#my boss was like ‘yeah you see all the details and are meticulous about making sure things make sense and actually work and always want to k

[hopecomesbacktolife]

after many talks with my boss I’ve come to realize something about myself

while I may have the personality of Harry Kim, I have the work ethic, approach to problem solving, eye for detail and functionality, and frustrations at inefficiency in coworkers of Seven of Nine

[moretheta]

i get the feeling there are a lot of people here who haven't read / don't remember the detailed account of the kurta massacre from kurapika's backstory in chapter zero.

Transcript: Several years prior to the 287th Hunter Exam, the Phantom Troupe approached the Kurta Clan for their valuable Scarlet Eyes and massacred all 128 villagers. It's reported that family members were made to face one another and stabbed multiple times, with their heads severed while they were still alive. Pure clan members had their eyes gouged out, while those who married into the clan had their eyes squashed and sustained more brutal wounds than the others. The adult males had the most wounds, but it's assumed that these were sustained during a struggle before they were captured. Those who were not related by blood to the clan were said to be mutilated in order to set an example. After this, the heads of those with Scarlet Eyes were all severed successively. Since the scarlet color is caused by anger and makes the eyes more valuable, it's reported that the Troupe members mutilated the children in front of their parents in order to intensify the scarlet color. Lastly, a message was left behind that read: "We'll accept anything you leave here, but don't ever take anything away from us."

This chapter is the foundation of various theories involving Sheila, the Phantom Troupe, Meteor City & The Bum Incident, the Kurta DC connection, etc. that get circulated but IMO are still not widely understood. But I'm not here to try and prove the PT didn't really do it, or that they were manipulated by Sheila or transmasc Pariston or Tserriednich or whoever- or that the Kurta secretly deserved it (ew. stop with that). I just think it's necessary to understand the immense weight of the Phantom Troupe's crimes before we can talk about any form of redemption. I personally find the troupe to be an interesting and sympathetic group of characters (some more than others... I love you forever Paku), but that doesn't mean i can outright say they were innocent or redeemable.

And I think if you are looking to prove the dots aren't lining up, it's better to point out how the brutality & mechanics of the killings mimics that of Sarasa's (see chapter 395), and what that says about the original members willingness to partake in them- rather than relying on the "but they seem nice!" defense. Because again, even if someone like Tserriednich paid them off or manipulated them or whatever- those were very intentional killings. that was a very meticulous fucking massacre. (So yeah, it's understandable why Kurapika was so fucking pissed when Uvogin said he didn't remember the Kurta at all, when he presumably spent hours torturing kids in front of their parents so that the boss could get the prettiest eyeballs possible.)

and i'm really truly not here to dunk on anyone who likes the bad guys etc (i once more profess my love for Pakunoda), it's just important to get the full scope of things. if you're going to support Spider Rights, you might as well know about Spider Wrongs.

[motions1ckness]

hi 🙂 can you do roman roy x asexual fem reader where reader has a crush on roman (shaky hands blushy cheeks when he is close) and gardener in logan's house, so one day roman is walking in garden and hears her talking on the phone with her friend about how she doesnt want to have sex with anyone, and will never have children etc. And realizes she is just like him. Aaaand He starts talking to her...

ofc and i hope you enjoy!

content: ace!reader, f!reader, pining, fluff, mention of sex

Your mornings started with a 20-minute commute to manage Logan Roy’s garden. What the fuck does he know about flowers? To your surprise, a lot. Marica hired you as a gift for Logan. She told you his mother used to bring discounted bouquets home when he was a kid, so no pressure.

Today went on like the others, showing up at nine, and doing your job, except for the part where his kids stopped by. Fuck.

His youngest, Roman always caught your eye. Usually, you would be there for a few hours and be gone by noon, but now Roman was here. You tried prolonging your stay, now glad you began wearing summer dresses to combat the warmth.

Frankly, you've never spoken to any of Logan’s kids. They'd sometimes call out to you, or Roman would comment on Logan, “only hiring hot people.”

Before heading out, you phoned your roommate, who teases you because you casually walk into a billionaire's home every day.

They picked up within two rings “Hey, what’s up are you almost off yet? Or does the old man want you to be human furniture?” They say with a sarcastic tone. You laugh but also don't put it past the family.

“I’m about to go, it's just, you know his son? Roman, the one I keep telling you about?” You were slightly pacing, turning to peer inside, but it’s not like you could look in if you want to. Logan made it impossible for anyone to peek in.

The call caused Logan to notice you chatting and not working. He sent Roman to check on you, which caused him to feel Logan was punishing him by sending him outside. With a soft exhale, mixed with a groan, Roman headed towards the terrace.

“Oh? Should I break out candles? Pre-order a new mattress?” The other line egged on. You rolled your eyes at the comment, completely forgetting you were at work. The terrace was rather big. It wrapped around half the suite. Making Roman’s entrance undetected.

“Yeah, sure. But for real, It’s not like a sex thing. You know I’m not into that,” you slightly clear your throat, embarrassed by the thought someone would hear you from inside. Unbeknownst to you, Roman was listening to the conversation. When he heard you talking about sex, he panicked and moved toward the wall so you couldn’t see him. He thought it would be worse if you found out someone heard you. “It’s already bad enough it’s my boss's son.” That caught Roman’s attention, apart from him fearing you were talking about Kendall, but he couldn’t stop listening. Like a book he couldn’t put down.

“I think that makes it more fun. You know, sneaking around. But without the sex. Anyway, what was he wearing? I need more details than just his name and what the press says. C’mon, tell me who is the Roman Roy.” You liked how engaged your friend was, fearing opening up about your crush would end in humiliation.

“I don’t know what he’s wearing, I can’t see through the glass. But uh, I don’t know ‘the real Roman Roy'. I don’t interact with any of them. They’re all scary as shit, but I think it's time to head out. It’s fucking scalding.” Followed by exchanging goodbyes and looking up when the next train was going out.

Roman knew that conversation was about him, which made him nervous talking to you. It wasn't the first time you piqued his interest, how your wardrobe changed according to the weather, and how meticulous you get about the garden's appearance. You fascinated him. He also felt relief hearing you didn't want to sleep with him. Intimacy was his grey area, and he loved not feeling pressure to do it.

Roman waited a few seconds before emerging and speaking up, “Uh, my dad um, just wanted to know what you were doing out here,” Oh my god. He undoubtedly heard you. You wanted to curl up and die or resign out of embarrassment. Maybe he JUST got here, let's hope.

You turned to face him, feeling your face flush, “Oh, just heading out, looking when the next train is going out,” You put on a smile, hoping it makes you seem coy. It didn’t. Even if he didn’t overhear you, your face was beet red and your hands were slightly shaking.

“Well, I was about to head out, maybe, I can give you a ride? Or get a drink somewhere?” You could've sworn your face turned scarlet. Holy Shit. You stood in awe for a second, unable to fathom the words he spat out. “Um, y/n? Are you having a heat stroke or something?” He shields his eyes, feeling the heat against his skin, “He is a piece of shit for making you work out here, wow.”

You finally grasped what he said, “Y-yeah it’s actual hell out here, but going out sounds fun yeah.” You tried your best to sound easygoing after facing the worst embarrassment you've ever endured.

“Cool, uh, my driver is downstairs already,” he said in a merciful tone, gesturing for you to exit first.

The car ride was mostly silent. A few questions got thrown out asking about your job to ease the drive. The bar was incredibly upscale, feeling out of place arriving in your work clothes. Roman did his best to make you feel comfortable, he paid for the tab, and reserved a quiet area; he was trying to impress you. He asked about your life while you tried your best to pry about his.

“C’mon, tell me about something not so surface,” you paw at him, the two of you facing each other. You scanned his face as he took a sip of his drink, patiently waiting for his response.

He set the drink down, slightly smiling to himself because of the comeback he came up with, “So you could know ‘the real Roman Roy?’"

[artzychic27]

Miraculous meets the SVU

Season 20 cast, Olivia Benson, Fin Tutuola, Amanda Rollins, Sonny Carisi, and Peter Stone

A series of cyber bullying is going on in New York toward teenagers, mainly girls, and causes quite a few to commit suicide when their secrets are revealed to the public, making them special victims. After a round of questioning the bullies of the victims, they hit a dead end.

But then, the IP address of the online harasser is traced all the way to Paris. The team take a flight to investigate and find themselves at Francoise DuPont

They’re not too fond of the principal, especially when they see the way he handles a dispute between a regular student and one who’s apparently a sports captain. (You can tell whose side he takes) Fin and Amanda question Damocles until it looks like he’s about to pass out and gives them permission to access the computer being used to send the messages

On their way to the computer lab, they run into Zoé, whom they recognize after they questioned her about the assault of one of her classmates. Olivia asks Zoé if there’s been any bullying going on at school, and Zoé leaves 0 out

Zoé: Oh! Where to begin? First there’s this jackass, Louis. He constantly calls my friend’s artwork trash whenever he can and acts like he’s Leonardo DaVince, my half-sister acting like the queen of England just because her dad’s the mayor, and of course, Lila Rossi. I haven’t been here long enough, but let me tell you, based on what my friends told me, she is a nightmare. Oh, and I can’t forget Madame Bustier. She lets the rich and privileged students do as they please, be bullies, and forces their victims to apologize. Kind of like Damocles, but he’s more of a coward and doesn’t try to hide his bias with kind words and shit.

Olivia/Fin/Amanda/Sonny/Peter: …

Fin: … Who or what the hell is Shadow Moth?

Zoé would have gone more into detail, but she had to get to class, so now, the SVU has more suspects to question. When they check the computer, it seems whoever was doing the cyber bullying knew how to cover their tracks, because they can’t find anything on it. That, or Damocles was fucking with them and trying to protect a rich kid

Before they could figure out what more to do, Olivia got a call that another New York teenager committed suicide. And it wasn’t any ordinary teenager, this was the governor’s nephew, making this case top priority

After “gently coaxing” Damocles into letting them question some students, they seem to be getting somewhere

They start with Zoé and her classmates

Zoé: Cyber bullying isn’t up Chloé’s alley. She prefers to humiliate her targets in person. Plus, I think she’s smart enough to know her dad can’t get her out of international crimes.

Marc: Louis only likes to mess with my boyfriend. Plus, I don’t think he’s smart enough to be able to pull international cyber bullying off… Unless he hired someone, but he doesn’t have Chloé money.

Cosette: … Nah, it’s not Louis. Maybe Chloé?… Or Lila. I’d check Lila. Her mom’s a diplomat, probably. And if I’m being honest, she’s kind of arrogant… So, might wanna check that out.

Ismael: Oh, it was Lila. Word of advice, do not trust a thing she says. You know, this one girl got expelled because of her and then reinstated because of a “tragic misunderstanding.”

Reshma: I’m thinking Lila for this one. I don’t like to throw out titles, but… I think she may be a psychopath. She fits the description quite well.

Aurore: Check out Lila. If it wasn’t her, then Chloé. Lila’s more meticulous, but Chloé likes to get things done quick with her money.

Jean: Check out Lila Rossi. Oh, and while you’re at it, Gabriel Agreste.

Amanda: The designer?

Jean: Yeah, he’s her and Adrien’s boss. They model together, but whenever I see Adrien after his shoots with her, he’s wearing a TON of makeup on his face and arms… You guys are the cops who handle abuse, right?

So now, Amanda’s looking into Adrien’s welfare while Olivia and Fin handle the case. Back in New York, TARU is able to get past the firewall (Or something) and trace the messages to one of the phones in the school. They barge into the cafeteria, and are lead to Lila Rossi. And they arrest her while her friends followers advocate for her release

They show all the evidence to Mme. Rossi when she storms into the interrogation room, but she’s not buying a second of it and demands for Lila’s release. And as Lila is a minor, they have no choice

After a very frustrating conversation with Gabriel, Amanda runs into Vincent. He shows her some incriminating photos of Lila doing everything but having sex with Adrien during shoots and explains that he showed Gabriel what was going on, but he never did anything to stop it. Amanda relays this to Olivia and Fin, giving them enough reason to haul Lila and Gabriel to the interrogation room and get a warrant to search Lila’s room for “Proof that she’s stalking Adrien.”

The Paris police force look through Lila’s room for anymore evidence of her crime… Then they find a book under her bed. It’s a very disturbing scrapbook filled with news clippings of a few preteens and teenagers who had committed suicide, been arrested, or severely injured. There are also photos of the New York teenagers on some kind of hit list page with little notes detailing how one would make their lives a living hell. Each one who died has a red ex over their face. And just after that page are photos of teenagers from other states and even countries

Olivia: … Haul her ass to court.

The court date arrives, and as one would guess, Lila’s sobbing her eyes out and trying to play the victim. She somehow manages to drag this on until the judge gets fed up and orders for the trial to continue tomorrow

During that time, the SVU interrogates Gabriel, and is just so. Damn. Infuriating. He makes bullshit claims about not knowing, says Adrien is overreacting, and they’ve had just about enough of this guy

TARU pulls up a few things on Gabriel’s phone to prove he was aware of Adrien’s treatment, along with texts to and from Lila where she tells her about the “bad influences” in Adrien’s life which are most of his classmates. There’s also a few messages between him and Nathalie about this Shadow Moth guy again

After looking him up, they realize that Shadow Moth is an emotional terrorist who has been plaguing Paris for nearly a year now, only to be stopped by Ladybug and Chat Noir

Now they have a warrant to search his property and eventually find Shadow Moth’s lair, and Roger has them search the perimeter for Shadow Moth’s Miraculous

Sonny: You know. If I were a supervillain, I wouldn’t leave anything important to me where someone would get to it easily.

They head back to the interrogation room, frisk Gabriel until they find the Miraculous, and rip them off before he could transform.

To make things short and sweet because I’m running out of ideas, Mme. Bustier ruins her reputation in only five seconds by going up to the stand as a character witness for Lila and claiming Adrien should forgive Lila and Gabriel to be a good example for victims of abuse. (It takes all of Olivia willpower to not shoot that bitch) Gabriel, Nathalie, and Lila are found guilty of conspiracy, terrorism, sexual assault, suicide baiting, child abuse, child neglect, aiding in terrorism, emotional abuse, cybercrimes, and defamation.

Just as she’s about to be handcuffed, Lila grabs the glass of water on her table, shatters it to make the end sharp and charges at Olivia, only for her to pull out her gun and shoot Lila’s ankle

At the end, Ladybug and Chat Noir arrive to retrieve the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous, Adrien’s aunt takes custody of him, and Fin calls the school board to have them take in Mme. Bustier along with Damocles for questioning

(Notes? Comments?)

[kanisema-blog]

Love Bet

Chapter 8

Sitting at my desk, I immersed myself in the details of the final draft for the exterior of Felix’s mansion. The lines and angles had to be perfect, every detail meticulously planned. After what felt like hours of revisions and tweaks, I finally felt satisfied.

I gathered the papers and took a deep breath, preparing myself to present the draft to my boss. Knocking lightly on his office door, I waited for his response.

"Come in," he called out.

Opening the door, I stepped inside. "Mr. Ab Adam, I have the final draft for the exterior of Mr. Acherley's mansion."

He looked up from his desk, his eyes lighting up with interest. "Let's see it, Jeya."

I laid the papers out on his desk, explaining my vision and the design elements I'd incorporated. Mr. Ab Adam studied the drawings carefully, nodding in approval.

"This is excellent work, Jeya," he said finally. "I’m very impressed. Now, you'll need to contact an engineer to start the next phase. Do you have someone in mind?"

"Yes, I do. I'll reach out to Zezel Absom, one of the best engineers I know," I replied confidently.

"Good choice," he said. "Make sure to coordinate closely with her. This project is high-profile, and we need everything to go smoothly."

"Understood," I said, gathering the papers and heading back to my desk.

Once there, I sent a message to Zezel: "Hey Zezel, I have an exciting new project to discuss with you. When can we meet?"

I hit send and leaned back in my chair, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness about the next steps. Deciding I needed a break, I headed to the kitchen to make myself some hot chocolate.

As I poured the steaming liquid into my mug, my hand slipped, and the hot chocolate spilled all over me. "Oh no!" I exclaimed, feeling the hot liquid soak through my clothes.

Claire, who had been passing by, rushed over. "Jeya, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just clumsy," I sighed, trying to brush off the hot chocolate. "Do you have an extra shirt?"

"Of course," Claire said, running to her desk and returning with a clean shirt. "Here, put this on."

"Thanks, Claire," I said gratefully, taking the shirt and heading to the bathroom to change.

Meanwhile, Sarah appeared with a mop, cleaning up the spilled hot chocolate. "Don't worry, Jeya. We'll have this cleaned up in no time."

"Thanks, Sarah," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed but grateful for my supportive coworkers.

When I returned to my desk, Mark was waiting with a fresh mug of hot chocolate. "Here you go, Jeya. I made you a new one."

"Thanks, Mark," I said, smiling. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," he said with a grin. "Just try not to spill this one, okay?"

"I'll do my best," I laughed, feeling my mood lighten.

The rest of the day passed quickly as we all focused on our work. The camaraderie in the office made even the most stressful days bearable, and today was no exception.

As the workday ended, I packed up my things and said goodbye to my coworkers. "See you all tomorrow," I called out as I headed to my car.

"See you, Jeya," Claire replied. "And try to stay out of trouble!"

I laughed and waved, feeling a sense of contentment as I drove home. Once at my house, I parked in the garage and headed inside, the familiar routine helping me unwind from the day.

I made myself a simple dinner, washed the dishes, and took a relaxing bath in the bathtub. The warm water helped melt away the stress, and I felt refreshed as I brushed my teeth and did my skincare routine.

Settling into bed, I grabbed my phone and played a few rounds of my favorite game. It was a welcome distraction, and before I knew it, my eyes grew heavy, and I drifted off to sleep.

Tomorrow would bring new challenges and opportunities, but for now, I was content. The mansion project was progressing well, and I felt confident in my ability to see it through. Whatever the future held, I knew I could handle it with the support of my friends and the strength I had built over the years.

[duskholland]

Stuck With(out) You - Mob!Tom Smut

tom was having a really nice day until the metropolitan police decided to crash his date.            or, when the law finally catches up to london’s most notorious mobster, tom learns that nothing is fair in love and war.

word count ↠ 15k. warnings ↠ angst with a happy ending, alcohol, a car chase, extensive depictions of prison, violence (very minor injury detail), tattooing, pregnancy, bad language, smut! there are extended nsfw warnings below the cut but this is 18+ so minors please do not interact.  a/n ↠ this is a work of fiction and is not meant to be taken 100% seriously! similarly to every other fic I’ve written about mob!tom, I don’t condone any of the actions shown in this story and all depictions of the mob and prison are entirely fictional. please do not date members of the mafia even if they are tom holland !!!!! + this fic was conceptualised before the release of cherry, and there are no purposeful links to the content of that film! the image from esquire that I’ve used is what led me down this path lmfao...esquire I love/hate you. ++ the biggest thank you ever to the wonderful @uglypastels​ for helping me with the initial brainstorm on this one, and for just generally being so supportive as I’ve struggled with writers block :’) I wouldn’t have ever been able to think this up let alone have the motivation to write this without you, so thank you and ily z <3  +++ there is a pov change halfway through this fic! it is intentional and you should be able to see it pretty easily but I’m just flagging it so you don’t think I lost it halfway through ahahha. enjoy!

nsfw warnings ↠ car sex, soft!dom!tom ft minor sir kink, oral and fingering (fem-receiving), multiple orgasms with brief refs to overstimulation, minor pregnancy kink, unprotected sex ft cumshot. 

✧ *:･ﾟStuck With(out) You･ﾟ:*✧

There’s something wrong with you, and Tom can’t quite put his finger on it.

He wonders if it’s the wine. He’d spent hours debating the type of grape and ideal bitterness, scouring his memory in search of the perfect blend to share with you on your date. Eventually, he’d settled on the same deep red that he’d shared with you the first time he’d visited your flat, back when your love was just a small spark. Three years have passed since then, the nerves of early romance melted away and replaced by knowing and love, but the wine has recurred each time one of you has decided to treat the other, so what better blend to bring along to the picnic that Tom had so meticulously planned?

You haven’t touched your glass, and Tom—for all his confidence and charm—is deeply unsettled by this.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks for what feels like the tenth time, with brows furrowed so tightly his forehead aches. Tom reaches across the gingham blanket to join your fingers together, surprised to feel the clamminess of your skin as you gently squeeze his hand.

You hum. “I’m fine,” you say, voice devoid of any intense emotion. You sigh softly before bringing your eyes to meet Tom’s, and the man feels his heart constrict in his chest. You’re perfect, even with your hair messy from the light spring wind and the nerves that sit across your face. When you squeeze his hand again, and Tom glances down to see the engagement ring on your fourth finger, the ache in his heart sharpens.

He never knew love could be this fulfilling, nor so easy. Breathing is harder than it is to love you.

“Okay,” he replies. “Do you want to go home?”

You’ve been so quiet for the entire date, which is strange because usually, you match his energy effortlessly. Tom has been away for a few weeks doing business in Liverpool, and this date by the river is the first time you’ve been properly alone since he returned. He’d really expected you to enjoy the date—or, on a very basic level, at least look like you want to be here. With your quiet answers, avoidance, and nervous stares, he can’t confidently say that you do.

You shake your head. “No, no.” You fiddle with some of his rings before pulling your hand away from his. As you sit up a little straighter, you turn away from Tom to stare instead at the River Thames.

The river behind you is lit by the mid-afternoon sun and flooded with boats. It’s such a lovely day that Tom almost doesn’t notice the horrible brown tinge to the water. Lining the bank are small groups of people—families, friends, couples, tourists. They all stay clear of the two of you, undoubtedly wary of the security guards lingering near their boss. He rarely goes out so obviously like this, but you’ve always loved London, and he’d wanted to treat you. He’d wanted this to be a nice day.

“You know you can talk to me, don’t you?” he checks, voice catching slightly.

Your eyes snap up to his quickly. “Tom,” you say, voice wrapped endearingly around his name. Moving easily, you slip closer to him, carefully shifting around the food and the glasses until you’re close enough to reach out and touch his cheek. “I love you.”

Tom’s teeth graze his lower lip as he feels you pad your thumb across his jaw. “I know,” he murmurs, dropping his gaze. “I love you too.” He pauses for a few moments, savouring the closeness and the scent of your rosy spritz. He’d missed you so much that it almost hurts to have you so close again. “I know you have something on your mind, darling… Can you tell me what it is? I want to help you.”

“I…” A breathy exhalation follows. You bring your hand away from his cheek and rest it on the red silk material covering his shoulder. He’s in a loose designer shirt, the top two buttons unbuttoned and showing off the silver-linked chain he has hanging from his neck. “Tom, I just…”

“What?”

A small smile twitches at your lips. “Not here,” you seem to decide, voice a little stronger. “I have something I need to show you.”

“At home?”

“Yeah.”

Tom feels the weight rolls from his shoulders. It’s fine—everything is fine. You want to let him in, want to trust him with the cause of your anxieties. You still want him.

“Let’s go, then,” he decides, knowing he’s far too impatient to spend another hour laying by the river. Tom offers you a hand, and you take it. He tugs you away from the picnic setup with ease. He doesn’t need to bother with putting the things away—someone else will do it. Just one of the perks of his job.

“I missed you,” you say, smoothing your thumb over the back of his hand as you walk together towards the car. “It gets lonely without you in the house. Our bed is ridiculously huge without two people in it.”

Tom chuckles. “Good job I’m back now then, eh?”

The noise you release is stacked full of so much relief it makes Tom feel guilty for ever leaving to begin with. As he watches the bright, genuine smile flow across your face when you meet his eyes, he resolves to never leave for business again. Never. Not without you.

“A very good job,” you clarify. When you reach the car together, Tom holds the door open for you, ushering you in dramatically until you’re laughing and making fun of him for fussing. The only way he can stop you from your jovial whines is by leaning across the dashboard and pressing his lips to yours, so really he can’t complain. “This car is stupid, too,” you decide.

“Oh, that’s too fucking far,” Tom murmurs, glancing in the rear mirror as he peels away from the pavement. He’s glad the air between you has lightened. You seem happier now you’ve decided to spill your secrets. He rests his hand on the back of your headrest as he twists in his seat, eyes on the road as he reverses. “This car is a beauty.”

“This car is confusing,” you say, and Tom feels you staring at the flex of his bicep. “I tried driving it when you were gone.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmm. Couldn’t even get it up the drive.”

“Well, not to be rude, darling, but it’s hardly fair to blame my beautiful car for the fact that you’re an atrocious driver.”

If looks could kill, Tom knows he’d be six feet under.

“Fuck you, Tom,” you seethe, but your voice is charged with laughter. “I take it back. I didn’t miss you at all. Go back to Liverpool, see if I care.”

Tom cackles. “Maybe I will,” he teases, “just to see how long it takes you to start begging for me to come back again.”

You grumble something incoherent at that, then the words between you lull into a comfortable silence. After a few moments, you shift your palm to rest on his thigh, your hand gentle, warm. Your fingertips trace tiny love hearts over his slacks.

“Don’t,” you say eventually, voice quieter. “Stay this time.”

Tom risks a quick glance to you, growing breathless in the depths of your eyes. “Of course,” he says, voice thick. Tom returns his gaze to the road, his chest feeling tight. “I’m never leaving you again.”

“I mean, you can leave sometimes if you want—”

“No. Never.” Tom’s cheeks ache. “I’m never leaving your side.”

“Alright, Tom.” You sigh lightly, feigning exasperation. “I guess there are worse things than being stuck with you.”

“I’m charmed, darling. So relieved you like spending time with your fiancé.”

You shift in your seat at that, and Tom doesn’t have to look at you to know you’re flustered. You’re always shyer around him when he mentions the fact that your futures are intertwined, almost unbelieving that he’d slipped that ring onto your finger. It doesn’t matter how many times Tom tells you that he cherishes you—you never quite make peace with the fact that he wants to chase the moon with you. That doesn’t mean he’ll stop telling you, though. You hang the stars in his sky.

“I love spending time with you, Tom,” you mumble. “And I hope that what I’m about to tell you doesn’t change how you feel about me.”

His eyebrows raise. “Wait— what?” Tom scrunches the tip of his nose up as he squints in your direction. “Y/N, what—” He pauses, concentrating on keeping his voice level. “Angel, nothing you could ever do would change the way I feel about you. Nothing.”

You smile quietly. “It’s not a bad thing,” you add, almost sensing his unease. “I think you’ll like it.”

“Perfect.” Tom sits a little straighter in his seat. “Then there’s nothing to worry about—”

Sirens cut into his words. Tom startles, glancing in the mirror to see a police car with a whirring blue siren perched atop the grimy vehicle.

“Tom,” you say slowly, voice filling with dread. Your tone sends shivers down his spine. “Did you do something?”

Tom bites his lip.

He’s been trying his best to stay above the law recently, but… Liverpool had been messy. Very messy. He hadn’t intended on things going quite as terribly as they had, but one thing had led to another, and he’d had to fuck a few things up. The crime is nothing as intense as he’s been booked for in the past, but he’d had to write a few irregularities into his taxes and business agreements to smooth over the waters. It’s not as bad as murder, but it’s tax fraud nonetheless.

Tom had thought he’d been fine. Apparently not. He’s been a hot target for the Metropolitan Police for years, and they’ve consistently unearthed every tiny discrepancy he’s tried to get away with. He should’ve been more fucking careful.

“Shit,” Tom mutters. As he brings his eyes back to the road in front of him, he realises the police car behind you has been joined by another two, closing in from side streets and boxing him in amongst the traffic. He swallows thickly. “I messed up.”

You curse. “Idiot,” you mutter. You sit forwards in the seat and start to point to a gap in the traffic, right across the square. “Go there,” you say, voice pitching higher. “If you go fast, you’ll make it.”

He could book it. Tom’s run away before, in situations of peril where the alternative had been the law and escaping would give him the chance to alter some books and clear his name. It would be easy to slam his foot on the accelerator and dive down side streets, dodging the thick London traffic.

“Tom!” you say again, voice stressed with desperation. “Tom, go!”

The gap in the traffic is narrowly closing, the window of time Tom has to zoom through and get to safety shrinking before his very eyes. If he was alone, he’d do it without a second thought, but you’re here.

You’re here, and that means he can’t be selfish. Tom couldn’t ever risk you, not with such a treacherous manoeuvre like the one that you’re suggesting, nor with the repercussions you’d face if he books it. You’d either have to come on the run with him, or you’d end up captured and grilled by the Met, and neither of those options is the types of things he’d ever bring willingly upon you. You would never deserve that, and he refuses to make it a possibility.

Tom slows down the car.

“Tom,” you say, shock filling your voice. “What are you doing? They’ll get you.”

He nods. “I want you to listen to me, very carefully,” he says quickly.

“But—”

“—Darling, please. Please.” Tom stops the car abruptly. He calculates he has mere seconds before the officers ditch their vehicles and start storming across the traffic to haul him from his seat. “Don’t say anything to them. They want me, not you.” He turns off the engine and grabs your hands, holding them close as he stares into your eyes. “Call Harrison. Whatever shit they’re bringing me in for won’t hold up for long. They’ve— they’ve done this before. They never win. We have backup plans for this crap.”

“Tom,” you whisper, eyes welling with tears, “but they—”

“I know. I know, baby. I know.” He presses quick kisses to your knuckles, clinging so tightly to your fingers it’s like he’ll drift away without your touch. “I’m sorry. I am so bloody sorry. I love you so much.”

His throat hurts. The sight of the pain in your eyes makes him hate himself for ever bringing you into this faithless way of life. He doesn’t give a fuck that he’s destined for a cell—Tom cares that he’s hurt you.

“I love you too,” you say. You lean closer, undoing your seatbelt and popping his too as you reach up to cup Tom’s cheeks in your shaky hands. “It’ll be okay,” you stress. “I’ll get you out of there, baby.”

You lean in closer to kiss him, and Tom aches. The scent of your perfume is overwhelming, and he feels fragile beneath the hold you have on his face. The kindness in your eyes makes it hurt even more. It’d be easier if you’d let fury consume you and spend these last sacred moments denouncing him instead of loving him, but of course, you’re not like that.

The car door opens, and Tom is hauled from the car the moment his lips touch yours. Before he can process it, he’s being pushed up against his car, stiff arms keeping him pinned in place. He closes his eyes, firming up his face and shoving down his feelings as he forces himself to dry up, become stoic. He won’t show weakness now he’s outside.

Tom hears you exit the vehicle a few moments later, the crash of the door coupled with a few scuffles. He drowns out the words of the officers whilst they reel off a list of fabricated crimes, smugness evident in their voices. Good for fucking them.

When they eventually release him, he’s cuffed and weaponless, his spirit bent in two. The metal of his car had hurt his face, but nothing breaks Tom’s heart more than the sight of you being held back by two officers, tears streaming down your face. You bring your hands into the shaky outline of a heart, and it’s the last thing he sees before he’s pushed into the back of a van.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tom’s day goes from bad to worse.

It’s clear that everyone at the station has been waiting for him to fuck up. He’s met with sly smiles and teasing comments as he’s reacquainted with some of his most despised wardens and guards. He’s held in a temporary cell for almost a day and quizzed on the shreds of ‘evidence’ they’d procured from his house during a raid, and though Tom declines to answer every single question they throw at him, their smugness never fades.

He walks into the trial already knowing he’s going to be locked up, and not even the sight of you beside Harrison and Harry on the benches soothes him.

Five years. He’s charged with five years.

Now, Tom isn’t worried. He knows he won’t actually be held in a cell for that long. He’s already had correspondence with Harrison, who’s assured him that he’s working on it, and there’s really nothing much to worry about. Tom has been in this situation twice before, and on both occasions, he’d been released in less than a month. The connections he’s built from his years heading up the mob are reliant and unwavering, and he knows he won’t have to serve even a fifth of his sentence.

The only difference between the times before and now is you, and Tom can only fucking pray that you don’t despise him for dirtying your name with his crimes. You’d been normal before him—a waitress, aspiring painter, an innocent. Despite your insistence that you love him with all strings attached, his guilt weighs him down. He doesn’t give a fuck about the law and whatever twisted loopholes the jury had bought, but he does care about you and what you think of him. That’s the hardest part.

Two weeks pass achingly slowly.

Prison isn’t that bad for Tom. He’s pretty fucking lucky, all things considered. He has friends here—blokes he’d met around town, most of whom are willing to welcome him in. A few of his old guys are locked behind bars with him, unwavering in their loyalty and more than happy to absorb him as members of their group. Those who don’t know Tom know of him. His reputation as a murderous, cold-hearted killer follows him inside, regardless of its falsity. Tom hasn’t taken a life in three years, but these men don’t need to know that.

“Holland! Get the fuck up. You’re in the gym.”

Tom glances up. He’s lying on top of his bed, one hand propped behind his head, the other holding open a book. He isn’t an avid reader like you, but you’d sent him a copy of your favourite book with scribbled annotations in the margins, and he’s been spending every hour since its arrival clinging to the pages.

He sighs as he puts the book down and stands from the lower bunk. He’s in with a young lad, Ollie, booked on a minor drugs charge. Why they’d paired someone on such a minimal sentence with a member of the mob, Tom will never understand, but the fear in the lad’s eyes every time he looks at him is enough to keep his wavering ego bobbing just above the waterline.

“Step away from the door.”

Tom does as instructed. A moment later, there’s a loud buzzer followed by the swinging of the heavy metal door.

In walks Luther, Tom’s archnemesis. If the inmates fear him, the guards despise him, and to be fair, Tom understands why. He’s a bit of a dick when he’s behind bars. Usually, when he’s free, he operates with a level of poise and charm that comes with his position as leader. He speaks to his men with a firm but kind hand, respects everyone he deems his equal and commands supreme authority without becoming a tyrant. However, when he has his freedom stripped away, and he has to bend to fit the system’s will, his attitude becomes… problematic.

“Holland,” Luther barks. A moment later, he appears in the doorway, coughing loudly, cheeks flushed a ruddy red. He snarls at Tom, his voice like jagged glass. “Come on.”

“You alright, mate?” Tom asks. “You sound fucking terrible.” He looks it, too, with a dripping nose and red-rimmed eyes. He looks ill.

Luther’s features sharpen. “Get over here now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tom swaggers to the door and dodges a little as Luther cuffs him, the man digging the metal into his skin with extra ferocity. They start to march down the long, grey corridor towards the fitness suite, Luther prodding Tom forward with a hand digging into his back.

“How’s your wife?” Tom tries, tired of the echoing footsteps.

Luther sighs. “How’s yours?”

“She’s doing very well, thank you.”

The guard tuts. “Does she like having a criminal for a husband?”

“Does yours like being married to such a wanker— hey!”

Luther pushes him down the corridor with haste. “Quiet, Holland,” he mutters. “I’ve had enough of you.”

“Well, then it’s too bad you’re stuck with me,” Tom replies. “Did you know that if me being here annoys you so much, you could always let me go? That would sort out your problem.”

He barks a laugh. “Yeah? Let London’s most wanted convict escape?”

Tom raises a brow. “London’s most wanted?” he echoes. “Wow.” Pride seeps into his voice. “That’s an accomplishment.”

“Not a positive one. Self-absorbed bastard.”

It’s easy to laugh. Letting the comments bounce off his back is easier than admitting the jibe about you has irked him. Do you like having a criminal for a partner? Even Tom, for all the world has jaded him, knows no sane person would rest well with the knowledge that their significant other has lied, stolen, and killed. It doesn’t lie well with him, and he was born into this.

They reach the gym.

Tom sticks to the same workout regime he has at home. He does his cardio for twenty minutes on the wobbling treadmill, then sits around on the bench press and does curls with a few of the guys. He keeps quiet, his mind loud, only adding a few comments when necessary. His sullenness adds to his image, and he’s busy with thoughts of you. By the time he’s finished, he feels arguably worse than before. The endorphins from his workout are overshadowed by the guilt Tom feels, clawing at his heart, heavy and persistent in its certainty that he’s a lousy partner.

He can handle being a bad guy, but a bad man? A bad brother, bad friend, or bad lover? The opinions of the guards mean nothing to him, and neither does the law, but when it comes to the people he cares about, their opinions mean everything. Tom has let Luther get into his head, and whilst he knows that was the guard’s intention, the seed of doubt has been planted. As he pumps iron, he feels it grow, taking root, blooming taller.

“Holland. Time to go.”

He grunts as he stands. Sweaty and sore, Tom hobbles to the doorway, feeling considerably smaller than he had when he’d left his cell. The cuffs hurt his wrists as his hands are clasped back together, and the walk back feels even longer than before.

“You had a parcel delivered,” Luther says, breaking the silence. “It arrived last week.”

Tom’s eyebrows pull together. “Last week?”

“I thought I should hold it back until you’d settled in,” comes the patronising response. “I didn’t want to overwhelm you with too many new experiences, Thomas. Not that being in here is anything out of the ordinary for you, though.”

He feels his jaw twitch. He flexes his hand, knuckles burning for movement. Not yet, not yet. He has to wait, has to play the long game.

“You’re a dick,” Tom decides. He doesn’t care that he gets thrown roughly into the cell. He trips over the floor and barely manages to scrape himself to his feet, but he throws out a smirking “fuck you,” before the door slams shut. He’d follow it up with more snide remarks, but he becomes distracted by the sight of the parcel sitting on his bed.

It’s neat, despite the obvious intrusion into its contents by the guards. He flops onto his lower bunk, glad his cellmate is absent as it allows him to drop the ruse. Lips sagging into a frown, Tom rips open the package.

He releases a fragile sound as the contents pour across his duvet. Polaroids fall across the sheets, glistening slightly, neat and pristine. A lump comes to the back of his throat as he shuffles through them, finding images of you, Harry, Sam, Tess… The list carries on. For every person he can think of, there’s an image captured perfectly in time. He even appears in a few of them, with his hand around Haz’s shoulder or his lips pressed to your temple.

He finds a note attached at the bottom.

Tom, I thought you’d want some reminders of home while you’re away. We’re all looking forward until the day you can come home to us. Love you forever, Y/N <3

As Tom traces the edge of his nail along the outline of your face, his eyes well with hot tears. You always know what he needs, even when he doesn’t. You know him, inside out, and you’re continuing to support him, despite it all. He is indebted to you, and he knows already that as soon as he’s let out, he’ll spend every second of his life trying to repay that.

The seed of doubt burns away.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Two weeks later, Tom finally gets to see you again.

The prison visiting room is fucking grim. Toned in sludgy shades of grey and brown, it’s about as ugly as it could be. There are window slits pressed high into the walls, but the primary source of light is from the musky bulbs set above each table. The chairs are uncomfortable, and the decor lacks inspiration. Tom often wonders if the room was designed to be as revolting as possible.

Despite this, as Tom shuffles into the room that smells suspiciously of plasticine, he couldn’t be happier. It doesn’t matter that his wrists ache from the cuffs, nor that the garish shade of orange clashes horrendously against his skin: you’re here, and that makes everything better.

You’re sitting at the table in the corner of the room, drumming your fingers pensively over the surface. His eyes catch on the glinting ring wrapped around your fourth finger, and the sense of longing that had settled in the hollowness of his chest is quickly burnt away. Sensing his movements, you glance up, and when your eyes meet with his, Tom feels his heart come home.

You raise a hand in greeting, smiling shyly, and he tries to look as non-threatening as possible. He knows the new buzzcut and the stupid get-up probably don’t help, but you don’t look at him like he’s any different.

As he draws nearer, Tom finds himself blinking a few times, questioning how long you’ve been separated. The version of you he has holed up in his memories pales in comparison to the woman that he sees before him now, but he can’t quite pinpoint why. You seem fuller somehow—vibrant, glowing, alive, your face doused in a heavenly glow and your skin bright with health. Your figure has changed slightly, and Tom can’t stop himself from running his eyes all over you, trying to memorise every tiny detail his memory had blurred away. You look so beautiful, every single part of your form enhanced and bright, and your chest—

Fuck, it’s been a long time.

“Y/N,” he exhales the moment he’s been pushed into his seat. His guard unclasps his cuffs, and Tom immediately reaches out across the table, almost moaning from relief when you wrap your fingers around his. Your skin is so warm.

“Tom,” you whisper. Emotion seeps into your voice, and he feels his chest crack as tears pool in your eyes. “Are you okay? I— I missed you.”

He hums, biting his lip. “I’m fine, baby. I’m okay. Are you?”

You nod quickly. “I’m okay too,” you say. “Things are strange without you, but we’re working around the clock to get you out of here.” You drop your voice slightly. “I think we’re near a breakthrough.”

Tom’s teeth brush his lower lip. “Good, good,” he says. “How’s Tess? And Harry, and the others? Are they looking out for you?”

“Yeah,” you say. You squeeze Tom’s hands tightly. “They’re all okay. Mainly just worried about you.”

He shrugs, trying to lessen the furrow in your brow. “‘M all good, darling,” he promises. “Don’t worry about me.”

Your eyes skate across his face. “I like your hair,” you say gently. For a moment, Tom thinks you’re going to try and reach out to touch the buzzed fuzz, but you seem to remember that anything beyond handholding is prohibited. You have to settle for a slightly suggestive smile. “It looks good on you.”

“Thanks, lovie.”

Your smile is sad but it’s still hopeful. Whatever emotions you’re feeling, it’s clear that you’re trying to smooth them away and keep them to yourself. “There’s something I wanted to tell you,” you say, easing into the words with difficulty. Tom watches as you look away, doubt casting across your face.

“What is it?” Vaguely, Tom remembers how skittish you’d been the day he’d been taken away, the memory distorted from the noise of everything else that had happened. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” You bite your lower lip. “Uh, just first… how are you holding up in here? Like, actually. Don’t bullshit me and play the tough guy.” Your eyes are wide and persistent. “How are you actually doing?”

Tom blinks a few times. “Fine,” he shoots immediately. He clenches your fingers tightly in his, clinging on for a moment until he exhales. “I wish I could be here for you properly, though. It worries me that I don’t know what’s happening on the outside…” He hates being left out in the dark, but it isn’t your fault. It’s his. “I wish I could be a better boyfriend to you.”

“Fiancé,” you correct, the word soft like it’d left your mouth without thought. “You’re already a good boyfriend, Tom. I knew what I was signing up for. I wanted this back then, and I still do now.”

“Still,” he grumbles. He tries to even out the heaviness of the conversation with a smile. “I think about you all the time, baby. And the others too, but… mostly you. I just hate that I’m missing out on our life together.” He has to stop for a moment as he recollects his thoughts. “I’m sorry that I did this to us, and I’m sorry I let you down.”

You crack a wry smile. “You can’t change the past, Tom. You can only affect the future.” You pause, your expression hardening. “I need to know that you’ll go slower when you get out. I know this is your life, but some things need to change. We— I need you to stay out of trouble. Do you understand?”

He nods his head immediately. “Of course, of course. I don’t ever want to get arrested again, darling.”

You drop your voice. “I’m not saying you need to quit everything, just… get better safeguards and be smarter. I love who you are, Tom, but this…” You break off to gesture around, pointing vaguely at his cuffs, the jumpsuit, and the guards. “This isn’t good for you or for me. And I love you, but I won’t stay if you don’t try.”

It’s hard to hear, but he knows it’s what he deserves to hear. He knows you deserve to stand your ground.

“I know,” Tom says gently. “I’ll get clean when I’m out, Y/N. I promise. I’ll be a good man by you.”

You squeeze his fingers tighter. “You already are,” you promise, “and I love you so much, even when you’re being an idiot.”

He laughs breathlessly. “Thank you, darling.” Tom tilts his head to the side. “What was it you wanted to say?”

Conflict briefly colours your face, manifesting itself in the arch of your eyebrow and the biting of your lower lip. You inhale sharply, only to exhale again a moment later.

“I’ll tell you when you’re out,” you say softly.

Tom scowls. There’s no anger there, just confusion. “What are you talking about? What’s going on?”

You shake your head. “I… Pretend I never said anything,” you say. You follow it up with a quick, “if I thought you needed to know, I’d tell you.”

He doesn’t want to push it, so Tom lets the topic slip away. You sit together silently for a few minutes. It’s hard to talk, difficult to express how much he misses you, how much he’s sorry. He knows that you understand—you always do, and you have similar tears wobbling across your eyes. Talking can come afterwards when he’s out and he’s free. All he needs now is the feeling of your hand back in his.

The visit is over far too soon.

Leaving you is difficult. Tom isn’t allowed to hug you or go any nearer than the linked hands on the table, but you tug at his fingers until he feels the imprint of your engagement ring rubbing against his skin. He even manages to kiss your knuckles a few times before he’s pulled up from the table and cuffed again.

“Be on your best behaviour,” you say, soft with your parting words. “The lawyer says the better you are, the easier it’ll be to get you out early.”

Tom has a bit of his spark back. Even as he’s pulled back, he manages a devious smirk. “When am I ever not on my best behaviour, darling?”

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

A few days later, Tom snaps.

To be fair, it isn’t really his fault. He’s pushed to the very verge of insanity, prodded at and provoked beyond the point of return.

It happens when he’s in the barber, huddled in the back corner of the room as he gets a new tattoo. Tom is used to the pain of the burning needles as he already has a few pieces on his arms and his hands, so he’s able to take the fresh marks to his knuckles as the ink stains black against his skin. However, he’s a bit on edge from the sharp buzzing, which is perhaps why he responds so negatively to the taunting he starts to receive. It comes from Toni and the rest of his snivelling gang. They’re all members of the East London mob, ruled over by Tom’s nemesis Gordy. Most of the time, they stick to their side and Tom sticks to his, but they’ve caught him in a vulnerable position, and Toni never seems to know how to pick his timing.

It’s basic teasing, instilled with a brutal hard edge that would phase him if Tom cared enough about their opinions of him. It doesn’t hurt him when people attack his character or his honour—Tom knows the truth about his life, and he couldn’t give two shits about an outsider’s opinion of him. However, he finds it a lot harder to grin and bear it when the man changes angle.

“Word is, a couple of our guys saw your missus out with Haz the other day,” Toni taunts. “He said they were getting real close if you know what I mean.”

Tom’s jaw flexes. The action is minute, but it doesn’t go undetected. Toni smirks.

“Eh, you don’t like that, do you?” The man steps a little closer and Tom tries to ignore him by looking down at the needle pressing into his fingers. “Don’t like the idea of your best friend hanging around your wife. Can you even trust them?” He breaks off, laughing coolly. “They think you’re so stupid, did you know that? You’ll get out of here, and they’ll have cut you out of everything—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Tom murmurs. He flexes his right hand, shaking out his knuckles. With every passing day, he’s felt tetchier. He can feel his anger burning, churning deep within his stomach, growing brighter, harder. He knows he shouldn’t lean into it, but… He wants to. He craves that rush of the fight, selfishly so.

“But she’s not your wife, is she? You aren’t actually married. Have you ever thought that maybe she’s just using you? Maybe they all are? Look at you, Tom.” Toni breaks off to throw a disdainful hand in Tom’s direction. “You are so weak in here… How are any of your guys going to respect you when their leader can’t even stay out the slammer?”

The guy tattooing Tom’s hand finally pulls away, glancing up at him with knowing in his eyes. “You’re done,” he says. “Don’t do anything with that hand, though.”

“Thanks, man.”

Tom stands up, Toni mirroring him. The man looms in front of him, 6’2 and stocky. He’s larger than Tom in every respect, but he’ll never be the bigger man.

“Get out of my way,” Tom sneers.

“Make me, twat.” Toni smirks. “Or are you too much of a pussy to follow through on that as well?”

Tom sees red. Acting on the edge of adrenaline, he pounces, rushing the man and jumping with so much unexpected force that the larger man goes tumbling to the floor. Tom hears the shouts of the guards, but they pale in comparison to his need to straddle the man’s chest and make him pay. With each meeting of his fist with Toni’s face, Tom feels better. He’s never been an excessively violent person, but old habits die hard, and it’s so, so, so fucking easy to pummel the guy who dared breath an uncomplimentary word in his family’s direction. Tom would put the whole city six feet under if they so much as breathed wrong around his loved ones, so really, Toni had it coming.

The prison guards don’t agree.

He ends up in solitary, and when he’s put back into the normal population, Tom is given restrictions. He isn’t allowed visitors for a fortnight, and his calls are reduced to once a week. All other privileges he’d had are taken away again, and he’s relegated to the very bottom of the pecking order.

It’s still worth it.

When he’s finally allowed visitors again, Tom is surprised to learn that his next meeting isn’t with you or his lawyer. Things only make sense when he shuffles into the meeting room and sees his right-hand man settled in the corner, and if Tom had found the room drab before, it appears even more depressing with the addition of the blond man sitting in it. Harrison sucks the life from the room, any hints of happiness at being reunited with his friend overshadowed by the pinched expression on his face.

The guards don’t let Tom take off his cuffs. He has to sidle into the chair, falling into the heavy silence as he places his hands on the table. Metal links click, and Harrison just stares. He stares, and stares, and stares, his blue eyes almost black.

“So,” Tom eventually says. “Hello.”

Harrison’s jaw twitches. He brings his hands to rest on the top of the table, flexing them as he takes a moment to find the right words. “Tom,” he says, speaking very slowly. “You are a twat.”

He blinks. “Wow,” Tom mutters, chuckling slightly. “Okay. Good to see you too, mate.”

“Do you…” Harrison breaks off, groaning. His forehead develops angry ripples. “Do you understand how detrimental this has been to your case?”

Tom bites his lip, shaking his head slightly.

“You’ve been pushed to the bottom of the pile,” Harrison says, voice controlled but simmering with unspoken anger. “We were about to get your appeal passed for early release.” He sits back, crossing his arms as he shakes his head. “There’s been a penalty applied due to your stint in solitary. Your case won’t be assessed until it’s lifted.”

Tom feels his stomach drop. “Shit,” he mutters. “That’s not ideal.”

“No. No, it’s not.” Harrison sits forward, leaning on his hands. “You are a bloody idiot. Stop acting like a child… Why… Why did you even attack him? You must have known this would happen. Are you stupid?”

He doesn’t like the patronisation in his tone. Tom’s already beat himself up enough about this in solitary. He doesn’t need Harrison questioning his judgements, doesn’t appreciate his friend breathing down his neck so obviously.

“He deserved it,” Tom says firmly. “I would do it again.”

“You can’t. You absolutely cannot.”

“I think you’ll find that I can, Harrison.” There’s a stupid smirk on his lips now. Tom’s missed being a little shit to his friends. He knows it’s not the time, but he’s vibrating. The callous concoction of shame, anger and isolation make him volatile and abrasive. “I’m pretty sure I can do whatever the fuck I want, actually.”

The expression that mars Harrison’s face looks very out of place against his demeanour. The man is in a long black trench coat with a tight grey turtleneck layered beneath it. He has a few pendants hanging from his neck, the gold metal bringing out the warm tones in his curls, mussed in a way that screams of old charm and perfect romance. Harrison’s illusion of control falters only under the pressure of the anger that manifests itself so clearly on his face.

“Tom.” Harrison bangs his fist on the table. The ring wrapped around his pinky clangs against the wood. “You can’t keep this up. If you do, the case gets pushed further, and that is unacceptable.”

Tom scowls. “Well, Haz, last time I checked, I was the one who has to deal with the consequences of my actions. Not you.” He can’t stand the expression of condescension hanging over Harrison’s face. “If I want to throw a few punches, I bloody well will. You have no idea what it’s like in here. No idea at all.”

Harrison’s angered expression fades a little, but only for a moment. When Tom hardens the curve of his eyebrow, Harrison devolves into irritation again, almost snarling as he narrows his eyes. “Your actions affect everyone in your life,” he snaps. “Stop pretending you’re the only one paying for the things that you’ve done.”

“I’m the one with the cuffs, Harrison. I’d say I’m paying considerably more than anyone else.”

He shakes his head. “Yeah? Tell that to the men who had their property searched and their possessions seized. Tell that to your family, who continue to be pulled in for questioning. Tell that to Y/N, who—” he breaks off awfully quickly, cheeks flushing slightly. “Nevermind.”

Tom’s blood goes cold. “Y/N?” he repeats sharply. “What about Y/N?”

“Nothing.”

He sits up straighter. “What about Y/N, Harrison?”

“Nothing.”

Tom is angry now. “Tell me right now or god help me, I will find a way to kill you.”

Harrison rolls his eyes, then covers the movement with a sigh. “I can’t. It isn’t my place.” He seems regretful as he jumps in to add, “she’s fine. She just needs you. We all do.”

The guilt returns. It falls over Tom like a wet blanket, extinguishing his frustration and leaving him cold. “Does she… Does she hate me?” He’s looking down at his cuffs.

“What— no. No, Tom.” Harrison looks guilty for the first time, but at least he isn’t confirming Tom’s deepest insecurities. “Nothing like that at all. Just… Listen to me, alright? You need to behave. I know it’s hard in here, I know that, and I understand it must be frustrating. You just… You can’t let that rule you, Tom. You have to look at the bigger picture. You need to come home, and the sooner the better.”

It’s easier said than done, but he knows Harrison is earnest with it.

“Fine,” Tom grumbles. “I’ll behave.”

Harrison nods. “Thanks, mate,” he mutters. “We all miss you, myself included.” He glances up at him, eyes finally back to the cool blue tones Tom grew up beside. “It isn’t the same without you around.”

Tom manages a tight smile. “I miss you too.”

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

IT’S BEEN THREE MONTHS since Tom was taken away, and you are miserable.

Every day has been the same. You wake up, nauseous and alone, always on Tom’s side of the bed despite forcing yourself to fall asleep on your own. The mornings are a blur of paperwork and phone calls that follow you into the afternoon. You work around the clock, Harrison, Harry and Sam at your side as you go over Tom’s case, again and again, only stopping when night falls, and one of you throws in the towel.

You had been so close to springing him until he’d gone and got himself demoted to solitary, and there’s not a morning that you don’t think about that. You’d submitted the appeal, stacked full of so much evidence that there was no way the judge would deny him freedom, only for Tom to get into a fistfight the day before the hearing. Just like that, the floor had vanished from beneath your feet.

You’d taken it badly, the others too. Losing Tom to the judge’s gavel had been hard enough, but for his escape to be taken away by his own actions hurt a thousand times worse. You know it’s worse for him, being alone in a cell, but that doesn’t stop the bitterness seeping into your mouth every time you think about the lost chance. Harry and Sam had been incensed, their anger fuelled by the void of a missing brother, and you know Harrison’s frustration comes from similar veins.

Even now that Tom’s served his time in solitary, the frustration lingers on, manifesting itself in the way none of you could decide who should go and visit him first. Under normal conditions, you would’ve been there in a heartbeat, but… Things have been complicated, even without recent events, more so than they’d been when you’d visited two months ago. When Harrison had bitten the bullet and volunteered himself, all of you had been more than happy to let him go.

He’d left this morning, and the house has been quiet ever since.

You’re sitting up in one of the spare rooms as you wait for Harrison to return, your back aching and your mind spinning. You twirl the rings on your fingers as you think, taking turns alternating between your engagement ring and the silver signet rings you’d taken from Tom’s dresser. Keeping him close makes everything easier. You’d take any reminder of him you could get, be that his rings, his shirts, his cologne, or…

The baby.

You shift a hand down to sit on the swell of your belly. Tears prick your eyes as you let them close, a frustrated sigh tumbling past your lips.

You’re four months pregnant, and that throws a spanner in the works.

Sure, you would’ve tried equally as hard to get Tom released under normal conditions, but the biological countdown that has now been sprinkled into the mix has only given everything an air of desperation. Even if it isn’t you vocalising what everyone else is thinking, the fervour to get Tom out before it’s too late is there. You can see it in the way Harrison never lets you go anywhere unaccompanied, and Harry and Sam have been working nonstop to get their brother’s freedom. Everyone around you is aware of how vital Tom’s release is, even when the man himself remains oblivious.

Exhaling gently, you shift around on the cosy armchair. The nursery smells of fading paint, and as you move around, you glance at the messy borders of the walls. The sex of your baby is still a mystery to you, but a few days ago, the twins had freshened up the room with a shade of light green whilst you and Harrison were in court. Neither of them is particularly artistically inclined, but they’d done a pretty decent job, all things considered.

Tom’s family have all been good to you—very kind. You haven’t felt alone, even with half your heart locked away in the outskirts of London. It just hasn’t been the idyllic pregnancy you’d dreamt about with your fiancé.

Guilt falls across you as you look down at the rising swell of your belly.

It’s been hard trying to decide whether or not to tell Tom what you’d tried to come clean about three months ago, down by the Thames. You’d wanted to tell him when you’d gone to visit him, but you couldn’t find the heart to come clean and admit that he’s missing out on the one thing he’s waited for his entire life. Telling him would hurt him immensely, and he’s already hurting being away from you. You don’t want to tell him until he can be part of it, and with that uncertainty present, you’ve kept your lips sealed.

Visiting him today in place of Harrison is all you really wanted to do, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. You’re vulnerable and explosive, and you want to come clean to Tom when the situation is better. There would be nothing worse than storming into that dingy meeting room, flaunting your obvious pregnancy but being too distracted by your anger at your fiancé to explain everything else. You won’t hurt him like that by taunting him with the one thing he wants but can’t have. You refuse to.

All you can do is hope that he forgives you for holding the information back, pray that he understands your motivations, and, above all, hold onto the hope that he’s there when your child comes into the world.

“Y/N? Where are you?”

Blinking yourself from your reverie, you look up through the open door.

“In here, Sam.”

A moment later, Tom’s younger brother appears in the doorway. The man looks as exhausted as you feel, deep shadows hanging beneath his hazel eyes. When he sees you, his mouth pulls into a small smile and he lifts his hand in greeting, and you can tell that he’s trying. You try to match him by sitting up a little straighter and smiling back.

“Hey,” he says. “I was just… bored, I guess. Thought I’d come and check on you.” Doubt briefly flickers across his face. “Is that okay? Are you busy?”

“I’m bored too,” you admit. You stand from the armchair and groan as you stretch your arms, your stiff back aching. “Do you want to do something?”

Sam grins. “Fuck yeah,” he says. “Can we try the mural?”

Wincing, you manage a smile. “Okay… But if it looks terrible, I will paint over it.”

“As if. I’m the artistic one here, Y/N. Just be glad Harry’s still away.”

“Did someone mention me?” Harry’s voice rings through the air, startling you. With a hand clutching your heart, you look to your side in time to see Sam’s twin taking his place at your side. Where Sam is in a shirt and tie, Harry is clad in a pair of deep denim dungarees. He offers you a rusty smile. “We’re just filling in these lines, yeah?”

Sam’s the one to nod. He gestures at the wall and you notice the faint outlines, scratched in pencil. “Be precise,” he informs, “it took me bloody ages sketching it.”

Harry rolls his eyes, shooting you a silent smirk. “Yes, sir,” he mutters. “Anything you want, sir.”

“Fuck off.”

Harry pulls a face. “Well,” he says, looking at you pointedly, “I hope you’re keeping a record of how many times Sam is swearing around the baby, Y/N.”

Brows furrowing, you pick up a paintbrush. “Why would I be doing that?”

The ginger grins. “Just betters my case for being the better uncle,” he says.

“Oh, what? Don’t you mean the boring uncle?” Sam chides, bristling beside you.

Harry laughs. “I will be the favourite uncle. I don’t care what you say, Sammy. Both of us know it.”

Rolling your eyes at the argument you’ve heard a thousand times before, you give them both a nudge. “Shh,” you plead. “Paint, don’t fight.”

Sam shoots you a soft smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

With a smile lingering on your lips, you watch as Harry puts on one of his playlists, then relax as the three of you get to work. None of you say anything, but the air is full enough—tickled to life with Sam’s quiet whistling and the sound of paintbrushes thick against the wall. You concentrate on the intricate details of the mural, like the outlines of the clouds and the spirals of the grass, and marvel at how wonderful it is to be so content in silence. It’s indicative of how tight your bond has grown, you think.

No longer despising solitude, you’ve found a comfortable middle ground around the men. You and Tom’s inner circle have learned to work together well, stringing together complex case files as you’ve organised accounts. Nothing you’ve been doing recently is legal, but you would’ve left a long time ago if you genuinely cared about the law. You can stomach a few fixed accounts if it means Tom gets to walk free—you can stomach a whole lot more than that, actually, for Tom. You’d set the whole world on fire just to see him smile.

Like the splotchy mural covering the walls, your team has got the job done. Your case for the court is watertight, if a little messy, but you know it’ll be enough to spring Tom. It has to be. You need him, and your child needs him. Everyone in the house needs him.

“Guys? Where are you?” Harrison’s voice joins the mix just as you’re stretching up to flick a few rays of gold into the sun. Harry is at your feet, crouching on the balls of his feet as he tries to paint a few red flowers to the sprigs of grass.

“Nursery,” Harry calls out.

A few moments later, Harrison joins you. You fail to meet his eyes as the focused man sweeps into the room, billowing coat swirling around his feet. His expression is terse as he jerks off his jacket and grabs a paintbrush, dipping the tip in a bit of sky blue paint before standing at the end. You don’t rush him. He’s vibrating with something, his face flushed and his eyes dark, so you give him space.

A few minutes pass, illustrated by Harry’s playlist and the colours of the rainbow. Just when you’re beginning to worry, Harrison speaks.

“Tom is an idiot,” he states, drawing a laugh from one of the twins.

You bite your lip. “Did you explain?” you ask.

Harrison nods. He glances at you, and you note the fleck of purple paint pressed into the pale arc of his cheek. “He said he wouldn’t do it again,” he tells you. “He was angry, though. I think he’s having a bad time.”

Harry hums. “It’s hard in there,” he mumbles. “Was he still himself?”

The blond nods. “Yeah,” he says. “As snarky as ever.”

Sam smirks. “That’s Tom, alright.”

“Good news, though,” Harrison adds. “I went to the courthouse on my way back.”

“Oh?” You look away from your cloud, your heart skipping a beat. “And?”

“And,” Harrison continues, a semblance of a smile twitching across his lips, “I submitted the appeal again. They said they’d probably process it next week. So, if things go according to plan this time, he might be out by next Friday.”

You almost drop your paintbrush. Eyes widening, you turn to face him properly. “Wait, really?”

Harrison’s expression softens. “Yeah.” He puts his paintbrush down, tugging yours from your fingers as if he can tell you’re close to dropping it. “He’s almost out, Y/N.”

Relief spills across you, uncontrollable and overwhelming. Closing your eyes before those easy tears can fall down your cheeks, you step closer and push your way into Harrison’s embrace. He’s ready and waiting for the action, eager to comfort his friend.

“Thank you,” you whisper. Harrison’s chest is warm, and though his hugs aren’t as good as Tom’s, you’ve come to rely on them. You’ve come to rely on all of them. “That’s amazing news.”

“Mhmm.” He squeezes you. “This nightmare is almost over.”

“Thanks, man,” Harry speaks up. You pull away from Harrison’s hold when you hear the quivering tones in his voice, quickly glancing to the man to find him glassy-eyed and flushed. Biting your lip, you extend a hand towards him.

A group hug unfolds, as it’s had the tendency to do since Tom was taken away. The first time had been stoic and cool, with frozen elbows and embarrassed shuffling, but slowly, each one of them has loosened. They’re tough men, burdened and hard, but love ties them to you, and at your request, you know they’d do anything for you. You also know that they all enjoy the physical comfort more than they’d ever let on.

It’s been hard without Tom, and you’d do anything to have him back, but if there’s anything his absence has taught you, it’s that his brothers have become your brothers as his best friend has become your own, and you’ve never really been alone.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tom’s release day comes quickly, hidden behind the retrial and the quick-paced days in court. It’s busy at the trial, and spaces are limited, so Harry and Sam attend in place of you and Harrison. You get them to take in a few letters for Tom and pass on your condolences for your absence, but you don’t allow yourself to get too hung up on it. When Tom’s release is announced, the weight that rolls from your shoulders is immediate.

As you wait outside the prison, you try to find solace in the rays of the mid-afternoon sun. It’s quiet in the car park, allowing you to ruminate in peace, and though you’re comfortable resting against the bonnet of Tom’s car, your thoughts are far from restful.

Anxiety weighs heavily in your chest, mixing with your excitement and creating a volatile concoction. You find yourself pacing, biting back your nerves as you try to reason with yourself. Draped around your shoulders is a long coat that obscures your bump, chosen as you’ve decided you don’t want to overwhelm Tom with too many things at once. You hope it does the job. The coat twitches in the wind as you walk, noisy and obnoxious.

Things around you are still until there’s a sudden, loud buzzing noise from the prison compound. You jerk your head around to see two men leaving the main building, small in the distance but gradually growing larger. They’re still enclosed in the fenced courtyard, but they’re on their way to the exit, and every rational thought you have flies from your mind as you see him. Tom. Your Tom.

He’s in the clothes he’d been arrested in—red shirt, black slacks, shiny shoes. Looped around his hands is his Rolex and his rings. Tom seems almost identical to how he’d been on that cursed day, just his head is buzzed and he looks a little smaller. He’s carrying himself with confidence, though, and when he looks fervently around the car park and spots you, his entire face swells with happiness. The sight of that large, lovely smile hanging from his lips brings immediate warmth to your eyes.

Every breath is easier now you have him in your sights. Overwhelming love gluts your insides, warm and emotive, choking you up. It takes everything in you to stay still as you wait for Tom to finish talking with his guard, a tall man you recognise from all of his stories, Luther. Tom’s smirking in a way that’s obviously infuriating, and the guard doesn’t hesitate to give him a light punch as your boyfriend saunters out of prison, leaving the compound with a swagger to his stride and a smile the size of Saturn.

The sight of Tom jogging towards you breaks you from your reverie, and you push yourself away from the car to meet him somewhere in the middle. Nothing matters until you’re colliding with his front, finding warmth in his arms, feeling his entire body shake as his tears fall into your hair. Nothing matters unless it’s him.

“I missed you so much,” you whisper. Your grip on the back of Tom’s shirt is hard, a violent sprawling across your knuckles, but you won’t let go. You’re giddy with love. “Fuck, Tom, I missed you so, so much.”

You pull away from his chest and look into his eyes, your lower lip wobbling as you note the fresh tears on his face. You use your thumbs to brush beneath his cheeks, flicking away the tears as you clean up his handsomeness.

“I missed you so much more,” he promises. Tom brings a hand to rest on the back of your head, breath hitching as he meets your eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He kisses you, and it’s so intense you end up pressed against the side of the car. Tom moans with relief as he strokes his fingers over the side of your face, delicately reacquainting his lips with yours as they meet again and again. You keep your hands gliding over his back, his arms, his shoulders, letting your tongues come together as tears flow down your cheeks. The kiss is everything and nothing, familiar and new. The kiss says I missed you. It says I thought about you every day. It says I would wait a thousand dawns if it meant I got to wake up beside you again, but thank fucking god you’re here right now because I missed you more than I ever thought was possible.

“Baby,” Tom murmurs. He pulls away but keeps your foreheads pressed together, the cool tip of his nose brushing yours. “You’re so perfect. I missed you so much that it hurt me.”

He tries to move closer, but you become aware of the pressure to your belly, so bring a gentle hand to push his shoulder away. Hurt immediately floods to his eyes, his expression twitching as Tom takes a few steps back.

“Tom,” you say, voice soft. “I need to tell you something.”

Tom’s jaw twitches. “What is it?” he whispers.

“A good thing,” you clarify. You reach up to wipe the residue of your tears away, then bring your hands down to the tie of your jacket. Biting your lip, you take a steadying breath. “I hope you aren’t angry that I didn’t tell you sooner,” you preface, “but I did it for you.”

Tom nods intensely. “Okay,” he says. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s fine. I’m… I’m here, okay? For anything. It’s me and you. Just… me and you forever.”

A smile flickers across your face. “Me and you, and…” You gently open the front of your coat, then reach out for Tom’s hands. Guiding them slowly, you bring the warmth of his palms to rest on the rise of your bump.

“Wait…” Tom shifts his hands around your belly before staring up at you, slack-jawed. He doesn’t try to hide the obvious tears in his eyes. “You’re…?”

Nodding your head is easier than trying to speak.

“Oh god.” Tom sniffles. “What?” He immediately drops to his knees in front of you, his fancy dress trousers getting dirty in the dust. “How— how far along?”

“Almost five months,” you whisper. “I found out right before you got back from Liverpool. I was going to tell you when we went on that date, but…”

“But I fucked up.” Tom sounds wrecked, his aching eyes fixed on the curve of your belly. “I fucked everything up. I… I left you alone for this entire time, and you had to do this all without me.” He rests his forehead against your bump, very, very gently, and you see him close his eyes. “I am a terrible partner.”

Rolling your fingers over the scruff of his hair, you guide him up to look at you. It’s second nature as you roll a thumb over his cheekbone, trying to instil the action with love and reassurance.

“I’m not angry,” you tell him. “You didn’t know, and you didn’t get arrested on purpose. If anything, you should be angry at me for keeping this a secret.” Your teeth catch your lower lip. “I didn’t want to hurt you, but I thought telling you would only make things worse. I’m sorry.”

Tom shakes his head. “No, no. Don’t apologise.” He rests a hand on your leg, the other still on the curve of your front. “I’m sorry.” He drops his voice and looks at the bump. “And I’m sorry to you too, little one.” He nudges his mouth forward and deposits a soft kiss to your stomach. “I love you too.”

Digging one of your hands into your coat pocket, you pull out a photo. “Here,” you urge, handing it to your boyfriend. Tom takes it after a moment, his eyes slow to move away from your front.

He releases a noise somewhere between an exclamation and a choke, nimble fingers gripping the image from your ultrasound. His cheeks flush a brilliant rose.

“When was this?” he whispers.

“At three months,” you reply. You continue to run your hand over the top of his head, trying to soothe him as he absorbs so much information at once. “I went with my mum and Haz.”

“Haz?”

You nod. “Harry and Sam lost a bet.”

Tom hums. He looks between the photo and your bump, then nudges forward to kiss the rise again. His lips are so warm you can feel them through the material of your dress. “Have they been looking after you well enough?”

A light laugh slips past your lips. “Yeah,” you promise. “They helped so much, Tom. It was hard at first… Really hard. Especially when we thought you’d be in there for five years, but… Things worked out.” You have to pause to gather your thoughts. “We converted one of the rooms into a nursery. There’s still stuff left to do, and we can do that together, of course, but… They were all really helpful.”

“Good.” Tom looks up at you, still kneeling, and your hand slips down to cup his face. “I’m sorry,” he adds. “I wish I could’ve been here for all of this.”

Shrugging gently, you squeeze his face. “You can be here for the rest of it,” you promise. “And, I guess… If we have another one, you’ll be there for all of that, right?”

“Of course, darling.” You smile as Tom tilts his lips to knock against the side of your palm.

“So it’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

Chuckling softly, you nod. “Yes,” you promise. “I love you, and I’m so happy this has happened for us, even if the timing was difficult.” Feeling yourself well up, you exhale slowly. “We’re going to be parents, Tom. Isn’t that crazy?”

“It’s brilliant.” Tom’s eyes sparkle. “I’m going to be a father.” He blinks. “What the fuck.”

Laughing, you move your hands to the crown of his head. “Yeah, it’ll take a while to get used to that.”

“I’ll get there,” he states. Tom returns his attention to the bump. “Hey, little one,” he coos, voice all silk and amber tones, “it’s going to be the biggest honour of my life being your dad.”

Tom spends a while at your feet, speaking softly to you and your bump, and you keep your hand resting on the back of his head. He’s weary when he finally climbs to his feet but regains some of that spark when you step forward to kiss him. You don’t mean to make it as heated as you do, but it hasn’t only been your heart that’s missed Tom. You’ve craved him, constantly, during every single lonely night, and now that he’s here, you’re willing to take everything you can get.

“I love you,” you say, hushed against his mouth.

Tom’s teeth brush over your lower lip, and you moan when he tugs. There’s a fervour to it, hot lust burning through sensitive emotions. He releases your lip and pulls back to stare at you, his eyes rippling darker.

“I love you too,” he murmurs. He brings his hands to your waist, pulling you closer. “I love everything about you.”

Your mouths come back together, and it’s messier than before, your lips wettening as your kisses become wilder. Tongues dance and teeth clash as your body temperature starts to rise. Now you’ve moved through the emotional reunion, you’re left with an underlying pulse—a heat throbbing persistently between your legs. The fire builds as you hear Tom’s grunts and feel the desperation in his hands when they grab at your sides and jerk you closer, his mouth devouring yours until your lips are puffy and tender. You’re greedy, chasing more, desiring everything you’ve missed out on in the months you’ve been apart from your lover.

“Darling,” Tom murmurs, breaking the kiss to whisper hotly against your lips, “I missed you, but if you keep this up, we’re not going to get home.”

Desire takes hold of you. “Who said I wanted to go home?” You push in closer, shifting slightly until you’re able to feel the hardness of his crotch pressing up against your thigh. The familiarity of it all makes you inhale sharply. You drop your tone, trying to seem coy as you speak, “I don’t think you understand how badly I needed you whilst you were away, Tom. I missed you.”

The tips of his teeth glint as he arches his brows. “Well…” Tom mumbles. “I owe you about four months of lost opportunities.” He swallows, briefly breaking from the lust-filled headspace to look guilty. You smooth it away by reaching down to squeeze at his hands. “If my radiantly stunning fiancé decides she wants me to start repenting for that now, then who am I to stop her?”

Rolling your eyes, you step away from the car. “You’re a suck-up,” you taunt. You plant a light kiss to his lips. “C’mon,” you urge. “The car.”

He wiggles his eyebrows. “The backseat?” he teases. “Shit, angel. You must be desperate.”

Warmth tickles your face. “Shut up.”

Tom smirks deviously. “It’s okay,” he soothes. He darts forward to open the car door for you, resting his hand on your lower back as you step forward. “I’m just as desperate as you, baby.”

“I hate you,” you murmur. Tom follows you into the car, shutting the door behind you both. You wait for him to sit before straddling his lap, your legs stretching until you have a shin planted on either side of his thighs. The position is comfortable, with enough space between your bump and his chest for you to breath, and you whimper as Tom bends nearer to ghost his lips over yours.

“No, you don’t,” he murmurs.

You want to tease him, but you couldn’t even if you wanted to. You’re alright with too much adoration to even think about pressing it down.

“I really don’t,” you agree.

Tom makes a soft noise of vindication, the tip of his nose brushing yours for just a moment until he’s bearing down and bringing your lips together. You sigh, reaching up and urging him closer. His lips are lovely, and you enjoy kissing them for a while, but then you find yourself distracted by the open expanse of his neck. With his hair buzzed, you’re keenly aware of his throat, pale and sensitive, and if there’s one thing you remember about your boyfriend, it’s his affinity for lovebites.

You bring your lips to the side of his neck, nuzzling your mouth against the long, pale stretch of his throat. Smirking against his skin, you start to suckle deep hickeys against the side of his neck, revelling in the throaty gasps Tom deposits into the air in response.

“Fuck, darling,” Tom whines. He has a hand on your back, urging you closer. When you graze the tips of your teeth against his skin, he whimpers. “Shit. More.”

“More?” you tease. “Forgotten all your manners, Tom?”

He growls. The hand on your back shifts to the back of your head, and he jerks you ever closer. He’s still mindful, especially of the bump laying between you, but he knows just as well as you that you aren’t a piece of porcelain; you like being tugged around. You’ve missed it.

“Give me what I want, and maybe I’ll return the favour.” He says it like you’re oblivious to the desperation in his words. You decide to oblige him.

“Okay,” you murmur. You look up to meet his gaze, his honey-brown eyes full of appreciation. For a moment, it knocks you off balance. It’s so strange readjusting to having Tom back—almost overwhelming to be able to touch someone who had existed only in your memories for so many weeks. You drop your head and give him what he wants.

Tom’s skin tastes clean, and it smells distantly of pinecones. He groans, fisting at your hair and holding you close as you kiss and suck along his skin, drawing deep hues to the surface of his neck. He shifts in his seat, basking in the pain and whining every time you soothe a fresh mark with the warmth of your tongue. You keep your hand resting on his hair, the cropped length of his buzz prickly and coarse beneath the pads of your fingertips.

“Oh god yeah,” he murmurs, voice mingling with the wet noises coming from your lips. “Your mouth is so fucking good, baby. I missed it.” Grunting, he brings a hand to your waist, squeezing the flesh of your hips hard. “I thought about you all the time in there.”

Tom releases his hold on your hair and begins to stroke his hands over your back. As you continue to mark his neck, he starts to tease you, gradually dropping the heat of his palms lower and lower. You can’t stop yourself from bucking down into his hold, moaning against his neck as he grabs handfuls of your ass.

“Tom,” you break off to whimper, panting softly. You feel dizzy on the taste of his skin. “You’re being mean.”

“Mean?” you can hear the smirk in his voice. “How am I being mean?” Tom squeezes the curves of your figure, his slender fingers warm against your skin. You’re in a dress, the material thin, and he doesn’t hesitate to curve his hands beneath the hem and bring them to rest over your panties. “You’re the one who wanted to come in here and get your hands all over me… I’m doing what you asked.” He breaks off, chuckling darkly. “That’s not how things usually work, though, is it?”

The air between you shifts.

You pull away from Tom’s neck, your mouth inflamed and throbbing. You have to dig your teeth into your lower lip to muffle your whimper when Tom brings a hand to the front of your legs, gently brushing two of his long fingers over the front of your panties. He’s teasing with it, eyes alight with deviousness, jaw set in a determined line.

“I don’t know,” you whisper. “Maybe I want to be in charge this time.”

Tom laughs gently. “Oh, yeah?” He rubs your cunt a little faster, causing you to suck in a sharp breath as you feel the delicate pressure on your clit. The contact makes your passage clench, growing wet enough to dampen the front of your panties. “So you don’t like this, hmm? You don’t want me to follow through on everything I have planned for you?”

“What have you got planned?”

He tuts. “Oh, I’m not going to tell you, angel. That’d be too easy. Either you want me to be in charge, or you decide to call the shots.” Tom smirks as he feels you buck down against his hand. Maybe if the circumstances were different, you’d find the strength to push back, but you don’t. It’s been so long, and your cunt is weeping already just from the husky tones in his voice.

“You’re in charge,” you whisper. The vindicated smirk he flashes in response is enough to send shivers down your spine.

“Damn right, baby.” Tom moves his hands away, pressing them to your waist instead. “Can you lay down for me, please?”

You shuffle across the car seat as instructed, Tom shifting until he’s kneeling in the footwell of the backseats. It’s a good thing the car is obscenely huge, otherwise, the already-cramped fit would be unworkable.

Draping your legs over Tom’s shoulders, he pushes the hem of your dress up, bunching it just above your bump. The hungry fire in his eyes fades slightly.

“Is this okay? Are you comfy?”

“It’s fine,” you soothe. “Are you okay down there?”

Tom nods. The scruff of his buzzed head scratches against your inner thighs. “I’m bloody perfect,” he responds. “Can I touch you?”

“Please do.”

The tip of his nose nuzzles against your covered clit. “Perfect,” Tom purrs, his breath hot against your panties. “I think it’s time I remind you who owns this fucking pussy… As hot as it was when you were trying to tell me what to do, it’s not on.” He brings his mouth away from your core, and you whimper as his tongue laps gently across your thigh, the muscle deliciously slippery. “I’m the one calling the shots.”

You’re throbbing, every inch of you aching for his touch. The burn is visceral—pulsing, wet. “Yes, sir,” you return. Tom’s eyes snap to yours. “Do whatever you want.”

“Say please.”

Swallowing the dryness in your throat, you add, “please.”

“Good, baby. You sound so pretty begging for me.” Tom easily pulls your panties down your legs, returning to push your thighs further apart. He brings both of his thumbs to your sensitive lips, humming when you whimper. Using the pads of his fingers, he gently parts your centre, groaning softly at the sight. “Say it,” he murmurs, entranced by the paradise between your legs. “Tell how badly you want me.”

He’s incredibly infuriating, but you play right into his hand. “Please, Tom,” you whine. “Please touch me.”

He hums. “Of course, lovie,” he murmurs. He glances up at you. “All you had to do was ask.”

The first touch of his tongue against your slit makes your eyes roll back. A breathless whine slips past your lips as his mouth envelops your clit, the strong tip of his tongue nuzzling over your sensitive skin in a way you’ve only dreamed of. You’ve been able to get off in his absence, but nothing can simulate the sizzling heat of his mouth and his tongue, nor the scratching of his short hair against your fleshy inner thighs.

The way he unravels you is obscene, toned with the sounds of spit and lazy lips, the sensations of desperation. Tom devours you, using his elbows to push your thighs apart as he buries his face as close to your centre as possible. You can barely see him over the rise of your belly, but you can certainly feel him. When you start to grind down against his face, things only escalate, your eyes fluttering shut as your spine arches in response to his feverish movements.

“Oh god,” he murmurs, voice thick as it vibrates across you. “Missed this… Tastes so fucking good, sweetheart.”

Your high rolls over you suddenly and without warning, manifesting itself in a silent cry as your body goes rigid. You hear Tom hum in surprise, then feel his hands lock around your thighs, holding back your legs as they shake in the face of absolute pleasure.

“Sorry,” you pant, recovering gradually, “I didn’t know that was going to happen then.”

Tom runs his tongue over your slit, still sensitive and throbbing. “‘S okay, lovie,” he replies, voice warm. He nuzzles in closer and brings two slender fingers to push against your entrance. Your hole is hot and pulsing, pooled with your arousal. You hear it pucker as he gently presses against your cunt, teasing your entrance with his fingertips. “I’m not done making it up to you, though. Is that okay?”

Exhaling, you nod quickly. “Fuck yeah,” you say, struggling to think. “Oh.”

He slips two fingers into you, your eager walls parting and welcoming him in. Tom removes his mouth from your heat and replaces his tongue with the pad of a thumb, and when you release a loud noise of strangled enjoyment, he begins to crook his fingers into you. He strokes his digits against your walls with poise and elegance, nudging up against your g-spot and stroking, again and again, chasing the noises you release.

“So pretty,” he coos. “My pretty baby. Making all those beautiful noises.” Tom smiles almost proudly. His chin is wet with your arousal. “I love your cunt… Look at how well it's taking me.” To prove his point, he feeds a third finger alongside the others. “So greedy for me, eh? Greedy little pussy. So hot. So wet. God…”

Tom drops his head again, disappearing from your sight of vision. You moan, body jerking as you feel his tongue move around his fingers, catching the arousal that seeps from your pussy as he works you open. He releases an obscene moan before dragging his mouth to your clit, stimulating you with his hands and tongue in tandem.

“Holy fuck,” you whimper. You feel hot in the best way, your skin becoming sweaty as you writhe over the leather seat. “Feels so good, Tommy.” It feels like heaven—especially when he bends his fingers and the tips of them stroke up against your sensitive spot. “‘M gonna cum again.”

“Already?”

“Yeah.”

Tom chuckles. “I’m so good at this,” he murmurs. “Go on, angel. Don’t hold back on my account… You’re so pretty when you cum.”

The tide breaks, and your climax rolls across you, legs trembling as Tom holds you in place. You writhe as you bask in the heat, your knuckles losing blood as you clench your hands into hard fists. The press of your nails against the soft flesh of your palms hurts, but you don’t care. It feels far too good to think about anything beyond Tom.

You ride it out, and Tom eventually draws his face away from your clit. He kisses along your inner thighs as you gasp for air, only removing his fingers when you start to whimper. As good as the climaxes have felt, panting for breath on the backseat, it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough by far.

“Get up here,” you say breathlessly.

Tom chuckles as he appears from between your legs. He gives your thighs a little tap before he closes your legs, wriggling out of the footwell as you sit up. Easily, like you’ve done a thousand times before, you swing a leg over Tom’s lap, straddling him when he sits with his back against the car seat.

“Are you okay up there?” he checks, bringing his clean hand to rest on the curve of your stomach. When you nod, his brown eyes darken. “Perfect…” he hums. “Clean off my fingers, will you?”

You nod, opening your mouth expectantly and moaning as Tom slips three of his fingers between your lips. Fighting your smirk, you maintain eye contact with him, your pride swelling as you see his cheeks darken. He gently fucks his fingers into your mouth, making you moan at the movements and the taste of your heat as it spreads across your tongue. He’s messy with it, and you feel your lips and chin grow heavy from spittle.

“Pretty,” he coos, “so, so pretty.”

Tom goes to move his fingers from your mouth, only for a detail to make you pause. Eyes straining, you reach up to catch his wrist, holding his hand in place just as his fingers pull away from your lips.

“What’s this?” you query, narrowing your eyes. You drag Tom’s left hand nearer your face, gasping softly as you take note of a new tattoo resting at the bottom of his ring finger.

“Oh.” Tom shifts around slightly, biting at his lower lip. “I got your initials tattooed… When we get married, the ring will cover them, but I wanted you with me—I want you with me—all the time, even without a bit of metal.” He hesitates. “Is that okay?”

You press a delicate kiss across the letters. “Yes,” you say. You feel shy as you meet the eyes of the man who loves you so immensely. “That’s really, really sweet, Tom.” You bite your lip as you look up at him. “Gone soft on me, baby?”

“‘M always soft on you,” he says gruffly, guiding a hand to your face. He brings you closer, encouraging you to lean higher on your knees. “Love of my life, angel. You know that… My wife.”

You shift on his lap, smiling bashfully. “I’m not your wife yet.”

“Soon, soon, soon,” he whispers.

Both of you come together, no words needing to be exchanged for you to know what to do. Tom loses his clothes as you sit up a little straighter, one of your hands curling around the headrest of a seat as Tom angles himself slightly. With the rise of your bump between you, you aren’t able to be flushed together like times before, but the man beneath you is quick to readjust so he’s laying further back, giving you plenty of room to move in a way that’s comfortable. He kisses over your knuckles as you run his hard cock through your slit, his interested eyes fixed firmly on the sight of his length as you finally begin to move down.

The moment the head of his cock pushes into you feels indescribable. The ache of the stretch falls away as relief pours over you, the closeness satisfying far more than just your arousal.

“Gentle, gentle,” Tom murmurs, hand resting on your belly. “Be careful.”

You chuckle, beginning to move but only slowly. “It’s okay,” you reassure him, “it won’t hurt them.” Your eyes roll back slightly as you bring your hand down to rest on Tom’s shoulder, moaning quietly. “You can move too… Please, move.”

“Okay, darling.” Tom gently starts to move his hips. He groans as he slumps back against the seat, beautiful face coloured light pink. You’d missed the expressions he makes, how emotive the slants of his features can be. His nostrils flare and his jaw tenses as you ride him, your cunt so wet the movements are almost effortless. “That feels… so good.” His voice is hollow, gutless. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve been thinking about you. You, and your hot cunt.” He moans again, unable to sit around the words. Tom ruts into you a little harder, guiding you to move faster with the hand on your hip. “Taking me so well, darling. So fucking well. I’m not going to last at all.”

“That’s okay,” you murmur. “I won’t either.”

Tom manages a lazy smirk. He opens his eyes as he brings a hand to your clit, teasing the sensitive bud with his thumb. You jerk a little at the stimulation but start to ease into it, basking in the pleasure from the bud and Tom’s cock. He’s buried deep within you, pressing your walls apart, the curved tip of his head brushing deeper than you’ve felt in months.

“So tight,” he murmurs. Tom leans back, clearly enjoying the sight of you riding him. “My darling. You look so beautiful like this… I swear your tits are bigger, too.” The hand on your belly gently caresses the bump, Tom’s tongue briefly wandering out to wet his lower lip. “Look at how beautiful you are… I can’t wait to knock you up again.”

Stifling a moan, it takes everything in you to focus on your movements. “You feel so good, Tom,” you whimper, unable to hold back the praise he loves to hear. “I missed this so much.”

“I know, baby. I missed this too… Come on, now.” His voice hardens slightly. “I’m about to cum, but I don’t want to unless you’re right here beside me. So… will you be a good girl and finish with me? Please?”

Heat flushes through your system as you bounce your head quickly. Your eyes close, breath hitching as you feel your climax rise. It starts in the pit of your stomach, a coil pulling tighter and tighter until it bends and snaps, bursting wide and spilling pleasure across your body in warm waves of enjoyment. You cry out as you fall apart, holding Tom’s shoulder tightly as his hand clamps around your waist. You feel him mirror you, hear his loud groan as his cock pulses inside you, your movements unceasing as you ride it out together.

It ends, but you stay joined. Tom sits up, the distance put between you by your belly requiring him to stretch closer and seize your lips in a smouldering kiss. His hand returns to your cheek, yours to his, and the look in his eyes is dizzying.

“I love you so much,” he speaks, words soft like a promise. “Everything I do from here on out is for you, and…” He glances back at your stomach. “And our child.” Words thickening, you see Tom’s eyes well with tears again. He chuckles, cheeks flushing red. “Sorry,” he adds. “I get a bit choked up thinking about it.”

You stroke your fingers over the back of his hair, spiky strands smooth against your hand. “Don’t apologise for expressing your emotions, baby,” you whisper. “It’s been a very long day.”

Tom nods. “Love you,” he murmurs again. He nuzzles his head into the palm of your hand, his eyes closing.

“I love you too,” you say, words truer than they’ve ever been before. You bend down to kiss his forehead. “Do you want to go home now?”

He hums. “Y/N,” he whispers. Tom blinks up at you, eyes soft. He catches the palm of your hand with a few kisses as he sits up a little straighter. “I’m already home.”

Teeth grazing your lower lip, you hold back your smile as you marvel at how clichéd he’s become. You bend down and kiss him very gently. “Sap,” you murmur. “Love you, though.”

Tom pulls a face. He rolls his eyes, but there’s no malice—only love. “Love you too,” he says. “Yes, though,” he adds, “I would love to go home.”

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

finis

yay

that’s probably a wrap on mob!tom ! i don’t have any more fic ideas for him :( that being said, this was a lot of fun to write, and i really, really hope you liked it :D ik the theme isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so if you read it all, i love you very very much

please let me know if you have any thoughts!!

masterlist through the link in my bio <3

[stevetonyweekly]

SteveTony Weekly - June 26th (pt2)

Happy Sunday!! Here's part two of this week's list, as promised!

***Marks my recent favorites 

~*~ 

***Emergency Contact by valdomarx

Steve has been exposed to sex pollen, and for some reason Tony is the person who's been called in to assist him.

Tony knows that he can't take advantage of Steve in this desperate state, but it's awfully hard to remember that when Steve is rubbing up against him and describing all of his deepest fantasies in excruciating detail.

***If Only by FestiveFerret

Steve wasn't gay. He wasn't. He'd know that about himself. He had no problem whatsoever with men who were attracted to men - he was dating one of them - but it wasn't him.

White Lies [The True Things Remix] by FestiveFerret

Tony Stark, Steve has long learned, lives by a set of internal rules, meticulously and aggressively adhered to, even if he gives off an air of chaos and hedonism. For the most part, Steve likes the structure, finds it a pleasant surprise coming from a lustful lush with more money than God.

There's one rule he doesn't like, though.

one true thing by Welcoming_Disaster

Captain America, Tony has long learned, lives by a set of internal rules so convoluted and esoteric that he himself sometimes gets lost in them.

Holding Out for a Hero by mariana_oconnor

The serum did a lot of things to Steve, but one thing he hates about it is how sensitive it made him, too sensitive. After it contributes to the end of his relationship with Jan, Tony offers to help him out.

Saffron by FestiveFerret

The club is called Saffron, but there's no sign outside to let you know that.

There's A History Between Us (and people think it's mine) by IamShadow21

A moment is all it takes to open up the box and confirm his suspicion.

“I think you're right, Cap,” Tony says. “This isn't my area.”

bring him home by parkrstark

During the clean up after the Battle of New York, Steve finds a little boy in the rubble of an orphanage. He finds out this little boy is almost as strong as he is, and he knows he can't let anyone get their hands on him. People would do crazy things for a mutant child. Steve vows to protect him so he can grow up as a child and not as a lab rat.

From Philly to Brooklyn by FestiveFerret

"Sorry," Steve murmured, exhausted from balancing his humiliation with sympathy for his exhausted son.

The man waved a hand vaguely towards his head. "Too much loud music and machinery. Doesn't bother me. He okay?"

"Yeah." Steve sighed. "Just been a long day." 

Peter stopped sobbing for a moment to rub a snail trail across the front of Steve's shirt to turn and face the man, brow furrowed with skepticism.

Steve shook his head, unable to help smiling. 

"Hey, kiddo," the man said. His lips twitched to the side. "What have you got to complain about, huh? Too many bills to pay? Boss treating you badly? Furnace needs replacing?"

Threadbound by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)

After they find one another in Battle World, Steve and Tony have a lot of work to do to get back to where they were before. The red thread on their fingers may tether them to one another, but it's always been a choice. It's time for them to choose one another yet again.

you are the reason by AvengersNewB

Steve and Tony are seeing each other in secret. An unfortunate encounter with Tiberius Stone, just as Steve decides to talk to Tony and define their relationship, makes things complicated.

Always Be Prepared by ladyshadowdrake 

Caught in enemy territory with important technology to get home, Steve falls back on a peculiar truth he learned during the War:

No one is going to perform a body cavity search on Captain America.

we have nothing but our winter by meidui

“You have to kill me,” Steve says, almost pleading. His ankles and wrists are red and raw where he’s been straining against the cuffs, and it hurts to look at. “You have to. HYDRA’s in my head and I’m going to kill the Avengers.”

****age is an irrational number by valtyr

Steve and Tony grow old together.

In Every Universe by Captain_Panda

"Tony had a headache.

And its name was Steve.

. . . But not that one."

Today is going to be an interesting day. Because a portal has opened, and MCU Steve and Tony are about to meet Steves from just about every other Marvel universe that ever was.

Time for gods, cowboys, and doggos!

I Can Talk to Anyone by Carsonian

NATASHA: Okay, fine, you caught me at a good time.

NATASHA leans back, ushers the camera in closer.

NATASHA: So they had a little argument. It's pretty standard. Tony said something callous, Steve got upset and confronted him about it in a weird way, they both did a terrible job of communicating their viewpoints, and then stormed off in opposite directions. The roles change a little, but the formula's pretty consistent.

(The Avengers have a camera follow them around for a 'documentary'. Shenanigans ensue!)

years we held on to by Areiton

It happened like this--

He put the Valkyrie down, and he didn’t even mind, knew damn well it meant he’d die and he was almost grateful. They’d burnt Hydra out of Europe and the Nazis were being beaten back--the war was almost over.

What use was there, for the world’s only super soldier, when the world knew peace?

He put the Valkyrie down and he didn’t die.

****Misunderstandings and Five Year Plans by Tahlruil

Captain America and Iron Man had gotten off on the wrong foot - there was no question about that. Maybe it was because Tony Stark had grown up knowing, thanks to Howard, that Captain America would despise everything about him. Or maybe it was because Steve Rogers had no idea how to handle the world he had woken up in, and the man in the Iron Man armor was a dazzling display of everything the 'future' had to offer.

No matter the reason, things had not gone well during that initial meeting.

Tony was fine with that, honest. There was absolutely no pouting on his part because Cap didn't want to be his friend. He wasn't even that upset about the way Cap could hardly stand to look at him. It was fine. Completely. His feelings weren't hurt even a little.

Steve hasn't been able to look away from Tony since they met. Once his initial fumbling was over and he came to terms with the fact that he'd survived the crash after all... well. He'd fallen fast and hard for the flashy inventor. He just doesn't know how to get the idiot to understand that.

[emiwasabi]

Stalker: Part 2

If you’re interested in being on my tag list, please let me know!

Mayans MC Tag List: @mrsstevenbuchananstark, @rose-bliss, @lyly00, @spnaquakindgdom

It only took a couple of hours to get my shit packed and stored in the car the next morning. The last stop was the bar. In an ideal world I would be able to get in and get out with a vague excuse in under 10 minutes. But of course I don’t live in an ideal world. No, I live in one with stalkers that terrorize good people for no discernable reason.

So it wasn’t a surprise when I pulled into a mostly empty lot. And Hank’s was one of the bike’s that was missing. The only person that I wanted to break the news to since he was technically the ‘boss’ for the bar. From what I picked up on the man, he seems like a straightforward no fuss type of guy. One who won’t ask too many questions or want to know the finer details.

EZ, who was outside with a Romero Brother’s shirt draped over his shoulder, was the absolute last person that I wanted to see.

“Angie!” He called. It was too late to run so instead I leaned against the car with a smile, trying to play it cool. “I didn’t know you worked today. Isn’t it a little early for a shift?”

Yeah, about four hours too early, I thought, trying to keep the smile on my face. “Well I’m actually not here to work. I was just looking for Hank. Is he here?”

“Nah, they went on a job a bit ago. Should be back in a couple of hours.”

The smile slipped away with disappointment. “Oh okay. Well that sucks.” I looked towards the line of bikes again. “And I’m assuming Bishop’s also gone?”

He didn’t seem like the type of guy that liked to pry but I could see the growing concern in his eyes; the slight drop of his eyebrows and subtle glance at my car. He leaned forward, dropping his voice an octave. “You okay Angie? You seem a little…” he motioned between the car and me, “stressed.”

I pushed away, casually starting towards the clubhouse. “I’m fine EZ. I’ll just wait for them to get back.” Before he could open his mouth to object I cut in, “Don’t you have work to do?” I said playfully. Thankfully, he didn’t ask anymore questions.

It had felt like eternity by the time the boys had made it back. My nail beds were a mess from the picking and biting, a nervous habit that I have never been able to kick. It didn’t help that the rest of the Mayans were working in the yard so the clubhouse was relatively empty, leaving me to just spiral with my thoughts. My hair, which needed a washing last night, was even worse now because of the amount of times I’ve run my hands through it.

It took about 10 minutes for Hank to pull out the stool and plop down next to me. “Hey, Angie. What’s up?”

The words that I had meticulously drafted in my head on the drive here dried up on my tongue the second I actually opened my mouth. I cleared my throat. “Uhm. Well I was wondering if I could get my paycheck earlier? Like now?”

The beer bottle stopped halfway between the bar top and his mouth. He glanced at me questioningly before taking a sip. “I can give you cash.” He said too casually. “You seem to be in a rush.” Hank stared pointedly at my nails and jittering leg. “You going somewhere?”

I forced myself to stay still. “Out of town. But like indefinitely. So…” I trailed off and moved my attention to the bar top, tracing the old scars absentmindedly.

“So you’re quitting.” He clarified.

“Yes.” I said. “Not because I didn’t like it or anything. It’s been good. I just have some personal stuff going on. And it’s best if I leave today.” I don’t know if it was his silent nature or the prolonged eye contact but I could feel myself rambling. Which was probably making it more obvious.

“Is this about that letter you got?” EZ cut in from the back of the bar. I almost jumped a foot in the air, not realizing that he was buzzing around the area for all of our chat.

“Letter?” Hank repeated curiously.

Before I could say anything, EZ started explaining. “It was the night of that party with the other Charters.”

“The one where Angel got his ass kicked in the cage?” Hank interrupted, a smirk appearing on his face.

“Yeah, that one. She was fine at the beginning of the night until she found this letter in the storage room. Had her name on the front and everything.” He turned towards me with concern. “You seemed shaken up. And you were sorta spacey the rest of the night.” Damn EZ and that stupid memory thing.

“I wasn’t spacey.” I argued. “And he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Maybe I’m just like that normally.” Hank barely regarded the interruption..

“Note was found in the clubhouse?” The Mayans’s full attention was on me now. I could feel the sweat starting to roll down my back. “Was it a threat?”

I gulped. “Not exactly a threat. It was shoved in between the boxes that were just shipped.”

“Well it didn’t seem like a good thing.” If I could kill someone with a look, EZ would be 6 feet under.

“You don’t have to worry about what the letter said, Hank, because I’m leaving. Today, so crisis averted!”

“So it’s a crisis now..” EZ had completely forgotten his bar duties and was now resting both elbows on the table, staring at me intently. “And probably dangerous, based on the way you’re acting.”

Hank seemed to be lost in his own thoughts for a minute. Not concerned with our bickering. “Stay here until I talk this out with Bishop.” It was an order. Before I could even argue, he was crossing the room heading straight for the Pres.

I blew out a puff of air in annoyance. “Well this hasn’t gone as expected.” I said to no one in particular. There goes that quick in and out idea. I stared intently at my hands, not wanting to see the conversation happening across the room.

Angel had wandered over at some point, wearing the uniform shirt buttoned straight to the top. LIke usual Coco and Gilly also made an appearance. I swear the three were like a packaged deal. “What’s got Bish’s feathers ruffled?” He asked us.

“Probably you.” Gilly joked. He turned towards me and nodded a greeting. “I didn’t think you worked today.”

“I don’t.” I mumbled, still staring at my hands intently. “Just here to get my check.”

“Cause she’s leaving town.” EZ supplied.

“Are you out to get me or something?” I glared daggers at EZ. “I don’t understand why you’re so concerned.”

Hurt flashed across his face. “Cause it’s obvious that something’s up and I don’t think running away is gonna solve anything.”

“You don’t know anything about me!” It came out more defensive than intended. And while I had only been here a couple of months, EZ and I had come pretty close. In fact the longer I worked there the harder it was to keep those pieces of me hidden.

Coco whistled low and I swear I heard Gilly utter ‘damn’. Angel just watched the back and forth like it was a tennis match. “It’s only obvious to you because of your whole thing.” I motioned towards his head. “Has anyone ever told you how annoying that memory trick is?”

“All the time,” Angel confirmed.

Before EZ could fire off a response, Bishop had finished his conversation with Hank and they were both making their way over. With an exasperated sigh, the President grabbed the stool next to me while Hank stood right behind him. “Heard you’re leaving.” There was always something more intimidating about Bishop. Something that went beyond the title, like a complete assuredness of his abilities or the confidence in himself. Whatever it was made my mouth dry and heart rate shoot up.

At this point just about all the Mayans were hanging around. EZ behind the bar. Coco, Gilly, Angel, and Creeper leaning against the bar on the other side of me. Creeper, Riz, and Taza were sitting at one of the shorter tables within earshot. I looked around, focusing on EZ for a bit longer. Sure, I could try to play this whole thing off or play it down but there was something stopping me.

“Fine,” I sighed in defeat and pulled out a joint from my front pocket.. “But I’m gonna need a couple hits before I tell you everything.”

Everyone had rearranged themselves more comfortably and a cold rum and coke was placed on the bartop. I stared blankly at the counter, recounting the story that I’ve recounted god knows how many times. “HIs name’s Andrew. I’ve never actually met him. I mean there’s a chance he was around before and I just didn’t know it.” Maybe they knew where this was going. “It started when I was a sophomore, a couple months after school started. At first it was just monthly letters; not addressed to anyone in particular. They showed up in easy access places; under my door, under the windshield wipers of my car, my usual seat at the library.” I took a strong puff, trying to stamp down the feeling of deja vu..

“They didn’t include anything super specific. It was wierd; almost like someone’s diary. As time went on they became more frequent, detailed, and they started showing up in impossible places. Inside the car, inside the shelves of my bathroom, at work. Then they became more personal. Talking less about his day and more about mine. They just got creepier every time. It was like he wanted me to know that he was watching me at every point in the day. Started getting into my head too.” It didn’t matter where I moved or where my next job was, they kept appearing.” I took a deep breath, clearly remembering the fear that gripped me every time I saw that navy blue envelope. Couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. EZ noticed. His large hand covered my own in support.

“The fucker make any specific demands? Say anything about meeting up?” Coco asked.

“In the six years that he’s been around?” I snorted, “It’d be almost more relieving if he did.” EZ topped off my drink. “It’s like he’s content just watching me.”

“Watching or controlling?” Angel asked.

That took a second of contemplation. “He’s never been direct. But It’s easy to tell when he’s…upset at my choices.” Memories flashed through my mind like a movie. “If he was happy, I’d come home to rose petals on every surface, teddy bears, perfume, clothes. When he wasn’t it was slashed tires, gutted animals. People I got close to would always end up getting hurt. Accidents that weren’t really accidents but nothing could be proven.”

“I’m sure the police weren’t helpful.” Hank added.

That got a chuckle out of me. “No, not at all.” After a second thought I added, “but that might not be all their fault. I’ve never had a physical confrontation with the guy, there’s no surveillance video of him following me. I used to report the break ins but it was useless because there was never any forced entry. Or prints. He’s a ghost.”

“Or a professional.” It was the first time Bishop said anything. While he didn’t look happy, not that he ever did, there was some slight trace of concern in the pinch of the eyebrows and tilt of his mouth. He glanced at the group, making eye contact with each brother before making a decision. “All your stuff is in your car? Do you have enough for a night here?” He asked, turning towards me.

“Yes, there’s a black and white checkered bag in the passenger seat that should have enough. But…”

Bishop started barking out orders before I could utter another word. “EZ, grab her stuff. Set it in one of the back rooms.” He uttered something in Spanish that I didn’t quite get before continuing. “Rest of us. Templo. Gotta figure this shit out.” Most of the guys offered a somewhat comforting smile. Angel gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze as they headed towards those stained glass doors.

There was a point during all of this, maybe three years ago, that I succumbed to this idea that my life would look like this forever. But If I focused hard enough, I could feel an inkling of hope trying to cut through the doubt and fear. Hope that I would maybe get out of this situation alive.

[lsmu]

Book 2 Chapter 12: More Than Anyone

"Tzu! Sana-unnie! The star needs to be shifted a little to the left!" exclaimed Chaeyoung.

Tzuyu and Sana sighed exasperatedly. Being the tallest, Tzuyu reached for the star on top of the Christmas tree, shifting it a little to the left. Sana was holding the folding stairs that Tzuyu used to boost her height.

"Is this okay, Chaeng?" asked Tzuyu.

Chaeyoung stared at the Christmas tree for a moment, then she turned to look at me.

"What do you think, Minsoo-oppa?" she asked me.

I nodded and smiled. Our Christmas tree was finally ready, standing tall and festive in the living room of Twice's apartment, decorated with gorgeous purple and gold

"Yeah, it's perfect! Good job, Tzuyu!" I said, giving the maknae a thumbs up.

She smiled cutely and jumped down. Sana glared at me.

"Ya! You didn't thank me!" she exclaimed, sounding hurt. I laughed. "You did a great job too, Sha!" I said. Sana giggled and blew me a kiss.

The Baby Tiger gave them two thumbs up and moved on to Momo and Dahyun who were hanging Christmas lights on the window frames. She barked her orders, criticizing the two tired but happy looking girls. I chuckled. It was Christmas Eve, and tonight we were having our Christmas dinner together in Twice's apartment, so everyone was busy preparing.

Chaeyoung was in charge of making sure that the decorations were properly put up. She was so meticulous and detailed, and I knew she had started to wear some of the girls down with her micromanaging, but they all took her orders happily anyway because they knew she meant well. The fact that she was so incredibly small and cute also helped lighten the mood, not to mention how adorable she looked bossing everyone around while clutching her clipboard tightly like that, her pink hair tied in a bun, looking almost like an angry little cat.

It had been almost a week since we returned from Singapore. Honestly, when we left the country, I felt like Twice wasn't in the best of moods. Their contract situation was still an issue, and somehow these girls were still torn over their decision. What Momo and Chaeyoung said backstage during MAMA had hurt some of the girls, particularly Jeongyeon and Jihyo, but for the past few days, they had avoided talking about it openly, probably to avoid a confrontation.

Still, the situation needed to be solved sooner rather than later. I knew Suzy was starting to feel restless because of the girls' continued indecision, and she looked so stressed when I met her for our meeting yesterday. She told me that Director Jung kept annoyingly reminding her that the deadline was approaching fast, and when the new fiscal year opened, he would proceed to cut Twice's allowance and luxuries if no decision was made by then.

I sighed and scratched my head. Honestly, I didn't know what the girls were planning. They looked totally split: Chaeyoung clearly wanted to join YG, while Momo was so vocal about her desire to join SM it started to make me feel uncomfortable. I couldn't tell what Mina and Tzuyu wanted, simply because they were so silent.

I was thankful that at least Jihyo, Jeongyeon, Sana, Dahyun and Nayeon looked certain to extend their contract with JYPE. But would that mean Twice would need to disband and continue with just these five? Didn't Sana tell me that above all, what they wanted was to stick together, whether in JYPE or in any other company?

And then, there was that conflict between Nayeon and Tzuyu. What was it all about anyway? Did Nayeon feel jealous because Chuyoung asked Tzuyu to go out on a date of their own? Nayeon was always the closest to her, so she might have felt hurt and betrayed, but why did Tzuyu look so angry at her unnie too? What did Nayeon do to make her angry like that? I remembered seeing Dahyun bring Nayeon back to the dressing room before their performance last week, and her eyes were red and swollen after crying so much. Did she really cry that much just out of jealousy? Or was there something else?

I was confused, and even more so when Jihyo called me this morning and told me to come to their apartment to help them prepare for the Christmas dinner. I asked her if it was the best time for a dinner party with everything that had happened, but she told me that they had agreed to set aside their differences for today to enjoy Christmas Eve in peace. I decided to just trust her, and when I arrived they did look like they were their normal selves again, laughing and joking as they got busy preparing the dinner and the decorations.

I went into the kitchen, finding Jeongyeon and Jihyo busy cooking the meal, while Nayeon and Mina were baking. I smiled looking at the four. They looked so wholesome. Jeongyeon looked up and smiled as she saw me entering.

"Ya! Little Bro! Come help me cut the veggies!" she asked me. I chuckled. "Why do I have to cut the veggies all the time," I jokingly protested. Jihyo giggled. "Because you're so good at it, Minsoo-ya..." she said cutely.

I felt my face blushing hearing Jihyo. Swiftly, I stood next to her at the kitchen table, picked up the knife and started chopping the leeks, mushrooms, and onions. Jeongyeon scowled.

"Why do you fall for Jihyo's trap so easily..." she uttered. "E–Eh? What trap? Which trap?" I asked her, stuttering.

She chuckled and continued breading the chicken with flour. I turned to look at Jihyo, and our eyes met for the briefest of moments. We smiled at each other, and Jihyo quickly looked back at the pork she was slicing, her cheeks blushing as well. Suddenly I heard Nayeon groaning.

"My goodness... The sexual tension in the air! I can't even!" Nayeon exclaimed.

Mina giggled next to her as she continued kneading the dough.

"Leave them be, Nabong... Let their love bloom naturally..." she said wisely. "Ya! Minari!" yelled Jihyo. Mina laughed and shook her head, continuing her work.

Jeongyeon and Jihyo were cooking a lot of dishes for tonight's meal. The main event was undoubtedly the Korean barbecue, with delicious marinated beef and pork currently being prepared by Jihyo, but there were also gochujang fried chicken, currently being prepared by Jeongyeon, japchae–the Korean stir-fried glass noodle dish–, sundubu jjigae–which was specifically requested by Mina, haemul pajeon, chicken tangsuyuk–Tzuyu's favourite, and my favourite jajangmyeon. For dessert, Mina and Nayeon announced that they would prepare their delicious chocolate lava cake.

Momo, Sana and Dahyun had brought bottles of wine, champagne, and soju respectively for us to enjoy later, currently being chilled inside the cabinet in the bar. Chaeyoung's mom had sent her a selection of homemade kimchi. I chuckled. So far, tonight's feast was going to be a blast.

Jihyo looked up at me while I was cutting, and suddenly her big eyes widened.

"Omo... Minsoo! You haven't worn your apron! You'll stain your shirt," she said concernedly. "Eh? Oh, sorry, I forgot!" I said as I realised that she was right.

I turned to the cupboard to take an apron from myself, but Jihyo was quicker. She took out the apron and proceeded to help me wear it, tying the strings into a nice knot behind my back. I saw Nayeon, Mina, and Jeongyeon stare at us with naughty eyes and knowing smiles.

"What?" exclaimed Jihyo, glaring at them, but then she chuckled. "Nothing, Jihyo..." said Jeongyeon, grinning from ear to ear. "You two look so cute together," said Mina softly. "Seriously, guys... Just kiss already!" exclaimed Nayeon, but then a naughty thought crossed her mind. "... Or have you?" "Ya!" Jihyo yelled angrily.

I felt my face burning red, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling. I honestly enjoyed these teases from the girls, and Jihyo looked like she didn't mind too, for she chuckled as she looked at me. At that moment, Chaeyoung and Momo entered the kitchen, both looking tired but satisfied.

"Hi y'all!" exclaimed Chaeyoung. "Wow, the food smells great, Jeongie!" Momo said. "I'm so hungry already!" "You're always hungry, aren't you?" shot Jeongyeon. Momo laughed and nodded.

Chayeoung noticed that Jihyo and I were standing side by side working, and I saw a mischievous smile flashed on her face. Jihyo did too.

"Ya, Chaeng! What mischief are you planning now?" she warned her.

Chaeyoung laughed loudly, but she didn't answer. She leaned in to whisper to Momo's ears, and the girl's eyes widened in surprise. She slapped Momo's arm, but the next moment the two girls ran together to the bar while giggling.

"I think I know what those two are doing," said Nayeon, not looking up from the dough. "Yes, I do too," confirmed Mina, nodding rapidly and smiling her gummy smile, also not looking up. "So do I," said Jeongyeon, still concentrating on her fried chicken.

I looked at them in confusion. What was it?

In a flash, Momo and Chaeyoung returned back to the kitchen from the bar, holding a large glass of that vegan milk Chaeyoung offered me a few weeks ago. Not again, I thought.

"Drink this, please!" they both said in unison. I sighed. "Momo, Chaeng... You girls seriously need to stop taking Jihyo's milk without permission!" I scolded them.

They laughed out loud, and so did Nayeon, Mina, and Jeongyeon. I turned to look at Jihyo, and to my surprise, she kept looking down at her pork, her face burning red.

"Come on, Oppa! Just drink it! Jihyo-unnie won't mind, right?" said Chaeyoung while looking at Jihyo.

I looked at her too, and she didn't reply, only biting her lips and blushing so red her face started to match the colour of the pork meat in front of her. Not waiting for her answer, Momo pushed the glass nearer to me.

"Just drink it... It's good for you!" said Momo.

I sighed and looked at the glass. The milk did look delicious, and I was starting to feel both hungry and thirsty working in the kitchen like this. I stole a final glance at Jihyo while picking the glass up. She won't mind, right? Why did she blush so much anyway? I took the glass. Shrugging, I drank it.

Momo and Chaeyoung watched me drink expectantly, then they clapped excitedly as I finished it. Jeongyeon, Mina, and Nayeon were staring at me with wide eyes.

"Oh my God you actually finished it in one go," said Nayeon, looking amazed. This alarmed me. "W–Why? Sh... Shouldn't I?" I asked confusedly.

They all shook their heads and grinned. I looked at Jihyo again, and I found that she was staring at me, her face as red as a tomato.

"D–Do you... LIke it?" she asked me shyly.

I heard gasps leave the girls' mouths. They stared at Jihyo with wide eyes. Wait. What happened?

"Y–Yeah! It's so... Creamy and fresh... Where did you get this? I should buy a carton for myself, really!" I said truthfully. I did enjoy the milk. "Oh, I'm sure Jihyo wouldn't mind sharing it with you. She's got unlimited supply anyways," said Momo, smirking.

Jihyo didn't reply, but she blushed even redder.

"I... I... I'm... I need to go to the toilet. Excuse me," she uttered, almost incomprehensibly. With that, she rushed out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs to the second floor.

I stared confusedly at the door where she had just run through, then I looked at the girls. They all looked shocked, mouths still open.

"Okay, seriously. What just happened?" I asked them.

The girls all stared silently at me for a while, but then they giggled and returned to their work. Momo and Chaeyoung sighed and shook their heads before sitting at the dining table.

"Well, I guess she does like you that much," said Momo. Chaeyoung nodded. "Indeed," she said, still looking amazed. "She didn't even allow Daniel to drink that much," quipped Mina. "Girls, but seriously... Two times is enough, I think. Let Jihyo give it to him herself next time," said Nayeon in a serious manner.

To my surprise, the girls laughed out loud hearing her, and Nayeon too bursted out laughing. I felt stupid now. Did I miss anything? I looked at Jeongyeon, looking for answers. She laughed and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't be confused, Little Bro. Just know that Jihyo really likes you so much," she said kindly. "B–But..." I protested, but she shook her head. "You'll understand soon enough. I think she'll let you know herself when the time is right," she said. "At this rate, you'll understand really soon, I think," said Nayeon, giggling.

I stared at them, but they all had refocused themselves to their work again, smiling wide. What was it? I was so curious! I was just about to open my mouth to ask again, when suddenly I heard Sana calling my name from the kitchen.

"Minsoo-ya! Look who's here!"

I exchanged confused glances with the girls. I didn't hear anyone coming, but that was maybe because of all the laughing and talking we just did in the kitchen.

"Eh? Did we invite anyone else to come?" asked Mina.

The girls shook their heads, looking similarly confused. Jeongyeon nodded at me, telling me to find out. I nodded and wiped my hands clean, before going outside. When I reached the living room, I saw Sana talking to a tall and really beautiful woman. I recognised her instantly.

"B–Bae-isanim?"

Suzy looked up and scowled at me.

"I told you not to call me 'Bae-Isanim' when we're not in a formal setting!" she scolded me. "A–Ah, yes! Sorry, Sunbaenim! Wow! Didn't expect you to be here!" I said nervously.

Suzy chuckled and smiled, throwing me a cute peace-sign, but I noticed that she looked really stressed. Dark circles were clearly evident around her eyes even though she still looked gorgeous. What happened?

"Well... I'm sorry to interrupt your Christmas party preparation... I shouldn't just barge in like that, I know..." she said. "Suzy-unnie?"

I turned to see Nayeon had already joined me in the living room. She must have heard her voice from the kitchen. Suzy smiled as she saw her and opened her arms wide. Nayeon rushed to hug her tightly.

"My gosh! So good to see you here!" she said. Suzy giggled and stroked Nayeon's hair gently. "What brings you here?" Nayeon asked happily, but then she looked concerned. "Is it... Something serious?"

Suzy exchanged glances with Sana, and they both looked concerned. Did something bad happen? But the girls had specifically promised that they'd forget about everything else and just enjoy the Christmas dinner! I wouldn't let anyone stop the girls from having the necessary respite they needed, not even my own boss.

"Well, I... Uh..." Suzy stuttered, struggling to find the right words to start. "Sunbaenim!" I blurted out instinctively. She looked up. "Yes, Minsoo?" "I... Why don't you... Stay for dinner?" I said to her, but my eyes stared at Sana. Immediately, the Japanese girl understood. "Yes! We can talk after dinner!" she exclaimed excitedly, staring right at Suzy's eyes. "But I..." Suzy protested. "Come on, Unnie. It'll be easier for us to accept any news after we have a good meal, right?" Nayeon interjected, evidently understanding what I was trying to do too.

Suzy looked at the two girls, and then at me. She looked like she was about to refuse our offer, but then she shrugged and smiled.

"Well... I guess I can stay for dinner," she said slowly.

Sana and Nayeon cheered and clapped, and Suzy finally laughed with them.

"Come on, Unnie! Help us cook!" said Nayeon as she pulled my boss to the kitchen.

I chuckled and nodded as she walked past me. Nayeon shot me an appreciative smile, and she announced Suzy's arrival to the cheers of everyone else in the kitchen. Sana flung her arm around my shoulders.

"Thanks, Minsoo. You did great," she whispered. "I won't let anyone stop us from having fun tonight," I told her sincerely. "That's why you're the best!" she said and kissed my cheek before skipping to the kitchen.

I smiled. I'd do anything to make these girls happy. I looked around the living room, admiring the Christmas decoration that had been put up by Chaeyoung, Momo, Dahyun, Sana, and Tzuyu. The Christmas tree was lit with many presents underneath it, the windows and door frames were decorated with colourful lights, plants, and pinecones, and on each door hung a mistletoe. The apartment looked so festive, and I loved it.

Suddenly, I realised that the living room was empty. I knew Jihyo was upstairs in the toilet, but where were Dahyun and Tzuyu? Did they go to their rooms after finishing the decoration? Tzuyu, I could understand. But Dahyun? She usually was the life of the party and would be found in the center of any gathering, so why was she not around now? I decided to go upstairs to look for those three.

"Jihyo? Dubu? Tzuyu?" I called them as I reached the second floor. "I'm still in the toilet, Minsoo! Won't be long!" I heard Jihyo answering from inside one of the toilets. "Don't worry! Take your time!" I replied, chuckling.

I looked towards the deck outside, and I saw Dahyun standing by the railings, staring towards the Seoul skyline while slurping a yogurt drink, looking like she was deep in thought. Curious, I walked outside to meet her.

"Dubu?"

She got startled and turned to look at me.

"Omo! Minsoo! You startled me!" she said. "Sorry," I said, chuckling.

At that moment I noticed that her eyes were red. What happened?

"Are you alright?" I asked her gently.

Dahyun stared at me for a second, then she smiled and looked away.

"Y–Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry. I'll join the girls downstairs soon," she said.

No she wasn't. She was always the most cheerful and easy-going person in the group, and she rarely looked troubled like this. Something must be wrong. I walked and stood next to her, joining her in staring at the skyline.

"Whatever it is, you know you can tell me... If you want to," I said softly.

Dahyun sighed and looked like she was about to refuse, but then she looked down. I saw tears dripping from her eyes, wetting her pale chubby cheeks.

"I... You're right. I can tell you. I can trust you..." she said. What was it? "What's wrong, Dubu?" I asked her again.

She sobbed silently for a few moments, then she looked up to me.

"You know... Mina-unnie and Ansel are together, right?" she asked me. I nodded. "Y–Yeah. I saw them kiss in the airport before we left on Sunday," I said, chuckling.

I was still confused. Why did Ansel and Mina getting together made Dahyun sad?

"Yeah, I saw that too... And... Honestly I'm happy for her," she said softly. "Then what's wrong?" I asked her again.

Dahyun took a few deep breaths, before turning to look at me. When I looked at her, I saw the sorrow in her eyes.

"Ansel... Well... He slept with me on Saturday night," she said. I couldn't believe my ears. "What? What did you say?" I asked her in a loud voice.

She put a finger on her lips, shushing me. I immediately placed my hands on my mouth, covering it. What the fuck? Was she telling the truth? I remembered Dahyun walked a little funny on Sunday, but I thought that was just her usual weirdness. Was that because she was... Because Ansel was... Oh shit.

"Wait... Are you serious?" I asked her again in a hushed voice. She nodded slowly. "Yeah... I–I thought... I was just having fun, you know... I'd never slept with any boy before... Only with Sana-unnie and Jeongyeon-unnie... So I thought... Why not? ... And... Well... I had a lot of drinks, and... Alcohol always makes me... Get aroused... More easily, and..." she rambled through her words, sounding panic.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, calming her. Dahyun looked down again and sobbed. I could almost feel her shame and guilt.

"I mean... I feel so stupid now... Sana-unnie did try to stop me... But I thought... I thought... Why not, right? ... I... I didn't know that they're together," she said through her sobs.

I felt pity for her. I knew it was an innocent mistake on her part, but I could understand how guilty she must have felt after knowing that Ansel and Mina were together. Suddenly, a burning feeling started filling my heart. What was it? Was it... Hatred? I felt angry. I blamed Ansel for this. He had taken advantage of Dahyun's innocence and curiosity.

"Did... Did he tell you that he was with Mina?" I asked her. Dahyun shook her head. "No! No, no, no... If he did I would never do it. I'm not that kind of girl, Minsoo, you know that!" she said bitterly.

I did know that, but I didn't know how to reply to her. I only watched in silence as Dahyun cried and cried, feeling betrayed and guilty all at the same time. She took out her handkerchief and blew her nose loudly.

"Sana-unnie was livid in the morning when I returned to our room... Jeongyeon-unnie and her scolded me for almost an hour. When she told me... I... I felt so ashamed... And dirty... And..." she stuttered, then she broke down in tears again.

She reached to hug me, and I awkwardly hugged her back. She cried on my shoulders for a few moments, and I was starting to fear that some other girl might come up and see her like this. What if Mina came up here?

"Minsoo... I... How can I ever look at Mina-unnie's eyes again? I... I'm so stupid!" she sobbed. "It's not your fault, Dubu... You didn't know. I'm sure... Mina would understand," I tried calming her. My words made her release her hug. "Would she?" she asked me.

Honestly, I didn't know. I was just saying that to calm her down.

"I... I don't know... But... It really is not your fault, Dubu..." I said truthfully. Dahyun looked down and nodded. "I guess you're right... I shouldn't blame myself..." she uttered.

Dahyun sighed, then she looked away to the skyline again.

"What... Did Sana say?" I asked her, curious.

The pale girl wiped her eyes with the handkerchief and blew her nose again. She looked calmer now. She took in a few deep breaths and finished her yogurt drink, before turning to look at me. Her eyes were confident now, and I could almost see fire burning behind it.

"She... She said we shouldn't let Mina know yet... But she... She said she'll find a way to make Mina see Ansel's true colours," she whispered softly. "And I would help her in any way I can." "She should. We should," I said while nodding. "Well... Sana-unnie hated him... And, so do I," she said strongly.

I nodded. In my heart, I knew that all the respect I previously had for Ansel had gone in an instant. How could he do that? Why couldn't he be faithful to Mina? I bet Mina didn't have any suspicions or bad thoughts for her boyfriend, so how could he betray her like this, even more so with one of her own close friends!

Sana was right. We needed to make Mina see Ansel's true colours. It might be difficult to convince her otherwise, but we needed to try. For her own good.

"Thanks, Minsoo. I needed someone to talk about this who won't judge me. Thank you," Dahyun said sincerely.

I looked up at Dahyun and grabbed her hands, squeezing them firmly. She smiled and nodded, looking much calmer, almost back to her usual self. I smiled. Dahyun was a strong woman, and I knew she could pull through this.

"Let's go down. Suzy-sunbaenim is here," I said. Dahyun gasped. "Suzy-sunbaenim? Really? Why?" she asked me. I laughed and shrugged, and we both went down.

Dahyun and I walked down and went to the kitchen. When we entered, we saw the girls were laughing and talking together. Suzy was already busy with Jeongyeon and Jihyo, donning an apron and giving the two cooking advice, and she proved to be a great cook herself. Nayeon and Mina were busy crafting and baking their chocolate lava cake to perfection, while Momo, Sana, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu were all at the dining table, playing a board game noisily. I smiled. This was nice.

I glanced at Dahyun, who sweetly walked to Mina's side and hugged her tightly. Mina chuckled and hugged back.

"What is it?" she asked her while giggling. "Nothing. I just want to hug you," Dahyun said softly. Mina laughed and hugged her back, not understanding what Dahyun meant.

Dahyun hugged Mina for a few more moments before joining the girls at the table. I was about to join them, but Jeongyeon called me.

"Minsoo-ya! Don't slack off! You still need to chop more veggies!" she exclaimed. I laughed. She sounded like my commanding officer in the army now. "Yes, Ma'am!" I said as I saluted her. She laughed, followed by Suzy and Jihyo.

I wore my apron again, and joined Jihyo, Suzy, and Jeongyeon in the kitchen, cooking our delicious Christmas dinner, pushing all the concerns I had as far away as possible for the moment.

As evening came, Jeongyeon and I placed the cooked dishes on the table nicely. The kitchen was filled with delicious aroma. Honestly, I was super hungry already, and by the looks of it, all the girls were too. We sat around the table, Jihyo at the head, Suzy at the place of honor on her right, and I was on her left, looking hungrily at the delicious food in front of us.

"We need to say grace!" said Nayeon.

Momo laughed and immediately looked at Dahyun, who sighed.

"Alright, alright..." she said in defeat, chuckling.

Dahyun was about , but at that moment Nayeon stopped her.

"Why not... We go around the table saying grace?" she said, looking at all of us. "It's Christmas after all..."

We smiled and nodded, agreeing to her. Dahyun opened her palms, asking us to join our hands together in prayer. We gladly did, before closing our eyes to pray. Jihyo started, saying thanks for the food and for the togetherness that we shared, then we went around the table to pray. As my turn became increasingly closer, I somehow felt a little nervous.

Jeongyeon finished her prayers, then my turn came up. I took a deep breath and prayed.

"Lord, thank You... For giving us the opportunity to have this Christmas dinner together. Whatever happens in the future... May tonight be a treasured memory that we share together for the rest of our lives. Amen," I prayed sincerely.

I heard soft 'Amen's from all the girls. As I opened my eyes and looked up, I saw they were all staring at me with wet eyes.

"What?" I asked them. Slowly, one by one, they smiled. "Nah, nothing. It was beautiful, Minsoo..." said Jihyo, representing the girls. They all nodded and smiled, even Tzuyu. "So, uh... Let's eat?" exclaimed Suzy. "Jalmokhaesubnida!" Dahyun yelled, before picking the japchae happily with her chopsticks.

We all laughed and started eating happily. At the risk of sounding boastful, I must say that the food was indeed really delicious. I realised that Suzy had singlehandedly reworked the sundubu jigae from scratch, and I knew Jeongyeon and Jihyo were grateful for it, for she made it even more delicious than the soup that we usually ate. We all complimented her cooking, and she sweetly thanked us, looking more like an older sister to us rather than a company director.

After dinner, we sat down at the living room for desserts, drinks, and a Secret Santa gift-exchange game. We had taken our lots on Monday, and I got Chaeyoung's name, so I decided to give her a cute tiger plush toy, which she paraded around the house proudly after opening it. My Secret Santa was Mina, and she gave me a very nice-looking dark blue hand-knit sweater. I thanked her sincerely and wore it immediately, which made her look happy.

As we sat down by the Christmas tree on the sofa, sipping our warm mulled wine and eating Nayeon and Mina's delicious chocolate lava cake, Jihyo finally asked Suzy the one question we all had in mind almost the entire night.

"Suzy-sunbaenim... I think I speak for all of us that we've enjoyed your company tonight. But... There must be something you wanted to say to us, right?" she said carefully.

Suzy smiled and sipped her cup of mulled wine, before clearing her throat and looking at us.

"Yeah, you're right... I, uh... I need to tell you guys something," she started.

We all sat up straight to listen to her more closely. I felt my heart beating faster, and somehow, in my heart, I knew that what she was about to say must have something to do with the contract situation.

"Well... Um... Today, during the board meeting... Well, the, uh... The topic of your contract was brought up again by the directors," she said slowly.

I exchanged concerned glances with Jihyo who was sitting beside me. She reached to grab my hand, and I squeezed hers gently. Suzy stared at us for a few moments before continuing.

"I... Well... Since no decision has been made on your side, with... Just seven days left before the expiration of the contract... Director Jung... The Financial Director... Pressured me to inform you this...," she said, looking like she struggled so hard for words.

The girls all looked worried, and I was too. What news did Director Jung made her tell us? Suzy looked at us, looking depressed. Shit. How bad was the news?

"I, uh... Well... He asked me to inform you that... If all nine of you want to stay in JYPE, then... The company would need to make some adjustments financially. He... He'll send the complete list to Minsoo by the end of the year, but... one of the main changes would be... Not extending the rent for this apartment, which would end by the end of February next year," she said carefully.

I heard gasps left the girls' mouths, but Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and Chaeyoung looked shell-shocked. They were the only three who still stayed in this apartment full time. This was practically a two-months eviction notice.

"What? Are you serious? He wants to evict us?" asked Chaeyoung. Suzy nodded. "Yeah, and... a lot of other things are being reduced too... Including..." she paused, looking at Mina and Jeongyeon. I knew what she was about to say, and I felt anger started building inside me. "No, Sunbaenim... No. That's just not right. That's inhumane!" I interjected, stopping my boss from speaking.

Suzy looked at me, and I saw tears started filling her eyes. She looked so stressed, but I knew she had no other choice but to say the next, heart-wrenching line.

"... In–including... Mina and Jeongyeon's... Medical benefits," she whispered, before bowing her head low.

The room fell silent. We all stared at Jeongyeon and Mina, both looking horrified. They were both healthy now, but they still had to do their regular check ups with their psychologists and purchase their medications. Mina's eyes started to well up with tears.

"But why? Why so sudden, Unnie? After all that we've done for JYPE these past 12 years!" asked Nayeon, sounding hurt. "Isn't there another way, Unnie?" asked Sana softly.

Suzy looked up, her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry, girls... That's what he told me. He said that JYPE simply cannot afford to maintain all nine of you together again, not with the current economic condition. I had stalled as long as I could... But... There's just one week left, not including this Christmas weekend, and..." she said apologetically. "Hang on, Sunbaenim," interjected Momo.

We all turned to look at her. She contemplated her words for a moment, then she spoke.

"'Maintain all nine of us together'? So that means if a few of us leave, then it's okay?" she asked her. "Momoring..." said Sana, warning her, but Momo shook her head and stared intently at Suzy. "Sunbaenim, is that what you're saying?" she pressed Suzy.

Slowly, reluctantly, Suzy nodded.

"Yes. That's what Director Jung kept telling me. All nine of you stay with reduced luxuries, or... Some of you leave to join another company," she said slowly.

Momo clapped her hands and smiled wide.

"Then it's settled! I'll join SM!" she said happily.

I stared at her in surprise. How could she? Jihyo glared at her, but it was Jeongyeon who spoke first.

"Momo! What the fuck are you saying?" yelled Jeongyeon. Momo looked at her in defiance. "What? I'm doing this for the sake of you who wants to stay, right? It's for your own good!" she said casually.

Jeongyeon stood up from the sofa, staring in anger at the Japanese girl.

"How could you say that? So these past twelve years don't mean a thing to you?" she yelled, sounding furious. Momo glared at her. "Don't mean a thing? It is precisely because these twelve years mean so much to me that I cannot allow those of you who want to stay in JYPE to have less than you deserve! That's why I'm leaving!" she defended herself. "DON'T FUCKING LIE!" yelled Jeongyeon. I saw tears filling her eyes. "Don't fucking lie, Momo! You just want to join SM because Heechul is there!" "He's not even my boyfriend anymore!" yelled Momo. "Girls! Stop!"

Mina had stood in between Jeongyeon and Momo. She was already crying, her slender body trembled.

"Unnie... M–Momo is right. Please. We're doing this for you. For all of us..." she said softly, her voice cracking. Jeongyeon stared at her in disbelief. "We?" she repeated her words slowly. "You too, Minari? Is it because of Ansel?"

Mina looked down, crying. I exchanged glances with Dahyun and Sana. They both looked terrified, but if it was because of Ansel, then Mina needed to be stopped.

"Answer me, Mina! Is it because of Ansel?" pressed Jeongyeon, her body shaking in anger.

Slowly, looking terrified, Mina nodded. Was she being serious? This needed to be stopped. I stood up, but at that moment, Tzuyu also stood up, surprising all of us. She stared at Jeongyeon, and from the looks in her eyes, her mind was set.

"Unnie... They're right. I'm... I'm also joining Chaeyoung in YG," she said slowly.

Chaeyoung looked shocked hearing her words. She stared at the tall girl confusedly.

"Joining me? I haven't even decided!" she said, defending herself. Tzuyu scoffed. "Well... Whether you decide to join or not, I'm joining YG," the maknae said, sounding serious. "Tzuyu!" exclaimed Jihyo in surprise. She had stood up as well, glaring at the maknae.

At that moment Nayeon walked slowly towards the maknae and gently grabbed her arm.

"Tzuyu, please..." begged Nayeon, but Tzuyu glared at her. "What? 'Please' what, Unnie?" she shot at her.

Nayeon closed her eyes, tears streaming on her smooth cheeks.

"Please, Tzuyu... Don't," Nayeon whispered bitterly. Tzuyu kept glaring at her. "Don't try to tell me what to do, Unnie..." Tzuyu uttered slowly, but I could tell that she was saying those words in spite. "I'm not telling you what to do, Tzu... It's just... Please... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." she said through her sobs.

Tzuyu's eyes welled with tears hearing Nayeon's words, but she didn't say anything. She shook Nayeon's hand off her arm, then she picked up her bag, and walked quickly towards the door, leaving the apartment.

This sent the apartment into chaos. Nayeon broke down in tears and ran to her room. Chaeyoung, Mina, and Dahyun followed her, undoubtedly to comfort her. Momo sighed and picked up her bag, bumping her shoulder violently to Jeongyeon's as she walked past her, and immediately left the apartment in silence.

Jeongyeon groaned in frustration and threw herself back to the sofa. Jihyo too fell to the sofa next to Sana, who was already sobbing. My mind was clouded. I couldn't really process what had just happened. Was this the moment Twice finally disbands?

I looked up at Suzy. Her eyes were red, tears wetting her cheeks. She looked so stressed beyond words. Slowly, she reached for Jihyo's hand.

"Jihyo... I'm sorry," she whispered apologetically.

Jihyo wasn't crying, but she stared at Suzy blankly, not saying anything, as if words had left her mouth. Suzy squeezed her hand once, then she slowly stood up.

"Sha, can you... Drive me back home? I was dropped here by the company's driver earlier," she said.

Sana wiped her tears and nodded, standing up. She threw a glance at me, and I realised I had never seen my bias looking that sad and heartbroken before. She closed her eyes, unable to stop crying, but she picked up her car key from the credenza and walked silently towards the door with Suzy.

Out of respect and habit, I followed them to the door, opening it for them. Sana walked past me in silence, but Suzy stopped before me, taking a deep breath.

"I... Have failed you, Sunbaenim," I whispered, feeling awful. She shook her head. "No, Minso. I have failed you," she said. "I'm so sorry..."

I looked up, and saw that she too was crying and looking heartbroken. Silently, she nodded, and walked out of the door, flinging her arm across Sana's shoulders, hugging her tightly.

I closed the door behind them and walked back to the sofa, sitting next to Jeongyeon, who had closed her eyes and rested her head on the sofa. Jihyo still looked shaken. She groaned once and stood up.

"Jihyo?" I called her.

She looked at me, and I saw that her eyes were starting to turn red as well. She shook her head and ran upstairs, disappearing from view. I could hear her frustrated groan as she went outside to the deck.

"You should go after her, Little Bro."

I turned to look at Jeongyeon. She was still closing her eyes and resting her head on the sofa.

"What?" I asked her. "Go after Jihyo. Talk to her, comfort her. She needs you..." she said. "I'll talk to the others."

She opened her eyes and turned her head slightly to look at me. I saw the seriousness in her eyes, so I nodded. She smiled and stood up, walking to join the girls in Nayeon's room. I sighed and started walking upstairs, and I was right. Jihyo was standing on the deck, looking towards the Seoul skyline. Shit. This was the second time today I had to comfort a Twice member on this same deck.

I slowly opened the sliding glass door and stepped outside. The night was cold, but Mina's sweater kept me warm. I realised Jihyo wasn't wearing any outerwear, so she must be really cold. I took off my sweater and walked slowly behind her.

"You'll catch a cold like this," I said softly as I gently put my sweater around her shoulders.

Jihyo smiled as she tugged herself in.

"Thanks, Minsoo..." she whispered. I stood next to her, wondering what to say. "Are you okay?" I asked her. She scoffed. "You know I'm not..." she said slowly. I chuckled. "Yeah... Sorry," I said.

We stood silently side by side for a while, staring at the blinking lights of the skyline. Somehow the buildings looked like a row of Christmas trees. I chuckled. This was the first Christmas Eve I spent as Twice's replacement manager, but somehow it had turned to be a nightmare before Christmas with everything that happened just now.

I looked at Jihyo. She looked mournful tonight, unlike the Jihyo I knew and loved who was always happy and confident. I really wanted to do something, anything, to make her happy again, but I didn't know what to do. I decided to just stand there, letting my presence accompany her, hopefully making her feel a little better.

"Minsoo-ya," Jihyo said suddenly. "Hm?" "Can you... Take me somewhere?" she asked me.

She had turned to face me and look at me straight in the eyes. I looked back confusedly.

"Where?" I asked her. She shrugged. "I don't know. Somewhere, anywhere..." she said, then she added in a small voice. "... Anywhere but here."

I stared at her, and at that moment I understood her. The apartment that was usually filled with laughter and love from the nine members had suddenly turned into hell, filled with grief and anger. Sure, it was decorated nicely, but no decoration could hide the fact that Twice was breaking apart. I really should take Jihyo somewhere else. But where?

"Can we go now?" she asked me again. I nodded. "Sure, yeah. Let's go," I said.

She held my hand, and in silence we walked hand in hand back inside, then downstairs. Jeongyeon was still inside Nayeon's room together with the other girls, and we decided to just leave them there. We wore our coats, then we walked outside.

We went down to the parking lot and entered the TWD car. I started the engine and started driving, but I realised I still didn't have a destination. I turned to look at Jihyo, who stared outside the window.

"Where to?" I asked her again. She chuckled. "I... I seriously have no idea, Minsoo... You decide," she answered softly.

I was confused. One place popped up in my head, and at first I thought it would not be appropriate to bring her there. But where else could I bring her to? At that moment I remembered something I wanted to show her, so I decided to just drive... Back to my apartment building.

As I parked the TWD car in my apartment's parking lot and stepped out of it, Jihyo looked around in confusion.

"Where are we?" she asked me. I chuckled. "Come on, I'll show you..." I said, grabbing her hand.

I guided her to the lift, and we went up to my floor. It was a far less luxurious apartment compared to Twice's, but hey, it was my home. We reached my unit, and I opened the door for her, before scooting inside. When she entered, finally it dawned to her.

"Minsoo... Is this... Your apartment?" she asked me in surprise. I smiled and nodded. "Welcome to my humble abode," I said shyly.

She walked inside and took in the entire apartment with her sight. Well, there wasn't much to look at anyway. There was only one bedroom, and the kitchen, dining room, and living room kind of existed together in the small square in the middle of the apartment.

I walked slowly behind her, and smiled. She gave me a tour of Twice's apartment when I came in as their replacement manager earlier this month, I guessed it was my turn now to show her my apartment. She turned to face me and smiled.

"Your apartment is nice, Minsoo," she said truthfully. I chuckled. "Well, at least I kept it clean," I said. She nodded and smiled. Then a thought crossed her mind. "You said you wanted to show me something?" she asked me. "Ah yes! Follow me," I said.

I opened my bedroom door and turned on the lights. As soon as she stepped in, a gasp left her mouth.

"Oh my God, Minsoo! Your collection!" she exclaimed.

I chuckled. That was exactly what I wanted to show her: My Twice collection. I had an entire bookshelf filled with Twice memorabilia: All their albums and mini-albums, character key chains, poster after posters of all nine members, and ticket stubs from every concert I attended. I had a framed Sana poster with her signature from that one fan meeting I attended years before hanging on the wall, and of course my good-luck charm: The Twice light stick on my table.

Jihyo went through my collection slowly, picking up all the items carefully and admiring every single one of them. She then picked up and wore a cute crown headband from the TWICELAND concert from 2017, before turning to face me. I looked at her and smiled, but then I realised that her eyes were wet with tears.

"Jihyo? Are you okay?" I asked her, feeling alarmed.

She didn't reply, but she threw herself at me and hugged me tightly. With that, she cried loudly on my shoulder. To be honest, I never expected Jihyo to cry like this. She was always so strong, so responsible, so mature, but now she bawled and bawled on my shoulder, her body shaking violently as she sobbed and cried.

I stroked Jihyo's hair gently, not knowing what to do. I guessed the stress and grief she had masterfully buried inside her finally overcame her, and now that she was away from the public eyes and her Twice sisters, she might feel safe to just let her guard down and reveal her emotion.

"Are you okay, Jihyo?" I asked her again. She nodded, but she kept crying. "I just... Seeing how much you love us... If we are to disband... I know we'll break the hearts of Once everywhere..." she said bitterly.

So that's what made her cry. She felt responsible not just to her members, but to the millions of Once worldwide which would be devastated with the news. I never realised that she was carrying such a heavy burden on her shoulders all these time, and what happened tonight had made her overwhelmed. I understood her completely, and as Twice's manager, replacement or not, I knew some of the responsibility should have fallen on my shoulders too. I hugged her tighter, letting her cry her heart out.

For what felt like an eternity, we hugged tightly, Jihyo crying what felt like twelve years worth of tears. Finally, her body relaxed, and she slowly let go of my body, her hands slipping down from my shoulders, resting on my elbow. I stared deeply into her big, beautiful eyes. She looked back, and slowly, gently, a smile curved up on her luscious lips.

"Thanks, Minsoo..." she whispered. "What for?" I asked her. She chuckled. "For listening to me... For being here for me," she said softly. "I really didn't do anything," I said, feeling silly. Her smile widened. "That's exactly what I needed... Someone who would just listen to me and not try to give me advice or solutions," she explained. "Eh?" I asked confusedly.

Jihyo chuckled and rested her hands on my chest. I felt my heart beating a little faster.

"Sometimes, one doesn't need to be given advice when they're in trouble, Minsoo. Your words might sound empty if you just say something for the sake of saying it, without actually knowing the right solution. So... What you did was actually exactly what I needed: I needed someone to just be there for me," she explained again.

I understood her now. I didn't have the solution for Twice's problems, and for some reason, I didn't say anything. I was just simply there. If that was enough for her, then that's what I would do.

I stared deeply into her eyes, and slowly, I smiled too. Jihyo looked incredibly beautiful, even with red swollen eyes and her makeup smeared all over her face after crying so hard. Almost instinctively, I gently combed some hair from her forehead with my fingers. She chuckled.

"We'll find a way. I promise," I found myself blurting without thinking, but she smiled and nodded. "I know we will," she said confidently.

I smiled. That's the Jihyo I knew. We stared at each other, and for reasons unknown, I felt my face drawn to hers. What was happening? Like two opposite poles of a magnet pulling each other, our faces inched closer and closer. My eyelids closed slowly, and before I realised it, our lips... Touched.

So this was what a kiss felt like. It was warm and soft, tender and sweet. I felt her hands tracing back from my chest to my neck to my jawline then to my cheeks, and I felt mine gently rubbing her back and her short hair. I didn't want to let go. I didn't want this to stop. I wanted to freeze this moment. I wanted time to stop.

Slowly, softly, Jihyo's lips separated from mine. She pulled back a little, and stared at my eyes again. No one ever saw me like she did, and somehow, without a single word, thousands of paragraphs were said. I knew exactly what she was feeling at the moment, and somehow, I knew she knew as well. Jihyo giggled, and embarrassedly, she let go of me.

"I, uh... Uhm... I...." I stuttered, not knowing what to say.

I felt my face blushing red. It was a cold winter night in Seoul, but somehow suddenly my room had turned into a sauna. Jihyo giggled shyly, and turned away to look at my collection again. She noticed that there were so many Sana memorabilia compared to other members' and chuckled.

"You're really a Sana stan, aren't you?" she said. I chuckled sheepishly. "W–Well... Yeah," I said truthfully. She chuckled again. "Is she still your bias after you know her personally?" she asked me.

I somehow felt like this was a test. Was it, though?

"I... Well... Yeah, honestly. She's really kind and warm, and as an idol, she's still my bias. But... This past month, the one closest to me is... Jeongie," I said, deciding to tell her the full truth.

Jihyo nodded, still looking at my collection.

"Ah yes, your Noona..." she uttered softly. I nodded.

Jihyo turned to look at me, and somehow I felt my heart beating so fast I was sure that she was able to hear it. I straightened myself and looked at her beautiful eyes.

"You do know that they're a couple, right? Jeongyeon and Sana," she asked me slowly, as if not wanting to offend me. "Yeah. Jeongie... Told me," I told her. Her eyes widened in surprise. "She did?" she asked me. I nodded. "Oh, wow... I didn't know she'd tell you that. They kept that secret so closely, very few people know about it," she said. I nodded again and chuckled. "Yeah... She... Told me in Singapore," I said. Jihyo smiled and and walked closer to me. "I guess you two must be really close, then," she said.

I nodded, but then I smiled. Somehow I knew what she meant by that. I gently placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Jihyo... I... I'm close with Jeongyeon because she's like the older sister I never had. As for Sana... Well, she's just my bias as an idol. I'm just her fan," I said. Jihyo looked at me quizzically. "What do you mean?" she asked me, but a smile was starting to form on her lips. "I mean... They... T–They haven't stolen my heart. Not like that," I said.

Jihyo stared deeply into my eyes again, now fully smiling. I felt like she knew where I was going with this.

"Oh... So... Has anyone stolen your heart... Like that?" she asked me softly. "Yes," I said slowly.

My heart was beating so fast, but I knew I had to say this. This was the time. This was the moment. This was the moment to say what I had been wanting to say for the past week to her. Ever since our first evening in Singapore, ever since I received those messages from the Twicetagram account, ever since I admitted it to Jeongyeon in my hotel room.

"Who is it?" she asked me, although I knew she already know the answer. I smiled. "She's... The one I just had my first kiss with," I whispered. A cute gasp left her mouth. "That was your first kiss?" she asked. I chuckled and nodded. "Pretty lame, huh?" I said. She shook her head.

Our faces inched closer to each other, our eyelids slowly closing.

"No... It was hot," she whispered.

We kissed again, passionately, warmly. Jihyo's hands gripped my hair, and mine grabbed hers. Our tongues twisted inside our mouths, and for the next few seconds, all I could hear was the sound of our breathing. When we let go of each other, a thin sliver of saliva connected our lips. We chuckled embarrassedly, staring at each other.

"Say it again," she whispered. I chuckled. "It's you, Jihyo. You've stolen my heart," I whispered back. "I love you... More than anyone."

Jihyo sighed and smiled. She closed her eyes and leaned her face closer to me again.

"I love you too, Minsoo... I knew I loved you since the day I met you," she whispered.

For the third time, we kissed. Then, I felt her hands slipping down to my belt buckle, and she nimbly unbuckled it with her fingers. I took off her outerwear, while she took off the sweater Mina gave me. We undressed each other gently, and soon, we stared at each other's body, covered only in underwear.

My eyes inevitably fell on her bulging cleavage. Her white and blue bra looked like it was struggling so much to hold down her mountains. I knew my boner had fully developed, but I didn't care. I kept staring at Jihyo's massive tits.

"Wow..." I heard myself uttered those words before I could stop it. Jihyo chuckled. "Why so surprised? You've grabbed them the first day you met me," she said. "I know... But... That was an accident," I said, chuckling.

Jihyo laughed and sat on my bed, beckoning me to join her with just one look. I awkwardly sat next to her, finding myself unable to resist the temptation. She grabbed my hands gently.

"Do you want to grab them intentionally?" she teased me.

I felt my face burned again, and I nodded. Jihyo giggled, and softly, she placed my hands on her tits. The softness and firmness immediately engulfed my palms, and I felt my penis was about to burst through my boxer. I looked at her, not knowing what to do with all the sensation I was feeling right now. She giggled.

"Don't be shy..." she encouraged me. "... Squeeze them."

I obeyed her. I squeezed her full breasts with desire, and they immediately spill out of my fingers. Shit. I had never touched anything like this before! Slowly, I felt more and more confident, and I started kneading it like a dough. Jihyo closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling.

"Mmh... Minsoo..."

I played with Jihyo's tits for a long time, and I noticed the interval between her moans started to get shorter and shorter, the volume louder and louder. Before long, she held my hands to stop me, catching her breath. While staring at my eyes deeply, she reached behind her back and unbuckled her bra.

She took it off slowly, and her colossal tits bounced deliciously, free from the confines of her bra. I felt my eyes widened in surprise as I saw just how incredibly big her tits were in their full glory. They were simply incredibly massive, way bigger than ordinary Korean's. Her nipples were plump, chocolate dark brown in colour, her areolas large and inviting. I felt my cock hurting inside my boxer now.

I found myself curious to find out her bra size, so I glanced at her bra that was on the bed. I couldn't really read the tag, but from what I saw it was... 36... Wait. Is that a D or a G?

"It's a G..." she answered the question I had in my mind. A gasp left my mouth. She giggled. "What...?" she asked me shyly, noticing how my mouth had gaped open. "N–No... It's... It's just... They're... So... Big," I stuttered. Jihyo giggled. "Are they... Really that big?" she uttered, blushing. "W–Well... Maybe it's G... For G-hyo?" I asked her. She bursted out laughing. "YA! MINSOO!" she yelled, slapping my chest repeatedly while laughing out loud, her massive pair jiggled with every slap she made. My God.

I laughed with her, feeling stupid and hypnotized by those two immense jugs. It took me a few seconds to realise that something that looked like a clear white liquid was dripping from her nipples, and a few more seconds to realise that my palms were wet too. Suddenly, as if a light bulb was lit up in my head. But... Was that even possible?

"Jihyo... Did... Do... You?" I asked. Shyly, she nodded. "I... Yeah... I can produce milk... Without being pregnant," she uttered. "Been like that since I reached puberty. Maybe that's why... My tits grew so big."

My eyes widened in surprise. So that was why my hands were wet when I accidentally fell on her breasts earlier this month. Wait. Did that also mean...?

"S–So... The milk... That Chaeng...?" I asked her. She nodded again, blushing red. "Y-Yeah. That's my milk you've been drinking," she whispered. "... You do like it, don't you?"

I didn't know what to say. My cock was throbbing inside my boxer right now. I wanted to take it out so badly, but I felt my knees weak now, and my arms were trembling. Shit. I had drunk Jihyo's milk twice before this? Two big full glasses of it?

"Gosh... Jihyo..." that was all I could say. Jihyo giggled. "Do you... Want... To drink it again?" she asked me tentatively.

Her last words did it. I pounced on her, pressing her body to lay on my bed. I positioned myself on top of her, and she giggled and played with my hair.

"Drink up, Minchu..." she said teasingly. I looked up to her. "What did you call me?" I asked her. She laughed. "Minchu," she repeated. "My lovely Minchu..."

I chuckled, and then I buried my face in her mountainous mammaries. Her warmth and softness engulfed my face. Slowly, my mouth found her nipple. I started sucking it deliciously, and immediately her milk squirted inside my mouth. She jolted and squirmed.

"A–Ah... Minchu... A-Ahn..." she moaned.

I kept sucking her nipples and drinking her milk, switching between her left and right ones. While I suck one, my hand squeezed her other, and I watched her milk squirting out of it like a fountain. It was by far the sexiest thing I had ever witnessed in the world, and I couldn't believe it was happening right in front of my eyes.

Jihyo's body tensed. She let out a loud sigh, her milk spurted more from her nipples, and I knew she was reaching her first orgasm of the night. Shit. She came by just me drinking her milk? Her nipples must be highly sensitive.

"Minchu... Take out your... Penis... It must hurt," she said breathlessly.

I obeyed her. I stood up, slipping out of my boxer with haste, my cock finally breathing free. I knew with a little less than 7-inches, my dick wasn't the biggest in the world, but it had considerable girth, even if it lacked length. Jihyo stared at it and giggled, opening her arms wide.

"Come here, Minchu, put it here," she said. I raised an eyebrow. "P–Put it where?" I asked her. She giggled again, then she squeezed her giant boobs together while eyeing me seductively.

"Here..." she whispered.

I gulped. Slowly, still feeling awkward and unsure of what to do, I knelt on top of her, placing my cock in between her hefty tits. I felt her softness engulfed my dick, and the sensation sent my mind into a blur.

"M–My god... Jihyo..." I stuttered.

She giggled, then she squeezed her tits around my cock. It felt so tight, so juicy. Fuck. What should I do now? She kept looking at me, and somehow, I understood. Automatically, my hips started moving front and back, and my cock head slipped in and out of her bulging cleavage. Jihyo spat on my dick head, giving it lubrication, while still squeezing her tits tightly. I looked down, and saw that her nipples were leaking milk. Shit. I was about to cum. As if understanding this, Jihyo squeezed her tits even tighter, making her milk spurt out.

"F–Fuck... J–Jihyo... J–Ji... Jihyo... A–Ah..."

I came. I came hard. My white liquid shot again and again, covering Jihyo's face and tits. She shut her eyes and mouth close, taking in shot after shot of my cum.

I fell back, resting my back on the bed. My head felt dizzy. I felt I was spent after just one time cumming, and even if I was, I thought that was enough, but then I felt Jihyo creeping slowly on top of me, her succulent tits grazing my face. I opened my eyes, and I saw that she was on top of me, her tits a few centimeters on my face.

"Jihyo?"

She smiled, and grabbed one of her giant jugs to breastfeed me. I opened my mouth willingly, and as soon as her delicious milk entered my system, suddenly my cock shot back up, from limp to rock hard in an instance.

"W–What the fuck?" I stuttered. Jihyo giggled. "I guessed it still works," she whispered. I looked at her in surprise. "What works?" I asked her. She giggled again. "My milk. It works wonders, right?" she said, looking at my hard on.

I shrugged, not wanting to think about it, and just simply suck on her plump nipples more. Jihyo's milk quickly became my favourite drink in the world, and I would never have enough of it. Her hand slipped down and grabbed my cock, jerking it off. With all the sensation all over my body, I couldn't really comprehend what was happening right now, or whether it was a dream or a reality.

After I've had my fill of Jihyo's milk, she straightened herself, and while staring at my eyes, without words, she positioned herself on top of my standing cock. My eyes widened.

"J–Jihyo? W–Wait," I stuttered, realising what she was about to do. Jihyo smiled. "This is your first time, right?" she asked me. I nodded rapidly. She smirked. "Then let me guide you..." she said confidently.

With that, she inserted my cock into her pussy. I felt the warmth of her insides, and I wanted to close my eyes, but somehow I kept staring at her. I felt inch by inch my cock entered her, the wetness and tightness of her pussy sending electricity throughout my body.

"J–Jihyo... M... My God... A... Ahh..."

I felt my dick head hitting her womb. I was balls deep. She looked up, sweat dripping from her forehead. She pulled her hips up, then she slammed back down with one swift movement.

"A–Ah... Ah... J–Jihyo! Jihyo!" "M... Minc... Minchu... A–Ah!"

She rode me, her giant tits bouncing deliciously in harmony with her movements. My hands reached behind, squeezing her plump butt cheeks. I straightened myself up, meeting her. Her boobs slapped against my chest, and we kept swaying together, moaning, gasping, and squirming together.

"J–Jihyo... Jihyo!" "A–Ah... Mmmh... Mh! Ahn... Ah... Minchu..."

We hugged each other. She pressed my head to her tits, and I sucked her nipples deliciously again. Her milk kept spurting inside my mouth with every thrust I made, my dick head hitting the entrance of her womb again and again. I looked up and kissed Jihyo's lips. She gripped my back, holding on for dear life. I felt her body tensing, but mine was too.

"M... Minchu... I'm... I'm..." "Y–Yeah... Me... Me too... J–Jihyo... Jihyo!" "A... Ah... Ah! Minsoo! M–Minsoo... Y–You need to pull out. It... It's not... A safe day..."

I nodded and pulled out, pushing her body to the bed, and came on her giant tits and toned abs. She also came, gushing her pussy juice out, her tits squirting milk like a fountain. Fuck. This was my first sex ever, and it was already the hottest thing I've ever experienced.

I laid next to Jihyo, both of us panting for breath. We stared at each other and giggled.

"Fuck that was crazy!" I said breathlessly. She chuckled. "I don't remember the last time I came like that," she said.

Jihyo reached for a kiss and I kissed her willingly. I really couldn't believe that I had just had sex with Park Jihyo, the leader of Twice. Even more so, I had drunk her milk directly, after drinking it twice from two full glasses.

We separated, smiling at each other, enjoying the feeling. I looked up to the clock on the wall. It was just past midnight. I looked at this beautiful girl lying next to me, and I smiled as I saw her gorgeous smile.

"Merry Christmas, Jihyo. I love you..." I whispered. "Merry Christmas, Minchu..." she said cutely. "And I love you too."

We stared at each other. Somehow, at that moment in time, all the problems we had with Twice's contract, the problem with Dahyun, the problem between Nayeon and Tzuyu, as well as the problem with Chaeyoung and Momo seemed so far away, seemingly less and less important. All I cared about that Christmas midnight was this beautiful lady lying next to me. A silly idea crossed my mind.

"Jihyo," I called her. She stared at me, smiling. "Yes, Minchu?" "Can I... Call you... 'Mommy'?" I asked her.

She stared at me for a few moments, taken aback by my question, but then she laughed.

"Sure, but... Why?" she asked me. I shrugged. "I don't know... Because I love drinking your milk so much?" I said.

My words made her laugh out loud, but then she hugged my head and pressed it to her tits again. I knew I was addicted to these massive things.

"Sure... Just don't call me that in front of the girls. I'll be teased mercilessly," she said shyly.

I chuckled and drank her delicious milk again. I felt my cock shooting up again, getting fully rock hard. Jihyo gasped as she saw my cock.

"You're hard again?" she asked me. I laughed. "You said it yourself that your milk works wonders!" I said.

Jihyo laughed, kissing my neck. I positioned myself on top of her, ready to go again.

[ask-spider-man-61610]

The Infiltration: Part One of Three

To say that two shapeshifters stood in the basement laboratory of a government building wouldn't be quite accurate. One shapeshifter stood in the basement laboratory. The other could more honestly be described as meticulously sculpted into shape. The particles that made up his body were arranged into the shape of a standing man, held in place by static cling, but that wasn't really standing. It was a rough approximation of standing, just like everything about Flint Marko was a rough approximation of a human being. He'd long since gotten used to the fact, but that didn't make it any less unpleasant.

The other shapeshifter, Reed Richards, leaned against a table that was great for projecting holograms but terrible for holding papers or drinks. Fancy and impractical equipment like this was one of the Cape Code Authority's most well-known features.

A third man stood in this laboratory too, off to one side. He was, in a way, the exact opposite of a shapeshifter. More on him later.

"I've taken some time to look into your request," Richards said as he tapped a few icons on the tabletop. "Here's the basics of my thoughts so far. A shell to house your nervous system and respond to electrical signals."

There was a sound like sand sliding down a dune before Flint began to speak. It had taken him a long time to relearn how to talk after becoming the Sandman; even now, it took effort to hold the shape of those granular vocal cords as he spoke in a deep and raspy voice. "Yeah. Y'said that last time, Doc. What's changed?"

Richards, in response, pinched an image on the tabletop and widened it out, his fingers stretching like rubber bands to expand the picture further. He raised his arm--he seemed to ignore his joints, the entire limb bending like a garden hose--and flicked one finger up, and a hologram rose out of the table's display to cast a soft white glow over the room. The hologram looked like eggshells glued to an Erector set, arranged into the shape of a bipedal form that lay on the table as if it were a stretcher. "What's changed is that I've done some research into actually making that shell. Take a look, I've drafted up a basic schematic for what it'd look like."

"And you decided it'd look like a Phantom?"

Richards snorted, but ignored the question. "The outermost shell is solid-light holography," he continued, making a vague swiping gesture through the air above the image. The eggshell faded out, revealing the bare animatronic beneath, which (judging by the sculpted face made of sand) Flint found even less impressive. Frowning, Richards looked down at the hologram again and added, "We could, given some finagling, calibrate it to resemble an actual human. But generating these 3D models is a pain, so I didn't bother."

Perhaps a more critical mind would have asked why, if 3D models were such a pain, they bothered to use holograms at all instead of pen and paper. But Flint's mind had never been an especially critical one; he was in no way stupid, but for all his life had tended to take things as they came. Instead he asked, "Is that why it looks like a Phantom? 'Cuz you're just recycling a picture you already had?"

"Not letting that go, eh?" Richards replied, the ghost of a smirk on his face as he glanced up at the Sandman again. He waved his hand again, and the computer misinterpreted his gesture and deactivated the projection of the suit. Rolling his eyes, Richards reactivated the hologram and said, "No. Well, partially. It looks like a Phantom because that technology is what a lot of my idea is based on. You see, what you're asking for is very similar to how the technology works anyway--an artificial support structure for a unique nervous system. The only difference is that your nervous system is two gallons of granulated silica, whereas the Phantoms are currently working with--"

And here he stopped, falling silent and stoic. His eyes, suddenly devoid of their smiling crow's feet, glanced Flint's way before his disgusting elastic fingers returned to typing on the touchscreen between them. The pile of sand, insomuch as it could, looked confused.

"What?" he said, in a voice like a seashell crushed underfoot on a beach. "What're the Phantoms workin' with? I thought they were just robots."

This was a common misconception, and Richards, like most of the Cape Code Authority, had a vested interest in upholding it. "Phantoms" were the colloquial name for Perpetual Holographic Avatar/Nano-Tech Offensive Monsters. Bipedal, autonomous drones with light weaponry, they were the foot soldiers of the CCA, the beat cops, the cavalry when an agent wanted reinforcement. They had been in development since the War of the Worlds had brought the Chitauri and all their technology to Earth six years ago, and some of the core technology of the drones was better kept unknown. What Richards had said threatened to jeopardise that secrecy.

The third man in the room chose then to speak. Stepping forward, his black cloak obscuring the entirety of his six-foot-plus form, he spoke with a voice that was digitally altered to be an octave deeper. "They are robots," he said, his white face mask moving like genuine flesh. "Their processors have a unique method of operation, though. They have some of the most sophisticated A.I. in the world, and their microprocessors are similar enough to a human's that it won't require too much tinkering to render it compatible with your...situation."

This was Scrier--or rather, a Scrier; one of many--and he was a champion liar. Nobody quite knew when he had joined the CCA or what level he occupied, but the executives of the organization seemed to treat him as a special case. He never answered distress calls, except to break up protests and strikes. He had no patrol routes, no assigned partners, and the only training courses he attended were the ones he taught--the ones about corporate rights and the agency's responsibility to them. Agents weren't allowed to try and investigate Scrier's identity. For all they knew, he was an undercover boss trying to hear his subordinates' opinions on him.

This was true, but it was a little more specific than that.

"Yes!" Richards said, gesturing towards the man gratefully. "Thank you, Scrier. I didn't know how exactly to put that. Yes, Phantoms run on a very human-like system. In theory, adapting it to suit your nervous system should be far easier than trying to create something out of whole cloth."

"I thought you were like a super genius," Flint said, sounding a bit annoyed. "You've invented flying cars and indestructible fabrics that let you go to space. You have yer own interdimensional portal. Why is this taking so much thought? Why does this need to be made out of other stuff and spit and prayers?"

Richards gave him a blank glare for a few seconds before sighing. "Okay," he said, leaning on the table. "First of all, I am a genius. I'm one of the smartest people to ever live, but that doesn't mean I know everything. I have to research and experiment. Any innovation, even one from me, takes time." He waved his hand again and the hologram vanished. "Second of all, remember: I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart."

"You're doing this because that was my condition!" Flint shot back, and the pile of sand swelled slightly and grew almost half a foot. He raised his arms; granules fell from the sculptures and scattered across the floor. "That's what I said when I joined this stupid super-cop thing! I hate being the Sandman, Doc! You guys offered to give me this--this job of disrupting protests and taking down unregistered super-guys because your bosses told me you could make me...not."

He glanced down at his hands. And indeed hands they were; years of practice had let him sculpt the sand at the end of his arms into an incredibly realistic form, with perfectly jointed fingers. You could almost see what must have once been his fingerprints. But as he looked at them a small stream of sand fell from them to the ground.

"I'm not expectin' you to make me human again," he said. "But just...something that'll make me feel more human. Something that feels like a body." His features hardened again, sand dunes into sandstone. "If you're just half-assing that--if you're just giving me something that-that makes people treat me like a Phantom and that'll break in like a week--"

And here he stopped. There was more than just a salary that kept agents of the Cape Code Authority in line. You had a lot of wiggle room as a superhero registered under them: you could slack off on the job, you could issue arrests for what you were pretty sure was a crime, you could stop and frisk anyone you liked, you could be sure that the beatings you gave to unarmed suspects were graciously forgiven by your superiors. But one thing you couldn't do was leave. Quitting the CCA was a surefire way to bring the coworkers you had once trusted down on your head; no longer registered, you had no more immunity than a child experimenting with the most basic powers did. Nobody wanted to find themselves imprisoned in Complex 42--stranded inescapably in the Negative Zone, tortured by armed guards and experimented on to replicate your powers, only protected from the hostile, annihilating environment outside the prison by a few wafer-thin force fields. But that was exactly where Flint's line of thinking threatened to take him.

"...Forget it," he mumbled, defeated, and as he slumped down slightly his face and body lost much of its detail.

Richards stared across the table with an uncomfortable air. Glancing down at the table, he tapped a few keys on it and the hologram vanished. With one hand he pushed his glasses up, and then his arm stretched the five feet across the table and patted Flint's semblance of a shoulder.

"Look," he said. "I can't make any promises. You're...unprecedented, Marko. The only shapeshifter of your kind. I'm doing the best I can to help you. But if I can use technology we already have to do it, then I'm going to. You're not my only job in the CCA. But I'm working on it." He took his hand back, and then needed a second to brush off the sand that had come with it. "...It's getting late. We ought to call it a day, I need to head home."

"Have to convince Susan not to walk out on you again?" Scrier suggested, already heading for the door.

Reed just dragged his hand down his face, his features stretching in his grip, and didn't answer. His eyes were bagged and his posture tired. Instead he began to trudge towards the door, each leg bending like it was made of plasticine, and followed by an animate pile of sand.

The light of streetlights and storefront signs shone through the windows as the three of them stepped out of the laboratory. About ten feet away, a custodian looked up from the floor he was mopping and gave the trio a quizzical expression, but the only one who paid him any mind was Scrier, whose expression was hard to parse through the prosthetic mask. Richards and Flint just began to head the opposite direction down the hall.

"Hey! Scrier! Don't you have some skulking to do somewhere else?!" Flint called back.

As the door to the lab swung closed, the janitor adjusted his grip on the mop and looked back down at his work. Scrier, after a second more of staring, turned away and began to saunter off.

It was a long hallway. They kept walking for a good long while before they turned and were out of sight. And for all that time the janitor continued to mop and silently sweated, waiting for them to notice that the security cameras weren't moving like they usually did. Even when the three Cape Code Authority agents were gone, the custodian continued to work. He worked until the vibrations of their footsteps through the floor had faded into the background tremors of the environment. And even longer than that, until the buzz of spider-sense in the back of his mind had subsided slightly, no longer quite so focused on them.

[reidecorating]

the bau team and their star signs based on science

hotch: clearly an aries. this is not up for debate and i don't take criticism. natural born and excellent leader? maybe. but bossy boots because he is just a bossy boss man who probably sleeps in a suit or those pyjamas that have suit graphics on them? most definitely. when he speaks, his voice sounds like it’s coming out in all lower case, when he yells, it’s all caps. angery. down to throw hands at anything in his immediate line of vision probably. will exterminate you like a roach if you mess with someone he cares about. don't break the rules or my boss will kill me 😡 to you're breaking the rules under MY supervision, that way my boss will kill US 🥰. probably microwaves food a lot. type of dad to say no to getting a dog, then two months later get matching christmas costumes with said dog. never stops working because he is an absolute UNIT built like the circuit of one of those infinity pools in bali. could use another sabbatical.

rossi: i saw his birth certificate and the rumours are true, he’s a november sagittarius. two wives away from being a modern day king henry the eighth. it’s rossi’s world and we’re all just living in it. he is a prophet. his third eye has been opened and he ascended to the seventh dimension at the age of 24. when he takes leave, the only way to contact him is through a ouija board in latin or maybe greek depending on the position of the sun. he will only die when he chooses to die but will dissolve at the words ‘what are we?’. the major arteries in his body are just long pieces of macaroni. definitely has hooked up with one person from every state the jet has landed in. no filter between his brain and mouth, will destroy your self confidence intentionally. uses abbreviations when texting. liberal - because of the experimenting back in college. probably friends with your mum on facebook.

prentiss: imagine her being anything but an air sign. you can't because she's clearly an aquarius?? work comes first (first equal with her girlfriend). if you tell her to do something she simply won't do it, especially if it was something she was just about to do. she once came home from a run with her mother in the summer and her mother politely suggested that she should drink some water. emily, an anarchist, did not drink water and was hospitalised for heatstroke in due course of proving her point of nonconformity. has been to jail. sucks on candy canes and makes them pointy because christmas is one of her least favourite days. on probation. no, i really like him *deletes his number*. maybe moves to iceland to become a sheep herder to avoid having to ever see anyone she has romantically affiliated with ever again. actually quite the jester, joke levels exceed 4000, but can make you laugh and cry in the span of approximately the length of a short youtube ad. the antichrist.

morgan: has at some point caused someone to question their sexuality. am i really a straight man? do i really only like women? - direct quotes from anyone who has seen him. if that doesn't scream libra i don't know what does. i’m trying to refrain from using the words ‘hot’, ‘sex god’, ‘rail me’. the kinda guy who will hold open a door for you, but also have no problem kicking one down for you. has never ditched class before. momma’s boy. tries to make his pecs move in the mirror. he KNOWS he’s hot okay??? but THEN its not just that because people are like ‘oh he's attractive’ but then they find out he’s RESPECTFUL, and INTELLIGENT and COMPASSIONATE and then that awkward moment when you just DIE because he is not flawed??? it’s like he’s a lucid dream??? probably secretly is really good at baking some obscure european good. uses colognes that have really manly man sounding names for instance, ‘Man Musk’, ‘Mystical Muscles’, ‘Beards and Buttercream’.

garcia: the epitome of a female pisces. a baddie™. definitely owns a pair of those really skinny sunglasses that influencers wear and looks like god herself while in them. spirals from being the momma bear to the wine-aunt. she will care about you so hard but if that's not reciprocated, will hack into your my eyes only and fax those pictures to every machine she can connect to. accidentally has flirted her way into at least 19 relationships. really good at writing fan fiction??? like - seriously good. knows 4 different synonyms for the word “member” iykyk. researches things the people she loves most enjoy, so when she talks to them she can have more detailed conversations. catches feelings for people who are definitely not good for her. sometimes just takes off her glasses because she's tired of, well... seeing. hand makes cute lil earrings for her friends. a master at fireboy and watergirl and will never play with anyone else because ‘another player just slows you down, i can do it myself in half the time’. THAT FRIEND WHO WILL WAIT FOR YOU TO TIE YOUR LACES.

jj: virgo. she was definitely that girl who had notes with pretty titles and colour coded highlighters in school. also did extracurriculars in the weekends so she’d have to be picked up from sleepovers early to go to soccer games. when she takes the time to learn something she learns it well and perfects any craft handed to her because anything less than 100% is failure in her eyes. gets annoyed when other people cry for too long probably. will judge you. so much. silently. especially if you cry. don't make her mad because she has caused civil unrest in 13 continents. live, laugh, love signs in her kitchen. security footage surfaced in 2007 of her roundhouse kicking a middle aged man, in the junk food aisle of a trader joe’s, after he took the last re-stocked bag of cheetos. has a ‘mom first, agent second’ mug that garcia got her. likes family walks which will most likely be planned out meticulously, involving a detailed itinerary of the day i.e. Henry’s toilet break, 10AM

reid: he despises star signs and anyone who gives them any thought because “where is the SCIENCE?” this bitch is a scorpio. definitely only knows his sun sign. so intense! have you seen the way he looks at things?? the way he stares??? the way he analyses dead bodies??? the way he loves??? ridiculously put together to everyone around him but emotionally life is soup and he is fork. kinky. breaks off bananas little by little with his hands before eating each piece individually because eating them normally is too sensual and he’s paranoid morgan might see him doing it and take a picture. wants the kind of love he reads about. has a superiority complex about having a superiority complex. keeps a straight face while saying literally anything so you cannot tell if he’s being serious or not like one day he’ll just be like “yeah i killed a man with an axe once to enable myself to more easily empathise with future unsubs who potentially work as lumberjacks or have a history of logging. it’s called method axing,” and then leave the room to draw circles on maps or something. believes that parallel parking should work, in theory, but never seems to work for him in practice.

[i-need-air]

Hi! I was wondering if you could do Hawks with a support engineer s/o? Like they make his support items (not that he uses many) and upgrade his costume and he takes that time to flirt and make them flustered and it’s all really cute and fluffy

Ooookay, hear me out! I started this as some cute hcs but I decided I'd rather write a small fic since I somehow felt if would be better and ended up sticking with it in hopes you don't mind. I really hope it's what you wanted and that you like it 💕💞💕

Word count: 1.5k~

Keigo really didn't pay much attention to his support department; he knew he had one, of course, yet anything that needed to be tested by him would've had to be approved and re-approved by his higher ups, then passed to his side-kicks, and then, with luck it would reach him.

One day everything in his life changed as a request to test a new pair of goggles was placed on his desk by his secretary. His last pair has been smashed in a small battle with what seemed an insignificant villain so this seemed like the perfect time to test new prototypes.

He sighed, getting up from his chair in a stretch, scratching his stubble in wonder. Does he even know where his support department is?

You sighed, checking the tiny locators on your desk through a frown. The past few weeks have been exhausting to say at least.

When you first arrived at Hawks', The Hawks' Hero Agency as a junior support designer life seemed like it was heading into the right direction, yet as you reached your first month mark, the fact that there weren't any other junior designers started to make so much sense. Nobody payed any attention to the newbies, which was infuriating, degrading, unmotivating... but you had to fight through and not quit as the last ones did. It was a competitive business and you almost reached the bottom of the top, why settle there? So as your superior ignored you, you started learning more about your Hero's costume and it surprised you to note that he barely had any supporting items. Hell, even those goggles were... plain? He could do so much more! And as you made plans and started building, you made reports of all the prototypes created and jumped to send them to the higher-ups without even informing your seniors. It never hurts to try, right?

"Ah, finally, I've been running around in this building for-e-ver!" Someone said behind you, startling the living hell out of you which ended up with paperwork thrown everywhere.

You turned in shock already recognizing the voice behind you. Your eyes, wide as plates, landed on the man that you've been studying meticulously for the past few months.

Crimson feathers surrounded you as an amused smirk formed on his features. They started catching and picking up the papers surrounding your figure and gently placing them on the desk.

"Well, hello there~." He said, stepping in your office with curiosity, sharp eyes taking in his surroundings with just a glance then setting back on you.

"Mister Hawks." You cleared your throat and adjustes your apron.

"Mister? How old do you think I am, dove?" He said, shaking his head and laughing.

Ah, great, now I insulted my boss. You dryly thought.

"23, sir." he gasped, putting a hand on his chest.

"Sir?!?" before you could apologize, if there was something to apologize for, he continued in a dramatic way. "How could I allow an angel to call me sir? Please, it's just Hawks." He smiled and you squirmed in place.

You heard he was easy going, a very laid back yet lovely individual, but the way he called you any nickname in the book made your cheeks burn. You avoided his eyes, as they were intensely observing you, and cleared your throat.

"What do I owe the pleasure, sir—" you stopped yourself as he opened his mouth and lifted his finger to, you assumed, scold you "—Hawks...?"

"Oh? You don't know?" He looked around trying to find something, his face lighting up when spotting it. "I came to test a new pair of goggles, of course!"

It's then when you really took in the condition of your office. A disaster. The higher-ups sent Hawks there without even notifying you! You could've cleaned up! And they sent Hawks to test your goggles! THE OFFICE IS A MESS AND THE NUMBER 2 HERO IS IN IT TO TEST YOUR—!

"Oh, my god..." you muttered, not really believing it's really happening. It's the same reaction you had when you landed this job yet now it was turning into reality.

"Sorry to interrupt that train of thought—" he paused. "Excuse me, I don't even know your name. The audacity!"

"Oh! It's [L/N] [Y/N], sir."

"Hawks." His smile, which was heartwarming, never left his face.

"Hawks." You repeated, heart hammering in your chest even when being playfully scolded by your boss.

"So! What's a beautiful little feather like you doing in a place like this?" He inquired, obviously way too into the moment. Keigo could feel your beating heart from where he was standing and could clearly read your amazed expression. He guessed you were new in the department and gave himself a lecture about not coming here beforehand. With a sight like you he would've been in the support department every single day.

At the same time as he was taking you in, you needed to do something to keep yourself busy from his face, his voice and his words, so you turned around and started cleaning up a little bit. He called me a beautiful little what now? you panicked, dreading you'd bite your tongue or something when answering back.

"I work here." Nice one, [Y/N]. you cringed in place. But instantly deducted it would be better to maintain a professional environment instead of leading on what seemed to be just a flirty attitude.

"I can see that, yes." Keigo really tried to keep himself from chuckling. How could such an adorable being exist in his close proximity and he didn't notice? In any way, the blond felt bad for making you nervous so he deflected the situation. "About those goggles then!"

"Oh, yes!" You turned towards him with a smile, the excited sparkle in your eyes taking his breath away for a second. "First of all, I'm sorry about the mess, I wasn't informed you were coming—"

"Oh, we can change that from now on." He chimed in, earning a pause and a tilted head in confusion from you. "If you give me your number I could tell you whenever I'm coming! Easy!"

Have you ever had a moment where your brain stopped functioning for a whole minute? Exactly that happened.

"You could— ehem, you could tell your secretary to inform me before you arrive." You sheepishly said, still trying to deflect in the best way you could. He had such an ease to make you embarrassed, apart from the fact that you didn't know for sure if he was playing with you or not. Remain professional. Not like you could be as smooth as him anyway...

"Aww." He pouted.

"The goggles!" You jumped, trying to distract yourself from that sight.

As you settled them in front of him and started explaining every new detail about them, such as the new auto face-recognition they had implemented, voice command, personalized A.I. and more, he could only watch you in wonder. A few moments ago you were overwhelmed and flustered at his behaviour, which he wouldn't lie, he really enjoyed to see, but this confident person talking so passionately about their work made him beam. He took in your features, the complex words you threw at him settling in the backround of his mind as he noted he'd have to ask you what they meant just to have the excuse to get to hear you talk again and again. He didn't know why he loved the way you wrinkled your nose when you told him how hard it was to get access to the national database, he definitely didn't know why he savored the way your giggle made his good ol' heart skip a beat, he absolutely had zero idea why he was entranced by the way your lips curved in a smile...

Oh, he knew. Of course he knew.

"Could you add Spotify?" He found himself asking.

"... What?" You blinked stupidly at him.

"Or Netflix. Can you add Netflix?"

"I— What?" He snickered.

"Can you?"

"I mean, yes—" Did he brush off your whole work just to ask you to add Netflix?

"Great! Can you do it by tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Awesome! How do you like your coffee?"

"Uhm, why?" You muttered.

"Because I will drop by and I'd like to treat you with coffee."

"Oh, that's nice. Thank you, it's—" you told him your favorite coffee in wonder as you watched him play with the goggles casually. Is this Hawks? A flirty airhead?

The goggles sounded absolutely amazing, no doubt of that, but he definitely needed an excuse to come by tomorrow, also giving him time to come with other excuses to return again and again after that. Something told him he had to see your beautiful face again and he was the type of man to trust his instincts.

"Okay, noted." He nodded to himself. "I'm sorry to say it's my time to patrol but at least I found a loop-hole to keep seeing you!"

How could one single man make you short-circuit twice in such little time span? Your absolutely baffled expression was worth a million bucks in Keigo's opinion and the adorable little lip pursing that followed was the cherry on top.

Yet what he didn't expect was for you to grin through your flustered expression.

"I'll add some actually good pick-up lines as a widget in the corner too, then." You shrugged.

And seeing Hawks baffled? Nothing else topped that.

[my-sherlock221b]

Supernatural Rewatch Ramblings: Wendigo

Wendigo

The long line of the MoTW series in Supernatural starts off with the Woman in White which is fairly well- known legend/ myth in most countries.  Then we get this one next which claims origin from the Native American mythology.

Here is a review of the Wendigo episode with thoughts from me and @soulmates-for-real​

I have always wondered why they were not so inclusive or better at being inclusive as a show. Yes, they did have many women and people of colour in important and strong roles, both positive and negative (though they could have done so much better!). But they steered clear from some of the huge mythology lores like that from Native Americans, Hindu, Latin American cultures. This may have been a wise political strategy to avoid conflict and so they stuck to the Judeo- Christian core but still managed a rather radical take on it!

Spoiler alert:

*God was the final villain?! Who would have guessed? And that the angels were dicks, relentlessly, and demons were in fact ex-humans.*

So back to Wendigo.

What a monster the Wendigo is!! In later seasons when we got only angels and demons and some vampires etc the other monsters were monsters in and of themselves. Like they were born that way—needing to eat human pituitary glands or whatever.

But Woman in White and Wendigo, and even Dead in the Water, or the Shapeshifter --the monster was created by circumstances. Betrayal and infidelity leading to murder suicides, extreme starvation leading to cannibalism and eternal hunger.

Far more terrifying than someone who is born a ghoul perhaps.

So here we are in Wendigo, at the forest/camp site with these fake, charming, rather useless camp rangers who carry M&Ms (nice touch and throwback to E.T. !), don’t wear shorts ( which anyway seems like a weird thing to wear when there is grass and stuff—why would you want to expose your legs?!), can’t see bear traps ( Seriously Dean?! ).

Sam is still restless and bristling at Jess’s death, as well as angry at Dad. All those years of separation do not seem to have given him any peace in his relationship with his father. Now to add massive insult to his already injured sense of self—he has lost his girlfriend in exactly the same way as his father lost his wife—making them even more identical.

So he is cranky and unwilling to give in to any of Dean’s suggestions. He denies his own nightmares, refuses good advice and food and is generally misanthropic. While Dean on the other hand seems to be enjoying this like a happy jolly road trip. The monster is almost like a secondary priority now.

What is most important, (and this becomes even more obvious in a re-watch post finale)—what is THE most important thing is that Sammy is riding shotgun, is in front of his eyes and safe.

Miserable and bitchy but safe.

That allows Dean to dial back a bit and bring into focus what has always been, for him, the really important part of their lives—saving people. This is always more important to him that hunting things. So, when he finds out about someone’s brother being lost and the coordinates match what his dad has left, well there is no choice really.

They have to find a way to save him.

If they find Dad there, well, good, but that is suddenly not a priority for him at all. He turned up at Sam’s doorstep, and as we know from the finale, waited there for HOURS since he was unsure of his welcome, then broke in at 3 am or something like an idiot….but anyway…..all that was because Dad had been away on a hunting trip and hadn’t been home in a few days…blah blah blah.

The first contact Dean makes with Sam who left home to go to college is to recruit him to help find Dad—the same guy who told Sam that if he went away to stay away.

And then suddenly now that Sam is with him, finding Dad is like meh. If we find him somewhere by the wayside while you and I hunt monsters Sammy, then yeah sure, great.

If not…well….we have stuff to do you and I…saving people, hunting things. The family business. 

And John Winchester….well, what can I possibly say about him without taking up pages in ranting?! Why did he ditch the first monster? Why was he in SUCH a hurry to leave that he left his journal behind??

My theory of course is that he had to run away from the Woman in White since he had been unfaithful to Mary ( yes yes I know it had been YEARS at that point, but hello, this man made his life a crusade for revenge and sacrificed his kids’ lives also to that darkness, so…yes, being with Adam’s mother was an infidelity and you can’t change my mind on that !).

So naturally John was afraid he would be killed.

But still….he left coordinates for the next hunt in the journal and just ran off?!

The other question is what the hell is happening in motels across USA? Guys like these can just check- in on fake credit cards, leave a room full of satanic and serial killer-y documents, sometimes dead bodies, lots of salt at the door and windows, and just disappear without checking out….

Though the police do seem quite alert and swift in action in the Pilot compared to some of the laidback and clueless ones we see later.

What is most interesting is to see the character of season 1 Dean emerge.

He sass, he boss, he flirt, he lie, he charm, he fight, he save.

In fact, the very first time I saw Supernatural, it seemed that Dean occupied so much of the narrative space that I barely noticed Sam except as a foil to and a brother to Dean.

Now in the re-watch what is fascinating in retrospect is to watch Sam slide into ‘the life’ without a hiccup. He reads the journal, he figures out it’s a wendigo, he gets the civilians to cooperate, he also fights and saves.

And that look he gives Dean in the car?

Well, those who missed the signs in Pilot and didn’t ship Wincest from day one, surely started doing it then!

https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/supernatural-rewatch-s01e02-wendigo/

This is also the first episode that gives a clear parallel to the Sam and Dean relationship through the B plot. When Haley says she MUST go to find her brother –Dean nods in instant understanding while Sam is pissed off at having to ‘babysit.’

We see this in many more episodes in the future, and what is fascinating is to see Sam gain insights into his brother with every such parallel. To recognize what being the big brother has meant to Dean and how much he has done and given and even suffered for that. We will discuss this in more detail in the next episode review! ( Dead in the Water)

The chemistry and ease, almost a fluid sense of flow between the two actors is unmistakable in this episode. Even as Sam is really being a bitch and Dean is being a jerk, there is a definite undercurrent of something holding them together. It may be all about revenge for Jess’s death and finding Dad for Sam, but he will still stick with Dean and want to protect him as fiercely as Dean wants to protect Sam.

.

Sheila O’Malley has given a detailed explanation for the acting styles of Jared and Jensen and what she said about Jared is spot on and brilliant. He does what she calls active listening.

It is amazing how once you realize that you notice it all the time.

The reason why Dean can manage such perfect comedic timing or non- verbal communication is because Sam is always ALWAYS tuned into him. Listening, watching, reacting, observing.

Once again, for those of you interested in the meta and more erudite and informed reviews that this one 😊 do read what Sheila O’Malley has written.

Here are some excerpts which will entice you!

“David Nutter, who directed the pilot, also directed episode 2, and there’s a new DP here, the phenomenally talented Serge Ladouceur, who is still shooting the show. If the DP for the pilot, Aaron Schneider, helped establish the dark mood and horror-movie feel of the series, then Ladouceur just helped deepen and strengthen that continuum. The look of the show has changed, by Season 9. I would say that it has a more glamorous look now, more colorful, while certainly still very dramatic (even melodramatic). Supernatural is (and has been) one of the best looking shows on television.”

“The ranger comes in to talk to them, and they pose as environmental studies majors at the university in Boulder. Sam says they are “working on a paper”, clearly improvising, and you can watch the glorious schtick of Jensen Ackles as he adjusts to the new information of who he is supposed to be pretending to be. God is in the details, people, and it’s the detailed scene work of both Ackles and Padalecki that keeps this show going. David Nutter referred to Jensen Ackles once as a “meticulous actor” in terms of his preparation for every scene, no matter how small, and it pays off. He knows what the fuck he is doing. So does Padalecki. I couldn’t give two shits about the demons. It’s that DYNAMIC that is so entertaining and watch-able.”

 .

And here are some thoughts on the episode from @soulmates-for-real, my partner in crime for the rewatch 😊

Except the fact that Sam is quite secretive about his nightmares but his body language is quite open and his expressions easy to read. On the contrary, I saw Dean posturing a lot with other people, pouting, flirting, making eyes...trying to be all nonchalant. But when it comes to Sam we see a different Dean - the more antsy and angsty Sam gets, the more intensely Dean reacts to him and you can see Dean's concern shining through. Leading to Sam coming to some kind of resolution and giving Dean 'that look' at the end! 

[anobscurename]

ocean eyes – chris evans

previous part: PART XVII — masterlist

concept: you surprise chris for his birthday while he's shooting in italy. the slowest of slow burns. the ever anticipated part eighteen of many.

pairing: chris evans x reader

word count: 4.3k

warnings: fluff. just prepare to melt.

author's note: everyone can thank @tonystankschild for this one. she was deep in the dm's asking for fluff and i intended to deliver the fluffiest of fluffs.

You liked to consider yourself a rational person at the best of times.

That consideration, however, was entirely negated by the fact that you were now on a flight to Italy to surprise Chris for his birthday. There was nothing rational about it.

But you had saved for this trip, and Chris had done so much for you in the past year or so, that you had wanted to do something for him.

And you had decided that no one should be alone on their birthday, no matter how far away they were.

You had caught a flight from Boston after making the forty-four hour roadtrip to drive Dodger there, not having the funds to fly him to the Evans' household. The fees of bringing an animal on board were astronomical, and you were still balking from how high the number was.

Chris was a wealthy man, however, and those types of costs never quite fazed him as much as they did you.

So you had driven him to Lisa's, a thousand thank yous on your lips as she delivered you to the airport to minimize on the extra cost of leaving your car at the airport parking lots.

Scott – who had still been there from the Patriot's game, "tryin' to get as much family lovin' as he could" as he put it – smiled knowingly at you when you had brought Dodger in.

"You go, baby vamp," he'd whispered to you. It was an outdated saying, but you knew it anyways, and laughed him off.

"We're just friends, Scott."

"Yeah, just like these highlights are from the sun."

He had given you a tight hug, wished you luck on your trip, and – like Lisa would later do at the drop off – made you promise to wish Chris a happy birthday from them.

When you touched down in Italy, it was early morning, that hovering between night and dawn.

You had once again called Chris' agent – Mark – to get details on the shoot, ones which he reluctantly handed over.

You thought that perhaps he was trying to save Chris the PR scandal of being seen with another woman while publicly in a relationship with Lily, but you had pointed out that you had been clearly established as friend of the couple with your global third wheel memes. It didn't take much pressing, because Mark knew how much you both cared about each other and how happy you being there for Chris' birthday would make the actor. So he emailed you the shooting location, with a schedule and call sheet. The tagline was very quick: "Don't interrupt shooting :)"

After a quick shower at the affordable three star you'd rented for the weekend, you got ready in spite of the weariness the plane left you with. Hot water did wonders to waken you, and a touch of makeup never hurt.

You stepped out in the warm breeze, the wind toying softly with the skirt of the summer dress you wore. You easily hailed a cab, and, after failing at the pronunciation of where you were headed, let the cabbie read the location off your phone.

The first person you saw when you got out of the car was Chris.

He was stood off to the side by the craft table, a crewmate quickly doing a last minute adjustment to his hair as he went over his lines. Dressed in an Italian pinstripe suit, you remembered what the film was about.

The indie flick told the tale of an arranged marriage between the son of an Irish mob boss and the daughter of a New York mafia don. Most of the film, however, was set in Italy, where the son, Mickey, had to travel to win the favour of the extended mafia family for the blessing on the union. Briefly, the scene with the strawberries popped into your mind.

You were stopped by security, but Mark – who had been waiting for you – vouched for your admittance.

You stood a little ways away from Chris, within eyesight, but not obvious. It was a surprise, after all.

You called him, watching from where you leaned against his trailer wall. Chris, ringtone blaring for his attention, quickly patted down his suit pockets before finding the device. His glance at the caller I.D. was followed by his whole face lighting up, soft smile on his lips.

"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty," he said into the receiver. "Isn't it a little late in L.A.?"

"It is," you replied. "But it's your birthday tomorrow, and I couldn't resist."

"You know, I've been told I'm irresistible before," he chuckled. "Just never thought I'd hear you say it."

"Well, what can I say? Suits do it for me," you smirked, dropping your first hint.

Scott was right. Chris really could be clueless. "You'd love the one they just put me in then," he murmured, distracted by the food on display at the craft table as he perused the options. "A real classy number."

"What are your plans for the rest of the weekend?"

"They gave me the weekend off to celebrate, but you know me... Probably will go wine tasting by myself and look at some art or something. Oh, man, read a book. Yeah, haven't done that in a while."

You watched as he plucked a strawberry from the table, and your stomach fluttered.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" He hummed as he bit in to the sweet fruit.

"Aren't you sick of strawberries by now?"

Chris froze, eyes wide in shock. Running his tongue over his teeth smoothly and swallowing the bite, he began swiveling his head, trying to look out for where you may be hiding. "Where are you?" He grinned.

"Guess."

And then he saw you.

And then he had you wrapped in his arms, the force of the running tackle hug sending your back crashing into the trailer, metal creaking.

You laughed breathlessly, hanging up the call as you hugged him back.

"Chris," you strained against the bone crush of his fierceness. "Oxygen–"

He loosened his grip, but didn't take back his arms. "You have no idea how much I missed you."

His whispery breath in your hair as he deeply inhaled the apple scented shampoo clinging to you had electricity coursing through your veins. "My bones have some idea, I think you might've fractured a rib."

The rumble of the chuckle reverberated through his body and into yours, and heat dusted your ears and cheekbones. "Sorry, I just can't believe you're here. I had to make sure you were real." And then, the question you'd expected: "Where's Dodger?"

"Dodger is in Boston with your mom. And I'm here, I'm real," you reassured him, smoothing your hands over the back of the meticulously woven cotton of his suit. "But you also have a real job to get back to."

"Oh, right," he groaned sheepishly. In his joy, he'd almost forgotten where he was. "Just hang around for a bit, we're only filming a little today before we're off."

So you did. You got given a seat, just off camera, and watched Chris do his thing. His performance was breathtaking, the way he embodied such a dangerous man. It was enough to make you flushed, the square of his shoulders, the confidence in his stride – the danger lurking under Italian silk lined cotton. You'd never quite seen him like this.

And it thrilled you to see a man you usually felt so safe around look so menacing.

It was the love proclamation scene that served to be your undoing, however.

The director kept hounding Chris, demanding retake after retake. He wanted that genuine love to flow through, and it simply just wasn't.

"Think of someone you love," the director suggested. "Put them in your mind's eye. You have a girlfriend, yes? Would it help to bring a picture for you to look at off camera? Tell the picture you love her. Someone get me a picture of this man's lover, please! Imagine you've never told her how you feel. And you've been feeling it for a while, and even though it was very... what is the English word? Uncommon? It was uncommon meeting circumstances you met... You love her. Si?"

Chris grit his teeth and nodded, ready to comply. And once the picture was brought out, the call for quiet on set rang out.

But once the director called action, Chris didn't look at Lily. Your heart clenched, your breath catching in your throat.

No, his eyes found you.

"I love you," he said the words you'd never thought you'd hear him say – at least not to you – and the sincerity in his cracked voice was overwhelming. His eyes were watery, relief dropping his shoulders – as if he'd kept this inside for too long and a weight had been lifted. He sighed it again and again, as if it was the only thing that was going to save him, as if it's the only words he'd ever known.

And when the director called cut, singing Chris' praises, he was still looking at you.

———————

"I still can't believe you're wearing that," Chris chuckled.

You dipped your sunglasses lower on the bridge of your nose to observe him critically. He was leaning against a Vespa, arms folded, the sleeves of his loose white cotton button down rolled up to his elbows, barely containing the bulge of his muscles. Black trousers clad his legs, on his feet a pair of black Italian leather loafers he'd gotten as a gift from his co-star. He wore his own pair of sunglasses, hair swept back, being tousled by the passing breeze.

The statement had been made in reference to the silk scarf you wore, twisted around your neck delicately in a way that was reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn. "If I'm going to have a Roman holiday," you giggled, tripping a little on your way to the Vespa – Chris moved to catch you, but you righted yourself, "you best believe I'm going to fucking look like it."

You had gone to a wine tasting in a vineyard on the outskirts of Rome, somewhere far into the countryside. You had both goofed off the entire time, earning yourselves scolding looks from the sophisticated tourists and the locals, who had wanted a peaceful afternoon at the farm.

You sniffed the wines, obnoxiously listing all the strange terminology the haughty wine connoisseurs would throw around casually, before taking your sips.

It became somewhat of an inside joke between the two of you, finding yourselves lagging behind the group because you couldn't stop laughing. And whenever you were shot a dirty look, it would only make you laugh more.

"You're meant to taste it," he'd whispered to you.

"I am tasting it," you shot back.

"No, you're chugging it like a sixteen year old whose parent made the unwise choice of leaving unsupervised."

The tour guide had been eyeing the two of you up, waiting for your silence. The rest of the tour group turned their critical gaze too, and you gave Chris' foot a soft stomp to get his attention.

Both of you shut up, giggling under your breaths as Chris had practically bowed in his gesture for the guide to continue.

But now it was time to go back to the inner city, and Chris had waited patiently for you by the Vespa while you'd gone to freshen up a bit. The cobblestones were hell for your tipsiness, but you were wine and laugh drunk, and hadn't a care in the world.

"You know how they say there's always that one pair of annoying people on wine tastings that ruin the experience for everyone?"

"They do?" Chris' brow creased in question as he grinningly handed you your helmet.

"Of course they do. Well, I couldn't find them, so it must be us."

Chris clicked his own helmet in place as he caught sight of the hostess by the front door giving you both a dirty look. "What finally gave it away?"

He slid easily onto the Vespa seat, heeling up the kickstand and righting the orientation.

"Hop on, princess," he beckoned you with a nod. You regretted wearing a dress for this part, but you were serious about the Roman Holiday aesthetic.

Serious enough to risk flashing someone as you mounted the scooter behind Chris. But luckily you didn't.

"Hold on tight," Chris called over his shoulder. You complied, encircling your arms around his waist, pressing your bodies together.

You could feel his heart rate pick up, but before you could think too much about it, he took off – cobblestone streets and ivy climbed buildings flying past you in your bliss.

————————

Two of the three worst things that could've happened to you while riding a scooter in the countryside did.

The scooter had broken down and it had started to rain. Not only rain, but fucking pour. You were drenched through to your skin, pulled over on the side of the road, Chris trying to kickstart the machine into working again.

After his fifth attempt, he came over to you, squinting in the rain.

"It's not working," he shouted over the droning rainfall. "Let's just find some shelter and come up with a game plan!"

There were nothing but open spans of green fields and wheat as far as your eyes could see. But a little while back, just over the hill, there had been lights in the haze of rain, a little nondescript sign on the side of the road that you'd whipped past suggesting the shelter that you so desperately craved.

"I think there was a house back there," you yelled back. "Maybe they could help out."

He nodded imperceptibly in the shower of droplets, hand on the small of your back, fitting so seamlessly in the curve of your spine, and began guiding you.

You both dashed across the road, and then you were tearing through the long grass in a shortcut to the twinkling beacons of the lights in the windows, looking like eyes peering at you in the darkness.

Somewhere along the way, you'd found out that Chris was a little ticklish at his waist, and after you'd discovered it – he'd flinched away from you and begged you to stop, but you'd continued just to antagonise him – you wouldn't let it go. It took you much longer to get there than would be normal, but soon, you were both stood, shivering and drenched on the porch step.

There was a sign on the door telling you it was a little inn – an underused bed and breakfast, most likely for road weary travelers on their way to Rome.

You didn't bother knocking as you entered the lobby, spilling inside with laughter still on both your lips. Muddied shoes squelched, and your sodden clothes dripped onto the floor.

You immediately moved to the fire while Chris went to go confer with the front desk.

His two months in Rome had taught him a fair amount of Italian, but it was still quite broken, and he found himself floundering with a lot of the words.

The landlady – a portly old woman with an extraordinarily kind smile and crows footed crinkles by her eyes – understood the predicament.

She explained to him in English – loud enough in the silence so you could hear over the crackle of the fire – that the road services would probably only be available to come out so far tomorrow morning, and that it'd be best to stay the night.

She didn't seem like someone who would scam you into staying at her little roadside hostel – even going so far as to give Chris some white fluffy towels for the both of you.

He paid for the last room available with soggy money, and returned to you, fresh towels in his arms.

He draped one over your shoulders first, and when you reached out to cling it to your frame, your fingers brushed.

That same electricity jolted through you both, travelling with lightning quick velocity down both your spines to spark alive the restless butterflies you had well and truly thought you had put to rest. You were the first to withdraw, allowing Chris to put a towel over himself.

He ran it through his hair, the pieces that had been plastered to his skin with water raising into spikes.

You laughed, reaching out a tentative hand – giving him ample time to withdraw should he need to – to smooth it back and away from his face.

But your laughter died down, as it inevitably did whenever he looked down at you like that. Because how the hell were you meant to function when his eyes were on your lips the way they were now?

And you damn near choked when he started leaning down, lips pressing closer to yours...

But before they touched, he broke into a gut-wrenching smirk, moving past your tingling and awaiting mouth to whisper in your ear. "I dibs the shower."

And then he was sprinting up the stairs.

You were so in shock that for a minute you couldn't even register what had happened, and when you did, you cursed at him, following him up, swearing you'll skin him alive.

And all the while, the landlady was watching the two of you, a knowing glimmer in those kind eyes. She muttered something in Italian, one she repeated many a time during your stay, a saying you would come to know as "young love."

And she didn't even care that you had tracked mud into her hotel and soaked the carpets through from your wet clothes.

She just cared that there were still kids in love in this world.

———————

Once you had both taken a shower and were wrapped up in your complimentary hotel bathrobes, you realised that neither of you were tired.

Your clothes were laid out, sprawled over the backs of chairs, drying by a fire Chris had taken the liberty of building.

So you both decided to go downstairs, and see what activities you could engage in with the other guests. It would do well to help you forget the prospect of having to share a bed with Chris.

According to the landlady, this was the last room available. And of course, Chris had offered to sleep on the floor, as gentlemanly as ever.

But you couldn't do that to him on his birthday, so you'd told him it would be fine, as long as a pillow fort was built to prevent any unnecessary contact.

The common area was woefully empty, save for a couple of sleepy looking musicians, poised atop their makeshift stage, on the brink of passing out on their instruments.

When you and Chris entered, however, they livened up, striking up some traditional Italian melody you may have heard before in passing.

It wasn't that late, so the bar was still open, and Chris managed to purchase a bottle of wine.

Most of the seats had been stacked on the tables, and he helped you pull some down before seating yourselves.

He poured you both wine, and you sat there in your robes, listening to the music.

The landlady came by, at some point, to light the tea light candle on your table.

When you thanked her, she said the same thing she had said earlier – in Italian, so you struggled to understand.

Chris, however, who had been taking a hearty sip of wine, nearly choked. "Mille grazie," he winked.

She scoffed, patting his cheek affectionately, much like a grandmother would her grandson. You didn't catch much of what she said, aside from one word. Cacciatore, in reference to a flirtatious man.

"What did she say to you?"

"She said amore giovane. It means young love."

You turned to try and find her – wanting to correct the innocent mistake of having her assume that you and Chris were in love. Fact of the matter was, there was still with Lily, and you couldn't stand to think of the PR nightmare it would be if it were to get out that he was at an admittedly romantic bed and breakfast with you of all people. "Oh, no, we aren't..." You faded out awkwardly. "He has a girlfriend!"

"Actually," Chris said softly, as if he had been wanting to tell you this for a while. "I don't. Not anymore. Not since the last day at the Hamptons."

Relief flooded you, followed by something undetermined – hope, you would later discover – before you were floored with absolute sympathy. "Oh, Chris. Chris, I'm so sorry."

You reached over to link your fingers in a reassuring hand hold, and his focus was pulled to that singular touch, that point of joining.

"If there's anything I can do to help..."

"No, it just..." He swallowed, finally pulling those ocean eyes to you. "It just wasn't meant to be, I guess. She wasn't the one."

His eyes told a story much deeper, hinting to something that you didn't have the strength to uncover. You'd been hurt too many times by these false feelings, you really weren't sure how ready you were to face them once more.

"What happened?"

"She thinks I'm in love with someone else." When you didn't say anything again – too stunned to do so – Chris cleared his throat. "I, uh," he tried for a smile, "I believe you owe me a dance."

It took you a while to recall him asking you to save him the last dance at the charity gala, and when it registered, you grinned, questions of who dissipating. "Let's go dance."

The band saw you and Chris approach the dancefloor, and immediately switched to a slow waltz. Chris took you in his arms, and as you both swayed to the music, you could almost imagine you were back in Vegas, before Lily, before everything, when the biggest problem in your life was that you had kissed your best friend on your birthday.

His body was so warm pressed to yours, that you felt every tense muscle in your body relax. That hand – forever fitted so perfectly to the groove of the small of your back – traced delicate patterns through the flannel of the gown.

Your cheek was on his chest, and your eyes were closed, and you couldn't see the way he was looking at you.

Because in his eyes – those beautiful ocean eyes – was a love. The love that you were incapable of seeing, but one that everyone else had – including Lily.

There was worship in every sapphire fleck, and there was pure adoration in the inky depths of his pupils.

And as he held you, body nestled so perfectly against his, knew that the angels would damn themselves for you. Because he sure as hell would.

———————

When Chris had gone to get more drinks – the bottle you had shared being finished – you had gone to speak to the musicians.

And surprisingly, they had what you had requested.

Chris was uncorking the bottle when you had hopped up on stage.

There was no microphone this time, and the musicians were glad to receive a break, joining the landlady at the back for a drink – leaving you and Chris alone in the room. Their departure caught his attention, and he glanced at you, before doing a double take.

You were sat at the edge of the stage – feet dangling off to graze the floor every now and then – and in your hands was a ukelele.

The memory of the last time you played for him was chased away by the excitement of this next song.

You were tuning it when you finally noticed Chris watching you. He had that look in his eye – one you were so used to seeing, but one you never quite let yourself understand – and he slowly sank into his seat to watch you. He propped his head on a fist, candlelight flickering in his eyes.

And without much of an introduction, you plucked at the strings delicately, beginning a ukelele rendition of "La Vie En Rose."

His smile broadened into a beam when you started singing. Never had he felt absolute peace like this – at least without having you in his arms.

Hold me close and hold me fast

This magic spell you cast

This is la vie en rose

You looked up at him, your expression earnest. You always found yourself being much more capable of conveying emotion in your actions, rather than with your words. Words made things messy. Music... that was beauty incarnate.

When you kiss me, heaven sighs

And though I close my eyes

I see la vie en rose

Chris breathed in deeply, his heart stuttering, but heavy in his chest. The hold – that spell – you so flawlessly cast on him was rising again, and he knew, with all certainty, that he would not wish to break the enchantment for anything in the world. He was Icarus, and you were the sun – the magnetic pull he felt was that strong.

When you press me to your heart

I am in a world apart

A world where roses bloom

Your eyes found his and you grinned, beguiling him. As you played the interlude, you mouthed to him "happy birthday;" and it was. It was perhaps one of the happiest birthdays he'd had in a while, because it was the one he'd spent with you.

And when you speak, angels sing from above

Everyday words seem to turn into love songs

His heart was swelling, throat thick with emotion. His eyes burned, but he was almost certain the tears gathering was from a lack of blinking. He didn't want to pull his gaze away from you, not for a single second. He had told you he had loved you earlier that day – and this felt like more of a response than he'd ever receive. He knew how difficult it was for you to say those words. And he was okay with that. He'd take what you gave, and you were giving him this – a song as lovely as the woman who was currently singing it. And he thought he was going to simply die when you looked up at him with those eyes, and that smile, and that voice reaching out to him, singing that final verse.

Give your heart and soul to me

And life will always be

La vie en rose

Little did you know, you already owned those things.

You'd owned them since the night you met.

[lsmu]

Book 2 Chapter 7: More and More

'Ladies and gentlemen, in a few moments we will be landing at Changi Airport in Singapore. Please return to your seats, fasten your seatbelts, adjust your seats back up...'

Jeongyeon yawned and stretched her long torso. She wasn't as thin as when she debuted 12 years ago, naturally, but she still looked so tall nonetheless.

"Shit... I'm getting old... Six hours flight and my entire body's already aching," she complained. I chuckled. "Nah... You know that flights are actually bad for your body, right?" I told her. She looked at me quizzically. "Really?" "Yeah, I mean... It had something to do with our biology or something... I'm not really sure, but I watched a video about it once on Youtube," I said, trying to remember which video I watched.

Jeongyeon scoffed.

"Well... Bad luck for us idols then... We do travel a lot, don't we?" she said. I nodded and smiled.

I had been Twice's replacement manager for two weeks now. To be completely honest, I didn't expect me to last this long as their manager, because I didn't think Director Bae would take that long anyway to find a full-time replacement.

However–strangely enough–my boss never once talked about a full-time candidate everytime I went for a meeting to report my progress. She simply complimented me for my work, gave me a lot of valuable advice, and that's it. I shrugged. I guessed I should be thankful.

My job as Twice's manager was actually pretty mundane: Setting their daily schedules, driving them around to their appointments, following them to their practices, and making sure that they had everything they needed. But the bright side is, I got to spend everyday with all of them, sharing meals and sometimes late night drinks. Of course, over the past two weeks, I'd become closer with all nine of them.

Tzuyu was a little hard to get close to at first, mainly because she was so quiet and shy, but after a while I could see her kindness and care towards her unnies and myself, and she was undeniably very cute and adorable.

Dahyun and Chaeyoung were the unpredictable ones, sometimes forcing me to accompany them to drink the night away in a bar or play with them in an arcade, some other times suddenly opening up and sharing their struggles and concerns with me, talking deeply and seriously about life, family, and work.

Mina and Nayeon actually shared their baking and desserts making knowledge with me, which I think I had started picking up after a while. Mina was kind and gentle, while Nayeon was more impatient and sometimes distracted, but they were both good teachers. Momo's first impression was cool and a little scary, but the more I spent time with her, the more I started to see that she was silly and sometimes a little gullible. But she was kind nonetheless, and she showed me her knives and katana collection a few days ago.

My bias Sana was surprisingly not all about flirtiness and clumsiness. At times, I could see that she was actually very mature and wise, and she helped me to get to know the girls a lot better by telling me stories about them. However, she was also very naughty sometimes. One night when I was drinking with all of them in their apartment, I saw Sana clearly groping Jeongyeon's breasts, and to my surprise Jeongyeon actually looked like she enjoyed it. Wait... Was she actually gay? Was it true all along?

The one closest to me was inevitably Jeongyeon. She was caring, almost motherly, both towards the girls and towards me. I helped her to clean up the apartment one morning, and I was amazed by just how meticulous and detailed she was when cleaning, and she even had some nice cleaning tips and tricks I could implement to my own apartment. I spent a lot of time cooking with her and Jihyo too, and we shared recipes, which delighted the other girls–especially Dahyun and Nayeon, both were food lovers. After two weeks, I felt Jeongyeon was like my long-lost noona.

"Should we wake up the others?" I asked her.

She looked around the Business Class cabin. Dahyun, Jihyo, and Chaeyoung were asleep. Tzuyu was reading a book, Mina was listening to some music, and Sana and Nayeon were still watching a movie together. Jeongyeon chuckled.

"We only need to wake Dubu up. The rest will wake up automatically as we land, especially Jihyo," she said. "Really?" I asked in surprise. She nodded excitedly. "Just watch!"

This was my first time traveling by plane with Twice, so I didn't know their habits yet. Somehow, I decided to look intently at Jihyo, who was sleeping soundly in her seat, her head resting on the plane wall, seat belt already fastened, looking adorable and beautiful at the same time.

I felt a smile forming on my lips. Almost all the time, Jihyo felt like Suzy's representative while I was with them, guiding me and telling me stuff I didn't know at first to make my work better. She was firm when needed, sometimes even telling me off when I made some mistakes, but she was actually very sweet and humble, and I knew she actually cared for me and my work.

And... Somehow, the more I spent time with her, the more I felt that she was the most beautiful and charming girl I've ever met. The more I talked with her, the more I felt that we clicked, and the more I was mesmerized by her. Sure, she was physically beautiful and sexy, but I felt my attraction for her went way past her good looks and enormously big tits. The way she laughed at my jokes, the way she defended me when the girls teased me, the way she guided me and went through the schedules one by one with me every single day for the past two weeks, the way she smiled and looked at me.

For the past two weeks, there were multiple times when I actually had a chance to ask her out. But, me being me, I never managed to muster up enough courage to do so. I would stop at calling her name, asking her schedule for the night, but then backing off at the last moment. Everytime I did that, I always felt like she was disappointed, as if she actually wanted me to ask her out. But... She couldn't, could she?

I shook my head and told myself that I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. Jihyo was an international superstar, and I was a nobody. I should just do my job as well as I could, convince them to stay with JYPE, and then continue to work well in the TWD.

"Tzu! Tzu!" Jeongyeon's call towards Tzuyu woke me up from my thoughts.

Tzuyu looked up from her book, looking adorable with her round framed glasses.

"Yes, Unnie?" she asked. "Wake Dubu!" said Jeongyeon. "Huh? Oh... Right," the maknae understood and started shaking Dahyun's body to wake her up.

I chuckled. Waking Dahyun up was a difficult task sometimes, for the girl really could fall into a deep slumber anytime and anywhere. As I felt the plane slowing down and making its descent towards the tarmac, I felt Jeongyeon tapping my arm.

"Watch Jihyo, watch Jihyo," she said.

I watched the leader intently, still sleeping, still looking beautiful. The plane was almost touching down. Somehow I felt my heart beating faster.

"Three, two, one..." counted down Jeongyeon.

I could feel the plane reaching the earth. Any moment now...

"And... Wake up!" Jeongyeon said confidently.

The plane hit the ground, and Jihyo's big eyes immediately flipped open. I couldn't resist laughing together with Jeongyeon. Jihyo looked around confusedly, still not fully regaining her consciousness, but she was definitely awake.

"W–wha...? What's so funny?" she asked us. "Oh, nothing. I just told Minsoo that you always automatically wake up when the plane touches down. Happens all the time, right?" Jeongyeon said coolly.

Jihyo stared at Jeongyeon for a while, and I could almost see that her brain was processing Jeongyeon's words. After a few seconds, she grinned and nodded.

"Yeah! Happens every time!" she said with a light chuckle.

Jihyo flipped her shoulder-length wavy black hair elegantly, and I felt my heart flutter. She looked so elegant and beautiful. To my surprise, she turned and smiled at me.

"This is your first time traveling overseas with us, right, Minsoo?" she asked me suddenly. "Y–Yeah! F–First time!" I said, stuttering.

Jeongyeon looked at me and smirked.

"You're blushing," she whispered. I panicked. "E–Eh?" I said, trying to hide the fact. Jeongyeon chuckled. "I know, I know... She looks so beautiful, right?" she teased.

I didn't answer, but I felt my face burn even redder.

The plane taxied, and in a short while we reached the terminal building. As we made full stop, Momo, Mina, Sana, Nayeon, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu happily stood up and ran out of the plane excitedly. I chuckled. They were all in their late 20s or even early 30s, but sometimes they could still act like little girls.

I happily took their small hand-carry bags from the overhead compartments and carefully placed them on my shoulders, arms, elbows, and hands. The bags weren't heavy at all, but ten bags were still actually quite troublesome to be carried by one man. Nevermind, I wasn't complaining.

Suddenly, I felt two bags being pulled away from my hands. I turned in panic, thinking somebody might have snatched it, but I found Dahyun and Jeongyeon chuckling, each holding their own bags they just took from me.

"I won't let you carry my bag, Oppa," said Dahyun. She looked serious for a moment, but then she smiled widely and punched my shoulder before walking past me. "Come, I'll help you carry a few," said Jeongyeon, taking two other bags from my arms.

I smiled. These girls were really kind. Then, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Jihyo standing there, smiling beautifully.

"I'm sorry for the girls' attitude," she said while taking a few other bags from me, including her own. "They're just too excited." "N–No, it's okay, Jihyo! I really don't mind carrying their bags!" I said, trying to keep the bags on me. Jihyo still insisted on carrying some, so finally I let her. I ended up with only two bags: Mine and Sana's.

As we walked out of the plane to the jet bridge, we found Jeongyeon still waiting for us.

"Sorry for the girls," she said too. I shook my head. "Don't worry. I really don't mind carrying the bags. It's my job!" I said.

Jeongyeon and Jihyo both chuckled.

"We're always excited when we go overseas, you know..." Jihyo said. "Yeah, I figured," I said with a smile. "You know, one time Tzuyu was so excited to go back to Taiwan, she literally arrived at the airport without bringing her luggage," said Jeongyeon, chuckling. My eyes widened in surprise. "What? Really?" "And another time Sana forgot her passport when we were about to go on tour to Europe," Jihyo said. "What?" "Yeah, our previous manager was flipping out," Jeongyeon said.

Jeongyeon and Jihyo laughed remembering the girls' silliness, while I sighed and chuckled. Knowing these girls for two weeks, sometimes I could hardly fathom how they could be so perfect on stage and on screen, while in real life they were just as clumsy and silly as all of us. I guessed Yeoni's words were right. They were humans after all.

We passed through the immigration check swiftly, then waited for our luggages from the baggage reclaim area. Changi Airport was so big and ultra modern, making Incheon airport look a little outdated. This was my first time in this Southeast Asian country, and I was so mesmerized by the beauty of this little island nation from the moment I stepped into the airport terminal building.

I knew a JYPE bus was already waiting for us at the lobby, so after we walked through the throng of excited Singaporean Once and reporters waiting for us as we exited the baggage reclaim area into the arrival hall, we quickly and nicely settled ourselves in the bus, and the bus started moving, bringing us to Marina Bay Sands hotel where we would stay this week.

The Mnet Asia Music Awards event was going to be held on Saturday, but we decided to arrive three days earlier to better acclimatise with the tropical weather and to have some time to relax and enjoy a little time off. I also remembered the bet I made with Ansel and Chuyoung at the bar that night. I wondered if they had reached Singapore as well.

As I sat on the bus admiring the sights and welcoming heat of Singapore, I decided to send my two colleagues and rivals a text message.

'Hi, guys! I've arrived in Singapore safely. Hope you guys are here too! Excited for our little competition!'

I sent it to Ansel and Chuyoung, and a few moments later a reply came in from the SM representative.

'Hi Minsoo-ssi! Yes I'm already in Singapore, just settling in my hotel room. See you and Chuyoung soon!'

I smiled. Ansel was a nice guy, and to be honest I was a little deterred when I went through the SM proposal that he sent to my email almost two weeks ago. It was so well crafted, and honestly their plan to make Twice their main weapon to break into the Japanese market made a lot of sense. But, I told myself, I won't give up so easily! Twice belonged to JYPE anyways, and I was planning to keep it that way.

I waited for a reply from Chuyoung, but as the bus entered Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby and the girls started walking out of it, I still didn't receive it. I started to worry about the disheveled looking YG rep. Was he okay? He didn't look okay the last time I saw him. Sure, he was so drunk, but I still received his tacky proposal the morning after that, so he should have reached home safely that night, right?

"Minsoo-ya! Come help us take some of the luggage!"

I heard Nayeon calling me from outside, so I hurried out to help them, deciding to not think about Ansel and Chuyoung for the moment. As I stepped into the lobby of the hotel, I found myself mesmerized once again by this architectural wonder.

"Wow..." I found myself uttering in amazement as I looked up. Sana stood next to me and chuckled. "Amazing, isn't it?" she said. "Y–Yes! You've been here before, right?" "Yeah. We did a tour here once, but even now I still feel amazed by this country," she said, smiling beautifully.

She winked and led the other girls to the lounge. I knew I had to check in their rooms, so I hurried to the reception table to do just that. The process was quick, and as I turned to hand out the room keys to the girls, I felt a big strong hand grabbing my shoulder.

"Minsoo-ssi! Nice to meet you again!"

I turned to see Ansel, smiling wide, showing his perfect set of teeth. I smiled and shook his hand.

"Ansel-ssi! You're staying here too?" "Yeah! SM was kind enough to let me have the same hotel as Red Velvet," he said, gesturing towards a group of girls who were talking together as they walked towards the lift lobby. I gulped as I saw Seulgi, Wendy, Joy, Yeri, and Irene. They all looked so beautiful. "Are you here with Twice too?" he said, looking around for the girls. I nodded. "Yeah! Just finished checking them in. There they are!" I pointed towards the lounge where the girls were sitting. "Ah! That's nice. Well, I don't want to disturb them. It's your day today, right?" he asked. I nodded again. "Yeah, I'll go first. Your turn tomorrow, then Chuyoung-ssi the last day before MAMA on Saturday," I said.

Ansel nodded.

"What's your plan?" he asked. I chuckled. "Oh I'm not going to reveal my secret!" I said slyly. He laughed. "That's the spirit! I'll also keep my plan for tomorrow a secret, then!" he said fairly. "Well, best of luck to you, Minsoo-ssi!" "And you too! See you around, Ansel-ssi!" I said.

Ansel chuckled, said his goodbye, and left.

I walked towards the girls, waving the stack of keycards. Jeongyeon, Dahyun, and Sana were going to stay in one suite room, Mina and Chaeyoung in another one, Tzuyu and Nayeon in the next, and Momo and Jihyo in the last suite. I had my own room on a different floor, not a suite, definitely.

"Room's ready!" I exclaimed.

They cheered and eached picked up their cards, and one by one they left for their rooms. Jihyo lingered for a while after I handed her the keycard to her room with Momo. Jeongyeon looked at her with a puzzled look for a split second when she noticed that the leader didn't follow her up, but then she chuckled and left with the other girls.

Jihyo looked up straight at my eyes.

"You're not going up?" she asked me. I shook my head. "I have to sort the luggages with the concierge to deliver to your rooms first. Don't worry, we're not staying on the same floor anyway," I said, waving my own keycard.

Again, I picked up a disappointed look on Jihyo's beautiful eyes. What was it? Was she expecting me to go up to her room with her? Wait... That would be inappropriate, wouldn't it?

"Well..." she said slowly, checking her watch. It was a little past 5 pm. "... Come quickly. It's close to dinner time, and today's your turn to bring us around town, right?"

I chuckled. I had told the girls about my plan with Ansel and Chuyoung, and they all looked excited about it, but Jihyo looked happiest. She even told me she was proud that I could come up with such a brilliant idea.

"Y–Yeah..." I found myself stuttering. "What's your plan?" she asked me slowly.

Again, I felt my heart fluttering. I felt my eyes inexplicably start lowering as she stood closer to me. She was wearing a dark blue t-shirt with a button-down white collar, and I could see her cleavage a little. Her tits were so big I felt like they were just about to brush against my arm, even when she was standing a step apart from me. I gulped.

"W–Well... Y–You'll see later..." I said nervously.

Jihyo stared at my eyes, searching for clues, but then she giggled.

"Alright! I can't wait!" she said excitedly, then she turned and walked towards the lift lobby.

I sighed. Why did I keep feeling nervous when I was alone with her, even after successfully being comfortable around the other eight? This was not good.

I quickly settled my business with the concierge and waited for the bellboy to come back to the lobby after delivering the girls' suitcases to their rooms before giving him a tip. It was mid December, so a lot of people were on their year-end holiday already, which I thought was the reason why the lobby was so packed. But the bellboy worked fast anyway, so I had no complaints.

As I walked towards the lift lobby, I decided to check on the girls and see if they had settled down nicely, so I pressed their floor instead of mine when I entered, and the lift swiftly brought me up. I walked out of the lift, and found myself considering which room I should knock on first. I decided to knock on Jihyo's room first.

I went to the rightmost suite and rang the bell. No answer. That was weird. I tried the next room; Jeongyeon, Dahyun and Sana's, and similarly no one answered the door after I knocked and rang the bell several times.

I shrugged. Maybe they were so tired and fell asleep? I decided to just give them some privacy and went down to my room, one floor below. I walked back towards the lift. As I pressed the button and stood waiting for the lift to come down, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, so I took it out. I had just received a direct message on Instagram. Wait. What?

I opened my account and saw a message from Twicetagram, Twice's official Instagram account. It was sent using the Vanish Mode, so it would disappear after I close the screen. Curious, I opened the message.

'We're all in your room! Go downstairs now, okay?'

Who sent that? All nine girls had access to the account, as well as myself, and the sender neither called me 'Oppa' nor 'Minsoo-ya', which meant it could be anyone out of those nine. The lift came, and I entered, feeling so curious.

The lift doors slid open on my floor. There were significantly more rooms on my floor, compared to only four large suite rooms on their floor. I checked the number on my keycard sleeve and found that my room was the one nearest to the lift lobby.

From outside the room, I couldn't hear the girls' voices. Strange. I tapped my card on the reader and opened the door.

"BOO!!!!"

I was so shocked I felt like my heart stopped and I blacked out for a few seconds. My ears were ringing, and it took me a while to hear the laughter of the girls. I blinked rapidly a few times, and only then did I notice that I was lying on the floor, while Chaeyoung and Dahyun were standing around me, laughing their asses off. They had just scared me half to death.

"W–What...? What happened?" I stuttered.

I looked around my own room and found everyone was either standing and laughing, or sitting on my bed and laughing. Jeongyeon, still laughing, walked towards me and lifted me up. Dahyun and Chaeyoung helped me up too. Only then did I see Jihyo, who was laughing as well as she sat next to Tzuyu on my bed, but looking less excited compared to the others.

"W–What... How could you be all in my room?" I asked them, genuinely confused. Jeongyeon slapped my shoulder. "Ya! You gave your room keycard to Jihyo earlier! What exactly are you suggesting? Did you plan something?" she asked.

Her words shocked me. I checked my pocket, and only then did I realise that I only had one keycard. I must have mistakenly given my spare keycard to Jihyo together with her keycard earlier. The girls all went 'Oooo...' and I felt my face burn red in embarrassment. Jihyo laughed and stood up.

"Alright, alright... That's enough. Minsoo must have accidentally given it to me by mistake. Right, Minsoo?" she said while looking at me. I nodded rapidly.

Nayeon scoffed, and Jihyo glared at her. The cute eldest member giggled.

"I really don't mind even if Minsoo gave it to you on purpose, Jihyo. You two look good together anyway!" she said.

The girls nodded in agreement. I never felt my face blushed that red before, but to my surprise, Jihyo was blushing too when I looked at her. Wait. What was that?

"Come on guys, stop teasing Minsoo-Oppa," said Tzuyu softly, although she did smile wide.

Nayeon giggled, but to her credit, she didn't continue teasing me. She threw herself on my bed and sighed. Mina sat next to her and looked around the room.

"So, what are we going to do tonight? Minsoo starts first, right?' asked Mina. They all nodded and looked at me. "W–Well..." I said. "I... Think the best thing to start our time in Singapore is..."

I paused for dramatic effect. The girls all leaned forward expectantly.

"What is it?" asked Momo breathlessly. "What's the best thing to start our time here?" continued Sana. "Come on, just tell us, Oppa!" exclaimed Chaeyoung.

I looked around and smiled.

"... A local food tour!" I exclaimed excitedly.

Hearing 'food' made Dahyun and Nayeon jump up excitedly.

"Woo-hoo! Food! I've read so much online about Singapore's food!" exclaimed Nayeon, clenching her fists and pumping them in the air. "I want to try Laksa!" interjected Dahyun. Jeongyeon slapped the back of her head. "Ya! You've had Laksa the last time we visited here!" she said. Dahyun laughed. "Really? I forgot!" she said, still exclaiming loudly. The girls all laughed at her silliness. "What do you call the food here... Pe-ra-nakan?" wondered Sana. Mina nodded. "Yep. Peranakan. Have you booked a restaurant for us?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"No, no. Restaurants aren't authentic enough. I want us to really try the real, authentic Singaporean street food," I said happily, before adding a little nervously, "... Are you guys... Okay with that?"

To my relief, the girls all nodded and smiled. Sana looked around the room with a huge grin.

"So, shall we go back to our rooms now to freshen up?" she looked at her watch. "What time are we leaving? Six?" "Yeah. Six is good. Our first stop is not far from here. I've planned out our journey," I showed my JYPE employee app with all the stops I had planned for tonight. "Okay. We'll meet at the lobby in half an hour, then!" concluded Jihyo. She then turned to smile at me, "Nice job, Minsoo."

I felt myself blushing again, and I knew Nayeon picked this up, but before she had the chance to tease me again, Jeongyeon pulled her up from the bed.

"Come on! Let's let Minsoo rest a bit. See you at 6!" she said, pushing the naughty bunny towards the door. Nayeon laughed, but she relented anyway.

Jihyo chuckled and asked the girls to leave the room. They all obeyed her. As the girls started to walk outside, she turned and smiled at me.

"I've put the card on the table," she said softly. "Card? What card?" "Your room keycard, you silly!" she said with a chuckle. "Or you want me to keep it?" "N–No. Um. I mean... You can, if you want to... But... Wait. What?"

She laughed, but didn't say anything. The girls said their goodbyes to me and left the room. I closed the door behind them, and I could still hear them talking and laughing outside. I walked back inside and chuckled. These girls were a handful, but I was glad that they liked my plan for a street food tour tonight.

I picked up my suitcase and opened it to take out my change of clothes, suddenly longing for a refreshing, cold shower. As I took off my clothes and started towards the bathroom, I heard a notification chime on my phone. I decided to check it out first. It was from Twicetagram again.

'I really do love your idea! Can't wait to spend the night together with you~'

Wait a second. Who was this? Her tone was so cute in these two messages... Was it Sana? Was it Dahyun? It couldn't be Jeongyeon could it? She didn't usually talk cute like this. She was also smart enough to never call me either Oppa or Minsoo-ya, which would enable me to narrow down to either the Maknae Line or the Unnie Line.

I entered the bathroom and looked up to the mirror. It... Could it be... Jihyo? I shook my head again, telling me that I shouldn't imagine things. But she did talk a little more cutely to me these past few days. But she couldn't, right?

I entered the shower booth and started showering. Secretly, I was wishing that it was indeed Jihyo who sent these messages. But, I thought, if it was indeed her... I shouldn't think of it as anything right? She was just being kind to me, complimenting my idea. Yeah. That was all. Nothing more.

I got dressed with my most comfortable shirt and shorts, and went down to the lobby. When I arrived, Jeongyeon, Nayeon, Dahyun, Mina, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu were already there, all dressed in nice and comfortable outfits, suitable for the tropical heat of Singapore. They smiled as they saw me walking towards them.

"Are we dressed too comfortably?" asked Tzuyu worriedly. I shook my head. "No, Tzu. Just nice! It's so hot and humid outside, we can't dress like we're still in Seoul," I said. The beautiful maknae chuckled and nodded. "Tsk, where are the rest? I'm so hungry already!" said Dahyun, looking as irritated as ever. Mina touched her shoulder gently. "Patience, Dubu... Patience..." she said calmly.

Dahyun laughed and rested her back on the sofa. Jeongyeon immediately pushed her back to make her sit upright. The pale skinned girl glared at her unnie, but then she chuckled.

"You'll fall asleep if I let you rest like that, then we'll all have a hard time waking you up," said Jeongyeon passingly. Dahyun laughed and nodded. "Thanks, Unnie," she said, hugging Jeongyeon's arm. "Oh! Everyone's here!"

I turned to see Jihyo rushing with Momo and Sana from the direction of the lift lobby. Sana was wearing a long, low cut flowy red summer dress, showing her ample cleavage a little bit of her black lacy bra. I was always amazed by just how easy it was for her to look both sexy and cute at the same time. Momo was wearing a brown crop top, reminiscent of her Alcohol Free era outfit. They both looked gorgeous, but the one who got my attention was Jihyo.

Jihyo was wearing a denim overalls on top of a lilac t-shirt. It wasn't at all tight or revealing, but with breasts as big as hers you really couldn't hide them, no matter how hard you try. Her chest area looked so packed and full, and I felt the same thing was starting to happen around my crotch area by just looking at her.

Luckily, she missed this completely. She smiled sweetly as she stood next to me.

"Everyone's ready?" she asked. The girls nodded and jumped up to stand. "So, where are we going first?" Nayeon asked. I looked at my app to check the first stop. "First stop: Lau Pa Sat Food Center. It's actually very near from here," I said. "How are we going to get there? Company bus?" asked Momo. I shook my head. "No. That'll grab too much attention, don't you think? I wanted us to try the most authentic experience: MRT," I said, whipping out ten EZ Link cards from my bag.

The girls gasped in surprise.

"Ooo... Public transport? Really?" asked Chaeyoung. "Won't that attract even more attention?" asked Mina with concern.

I was about to answer, but Jihyo interjected.

"N... No. Actually I think Minsoo's right. People won't expect us to take public transport, right? So they might pass us up only as Twice's lookalikes," she said while thinking.

She looked at me for affirmation, and I nodded confidently.

"If you say so..." said Chaeyoung, not looking convinced. "Come on, let's just try it!" exclaimed Sana, already walking towards the exit. "Yeah. I'm hungry! I don't care if people mob us," said Dahyun, following her unnie.

We all laughed and followed them. The MRT station was located underneath Marina Bay Sands Shoppes, a large building right across the street from our hotel. Somehow, I was right. Nobody even paid attention to us, because we all dressed really casually and some of the girls even didn't wear any makeup. We waited for the subway to come and went in.

Our destination station, Raffles Place, was only one station away, so within 2 minutes we were already walking out of the train and finding the exit towards Lau Pa Sat. I led the girls back out to the streets, and we found ourselves standing beneath the tall skyscrapers of Singapore CBD. Amidst these giant buildings, stood the old Victorian building that was our first destination of the night.

If you've ever been to this famed food center in Singapore, you'll know that you can find almost every kind of cuisines from all around the world in Lau Pa Sat: Form Western Food to Chinese Food, from Indian Food to local delights such as Bak Chor Mee, Laksa, Nasi Lemak, Popiah, Hainanese Chicken Rice, and Satay. I knew I was the one setting this tour, but to be honest I was so overwhelmed by the plethora of food choices to pick!

We even found a Korean food stall, whose young owner immediately recognised the girls as Twice members, and she was so starstruck she actually started screaming a little bit. Luckily, Sana and Nayeon–who were her two biases–warmed up to her pretty quickly and told her to keep it down, before taking a selfie with her. She thanked us all and wished us luck and success.

The girls split up to buy their food, while Jihyo, Jeongyeon and I bought the drinks. We decided to sample all the locally popular drinks: Sugarcane juice, Lime juice, Bandung, and Iced Teh Tarik, buying two glasses of each so all of us could try some.

We sat around a long table around the middle of the circular food center, and one by one, the girls returned with their food. Momo and Mina tried Bak Chor Mee, the Teochew noodle dish with minced pork, with fish ball soup on the side. Chaeyoung was a little more adventurous and tried the spicy, sweet and savoury Mee Siam, Nayeon tried Satay, while Tzuyu, who's been to Singapore a few times, picked the clean-tasting and subtle Hainanese Chicken Rice. Sana and Dahyun bought Nasi Lemak and Roti Prata from the Malay food stall.

"I thought you wanted Laksa?" asked Mina. Dahyun shrugged. "I know. But I remembered I've tried it before, so... Nasi Lemak!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Ya! I told you just that at the hotel earlier!" exclaimed Jeongyeon. "Did you?" Dahyun asked, looking genuinely surprised. "Ya! Fucking crackhead!" Jeongyeon scolded her.

We all laughed at her silliness. Nayeon looked at us three.

"Go get your food, guys! We'll wait, don't worry!" said Nayeon to Jeongyeon, Jihyo and I.

We happily stood up and started walking slowly around the vast food center, trying to decide what to buy. Everything looked so nice and delicious, and we were really having a hard time. As we walked further from our table, Jeongyeon suddenly giggled and walked away to a different direction.

"I'm finding my own food! You two find yours!" she exclaimed as she walked quickly away. "Ya! Jeongie!" called Jihyo, but Jeongyeon only laughed and kept walking further.

Jihyo turned to look at me and giggled.

"That girl, seriously. Come, Minsoo! Let's pick our food!"

Suddenly, she grabbed my arm and pulled me to walk with her. I felt my heart skip a beat, but I followed her nonetheless. I found myself walking hand in hand with the leader. The world seemed to slow down into a slow motion. Everything started to blur, every sound started to feel silent in my ears. Was... Was this real? Did she just grab my hand? Was I really walking hand in hand with Jihyo? I felt a stupid grin was forming on my lips. Wait. I wasn't dreaming, was I?

A slap on my arm awakened me from my daydream.

"Minsoo!" "Huh? What? What?" "I asked you if you want to try this... What is this... Carrot cake? It doesn't look like a cake to me... But it looks delicious. Wanna try?"

Jihyo and I had stopped in front of a Carrot Cake stall. Well, at least it was named 'Carrot Cake', but Jihyo was right, it looked nothing like a cake. It looked more like a stir-fried dish. I nervously nodded.

"Y–Yeah, yeah! Let's try it!"

Jihyo looked at me quizzically for a moment, but then she chuckled and ordered two plates of carrot cake for us. I blinked a few times and shook my head, trying to calm myself down. What was happening? Why was my heart beating so fast right now? I... I couldn't have fallen for her, right?

"Minsoo, help me carry one plate, please?" Jihyo said. I nodded and picked up one plate full of the stir fried dish. It smelled so good I felt like I was salivating. Suddenly I felt my stomach rumbling, and I forgot about my earlier confusion already.

We walked back to the table and found the girls were indeed waiting for us. Jeongyeon was already there with a bowl of Bak Kut Teh, the herbal pork ribs soup famous in Singapore. The girls cheered as we sat down with our plates, with Jeongyeon bumping her shoulder meaningfully to Jihyo's. Jihyo slapped her thigh, but she laughed nonetheless.

"Come on, let's eat already! I'm starving!" exclaimed Dahyun, already picking up her spoon and fork, but Nayeon held her hand to stop her. "Wait! We should say grace first!" she said, undoubtedly to irritate Dahyun even further. "Dubu should say grace!" exclaimed Momo, catching up on Nayeon's intention.

Dahyun sighed tiredly, but we all chuckled. Left with no choice, she closed her eyes and started praying.

"Lord, thank You for the food You've provided us. Please bless the food to make us healthy and deliver us from the evil fats and calories. In Jesus' Name we pray..." she inhaled strongly, before shouting from the top of her lungs, "AMEN!"

We laughed out loud and said 'Amen!' in unison. Dahyun immediately scooped into her Nasi Lemak and started eating ravenously. We all followed suit, sharing our food together. Everything was so tasty and incredibly flavourful, and the girls all expressed their amazement and appreciation towards the local cuisines noisily. I smiled. The night was off to a good start.

As we were eating, the girls started taking out their phones to take photos of both the food and the surroundings. I chuckled seeing this, again reminded that they were indeed all regular young girls after all. After a few moments, I felt my phone vibrating, and thought that they must have posted the photos on Twicetagram's account. I took out my phone to check it.

The girls indeed posted the food photos on Instagram Story, but to my surprise, I had just received another direct message from the account, once again sent using Vanish Mode. Curious, I opened it with a thumping heart.

'Thanks for bringing us here! Off to a good start, eh? By the way, you look really cute tonight~'

I looked up immediately towards Jihyo. She was on her phone, smiling happily, but the other girls were all doing the same thing, except for Dahyun who was busy eating. Okay, so it wasn't Dahyun. But who was it? Was it really Jihyo?

Sana suddenly looked up towards me and smiled.

"This is a good place, Minsoo!" she said adorably. Chaeyoung, who was sitting next to her, nodded in agreement. "Yesh! Food's sho good!" she said with a full mouth. "Don't talk with a full mouth, Chaeng!" scolded Tzuyu. Chaeyoung shrugged and continued slurping her Mee Siam noisily.

Wait. Who was it? Was it Sana, then? I felt someone was staring at me, so I turned to see both Jeongyeon and Jihyo were doing just that. They smiled as I looked at her.

"Nice job, Minsoo! Hey, try my Bak Kut Teh! It's so good!" said Jeongyeon, pushing her bowl towards me. "You should try the black carrot cake, too! Yours is the white one apparently," said Jihyo, picking some pieces off her plate with her chopsticks and transferring them to my plate. "Okay! Okay!" I said with a chuckle, feeling a little overwhelmed by all the food offerings.

I tasted Jeongyeon's Bak Kut Teh and she was right. The broth was clear, but rich in flavor. I also tried the black carrot cake Jihyo gave me, and it was similarly delicious, with a stronger flavor compared to mine.

I stared at Jihyo as I chewed my food, again secretly wishing that it was her who had been sending me these cute messages. She met my eyes and smiled beautifully.

"What is it?" she asked me softly. I shook my head. "Nothing. Are you enjoying this?" I decided to ask her. She nodded and smiled wider. "Very much," she said.

I smiled and decided that I should just cherish our dinner together instead of thinking about the messages for now.

We finished our dinner pretty quickly, and we walked out of Lau Pa Sat feeling pretty satisfied. But knowing these girls, there should still be room for some more.

"Ready for the next round?" I asked them as I checked my app. "Dessert?" asked Sana cutely. I laughed. She did love her sweets. "That, and something more before that. We still haven't tried Singapore Chilli Crab and Sambal Stingray," I said.

Mina's eyes widened.

"Seafood!?" she said breathlessly. Mina did love seafood. I chuckled. "Yeah. Can you guys still eat a little more? Or should we go straight for desserts?" I asked them. Dahyun glared at me. "How dare you!" she protested, sounding indignant. "Of course we can still eat!" chimed Nayeon in, also sounding offended.

I laughed.

"Alright! Up next: Newton Food Center at Newton Circus!" I exclaimed as I started walking. "Wait, Circus? Are we going to see a show?" asked Momo. Tzuyu sighed. "No, Unnie... It's... The food court is in a circular place, I think... So they named it 'circus'," she explained. Momo looked at her ponderously. "But this one was also circular! Why wasn't it named Lau Pa Sat Circus?" she pressed. "I'll ask Sang Nila Utama and Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles when I meet them in the afterlife," said Tzuyu, surprisingly sarcastic and savage, although she was giggling in the end.

Momo still looked like she was about to question some more, but Jihyo pushed her back to make her start walking.

"Aishh... Hirai-yaa... Just start walking!" she said, evidently irritated by the clueless Japanese girl.

Momo still protested, but the girls all laughed and pushed her towards the MRT station. Newton station was five stations away from Raffles Place, but it still wasn't that long of a journey. We arrived just a little over 7.30 pm, and walked a short distance to another one of Singapore's most famous food courts.

This time around, I asked the girls to sit nicely at a long table, while I took on the business of ordering the food myself, because we only wanted to try two dishes: Singapore Chilli Crab and Sambal Stingray. I swiftly ordered it with a side of a few plates of steamed rice, and then walked back towards the table.

To my surprise, there were already a few bottles of beer on the table when I returned. The girls were giggling when they saw my surprised face.

"Don't look so surprised, Minsoo-ya! Seafood is good with beer!" said Jeongyeon. "Or Chardonnay," uttered Mina softly. Momo slapped the girl's thick thigh. "You and your expensive bullshit," she uttered. Mina only giggled. "No, no it's fine, girls! I was only surprised that you guys bought the beers so quickly!" I said while smiling and taking my seat next to Jeongyeon, across Jihyo.

A few moments later, the food came. The crab looked so majestically good, while the stingray was a little bit scary with all the red hot chilli paste on top, but we were used to Korean food and a lot of gojuchang and gochugaru, so we weren't deterred. Dahyun took out her phone to snap a picture of the two delicious looking dishes, and the other eight followed her example.

Almost expectantly, I took out my phone and stared at it. Sure enough, a second later a Vanish Mode message came from the Twicetagram account again. I quickly opened it.

'Another great choice. I'm liking you more and more~'

I looked up and saw that all nine of them were on their phones currently. I scrutinized the girls' expressions. Dahyun and Nayeon were giggling over something on their phones, Chaeyoung was staring at her screen while sipping her beer, Mina smiled gracefully while typing something, Momo was waving her phone around the food court, capturing the scenery and busily debating about the term 'Circus' with an exasperated looking Tzuyu, who was also holding her phone above the Sambal Stingray. Jeongyeon was grinning wide, finding something funny on her phone, while Jihyo...

Jihyo looked up suddenly and smiled at me. Was it really her? Did she just say that she liked me more and more? I felt my heart beating faster again, and felt my face starting to blush again. Jihyo was still smiling when she turned her eyes towards the group and put down her phone.

"Shall we start eating?" asked Jihyo. "Dahyunie..." started the naughty Nayeon. "Grace!" exclaimed Dahyun suddenly. "What?" asked Chaeyoung. "You guys were just about to ask me to say grace, right? There, I said it already: Grace!" she repeated herself.

We stared at her for a few seconds, blinking confusedly. Sana started laughing her iconic laugh, and we all joined her. Dahyun was just so incredibly funny. We started devouring the two delicious seafood dishes happily and drank the refreshing beer with much joy.

After about an hour of eating, drinking, and joking around, we left Newton Food Center feeling incredibly full after two dinner meals. Sana and Mina were rubbing their belly, while Chaeyoung yawned, but she still looked excited.

"That was some good shit, Oppa!" she said, giving me a high five. The other girls nodded their agreement. "I'm glad you guys liked it!" I said happily. "Where to next?" asked Nayeon. "Fuck, you can still eat?" Momo asked her surprisedly. Nayeon nodded confidently. "There's always room for dessert!" exclaimed Sana as we walked back to the MRT station. "What's the most authentic Singaporean dessert..." pondered Jeongyeon. "Ice kachang? Rojak?" offered the resourceful Tzuyu. She suddenly turned bubbly after eating so much.

I chuckled.

"No. There's another one," I said. I felt thankful that I had done a lot of research about Singaporean food before going here. "What is it?" asked Jihyo. "Ice cream Uncle!" I declared happily.

Tzuyu's eyes widened.

"Aah! That's right! Orchard Road, right?" she exclaimed. I nodded, feeling impressed by just how much knowledge she had. "Let's go! I love ice cream!" exclaimed Dahyun, overtaking me to walk faster towards the MRT station. "Hang on! Which uncle? Whose uncle?" asked Momo.

The girls all sighed.

"Ya!" Jeongyeon warned her. "Let's not get into another long debate about whose uncle is selling the ice cream!"

We all laughed, while Momo still looked confused, but to her credit, she didn't press us this time. We took the short MRT ride to Orchard Station and stepped out onto the famous and busy Orchard Road, the main shopping district of the country. It was just like Gangnam or Dongdaemun, only a lot more futuristic.

We found the nearest Ice Cream Uncle cart and ordered our flavors. The girls squealed in excitement as one by one they received their ice cream, sandwiched in either two slivers of wafer or a piece of rainbow coloured toast.

"This is so good!!!" exclaimed Sana excitedly after she took her first bite. "Yessh! Shooo good!!" Chaeyoung agreed with a full mouth again, attracting Tzuyu's glare. The other girls also complimented the tasty ice cream.

Momo suddenly approached the unsuspecting Uncle.

"Ahjussi, who's uncle are you really?" she asked him seriously in Korean.

The Uncle looked at her with a really confused look, clearly not understanding a word she said. Momo stared at the uncle intently, looking like she actually expected an answer. The girls all sighed.

"Hirai-yaa!" they all scolded her. She turned around and gave them the 'what?' look, but then she laughed out loud and bowed to the uncle, before leaving with us.

We sat on the steps of ION Orchard, finishing our ice cream in silence. I looked around and smiled happily. Yeoni's words were right. These girls do love food, and I felt like I had actually done a great job tonight by bringing them on this food tour. My three stops of the tour were executed perfectly, at least in my opinion.

I heard Dahyun yawning. Okay, if the best eater has had her fill, then that was the sign that we might need to end the night. I glanced at my watch, it was only almost 9 pm, but I guessed the girls must be tired after the flight. They should get some rest.

"Shall we go home now?" I asked them. "Aw... No drinking?" asked Chaeyoung. "W-Well... I didn't plan for drinks. Do you want to go?" I asked her nervously. But she smiled kindly and shook her head. "No, it's alright, Oppa. I can drink in the hotel. The food tour was great already!" she said.

I felt a little discouraged hearing her, as if I had just missed one last step to make my evening with them completely perfect. Jeongyeon noticed this and bumped her shoulder to mine.

"Don't worry about it, Minsoo. You already did great," she whispered, encouraging me. I smiled and nodded, thanking her.

We walked back towards the MRT after finishing our ice cream, a little slowly this time, mainly because of just how full we were after eating so many things in one night. We took the train back to Marina Bay and walked back to our hotel.

Jeongyeon, Dahyun, and Sana walked arm in arm, teasing each other while giggling all around. Nayeon was talking with Tzuyu and Momo as they walked, while Mina and Chaeyoung walked silently while holding hands.

Jihyo walked closer to me, and I started to feel nervous again. She looked up and smiled, and I smiled back nervously.

"You okay?" she asked me. "Y-yeah! Did you... Enjoy the night?" I asked her back. She nodded and smiled wider. "I enjoyed it so much. You really did great, Minsoo!" she said.

Suddenly, she hugged my arm while walking. Her huge breasts inevitably pressed against my arm. The soft yet firm sensation on my skin made my dick immediately go totally rock hard underneath my shorts. Not good! Not good at all!

I didn't know how to react to this sudden skinship. I felt my face burn red, and I was afraid that my nose might burst out bleeding.

"J—Jihyo?" I stuttered. "Hm?" she asked cutely, staring at me with her big beautiful eyes. "What is it?" "N—Nevermind," I said, not finding the right words to say.

She giggled and continued hugging my arm as we entered the hotel. I looked anxiously at the other girls who were walking ahead of us. They didn't see us yet, but they could turn around any moment, right? Shit. They would tease me mercilessly if they saw us like this!

Luckily enough, she let go of my arm right when the girls turned around as we reached the Hotel lobby. I was still blushing, and both Sana and Nayeon noticed this immediately.

"Why are you blushing, Minsoo-ya?" asked Sana. "What did Jihyo do to you?" asked Nayeon more directly, eyeing the leader suspiciously.

Jihyo smiled and wore an innocent look on her face, while I blushed even redder.

"I didn't do anything! We just talked about our schedule tomorrow, right, Minsoo?" "Y-Yes! Y-ou're right!" I stammered. "Maybe it's the heat!"

Nayeon still looked at us suspiciously, but then she grinned, showing her large two front teeth. The girls gathered around before going up to their rooms, and they started thanking me one by one.

"Well, thanks for the night, Minsoo! It was really great! I'm so full right now!" Nayeon said happily as she rubbed her belly. I smiled and nodded. "Great night, great food, five stars!" said Chaeyoung rapidly. I laughed. "What... Are you giving a review online?" I asked her. She laughed and gave me a high five. "Hey, I'm going to drink with Somi later. You can join us if you want," she said passingly.

I smiled and nodded. I honestly didn't know Jeon Somi–her fellow singer and best friend–personally, but I appreciated the offer.

"Thanks, Chaeng. I'll think about it," I said. She smiled and walked towards the bar. Mina walked forward and smiled kindly. "Gomawo, Minsoo. It was really great!" said Mina softly. I nodded and smiled again. "Great job, Minsoo-ya! You didn't disappoint!" said Momo coolly. "Although I still don't know why Lau Pa Sat wasn't called a circus even though it was also circular, and the uncle..." "Ya!" snapped Jihyo, Tzuyu and Jeongyeon together.

Momo cackled and flung her arm around Mina's shoulder before walking away with her. Tzuyu bowed a little before thanking me.

"Thank you, Oppa! You sure knew a lot of things about Singapore's food, and this is your first time here, right?" she said cutely. I chuckled. "The power of online research, Tzu!" I said.

She giggled and nodded, adjusting her cute glasses, before leaving. Sana walked forward and offered me a warm hug.

"Thanks, Minsoo. You really did a great job," she said, before pecking my cheek again.

She had kissed my cheek a few times these past two weeks, so I wasn't reacting as violently as the first time anymore. I knew it was just her style. Still, I chuckled embarrassedly as she winked at me and left. Dahyun scooted nearer, offered me a fist bump and smiled wide.

"You're cool, Oppa. The food's cool as well," she said with a wide grin. Despite all her weirdness, I had to admit that she was actually really beautiful. "I'm still amazed at just how much food you could eat!" I said.

She chuckled, and then she froze all of a sudden. I was alarmed.

"What is it?"

She stared at Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and I, not answering. Her face looked like she was in some sort of pain.

"What is it, Dubu?" asked Jeongyeon, sounding concerned. "I..." she said seriously. "... I have to take a dump!"

Jeongyeon flipped out.

"YA! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE TO TELL US THAT! JUST GO SHIT ALREADY!" she roared.

Dahyun laughed out loud and ran to the toilet. I felt my mouth gaped as I watched her. She really needed help, right? I heard Jihyo laughing loudly next to me, repeatedly slapping my back. A second later, Jeongyeon also laughed and shook her head tiredly.

"You said you knew some good shrinks, right?" said Jeongyeon after she finished laughing. "Y–Yeah?" I said. "Keep hold of their contacts, okay? We might actually need to send her to one of them someday," she said.

The three of us laughed together. Jeongyeon calmed herself down and looked at Jihyo. She smiled knowingly, before winking and tapping my shoulder.

"I'll go up first. See you tomorrow, Minsoo!" she said and walked away.

I turned and smiled at Jihyo. She smiled too, somehow looking extra beautiful tonight. Our eyes met, and for the umpteenth time that night, my heart beat a little faster.

"So... What are you going to do next?" Jihyo asked me softly.

I found myself struggling to answer such a simple question. I honestly was just planning to go up to my room, take a nice hot bath in the bathtub, and then go to sleep. But that would be really boring, wouldn't it? Should I say that I was planning to join Somi and Chaeyoung at the bar? But that would be a lie. I didn't want to join them.

"I... Just want to have a nice hot bath, and then go to sleep," I decided to tell her the truth. "Oh..." she said slowly, "... You must be tired. That's right..."

Why did she sound disappointed? Did she actually want to do something with me? Shit. Where was Yeoni when I needed him? How should I respond to this kind of talk with a girl?

"Y... yeah. Kinda tired," again I answered truthfully.

Jihyo looked at me silently for a few moments. It felt like her beautiful eyes were piercing into my soul through my eyes, as if she was waiting for me to say something else, but what? Should I ask her if she was the one who sent those messages from Twicetagram account? But would that be inappropriate? What if it wasn't her? Wouldn't that be really embarrassing?

After a while, Jihyo chuckled and sighed, waking me up from my thoughts. She held my hand softly.

"Well... I guess I should go up then. See you tomorrow, Minsoo..." she uttered.

We stared at each other, not knowing what to do. I chuckled nervously and bowed to her, and she giggled before smiling and bowing back, then she left. I turned to watch her from behind. She looked back and smiled again, before disappearing into the lift.

Shit. What was that all about? Did I do something wrong? She looked and sounded so disappointed when I told her that I was tired. Again, I felt my phone vibrate inside my pocket, and another Vanish Mode message from Twicetagram came to my account.

'Thanks for the great night out! You did great today, and I can't wait to meet you again in the morning to spend another day with you... Have a good night and a sweet dream, okay? Who knows, we might meet each other in our dreams~'

Now this was bothering me. Who was it? Whoever it was, this last message was actually really sweet. I looked around in vain, only seeing Chaeyoung in the bar with Somi, busy talking and laughing. I was sure it wasn't her, but who was it? Was it really Jihyo?

I went up to my room, deep in thoughts. Somehow, I regretted my decision not to ask Jihyo about the messages. What if it was indeed her? Had I just missed a golden opportunity?

But... What was it that I was feeling towards her? Again, she wasn't my bias, that was still Sana. She wasn't even the member I was closest with, for that would be Jeongyeon. Could it be... Could it be that I was actually falling in love with Jihyo?

I sat on my bed and stared blankly into my phone for a long time. The selfie Sana took with me two weeks ago that I used as my phone wallpaper was already replaced with a selfie I took together with all nine members, signifying that I had become closer with all of them.

Should I just start a chat with the account? But all nine of them would know, right? They all had access to the account, and although I already eliminated Dahyun and Chaeyoung from the list of suspects, it still could be anyone out of the other seven.

Tzuyu was being extra bubbly tonight, and it would fit her personality to send messages with cute words like that. Sana was also usually cute, so it could also be her. Mina was always sweet, while Nayeon could also be cute and might just send those messages simply to tease me. It couldn't be Momo or Jeongyeon, right? They wouldn't do cute stuff like that. But... What if it was Jihyo all along?

Suddenly, my phone vibrated again in my palms. Another message from Twicetagram account. Heart beating fast, I opened it hastily.

'Ya. You're not asleep yet, right? I'm outside.'

The tone was different from the previous ones. Curiously, I walked to the door and opened it.

"J–Jeong... Yeon?"

She scowled at me for a moment, but then she grinned and barged in.

"Who else? Come, let's talk!" she said coolly as she entered my room.

I followed her inside, feeling even more confused than I was a few minutes ago. I noticed that she was carrying a bottle of soju, along with two small glass shots. She walked straight to my bed and sat, looking straight at me. I sat next to her on the bed.

Jeongyeon stared at me intently for a few moments, as if trying to read my mind. I somehow felt like I had just made a huge mistake.

"W–What?" I asked her. She sighed. "Minsoo-ya... You're too naive," she said exasperatedly. "N–Naive? What? Why?" I asked, really confused.

Jeongyeon sighed again. She picked up the soju bottle, cracked it open, and poured a shot for us each. She gestured to my glass, telling me to pick it up, and we drank the alcohol in silence. The alcohol burned nicely in my throat.

"Woof..." Jeongyeon shuddered, shaking her head off to cool the alcohol effect, before turning to look at me straight in the eyes again. "As I said, you're too naive, Dongsaeng..." she said seriously. "Y–Yes? What do you mean by that?"

She chuckled and poured herself another shot.

"Jihyo," she said. "What?" "Jihyo. Tell me the truth. You like her don't you?" she shot directly.

I felt my face burning. Was it the alcohol?

"W–What? I–I..." "Come on, Minsoo... Cut the bullshit. You really, really like her, don't you?" pressed her.

The honest answer would be a resounding yes, but how could I tell Jeongyeon that? Wouldn't that make me sound pretentious? Who was I anyway that I could have the right to fall in love with Twice's Jihyo? I was a nobody!

"I... I... I... I don't... Know," I stuttered, trying to sound as truthful as I could. She scoffed. "You're unsure," she concluded. I nodded slowly. "I... I guess?" "Well, lemme tell you something: She likes you too," she said casually.

Now I felt my face was as red as an apple. I couldn't believe my ears.

"W–What did you say?" "Jihyo. Our leader. She likes you. She adores you, even. She couldn't stop talking about you every day and every night since the first time she saw you in our apartment two weeks ago," explained Jeongyeon. "Honestly, we all really like you after these two weeks, but mainly as our manager. Mina and the maknaes look up to you like an oppa. Nayeon, Sana and Momo like you as a trustworthy friend. But Jihyo... Jihyo actually likes you as a man," she continued.

Still shell-shocked by this revelation, I only stared at her blankly, mouth agape. Jeongyeon chuckled and continued.

"The problem is... You're too naive for a guy, Dongsaeng," she said. Her words confused me. "H–How... so?" I uttered.

Jeongyeon sighed and chuckled again.

"You seriously didn't know that Jihyo likes you until I told you just now?" she asked me. I shook my head. I was telling the truth. Jeongyeon chuckled. "That's naive. Come on, man! She had sent you signals the entire evening!" she said exasperatedly. "Signals?" I asked. Jeongyeon nodded and smiled, before making a telephone sign with her fingers and wiggling it on top of her head. "Signals, you know... Signal bo ne... Jjirit, jjirit..." she said, singing the tune of Twice's song. "W... What... What signals?" I asked her.

Jeongyeon actually laughed and flung her arm around my shoulder.

"Signals that she likes you, silly!" she said. "Didn't you read the messages she sent you on Instagram?"

My eyes widened in surprise. So it was indeed Jihyo?

"She... She was the one sending the messages?" I asked her slowly. Jeongyeon nodded. "Well... I sent the first message telling you to go down, and I sent the message just now asking you to open the door. But all the messages in between were from her. Shit... That wasn't even a signal! She practically shouted at you already!" Jeongyeon explained.

I stared at her with wide eyes. It all made sense now. All those knowing winks and giggles between these two, that moment when Jeongyeon left us at Lau Pa Sat, and the moment she left earlier just a little while ago at the lobby... That was all on purpose?

"You really didn't get it, did you?" she asked me again. I felt a hint of pity in her voice.

I pondered for a while. To be honest, I did kinda get it. I always noticed Jihyo's disappointed looks every time I stopped short from asking her out, but I kept pushing it aside, telling me that it was just my own wishful thinking. I kept telling myself that I wasn't good enough for Jihyo, that I was a nobody, while she was a global superstar.

"Actually... I... Kinda got it. But I kept brushing it off. I kept telling myself that Jihyo would never do that to me. She could never like me that way," I said.

Jeongyeon shot me a surprised look.

"Why couldn't she like you that way? Why wouldn't anyone like you that way?" she asked. "W–Well... Because... I'm... A nobody?" I said sheepishly. Jeongyeon glared at me. "Ya! Minsoo! You're our manager, handpicked by Suzy-unnie, and so far you've done a great job, even better than our previous manager!" Jeongyeon exclaimed.

I chuckled. Somehow I felt embarrassed being praised like that.

"Yeah, but still... " "Hey, look at the Kim-Kim couple!" she interjected. I understood that she meant Kim Jennie and Kim Yeoni. I looked at her intently. "Yeoni-ssi was nobody too, right? Sure, he's Jisoo-unnie's brother, but before him Jennie only ever dated fellow celebrities!" she explained. "Love is love, Minsoo. When it's real love, you'll look beyond social status, race, religion..." she said passionately, before pausing and adding, "... Even gender."

I looked at her. What did she mean by that? I then realised that I had never seen any dating gossip involving Jeongyeon and a man, celebrity or not. The only hot gossip I saw online all the time was between her and Sana. Was... Was she? Were they...?

Jeongyeon looked ahead, not meeting my gaze. Suddenly she looked so passionate and serious.

"But beyond that... You should really stop thinking that you're inferior to us, Minsoo," she said seriously. "In... ferior?" I asked. She nodded. "You really should start looking at yourself as our equal. We're all humans, you know. Fellow Koreans, too. Well... Except for Sana, Momo, Mina, and Tzuyu. But... You get my point, right?" she explained fiercely. She really did sound like she was my real noona.

Her words seared themselves into my heart. Yeoni's words suddenly rang in my mind: Treat them as your equals. They're just humans after all. Why was it so hard for me to do just that? Somehow, hearing Jeongyeon repeated the same thing made me realise that I have had an inferiority complex this whole time.

"I... I guess you're right," I uttered. "I'm sorry..."

Finally, she turned to look at me.

"Don't be sorry, Minsoo..." her tone switched back to being the kind woman I knew she was. "... You didn't make any mistake. You just didn't know what to do, right?"

Slowly, I nodded. Jeongyeon laughed and sighed again. She poured us another shot and drank again. I followed suit. Jeongyeon stared at her glass and turned it in her hand.

"Did Jihyo ask you what you were planning to do tonight?" she asked softly. "Yeah, she did after you left us," I said. She chuckled again. "What did you say?" she asked me. "I told her the truth: Take a nice hot bath and go to sleep," I said.

Jeongyeon laughed and punched my arm.

"Ya. That was a signal you missed, you dummy! You could say that, but then you should offer her to come here to have some drinks!" she said while chuckling.

I suddenly realised it, and when I did, I felt really remorseful. Jihyo did wait for me to say something else after I told her that, but I didn't even think about asking her to come to my room.

"You know... She had actually prepared this soju bottle to bring down in case you actually ask her out," she said, gesturing towards the bottle on the bed.

Her last words made me felt really bad and disappointed, like I had just missed an opportunity of a lifetime. Jeongyeon noticed this and laughed. She kindly wrapped her arm around my shoulder again, and leaned her face closer to me.

"Now, I'm going back to my first question... Do you like her?" she asked in a whisper.

I glanced at Jeongyeon. Somehow, looking at her made me miss my late mother so much. The last person who comforted me like this was my mom on her dead bed, when I was crying on her side, telling her not to leave me alone. Jeongyeon's kind eyes pierced my soul, and I felt like my defenses were crumbling. I knew what I had to say. I won't deny it any longer.

"I do... I like her. I like her so much..." I whispered. "I... I just never had the courage to tell her..."

Jeongyeon smiled kindly.

"Don't worry, Minsoo. You'll get another chance. She does like you very much. You just need to have courage. There's no reason why you shouldn't have a chance with her. Got it?" she said.

I slowly nodded, but I still couldn't shake the pang of disappointment in my heart. I felt really, really sad, and suddenly I felt my eyes starting to get wet. Wait...

"Did you just cry?" Jeongyeon asked in surprise. "I... I don't... Know?" I tried to answer, but my voice was cracking, and tears started falling down from my eyes like water out of a broken dam.

Thankfully, Jeongyeon didn't mock me. Instead, she hugged me tightly, stroking my hair. I hugged back and started crying loudly on her shoulder. The anguish and disappointment overwhelmed me, mixed in with the stress and physical tiredness.

"I'm so stupid... I'm just so stupid..."

Jeongyeon kept hugging me, and I was so thankful for my friendship with her. Somehow, she filled the hole in me that was created when my mother passed away, and slowly, peace and calm started filling my heart, pushing the sadness away.

As she noticed my breath returning to normal, Jeongyeon placed her hands on my cheeks and looked straight into my eyes.

"Han Minsoo, you're worth it. You're valuable. You're equal to us. You've got every right to be liked by anyone in this world, including Jihyo. And you've got every right to like her back, or anyone else you choose to like. Don't you ever forget that, okay?" she said slowly.

I nodded. She wiped my tears and hugged me again for a while. I smiled, enjoying her warmth. After a while, we separated, and I smiled. A question came to my mind.

"Did I disappoint her?" I asked Jeongyeon slowly. She grinned. "A little... But don't worry. She's not easily discouraged. You just have to be more confident next time," she said. I nodded. "What should I do now?" I asked her. She chuckled. "Nothing. Finish the soju quickly so I can go back upstairs. Sana's waiting," she said.

I looked at her confusedly.

"Sana?"

Jeongyeon nodded.

"You do know that we're a couple, right?" she asked me. I shook my head. Somehow, this didn't surprise me as much. "N–No... I don't..." I said slowly. "... So... It's true?"

Jeongyeon laughed and stretched her long torso again.

"Yeah, it's true... Been on and off for many years, and it was never really 'offical', but... Yeah. I can say that we're a couple," she said slowly. "I thought... Sana's close with Dubu... SaiDa couple, right?" I asked her.

Jeongyeon laughed.

"Yes, Sana and Dubu are really close friends, that's true. But... Dubu's straight... Well, I don't know really. She's at least bi-curious, I think? We just like having fun together, the three of us... That's all..." she said, before turning to look at me.

"Very few people know about this. So it's our little secret, okay?" she said with a wink.

I nodded. Suddenly feeling the huge sense of responsibility. Jeongyeon smiled and poured the last two shots for us. We finished it quickly, and she stood up.

"Well... I need to get going. Sana will be angry if I leave her alone for too long," she said with a giggle. I smiled and stood up. "Thanks again, Jeongyeon..." I said sincerely. Jeongyeon nodded. "Good night, Minsoo. Sleep well," she said.

I smiled, and she walked towards the door. Suddenly, I remembered something.

"Jeongyeon!" "Hm?" "What... What am I to you?"

She stopped and turned, looking puzzled.

"What do you mean?" "You said Mina and the maknaes look up to me as an oppa. Nayeon, Sana, and Momo like me as a trustworthy friend..." I said, "... What about you?"

The tall girl pondered for a while, before smiling.

"You're my little brother," she said kindly.

I smiled. So the feeling was mutual. I decided to ask her the one question I have had in my mind for quite some time now.

"Can I call you 'Noona'?"

Jeongyeon looked surprised at first, but then she laughed and walked back to hug me tightly one more time.

"Of course, Little Brother..." she whispered.

[formerprincess]

A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 61

Chapters: 61/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant, Nolan (Teen Wolf), Brett Talbot, Lori Talbot Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Mates, Liam and Theo are mates, Top Theo Raeken, Bottom Theo Raeken, Top Liam, Bottom Liam Dunbar, Bisexual Theo Raeken, Original Character(s) Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack

Maddie and Asher follow Liam's invitation. He also learns new things about were cheetahs and Theo gets a new job from an unlikely source.

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"Anyways, he invited the whole core pack to a BBQ. It's nice meeting with Luka. I learn so much about general history and other things. That's alright with you?" Liam switched his cellphone from the right hand to his left so he could reach for a shampoo bottle with his right. He was currently doing some shopping before his shift at Ellie’s started and also used the time to have a phone conversation with Byron. Byron chuckled softly. "Why shouldn't it be?" "Dunno. Maybe because you think I'm replacing you? Rather listen to him than you?" Byron sighed softly. "Liam, I am well aware of my own age. It is very noble of you to care about my feelings in that matter but I have to tell you not to worry. I know you listen to me but having another werewolf, an Alpha even, closer to your own age group, gives you undoubtedly the advantaged to see things from a different perspective. You young people see the world differently than we do, that is perfectly fine. You can never know too much and different viewpoints allow you a better understanding of things. I am not worried you will forgo my advice or replace me with Luka. In fact, I am excited you get to make this experience with other Alphas and leaders of supernatural groups." Liam exhaled and smiled. "Good. I am grateful for all of you taking your time to teach me things, explain things to me. Especially at the moment, I feel I'm learning so many new things about our world. Things I never ever thought of before." "Your willingness to learn is one of your most admirable traits. When we met, it was one of the first things I noticed", Byron praised him. Liam meanwhile opened the shampoo bottle and sniffed. He grimaced. Way too chemical for his liking. He hastily closed the bottle and put it back on the shelf. "I try my best. The way I see it, knowledge makes me a better Alpha. Which, funnily enough, is an insight I share with Scott." "You're right. Knowledge is always good." Liam found another shampoo he liked and took it to the cash register. Byron meanwhile reminisced. "I think I met Luka's parents once. Unless there is another pack with the same name in North America, which I highly doubt. Insightful and willing to listen. Remarkable people. It appears, their son takes after them." "Wow, maybe one day you two can meet and you can tell him that. I'm not sure when his parents died exactly but he still grieves them and hearing about them will surely make him happy. Maybe you can also meet Savannah and Maddie." He considered this a good idea. Byron hummed approvingly. "I'd love to."

"One second, Byron." Liam found it incredibly impolite to check out and be on the phone so he paused the call and turned his full attention to the cashier once it was his turn to pay. The transaction didn't take long and Liam left the store with his shampoo. Only then he picked up the conversation again. "Sorry, had to pay." Byron hummed again and Liam remembered a question from earlier he had wanted to ask: "You said it's highly unlikely two packs with the same name existing in North America. Why?" "I guess I should have worded it better. There is a chance of another pack having an Alpha named Barrett, it is not an incredibly rare name, but the possibility of the other pack referring to themselves as Barrett Pack is rare. You know, Liam, packs can have all kinds of names. A lot of them take their Alpha's last name. McCall, Hale, Barrett. Others, like ours, derive their names from the world around them or things connected to them. Red Ambers Pack, The Creek Pack, Silver Eyes. What all those names have in common is they are exclusive to those packs, simply because no one wants to be dragged into another pack's business because they share the last name. Imagine another pack, full of brutal and disruptive wolves, being called Dunbar Pack. One day someone shows up at your door and causes trouble. You would be furious. It's common werewolf etiquette to not have an already taken name. Also an etiquette stemming from old times." "Why do I now imagine all Alphas visiting an office where they register their names and pay the registration fee?" Liam snickered. Byron laughed wholeheartedly. "It's a nice image. Most come from hearsay, to be honest. And, in case of a pack having their Alpha's last name as pack name, the name changes with the Alphas. Unless it's another family member taking over, but that goes without saying." Liam pondered. "So our pack would have gone from Fairclay Pack to Dunbar Pack, if it weren't for Morning Dew." Liam opened his car and put the shampoo bottle on the passenger seat before he closed the door and locked his car again. Now he made his way toward's Ellie's store. "Exactly", Byron confirmed. "I like it better that way. Think of the poor registration office. All this paperwork for a name change." Byron laughed again and Liam joined him. "My shift's about to start, Byron. Talk to you later." "Take care, Liam."

He ended the call and pocketed his phone. The store was very central, with many shops around, and Liam used it to run some smaller errands quite often. When he now arrived at his workplace, Ellie was on a ladder. “Didn’t I tell you to wait with restocking until I’m here?” Liam asked lightly and sidestepped a few empty boxes. His boss placed a box on the shelf. “You mean because you’ll heal faster if you fall from the ladder?” “I…yeah. Besides I’m your young employee. Use me.” “I want to take up that task in case you have no use for Liam!” Carlie yelled from somewhere between the shelves. Her friends giggled. “Carlie.” Liam smirked. “What about Theo? He would get jealous of me for having you.” Theo had visited Liam in the shop before and as expected Ellie and her friends had fawned over his charming personality. “I take both of you!” They all laughed and Ellie thankfully climbed down from the ladder to let Liam take over.

He was working away for a while when the door opened and Theo entered the shop. He didn’t even need to open his mouth, the feeling of resignation and frustration pouring through their bond was enough. Liam gave him a pitiful glance. “The job interview didn’t work out.” Theo completely skipped over Liam already knowing his emotional state and just continued. “They wanted a twenty-year-old with thirty years experience and I can’t offer that. Tried telling her I’ve been to hell. She thought that was a joke.” "I'm sorry." Liam meant it and went to console his boyfriend. He hugged him tightly and Theo clung to him. He wanted to work again and Liam always felt a pang of guilt. Theo had hated working at the diner but he had been working and because his Alpha pressed, he was now jobless. "It's just...It's starting to get borderline ridiculous! Seattle is not a small town, how can nobody be in need of a healthy college student willing to get his hands dirty? Bullshit!" Theo ranted and Liam let him. It was only logical Theo needed to air out his frustration.

"Don't mind me barging into your conversation", Ellie appeared next to the couple. "But, Theo, if you really want a job, I can offer you one. Liam said you two wanted to work together after college anyway. Why not start now?" "That would be possible?" Liam asked surprised. She shrugged. "I see why not. There is more than enough work for the two of you. Also, two strong young men are always better than one. Carlie, don't even comment on that one!" "I didn't say anything!" Carlie shrieked and Theo laughed. "It sure sounds like fun." He looked at Liam. "Is this okay for you?" "Yeah, I don't mind." Liam really saw no issue with that. Ellie was right, they wanted to work together someday, might as well as start now. "Then, yeah, I'd love to accept, Ellie. Thank you." Theo was extremely grateful. She was happy. "Amazing. We can later talk about all the details. I'll offer you the same contract as Liam." He understood that. "Any rules for working together as a couple?" "Boy, you visited Liam several times since he started working here. I never had to fish you out of the storage room or the back office. I'll take the chance." "We are professional!" Liam squawked. Ellie shot him a grin. Then she pumped her fist. "Not me being selfish but there will be some deliveries arriving soon. You two strong men can take this, right?" "Absolutely", Liam promised and pulled Theo along to show him everything.

****** Working with Theo was easier than Liam imagined it to be. Sure, he would have never made the suggestion for their own coffee shop had he doubted that but it was even easier than in his imagination. They worked well together and knew how the other would react in certain situations. They also fell in an easy working rhythm without speaking so much. "Is it really okay for you? Me working here?" Theo still asked when they were storing the deliveries later on. "Yeah, sure. I don't mind in the slightest." Liam opened a box and began handing Theo things. The Second Alpha sorted them meticulously. "Just wanted to check, so you don't feel like I'm intruding or whatever." "You're not. We want to have our own store one day. This is a great exercise." Liam gave him a big smile which Theo returned. "Besides, Ellie is a great boss, you'll see. Makes life easier." "Easier?" Theo inquired and grabbed another box from Liam to store it away. Liam grunted. "She knows about us being werewolves. We don't have to find silly excuses if anything comes up. I had to lie so often in Beacon Hills and come up with stories to cover. Now my boss knows what I am, my coach knows, even my most important family members know.  I don't have to lie anymore and that makes things so much easier. My friends all are either supernatural themselves or involved with the supernatural one way or another. I can be honest, and just be me, you know? It feels so much better", Liam confessed. "It truly is easier", Theo admitted. "Ellie is my first boss in known about the supernatural, it's quite a luxury for me." He gave Liam a cheeky grin and Liam laughed. "You don't mind working with me, right?" He then inquired. "If I did, I wouldn't have accepted the job offer. I'm desperate for a job, but not that desperate." Theo sorted the last thing and handed Liam the label maker. "I'm sure there was a compliment somewhere in that sentence", the young Alpha nagged but didn't mean any harm. Theo understood and scoffed playfully. But then he grew serious. "It's actually quite soothing for my wolf. Being around you, knowing where you are." "Knowing where I am? You know where I am, even if you're not here with me." "It's not that. I know where you are, yes. But are you safe? That's how the mating bond manifests for me. By the urge to protect you every time and at all cost." Liam loved Theo with all his heart and he loved the protective streak the older one had developed for him. Yet... "I like that and I appreciate that. However, I am perfectly capable of protecting myself." "I know you are", Theo confessed, "And that scares the crap out of me." "Huh?" Liam frowned in confusion. Theo grumbled. "One day, I fear, I will be too slow. And you jump headfirst into danger, probably sacrificing yourself for us, and I won't be able to protect you and keep you from doing it. One day, even though you're perfectly capable, I'm afraid a bad guy will get lucky and you will die." Theo shuddered and Liam smiled softly. He put his things down and moved closer to his boyfriend. "I protect myself as good as you do. I will never leave you like this, okay?" "Hm. Promise?" "Promise." Liam kissed him. Maybe it was a dangerous promise given their life but at this moment it felt needed. The sheer thought of one of them not returning after a fight was terrifying and cruel. So acting as if they had complete control over their fate was the only thing to stop the thoughts from going down this path. Theo responded to the kiss but then poked Liam's side. "Come on, let's get those things to Ellie. She didn't hire us to make out. That would be a different line of work."

Liam snickered but then grabbed a box and followed his boyfriend back into the store. "Before I forgot, Sadie and Mason plan on taking you shopping to your new friend Savannah's boutique. Told me before I left." "Me??" Liam shrieked and Ellie looked at him in shock. "Yep. Sadie stalked Savannah online and wants to see the stores. Mason's all for that idea but both agreed it would be rude to show up there without you. So, you have to be the sacrificial lamb, puppy." "No", Liam said firmly, "I'm not going shopping. You all dressing me up once was bad enough. No way!" "Tell them that. I'm just warning you."

The young Alpha grumbled and Ellie chuckled. Liam decided to change the topic slightly. "Luka said he would also invite Savannah and Maddie to the BBQ. I'm really excited to have you all meet. They're cool. It's nice hanging out with them." "Or texting with them", Theo teased. It was true, especially Savannah sent a lot of texts but she never expected a decent answer and just spammed with various things. Maddie, her sister in spirit as the two called themselves, responded equally excited and Liam's phone was buzzing significantly more since he met them. "Are you jealous?" "Me? Of what or whom?" Theo asked surprised. Liam shrugged. It had crossed his mind, he still remembered Theo's jealousy regarding Scott once. "Of Luka maybe?" "Why? Because you had a lunch date?" Theo joked and began tidying up behind the cash register. "It wasn't a lunch date. Not even a date. Just two friends getting something to eat. I do the same with Mason." The Second Alpha shook his head. "I'm not jealous. You're friends, you clearly respect each other and I see how happy it makes you. You see it as a chance to exchange views and advice. How could I be jealous of that?" He paused. "I mean, he is handsome and I know you noticed this as well. You have a type, puppy. Charming men with dark hair. Only natural you find him attractive." "I don't have a type." Liam had begun to fill the displays around the cash register and now shook his head. Theo raised his fingers while he enumerated. "Brett. Me. Luka. Even some of your exes. All fit the bill." "No." Liam scrunched his nose. Though he was not so sure about that one. "Hayden, for example, didn't fit the description." "Yeah. This particular type you have is reserved for males only. I met all your ex-girlfriends and when it comes to women you go for different types. But almost all your ex-boyfriends or crushes share the same traits." Flawless logic but Liam would rather swallow his tongue than directly admit that. "Okay, so what? He is attractive. Doesn't mean I want to start something." "Never said you do."

"Can the old coot give you advice?" Ellie injected. Both men looked at her. She shook her head. "Don't do that to each other. Don't tell yourself you're not allowed to find someone attractive just because your partner might get jealous." "I'm not jealous", Theo clarified. "I know you're not. It's just general life advice from an old lady." "You're not that old", Liam mumbled but continued to listen to her. "I saw relationships end over this. Because one partner thought they were not allowed to find anybody else than their partner sexy or handsome. It's ridiculous. Finding a person attractive says nothing about feelings or ambitions. Just like you said, Theo, it's a preference, a type. But this irrational of making the significant other jealous can become such a pressure, it ends in a breakup. And yet somehow society began telling people, young people, this is how it should be. It shouldn't. It's toxic. My advice is to see it as easy as you two do. A little bit of jealousy is good and I know there is a thing called emotional cheating, that is wrong, but not taking things too seriously is the best way to handle it. I am in a happy marriage and we both find other people handsome. Doesn't mean anything." Liam and Theo looked at each other. "I think we got that one covered", Theo muttered and Liam nodded with a smile. "Yeah."

****** "I hate you and regret all my life choices up to this point." Maya had her arms crossed in front of her chest and glared at the building ahead of her. "Why am I here?" Liam put his arm around her shoulders. "You know you love me and your life choices were good. But if I get dragged down by them, I need to drag someone with me", he explained sardonically and pointed at Sadie, Mason, Brett, and Corey currently gushing over the shop window of Savannah's boutique. Mason had managed to convince Corey and Brett to accompany them and they had excitedly agreed. Liam had decided for that alone they all would get one Christmas present less. Or a lump of coal. "Liam, look, they have suits." Mason was already at the entrance. Coal was a good idea. "And bowties!" Or nothing at all.

The boutique was perfectly illuminated and the carpet was held in pastel colors. One ground floor and a first floor, connected through circular stairs. Several clothing racks and shelves with all kinds of garments were placed around. Liam didn't know where to look first. "Welcome, welcome." Savannah walked towards them looking stunning as always in black heels, white ripped jeans and a black spaghetti top. She smiled brightly at Liam before she hugged him. Then she introduced herself to the others. "I am Savannah. Feel free to look around and see what you might like. If you need help, don't hesitate to ask. And shut up, those earrings are adorable." Just like that, Sadie had a new best friend. Both women excitedly greeted each other and soon enough their friends all swarmed the place. Maya stayed next to Liam. "You look out of place. Are you alright?" Savannah asked. "I don't like shopping", Maya admitted. "I just can't spend hours browsing a clothing store. It's just not me." "That's a shame. I think everybody should enjoy buying things for themselves. We try to give customers that here in our store. But maybe we can help you. Pilar!"

A dark-haired woman in Savannah's age showed up at the top of the staircase. "Yeah?" She called out while she walked down the stairs. She wore sneakers, grey shorts, and a colorful top. "Guys, this is Pilar, she works here with me and is also one of my Betas. Pilar, those are Liam and Maya. Maya hates shopping. Think you could help?" Savannah moderated the getting to know each other. To Maya, she further explained: "Pilar is great with clothing and has this unique talent of always finding something a person likes. I swear, she will make this a fun experience." "Oh, great." Maya still didn't seem convinced but she gave Pilar a brave smile when the were cheetah grinned proudly. Then she swiftly pulled her long, wavy hair up in a bun and studied Maya. "Tell me about yourself. Are you more tomboy or more sporty? Dresses yes or no?" "I'm not a tomboy. I'm simply not interested in too much makeup or dresses. Don't know if that makes me a tomboy already?" Pilar hummed. "What are your hobbies? What do you care for?" "Painting, I care about the environment, protests," Maya started to list. "Environment, amazing. We have a collection of local-made eco-friendly clothes here.  I make all of them, so I know what materials were used and how. Maybe we can find something there?" Maya looked suddenly incredibly happy and followed Pilar up the stairs again.

Savannah grabbed a polka-dotted bowtie in blue and white and held it up to Liam. "You would look pretty in a bowtie." "Absolutely not!" Liam shook his head. She laughed. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. You're not my dress-up doll." He chuckled. Her humor was something you had to like, otherwise you might feel insulted or ridiculed. But Liam got it. "You're coming to the BBQ?" "Later, I think. It's a busy day here and I cannot plan in advance when we will be done. Stocktaking, you know? I'll keep you guys updated." She smirked. "I wonder what his house looks like. Is it big? Small? Maybe even bigger once inside." "Are we still talking about Luka's house?" Liam questioned. Savannah clicked her tongue. "Maybe. Maybe not." Her eyes flashed light blue. Liam narrowed his own eyes in concentration. "Are your eyes always this color? Or did they change after you did become an Alpha?" "Blue, you mean? It's the default eye color for cheetahs. Our Alphas don't have different colored eyes than the rest. Blue for everyone." "Wolves only have blue eyes once they took an innocent life. Hence why I'm asking." The blonde shook her head. "We don't have that." Savannah wrapped one arm around Liam. "Now, tell me, any life updates? Things I should know about? Should I take time off work for a wedding?" "My wedding is in a few years, don't stress." Liam blushed. She cackled and let go of him when three women passed the store window. They waved and Savannah waved back. "The brunette one is Beatriz, the redhead is Paola, and the one with the black hair is Carmen. They make the rest of my pack." "Your pack is solely women?" Liam was surprised. "I mean if you don't count our parents, yeah. It's not uncommon for were cheetahs. We are matriarchic minted packs most of the time. It has its origin in the myth of the first were cheetahs. We originated in Africa and there was a village. The old king had been okay-ish to the women in the village. Not the most supportive fella but not bad either. But he got dethroned and killed. The new king made women fair game. They had to serve the men, were mistreated, abused, raped, were no more than slaves. One night the women fled into the wilderness. But without any food or weapons, they were scared and so they prayed to the highest gods for help. One heard their prayers and decided to help them in exchange for something. The women would get the powers to overtake their oppressors and in return, they would forever serve the cheetah goddess. Thus were cheetahs were born." Liam marveled. "I have no idea how werewolves were created. It is so cool you guys know your origin story." "Well." She looked rather proud of herself. "It's tradition and we're proud of it. No, we don't hate men. That's not what this is about." "Who hates men?" Mason appeared next to them. "Nobody." Liam ducked last minute before his best friend managed to place a pink tie around his neck. He just didn't count on Corey appearing behind him and placing a small tiara on Liam's head. "We crown you Alpha of our hearts!" Liam wanted to be mad. But it was hard when he was already laughing. "You're ridiculous!"

****** "Do we have everything we need? Are you sure it's fine? Maybe we should have picked up wine? I don't know." Corey stood in the kitchen and nibbled at his thumbnail. He had begun that after running his hands through his hair and destroying his hairstyle three times in a row which almost caused a nervous breakdown on Mason's part. Liam reached out and gently tugged his friend's hand away from his mouth. "Wow, you are nervous. Relax, it's only Maddie and Asher." Corey groaned. "I know. But I feel this is the first time Mase and I represent this pack as emissary and consultant. Yes, you are here but nobody else is, and what if something goes wrong?" "Corey, you advised me in the past", Liam reminded him. "I know but that was in group settings. This time, it's just us." He pointed at himself and Mason who also seemed incredibly nervous. Liam almost pitied them. "Look, I felt the same way before the Alpha meeting. But it turned out fine. Maddie's a great character and I'm sure Asher is as well. I mean, otherwise, they surely wouldn't be friends." He exhaled. "I also don't think you two are even capable of starting a war or offend somebody. I know you. Mason, you're great at diplomatic stuff, and you, Corey, are great with keeping the peace. I trust you." Sometimes as an Alpha, you had to give a pep talk. Liam could relate to the anxious feeling and the fear of destroying everything but he absolutely believed in his consultant and his emissary. He would have never given them those positions otherwise.

The doorbell rang. "Okay, relax!" Liam felt like a father protecting his kids from trouble in school as he now made his way towards the front door and Mason and Corey followed closely.

And then he opened the door. "Liam! I brought the playdate for your boys" Maddie announced cheerfully and with the biggest grin on her face. She stood at the front door alone, Asher still at the car which he currently locked. Other than last time Liam saw him he was now wearing jeans, sneakers, and a grey henley. It fit him better than the suit. More like him. And it seemed like his best friend had not bothered to wait for him. It also seemed as if he was used to this given he didn't even comment on it when he now joined them at the door. "I'm thirty-one. I don't need a playdate!" He now corrected her playfully exasperated. He smiled at Liam. "Hi, I'm Asher, please ignore her." Maddie opened her mouth in mock outrage and Liam laughed. "Hi, I'm Liam, welcome. Those are Corey and Mason." He stepped aside and pointed at his friends respectively. Both raised their hands. "Hey." "Hi." Maddie had overcome her faked shock from before and stepped into the house. She continued the conversation with her best friend as nothing happened. "No, what you need is some happiness fucked back into your soul." "Oh my god!" Asher glanced at the ceiling as if he asked higher powers for help. Then he gave Liam, Mason, and Corey an exasperated glance. "Please, double-ignore her." "You can't ignore me! You love me!" She reminded him gleefully. He sighed. "I wonder why." But the banter between the friends managed to break the ice, Mason and Corey warmed up immediately, and smiles spread over their faces. "You just stepped into the house, so you don't need an extra invitation", Mason mused. Maddie nodded. "No, I don't need this. We can enter any house unless a or mountain ash barrier prevents us. Speaking off, you have one outside, right? I felt it." "A ghostly barrier created by our witch, yep", Corey confirmed. "You were only able to pass because Liam invited you. Other supernaturals without invitation would have not been able to get over it. But it's amazing you could feel that." "Sometimes we can feel those things. Not always", Maddie explained.

Mason was already on the case and lead them to the dining room where they had put the bestiary and Corey's computer. "He needs to write this down." Liam knew his friend. Maddie pointed at Asher. "I have one of those as well." Asher was more interested in what Corey and Mason had gathered. "Is that a bestiary? I've heard about those but never saw one before. Wow. How did you get that?" "From friends. Yeah, I think that's a good explanation." Corey kept it simple. It didn't need more explanation for the moment, the three of them started talking animatedly. Meadow and Liam retreated into the kitchen.

"I know it's weird. A human and a vampire being best friends. But he makes me feel normal." She smiled weakly. "I don't think it's weird." Liam shook his head. "Mason and I were friends before I became a werewolf but after I finally came clean to him, it was good to have him. To know not everything is supernatural. Sometimes I need this. Normality. I understand what you're saying." Maddie seemed happy he understood and looked at the three men. They were still deeply involved in their exchange, didn't even notice their friends being gone. "I think this was a good decision", she said quietly. "Yeah? That's good." Liam was also pleased it worked so well. She sighed. "He doesn't have many friends. Acquaintances, yes. But not those I-can-call-you-at-three-in-the-morning-because-my-whole-life-is-exploding-right-now type of friends. It's good he's meeting new people." "I thought Asher was part of your coven." Had Liam been wrong? "No, he can't be", Meadow declined, "See, vampires are independent beings. We can form covens but even then we tend to ourselves. I told you I can walk around during the day but at night, vampires are more active. You won't find a vampire sleeping during the night unless they're forced to. Our rhythm is completely different than a human's. It's not like your pack, you are humans as well. We have a human side and yet we're detached from the human living. Having a human in a vampire coven wouldn't work." It made perfect sense Liam just had not considered it before. Logical. "So best friends but not part of each other's groups. Huh, okay." "Yep." She popped the 'p'.

"How did you two meet?" Corey asked meanwhile. Asher put one arm over the headrest of his chair and looked at Meadow. He started laughing. She grinned. "Oh, I can tell you. A few years ago this vampire came to town. She had been going on my nerves for a while and causes some havoc. One night, she was on the hunt for new prey and picked Mr. Asher himself. Look at the guy, who can blame her?" Asher groaned and rolled his eyes but continued to look highly amused by how she was telling the story. "Anyways, she lures him away and I follow. She's doing the most, all seductive and sexy, and then I barge in, ready to save the innocent human. The vampire chick and I start yelling at each other, she cries about how she almost had him and what does he say? Sitting on the couch, frowning as if she insulted him, and then he hits her with: I'm gay!? Like, how could you not pick that up? Completely unfazed by the reveal about vampires." "To be fair, I knew about supernaturals through my father. It wasn't a groundbreaking discovery", Asher relented. Maddie ignored him this time. "From that moment on I knew he is game for everything. We started talking, I learned whose son he was, the rest is history." "Meaning since this moment she's pestering me and acting like my undead auntie", Asher teased her. "Well, someone has to take care you're not going to the dogs. Also, undead auntie? If anything I'm the cool auntie!" She acted arrogantly and watched her nails. "Don't be fooled, she's the one getting her heel stuck in the streets and lands on her behind while trying to get it unstuck." Asher let Liam, Mason, and Corey in on a secret. Meadow shrieked and walked over to his hit shoulder. "This was one time and absolutely not my fault." Every word was followed by a hit. He laughed and tried to stop her from hitting him. "You were drunk and the shoes too big. Which I told you in the store." "Yeah, the only fashion tip of yours actually useable." Asher groaned. "Oh god, no, not this again." Mason used this to take notes. "So calling out god in the presence of a vampire is okay. Nothing happens." "I'm not Satan. We can walk into churches without bursting in flames or getting hit by lightning too." "Demons burst in flames upon entering a church. Hence why my father never visits one", Asher put in his own two cents. Corey eyed him. "Morbid sense of humor or truth?" "Dark humor. His father is the human equivalent of a demon if you must know. Though I personally prefer to call him a walking trash pile of a human being. You never know when a demon is around and overhears. Wouldn't want to insult them", Meadow nagged and Asher shushed her. "Maddie!" "What? Your father is garbage. Not just because of his businesses but just alone based on how he treats you." "It could be worse." This didn't seem to be the first time the friends got into a spat over Asher's father. "At least, he didn't let me be homeless." "He lets you live in a tiny shoebox of an apartment and makes you pay horrendous prices for rent. The bar is so damn low and yet this rat walks beneath it with his head held high." Liam didn't want them to fight and cut in. "The joy of terrible fathers. My biological one is also one of those. But it's good to have people in your life who care about you." "You cherish them more. That's how I see it", Asher agreed. Meadow understood the peace offering as what it was and kissed his cheek. "Such a cutie." "Hate you." "Asher, you're embarrassing me in front of our new friends." "They know you for a few days now. That train has left the station. They already know how nuts you are." Mason cackled. These two gave him and Liam a run for their money. They also could banter and bicker but when push came to shove, they were there for each other and had each other's backs.

Asher returned his attention to the bestiary and pointed at an entry. "That information is false. It says nymphs are redhaired. Nymphs can have every hair color in the world, not just red. If you can, I would note that somewhere." "You can read Latin just like that?" Corey was baffled. Asher shrugged. "Sure. Learned it in school and never stopped using the skills. Especially after I met Maddie and started helping her with a few vampire-related things. Comes in handy." "Asher is good with languages. It helps him in his job as well." "What are you doing for a living?" "I'm an event planner. My client list is small but exclusive. It's not the most charitable job in the world but you have to get out of bed." And just like that, Liam decided he liked Asher immensely. He had this wicked humor you only got after years of being through an absolute shit show and from what he already heard about his father and what he saw at the meeting, Liam could see where this came from. Meadow had said Asher's mother died when he was a child, another traumatic experience. Yet here he was, talking openly with strangers and sharing things with them. Away from his father, Asher seemed more relaxed and himself. And it was obvious he cared deeply for Maddie. Liam liked people with their hearts in the right place. Those were his type of people.

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Author’s note:

The eyes of a were cheetah when they flash:

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I am happy I got to insert Asher more. I love this guy. I love all my characters but after I barely had a chance to write about him in the last chapter, this chapter felt good. Next chapter they all finally come together. Or do they? We will see 😁 Did you like the chapter so far? I hope I managed to bring out the friendship Maddie and Asher have. They're each other's persons.