him into a woman. Problem is, everyone around him seems to think he was always a woman, and thus, no one believes him when he says he’s cursed. (Ok, so this is only one episode so far, but it’s an experiment where I wanted to see how much I could keep Dean, DEAN, and make eveyone else react to him as if he had been raised as the Older Sister who has to take care of Sam, especially when John seems quite old fashioned. Check it out and lemme know if it should continue!)

[isitandwonder]

Hi. Did you, at some point, believe in Charmie and A&T relationship? Because you have written so superb fics bout them (dont mentioning looot of sex between them in those fics 😊 ). And now it looks like you are quite disgusted by charmie fandom and also by Armie too.. So when did you change your mind (if there of course was any changing of mind)?

Hi nonnie!

I think I talked about this before but anyway...

Yes, at some point at the end of 2017/beginning of 2018 when the promo was in full swing, I did believe there was/had been something happening between these two.

What started to change my mind though was in February 2018 when they returned to Crema and Liz was there and said they made Ford there (I remember we discussed her being at almost every awards red carpet and promo event before, as some kind of no homo device)... I was so confused. This couldn’t be right! T & A had been hanging out all by themselves during the filming, they’d been the only two English speaking people in town (lol, sorry, but Crema is not a small Sicilian village in the 1950s, I’ve been there), they’d bonded deeply... they told us all about  that!

I’m still grateful to the person pointing out that Liz and Harper had been there most of the filming... then gradually more and more ‘came to light’: that Will had been there before filming, that Tim had hung out with some locals (even a kind of gf was mentioned), stuff like that. That started to burst my bubble.

I confess, I had a shit day accepting that it had all been a fantasy because at that point they seemed so cute and right together. They sold that pretty well and I’m not mad at them - it was me who got in too deep, they just promoted their film. And wasn’t it easy to see all these bluring lines and believe in them?

Anyway, once you see the ‘cracks’ you start to question and see more. Things like Armie cancelling the Asia promo tour; saying he ‘sucked dick on film’, reducing cmbyn to THAT.

So I accepted it had been just a fantasy, but still shipped them as in ‘I like to imagine them together though I know it’s not real’. That’s were most of my fics come from, because these stories are pure fiction; I made it all up.

I think then came TIFF and those IG stories - they were clearly taking the piss at shippers, but in a kind way, saying ‘we know what’s going on and don’t mind’. What secret couple posts such stories, I ask you? So I felt validated in my shipping because they were okay with it.

When did I fall out of love with Armie though? I think it started right after the Oscars with above mentioned incidents. He was never my type anyway, I’m all here for the twinks :). He really only does things for me in the contrast he provides to Tim. 

But then I learned more and more about him. His weird family. The way he was okay with how Liz pimped out their kids on her IG (because, come on, if a father doesn’t want that he can make it stop. Now it looks like he used Liz to sell the image of the perfect American family). His fights and ramblings on social media.

I still truly think there was a window for him that he could have used to stear his life and career in a different direction. I still believe cmbyn was a huge formative experience for him. For a while, something changed. Maybe it was all PR bla bla, but maybe not. He dared to accept a stage role after it. He made STBY, which I haven’t seen but people say he was very good in. But then he fell back into old patterns.

I became indifferent to Armie. But then he went to Saudi Arabia. And that was it. I can’t support someone who does what he did. Oliver would at least be whipped there, if not executed; Armie is a gay icon after portraying that beloved character. That’s a responsibility. All he had to do was not go to SA. I don’t expect big political statements - but why did he go there for a government event? Sorry, that was the final nail to the coffin.

But, you know, I still could ignore him. I followed Tim who is goofy and kind and weirdly smart and a great actor. I confess, I speculated about his sexuality (always traveling with male friends, no gf, taking his mum or sister to awards) - but then the Lily thing started - and I was happy for him. Someone his age, who knows about life in the limelight, with whom he could share his life.

And that’s when shit hit the fan. You know, I don’t know either Armie or Tim and what they do has no real influence on my life. But I knew a lot of people on here. I’d been with cmabn since 2017; I’ve written some well liked stories. But suddenly many people I used to have fun with, I thought were my friends, for which I wrote stories - they totally freaked out and behaved abysmal. They sent hate to Tim, to fellow fans. They bullied people really badly on here. Many deleted stories or blogs. And the worst was - these mutuals of mine thought that funny. They were proud of their shitty behavior. They started to scream at anyone doubting Tim was gay and in love with Armie. I got death threats for pointing out that maybe T&A played their friendship up a bit during cmbyn promo.

And almsot no one stopped these people destroying what had been a fun small fandom. Almost no one said to these people ‘Calm down, stop it’. Instead, these people, who used to be my mutuals, congratulated themselves on how efficiently they harrassed Tim on IG and fellow fans on here. I remember a person who told me to my face they loved me first ridiculing Tim and in the end sending vile hate to me.

That’s why I can’t support Charmie any longer. Because of these scumbags of fans. Hating on Tim is one thing, he has people working for him, sadly, these things happen to anyone in the industry. But hating on fellow fans just because some don’t follow a certain narrative BNFs made up? That, to me, is unforgivable.

Therefore, I now delight in how their King Armie is exposed as just another straight white man, cheating on his wife (and maybe doing worse). He debased himself going to SA, and I really don’t know how people who profess to love cmbyn and it’s message can still support him after that. Then he showed his privileged white ass during quarantine. And now those Biden tweets.

Seriously?

I know many on here just ignore these things. I can’t do that. I can’t forget what he did. I can’t support someone like that, who has no principles, either privately or politically (and maybe even sexually assaulted a woman).

And what really did it for me is that Armie can do all these despicable things and people still love and defend him him (a grown man and father of 33) - while Tim just has some gfs, or buys bagels, or carries his guitar - and people ridicule and hate and cancel him for it.

He did nothing wrong despite not living up to the narrative some very rude people who don’t know him wrote for him! But suddenly he’s the whipping boy for them. Because he’s into girls (like Armie, btw).

I just can’t with that. I can’t with the hate spread on here. I can’t with the motives showing behind this narrative, the sexism, the homophobia, the misogyny, the racism... I have to laugh when I read the eulogies some write here about the deep, true, pure, everlasting love between A&T that will win in the end (sorry, I’m not 13 anymore, and neither are the people who write this); I also can’t with the ideas of fucking someone so hard for real they can’t walk anymore (fic is different from reality, you know). It is either pathetic, embarrassing, or truly disturbing.

And I really, really hate these people breaking the fourth wall. You NEVER tweet to the actors about your conspiracy theories! You never harrass them on SM! You never insult their friends, business partners, SOs. And you don’t, never, ever bully some small local businesses during an economic crisis because they dared to burst your bubble.

If you support Charmie - you support this behavior. I don’t. And as being quiet has only led to the assholes taking over - I now try a different strategy. If people don’t like it they can unfollow.

Sorry, these last few days have shown just how unhinged some Charmies are. I know some had planned actions against Tim at The King red carpet in London (and thankfully didn’t realize them). I really don’t put it past some of them to now truly become violent against Tim at some event, in the name of the greater good of Charmie. They are completely bonkers.

I’ve seen threats against me and others in different forums as well. People want to make us pay for what we did (like, what did we do?). People call for their followers to take action against us. I have no idea what they will or can do, as I’ve lost so much within this fandom already (fics, followers, friends) but as they are truly mental I expect the worst. It’s not that I’m afraid but it’s still a weird feeling to see people talk about you like this... because you don’t like an actor. Or don’t think he’s gay...

Yeah, so, that was surely more than you bargained for.