#never hoped for the Endeavour theme to stop playing
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sarkylittlemonster · 1 day ago
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@agathokakolog1cal
I found it, I fucking found it. This fucking interview that haunted my Tumblr 😭 I thought it was never going to end. I'm getting bloody flashbacks from the sound of his voice 😭 😭 😭
dailymotion
Endeavour Series 6 DVD Extras - Endeavour Morse
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yellowbluemoonshine · 2 years ago
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Hi! I hope you are doing okay ❤
Do you think All Might will die? And if yes then who will kill him?
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Thank you so much, anon ^^! I am trying to be better, i am fine. I hope you are doing well, too :)))).
I dont know that he will die or not but i see possible parallels between him and Endeavour in future chapters.
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The last time in manga we saw Allmight, he was rushing to somewhere and i assume its most likely Shigaraki and Deku' side. He always wanted to talk with Shigaraki even since Shimura reveal but he was powerless and now, he thinks Midoriya shouldnt carry all the burden and it is his responsibility so i expect him to go there.
It is mentioned that Allmight will be brutally killed by some villain in Overhaul arc by Nighteye. But we also saw that future can be changed so it is no certain that whether he will die or not. Maybe he can die to save Shigaraki but i think Shigaraki wouldnt like that another person (other than his mother) die by trying to save him. It might be terrible for him so maybe, this time, he and Deku whose flaws are being self destructive heroes might try to live. Which would be better conclusion for their arc.
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Another reason why i think he will most likely be involved with Deku saving Shigaraki mission is because Endeavour is involved with Shouto saving Dabi mission right now. (It seems author decide to make adult heroes involve with kids 'saving plan' too). (There might be parallels to Bakugou apologise Izuku moment because Bakugou and Endeavour characters/redemptions etc is parallels but i hope it doesnt happen because that is terrible writing). Allmight is indirectly failed Shigaraki and Endeavour failed Dabi in any way possible. It is their responsibility after all so before Deku and Shouto save their foils, Allmight and Endeavour will take some responsilibity for their past actions. Of course, Allmight is nowhere near as bad as Endeavour and the fact that Allmight will choose to come to Shigaraki while Dabi had to chase after Endeavour to make him face...even this shows the difference between them. So yeah, this is what i think it will happen. Whether they will save them together with kids or they will help kids from behind or they will say 'Sorry' or they will show some sort of remorse action to make Shigaraki and Dabi calm down and meanwhile, kids definitely will show there is hope for future so they can stop killing themselves and others.
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Though, there is another thing will most likely happen to save them. Recently there is this repeated theme in league chapters. 'Friends'. Afo made fun of Dabi for not having friends. Spinner asked help from Kurogiri to save Shigaraki and others in a chapter named 'Friend'. Kurogiri is having identity crisis in war by saying 'f-f-frie-friends' and trying to help league and Aizawa-Mic at the same time. Mirio made Shigaraki mad when he said 'You dont have any friends' and Shigaraki screamed 'No! I do have them!'. Dabi and Toga recently bond through Twice's death. Toga is having crisis because she feels disconnected from her dear friends because she cant become them. Even Afo seems to be suspecting about someting with his plan because of it.
If we connect all this together with 'Shouto saying He felt saved because he has friends (class 1a)' and 'Deku shouldnt fight alone, he needs his friends', this friendship theme will definitely have a big role to defeat Afo/solve the problem and save them. They all need their friends. Separating them wasnt really a good plan. They need to come together eventually. Kids will be the key to save them, to change their minds but eventually, it might even big help for them. Especially for Shigaraki since 'save me' is main theme of his arc and since he saved league by giving them a home, they (especially Toga and Dabi since they never showed how much they love league and Shigaraki) might play a role for him to be saved from Afo. The answer is everyone coming together for a better future since this is the story of how everyone become heroes together. And this time, actually saving everyone. (Maybe reaching but if Afo turns into child, maybe he will even be saved idk, maybe this will be Bakugou's role since there is some parallels between them idk and well, the one who dont have friends is him since he used them all so karma too, well, we will see).
Anyways, friends are the key, here.
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dnickels · 1 year ago
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Re your most recent Endeavor gif set, I would be curious to know your thoughts:
The whole "detective being driven mad by city" trope is a thing, but it's usually a big busy callous alienizing city, like London or New York, or maybe a particularly rough or desperate city or area, the whole "Forget it, it's Chinatown," thing. So when I was first watching Endeavour, there was something unintentionally funny about seeing the trope play out in what looks like a bucolic little university town.
But then I started overthinking it, how Oxbridge is like the last stop before the imperial slaughter house in the veal calf raising of future British elites, something something the decline and fall of Empire, something something reproduction of the symbol sans meaning, something something the cycle is inescapable... But I don't know if I'm going crazy or if any of that is intended by the creators?
Like I know Morse's whole thing is he's a man between worlds, who never quite fits the police social structure but can never be accepted by the intellectual or upper class, and he's too old fashioned and snobby for the mods but too uppity and outspoken for the traditionalists. Oxford is a good clash of civilizations for drawing out those contradictions, but do you think there anything more to it than that and would he be less alienated in another city or is he Fully Doomed by police work?
This ask is so fucking good and I said to myself "I've got to chew on this one for a while" and then six weeks went by. I am so sorry!!!
It is impossible to know if we are overthinking it and that in and of itself only adds fuel to the fire. It's a show written in response/in dialogue with two other shows that are in turn dialoguing with/based on a series of books...its meant to be looked at that hard. I don't know how fair it is of me to invoke Colin Dexter himself when talking about Morse but he gave much of his own background to his creation (except, of course, that Dexter went to Cambridge). His Desert Island Discs interview where he talks very briefly about how much is autobiographical is really interesting. So I would love to know what Dexter's thoughts about going to the big university were...and what Morse was expecting out of his time there.
I mean, does anyone really know what they're supposed to get out of college? But yeah, you work your ass off to get to the Premier Institution to access its thousand years of prestige and hope some of it rubs off on you...and then what? He refuses that final fence and has a huge meltdown and never takes his degree, but what was he going to do? He has a pretty cynical view of most institutions, academic, social, governmental etc. By the very first ep of Endeavour he's been burned by the police...but he stays.
So yeah I think you are right on with the specific place, I think he loves the idea of the place-- the cultured life of the mind, the pursuit of the most beautiful, the most exquisite, the places that stay-- even though he's repulsed by the power of the institutions and the awful bottom-feeder they attract. Is he fighting for a city that just straight up doesn't exist? Driven insane trying to make this place Camelot?
I think he spends his entire life trying to make the city the place he dreamed about as a boy but-- you can't! It wasn't real! It can only be what it is! He wants so badly for everyone to transcend their base cruel nature but it ends up make him mean and often cruel himself! FUCK! The themes!!
God this is a good ask I want to come back to it. I haven't said half of what I want to...
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jungkxook · 4 years ago
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—make it right. (m)
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⟶ pairing: jungkook x reader 
⟶ genre: punk!jungkook / band au / exes-to-lovers au / angst / smut
⟶ words: 11,528
⟶ rating: 18+ 
⟶ summary: you’re wholeheartedly, madly in love with jungkook and yet you shouldn’t be because it’s been almost a year since you broke up with him. worst part of it all is that you know he’s still in love with you too
⟶ warnings: jungkook has a tongue piercing, oral sex because of said tongue piercing (fem!recieving), more tattooed and long haired jungkook to feed my fantasies, angsty pining clingy sex, also just general soft sex, crying sex lol, riding, creampie, slight praise kink themes, unprotected sex
⟶ disclaimer: here’s my one year blog anniversary present inspired by the first ever fic i posted on here! yes this is technically a sequel to melomaniac but not really. sort of like an alternate universe to the alternate universe but you don’t really have to read one or the other to understand the other. so, i hope you enjoy!
⟶ this is part of the melodrama tour series!
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You swear you’re over Jungkook.
In fact, you would even go so far as to say you hate him ━ but you know that’s not true. It’s just that it’s much easier to believe that if you tell yourself you hate him enough times, then maybe you’ll find a way to fix your broken heart, and the pain in his absence won’t hurt so bad. 
As it turns out, it hardly works.
Seven months since he had left you to travel the world with his band, basking in promised eternal glory and fame and money, and yet even miles and oceans away from where you stand, he’s all you can think about. There’s a myriad of reasons as to why trying to forget him was an useless endeavour. The hardships of trying to forget a cherished life-long friendship you had grown accustomed to was one of them, and those lingering happy moments you had shared with him as lovers however fleeting they may be was another. But then there was the ever present fact that Jungkook and his band were so quick to rise to fame, their names far exceeding the seemingly cramped and small city you had both reigned from, and suddenly the boy you had known forever, and everything special that makes him, was now being shared to hundreds of millions of adoring fans.
You were certain it was all Jungkook ever wanted, the added attention and the pretty girls fawning over him, because he had always been a casanova in many ways despite always promising you that you were the only one for him even before you had started dating. You had told him it wouldn’t work ━ I trust you as my best friend, you had said in a moment of despair, grasping at straws. I don’t have to worry about you breaking my heart. But I don’t know if I can trust you as my boyfriend ━ far before he and his band had been signed to their record label and paraded around the world, when they were still practicing in rented storage units and friends’ garages and rundown local studios, playing gigs anywhere and everywhere from dingy bars to college campus parties, supporting him every step of the way if only because he was your best friend, and he had been so persistent that it would work, chasing after you even when you tried to push him away. I would treat you right, he had urged so ardently late one drunken night after stumbling back to his apartment. I already practically worship the ground you walk on.
And how could you ━ who had already been so madly in love with him but scared of him breaking your heart, scared of losing him, scared of this happening ━ ever resist him? He made love seem so easy, and maybe that’s because it was when you were with him. But now, he was no longer yours; now, he was the world’s, and you were nothing but a mere hazy fragmented memory in his mind, long forgotten, watching from the side of the stage much like you always had from the very start of it all.
“Hey, isn’t this that band?” Jihyo’s voice bursts through your wandering trail of thoughts.
It takes you a moment to recollect yourself, finding yourself not in the arms of an ex-lover or stuck in a bygone time of months past, but in the cosy and amiable café nearest your campus and frequented by a plethora of your fellow peers. You’re fortunate to find that your other group mates have also become sidetracked, trailing far from the assignment you were all supposed to be working on. Dahyun is perched beside you, chin nestled in the palm of her hand and elbow propped on the table as she scrolls aimlessly through her phone; Jihyo and Taeyong were sat across from you, gossiping fervently about some mutual friend of theirs. You hadn’t known the pair long enough to know much about them or the tragic affair of whoever Mina is for accepting her cheating boyfriend back for the second time, and, likewise, they seem oblivious to your own self-wallowing once you realize what’s caught Jihyo’s sudden attention.
You hear his voice first.
It’s easy to discern, even after all this time and even amongst the muffled chatter and clanking of porcelain and cutlery of those seated around you. The sweet, velvety lull of Jungkook singing throughout the café from the overhead speakers, pretty upbeat melodies and synths mixed with wistful words making up the song he had written for you before he left, before the fame and fans, as a way of telling you how he truly felt about you. It feels like a dream, and maybe that’s because it is, bringing you instantly to another time, and another world. You still remember him showing you the unfinished song for the very first time, curled up next to him in his living room, listening to him serenade you to sleep, humming in places where he hadn’t formed the words yet, strumming along with his acoustic. It was yours and his until he showed the world almost a year ago on their very first show at the Seoul Olympic Stadium in front of thousands of people, as a final desperate act of proclaiming his love for you after a disastrous attempt at a first date that he had begged from you. Just one, he pleaded. To prove it to you that I can be a good boyfriend. And if things don’t work out, we can pretend it never happened and just go back to being us. That’s a promise.
At the time, you had treasured the song. It was beautiful in every way, his love transcending his words and enveloping your heart in pure warmth.
Now, you hate it.
It’s the third time you’ve heard the song that day. Despite avoiding it as best as you could, it seems to find a way to make itself known in your daily life like the nagging nuisance it is. Because fate seemed to enjoy its sadistic behaviour of having the song be one of the main reasons Jungkook and his band had skyrocketed to fame in such a short span of time and, suddenly, Jungkook disappearing from your life meant little when his voice remained as a constant reminder of what could have been, what couldn’t have been, and what fell apart at the already fragile seams. And what was a proclamation of love to you turned into nothing but a fabled tale of lovers. You wonder if people who hear it ever think about where they’ve gone, or who they’ve turned into, or if their love was made to last. You wonder, above all else, if people ever think about it at all.
“Beyond the Scene, right?” Taeyong asks. He seems just as animated to be discussing the song as Jungkook’s voice fades into Jimin’s.
“God, I love this song. It’s so dreamy,” Jihyo lets out a longing sigh as she slumps against her seat. “Y’know, I’m seeing them this Friday. It’s their first time being back in, like, five months.”
“Dude, I’ve been trying to get tickets to see them for months now!” Taeyong gaps incredulously. “How’d you score them?”
“A friend of a friend knows the guy who plays keys,” Jihyo says. “The cute mysterious one.”
“Yoongi, right?”
“Yeah━”
As the pair dive into a passionate discussion about the boys and their first full-length album released under their recently-signed-to label from Columbia Records, you shift uncomfortably in your seat. Dahyun almost immediately straightens up, eyes flickering from the pair to you and back again. You’re both fortunate she’s there, having known your past with Jungkook, and despise it a little more, wondering what her pitying gaze must mean.
“Hey, Dahyun. Y/N.” Taeyong’s voice grabs your attention now. “What do you think of these guys? Didn’t some of them used to go to this school?”
“Yeah, I had a few classes with their drummer.” Dahyun waves her hand airly, swiftly brushing over the fact that she did far more than have a “few classes” with any of the boys but was also one of their closest friends. “I think they’re great━” She glances sideways at you one more time. “Hey, maybe we should get back to the assignment now━”
“I had a class with their lead guitarist, Jungkook, last year,” Jihyo continues, her excitement getting the best of her as Dahyun’s voice drowns out in the foreground.
“No way!” This dubious exclamation comes from Taeyong.
“I tried talking to him once but he totally blew me off,” Jihyo says. “Which is fine, because he’s still hot. If I had known he was gonna be a famous rockstar, I’d have tried asking him out a second time━”
Suddenly, you feel sick.
It’s odd to hear two strangers discuss Jungkook’s life while you’re seated across from them, as if you’re nothing more than an outsider to whoever Jungkook has become now. But you can’t stand it anymore. You’re certain you look insane to them when you push your seat back abruptly, the metal legs screeching against the floor as you stand.
“Whoa, what’s wrong━?” Taeyong starts to ask but you’re gone before he can finish the question, murmuring a half-hearted excuse about how you forgot you needed to be somewhere.
You’ve rounded on your heel and have fled from the café before anyone can try to stop you, with nothing but Jungkook’s mellifluous voice fading in the distance as he croons aloud for you in a time long since passed.
You don’t care. Besides, you’re sure Dahyun will cover for you.
The worst part of it all? The dreadful realization that sinks into your mind, and into your heart, beckons the question: who’s to say you aren’t a stranger now to Jungkook’s life altogether?
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“So, what are you trying to say?”
You remember the moment so clearly despite wanting nothing more than to forget it all, and the pain associated with it. Because even from then you knew you would always be in love with Jungkook, but you couldn’t have him. It’s hard to remember whose fault it is this time that caused the sudden fight, though random little arguments had been a frequent occurrence nearing the end of your one year relationship more often than not. You hate blaming it all on him, because you were certain you were at fault too. Maybe a little bit wary at times, a little selfish, wanting him all to yourself. Even though you knew he has an obligation to the world, it still hurt when he started making promises he couldn’t keep, blowing you off for soundchecks, or spontaneous interviews, or record label meetings. More and more you could feel the both of you drifting apart, maybe without even meaning for it to happen.
It was just that Jungkook was destined for a lifetime of greatness, and you were starting to think that meant without you.
You had stopped him late one night after he had stumbled home from his and the band’s nightly studio sessions as they worked through recording their debut album as a signed band. Lately, it seemed as if that was all that Jungkook cared about, and while you knew the band meant the world to him and you would always support him in his endeavour, you couldn’t help but feel lesser in comparison. That, and you hated seeing the boy overwork himself to the point of near exhaustion every night if only because their label was so adamant about having the album finished before the month ended.
“You want to, what? Break up?” Jungkook asked, this time more incredulously and less dumbfounded as he had initially been. He didn’t believe you just yet, but you couldn’t exactly tell what he was thinking anymore at that point.
“I just figured we could use some time apart,” You had suggested awkwardly. “Just a break.”
He had let out a breathless, disbelieving laugh. “Y/N, this is insane.”
You flinched. You remember having to look away, refusing to meet his suddenly sorrowful look. “Is it, Jungkook? I mean… Look at us. We’re falling apart. It was bound to happen eventually. We tried to make it work but maybe we’re on different paths now.”
“But I love you,” Jungkook gasped, exasperated. “Where is this coming from?”
“And I don’t want to have to tie you down for the rest of your life,” You continued on stubbornly, “or make you think you owe me your whole life just because you said you fell in love with me when you were thirteen━”
This seemed to catch Jungkook’s attention. He grew rigid in front of you, a look of wary agony contorting his face. “Is that what this is then? You don’t love me anymore?”
You didn’t respond immediately, instead the dread of the night seemed to finally catch up with you and you had grimaced. You had loved him even then, but the thought of voicing it aloud when you were supposed to be breaking up with him didn’t feel right. The tears began to swell in your throat and blur your vision. Jungkook must have noticed, because he always seems to spot the small things about you that even you miss. Almost instantly, the sour look on his face softened and his gaze turned helpless, with those big puppy-dog eyes that you’ve always been too fond of. He closed the distance between you at once, warm hands grabbing at your own.
“You do.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. He knew you were still in love with him ━ or maybe he’d just been hopeful. “I know you do. So then why are you breaking up with me?” 
He let go of one of your hands to reach up to your face, calloused fingers gentle and soft against your cheek as they brushed away a rogue tear you hadn’t realized had fallen from your lashes. For a moment, you had let yourself get carried away. You leaned into the comforting heat and touch of his palm as he cradled your face.
“Don’t━” You choked out after a moment of silence, hating when your voice splintered into a sob. “Don’t touch me. Please, Jungkook. You’re only going to make this harder.”
His hands sprang away from your face almost at once, as if he had just been burnt by scalding fire. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and pull you into his arms but he had refrained the urge somehow, miraculously. So, instead, he grit his teeth and clenched his hands into fists as his arms fell limp at his sides.
“Then don’t do this. Don’t walk away,” Jungkook pleaded desperately. “I don’t understand. If you love me still, why are you making this harder for yourself?”
“Because what if that’s all we have in common anymore?” You asked wretchedly. “We care about each other. We always will. But you’re focused on the band, and this is my last year of school. Maybe we just need time to focus on ourselves.”
Jungkook blinked once. Twice. His stare was suddenly devoid of any emotion as he gawked at you, but you could tell that he was hurting. It was there in the fluttering of nerves in his jaw; there, in the way his lips pulled taut into a thin line; there, in the way even you could see his eyes begin to shimmer with wet tears that he unabashedly displays without trying to wipe away.
“So that’s it?” he asked. “After everything we’ve been through. You’re just gonna end it, like that? Y/N, come on━”
His hands had found purchase on your waist, and you had lingered for a moment too long; then, fumbling, he tried to grab delicately at your face, probing you to look at him. But you couldn’t. The moment you met his wounded gaze, you shook your head furiously. You had slithered out of his grasp, slipping through the seams of his fingers just like that.
“I━” You paused. “This isn’t some spur of the moment decision, Jungkook. How can you not see it? I’ve felt so alone these past few months. It’s like you’re here but not entirely. Your mind is always somewhere else, always thinking about the band and never about us.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he had asked hotly. “The band is my everything.”
“And what am I?” You asked. The question only mildly offended you, a shot right to your heart. Because if the band was his everything, what were you in comparison? “A distraction until you get everything you want? I can’t keep being that.”
“No!” he protested. ��You’re not a distraction. You’re━” He stopped himself short, brows furrowing. “You can’t keep pinning this all on me. You just don’t trust me, do you? You never did. Always thinking I’m with some other girl when I’m not with you━”
“That’s not true,” You admonished.
“Isn’t it?” Jungkook retaliated.
“I don’t want to hear it,” You had said at once. Your tone was final, a decisive ending to your argument with him. “My mind’s already been made up, Jungkook. I don’t think we should see each other again until we sort all this out ━ or, until you sort out whatever your priorities are.”
Jungkook’s stare had hardened, a frown deeply etching into his face. He had straightened up then, perplexed and upset with your standoffish demeanour, as if thinking this surely meant nothing to you. But little did he know this would become one of the hardest decisions you would have to make.
“Fine,” he said rigidly. “If that’s how it is, then I’m gone. You’ll never have to see me again.”
You hadn’t known at the time just how terribly you had messed up ━ neither had Jungkook. He had left before you could stop him, or before either of you could change your minds. Because nothing’s worse than a broken heart, blinded by stubborn and defensive rage. Accusatory fingers and blaming him or you wouldn’t heal the wounds that had already formed, and ending things seemed to only make it worse, months of lonely heartache without Jungkook to further prove just that…
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The last time you spoke to Jungkook, you told him you never wanted to see him again ━ or, at least, that seems to be how he interpreted it.
Now, you were standing in the midst of his domain, surrounded by everyone in his public sphere of friends and colleagues and acquaintances, and there was certainly no way of escaping him.
You were starting to think you’re losing mind, because you’d truly have to be insane to have worked up the nerve to agree to go with Dahyun to a party being held celebrating the band’s recent tremendous success and headlining their first world tour. Their manager, Jin, had personally reached out to you and Dahyun, calling you as a means of asking you to attend, though you had given him a timid and dismissive response at first. If it hadn’t been for Dahyun purposely and almost quite literally dragging you out under the premise that “even if you don’t want to see Jungkook, you at least owe it to the boys to go,” you don’t think you’d even be here. But while you didn’t know where you stood with Jungkook anymore, that didn’t mean you weren’t still proud of him or the rest of the boys. It just became harder to bask in their success with them when you had gone from knowing every detail of their lives, of Jungkook’s life, to knowing only what you could hear from gossiping fans around you, or plastered in tabloids, or all over any form of social media.
The party is held at some sort of fancy lavish restaurant, the entire back room rented out by the band’s record label and management, and is filled with dozens of people you don’t know. Fortunately, you and Dahyun aren’t left alone for very long, as an elated Jin and Jimin, the appointed lead singer, bustle their way through the crowd to you almost as soon as you arrive, leaving very little time for you to feel so awkward that you consider running away again. Jimin, in all his spritely and extravagant blue haired disposition, wastes no time in engulfing you both in a comforting hug as if months hadn’t passed since you’ve last seen them.
“Glad you guys could make it!” Jin smiles from over Jimin’s shoulder.
“It’s been forever,” Jimin affirms.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Dahyun says. “I’m surprised you guys didn’t forget about us, considering you’re big rockstars now.”
“Rockstar is a bit of an overstatement.” An effortlessly charming smirk unfurls on Jimin’s face, which seems to immediately dazzle Dahyun. “Besides, we could never forget you. Hey, come with me to find the guys. I think we could all use some time to catch up━”
He places his hand on the small of Dahyun’s back as he guides her away, leaving you with Jin. A moment of silence passes, in which time you can feel the boy’s eyes lingering on you.
“He knows you’re coming tonight, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Jin says carefully, treading over his words lightly. It’s too painfully obvious who he’s talking about, though you’re fortunate he doesn’t bother mentioning Jungkook’s name anyway. “There’s no point in hiding. I think you should talk to him.”
“I━” You trail off uselessly, your voice croaking. Fearing an imminent breakdown, you shake your head. Then, holding your chin a little higher, Jin’s startled to hear you pretend as if he hadn’t said anything. “It really is good to see you guys again. If you’ll excuse me, I think I need a drink.”
And you’re gone once more before he can say anything else. On your lonesome, you find refuge at the bar, though you only order water because you’re certain you won’t be able to stomach anything stronger. You don’t know how long you spend there, blankly staring at a spot on the wall as your mind wanders everywhere and yet nowhere at all until━
“Y/N?”
There it is again. The familiar sound of his voice, only this time it’s much more attainable, closer to your world and not elsewhere so high in the clouds like a hopeful dream. You brace yourself before turning to face him.
This close, Jungkook looks breathtakingly and painfully beautiful.
As always, he’s adorned in all black, the first few buttons of the silky blouse he’s wearing left undone so that it teases the exposed flesh of his collarbones and the rose tattoo that inks his chest, the thorny stems crawling up the side of his neck just below his ear, accompanied by a pair of leather pants. He’s the same as ever. The same imperfect tattoos that decorate his fingers and arms that you’ve always loved, the same ring-clad fingers painted a chipped black, the same hoop accentuating his button nose. His hair is still his natural dark ebony color (something he’s seemed to stick with much more as of late despite dyeing it wild colours throughout his past), only it’s a little longer than you last remembered, and the sides of his head are shaved in the form of an undercut. You’re foolishly surprised to find he still looks the same, but almost a year away from someone can both change nothing and yet everything all at once.
“Jungkook…” You want to say something more, but your words fall short.
It’s hard to tell if he’s angry or upset at seeing you there, but you don’t think he’s either, and you have an inkling of a thought that he purposely sought you out amongst the many faces. Instead, he looks hesitant, apprehensive, as if dreading how you’ll respond to see him. As if you’ll yell at him, push him away. You do neither, fortunately.
Just when the dense silence starts to become almost unbearable, Jungkook clears his throat. “I━ Wow… You look great.”
You blink once, a flustered blush warming your face that you hope he doesn’t notice. “Oh. Thank you. You do, too.”
His eyes flicker over your presence as he nods absentmindedly. Then, he’s offering you a pretty smile, soft and sweet in nature. No malice, or ill-intent. “Um━ How have you been?”
You hate this. You hate the awkward pauses, the prolonged periods of silence. A year ago, even despite knowingly pining for one another, your moments alone with Jungkook were never so terrible. He always found a way to say something cheekily flirtatious even when you were just friends, if only because he knew it would make you blush and giggle because, no matter how many times you would roll your eyes or nudge his sides, he also knew you secretly loved it. All the inside jokes, the milestones shared together, the ardent fleeting touches ━ where did it all go? And while you were both noticeably trying to maintain the peace and pleasantry between one another, it didn’t feel the same. It felt forced, fake. Distracted.
“I’ve been good,” You lie. “How about you? Actually, don’t answer that━” You let out a breathless chuckle. “You’ve clearly been doing amazing. I mean, your album, and your world tour. And tomorrow you’ve got a big day with the hometown show. I heard it sold out in the first ten minutes.”
“Something like that,” Jungkook says modestly. “It’s been kind of crazy. Namjoon says it’s good, but I miss━ I just miss a lot of how it used to be. The slow pace. I dunno. The quick burn up is quick to burn out, right?”
“Maybe,” You admit. “But I think you’ve all got it in you. You’ve worked so hard for this moment. Enjoy it while you’re in it. You deserve it, Jungkook.”
His stare softens as it meets yours. “Thanks.”
Another beat of silence passes. He looks as if he’s warring with himself, as if he’s fighting the urge to say something more, gnawing at his lower lip, brows knitting together.
“Yo, Jeon!” A foreign voice from amongst the crowd beckons aloud abruptly for the boy.
Jungkook glances over his shoulder swiftly in search of the source, then waves his hand as if to motion he’ll be there later. Then, he turns back to you. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. I won’t keep you,” You say. “I know you’re busy.”
“But━” He stops himself, his jaw clamping shut. Changing his mind, he decides to ask hopefully, “Will you be at the show tomorrow?”
“Of course.” The affirmation seems to relieve him, even though it’s a spontaneous decision made by you on the spot. Before this moment, you hadn’t been so sure you could go.
“Promise?”
You can’t help but shake your head, a chuckle slipping past your lips at the innocent boyish question he asks. “Yes, Jungkook.”
His smile widens a little more, however sheepish it may be. “Then can you promise me one more thing?”
“What?” You quirk a brow, intrigued to say the least.
“Will you drop by the hotel we’re staying at tomorrow morning, so I can take you out for a coffee? Just to catch up. It’s been a while,” he says timidly. Then, feeling a little stupid for being so bold, scrambles to explain himself. “And no pressure if you don’t want to. I just thought━”
You can’t possibly say no. Not when it comes to Jungkook, all your past struggles seemingly vanishing without a trace. “I’d like that a lot, Jungkook.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Then he’s positively beaming, his self-indulgent grin making your own heart flutter in your chest. When he leaves your side that night, you find yourself looking forward to the future perhaps a little too optimistically. But how terrible could grabbing coffee with your ex be, if you had survived the first wretched encounter?
So, in the morning when you wake, there’s not a stutter in your step or a wavering flicker of your confidence as you make your way to the Four Seasons hotel Jungkook had told you to from the night before. In fact, a selfish part of you almost thinks that maybe things will start to look up. That maybe you and Jungkook can finally make amends. That maybe you never had a reason to fear Jungkook breaking your heart if he made such an effort to heal it.
The hotel itself is one of the most luxurious ones in Seoul, a considerable contrast from when the boys were slumming it on friends’ couches and in their run-down van touring the country. The room Jungkook tells you to meet him at is one of the hotel’s grand suites, located on the higher levels of the building. But as soon as you reach the landing and have begun making your way towards the designated door, it flings open and a pretty girl comes stumbling out. She’s giggling at something that has just happened inside, her hair a dishevelled mess which she ruffles up in an attempt to fix it. She’s adorned in a pretty little dress, the skirt of which is hiked a little higher up and one strap falling down her shoulder, as she clings her shoes and bag to her chest. She smiles at you on the way past, though she’s too far gone in her own little daze that you wonder if she even notices you at all.
But you certainly notice her, and, all at once, your reverie of him and what could be comes crashing to the ground once more.
Maybe you should have stayed, should have waited for Jungkook to let him explain, but you were too afraid to hear an answer you weren’t looking for. You try desperately not to imagine Jungkook loving someone else. You try not to think about him holding her the same way he held you, his lips finding purchase on some other girl. But by trying to avoid the thought, it beckons the unwarranted memories of how it felt to be loved all over by him once upon a time. You wonder how many girls he’s hooked up with in your time apart, and the overwhelming sense of regret washes over you.
You don’t bother to wait. You know fleeing is the easiest option rather than facing your fear, but you’re far too timid of rejection again. Instead, even before you can approach Jungkook’s hotel room and knock on the door, you turn on your heels and run.
You’re long gone by the time Jungkook comes to the door, prying it open in search of you on a whim. When he doesn’t see you, he glances up and down the hallway but to no avail. Namjoon comes slinking past inside then in his own disoriented haze, having just woken up from moments ago when the girl he had taken back to their room the night before left. Even then, Jungkook had warned the rhythm guitarist against bringing the girl back, pointing out the fact that they had much to do today ahead of their concert. Namjoon had promised it wouldn’t be long, that she would be gone in the morning, and Jungkook was fortunate enough that the suite had two separate bedrooms on the opposite ends of one another so that Jungkook didn’t have to hear whatever it was the pair were doing in the other.
“Did Mina leave?” Namjoon asks through a yawn, digging the heels of his palms into his tired eyes. When Jungkook nods, a sliver of a reminiscent smug grin tugs at Namjoon’s lips. “You missed out, Jungkook.”
The cheeky quip is met with a roll of Jungkook’s eyes. “I’m sure I’ll survive. You know I’m not like that.”
Like that━ As in midnight hook-ups and cheap thrills alike. He tried it once, far ago when you had first broken up with him, on a drunken spur of a moment as a way of healing the anguish in his heart. It hadn’t worked then; he assumed it would never work.
Namjoon seems to understand this immediately. He gives Jungkook a look that the boy doesn’t notice. “Well… is Y/N here yet?”
“No. But I’m sure she’ll be here,” Jungkook grimaces. He hopes. “Something probably came up.”
Namjoon clasps a reassuring hand on Jungkook’s shoulder, humming aloud, “Good luck, dude.”
But you never arrive, even though Jungkook waits for most of the morning, nervous eyes flickering to the door at every commotion outside, running to check only to see room service delivering breakfast or concierge showing guests to their rooms. He has no choice but to give up on the thought of you coming when Jin knocks on their door, prompting the boys to get a start on their day. Interviews and soundcheck await, but how could he possibly go on with his life without knowing what happened to you?
Which is why you stay on his mind for the rest of the day, distracting him in every aspect, mixing up his words when he’s in the midst of his interview, tripping up on stage as the boys set up and begin to rehearse. As the hours wane down to just an hour before the show, the thought of performing in front of thousands of fans starts to make him nervous and he doesn’t know why. He’s done this countless times before, almost nightly during the tour, so what stops him now? Of course he knows the answer, had grown all too accustomed to the feeling the first few months in which the break up had been so recent. It would always be about you.
But just before the show starts, Jungkook is making his way backstage from the greenroom, where the band had been waiting, to the stage. Fiddling with his in-ear piece, he almost doesn’t notice you and Dahyun weaving your way through the roadies and sound tech, being guided by Jin to the pit on the side of the stage where only family and friends are allowed. You don’t see him, and there’s a split moment where he thinks he should just let you go, until he doesn’t.
As he makes his way to you, the tour manager for the band intervenes part way, shouting out to the boy. “Where are you going? We’re on in five, Jungkook!”
“Yeah, I’ll be right back━” He waves the manager off as politely as he can, wasting no time to chase after you. He calls out your name, though it drowns out in the sound of the music being blasted through the speakers of the arena and the screaming fans. “Y/N, wait up!”
He’s relieved when he sees you stop in your tracks, turning to face him as Dahyun and Jin become lost in the chaos of the backstage. He comes to stand just before you, smiling breathlessly at you, unaware of the way your shoulders tense at the sight of him.
“You didn’t show up this morning,” he says as a way of greeting, his voice a curious prob. “What happened?”
You try desperately not to get lost in his big beautiful eyes, laced with such hope. Instead, you fold your arms over your chest, looking away. “Something came up.”
It’s then that Jungkook senses something is wrong. You’re upset with him, though he can’t tell why. Aside from the obvious rift in your relationship that had initially split you two up, you had been so pleasant to see him the night before. But he doesn’t give up just yet. “Well… you’re here now.”
You meet his gaze with your own hardened one. “For the boys.”
A shot right to his heart almost makes Jungkook gasp for air. He flinches, and then his stare softens, and you wish he wouldn’t look at you like that, out of fear that you might just relapse into his arms.
“What’s wrong?” He closes the distance between the two of you. He wants nothing more than to reach out and touch you, but refrains with much difficulty. There’s dozens of things that could be wrong, and he braces himself for your retaliation. “You didn’t want to come, did you?”
When you don’t respond, but also don’t stray from his side, Jungkook hurries to speak again if only to fill the tense silence.
“Look, last night… Maybe it was just me, but last night seemed like things were okay,” he says. “Was I wrong to feel that way?”
“Jungkook…”
“Please, just let me know,” he begs. “Because you’re all I can think about these days, it’s driving me crazy. And I don’t know what’s going on, but the reason I wanted to see you this morning was because I hate how things ended between us, and I wanted to tell you…” He swallows nervously as he trails off uncertainly. “I wanted to tell you that I’m still in love with you. And I can’t get you out of my head. These months away from you made me realize that I━”
Suddenly, you’re shaking your head and he knows you don’t believe him. As soon as the words leave his mouth, he regrets saying it, if only because they seem to enliven you. Now, you push yourself away from the boy. “I’m not doing this right now. You’re not doing this right now.”
As if to further your point, the band’s tour manager can be heard calling out frantically for the boy. “Two minutes, Jungkook!”
But Jungkook is hardly paying attention now, instead solely focused on you. “Please, Y/N━”
“No, you don’t get to say that to me,” You admonish hotly. You can’t bite the words back, no matter how hard you try. “You don’t love me. You think you love me, but you don’t.”
His jaw clenches, and his brows furrow into a frustrated stare. “I do.”
“You don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Stop.” The harsh word makes Jungkook clamp his mouth shut. You shake your head furiously, but you know it’s only to distract yourself so that you don’t let the tears fall. “You’re being selfish, Jungkook. You don’t get to take all of me, love all of me, and leave, only to come back months later and pretend you’re still in love with me. And whatever this━” You gesture vaguely between the two of you, “is, or was, doesn’t exist anymore. We both need to stop pretending otherwise.”
Jungkook winces, eyes tinged with pain. “You don’t mean that.”
You don’t respond. Elsewhere, his tour manager starts to grow impatient, scolding the boy aloud, “Jungkook, we’re gonna be late. Hurry up!”
“Yeah, I’ll be there!” Jungkook calls back, irritated. Maybe he is being selfish. He’s wasting precious time by not leaving, all the hard work that the crew put into tonight’s show, and the fans awaiting his and the band’s arrival. He can still hear the crowd, this time their buzzing voices amalgamating into unanimous chanting muffled by the walls that sounds akin to the band’s name.
“You should go,” You say now. “Don’t wanna disappoint them.”
But he’d throw it all away for you if you told him to. He promised you that even before he had left for tour, before the band had been signed. Had you forgotten? Because he surely hadn’t.
“Y/N…”
“Good luck out there.”
Then, you’re gone before Jungkook can even make a move to stop you ━ but even if he did, what could he do to make you stay? The feat seemed impossible, and you always seem to find a way to slip from his grasp no matter what he does. Only this time he has no choice but to let you go, out of fear of being berated further by his tour manager or angering the boys so much to the point where he gets kicked out of the band.
He makes it on stage in time, the band filing out to take their places one at a time, deafening screams blowing out their in-ear pieces that stand no chance as each member joins the stage. The lights fizzle out until complete darkness cloaks the venue, but Jungkook still looks for you. He finds you in the pit on the side of the stage, Jin and Dahyun standing beside you, and finds it hard to keep his eyes off of you even though you attempt to pretend as if he’s not even there.
After their first adrenaline-filled opening song of the night, Jimin takes to the microphone to greet the crowd who scream back an indiscernible shout as, elsewhere, you notice Jungkook pry himself away from the microphone stand on his side of the stage to wave the rest of the boys over to Hoseok’s drum kit. They murmur amongst themselves briefly, though they go unnoticed by Jimin or the crowd as the lead singer entertains them.
“Seoul! It’s good to be back. We’ve missed you all so much━”
Jimin’s words get cut short when Jungkook, having just parted ways with the rest of his members for their impromptu meeting, beckons the lead singer over, out of range of the microphone. They seem to discuss something just as shortly as Jungkook had talked with the rest of the boys, in which time Jimin nods understandingly, then steps away from the microphone. Then, Jungkook takes to the microphone, the rings on his fingers glistening under the spotlight as he grips the stand.
“I know the night’s only getting started,” Jungkook’s voice wavers as he speaks, “but we’re gonna slow things down for a moment. We hope you don’t mind.”
Intrigued murmurs echo around the crowd, suddenly buzzing with excitement as they watch Jungkook with eager eyes. A few encouraging bellows has Jungkook smiling smally. Jin, on the other hand, looks perplexed.
“What is he doing?” Jin asks no one in particular, a quizzical look on his face. “This isn’t part of their set.”
“I think a lot of you might know this next song,” Jungkook continues, “but I don’t think I’ve ever expressed how much it means to me. This next one, I wrote for a special someone, and it sort of helped us achieve all of this. So, I think it’s time that person knows how much they mean to me.”
Jungkook glances nervously over at the boys standing behind him, each in their own respective spots. Then, sweeping his gaze across the crowd, he finally finds you already staring up at him. His own eyes soften into a look of longing, however hardened by past tribulations and sorrow it may be. As if he’s determined not to lose you again; determined to make it up to you.
“This next one is for Y/N,” he says timidly. He has to turn away from you in the next second, afraid he might just break down before the fans and the boys and you. “I’m sorry I messed up.”
As the boys take their place, with Jimin taking an acoustic and fading back from the limelight, you wonder why. But then you hear it, the familiar beginning chords making up the song you had so wholeheartedly claimed you hated. Only this time they’re gentler, made up of acoustic strums of a guitar, Hoseok’s drums, and Yoongi’s keys, all amalgamating into a pretty song almost unrecognizable.
Then, Jungkook starts singing, and what was once a wistful dreamy song of prospective lovers suddenly turns into a melancholic requiem for you. Some lyrics are changed, present tense turning to the past, and Jungkook sings his way throughout the entirety of the song in contrast to the one that plays all over the radio featuring the other member’s voices. The fans sing along, their voices melding with Jungkook’s into some sort of celestial mellifluous choir, and you’re left no longer wondering if the fans would ever know the meaning behind the song that Jungkook had brought to life. Because now, it wasn’t just Jungkook singing to you; it was the whole world. And yet, paradoxically at the same time, it felt all that much more intimate. As if it were just you and him once again, seated on the couch in his small apartment, listening to the beginnings of what would be their number one selling song.
Above all else, you realize that you don’t seem to hate the song as much you claimed to.
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That night, you can’t sleep.
You find yourself leaving the venue earlier than everyone else, even when the boys invite you and Dahyun to join them for celebratory drinks, returning to your home in the hopes of forgetting the night altogether. Instead, you stay up tossing and turning, your mind filled with memories consisting of only Jungkook and his haunting voice singing to you, and for you. But at some point during the night nearing one or two in the morning, just when you give up on the idea of sleep, the sound of incessant knocking at your front door rouses you from your trance.
When you finally answer the door, you’re more than surprised to see that Jungkook stands on the other side of the threshold as if coming to you from a dream. But then you register the fact that he’s a complete mess. Dark circles line his weary eyes, now smudged with that faint hint of charcoal liner he had worn for the concert, hair so messily mused beyond repair, and you notice quickly that he’s crying, fresh tears glazing over his pupils and streaking down his face. It’s startling to see him in such shambles, a complete contrast to how effortlessly charming and confident he usually portrays himself. But though you’ve seen him cry before on various occasions, now is all the more unsettling.
“I━I’m sorry.” It’s the first thing he says, screwing his eyes shut tightly as he shakes his head. He fumbles over his words, slurring them together in his rush to get them out. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now, but I needed to see you.”
“Are you drunk?”
“No, no, I swear━” He pries his eyes open to meet your desolate stare, tears unabashedly falling from his lashes. His voice thins with desperation. “You said we need to stop pretending, but I’m not pretending. I never have been. And if you think ━ if you truly believe ━ that there’s nothing here between us anymore… Tell me. Right here, right now. And I’ll leave you alone forever, you’ll never have to see me again. I just━ I’ve missed you every moment and it kills me.”
You’re silent for a long period, pitying gaze sweeping over him, but he doesn’t care if he looks insane. He just needs you to know how he feels.
“Well, how do you think I felt?” You ask the question carefully, but then the memories come flooding back and the semblance of a scowl forms on your face. “You leave and suddenly everywhere I look I see you. Your song is playing everywhere, you and the guys are everywhere, and I’m reminded every day about how we ended. About how you left me.”
Jungkook blinks. He shakes his head stubbornly, the nerves in the corner of his jaw fluttering as he grits his teeth. “You were the one who said we should take a break.”
“A break!” You snap sternly. “Fuck, Jungkook. I didn’t want you out of my life forever. I wanted you to fight for me.”
“No, don’t put this all on me,” Jungkook pleads helplessly. “I have always fought for you. But the minute things got rough, you bailed. You told me you never wanted to see me again. What the hell was I supposed to do?”
“I was scared!” You try to swallow the tears away that start to form as a lump in your throat but to no avail. “I was, and I still am, so fucking scared of losing you. And you━ It felt like you gave me no choice. Like you were over it. I would have wanted to make things work but you left. You just… You left, and suddenly it was like you were never in my life at all. Seven months, and I get no word from you.”
“I fucked up, okay!” He cries out so suddenly, it silences you at once. He bites at his lip, and straightens up half-heartedly, running a hand through his hair. When he meets your stare this time, he’s zealous yet sincere. “I know that I messed up. I know. And it fucking kills me every single day. I don’t know where it went wrong, but it did, and I know it’s all my fault. When you said we should take a break and I agreed, I was only thinking about you. Because I knew I was disappointing you every day, and I was afraid that was all I would ever do, and you don’t deserve that. I thought it would be better this way, if I was just gone from your life for good. But I can’t forget you.”
“How can I trust you?” You ask. When his pained stare gawks at you, you tilt your chin a little higher. “I came by your hotel room yesterday morning, just like you asked, only to see that girl leaving.”
Jungkook’s gawk turns into a dumbfounded expression. He looks weary as he shakes his head, as if struggling to keep up with the way you accuse him now. He tries not to focus on the fact that you actually came to the hotel, then feels inconsolably terrible when he realizes why he never got to see you. “That girl was Namjoon’s fling. We were sharing the suite, and they were in a whole other room. I didn’t even think about her━”
Your stare droops from him, and he knows he’s struggling to keep you on his side.
“Okay, fine. You want trust? I’ll give it to you,” he says. A newfound sense of confidence seems to possess him, though he approaches the topic with extra caution anyway. “After we broke up, I was crushed. I couldn’t move on from you, and the guys thought I should get drunk, find a random girl to bring back to our hotel one night on tour. And I listened, because I wanted to forget you, but it didn’t work. All I could think about was you. Every time she touched me, every time she kissed me, I could only imagine it was you. And when she left that night, I broke down because I felt like such a fucking idiot. I instantly regretted it. Like, even though you and I weren’t together, I still did something to hurt you by sleeping with that girl. And all it did was hurt me too in the process.”
He pushes himself forward, taking a step over the threshold. Even despite him admitting his wrongs to you, you can’t find it in yourself to hate him. Because, at the end of it all, he’s here at your doorstep, pleading for you to forgive him, but he had already won the moment your eyes had landed on him.
“You’re the reason I am who I am today.” His voice is hoarse when he speaks, almost in a whisper. “That I get to do what I love for a living. But all of it means nothing without you. You saw me at my worst, and my best. And you were the best I ever had, and I ruined it, and the worst part of it all is that there’s nothing I can do to make up for it. But I promise I can make it better ━ I can make it right again ━ if you just give me a chance.”
There’s a short pause filled with poignant silence in which Jungkook thinks you’ll push him away or scream at him. He’s fortunate when you do neither; instead, he hears you whisper faintly.
“Kiss me, Jungkook.”
And it’s more than enough for him. His heart thrums in delight as he wastes no time in reaching out for you. His hands are warm as they come to grasp at your face, holding you delicately; then he’s leaning in to you, drawing you closer and closer until his lips are pressed against yours. It’s unadulterated, but not without feverish passion, noses smushing together in both your eager hastiness to close the distance between the two of you. It doesn’t last long either, though that’s partly because Jungkook can taste your tears mingling on your lips, and can feel your faint smile form against his mouth. Kissing him feels both foreign yet familiar at the same time. You know the feel, the taste, and the sense of comfort that comes with it, but months apart from one another has left it feeling different.
Jungkook’s thumb wipes away at the tears on your face. “Why are you crying?”
It’s a useless question, he knows, but he needs something to fill the silence. He’s relieved when he hears you snicker. “Because I miss you, you idiot. And I’m sorry I’ve been acting like such an idiot. I’ve messed everything up.”
His own shoulders quiver with contented mirth. “It’ll be okay.” As he leans in once more for another kiss, you can feel him murmur against your mouth, “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“Then make it right,” You say, “right here and now.”
“I’ll do anything for you,” he promises earnestly.
Jungkook understands the underlying yearning in your voice even without having you explain yourself. He knows, if only because he can feel it too. As his hands fall to your waist, fingers digging into your skin, your own arms wrap around his neck and pull him into your apartment. He has you pressed up against the nearest wall within seconds, kissing at your throat, then up to your jawline.
“It’s been so long,” he sighs.
You hum in agreement, though your mind is already spinning, and all you can muster is a weak yet urgent croak of his name. “Jungkook.”
Your fingers thread through his hair, tugging at the roots and he croons with delight. His lips finally meet yours again, only this time he lets his tongue lav at your lower lip. Almost as soon as he does so, you notice something strange. It takes a moment for you to register the small metallic object that grazes your lower lip but when you do, you pull away from the boy.
“What’s wrong?” Jungkook asks in a confused dazed.
“Is that…” You rasp. “Did you get your tongue pierced?”
Suddenly, Jungkook is smirking, one brow shooting up to his hairline in a smug demeanour. He sticks out his tongue for you to see the silver ball poking through and you almost moan at the sight of it as the thought entices you.
“Oh.” Your face warms with a flustered blush. “That’s new.”
“Yeah,” he says. “Always wanted to get it done. Guess I was saving it for the right moment.”
“Right moment, huh?” You scoff as if the implications don’t already have your thighs rubbing together. “Care to explain?”
“I think you’ll find out soon enough.”
You dissolve into a fit of giggles, marvelling at the way Jungkook’s familiar flirtatious bantering can soothe your troubled heart at once. It’s almost as if time hasn’t lapsed between the two of you.
“I’ve missed this,” You sigh. “I’ve missed you, Jungkook.”
You spot him smiling before he’s kissing you again, this time his tongue slipping past your parted lips to meet yours midway. The piercing is strange to adjust to, but you get used to it quickly, humming at the feeling of it against the soft flesh of your tongue. It’s easy to get lost in one another’s lips as you pull and tug at Jungkook, guiding him to your bedroom, nearly tripping and stumbling over one another in the process. He knows the path like the back of his hand, the same way he knows every curve and dimple of your body as his greedy hands explore you. He has you sprawled out beneath him on the bed in a matter of seconds, carelessly shedding each other of your clothes until you’re left naked and he’s without a shirt.
As he’s tugging off the hoodie you’re wearing, he realizes two things abruptly. One: you’re not wearing anything beneath it, your bare body dazzling him at once. And, two: a sudden thought jogs his memory that makes him ponder aloud, “Is this my sweater?”
“Yes,” You admit sheepishly.
He smirks. “Was wondering where it went.”
“You forgot to take it back when…” You don’t finish your sentence. Instead, you tug your fingers at the hair at the nape of his neck, as if scared he’ll leave again. He doesn’t. Instead, he nestles his body between your legs, tonguing patterns on your neck. “I wear it sometimes, especially when I’m missing you. I don’t know… It just━ It still smells like you, even after all this time.”
Jungkook’s heart nearly implodes. He wonders briefly if he’d prefer fucking you without or with the hoodie; but then he’s letting himself time to study your naked body and he deduces he needs to gaze at you in your entirety a little longer.
“Keep talking,” he murmurs. He starts kissing down your body now, starting from your throat to your collarbones, between the valley of your breasts, then your navel. “Tell me more. How badly did you miss me?”
“So badly,” You whimper. Your legs instinctively part to make way for him as he shifts downward, kissing just above your core. A shudder runs down your spine when he kisses the inside of your thigh. “Sometimes I’d put your sweater on and touch myself to the thought of you.”
He grunts against you, teeth softly biting at your flesh. His tongue pokes against your thigh, the metallic piercing a dully cold sensation as he licks upward to your core. He laps at your folds, as if to taste the glistening cum that starts to form.
Your breath audibly hitches in your throat, hips jutting forward to meet his mouth. “I missed your hands, and the way they made me feel. Missed your mouth between my legs. Missed cumming on your tongue, or your fingers.”
Now, you’re starting to understand what he meant by waiting for the right moment to use the piercing to its fullest potential. As he lifts his head higher to tongue at your clit, the piercing makes your head spin. The contrast between his soft tongue and the harsh metal works wonders against you, rubbing you just the right way that has you a moaning mess beneath him within a matter of seconds.
“Fuck━” You cry out, hands twisting in his hair. “My hands never feel the same. You always made me feel so good, Jungkook.”
He hums something in response, the sound reverberating up your spine. He busies himself by replacing his tongue with his finger, rubbing small, controlled circles against your clit as he lowers his mouth to your folds. He teases the piercing against the sensitive flesh before lapping at your insides, burrowing further into you.
“Ooh, Jungkook━”
The noise that eclipses your throat is a piqued sob of delight. The piercing that scratches against your walls has your insides throbbing, body twisting and turning beneath him. You grab at your breasts, fingers pinching at the perked buds as you imagine Jungkook’s hands in replace of yours.
His mouth wraps just right around you and he sucks hard, earning a beautiful moan from you. It doesn’t take long for you to draw closer to your high, sputtering and whimpering at every action he does. Soon he’s burrowing his face even closer against your core, nose nudging against your clit in a way that makes you writhe and squirm. Before he can get carried away (and he certainly could), Jungkook decides to come to a stop which seems to thoroughly surprise and upset you. When you feel his missing warmth between your legs and the sticky wet mess accentuated further by the cool air that hits you, you pout like a child.
“That’s not fair,” you whine.
“Sorry, baby. Need to feel you.” He pulls away from you and crawls over your body once more. He kisses your lips, sloppy and heated, and lets you taste your own succulence on your tongue. “God, I need to feel you so bad.”
You’re just as much startled as you were seconds ago to hear the slight whine in his voice, a sound hot enough to almost push you over the edge.
“I’ve missed you too, just so you know,” he moans, burrowing his face in the crook of your neck. Your fingers continue to scratch delicately at his scalp and he simpers delightfully against you. He ruts his hips eagerly against yours, the bulge in his pants rough against your core. “So fucking much.”
“How much?” Now it’s your turn to ask, your curiosity getting the best of you once you find your voice.
“Every day,” he sighs as he continues to grind his hips into yours. “Get so hard at the thought of you. Your pretty mouth moaning my name. Your hands in my hair, just like this━” You pull a little tighter at the roots of his locks, and he has to stifle his contented moan. “And your body━ Fuck, your body. You take my dick so well, baby.”
“Jungkook,” You mewl impatiently. “Wanna feel you in me.”
“Fuck, okay. Okay━”
He hastens to rid himself of his pants and you help, arms momentarily tangling with one another in your rush. Then he’s kneeling before you, one hand planted firmly on your hip, rings digging roughly against your skin, as his other hand wraps a fist around his hard length, slowly pumping himself. He guides the tip of his leaking cock to your core and pushes himself forward carefully. He easily slips past your folds, coaxed by your slick walls, that he has to pause to give you both time to adjust to the feeling. It’s just as he remembered, though somehow better, and he isn’t so sure how long he’ll last. You don’t know either, marvelling in the way he stretches you open.
“Oh, shit,” he grunts.
He watches as your jaw drops open in a silent gap, your eyes fixed only on his. You grab at his hips, fingers scratching delicately over the laurel tattoos inked there, prompting him to move. He does so in one languid movement, burying deeper and deeper into you until you feel so full and he feels so warm. He fucks into you a little sluggish at first, taking his time and enjoying the way your clenching walls feel around his throbbing cock. It’s a pace so maddening that it soon has the both of you panting, heavy moans filling the space around you. Your own fingers dig into his shoulders, his back, his hips ━ anything to keep a hold on reality as you slowly lose yourself to the pleasure. He reaches for one of your hands, eager to feel you in more ways than one, and laces his digits with yours, pressing your clasped palms above your head. You squeeze tightly, his name falling from your lips in a cry.
“Doing so good,” he mumbles through gritted teeth. “Feel so nice, baby.”
Jungkook grasps at your hips and flips the two of you over. He lands on his back on the soft mattress and you fumble to not break the pace. Firmly planting your hands on his chest, you grind against him, sweat coating your forehead. He watches you with a dark fascination, brows screwed together and jaw clenched as your own cum starts leaking down his length. Not wanting to waste another moment without being beside you, he sits up and shifts you in his lap. Then he pulls you close to him, chest pulled flush against chest to the point where he can feel the rapid beat of your heart against his. You whimper aloud, wrapping your arms tightly around his neck as he guides your hips back and forth on him. There’s little to no space between your gyrating bodies, sweaty skin sticking to one another.
At some point, Jungkook notices you’re crying again, steady tears tangling in your lashes and wetting your face. Despite the way you’re driving him to near euphoria, he brushes your hair out of your face and manages to ask, “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m sorry━ fuck,” You gasp. He can tell you’re genuinely sympathetic for whatever’s making you cry but it’s hard for you to convey it properly when you’re still so consumed by him. “I’m so sorry━ I’m okay. I just━ You feel so good, Jungkook.”
“It’s okay,” he whispers, rubbing tender circles against your waist that contrasts with the fierce burn between your legs. “You’re okay, baby. Doing so well for me, aren’t you? Cum for me, yeah?”
You won’t tell him why you’re crying ━ not yet, at least. But Jungkook thinks he knows why; he can feel it too. The bitter sense of longing and mingling regret for all the time lost. The overwhelming feeling of love of finally being reunited. You continue to roll your hips against his, and he, breathless, rubs his nose faintly against yours, resting his forehead against yours.
It doesn’t take much longer after that for you to come tumbling to you high. He strokes your hair so lovingly as you ride him recklessly, leisure rolls of your hips driving you to your high. When you cum, the feeling completely washes over you and electricity crackles in your veins, warming your entire body. He holds you close to his chest the entire time as you writhe with pleasure, your walls clenching around his cock.
“Fuck, I’m gonna━” His voice splinters off as you busy yourself by sucking a bruise onto the underside of his jaw.
He reaches his high moments later just as you’re beginning to wince at the feeling of oversensitivity. He grunts and groans, spilling his hot seed into you, and then, with his hips slammed against yours, grinds leisurely to ride out your highs.
Then, the room falls silent.
Neither of you move from your warm embrace, with you still perched on his lap, his cock softening inside you as his cum runs down his length and onto your thighs. Your face is hidden in the crook of his neck, and he waits until you’ve both calmed down from your orgasms. You’re running your fingers through his sweaty hair, but he knows you’re still sad. He kisses you all over in the meantime, a few ticklish kisses that make you smile sleepily and a few loving ones that have your heart swelling. Then, he gingerly shifts your head to look at him.
“Why were you crying?” he asks silently.
It takes you a moment to respond. You cling to him tightly when you do and all he can do is cradle you closer to him. “I don’t want this to be some kind of drunken one night stand thing. Like we both needed one last fuck to get over each other, or something."
“You mean more to me than a one night stand,” Jungkook says and it makes you smile smally, a little timidly. 
“That’s good,” You say, “because I’m not over you or us. I want us to work out. I love you too much to lose you again, and I’m scared this might be the last time I’ll ever see you.”
“I’m not letting that happen,” Jungkook shakes his head furiously. “I’d be an absolute idiot to let that happen. You won’t lose me. I’m not going anywhere this time. You’re my priority, Y/N. You always have been. Not the band and definitely not the record label.”
“I’m sure the boys will love to hear that,” You snort to yourself.
“Yeah, well, I’m sure they’ll understand,” Jungkook grins. But you’re only joking, and you know he sort of is too. That’s not to say the band isn’t still important to him, but you take precedent over it. “Without you, I wouldn’t even have the chance to be where I am now.”
You nuzzle your nose against his own, and he steals one sweet kiss from you. 
“Do you really mean all that?”
“With my whole heart.”
And, when he says it, you know he means it. There’s no reason not to trust him.
You’ll both move eventually from one another’s arms, soft touches from Jungkook peeling you off of him and wrapping you in your covers before falling asleep beside you, and waking up in the morning with you in his arms. But, for now, it’s just you and him, a little broken still yet all the more in love.
While you both know healing a broken heart will take time, you’re both prepared for it because you’re both worth it to one another ━ and that’s all either of you really need in the end to make it right.
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⟶ All rights reserved to © jungkxook. I do not allow reposting, translating, or any sort of modifying and reuploading of my work. 
⟶ Feedback is always appreciated!
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latent-thoughts · 3 years ago
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Well, I uh I've always loved the idea of multiple women (3 at least) on Loki? If you do too could I get a marathon sex one shot for that?
Get ready to read a full one-shot, not just a drabble.
It took me longer to write this one, because I wanted the plot elements to align properly with the erotic elements. I'm eager to read your comments. :D
WARNING: This piece contains the theme of dubious consent. If it squicks you out, then please don't read it. You've been warned. Consume the content wisely.
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"Greetings, ladies."
Loki was backed up in the corner of a dark, rough hewn chamber, surrounded by several women. All of them were pointing their weapons--spears, swords and battle axes, to name a few--at him, looking quite vexed.
"I'm, ah, simply passing,” he tried to fib, still attempting to get his bearings.
He had only landed here a few minutes ago, after all. Working with the dark pathways was a dangerous endeavour, and now he was facing trouble for it.
"Doesn't look like you’re merely passing,” stated their leader (he assumed), putting the sharp end of her sword under his chin. “You were looking around curiously, as if trying to find something."
He tried to smile despite his precarious situation. "My curiosity is something of a bane. I apologize for my transgressions.”
Then his gaze shifted to the emblem tattooed on her arm, and he tried his best to contain his excitement and surprise.
“Are you, by any chance, related to the Valkyries of Asgard?" he asked, hoping that the familiarity would buy him some time, and, not to mention, immunity from possible harm. "I thought they had all perished in a battle long ago."
"We're the last surviving legion; we renounced Asgard long ago,” she answered, her eyes narrowing as she regarded him more closely. “Who are you? An Asgardian, I presume?"
“He looks like one, an upper middle to high ranking one, that is,” surmised the warrior standing on her right. “The clothes and armour are a tell.”
"I am," he replied, trying to see just how many of them he was facing, in case he had to fight and trick his way out of here.
The numbers didn't look promising…
“So, is there any chance you can play a kind host to me, from one Asgardian to another?”
Suddenly, all of their gazes switched from hostile to calculating. Their leader and the three other women in the front--likely the next in command--began to whisper among themselves for a bit. Then, one of them turned to two others in the back, giving them a nod.
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"Strip and search him."
“Wait, why?” he asked in outrage, even as the two women stepped forth and grabbed him, their hands reaching for his armour. “I told you I’m Asgardian. I’m not looking for anything, I simply want to know where I am and how I can leave!”
“You'll leave when we let you, your lordship,” came the snappy answer of the leader. “Also, you may stop addressing us as Asgardians.”
“I’m not beholden to your wishes, my lady,” he snapped back, choosing not to correct her on the wrong honorific.
When one of them pulled his cape and surcoat off, he stepped aside and twisted around to grab her sword from its scabbard on her waist. Now armed, he pointed the weapon at them all.
“I won’t give in so easily!”
The leader looked completely unperturbed. “Nice work. Strong and skilled you may be in combat, but pray tell, how are you going to fight a whole legion of trained warriors?”
“I’ll certainly not back down from trying,” he answered, still pointing the sword at them. “But we don’t have to do this. We can come to a peaceful agreement. You let me go, and I’ll never speak to the Allfather about you.”
She laughed. “Oh, so you are a spy. Did Odin send you here to investigate? He cannot let us be, it seems.”
“I’m not a spy. I'm simply a lost soul."
“Of course, you’ll be honest about that,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Enough talking. Get him!”
She raised her fist as a command, and in the next moment, Loki was completely run over by the rogue elite warriors who had once served Asgard.
However, he wasn't an easy catch, and thus began a game of cat and mouse…
He tried his best to fight them off, but he was one and they were many. Way too many. So he dashed around and leapt over their blockades to evade them, his eyes keenly observing the architecture of their settlement as he did so.
Eventually, he almost had the whole legion chasing after him through their fortress. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to evade them for long, for they were the famed Valkyries, but he didn’t want to go down without causing a commotion.
At long last, after several failed attempts to catch him, they had him in their hold again.
“What do you want from me?” he asked, struggling as he was brought to the central hall and presented to their leader.
“I can ask you the same thing,” she said, watching him sharply as the others began to pull his clothes off in haste. "We need to search you thoroughly to be sure that you're not carrying spying devices or scrolls."
This time, he didn’t fight them as they stripped him and searched his clothes. He knew that he simply needed to be patient and calm. They wouldn't find anything on him, and then, they’d be more likely to release him.
He grimaced as every last stitch of his clothing was removed, but he didn’t make any move to cover himself, pretending to be unfazed.
“I want nothing from you,” he stated plainly, staring down at the leader of the Valkyries. “And as you can see, I’m not hiding anything.”
“That’s kind of a lie,” one of his captors countered with a giggle, shamelessly pointing at his cock. “We hadn’t expected to uncover that mighty weapon between his legs.”
Their leader smirked, looking at the said weapon with interest. “I can see that.”
Loki sighed in annoyance. “Yes, yes, very amusing. I'm floored by your appreciation of my natural weaponry.”
She came forward and ran her hand down his bare chest, adding to his annoyance. The touch wasn’t combative, though; it was sensual. It went straight to his loins, for he wasn’t immune to such advances.
His eyes narrowed as his cock hardened. “What are you doing?”
“Assessing our options,” she replied, giving the women holding him a wink.
Immediately, he felt their hands roaming all over his naked form, eager, exploring and possessive. He tried his best to ignore them, despite his rising arousal. His gaze was still locked with their leader.
"Are you done assessing?"
Licking her lips, she gave him an almost predatory smile. “Here’s the thing, your lordship. We haven’t seen a man in ages. We make do without one just fine, but we cannot pass a treat like you. So, are you ready to bargain for your freedom?”
“What are the terms?” He already knew what she meant, but he wanted her to spell it out.
“We have needs that you can fulfill.” She glanced at the other warriors who were flanking her, sharing a smile with them. “If you agree to fulfill them, we’ll let you go without any hassle.” As she spoke, her hand slid down his abdomen to grasp his growing erection.
Loki’s mind reeled, as did his body. But, this negotiation was promising; perhaps he'd be able to work with it and come out of this little adventure unharmed. “Do you give your word?”
“We’re not that far gone. We still have some ethics, unlike your Allfather,” she said, stroking him to full mast as the others kept exploring his body with their hands. "You have our word. Now, you simply have to surrender yourself to us."
Norns, this was madness, but he had to try. Well, overtly, he didn't really have a choice. He gave her a jerky nod, already breathing hard from all the attention he was receiving.
His agreement to their terms caused a ripple of excitement to go through them.
What happened to him afterwards was something straight out of an Asgardian's adolescent wet dream. The Valkyries revealed themselves to be quite the ravenous creatures.
He was dragged to the centre of the hall, with the rest of the Valkyries--he was being assailed by only six or seven of them at best--gathering all around him and his captors, watching the spectacle keenly.
Loki really had no time to react to the fact that he was going to be taken by more women than any man in Asgard’s history. He did a quick head count, and it was enough to fill him with trepidation and doubt. He was looking at more than forty women… and still, more were entering the hall as he got pawed at by their leader and her subordinates.
“Norns,” he gasped as several mouths descended on his body, sucking, licking, biting. “Give me the fortitude…”
“You’re in your prime, Asgardian, worry not,” said their leader, going down on her knees in front of him, taking his cock into her mouth.
Two more women joined her down there. They held his thighs apart and put their mouths on his sack, giving him a new layer of pleasure on top of what was already there.
“I suppose we’ll see,” he muttered, his eyes fluttering as his arousal grew under their attentions.
Behind him, he could feel four different mouths working on his shoulder blades and lower back, teeth digging in, putting him on the edge of pain.
He cried out, thrusting into the leader’s mouth, making her gag on his hard flesh. She pulled back to look up at him with wet, lustful eyes.
“You’re likely the biggest one I've had, I’m enjoying this thoroughly.” With that flattering declaration, she went back to sucking and stroking him like a woman possessed.
“Glad to… fuck!... hear that,” he groaned, just as two more women joined in, wanting to play with his nipples. They were sensitive, and they found that out very quickly when they applied their tongues and teeth to them.
At the same time, someone bit the swell of his ass, causing him to yelp. That cry, though, was swallowed by a tall warrior who stepped up to claim his mouth with a hungry kiss.
That’s when he gave in completely, letting these aggressive women have whatever part of him they wanted. His arms and legs relaxed, and he let the tension in his body go. They were holding him up anyway, why not let them do the work?
His gradual surrender brought even more invasive explorations from his captors. Fingers went into his rear opening, knowingly or unknowingly playing with him in the best way, making him thrust into the leader’s mouth again, gushing her with his pre-ejaculate.
He didn’t care one bit about making her gag again, because he had no control over it. He simply closed his eyes and enjoyed it, especially when those invading fingers pressed against that one spot that made his head spin in ecstasy.
The simultaneous assault of pleasure on his body was so intense that he came very suddenly, arching his back, making the leader choke on it.
It caused a great stir in the hall, with everyone marvelling at the long spurts of spend he was able to produce.
And yet, his cock didn’t soften. Of course, it didn’t, it was only his first orgasm…
But after the first one, the leader stepped aside and let others have a go at him with their mouths. Everyone got their turn, it seemed, because every time Loki looked down, he saw a different set of faces kneeling down in front of him. He couldn’t keep track of it, only that he constantly had at least three mouths suckling at his cock and sack.
As the group seduction proceeded, no part of him was left untouched or unexplored. Even his feet and hands were being used; he could feel the wetness gathering on them as more warriors joined in and rubbed themselves on him.
The whole maddening experience was Helheim and Valhalla all packed into one.
And every time he came, many of these hungered women pushed each other aside to catch his essence in their mouths. He may have found it amusing if had he not been sucked within an inch of his life.
Thankfully, they let him rest after he had come for the fifth (or was it sixth?) time.
A large bed was brought in, and he was urged to rest in it. Next, he was served with fresh fruits and wine… which he discovered were laced with strong aphrodisiacs. Because his cock began to rise as soon as he finished eating. He kept it hidden under the covers and pretended to sleep, but his pretence didn’t last long.
About two hours in, he was ‘woken up’ by the leader and her subordinates.
“The first round was entertaining, you lordship, but it’s time for your real service now,” she said as the others turned him on his back for her benefit.
“I was wondering when I’d be disturbed again,” he grouched, noticing how everyone was naked now, not just him.
She didn’t take long to straddle him, but it did take her awhile to actually receive him inside her. Despite the circumstances, her struggles with his cock made him chuckle.
“I suppose you weren’t lying about not seeing a man in ages,” he remarked, thrusting up into her tight channel, making her gasp. It gave him some semblance of control (not to mention amusement) to know that his sheer size was going to be too much for some of these famed warriors.
“Stop talking!” she tried to command him, but it earned her another thrust that took her breath away.
The rest of the women around them tittered, watching the action with rapt attention.
“I’m sorry, but our agreement didn’t say that I couldn’t talk.” Loki simply smirked and kept at it, loving the myriad expressions crossing her face as he stretched her channel. There was lust and pleasure, of course, but there was also confusion, disbelief and pain.
It looked like she wanted to say something in response, but was unable to convey it with words.
“It does take time to adjust to me. But I’m a generous lover,” he provided, working his thumb on her clit to make her slick flow.
She moaned, adjusting to him slowly, moving with more confidence as the seconds passed. The rest of the Valkyries on the bed--there were three more--drew closer as they saw her take him deeper. One of them took over from him and began to stroke the leader’s clit, while the others lay down on either side of him. They ran their hands over his body reverently and took turns to kiss and fondle him.
This session was much more laid back and relaxed than the previous frenzy he had faced. This, he could get used to…
When he reached completion, it was a most delicious symphony of sensual delights. He had his arms around the Valkyries as they sucked on his nipples eagerly, his cock was hilted fully inside their leader, and she was already collapsing under an intense orgasm, milking his essence out of him.
She was quickly replaced by the subordinate who had been massaging her clit. While she sat down on his still hard cock, the others on the bed took turns to stroke his sack.
“You’re so beautiful,” one of them whispered in his ear, making him smile. “Like a masterpiece created by a sculptor.”
“I wanted to have you the moment I laid my eyes on you,” said the other one, running her hand up and down his chest. “That’s why we didn’t harm you.”
“You flatter me, ladies,” he groaned, thrusting up into the Valkyrie who was now riding him--or trying to, for she was facing the same problems with his size as her predecessor. Thankfully, she was wise enough to call another helper to the bed.
While she took him deeper and deeper, he slipped his hands between the legs of the ones who were lying next to him.
“Pleasure yourself on my fingers,” he told them brazenly. “Let me serve you too.”
They giggled like novices, then did as they were told. Loki fingered them smugly, proud of his ability to handle multiple tasks at once.
He brought them all to orgasm within a few minutes, not even breaking his rhythm.
Of course, once everyone on the bed had fucked him to completion, they were replaced by others. Some changed the positions to suit their preferences, some let him lead, but one thing was constant--his cock was inside a Valkyrie all the time.
At one point he was servicing six of them at once--one with his mouth and tongue, two with his fingers, two with his toes, and lastly, one with his cock. They all had good coordination between them, and it made his task easier.
Some of them were more experienced, some of them not so much. He had a great time teaching the latter, fully immersing himself into the experience. Their answering squeals of pleasure were music to his ears.
When his cock began to ache, he was allowed to rest and replenish himself with food again. But the resting period never lasted more than an hour, for these women were insatiable.
On and on, he serviced them repeatedly, till all of them had come multiple times and were filled with his spend. Enough to render them exhausted. Eventually, they all either collapsed on the bed or simply on the floor of the hall. It took him a whole day, but he completed his mission nonetheless.
Ultimately, as he rose from the bed and put his clothes on, he smirked with pride and salacious delight. As it turned out, he had more stamina than a whole legion of Valkyries.
So much that he had accomplished the unthinkable.
------
Back on Asgard, Odin stared at Loki with thinly veiled curiosity as he handed him the box that contained the sacred Nornir scrolls.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” he stated, holding the box reverently. “I didn’t think that you’d be able to get it.”
Loki gave a huff of annoyance, which won over his need for approval and praise for once. “One might say that you set me up for failure when you sent me to this mission completely blind.”
“It was essential to the mission.” Odin’s voice faltered there for a bit as he stored the scrolls in a glowing box warded with protection spells. “And you had your training in seidr and combat to protect you.”
Loki’s eyes narrowed. “My seidr was rendered weak on their soil, which is why I had to use it sparingly. And my training couldn’t have saved my life even if I had tried my best, because you had sent me into the fortress of the Valkyries--the best of warriors Asgard has ever produced--without actually telling me that you were sending me to retrieve the scrolls from the famed Valkyries.”
Odin sighed heavily, then grasped Loki’s shoulder. “Had I told you, you’d have told Thor. And you know that he’d have insisted on accompanying you.”
“It wouldn’t have hurt to have him there, to be honest.” Loki pulled away with a grimace, wondering if Thor could’ve evaded the warriors or helped him in finding the scrolls somehow.
On his own, he had to use his wits and a double to find the scrolls, while simultaneously serving the whole legion of Valkyries with his cock.
“Thor is too loud and brash for a mission that needs subtlety, secrecy and subterfuge,” Odin replied, approaching Loki again. This time, he put a hand on his head--a fatherly gesture he often used to convey his affection. “You were the best person for this task; I trusted no one else with it.”
“It cost me a lot, you know,” Loki remarked, turning around to face his father, his annoyance slowly melting away. “I had to create a massive distraction in order to complete the heist. Now don’t ask me to explain how. Ever.”
Odin gave him a sage nod. “I won’t. We will never speak of this mission again, son. Let the remaining Valkyries hide in their fortress. We can build another force. The good thing is that the Nornir scrolls have returned to their original resting place. They cannot use them against Asgard now.”
Loki pursed his lips and gave him a firm nod as they exited the chamber of secret archives. In his mind, he prayed to the Norns, hoping that his contraceptive spell hadn’t failed him during his debauched attempt at creating the massive distraction that had brought all the Valkyries to one place, leaving his double to complete his mission in peace.
------
(Also posted on AO3. Please share and leave comments if you liked it.)
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get-shiggy-with-it · 4 years ago
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collab masterlist
✧ pairing: villain!hawks x afab!reader
✧ word count: 5k
✧ warnings: this is like all smut, angst, ambiguous but happy ending, unhealthy relationships, mentions of transactional sex, reader has a healing quirk but it's really just for poetic purposes, reader has a vagina, no other gendered parts, oral sex (reader receiving), vague metaphorical drug reference, mentions of blood, mentions of wounds, mating press, soft sex (?), sorta, slight potential could be read as dubcon but they're both into it
✧ summary: for years you've stitched hawks back together when the world has torn him to shreds—and he always pays you back, though you can't help but start want more than he can give you.
✧ a/n: hey y'all this months theme was villain/hero swap with a shared opener! please go check out all the other wonderful works in this collab, there are so many talented writers/artists involved!! credit to @/lady-bakuhoe for the amazing intro. also bonus points if you catch the old aesthetic tumblr post references.
Breaking news: We have yet another report to add to the slew of attacks this month, this comes just days after we broadcast rumours of villains running rampant over the city. This spate of attacks has put the entire metropolitan area at a standstill, road closures and damaged property making it difficult for commuters to get to work in the morning. Road maintenance endeavour to do its best to keep the city running, but it seems futile when these attacks continue to increase. The entire city was brought to a standstill by the mysterious villain who has still not been named, but reports show they are nothing like we have ever experienced before.
Where are the heroes now? Who will save us from the terror overwhelming our city?
Every day the crime toll continues to rise and we have no one here to protect us. The Hero Public Safety Commission assured us earlier in the week that the crime rate would go down, that the top Heroes are out there protecting our city, but if so, where are they? Is it really safe to go out anymore, who can we trust? Would you put your life in the hands of a Hero today? When they have proved our streets are no longer safe. We still have no information on what is going on, or who is involved but we must remain observant. We will continue to report the latest news as we receive it, but for now, we must implore you to heed the warnings of the city-wide curfew that is soon to be implemented. If anyone has any information on these occurrences in the city please send them to us or contact the police, you can remain anonymous. The safety of our citizens is what is most important, stay vigilant and don’t go out unless it is absolutely necessary.
One thing we know for sure: we can no longer rely on Heroes to protect us. The streets of our once-great city are no longer safe, we are no longer safe.
***
You can only touch him when he’s dying.
That fact is made even more horrifically apparent as he stumbles through your open window—and how long has it been since you’ve slept with it closed?—dripping with blood and panting from his flight.
The T.V. blares in the background, filling your tiny apartment with incessant ramblings that only grow louder by the day, and you already know what they’re going to say before they say it. Because you see him, before the reporters stumble upon heroes in the wreckage—you see what they do to him before they’re warning the public of dangerous villains loose in the streets.
They spout off about failing heroes but you think they’ve done a pretty damn good butchers job. Red feathers matted together, sticky and brown, fall in tufts from his back. You burn with shameful jealousy at the thought of those who would call themselves heroes having laid hands on what is yours.
He isn’t really yours and you know that, though you often wish you could be a bit more delusional. It might not hurt so much then.
They call him a villain. They call him a threat to society.
But even faced with the truth spilling from him and onto your creaking floors, it is easy to forget what a ruthless predator the man before you becomes when he leaves these four walls.
Especially as he falls forward on heavy feet straight into your arms, outstretched and waiting. There are stains on your shirt but you’ve known the secret for getting blood out of clothing for years now. Cold water for the fabric, warm to wash away the grime on his lovely skin.
“Gonna need you to fix me up again, sweetheart,” Hawks mumbles into your shoulder where his forehead rests.
His breathing is even more ragged now, not just from the flight.
“I know,” you reply and your hands shake when they find the gaping wound at his side—wide and deeper than the ones before. “I know. Can you walk?”
He doesn’t respond but that mop of golden hair shifts a bit as he slings an arm over your shoulder and rests his weight. You don’t need to direct him to your bedroom. This is an old game you’re playing and he knows the steps.
So do you.
Though, you’re never sure if it's dread that fills you and makes your stomach knot and your knees weak. Or if it’s that awful, momentary rush of excitement at the prospect of being able to run your fingers over him, bare and giving you free reign.
As long as he’s bleeding out on your floor.
Then you can feel him.
When he’s dying and needs you.
Needs you to fix him.
But won’t ever let you close enough to finish the job the way you want to.
You comfort yourself in with the knowledge that at least he lets you this close. At least those thin, silver-skin scars are the unmistakable mark of your healing hands. At least you’ll always haunt him like the red feather down that sticks to your pillows or between your floorboards.
So you strip him carefully and try not to let his sculpted chest distract you from the work. Hawks is silent, such a model patient as always. Only grunting when your fingers move to knit together the ragged edges of his flesh.
This will leave a nasty mark, you know it already. But you can’t find it in yourself to mourn the loss of that lovely skin.
It will only make it harder for him to forget you.
You’re knelt beside him, laid out on a towel you keep at the edge of the bed. Blood will soak through to the sheets regardless, but you try your best. He takes a sharp breath, white teeth catching the back of his hand between them to stifle groans.
You wish there was more pleasure to it. That he was biting back moans for you instead of trying not to scream as his flesh pulsed and grew hot while it was rebuilt under your fingertips. So you indulge, pretend your hands are elsewhere, roaming his perfect waistline and pulling whimpers from him.
Your dangerous, villainous, predator Hawks sprawled on his back, wings spread and cumming onto his chest under you.
The sounds above you change, and you know it hurts—must be excruciating as bone is set back into place—but you chose to believe it’s because he’s trying to keep himself from screaming your name as he reaches his release.
Hawks, you’d croon to him—Hawks because you don’t know his real name. Don’t know who he was before he started this underground life of crime on the fringes of a society that called him a monster and then turned him into one.
He isn’t a monster in your bed, though he may cry like one.
Cry as you mold his flesh and try not to look him in the face. Try to pretend they are an overflow of some better emotion. And when those summer wheat field eyes roll back in his head and those horrible pretty noises stop, you push past the growing ache in your limbs until the skin under your palms is smooth and no longer leaking thick, red blood.
And you do your best to resist the itch to feel more of him while he can’t stop you. Even with your fingers numb from overexertion, you can’t help but fall back on your heels and long for the feeling of his cheek in your hand, or his chest on your face.
But your part of the transaction is done.
And your permission doesn’t extend past these limits.
And it pains you to wish harm on him.
But it hurts even more when he does not need you.
So you sit and hate yourself and hope that those heroes with their disgusting philosophies get their shit together just a bit more. So you won’t lose your purpose. So he’ll keep coming through your window, permanently open through rainstorms and snow and spring heat.
Hawks’ breath evens slowly, and you stay still as a watched painting—no shifting eyes or moving limbs.
You crave these times like water or warm food—constant and instinctively.
And this is the only time you’ll ever have them, hands so filled with pinpricks of fried nerves that you can barely feel the soft, relaxed muscle beneath them.
What a tragedy.
What an injustice—
You can only touch him when he’s dying.
***
“Hmm,” he groans, sitting up and wincing as the new flesh protests under his movements.
“You should rest for a bit longer.”
Hawks looks at you, stretched next to him on the mattress—a purposeful few inches of space left between your bodies. It’s both selfish and practical advice.
But he isn’t here for that kind of help.
“You know I can’t just be sittin’ on my ass,” he quips, flashing you that eyes closed, wide smirk that sets your heart hammering in your chest. “Can’t have anyone tracing me back here.”
“Normally I’d agree,” you don’t find it in yourself to give the words any bite, “but you were just actively bleeding out a few minutes ago.”
“Sure, but that was a few minutes ago,” he winks and you can already feel the bed shifting as he moves to settle himself over your hips, one toned thigh on either side to bracket you against the bed. “Now, let me pay you back for all that hard work, yeah sweetheart?”
You wish the way he peered up through those long lashes, gold eyes honed in on you like a piece of meat on a hook, didn’t make your face burn this much.
It doesn’t mean anything to him.
Because this arrangement really is transactional—so you have to get something out of it too. At least, that’s what he tells himself, you think. He doesn’t know that those scant few moments you hold his life between your fingers is more than enough payment.
It’s been this way since the very first time you stumbled across him, half dead in an alley. But then you think it might have just been a ‘heat of the moment’ sort of thing that had just stuck.
You heal him and he makes you writhe on the sheets with his tongue and his hands, until you're fucked into unconscious bliss and he can slip away without your prying eyes watching him go.
But you still aren’t allowed to touch Hawks, even when he reaches into those deep parts of you and molds them to fit only him.
“You don’t—” you start to protest, partly because you want to believe you don’t want it and partly because you want to hear him insist that he does.
“Shh,” Hawks presses a calloused finger to your mouth and it takes every ounce of strength not to suck it past your lips. “I don’t like leaving my debts unpaid.”
That’s the end of your determination for the night. So you try to relax into his touch as slides your bottoms off and tosses them to the floor. Try not to clench up under those fingers that spread your legs. He doesn’t like it when you squirm away, when you flinch from his hands.
You want to think it’s because he hopes you aren’t afraid of him—of what he is—like the rest are, and not because he wants to get it over with as quickly as possible.
You want to.
But he’s so hard to read, and your mind is not often a kind place.
“Mm, god I’m always so hungry after you patch me up baby,” Hawks licks his lips as he stares down at you. “You won’t mind if I eat you right?”
You cringe at how fast your head shakes.
“Mm, course you wouldn’t.”
You can hear the smirk in his voice, and he’s right though you resent it a bit that he’s got you pegged so easily.
But you’re weak, you’re no villain, you’re no hero.
And so you’ll never be able to resist him. But, damn, did you wish you had a name to cry out. Then at the very least, you could keep a part of him with you too. Then you’d have some to moan on the nights he goes uninjured and you have to bring yourself to lonely release, only thinking of him.
Of those wings spread above you like a burning, red sunset, obscuring the rest of the world from view with his blinding light.
“Hawks…” you hiss instead as he shifts your legs over his shoulders and lays his tender chest on the sheets. “Please.”
“Yeah, yeah, what’s it gonna be tonight then?” he asks, breath ghosting over the damp folds between your thighs.
“Thought you said you were gonna use your tongue,” you whine, impatient now for any scrap of attention he’s willing to give.
“If that’s what you want,” he presses a kiss into the crease of your leg and hip, nipping the delicate skin so you whine again. “It’s whatever you want, you know that.”
It isn’t though.
It’s not whatever you want.
You can pick the position, you can ask for his mouth or his fingers, but even then, they won’t go past your neck. Your hands must stay firmly knotted in the comforter and away from him while he works. Cause he is working. This is part of the job to him, it's only in your fantasies that he’s doing it simply for the hell of it.
Hawks nudges your embarrassingly soaked slit with his nose and hums at you, “So is that what you want? Want me to eat your pretty pussy, yeah?”
“Yes—ngh,” you don’t get much in past the confirmation.
He’s a busy man.
He doesn’t have time for your stupid, romantic day dreams.
So he dives right in, and it’s enthusiastic enough that you can convince yourself he simply wants you that badly.
Hawks tongue licks a long strip from your hole to your clit and sucks the little bud past his plush lips. They’re a lovely, soft pink against your skin and they make a mess of you in seconds. He starts up an even rhythm, drawing circles into the nerves that sing and have heat building up in you only seconds after he’s started.
You hate that you love how well he knows your body.
You hate that you only know his when it’s shutting down.
“You taste so good, you know that?” he mumbles, lapping at you and kneading your thighs. “Could live down here just drinking you every fucking day.”
He doesn’t always talk like that but you’re happy he is now. It distracts you from the deep, ingrained urge to yank him by the hair and taste yourself on his lips.
“Makes me wish I’d let those damn heroes get hits in more often,” he’s back to panting and you keen at the sound. “Want my fingers too?”
“Fuck yes,” you don’t even bother hiding the desperation anymore.
He deserves the boost to his ego. You’d shower him with praise if he’d let you, bathe him in warm words and press them into his skin with your tongue.
But he doesn’t let you.
Hawks’ hand on your thigh trails slowly against the sensitive skin until he’s pulling back to run his fingers through your folds to ease the stretch a bit as he pushes two inside. He knows you can take what he gives to you, knows you love the way he fills you up.
Your tingling hands ache to grab his head and force his lips back as he sits for a moment, eyes glued on the space where his fingers disappear into your body. He groans low at the wet sounds your bodies make at their joining. Your legs shake where they rest on him, the one other point of contact he’s allowed. Those deadly soft feathers brush your calves as he curls his fingers up and waits expectantly for the strangled cry he pulls from you.
“There it is,” his voice is so much lower when he speaks now. “Can’t exactly show you the real ones, but how ‘bout you let me make you see some stars, huh?”
He asks so much of you. So much. So often.
In fact, you don’t think you’ve ever actively asked him for a thing he hadn’t already offered in the few years you’d known him. Hawks does it all—the taking and the giving and the demanding.
And you’re simply along for the ride, holding on for dear life lest he drop you, let you plummet like rock to the barren ground.
Still, you are mortal and you crave and you will take what you can get.
“Mhm,” you whimper when his deft fingers increase their pace, not thrusting but grinding mercilessly into that delicious spot inside.
“You wanna cum now, sweet thing?”
Then, true to his villainous nature, Hawks latches his lips back onto your clit, wracking your body with waves of truly sinful pleasure. His tongue draws quick, perfect circles across the bud just how you like. You’ll never know why it feels so much better when it’s him touching you.
How he knows exactly what you want.
Most of it.
Then his other hand is reaching around your hip, thumb taking over to press down where his tongue had been. Panting for the third time, his gorgeous head rests on your thigh and he stares dead on into your eyes. That predator yellow gaze pins you to the pillows better than any hand could and he licks across his lips while you watch, moaning as he tastes you there.
You groan deep and unabashedly at the sight.
“What is it?” he’s teasing you, unable to keep that part of his cruelty hidden even now. “What do you want?”
You shake your head and wish you could turn away, flop against the mattress and writhe but you can’t. You just can’t give up this moment that’s etching itself into your retinas—like you’re staring head on at an eclipse, celestial and short-lived.
“Tell me,” Hawks whispers, nipping at your thigh and working his fingers harder on you. “Whatever you want, you’ll get it.”
And maybe it’s the sudden heat of the room, or the little breeze from his wings spreading defensively to block you from view of his nonexistent audience—the outside world maybe? To keep you, this secret indulgence, hidden from their prying hands. Or quite possibly it’s just your own weakness at the feet of years and years of loving—because you do, you love him, it’s clear by now that’s what this is—this man whose name you don’t know and whose eyes never seem to leave you even when he’s gone.
Maybe you simply crack under the pressure of keeping this awful, looming silence for too long.
You feel your lips split at the seams and it all comes rushing out in a polluted flood—a stagnant river of secrets.
“Let me touch you,” you gasp and close your eyes then just so you won’t have to see that grin slip from his beautiful face. “Please Hawks, let me touch you. I can’t do it anymore, just—I need to kiss you, I need more.”
All this time he hadn’t let up on pulling pleasure from your skin, but he stops now, bringing your release to a screaming halt.
The quiet that follows—devoid of fast breaths and wet slapping—is suffocating.
You wish you regretted the outburst, the waste of years worth of work to keep him coming back.
But you don’t.
Of course you will in a minute, when he slips away and doesn’t return.
But now it just feels as though that boulder of secrecy has been lifted off your chest and you can finally take in lungfuls of sweet, unhindered night air.
It’s only after that dreadful minute has passed and there are still hands on you—buried in you—that you dare to open your eyes again.
Hawks is staring blankly, an expression you’ve never seen before, so stark from the usual quirk of his lips and tilt of his chin. Blank, but calculating. You can see the gears clanking as his thoughts rush a mile a minute, faster than he’d ever dream of soaring over the city skyline.
He blinks once, twice, then again and you can see the redness blooming at the corners as his eyes grow glassy between each flutter of lashes. And then, as though moving through honey, he draws back from you, only to crawl up your body until your noses touch.
You hold your breath, lip caught between your teeth, but his slicked thumb comes up to pull it out of your gnawing reach. He strokes across the puffy skin, never meeting your gaze, until he slowly, slowly leans down.
It’s not really a kiss, more of an accidental brush, so little of your lips touch you could easily have imagined it. When he speaks again, you can feel him forming the words against you.
“I—” he starts and licks his lips and yours and you don’t think it’s an accident, “I can’t.”
It isn’t what you want him to say, but it’s better than a silent loss .
You know truth when you hear it.
“I know.”
And you do, you do know, you’ve always known. He’s darker when he’s not with you. You’ve seen the carnage he leaves behind broadcasted on screens, but it’s never stopped the ache before.
He can’t keep you the way you want, can’t have things that get in the way.
You can only touch him when he’s dying. You can heal him, reform his flesh and bone—pull him back from the brink—but you’ll never feel his chest against yours or his hair slipping through your fingers or have all of him buried inside you. He’ll never love you like you want him to.
It doesn’t stop you from wishing.
And apparently, it doesn’t stop Hawks from kissing you anyway.
“I can’t,” he repeats and it sounds so broken you almost think that wound has reopened and he’s going to start slipping away again.
But the only thing that slips is his tongue past your lips and tangling with your own.
And then the levee breaks.
It’s a sudden torrent of hands and legs knotting together like the torn edges of too many injuries. Hawks covers every available part of you like an addict seeking his fix. It’s breathless and uncoordinated but you’ve never felt more alive, alight, aflame.
He presses his lips to yours again, pulling away and then diving back in. Frantic hands pull you off the mattress until your back is against the headboard and he’s straddling your lap. You take the opportunity to sink your fingers into that goldenrod hair and it’s just as silky as you’d imagined it to be.
Hawks moans into your mouth, kissing you wildly, like the beast he is with teeth clacking and your tongue sucked between his lips.
“I can’t,” he keeps mumbling, between groans and hips grinding and hands grabbing, “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t— “
You wonder then which one of you he’s trying to convince.
But you don’t ask, just let your hands wander to the delicious curve of his ass on your thighs and squeeze, rolling his bulge against you. His fingers push and proud, ghosting across your chest and stopping to pinch your nipple. He drinks down the whimpers you let out, letting his lips wander your jaw and throat, sucking bruises—leaving his own scars on you—as he goes. He pushes you back down to the pillows so his lips can continue their work, latching onto the quickly hardening bud and suckling lightly. His groan sends little shockwaves through you and he looks up with brows furrowed like he’s in pain with how good it all feels.
“I’m sorry,” he says and it’s so soft you barely hear it between licks at your chest.
“No,” you finally find it in you to respond, shaking your head and pulling him back to your lips.
“I’m sorry,” he says again while you nip at his earlobe and down his jaw, tight pants yielding under your hands as they’re tugged away so he’s just as bare as you.
“No,” you shake your head and any response dies on his tongue as you dig your fingers into the feathers at the base of his wings and pull him forward.
Hawks lets out a choked gasp as his length, bare, hard, and leaking glides across your cunt. Any other time, you’d have liked to savor this moment. Get on your knees and worship his pretty cock—and you know it's pretty, just from your short glimpse. He’s long and perfectly thick, just how you dreamed he would be. The cute tuft of blond curls at his base is course in the best way as you trail your fingers through it to take him in your palm.
“Ahh,” he keens, arching above you with his head thrown back as you stroke him for the first time.
It’s been so long, you're not sure how you ever resisted this before. Not with how heavy and warm he is in your fist.
“Hawks,” you moan, sucking at the dip in his collarbone and moving to bite at his nipple. “Hawks, please.”
“I—” you think he might protest but you flick your thumb over the tip and it pours precum to help the slide of your fingers.
He’s already got those powerful arms hooked under your knees, all he has to do is lean forward and sink into that tight, awaiting heat, and he knows it. You can see the resolve cracking.
“Hawks,” you beg again. Because you are begging, that’s what this is.
And he looks at you, drool slipping from the corner of his mouth and brows all bunched up with his head shaking.
“Hawks.”
His hands grip the underside of your thighs and knock your hand from his dick.
“Hawks.”
His forehead comes down to rest against yours, eyes squeezed shut and red at the edges. You feel the sting at the corners as if they were your own.
“Hawks.”
You can only touch him when he’s dying.
Is he dying now?
Are you killing him?
“Hawks.”
His breath hitches, whatever he might have said is long gone when the head of his cock catches against your entrance.
“Hawks—”
He sinks in to the hilt all at once and the last utterance of his name is a yelp. Your walls clamp down hard around the intrusion, so much bigger than his fingers, so hot and long and thick as he pulses inside you.
There are no words after that.
No names, no refusals, just his face pressed up on yours as he pushes your thighs to your chest and rolls his hips, fucking you evenly into the mattress.
Not soft or slow or overly rough.
Though it is all of those things at once as well.
Hawks has always been full of contradictions. It makes sense that this is too.
Both your eyes stay open, lips brushing and sharing breath as he slips a hand back down to your clit and starts those perfect circles up again.
He doesn’t ask you questions now. Just stares in your eyes and sinks his cock into your over and over until you feel fuller, more complete than you ever have in the whole of your life.
There’s no warning leading up to the end. You feel the crest approaching, the coil waiting to snap low in your belly and you don’t dare take your eyes off his face. You need to commit the entirety of this moment to memory. Just in case.
Just in case it never happens again.
Or worse, it happens over and over until it doesn’t.
Until you run out of chances to touch him.
Until he comes to you too far gone.
“Oh fuck,” he mutters and that’s all the warning you get.
All the warning you have the strength to listen to as you tumble over the edge, waves of rolling pleasure burning under your skin. You clench hard around his cock as his hips stutter in their pace, thrusting unevenly as you gush and he spills rope after rope of hot release deep into you.
And you’d been wrong before, because this was full. This was whole, your stilling bodies pressed together at every point with his cock still hard and twitching as your walls milked him of cum that warmed you from the inside out.
This is what you would die for.
***
Later when you stumble into unwilling wakefulness, there are hands tucking a thin sheet over your bare skin.
Hawks has pulled himself from you after resting like you’d told him he should. He’s dressing, though not hurriedly, and you can’t find it in your jelly bones to move or stop him.
You’re both silent, even when he looks down to find your eyes alert and raking over him—costume donned and wings prepared for flight.
His face is drawn in a way that might have been resentment. Maybe towards you for breaking his resolve, maybe at himself for indulging in what he cannot have.
I can’t.
You hear the words as clear as though he’d just said them.
I can’t.
Can’t have you. Can’t forget his purpose. Can’t have gentle things.
Hawks is a villain, first and foremost, above all else and that includes you.
So you don’t move to stop him as he walks softly through your door. You just watch as he makes his way to the open window and perches on the ledge. He does look back, only briefly, to see you draped across the sheets, head resting on your arm and staring at him as he leaves you.
The ghost of that cheeky grin crawls its way onto his face before he tips backwards off the landing and into the night sky. He winks once before the indigo of the night swallows him like the maw of a leviathan. The city has teeth and it will chew him up and spit him back out into your arms soon enough.
So you’re content to wait.
You know this isn’t the last time. That he’ll come back to you as he’s always done. And offer you more and more of himself each time.
Because you can only touch him when he’s dying.
And this world is nothing if not determined to kill him.
So you can keep your purpose.
And by extension, you can keep him.
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cafedanslanuit · 5 years ago
Note
how would the obey me boys would react to drunk mc touching them inappropriately in front of everyone? thanks for the jumin eating commoners food hc, it was great! since its already my 3rd request, call me anon Su ^^
Hello, anon Su! Hope you’re doing well <3 And I’m glad you liked the hc for Juju eating commoners food ~ Here’s your request for the obey me boys! Small warning about a bit of nsfw themes lol, but nothing too explicit.
Lucifer
You’re both having lunch with Diavolo an Barbatos. The menu is better than when you used to eat with the other brothers and you plan on making a group demand about better food because Beel deserves better.
Lucifer is going over with Diavolo about a tournament that will take place in RAD but you’re not really paying attention. You eat a bite and even though it’s delicious you can’t help but feel bored. So you keep drinking more and more wine, trying to distract yourself. Before you know it, you notice yourself a little dizzy.
Your boyfriend keeps talking and you decide to have a little fun with him. You wait until he takes a sip of his wine and leaves a ghost of a violet trace in his lower lips. You lean closer and wipe it slowly with your thumb, making sure to look at him in the eyes just in the way you know he likes. You smirk at him when you’re done and go back to your position, taken a bite of the steak in front of you, never breaking eye contact with him.
Everyone goes silent for a moment. Diavolo laughs softly and starts talking with Lucifer again and just when you thought you had lost, you feel a hand under the table squeezing your knee harshly. You can’t help but grin as you wonder how will the first born will make you pay for this.
Mammon
You’re both drunk. Not only you, but every brother is the drunkest they’ve ever been. You had organized an impromptu party and somehow, everyone had agreed. Even Levi, who was very passionately explaining a TSL story on a board.
Mammon is louder than ever, and now that you’re both dating, he can’t keep his hands off you. His arm is always around your waist, holding you close and bringing you with him wherever he goes. You can’t stop laughing at it, even when he needs to use both hands, he finds a way to keep touching you.
For the first time in the night, it seems he finally has to let you go. The beers had taken a toll on him and by the way his legs were squirming, you know he has to go to the bathroom. He excuses himself and promises he will be right back.
You don’t know what got into you, but before you can think about it, you slap Mammon’s ass as he stands up so loud that every brother stops what they’re doing and look at you both.
Your face is deep red but you manage to laugh it out and add a flirty: “Well, don’t make me wait”, at a very confused and equally embarrassed Mammon, who just manages to quickly leave the hall as everyone shares a laugh and go back to their previous endeavours.
Leviathan
Same demon brothers’ impromptu party.
Only this time, Levi wasn’t really up for it. He brought his Switch to the party and keeps playing, ignoring everyone and refusing to drink. At Satan’s insistence, he accepted a bottle of beer but still didn’t try to join the party.
You’ve tried everything by now, from batting your lashes to literally trying to take the device of his hands, but nothing seemed to work. So you started drinking. A lot.
You didn’t realise how much time has gone by, but you were officially drunk now. You were drinking by Asmo’s side when you saw Mammon teasing Levi.
“Asmo’s gonna steal your girl if ya’ don’t stop playing, Levi! Hey, listen to me!”
You giggled a little, knowing that won’t stop your boyfriend from playing. Mammon, pretty drunk himself, kept pushing him and you tried your best to ignore it, until you heard somethin that ticked you off.
“This is why people don’t like otakus, ya’ know? They’re boring”.
Not under your watch.
Levi may not be a party guy, but he definitely wasn't boring. And you weren’t going to let anyone diminish him, when you had been working so hard on making him love himself more.
So, you walked to the couch and kneel beside Levi. Not caring about what could anyone say, you hug Levi tightly to your chest, his face buried in your breasts. You’re so drunk you don’t realize the sexual tension in your hug, thinking you’re just cuddling your lover. You almost miss the sound of Levi’s Switch falling on the floor.
“Hey, don’t mess with my man!” you argued with Mammon and sticked your tongue out. “He’s not boring, he’s really cool, you just can’t realize it. I’m in love with this otaku, and I think he loves me too”
“Well, he definitely loves your breasts” an inebriated Asmo teased you, making everybody laugh.
You looked at him, confused, until you look down and realize Levi’s face is still pressed to your chest. You let him go and tried really hard not to laugh at how red his face was and how he was unable to talk. You whisper an apology and sit next to him. You turned your head at him.
“You okay?” you asked. 
“That was… nice” he replied his face flushed. You laughed softly and picked up his Switch from the floor, handing it to him.
He turned it off
you can fight me on this but levi is a boobs man i will die on this hill
Satan
You both loved wine. More than wine, you loved drinking wine together. It was a Friday night, school was over and you had gone to Satan’s room to share a bottle of wine with him, while you chatted about whatever topic your boyfriend had been reading about recently. You loved debating with him and even researching about it on his library mid-debate.
A bottle of wine became two, and three and four. You were really drunk and whilst he wasn’t as drunk as you, he definitely looked a little more disheveled than usual.
“I’m hungry” you announced, kneeling on Satan’s bed. He arched an eyebrow, smiling at you.
“So?”
“Cook me something? Please?” you asked, pouting a little. Satan smiled, pecking you on the lips.
“No. But we can order something” he replied. You nodded and let yourself fall on his bed dramatically while he used his D.D.D. to order food.
“Hope I’m still alive by then” you sighed, gaining an honest laugh from your boyfriend, who put himself on top of you. He looked at you intensely, and you could see in his eyes the wine had definitely done something to him.
“C’mon, let’s make use of this thirty minute wait” he suggested, smirking. Before you could reply, he clashed his lips on yours, eliciting a moan.
Thirty minutes came faster than you expected (as did you, sorry not sorry for that pun). Both of you decided to go to the kitchen and prepare everything so you could go back to his room. Satan put his pants and shirt on, while you also put your uniform blouse and skirt the best that you could.
When you got to the kitchen, your food was already on the table. “You’re lucky Beel is out” Belphie commented, sitting on the kitchen counter while he idly ate some cereal. Asmo was also there, and giggled at both yours and Satan’s clothing choice. “You stink of alcohol and sex. Please keep in mind my proposal, Satan, remember the more the merrier” he winked, making you laugh.
Satan just chuckled at the comment, concentrating at separating both your orders in two plates. You hugged him from the back possessively, sticking your tongue out to Asmo.
“Mine!” you joked. You pressed your cheek on Satan’s back, your hands roaming around his stomach, feeling delighted his abs. The alcohol still in your body made you feel bold, as you let your hands wander underneath Satan’s shirt. You felt his muscles clenching as you caressed his chest and abs. Just when you were about to make your way down south, you heard a frustrated groan from behind.
Belphie was still sitting on the counter with a disgusted face. “Please go back to your room, this isn’t a brothel. And Asmo is about to jump on you both”. You saw a pink aura around Asmo and how his eyes were a little bit darker. By then, Satan had finished preparing the tray, so you turned around and went back to your room, not before grabbing another bottle of wine.
Asmodeus
You didn’t really need alcohol to get handsy with him, not caring who was around you.
It soon became old to have any of the brothers walk in on you when you were both making love in any room of the house. Poor Beel really wanted his custard, but didn’t know how to politely tell you both so top fucking against the refrigerator.
One day you were both on Asmo’s bath, drinking champagne and taking your time to relax together. You suddenly thought of something fun to do that you hadn’t tried before and when you told Asmo about your plan he was so in.
For the first part of your plan, you had gone to Levi’s room. You knocked the door and when he finally opened it, you told him there was a package from Akuzon in the living room, which you thought was for him. He run down the stairs and you took your chance to enter his room alongside Asmo, hiding behind one of Levi’s shelves.
Levi came back, murmuring something about you wasting his time because the package definitely said Satan, not Leviathan. He put his headphones back on and resumed his videogame. You gestured to Asmodeus to be quiet and winked at him. He quickly was all over you, pressing you against the wall. You could feel how hard he was already, the idea of both of you making love in front of Levi while he didn’t notice was something you hadn’t tried before. You were wearing a dress because of its easy access and Asmo was wearing a pair of loose leggings.
Not long before, Asmo was pulling down your panties and thrusting inside of you. You put a hand on your mouth, trying your best to not make any sound. You looked at Levi, his back to you both, and was still playing his video game, unaware you two were fucking behind him. The thrill of this new experience made you come quicker than you usually did. Taking joy in not having been discovered so far, you helped Asmo finish by kneeling and taking him into your mouth.
Both of you were done and felt like laughing when you realized Levi was still innocently playing. Just as you were about to plan a way to escape, Levi left the room, presumably to go to the kitchen. A couple of seconds later Asmo and you looked at each other and took your chance, running out of Levi’s room, dissolving in giggles the moment you arrived back in Asmo’s room.
Beelzebub
Back to the brothers’ hall impromptu party.
Beel is contently sitting on one couch, while you’re sitting on his lap. You have had the idea of trying to keep up with him and his drinking, which was probably the worst idea you’ve ever had. You were really drunk and Beel wasn’t even dizzy. You wished you had thought he was almost double your size, triple your weight and A DEMON, of course he could handle more alcohol than you.
Beel had ordered food because he couldn’t just drink. Everyone had eaten from his large order, and now the only thing that was left was a small pool of chocolate on a plate were previously had held fruit bathed in dark chocolate.
All the brothers were drinking and sharing a moment, when your drunk shelf put decided to put their finger on the plate and then pass it across Beel’s cheek.
Everybody looked at you confused, but the most adorable of all was Beel, whose eyes were open and, far from being mad, was wondering why was you just put some melted chocolate on his cheek.
Before he could ask, you gave a long lick to his cheek, wiping the chocolate off of Beel.
“Get a room” Satan commented, rolling his eyes and taking another sip of his drink.
Asmo cuddled up on Beel’s other side and made heart eyes at him. “You know, if MC is into this, we could really get creative with our leftovers and…”
“Asmo, no” Beelzebub said, not even looking at him. His eyes were still lost on your face, not knowing how to react to your boldness. You gave him a sheepishly grin and gave his cheek a peck.
“I’m sorry, I’m drunk” you excused yourself, a little hiccup leaving your body. Beel tenderly chuckled and mirrored you, staining your cheek with leftover melted chocolate and licking it. You bit your lip and you both left the party, ignoring Mammon’s complains and Asmo’s disappointed sigh.
“So… any room I can crash in tonight?” Belphie asked.
Belphie
This baby is not one for physical touching.
But oh boy, when he’s drunk… he can’t stop touching you. It’s not as clear as Mammon, but it’s almost as possessive as Lucifer’s. 
If you’re talking with someone, he’ll shamelessly put his hand on your thigh and caress it up and down, until the other person is so uncomfortable they’ll just leave.
At first you were a bit concerned about this behaviour, but then you realized it was only while he was drunk. Once he sobered up, he wouldn’t act so jealous.
At the brothers’ party, you started drinking heavily and decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.
Belphie was talking with Satan when you sat down next to him. Before he could do anything, you put a hand of his thigh, waiting for him to act on it. You thought he would touch your thigh as well, make a sarcastic comment about it or let you touch him in silence, but you were greatly surprised when you felt Belphie grabbing your hand and putting it on top of his crotch.
You gasped in surprise and Satan choked on his drink, excusing himself quickly.
“Don’t test me, MC” Belphie warned in a slurred tone that indicated you he was as drunk as you were. You took that as a dare more than a warning.
You leaned over and pressed a kiss between his ear and the point were his jaw began. You felt a known twitch under your hand that hadn’t moved from where Belphie had put it.
“C’mon” Belphie quickly muttered, taking your hand and leaving the hall together.
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amachaheadcanons · 3 years ago
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CAN YOU GIVE FLUFFY HEADCANONS FOR AMACHA ON DATES??
YOU BET YOUR FINE BOOTY I CAN ANON
(⊙ω⊙✿) Me likes the way you think!!
Fluffy Headcanon Set of Amacha on Dates
You might wanna be sitting for this...there's a lot...
They study hard for an hour and a half before a well-deserved break, in which Rantaro starts cooking up a storm. Tenko insists on helping since he refused to take her money. "Tenko's sure you just want her to pay a high price! Tch, typical--"
Their first date is accidental. She came over to study/work on a school project/get tutored. Considering one of his father's Japan-based houses is close to a train station, the two decide to go there; it was quieter than the dorms.
It's a quaint traditional home for 1, on the larger side in comparison to typical Japanese apartments. Being a quiet, hideyhole for FatherAmami, it was vacant of maids/butlers. Of course, Rantaro cooks dinner for them.
'So that's why Rantaro took so long "getting study snacks" at the supermarket' Tenko realised. This unexpected thoughtful side of his making her soften inside.
"No need, Chabashira-san. Your thanks will be enjoying the meal I slaved away making just for you~." He teases. Despite attempting to refute and ensure he was aware she didn't mind chipping in some money, he refused with no end. Including the train fare and his precious tutoring time. He didn't want anything from her. Though that didn't stop her from asserting he was hiding ulterior motives, nor internally denying the fact she savoured every denial he made whenever she joked about him trying to get in her panties. She appreciated the constant dismissal, while silly, it reassured her; comforted her.
She starts chopping up veggies both spitefully and with pride. The food smells delicious, he can see it on her face despite her verbal denial. They get caught up in cooking and conversation, studying further never gracing their minds. They were too busy enjoying the other's company. He pleasantly surprised her, thus why she continued to launch questions at him.
She speedily sets the table before he can. A little too excited to eat his food.
Because the house is so old, the lights go out. The fuse box is a pain to figure out on an empty stomach, thus why Rantaro breaks out the fancy candles and they eat by candlelight. It's very romantic, Tenko starts to blush as it reminds her of romance manga. Now thankful for the light shortage since he couldn't grasp the extent of her embarrassment.
They talk for hours. By 9pm they're too tired to even attempt studying, and instead finish the night with a Disney movie and tea and biscuits on the pull-out sofa bed. "How luxurious!!"
Tenko's excitement never looked more beautiful/endearing.
Rantarou's dozes off first, his light snoring made her giggle. He was so dainty. She gently lays the blankets he previously prepared over his sleeping form.
Sitting a comfortable distance to finish the movie. A lullaby plays on screen and Tenko is easy prey. She ends up sinking into the bed beside him, the cool autumn air didn't help her sleep-cuddling tendencies, thus making her spoon him for warmth. His sleeping form happily complies and fits in the mould she made.
Both being early risers, Rantarou's embarrassed to be in the situation, but smiles anyway, patting her hair, she instantly stirs, he pretends to be asleep.
When Tenko rubs the sleep from her eyes, she stares at him, their positions exposing she was, in fact, the instigator of such affection. She slowly slides out, utterly embarrassed and completely confused. She gets to work in the kitchen, {even wearing his apron} to surprise him with breakfast in bed. "As thanks" for dinner the night before... He is happily surprised, both at her way of showing gratitude and the feelings making his chest tight at the image of her wearing such domestic accents.
^ Those dinner/study/movie endeavours continue for almost 3 months before he has the guts to invite her to Disneyland, confident she'd love it. She asserts the idea and is all-in after Rantarou confesses the last time he went was with his sisters...he sounded so gloomy whilst reminiscing and she insists they go to restore the happiness it's supposed to invoke!! It'd be a crime otherwise.
He goes all out. He buys them front of the line, year-long passes. They're worth it. This one's the official first date. At least in his head, he tells her it isn't but he wants it to be, and it definitely looks like one.
Tenko is no longer scared or feels threatened around him, not in the slightest. Strangely though, anger stirs inside her chest and makes her lips thin whenever girls fawn/compliment him so boldly.
He waits patiently for Tenko when she's using the bathroom. On her way out, her appreciation is emphasised by a wide grin as he watched her with excited eyes. A stranger crosses their path. Tenko increases her speed, "He better not ditch Tenko for this beautiful and pure ginger fox-- oh how embarrassing that would be!! Not to mention low!"
A girl from school attempts to confess to him, in the happiest, most magical place of all. She's a year younger than them. So pure, kind and sweet. He doesn't have the heart to outright reject her, thus stumbling over his words awkwardly, Tenko can sense he's trying to be gentle.
Tenko smoothly approaches and wraps an arm around his, making him freeze his faltering, "Kasumi-chan. Tenko heard your beautiful speech. You're so brave and sweet and beautiful. Any boy would be lucky to have you, but unfortunately... Rantarou-kun is spoken for." She wants to break it to her as gently as possible, and pretends their dating, as a softer blow. After giving Kasumi the necessary confidence/reassurance, Tenko watches the girl trot back to her friends. A content smile marking her face.
She follows, willingly, paying no mind to the contact whatsoever, excluding the butterflies in her stomach.
With his free hand he pats her head, "Very smooth, Chabashira-san, I'm impressed. I would never have thought you'd-"
"Oh, shoosh avocado!" Avoiding eye contact and hiding her blush. Since their arms were still tangled, Rantaro interlocked their fingers and drags her along, "C'mon, Tiga~"
He showers her in mostly food but of course gifts her something cute she had her eye on.
They have a blast. Afterward, Tenko found herself often speculating when they could go again. Due to his big spending habits she tends to repay her gratitude in free Neo-Aikido training and the rare times she'd make sweets for Himiko, she'd give him a decent portion.
Because Rantaro is so loving and crushing hard but doesn't know how to love her, he often shouts her lunch or packs an extra bento for her. This surprises Tenko.
He's so thoughtful and wonderful she has her suspicions. But still blushes whenever he brings her lunch in public with her friends around.
To combat this, she insists on helping him with his studies and is a great confidence booster whenever she can sense her sparring partner is doubting/self-loathing. Due to their regular training, continuous study sessions, bonding over food and movie nights. They become really good friends.
One day, Tenko can't shake the rejection from Himiko, especially when Himiko happily hugs and is very clingy with Angie and the others. The stinging morphs into a deep cut. Rantaro finds Tenko pushing herself. He's at first impressed. Then majorly concerned after realising she'd been at it for 4 hours straight.
He confronts her, she breaks down in tears. It breaks his heart to see such a loving, devoted girl be treated like this. He knows Tenko would sacrifice everything to see Himiko smile, so instead of taking it up with Himiko...
"You know...we've been making great progress with our school work. This weekend, why don't we go to a theme park, as a reward?"
This marks the third/forth official date since they'd revisited disneyland a few times prior. He takes her on all the rollercoasters, they bond over the adrenaline rush, it's a good distraction. She's like no one he's ever met before, and only falls harder.
Plus, the slow love-story these two would have to build that loyalty, blind-trust and love that's indestructible is a big reason why I love amacha~! Hope it was ok! If not just lemme know and I'll do more future-date things, like further in their relationship haha!
Sorry got a lil' off-topic...BUT it's VERY vital Tenko gets over her dependence on Himiko before anything can really flourish between these two, BUT I love the idea of Rantaro happily pining after Tenko and making sure she's ok, cuz no one else would.
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artificialqueens · 4 years ago
Text
Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, 11 (Branjie) (and background everyone) - Ortega
a/n: omg HI u lovely lot i’m so sorry this update took so long!!! thank you all so much for your lovely feedback on the last chapter and for being so patient with me. hope this chapter’s worth the wait- it’s BLACKPOOL BABEYYYYY!!! will Vanessa and Brooke get that perfect score???
fic summary: Strictly Come Dancing enters its 18th series and its producers, after being goaded by a rival dance show on its inclusivity, commission it to be an all-female cast. Unlike Akeria who’s just here to bone her potential dance partner, dancer Vanessa is ready to act like a professional.
And then TV presenter Brooke Lynn walks into the rehearsal room.
***
21st November 2020
“Someone was havin’ some nasty-ass sex this mornin’.”
Vanessa watches Crystal almost spit out the water she’s currently glugging down after their full cast dress rehearsal. If she hadn’t just finished her own bottle Vanessa would’ve probably done the same. Akeria’s comment is casual but Vanessa knows her enough to work out its intentions; she wants to know who’s banging, specifically who did so in the last eight hours.
Crossing her legs, Vanessa thinks back to the day she’s spent with Brooke Lynn so far. Obviously the events of the morning are still playing on her mind, fresh and still searing hot like lava. But after that it was almost as if they had been on another date. They’d headed out into the crisp, bright morning and grabbed breakfast at a nearby cafe, where the tables were sticky and the menus were stained and the ketchup bottle had rings of old sauce around the outside. They had both ordered matching fry-ups and Brooke had tried black pudding for the first time, claiming it didn’t taste as bad as it looked.
“If we get picked for the tour just wait. I’m gonna make you try haggis when we get to Glasgow. It’s fuckin’ horrible,” Vanessa had teased her, Brooke fake-gagging and making her laugh.
Then they’d had a walk along the beach, the cold stinging their faces and the wind whipping at their hair and making Vanessa wish they could just hold hands without the fear of being caught by someone videoing them on their phone. It had still been nice to share it with Brooke, though, and before they’d had to be at rehearsals they’d gone to the arcade and played on the penny falls machines, Vanessa laughing at Brooke as she got way too excited because “it’s like real life Tipping Point!”.
And now Brooke is sitting beside her, calm and composed as Akeria brings up the sex that Vanessa is still recovering from which was apparently so noisy and loud that it managed to wake her up.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Gigi says all too quickly, which piques Vanessa’s interest and makes her wonder why she’s so quick to rush to denial.
“Nope. Neither,” Jan shakes her head, the clear attempt to make her face look impassive not fooling Vanessa in the slightest. Narrowing her eyes, Vanessa casts an eye over a guilty-faced Monique and Monet.
She’s starting to question whether or not she and Brooke were the only ones that got some action this morning.
Brooke herself has got a small smirk on her lips as she opens her mouth to speak. “How did you guys not hear that? It was so loud. Sounded like somebody having the best sex of their life.”
Vanessa almost chokes on her own tongue in her desperate attempt not to react. Akeria is nodding emphatically.
“This morning? I must’ve been out for my run,” Jackie shrugs nonchalantly. She’s got the best poker face out of them all.
“It was somebody really whiny,” Brooke adds casually. Vanessa slowly turns her head and narrows her eyes at her. Brooke raises her eyebrows, tilts her head innocently. “You hear it, ‘Ness?”
Vanessa kind of wants to melt because she that’s how she feels every time Brooke calls her that and she loves it, but also she’s winding her up too much and Brooke must know Vanessa wants to clap back about how Brooke wasn’t complaining at the time, or how whiny she’d been when Vanessa had been teasing her with her fingers and whispering in her ear.
“Jeez, I mean, I must’ve been in the shower.”
“No, I think you would’ve been able to hear it.”
“What name’d they call out?” Asia shrugs. Brooke’s reaction is visceral- Vanessa watches her give a sort of panicked cough.
“What?”
“Well. You girls hear ‘em yell a name? That’ll give a lot away.”
Most of the girls are silent and holding their breath. Crystal, Gigi, Jan, Jackie, Monet, Monique, Vanessa, each one hoping their own worst or best-kept-secret isn’t spilled. Even Brooke who was gleefully winding Vanessa up moments ago has fallen mute and is looking at Akeria quietly. Vanessa’s brain is flicking through a rolodex of snapshots of the morning she and Brooke shared, trying to pinpoint any specific moment where either of them had begged the other just a little too loudly.
Akeria, for her part, gives a sniff and a shrug. “Hmm. Nah. Just moaning.”
“Well whoever it was, I hope they had some lovely sex,” Crystal babbles, her face guilty as sin as she finishes buckling up her dance shoes. She’s laughing nervously as she desperately tries to move the conversation along. “God, when will this band be ready? Like, how long does it take to tune a trumpet? Right?!”
Monique enthusiastically jumps in and agrees, and the conversation is dropped. Although Vanessa still tilts her head at Brooke questioningly and, as the girls become embroiled in a new conversation, she leans into Brooke’s side and whispers to her.
“If you think I ain’t gonna make you pay for that later, you’re wrong,” she murmurs, keeping her eyes trained on the other girls.
“Cute that you think you’re going to make me pay for anything, it took me what, two minutes to make you crack?” Brooke replies, and Vanessa can hear the smile in her voice. Vanessa, once again, can’t resist (it’s becoming a theme) and she turns her head to meet Brooke’s eyes, the twinkle in them still sparkling relentlessly.
“Whiny? Really, bitch?”
Brooke tips her head back casually. “I know we’re dancing to Let’s Get Loud but you know that’s just a song title, not an instruction, right?”
Vanessa tries to stifle a giggle, attempting to maintain her unimpressed charade. When Brooke looks at her again the endeavour fails, and they both end up laughing together. As their laughter dies down, Brooke sighs and Vanessa watches her pick a little at her outfit. They’re both in co-ordinated showgirl costumes- Vanessa’s green, Brooke’s pink- and even though Brooke objectively looks incredible Vanessa can tell she doesn’t feel entirely comfortable.
“Hey. You good?”
Brooke sighs. “This is just very…out of my comfort zone. I’m a TV presenter, God, I’m pretty sure the BBC would rather I was just a floating head half the time. No limbs, no boobs, no butt, no skin. Maybe a skeleton, actually. I’m just not used to getting my legs out. Or…anything out, really.”
Vanessa feels herself frowning in concern, a little embarrassed at how quickly she rushes to boost Brooke’s confidence. “Hey, listen. If you don’t feel like you’re fuckin’ sex on legs after this morning- shit, scratch that, every damn day- then I’m not doin’ my job right. You look perfect.”
Under the orange lights of the ballroom and the sparkle of the glitterball Vanessa swears she sees Brooke blush a little. She smiles and touches Vanessa’s arm gently. “Remind me what I did to deserve you?”
“Nothin’, you just ran off with my heart on that induction day an’ never gave it back,” Vanessa sticks her tongue out at her. Brooke grins and Vanessa wants nothing more than to lean in and kiss her right there and then, in fact she swears that Brooke’s edging closer to her and maybe they could just give each other a small kiss, maybe everyone else would be too distracted, maybe-
“And here we have one couple who keeps saying that they’re Definitely Not Romantically Involved With Each Other At All,” comes a voice, and Vanessa realises who it is as Yvie sits herself down on the chair beside her, filming a video on her phone. Vanessa covers her face in embarrassment.
“Delete that,” Brooke says, and just by her tone Vanessa can tell she’s rolling her eyes.
“Why? Too on the nose?” Yvie laughs, and as Vanessa looks up again she can see Brooke fixing her with an unimpressed glare. Yvie sighs, sulks and stops filming. “Fine! Fine, God. But you know if you had nothing to hide, you wouldn’t want me to delete it.”
“Listen, you just think everybody is as loved up as you are because you’re so happy with Scarlet. How is she, by the way? She coming up to watch you or has she got filming?”
Vanessa relaxes, impressed with Brooke’s ability to steer the conversation off course as Yvie is happily distracted by talking about her girlfriend. While Yvie speaks about Scarlet and gushes about how amazing she is and how lucky she feels to be with her and how she never thought she’d find a girlfriend through a TV dance show, Brooke makes sure to bump her knee a little bit against Vanessa’s with each new compliment, a little gesture that speaks so many words without Brooke having to say anything at all and lights Vanessa up from the inside out, so much so that she feels like the glitterball hanging from the ceiling, sparkling and dazzling.
Rehearsals soon end and the girls all move into the green room backstage to chat about nothing in particular, laugh at the top of their lungs like teenagers at the back of a bus, and eat tiny amounts of pizza that they’ll finish after their performance when it’s cold. Vanessa’s heart is so full she feels as if it might burst because she’s here, she gets to dance in the tower ballroom on the biggest TV dance show in the country. Okay, she’s danced here before- for competitions and showcases- but tonight she’s getting to do it with Brooke. Vanessa feels silly for having that mean so much to her. They’ve only been seeing each other for about a fortnight and she shouldn’t feel this deeply, but every time she tries to self-regulate and pull her feelings back Brooke ruins her plans with a smile, or a burst of laughter, or a squeeze of her shoulder or her leg that turns Vanessa to jelly and puts her right back in her feelings again.
Again. As if she could ever possibly be out of them when she’s with Brooke.
It’s not long until the audience all file into their seats and the ballroom lights go down, and Vanessa’s heart is almost beating out of her chest as Brooke gives her a quick kiss on the cheek for luck in the dark of the heavy curtains backstage. As she makes her way to the middle of the dancefloor with the other pros ready to begin their dance, Vanessa can’t even bring herself to wonder if anyone saw the moment they’d just shared because under the hot yellow lights and the huge glittering orb hanging from the ceiling and surrounded by the ornate gold that seemed to decorate every inch of the ballroom, Vanessa simply feels giddy and light just like any other infatuated girl.
“Live from the Tower Ballroom…this is Strictly Come Dancing!”
The music from the band blares, the audience breaks out in cheers, and even though she’s in Blackpool Vanessa feels as if she’s home. The pro dance this week is full of joy and sparkle, and as she dances Vanessa’s smile reflects on the faces of the five other girls she’s dancing with. It’s not her performance smile, nor is it a fake one; her face is radiating genuine joy, sunbeams that she hopes light up even the living rooms of whoever’s watching. When Brooke and the other celebrities join them for the last part of their dance Vanessa gravitates towards her and they snap together in hold. She can feel the excitement pulsing through Brooke’s veins as she takes her hand, and they’re smiling at each other with such ferocity that they end up giggling for the last section of the dance. On the final beat of the song they all freeze together, and Vanessa rests her head on Brooke’s chest as she relaxes. There’s golden confetti raining down on them and a little piece nestles itself in Brooke’s blonde locks of hair that Vanessa never wants her to brush out.
“Blackpool,” she hears Brooke murmur above her, so nearly inaudible she’s panting so much.
Vanessa looks up at her, cheeks hurting from her grin. “Blackpool.”
The girls all run off to get changed into their individual dance costumes they had worn before. Vanessa is glad that Brooke seems a little more confident in her outfit; she doesn’t know whether her new-found self-assuredness is down to Vanessa’s pep talk earlier or the adrenaline rush of performing, but she’ll take happy Brooke over nervous Brooke whatever the reason. Brooke looks the best out of all the girls- okay, Vanessa knows she’s biased, and in fairness everyone looks amazing. Crystal and Gigi are done up as little astronauts for their Salsa to Cosmic Girl, huge perspex space helmets over their heads with their faces covered in glittery highlight and little stars. Asia and Akeria look like early 00’s girlband members in matching green camouflage cargo pants and black bodysuits. They’re doing some sort of cool thing with aerosol cans for their Commercial dance to Scandalous and Vanessa’s promised Kiki that she’ll get into a good position in the auditorium to watch them both.
Although as everybody begins to dance, Vanessa slowly becomes less excited and more nervous. She mentally repeats each couple’s score in her head like some sort of meditational mantra- Yvie and Jaida 29, Akeria and Asia 37, Jan and Jackie 36. They range from unthreatening to panic-inducing, and as she and Brooke make their way backstage while Crystal and Gigi’s VT plays, Vanessa can feel the anxiety climbing in her throat, can feel her feet shaking in her shoes with every step.
“Hey,” Brooke stops suddenly in the darkness, her tone concerned and a little worried frown set on her face. “I can feel you worrying. What’s the matter?”
Brooke is beginning to thread her hand in Vanessa’s own, and she accepts. She already feels it grounding her, but her breathing is still shallow and her stomach is still in knots. “Just these scores…fuck, Brooke Lynn, I want us to be on top so bad. I want you to be on top so bad.”
“Yeah, you seemed to like it earlier,” Brooke winks at her, as Vanessa instantly realises what she’s said. She splutters a laugh, clamps her hand over her mouth in case they’re picked up over the microphones even though Vanessa knows there’s no way they could be. Brooke’s smile softens as she takes Vanessa’s other hand, swings them a little.
“Look. Do I care about being top of the leaderboard? Sure! But this, this whole thing has become less about the competition for me and more about getting to dance with you every week. Knowing we can go out there and be amazing no matter what the judges say, knowing I can showcase your amazing choreo and bring it to life, and being able to show you off and watch you be talented and incredible and clever. If we get the scores, we get the scores. But even if we don’t I want you to know that there’s nobody else I’d rather dance with, nobody else I’d rather be sharing this journey with. You’ve made it so special for me just because you’re you.”
Vanessa feels herself lean into Brooke’s touch as she takes a little curl that’s framing her face and tucks it behind her ear. She can feel something tumble and fall gently inside her- maybe she’s developing more feelings or maybe it’s a barrier breaking, she doesn’t know- and in that moment she throws caution to the wind and pulls Brooke in, their lips meeting softly as Crystal and Gigi start their dance through the curtain beside them. Vanessa’s heart thuds in her ribcage as she thinks about the fact that that’s all that’s separating them from the ballroom and the cameras and the millions of viewers. If the curtain were to fall…
She melts into the kiss and she can feel her anxieties melting away; Brooke is a gentle wave on the shore and Vanessa is sand and the occasional broken piece of shell, shifting under her and allowing herself to be drawn in. As Brooke pulls away Vanessa pouts her lips in disappointment, so Brooke gives her one, two, three little pecks before stepping back for good this time.
“Better?”
Vanessa can feel her pulse racing, but this time it’s excited nerves rather than anxious ones. She fixes Brooke with a little smile. “Yeah. Better.”
“Okay. That being said, let’s go get that top spot.”
The audience cheer Crystal and Gigi, and Vanessa’s skin prickles as she realises she and Brooke Lynn are dancing soon. They make their way to the wings where they’re met by a runner who eventually shows them out onto the floor. Vanessa takes a deep breath in her spot on the lacquered wood underneath a spotlight. She looks over to Brooke who’s on a little plinth, all lit up with a wall of halogen bulbs behind her, and gives her a little wink and a thumbs up. Brooke looks just as nervous as she is, but the smile she gives Vanessa goes some way to reassure her.
And then, a few seconds which feel like minutes later, the commentator’s voice booms overhead.
“Dancing the Cha Cha Cha…Brooke Lynn Hytes and Vanessa Mateo!”
The halogen lights behind Brooke blind Vanessa as she looks at her, suddenly confident and poised, a huge smile on her face on the stage. She looks like a real professional. Fuck, Vanessa’s so proud of her.
“Blackpool!” Brooke yells as loud as she can. “Let’s…get…loud!”
Pyro goes off behind the wall of light as the music starts, and the audience screeches as Brooke descends the stairs and practically runs to Vanessa, holding her hands tightly as they start their dance with matching smiles on their faces. A cha cha cha is a technical one, all about the footwork and arms, and they can’t really hide behind their obvious chemistry this time. But they’ve worked hard, so fucking hard, and Brooke can do it without a single mistake, Vanessa knows this.
Vanessa jumps up into a lift, Brooke holding her in her arms and spinning her round and making her giggle involuntarily. Maybe Brooke is right, Vanessa thinks, as she is gently deposited down and they jump back in hold again. Maybe none of this matters any more; the competition, the scores, the TV show. Maybe all this has to be is Vanessa dancing with Brooke and having fun, the pair of them growing closer with every passing second, and Vanessa coming dangerously close to falling for someone again with every passing day.
As Brooke faces forward and Vanessa does the same, then drops to the floor and wiggles her way up Brooke’s legs, it also occurs to her that it could also be about the great fucking sex they’re having. Well, have had. But Vanessa knows there’ll be another time, maybe probably very soon judging from the way Brooke’s now gliding her hands down Vanessa’s body.
She can’t let her concentration wander, however, so Vanessa’s brain is back in the game as they step, twirl each other round, Brooke dips her confidently before they go back to stepping quickly again, twirling effortlessly into a New York. As the horn section from the band blasts, Vanessa gauges the audience reaction. They’re cheering and clapping along and the judges are leaning forward, engaged and impressed. Even Bianca’s got a little smile on her face. In spite of everything, Vanessa feels her heart begin to rise.
“Ain’t nobody gotta tell ya what you gotta do…”
As the song ends, Vanessa holds Brooke’s hand as they whip out their final party piece- Brooke drops to the floor in an effortless split, and the crowd raises the roof. Shangela is screaming from her position behind the judges’ table and Brooke is screaming too as she swings her legs round and stands up, crushes Vanessa in a hug who’s already got her own arms out waiting for it. Vanessa mutters praise into Brooke’s chest and she can feel her planting a kiss to the top of her head in response, their little tradition that she’s glad Brooke hasn’t stopped.
As they cross over to Michelle Vanessa is grateful that Brooke is carrying the interview, as she can hardly speak out of her own gripping nerves. She knows that dance went well, she knows it’s the best they’ve ever done it. So when Michelle hands over to Shangela, Vanessa isn’t sure that she breathes for roughly ten seconds.
“I…thought…” Shangela starts, and Vanessa’s lungs almost give out. “…that that was the best we’ve ever seen you dance, Brooke Lynn.”
The audience erupts and Vanessa looks up at Brooke and beams, squeezing her tightly and refusing to let go. Brooke’s eyes are still on the judges as Shangela’s compliments continue. “Your footwork and your synchronicity with Vanessa…it was all just so, so polished, I mean a lot of celebrities when they come on this show, they can find the syncopation really difficult and you just- I mean it was like asking you to count to ten! You had a great night tonight, well done.”
The audience cheer her comments, and then it’s Kennedy’s turn to give her feedback.
“Yeah, I agree with Shangela. You are at your peak in this competition, and that was your best night yet. That was absolutely flawless, I just…I don’t have anything left to say at this point.”
Vanessa’s breath is heavy and laboured, trying to calm her rising hopes at all this praise Brooke is receiving. After Kennedy is Laganja, and she’s practically on top of the table as she yells about the pair of them, how much chemistry they have and how faultless Brooke’s performance was and how their Cuban breaks were perfection incarnate.
“And if this doesn’t get the score it should-” she finishes, shooting Vanessa’s pulse through the roof with a catapult. “- then I’m leaving the show!”
As the audience laugh and applaud Laganja’s comments, Vanessa feels Brooke’s grip on her waist tighten as it reaches Bianca’s turn. The crowd is silent, and if Vanessa squints she can see Brooke’s rapid breathing beside her.
Come on…come on…
The whole room seems to hold its breath. Bianca’s face is impassive as she opens her mouth to speak. “I couldn’t fault that if I tried.”
Vanessa’s face drops in shock and she feels Brooke lurch beside her, the levels of praise they’re receiving from Bianca Del Rio hardly registering. The audience is almost deafening at this point and Vanessa’s ears are straining to hear the rest of the judge’s comments.
“The Cha Cha Cha…I mean it’s a fun dance, it’s a cheeky dance, but it’s so rarely a showstopper, and that just stole the show. Shangela is right, there are so many things that meant you could’ve butchered that entire dance- hello, you’ve got one of the best Latin specialists in the country coaching you, hard not to be a little intimidated- but you took it all in your stride and it was like watching a fish swim, the effortlessness of it all. But one of the things I loved most about it all was just how much fun the pair of you were having. It was like neither of you seemed to realise that you were dancing in a competitive setting, and it felt as if we were all here to watch you on tour or something. Really well done tonight, Brooke Lynn, you did yourself proud.”
As the crowd claps for them both and Michelle sends them up to the Divinatorium, Vanessa clutches Brooke’s hand tightly. She sneaks a look at her as they run up the stairs and giggles as she finds Brooke’s eyes already on her. As Divina talks to them both and Vanessa feels Akeria squeeze her shoulder from behind her, she can barely concentrate on anything as her whole body vibrates in anticipation. Vanessa does manage to tune in, however, when she hears her name mentioned.
“Bianca did say it must’ve been intimidating for you to have Vanessa coaching you on a Cha Cha Cha- did you feel the pressure this week?” Divina asks Brooke, and Brooke just laughs, puts an arm around Vanessa’s waist and pulls her close.
“I mean there’s always that little bit of pressure when you’ve got someone like Vanessa coaching you, because she’s so talented and perfect at what she does,” Brooke smiles down at her, and Vanessa’s heart feels completely stuffed full of affection. “But she’s never intimidating, and she never puts pressure on me. In fact she puts way more pressure on herself, which she needs to stop doing, because look how well we both did tonight!”
Vanessa feels herself blush and all she can do is wrap another arm around Brooke’s waist as Divina continues to speak.
“Well, Brooke Lynn, I can confirm the judges’ scores are in. Let’s see what they thought.”
And then there’s the all-consuming feeling of holding her breath and gripping Brooke’s side as if she’s her lifeboat. Vanessa’s heart is just going and going and going because maybe, maybe, maybemaybemaybe…
“Will the judges please reveal their scores. Bianca Del Rio.”
“Ten.”
“Kennedy Davenport.”
“Ten!”
“Shangela Wadely.”
“It’s a ten!”
“Laganja Estranja.”
“TEN!”
They have done it. Forty out of forty.
Brooke has wrapped herself around her like an octopus with half its limbs cut off and is screaming in much the same matter. Vanessa can feel her nails dig into her back, a few tears drop down onto her shoulder and something inside her just breaks, and before she knows it she is simply holding Brooke and crying and Brooke is doing the exact same to her. The cheers from the other couples on the balcony turn into awws, and a box of tissues is shoved towards them. Vanessa soon realises that Divina is attempting to talk to her so she takes a tissue, sweeps it under both her eyes quickly.
“Sorry…that was a big reaction, it just meant a lot to the both of us. Brooke Lynn’s been working so hard every week so to get that sort of acknowledgement means the world to me. I just want everyone to think she’s as amazin’ as I do.”
As Divina reads out their voting details then signs them both off, everyone claps and Vanessa takes Brooke’s hand again. This time her grip is gentle as if Brooke will crumble apart on contact. When Brooke pulls her into her dressing room, there’s not the fire and heat that there had been last week; instead they hold each other softly, and Brooke rubs her back slowly while murmuring quiet, affectionate words into her hair in between pressing kisses to her forehead.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she says after a pause, and Vanessa’s stomach does a bungee jump.
“Stop it,” she replies quietly, if only to deflect from the fact that she’s thinking the exact same thing about Brooke but doesn’t dare say it back; she’s scared to say it out loud because the last time she felt this way about someone it all ended up in heartbreak and hurt and mess.
“It’s true,” Brooke insists simply, but she doesn’t push it or overdo it- her statement is her statement, and Vanessa’s glad she’s letting it be.
The perfect score, being top of the leaderboard, everything Brooke’s said to her tonight- Vanessa’s on cloud nine. That is until the results show is filmed, and one of Vanessa’s worst fears about being on the show comes true.
“I can now reveal that the second couple in the dance-off and joining Yvie and Jaida are…”
Drum beat. Drum beat. Vanessa’s ribcage is tight and constricted, and she daren’t let herself relax even though their scores were so perfect, even though they did exactly what they’d set out to do because maybe their fans could get complacent, maybe they didn’t vote as much this week…
“Monet and Monique.”
Vanessa’s guts feel as if they’re plummeting to the floor. She breaks away from Brooke, cranes her neck and looks over at her friend whose spotlight has changed colour leaving both Monique and Monet bathed in a sickening red. Monique had told her their dance hadn’t gone great- they’d performed directly after her and Brooke, and the pressure of having to follow their perfect score had rattled Monet to the point where she’d made too many basic errors- but Vanessa didn’t for one second think they’d land in the bottom two. Monique catches her eye, gives her a helpless, sorrowful smile, and Vanessa feels her eyes fill with tears.
As the other dancers are led up to the Divinatorium to watch the couples, Vanessa and Akeria gravitate to each other like little magnets, take each other’s hands with grave faces and emotional eyes. Brooke rests a hand on her shoulder and leans down to whisper to her.
“It’ll be alright. Yvie got under 30, God love her. She’s great, but Monet’ll overshadow her. Monique isn’t out, don’t worry.”
Brooke can usually say all the right things to calm Vanessa down, but not this time. She, Akeria and Monique had been so excited the moment they found out they’d all have partners this year, and Vanessa remembers the drunken pact they’d made after the launch show that they’d be the last three standing in the competition, the best of the best. It had been a silly joke, but watching as Monique takes to the floor and holds Monet in her arms, it’s never meant so much to Vanessa to have her friend share this journey with her.
As the music begins and Vanessa watches Monet and Monique glide across the ballroom floor effortlessly as the sparkling glitterball casts its mirrors over their bodies, she feels Brooke wrap her arms around her from behind and rest her chin on her head. Without thinking they fall into a soft sway and even though Vanessa’s heart is still in her mouth- because the two girls can’t leave the competition yet, it’s not their time, and she, Monique and Akeria have to be in the final together- Brooke’s gentle rocking manages to ground her and calm her without her even having to say a single word. Vanessa thinks back to what she had said backstage, how much Brooke had completely lit up her heart, and she wonders if she truly meant it all. The song’s lyrics drift into Vanessa’s consciousness as she watches Monet lift Monique gently, spin her around like she’s the dancer twirling around in a music box.
“What you say you can’t take back, no takebacks, don’t take that back…‘cause your words mean the world to me…”
Vanessa feels like laughing. Ain’t that the truth.
Monet and Monique finish their dance well with only a couple of noticeable faults, and then Jaida and Yvie do their Tango once again. It wasn’t too strong the first time and the clear pressure that comes with being in the bottom doesn’t help Yvie, as she makes a few visible mistakes. If the judges have eyes, Vanessa knows they’ll save Monique and Monet. Then again…stranger things have happened on the show.
Michelle consoles both pairs as they take their places under another spotlight each on the dancefloor. Monique and Monet’s hands are joined together tightly, and Yvie has her arm around Jaida’s shoulders, a light smile of defeat on her lips as if she knows the result already.
“Judges, I am now going to ask for the name of the couple you want to save and take through to Musicals Week next week. Starting with Bianca.”
Bianca shuffles a few papers and fixes both couples with a calm stare that flips Vanessa’s internal organs. “Well Yvie, I think you’ll agree that there were a few mis-steps there that couldn’t really be ignored, and Monet, conversely, you managed to elevate your performance in the dance-off. So tonight, I’m saving Monet and Monique.”
Vanessa feels Akeria squeeze her hand, her grip damp from the nervous sweat on her palm.
“Shangela.”
Shangela frowns, a pained expression on her face. “I mean it’s hard, because both dances had some errors here and there. However I’m going to go with my gut and the person I think deserves to stay and improve is Yvie. So I’m saving Yvie and Jaida.”
Vanessa lets go of Akeria’s hand, brings both of her hands up to cup her cheeks and exhales heavily. As Kennedy is head judge her vote holds the most weight on the panel, and so Michelle next comes to Laganja.  
“Yes, as Shangela said, neither was a perfect dance. But I personally think one couple managed to improve on their initial performance, and so tonight I’m saving Monet and Monique.”
Brooke squeezes Vanessa’s waist and holds her tightly as finally, Kennedy makes to cast her vote. Vanessa feels ill. She can only imagine what’s going through Monique’s mind as she stands in her character shoes, gripping Monet’s hand with her gaze very firmly locked on the floor.
“For me…it comes down to the connection between one couple in particular, and the emotion and the storytelling behind their routine. The couple I’m saving…is Monet and Monique.”
Vanessa melts out of Brooke’s arms and instead turns to hug Akeria, holding her as tightly as she’s holding Vanessa back and feeling her heartbeat through her chest. Vanessa feels Brooke put a light hand between her shoulder blades reassuringly, and the double dose of human contact helps bring Vanessa right down to earth from the rafters her sky-high anxiety levels had perched her up in. When the show ends, Yvie and Jaida share one final dance, and the others are allowed to invade the dancefloor and say goodbye, it’s not the eliminated couple Vanessa runs to but her cherished friend instead. Akeria joins them and the three of them hold each other and shed tears, relief not even being able to cut it.
It’s Yvie’s idea to go for drinks after the show- she’s happy even though she’s been knocked out, though Vanessa thinks that’s got something to do with the fact Scarlet has travelled up to watch her after all. So it’s a pleasant feeling when Vanessa finds herself clambering off the emotional rollercoaster she’s been strapped into all night and instead beginning to take on a more mellow form of happiness induced by the three pornstar martinis she’s managed to knock back so far. Even though they arrived at short notice the dancers and celebrities have all managed to secure a huge booth near the back of Revolution, where it’s dark and private and everyone else is too glammed-up and full of flavoured shots to notice a huddle of TV personalities. Vanessa looks fondly over at Brooke who’s dancing with Yvie, Scarlet, Jaida and Jackie who collectively are making her wonder how they’ve managed to lose the co-ordination and grace they show on TV every Saturday. Gigi and Crystal are on the other side of the booth, sitting close and having what looks to be a deep, meaningful heart to heart, and Jan, Monet and Asia are nowhere to be seen (either smoking area or bathrooms is Vanessa’s best guess).
Vanessa cheers as Monique returns to the booth with Akeria, carrying a stick of shots and a huge fishbowl of purple liquid respectively. The pair of them squash themselves down beside Vanessa and they grab a shot class each, toasting to them all surviving another week in the competition.  
“I can’t lie, my heart was in my damn asshole when Michelle said your name,” Akeria points at Monique, her turn of phrase making Vanessa snort out half her drink.
“Excuse me! You were the one panicking? I was the one that had to dance the damn thing all over again!” Monique clutches at her chest incredulously. Vanessa wiggles her eyebrows at her friend.
“Well ain’t it lucky you and Monet have that connection that managed to save you.”
Akeria jumps on Monique’s bashful expression like a cat on a mouse. “Yeah, how’s that situation goin’? Seems okay by the looks of things.”
“We had a long chat on Tuesday,” Monique brushes a bit of hair out of her face and looks at her lap. “I was honest with my feelings and so was she. Turns out she actually really likes me back. Crazy, ain’t it? My actual real-life celebrity crush likes me like that.”
Vanessa and Akeria squeal excitedly, and Vanessa sips from the fishbowl as Akeria asks where this leaves them both.
“Well, we’re both just focussed on the competition just now. Need to beat both you bitches, don’t we?” Monique sticks her tongue out, tinged blue from all the cocktails she’s been drinking. “But we’ve been doin’ more cute stuff, not just all the nasty shit. She came round to mine the night before we got the train up here an’ we had some wine and watched a movie an’ just talked an’ cuddled.”
“Ugh, puke. I don’t know what’s worse, havin’ to hear about your rehearsal-room bangin’ or havin’ to hear about all the diabetes-inducing shit you do now you’re both all in your feels,” Akeria gags jokingly, and Vanessa chuckles as Monique pushes her friend, unimpressed. Suddenly, something seems to occur to Akeria. “So wait. Was it you two I heard this mornin’ then?”
Vanessa’s tipsy and she doesn’t want to keep Brooke a secret any longer, at least from her two best friends. So as Monique shakes her head, she grimaces and gives a slow shrug.
“Uh…I think I can answer that.”
Akeria blinks at her and Vanessa can practically see the cogs turning in her brain. Monique gets there first though, and she emits a high-pitched shriek that soars above the speakers and makes Gigi and Crystal jump about twenty feet in the air from across the booth. Vanessa frantically shushes her, and that’s when Akeria catches on.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Lord Jesus. It was you an’ Brooke Lynn, wasn’t it? Tell me I’m right,” Akeria grabs Vanessa’s wrist, shaking her so excitedly and violently that even the table manages to shake too.
“You sorted your shit out? When?! Where is Jesus!” Monique squeaks at a pitch that, if Vanessa couldn’t make out herself, she would be convinced only dogs could hear.
“God, okay, it was after that night I came and stayed at yours. You know, when I kissed her and then she got weird with me and I told you both about it on the group chat,” Vanessa explains, starting from the very beginning. “Anyway it was that week we did the Argentine and it’s hard not to feel a way when you do that kinda dance, y’know? So it ended up happenin’ again an’ we actually talked this time. She told me she had this big crush on me, an’ obviously I felt the same. So…yeah. We’re…well, not together, but we’re a thing for sure.”
In the midst of Monique’s excited reaction, Akeria narrows her eyes. “What, when you did that Tango? Girl. That was what, a whole-ass week ago? More? Why’re we only just getting told about this?”
Vanessa pulls a face. “Well, we’re both trying to keep it low key. You know what happened with Kam, an’ I don’t wanna get too invested too fast. Plus if it gets into the papers…”
“That’s fair. Got it, girl. We’ll keep it all secret,” Akeria reassures her instantly, taking her hand and leaning into her side in her tipsy state. “This is dead cute, though. I’m happy for you, babe.”
Monique gasps in outrage. “Oh, so when Vanessa gets a girl it’s cute but when I get a girl you gag?”
“Yes. Because Vanessa don’t bang her girl on the rehearsal room floor,” Akeria frowns at her, and Vanessa explodes a laugh. She’s so full of love for her friends, and she’s beyond glad that tonight’s been her night. So when their song comes on over the speakers and Akeria starts yelling it out in her own off-key way, Vanessa drags them both up to join the clump of girls already on the dancefloor, and when she dances over to Brooke’s side she can’t help but feel a little warmth flow through her veins as Brooke’s vision sparkles at the sight of her.
They all end up dancing til closing time, and as they spill out onto the streets like the club has coughed them up Vanessa has to fight the drunken thoughts her mind is producing that are urging her to take Brooke’s hand on their walk back to the hotel. There could still be a camera anywhere, even at one in the morning, and Vanessa doesn’t want to risk the small beginnings of whatever it is she and Brooke are sharing.
Still, when they’re back in their hotel room they’re free to act as affectionately as they want, and Vanessa has never been more glad of the fact they’ve been given a double bed as they fall back against the mattress, giggling and kissing each other like the worst kind of honeymoon phase idiots the world has ever seen.
“Can’t be bothered to put m’ pyajamas on,” Brooke murmurs, her speech impeded by the espresso martinis she’s been drinking and the lethargy that’s rapidly taking over her. Vanessa laughs softly, turns over onto her side and tucks a strand of hair behind Brooke’s ear. Her lipstick is faded, one of her eyelashes is sticking up at the side, and there’s a little patch of smudged eyeliner at the corner of her eye, but Brooke’s still perfect to her.
“Jus’ sleep naked,” Vanessa says, attempting to sound seductive but getting betrayed by the yawn that escapes her mouth mid-sentence. Brooke laughs.
“You really know how to charm a woman into bed, Ms. Mateo,” she teases her, tapping her lightly on the nose with her finger. Vanessa bares her teeth at her, biting at the air and causing Brooke to dissolve into giggles.
“You’re a mess.”
“Hey, so are you!” Brooke laughs incredulously, and Vanessa has to concede. She watches as Brooke sighs wearily, sitting up against the pillows and pulling off her lashes one by one. Brooke leans over the side of the bed for the packet of makeup wipes in her bag and Vanessa can’t help but smack her butt that’s sticking in the air. Brooke responds by launching the makeup wipes at her, hitting her square in the face and causing the pair of them to burst out laughing again.
Vanessa takes out two wipes and hands one to Brooke, and somehow the pair of them end up taking each others’ makeup off, their hands swiping at each others’ faces haphazardly like faulty windscreen wipers on an old car.
“This is the worst facial I’ve ever had,” Vanessa jokes disdainfully, and Brooke waggles her eyebrows.
“I’ll give you a facial later.”
Vanessa snorts ungracefully as Brooke breaks out into a ridiculous grin and ends up with the makeup wipe in her mouth. “Shut the hell up!”
They eventually end up in their pyjamas, but not before Brooke gives Vanessa the world’s worst striptease (Brooke attempting to take her pants off but instead getting them caught around her ankles and falling onto the floor, rendering Vanessa incapable of speech during a laughing fit that lasts a solid five minutes). Vanessa’s not sure what time it is when they finally turn off the lights, get under the covers and sleepily wrap themselves around each other, but she knows it’s pitch black outside and the seagulls are silent and she can just about hear the waves crashing onto the beach if she listens hard enough.
She’s so busy trying to hear the sea against the shore that she doesn’t register Brooke is saying something until she hears the tailend of her sentence, only aware Brooke’s lips have been moving against her skin when they stop.
Vanessa stretches a little. “Hm?”
She feels herself melt as Brooke pulls her closer, hugs her tighter and shakes her head a little. “Doesn’t matter. Night, ‘Ness.”
“Night, Brooke Lynn.”
It’s only once Vanessa is ever so close to falling asleep that she feels as if something was missing, like she wanted to say something more- but the words elude her and she is too tired to think too much about it, so she lets herself be carried off to sleep in Brooke’s arms, comfortable and relaxed inside and out.
14 notes · View notes
jincherie · 5 years ago
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pebbles to recommend!
✑  in the light of recent situations and the fact that a few of you have even been so kind as to share some love and positivity with me, I’d like to share some of my own! these are some of the fics that I’ve been reading and loving lately! I haven’t had time to read much, but I hope u all enjoy what I’ve managed to stumble upon as much as I have!
ps. lets leave them something nice and let them know how fantastic they are!
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✎  blood magic by @cakebite ​
maknae line x reader | magic au, fantasy au, royal au, yandere au | series
  ➥  in a word, fantastic. i’m not sure how many of you know, but yandere is my guilty pleasure and it’s not that often that I come across it being actually well written and portrayed. This is one of the few fics for the genre that I’ve read and deeply enjoyed. But aside from that, I love the way this world is brought further to life with each and every installation, I adore the fantastical nature, the little tidbits and factoids revealed to me one by one-- it has me thirsting for more! This is a read I easily got immersed in, and it’s not yet complete but I’m looking forward to more adventures in magic, mystery, fantasy... god I’m ready.
Part of why I love well-written fics of this genre is the inner workings, the finer details and each little turn of the cogs that makes the clock tick. I absolutely love that in this fic that is incorporated so seamlessly. From the beginning, there is tension and there are stress conditions-- and while they maintain and level out, with each introduction of the boys (without reader knowing they’re the princes, which is a dynamic i die for btw) and further build of their relationship, along with the glimpes of their background and the environmental factors that are probably going to lead to one or all of them Snapping... it all blends together in a magnificent mass of tension, and for each update that comes I’m on the edge of my seat. I don’t think there has been one in a while, but this is the kind of fic that I’d drop whatever I was doing to read!
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✎  quarter quell by @chinkbihh
jungkook x reader | hunger games au, yandere au | series
➥  another yandere story, another insight into my guilty pleasure. again, i don’t often rb or rec many yandere fics simply bc its not often i find one that really pins it and I love enough to rb-- but luna never fails to provide, and I’ve found myself enjoying a number of her stories, most recently this one!
Usually, what I look for and enjoy reading about is the slow build, the climb and increase in yandere behaviour as they grow more comfortable/more obsessed with the character. Even so, this fic dumps it all on its head and I find myself loving it nonetheless. It’s the setting, the unique conditions that allow the yandere features to come out immediately and unabashedly-- and watching the integration of it all, how every aspect of oc’s situation is working together, is fascinating,, and putting yourself into oc’s shoes is terrifying. Luna puts a lot of effort into her fics and each installment she publishes is long and carefully put together,, and that’s something I really appreciate. I love a lot of her works, and this one in particular, because there is always just such attention to detail, such immersion around it all that draws me in and hooks me. I’ve seen her musing about where to take this on her blog and to be honest I’m really excited to see wherever it goes!
(ps. please send some lovely things her way if you end up checking this out, we all have times where we’re a little more in need of some tlc than others!)
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✎  immortals by @bang-tan-bitches ​ 
ot7 x reader | supernatural au?, drama, smut, dark fantasy | series
➥  this is one i read a little further back, but one I definitely am still hooked on! What I really love about this one is just.... the mystery of it all. I’m a sucker for dark fantasy and urban fantasy and this bad boy rolls it all into one. Each installment reveals a little more and yet,,, not enough to fully satiate your hunger for knowledge. there are a lot of conditions, restrictions, barriers for the reader-- the push and pull of her innate desire to go to them vs. the constraints of her life and her thoughts is delicious. I remember in particular that each little interaction with each member made my tummy dip, they were so cute and so... thrilling? These two have a real talent and it shows through with fics like this one. I’m not sure when the next installment is, but I’m definitely waiting for it with baited breath!!
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✎  beastly gods by @lemonjoonah ​ 
taehyung x reader x ?? | hybrid au, dark fantasy au, slight dystopia au?? | oneshot
➥ i read this as soon as it was posted and honestly.... I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. there’s something about it that just carves out a piece of you and replaces it with a piece of itself. It’s so memorable!! I love it dudes. The whole tone and vibe of the fic from the beginning, the chase and the combination of thrill and fear,,, and Taehyung.... I love the way that the story was set, the premises and tone, and I love how it was maintained all throughout-- what I abolutely love the most about it is that it allowed for that fucking FANTASTIC twist of an ending!! This story, to me, had OOMPH, and I love that man. I’m going to revisit it sometime soon and I definitely recommend checking it out yourselves. I wish I had read it more recently so I could gush more readily, but definitely check it out for yourselves and send some love!!
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✎  agape and pragma by @uwugalore ​ 
ot7 x reader | hybrid au, poly au, smut, fluff, angst | series
➥ this is one that i’ve been reading consistently, and have been hooked on from the beginning. from the very first chapter the premise is so heartbreaking, and i was able to really align with the oc and what she was feeling, how her world had been turned so upside down. and then, seeing throughout the following chapters as the members slip into her life & home one by one, healing the pieces of her bit by bit... ugh i might have wept. it’s so soulfully sweet and lovely, this fic, and the spots of angst really just serve to make it sweeter. I love a fic that makes me soft and fuzzy while still having some hot as fuck smut, and this definitely serves that. plus hybrid au! already pinpointing several of my weaknesses. i definitely recommend checkig this out because it quickly became a favourite of mine :) 
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✎  beautifully misfit by @orphicbts ​ 
maknae line x reader | hybrid au, angst au, smut? (subby maknae energy) | series 
➥ this is another kind of recent one that I’ve been enjoying over the past few months, and can i just say it’s got a firm hold of my heart and my future puth. If you’d read florescence u know i have a budding weakness for shy boys, blushy boys, and GOD when she introduced each of the boys it had me cooing--- ESPECIALLY jimin. i cant wait for things to bud and bloom and develop, the little hints of nice things the reader is going to do-- ahhh i can’t wait until jimin gets glassses!!! and sees oc all the time!!! and blushes more!!! aaah!!!
It’s just so very sweet mixed in with the little tidbits and aspects of their past which, are sad and angsty but mfkgjdg u know.... u know that hurt/comfort shit hurts so good. I’m really super excited to see where it goes and how their relationship and dynamics develop in the coming parts!
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✎  home by @zerotexas1975  
jimin x reader | hybrid au, fluff, angst? | series
➥ I remember reading this when the first part came out ages ago and immediately being hooked, because I saw the prompt by hybridfanfiction that it was based off and love it. And straight away it was so sweet and cute and wholesome, and as we’re quickly discovering I’m an absolute slut for shy boys!! It was standalone for a while, but let me tell u when i saw there was a second part out i screamed and dropped everything to read it-- and!!! it’s so good!! she’s starting to implement the plot now and she’s making us WORK for that sweet validation, work thru the angst on the near horizon, and i appreciate that. it took such a turn that i really wasn’t expecting it but I love how the dynamic between them and the relationship has budded and begun so far. 
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✎  euphoric endeavours by @/haveagreatday (AO3) 
ot7 x reader | vampire au, college au, mate au, poly au | series
➥ this is another fic that I’ve been reading for a long while, and from the very beginning I loved the fire of the reader, the spunk and how she wasn’t afraid to go up and confront one of the biggest names on campus. and then reading further and observing the change, the transition in their dynamic. when she found out, vs where she is now. I really love the way she had the reader change and grow, and that seems to be a very big theme in this fic that I really admire! The reader consistently looks to herself for ways to grow and change, and do the boys. The story is so rich and in depth with their history and backstory, all the dynamics and the goods and bads of their past and how it affects them i the current day. I definitely recommend it for an investment and a good time. 
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✎  twisted tails & thunderlight by @stskpop ​
// ot7 x reader | hybrid au, poly au, angst | series
// ot7 x reader | supernatural au, fantasy au, witch au/magic au | series
➥ twisted tails is one that I found recently, and although there’s only one part out that I’ve seen, I really love where it seems to be going so far! it’s an interesting spin on the au that I haven’t seen very often, but god... I’m really excited to see how she’s going to spin it and how it’s going to play out. how the grief they must be feeling over oc’s sisters death is going to work with everything else happening, how they’re going to interact and feel about her.... I’m keen to discover how it will all blend together.
And thunderlight... can I just say, I love love love this one! I found it through twisted tails and !!! i love it!!! it’s so rich from the very get go with plot and narrative exposition, the way everything is being set up so smoothly. I’m absolutely hooked, I want to know who this demon is, and whether it’s going to have the gratifying happy ending that I crave so badly... god I love it, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment!
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!! let’s use this as an opportunity to make their days!! I think it would be really awesome to use this to spread a little more love & positivity, so please send something nice their way and even feel free to reblog this with some fics you’ve been loving yourselves if you’d like! I’d love to see what you’ve been into and check it out!! :) <3 
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theeasterlymedia · 4 years ago
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A Normative Discussion on Andrei Rublev
Meghnad Mukherjee 
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While watching Rublev, I couldn’t help but think about Béla Tarr and his The Turin Horse. Tarr developed his distinctive style over time, and so one should presume Rublev was a stage in Tarkovsky’s development towards perfecting his almost magical cinematic philosophy that we admire today. In this essay we will be discussing only some of the scenes (and a short general discussion) of this three hours long masterpiece otherwise the obvious following rant would not have stopped.
Holiday, 1408, June
The scene opens with the greatest of all Russian Icon painters Andrei Rublev and his crew of apprentices and helpers on their way to a job in the once-powerful feudal fortress city Vladimir in June of 1408. It is probably the evening of June 23, St. John the Baptist Eve, which falls immediately after summer solstice, the end of spring. The Kliaz'ma River rises north of Moscow, flows between Moscow and the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery and eastward past Vladimir.
Gathering firewood, Andrei gets caught up in a village pagan ritual. We should notice the sounds of nightingales and of ritual bell percussion.Some would say he seeks a way to join his high spiritual calling and art to the real soil of Russian folk experience, his "civilization" to his "culture". One way to describe the linkage of Christian "civilization" with Russian pagan "culture" is dual faith. Andrei is about to have a "dual faith" experience himself, and so are you if you let the film have its way.The making of a straw effigy and the burning of it are documented features of peasant ritual on St. John's Eve. The sexual license portrayed here is characteristic of peasant spring and summer rituals. Andrei stands over a smoldering camp fire and his monkish robes catch fire. Fire and water are central to the pagan rituals of St. John's Eve (they are also central to Tarkovsky's own personal film imagery). The men and women are performing a characteristic ritual of St. John's Eve. Also don't miss the scene downstream from the two lines of naked folk---a white horse comes into view and begins to thrash the river's surface as the ritual boat approaches.
Andrei is captured and bound in a stable by villagers who do not want him to interfere with their dear ritual. Marfa approaches him and plants an earthly kiss: physical contact of native paganism with highly refined and civilized Christianity. Notice the necklace she wears. Also notice how Andrei sheds his monkish cowl (identifying "uniform" of the black or monkish clergy) as he decides to melt into the woods and rejoin the village fest. As the next morning follows someone has squealed on the village revelers. The local landlord and his ruffian men-at-arms on horseback appear, accompanied by clerical enforcers, all bent on doing their official Christian duty. They hope to run down participants in last night's ritual. Sure enough, here comes Marfa and her significant other, chased by authorities. He doesn't get away, but she swims toward the middle of the river, immediately past the boat carrying Andrei, but he will not look at her. She splashes bravely out to deep waters.
Raid, autumn, 1408
Now we jump ahead a few weeks to the fall of 1408 and the outskirts of the city Vladimir. This army is led by a Russian prince who is a rival of his own brother for power in Vladimir. A tatar Khan’s army and his one will join up at a difficult river ford in preparation for an attack on Vladimir. As the two armies link up, the Khan and the Russian prince vie with one another to see who is faster. The Russian prince recalls an event in the previous winter in which the church tried to reconcile him with his rival brother. The wintry church is the great in Vladimir, built in 1194-1197. You can just barely make out the remarkable animal, vegetable and human figures carved in relief in the white stone outer walls of this ancient cathedral. These figures are taken to be themselves representatives of the combination of old pre-Christian "Scythian" motifs with Biblical themes.
Two times later in this section of the film, the Russian prince flashes back to this treacherous "kissing of the cross" which he and his Tatar ally are now about to betray. The second flashback occurs as the Russian prince witnesses the Tatar humiliation of the captured prince's brother and family and receives from the Tatars the vestments of the now deposed brother's power. The sounds of the Orthodox mass can be heard again, now in the courtyard as the Tatar khan nervously walks his war horse back and forth in anticipation of breaking into the church. A dying horse comes down a stairway and falls to the ground, bleeding to death. This is a disturbing and powerful scene. We may be more touched by this cruel death than by all the other film portrayals of human death. As the horse stumbles to its death, from the church we hear the most characteristic phrases from the Russian mass: Hospodi, pomilui, Hospodi, pomilui... [Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy...].
Soon, we see inside the cathedral being rammed by the Tatar army.We spy Andrei again. He is with a young blond woman. The actress is Tarkovsky's wife, and she is playing a paradigmatic Russian cultural role: the holy fool. She is a "durochka", not able to take care of herself, but in her naive simplicity representing something very dear to Russian tradition. Andrei has made himself her protector in earlier scenes, and now they are trapped together as the cathedral door breaks open. What a scene, as the Tatar khan paces his horse around inside the cathedral, asking the Russian prince taunting questions about the holy images on the walls, most now burning. The brave and defiant Foma is tortured, molten lead is poured into his mouth, and he is dragged to his death by a stallion stampeded through the devastated streets of Vladimir.The traitorous prince is beset with deep misgivings about this destructive adventure. Large white geese float from cathedral rooftops to the disordered streets below, all in slow motion. Andrei and Durochka are still in the church and try to come to terms with what has just transpired.
Tatar's Wife
The final scene I have selected is four years later, the winter of 1412. It is a hard winter, and famine stalks the land. Andrei is heating large stones and trying to transfer them to wooden casks to heat water. Durochka is eating an old apple. The Tatar khan rides into the monastery with several of his warriors. They are in a playful mood. The khan feeds frozen meat to quarrelsome dogs. Durochka wants some too. What follows is one of the most intriguing "falling-in-love" scenes in all of filmdom. Andrei tries to intervene, but this situation is beyond his or just about any imaginable power to change. As the khan sweeps Durochka up behind his saddle and he and his warriors gallop out of the monastery courtyard through a roofed gateway, our time is up.
Some commentary or rather a casual discussion --
Tarkovsky created a film about faith in a time when there were no films about religion, apart from satire or anti-religion propaganda. At the same time, people who were religious have tended to view film as a profane medium, inappropriate for religious topics. Andrei Rublev was a 15th-century monk regarded as Russia’s greatest icon writer. While his work is well known and celebrated throughout Russia, little is known of his life except for the handful of icons he left behind. Tarkovsky invented life for Rublev. It is then not an investigation into the painter’s life, but Tarkovsky’s response to what the filmmaker saw and felt by looking at Rublev’s icons.
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Moving through ‘a sequence of detailed fragments’ in which Rublev is sometimes present, sometimes only an observer, the film works toward difficult questions: how is experience related, and how can it be communicated? How can art be true to its subject and its audience?How do you paint the trinity without just reducing it to the sum of its parts?
At once humble and cosmic, Rublev was described by Tarkovsky as a “film of the earth.” Shot in widescreen and sharply defined black and white, the movie is supremely tactile—the four classical elements appearing here as mist, mud, guttering candles, and snow. A 360-degree pan around a primitive stable conveys the wonder of existence. Such long, sinuous takes are like expressionist brushstrokes; the result is a kind of narrative impasto.The film’s brilliant, never-explained prologue shows some medieval Icarus braving an angry crowd to storm the heavens. Having climbed a church tower, he takes flight in a primitive hot-air balloon—an exhilarating panorama—before crashing to earth. Fifteenth century Russia was a tumultuous country, never really at peace, and Tarkovsky shows this in particular in the latter half of the film. The theme of conscience is present throughout the film.Tarkovsky plays here with sound and silence, almost deafening silence.
Shooting the entire movie in black and white, Tarkovsky finally dazzles the audience with close-ups of Rublev’s works, revealed for the first time during the movie in all their brilliance and colour. After more than two hours of sombre and austere imagery, the beauty of the frescoes amazes the viewers. The art, born from the endeavours and aspirations of the artist, is presented to the audience in all its grandeur, rising over the everyday like the man on the balloon at the beginning of the movie. This universal quality of the artist and his work makes the historical period irrelevant, performing a spiritual sweep, casting an ethereal spell on the audience.
Andrei Rublev is itself more an icon than a movie about an icon painter. (Perhaps it should be seen as a “moving icon”) This is a portrait of an artist in which no one lifts a brush. The patterns are God’s, whether seen in a close-up of spilled paint swirling into pond water or the clods of dirt Rublev flings against a whitewashed wall. But no movie has ever attached greater significance to the artist’s role. It is as though Rublev’s presence justifies creation.
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juleswolverton-hyde · 5 years ago
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The Words upon the Window Pane | Chanyeol
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Genre: Smut, Angst (only a wee bit), PwP
Pairing: Auhor!Chanyeol x Reader
Warnings: Top!/Dom!Chanyeol, fingering, unprotected wall sex (ALWAYS do it safely, lads and lasses!), subtle dom/sub themes, swearing/cussing, dirty talk, love bites  
Summary: The relation between Logic and Passion is often difficult for artists and certainly so when the involved parties dabble in words. Because language has the power to conceal the truth, to say what otherwise might not be said.
The words upon the window pane.
However, one night, a mouth is brave enough to at last utter them.
And to bring about unexpected consequences.
Author’s Note: The title is derived from the play of the same name by W.B. Yeats, who is, as you may or may not know, one of my favourite poets and greatest inspirations as of late. Furthermore, this is the first EXO smut piece to be written by this wee birdy, which hopefully shall not disappoint more experienced EXO-Ls.
All in all, I hope you enjoy the work of a feather.
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Making a living as an author is not easy, especially when starting out and having only a single book to one’s name. However, Voice is not merely a literary tool to use in order to be heard, since it can also realistically become audible when speaking. All in all, it remains a fluent phenomenon and so it is of great benefit to storytellers to have mastery over it. To provide experiences that ignite vivid imagery thanks to simply creating an ambience with sound when not craftily doing the same on the page. Such is the talent of the author rapidly grown popular online due to a deep voice and funny personality, thousands of women drooling over the tailored experiences provided to them on multiple platforms.
But none of them has ever gotten the real deal, their sensual emotions remaining one-sided whereas those of a newbie novelist are answered.
Sometimes.
The relationship started after the romance department of the same publishing house contracting the famous erotic writer took a bold chance by offering a contract to an unknown name having just completed a manuscript about an innocent coffee shop romance. During the meeting with the assigned editor, icy pale locks wandered into the modern cafeteria and toward the table where a conversation about the next steps towards actual publishing took place, sitting down wordlessly and merely observing. Withal, basalt irises blatantly ignored rapidly flushing rosy cheeks on the adjacent seat, focused intently on the ones across the table that tried to maintain a steady composure.
Yet it crumbled bit by bit as genuine interest was shown during a spontaneous proposal to drink coffee together sometime after the editor held a brief round of introductions at the end of the important chat, which had gained an unintentional third participant. Piece by stiff piece got chipped away over warm beverages thereafter, talking about upcoming manuscripts and the professional giving a newbie a couple of tips to not stumble and, perhaps, fall without hopes of getting up.
And were entirely smoothed out among the sheets after the daring kiss when goodbye came on the first proper dinner date, Chanyeol leaning in without hesitance to rapidly turn a chaste caress of the cheek into sin once having been escorted safely to the front door of one’s own roof.
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To make a heart fall for one which is unbound, according to the rumours spoken by the female tongues which all supposedly possess a sensual experience of sorts concerning the novelist. Notwithstanding, one can talk but not say anything, let alone the truth. Withal, the gossip has expanded while being in a strange type of relationship, always being the first to propose something to do and bleached smooth strands simply agreeing if the busy schedule allows it, of course. Spontaneous proposals for a movie night or trying out a new café are one-sided, the first time drinking coffee together being the sole occasion on which it came from the distant beloved. However, during the opportunities to be together, it never fails to feel genuine.
Sincere in spite of the mouths believing it is merely about sex, warning to get out now before it is too late.
The logical ship has left the safe haven. 
It is too late.
Regardless of bravely sailing in an individual sea, the doubt can never be kept at bay since it lurks as a kraken in the darker waters coming up on the journey every now and again. After all, the fans of the deep voice catering supposedly “exclusive” experiences for them would loathe the fact their imaginary lover actually has a girlfriend. Moreover, the serpents roaming the office keep telling tales that steadily grow arms and legs, each limb stemming from the period in which minds were apart.
Those spans of time increase in frequency.
Lunch grows lonelier.
Days are spent in isolation.
Reassuring words do not hold significance on the floor of the publishing house nor on those of one of our apartments on a lucky night.
No acknowledgement.
All there is, is vagueness.
Just something. 
Something.
Undefinable.
Certainly not pretty or comforting.
Empty. Yes, that is the best way to describe it.
Hollow, lonely, one-sided.
Unrequited.
And it takes away the hunger at the dinner table beneath the luxurious roof, the expensive wine and home-cooked meal using high-quality ingredients holding as much inherent value as a shilling in the gutter. So the fork is put down, the bite laboriously swallowed and focus averted from the porcelain plate presenting little yet seeming too stacked.
‘Baby, are you alright?’ Head cocked to the side in wonder, Chanyeol stops mid-bite, sensing something is off.
Something.
Always something is off. 
Right now, it finds a voice in a lowly muttered remark as disappointed fingers shove the still full plate and cutlery away as far as possible. The stomach can live with the stone in it, like the heart slowly freezing itself thanks to the vicious tales of betrayal can continue to exist in ice. After all, even this week’s audio consisting of ‘’sexy’’ unboxing ramblings and testing out toys sent by mistresses somewhere else is but a mere drop in the overflowing bucket. ‘I’m not hungry.’
The limit has been reached.
End of the line.
Of this.
Us.
If there even ever has been a happy chronicling couple.
‘You’ve barely eaten.’ The unsuspecting fork picks up a perfectly grilled asparagus, endeavouring the feed a soul starved of happiness. A perfectly useless attempt at making things right for the culprit knows very well what goes on behind the scenes that are enacted every time at the workplace, the little faked though credible moments of two youngsters being solely friends but perhaps a bit more. No one knows for sure, but they do assume. Gossip has a way of being heard, even when feigning to ignore it in favour of personal fantasies. ‘At least have a few more vegetables.’
‘Did it...’ A wry smile carves itself on a face which is on the edge of tears, remembering every word said at the collective coffee machine in the cafeteria alongside the lovesick comments on every digital upload and equally sensual reaction to a novel novel. How can the detailed storyteller not notice the burning water droplets searing their way to the lash line? 
Begging. 
Begging to fall.
To be noticed.
Because they have had to hide so bloody long in loneliness.
Denied.
A significant detail.
‘Did it mean anything?’ God forbid that the words spilt between the sheets, on dates and in secrecy in the coffee corner did not hold any meaning. Withal, knowing how writers are for the craft is part of one’s own personality, there are no better tricksters. Words can be made pretty, cunningly serving to conceal the ugly truth. 
‘What? Did what mean anything? Babe, what are you on about?’ The uncomprehending gravely worried furrowed brows relax, raven irises softening as they discover the tale of the Ice Queen’s heart and damnably igniting the thawing process. Looks can kill, as is the word on the street, and the big pale wolf knows it judging by the gentle smile only reserved for his foolish mistress. ‘You’ve been listening to gossip again. Look, I’ll say it again and I still mean it. I love you, Y/N. Only you. You ought to know that by now.’
The supposedly well-meaning palm resting between the abandoned dishes is not lovingly covered, digits remaining apart instead of entwining in blissful union. Instead, the chair is pushed back as the napkin that formerly rested on the lap is viciously thrown onto the table surface. Voice is barely controlled, dangerously close to cracking yet forced to maintain steady fury. ‘Don’t fucking lie to me! I know this means nothing.’
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‘Means nothing? This means nothing?’ The actions are fiercely mimicked, the pleading tone in speech overruling the fabricated calm demeanour. ‘It does, babe. It really does.’
‘Yeah, right. As if you haven’t said that to one of those horny dolls who gladly listen to their fantasy boyfriend or read about all the wonderful things you’d do to them. What did you call them again? Your honeys?’ There is no stopping the jeering guided by the incomparable ache rendering every nerve paralyzed, an alternative ego who feels betrayed rising with every second of the outburst. 
In the end, she, too, is one of many.
I am nothing. 
‘Babe, please-’ Agonizingly following footsteps attempt to reason, begging to stay for a proper vis-á-vis to resolve this “problem” while making their way to the hallway. 
Evidently without success. ‘Oh, piss off. I’m sure you had others in the time I was gone.’ The searing tears on lashes in the wee hall finally stream down the cheeks, lost in bittersweet memories of a time ruled by naivety. When every touch was so certain of love, felt protective and was believed to be sincere. 
Notwithstanding, that was then. 
This is now. 
‘It really meant something to me, you know? I fucking gave myself to you because I stupidly trusted you, Chan! You were my first.’ A shake of the head brings about enough steadiness to remain coherent in speech, to at least keep a total breakdown at bay a little longer. The battle is almost won, a little bit more perseverance needs to be put in before all might become actually well. ‘But I could’ve, no, should’ve known better. So fuck off and leave me alone.’
Just as a hand reaches towards the knob of the front door, a firm palm wraps painfully around the left wrist. Once that power was loved, but now it is just that: hurt. 
And it wants… needs to be left behind.
To make it pay for the solitude.
The agony needs to face the consequences.
‘No.’
The pain in the shape of the man who was believed to make up the world.
Stupid.
We both only have our stories to speak honestly in because they are the sole place where it is possible to be true. 
Funny how a broken heart ignites a sense of creativity to exploit and there is a sudden haste to make use of it. Or so the mind wants this to be the reason behind the futile struggle for freedom for the real reason is the simple need to get away before breaking the character of the hard-headed sneering Ice Queen and leave oneself in fragments on the battlefield. ‘Let. Me. Go.’
A vicious tug makes feet stumble away from the entryway and slam into the wall opposite the stairs, Chanyeol’s face mere inches away and obsidian irises burning with sorrowful rage that has grown from incomprehension. All acting halts at once, alarmed breath coming out ragged as the powerful gentleman is sought frantically on a quietly raging beautiful expression. ‘I won’t. Not until you finally listen to me and know who you belong to, young lady.’ 
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Slender digits clad in a chic ink-black jacket roughly push aside underwear, unapologetically disappearing beneath the skirt to exert sexual dominance as lips powerfully nullify all chances at protest. ‘This is mine. Only mine. All I can think about these days, so much so I can’t even write without giving you a role in my novel.’
The possessive growling fuels the heat below, slowly reducing the hurtful stretch, as all vocabulary is lost in the marks left behind on the throat by stark white teeth. Miraculously, the ability to resist the temptation remains although it falters and starts to stutter in the strong secure warmth of a familiar palm at the end of the spine. ‘I- I don’t be- believe you.’
‘Who do you think is more credible?’ A rough mind-boggling thrust goes paired with the branding being interrupted to snarl against a slightly open mouth, dominant despite oddly affectionately resting foreheads against one another and chuckling as haphazard fluttery palms rest on broad shoulders. ‘The man who loves you or some women you don’t even know?’
In spite of being barely able to respond, a piece of hateful Logic remains and is capable of jeering and mocking the question that should have served to set things right. ‘But y- you could’ve fucked.’
‘I didn’t. Listen to me, young lady.’ The hand that formerly rested on the small of the lower back rises to envelop the throat, forcing a lock of gazes while enchantingly cutting off access to air. ‘Ever since we met, I’ve been yours. I’d never give anyone else a role in my novels because nobody inspires me like you do.’
‘D- Don’t stop.’ There is too much deliria to persist in protesting, each movement beneath fabric erasing the thought of resisting the platinum wolf as soon as it arises. Instead, it gives rise to memories of beautiful naive nights that make up the horror and delight of an insane mistress of letters, both inside the pages and outside.
Throwing the heart back into bittersweet love. 
‘Ah, there she is. There’s the helpless little slut I know.’ With an ashamedly wet noise, slim fingers undo the bodily connection that had been greedily gone along with, leading to an inevitable displeased whine that evokes a lovely dark chuckle.
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A nudge of the nose asks to follow the focus of the seemingly only sane mind, see what the writer wants to be noticed without resorting to loathsome spoon-feeding. It is all in the details, that is where the heart of the tale lies. ‘See that?’ 
Lashes flutter innocently as gaze wanders lower and lower to restricting dusk-shaded denim, wordlessly remarking on the considerable outlined shape that the idiotic heart and persona meant to have walked out the door greatly want to exploit. ‘Only you do that to me, Y/N.’ An almost sweet peck on the forehead turns attention upward briefly before receiving another on the lips, after which a command makes hands act in too enthusiastic desirable greed. ‘Undo the zipper.’
It takes little time nor effort to force down sturdy and elastic fabric to bare burning desire to the chill air in the hallway. And it takes even less than that very same moment to be pinned against the wall once again, thighs supported by iron hands promising to never let go, and directly connect in body and soul. 
Willingly.
Beautifully.
‘Fuck, every time is like the first. I remember our, grm, hrm, first night. How you begged me to go harder-’ the speed accelerates, snarls growing more and more savage with every advance as behaviour, too, becomes wonderfully harsher, ‘rough you up. All the while acting like an innocent doe, turning me on. Mewling, pinned to the bed, forced to take me. God, I love it when you’re like that. Helpless. Powerless. Submissive.’ 
Every word is accentuated by an animalistic thrust, a sweet kiss on the side of the neck contrasting with the teeth leaving behind plum marks of possession at equal intervals. A low rumble of delight at platinum locks being pulled on vibrates in the buff chest lovingly keeping the spine against the wall, rejoicing in the flowing waterfall of mere meek noises. 
Exactly as we were during the first night.
Loving now as we had before. 
Honestly. 
Snarling sweet nothings against skin while erasing every thought in the chase for the satisfaction of primal desire. When tears of analyzed sadness turned into those of unadulterated pleasure. ‘Crying as you take my cock deep inside that dripping little pussy.’
‘Cha- Chanyeol-’ There are no words to break through the haze of bittersweet nostalgia, leaving the sentence unfinished. It does not matter for all focus is turned towards reaching temporary enlightenment as fast as possible in the most savage manner. 
‘Cum on that cock, baby. Cream that fucking cock.’
Any sense of resistance that somehow managed to linger, loathing Logic deeming the act wrong in every aspect and begging for liberation, is erased in an instant as the command is pressed onto firm lips. 
It is wonderful. 
Incredibly gorgeous.
Having Chanyeol wrap his storytelling palm around the throat once more as the other presses bodies together until there cannot possibly be any distance left. Wolfish grunts fall from cushiony lips, chanting maddening “mine, mine, mine”s, while sprinting during the final bit of the primitive race, soon reaching the white light found between shivering thighs. 
Who are crying silently in a paradoxical mixture that cannot be kept alive consisting of sensual delight, heartbroken self-hatred and rage directed towards loved pale locks. 
Tears to, fortunately, be noticed once reason returns enough to no longer be under the influence of the desirable beast beneath the skin. Henceforth, it is the incredible author who affectionately wipes away the droplets running over the cheeks as onyx irises soften in comprehension of pain. ‘Hey, don’t cry, Y/N. Remember what I promised you?’ 
A head shake shows ignorance because there have been a great number of promises until now, which is acknowledged by the low chuckle that never fails to allow the usual guard to be let down and now disrupts the quiet panting betraying a sliver of glad exhaustion. The simple sound never fails to make the chest puff a little in pride and veins to bask in a loving warmth, even after being frozen in place without hopes of crumbling thanks to the vivid rumours floating around the office. ‘I know I have promised you a lot, but one thing is that I’d never make you cry because I’d never dare to break your heart. I genuinely love you, seriously am head over heels for you. Can you believe me when I say that?’
It is hard to respond negatively when bodies are still one and foolishly trusted palms envelop the cheeks, resulting in wavering speech on the verge of cracking. Withal, a little bit of strength is gathered from the tight grip on defined biceps engraved with ink. ‘I wa- want to, but... the gossip...’
‘Listen.’ A long tender kiss muffles the sobs aching to be released alongside the gasp at the sudden hollow feeling when the physical spell is lifted. Another one asks for focus on talking things over instead of paying attention on the faint sound of liquid dripping onto the hallway tiles. ‘You crying makes me want to cry because it hurts me to see you like this. It really does, babe. And people will always talk, but, perhaps, it might help if we go public? I have an interview soon.’
‘People will think I’m only dating you for your money.’ No matter if a statement will be made, the way of thought lies outside the influence of words. Authors know this first and foremost for each sentence that is penned down fails to fully convey what might be going on in vivid imagination and thus fails to be entirely understood. 
A bittersweet smile tugs on the corners of the mouth as messy snow white locks fall obscure the sight of lips drawn into a stern line speaking melancholically, mocking oneself. ‘I wouldn’t mind if you’d do.’
With more fierceness than expected, an answer to the rhetorical assumption bursts from a panicked mouth uncensored, clutching the soft fabric of clothes as if not doing so will induce an unbridgeable abyss. ‘But I don’t!’
‘I know that, Y/N. I know.’ Thumbs start to caress the sides of the face, somberly smoothing the anxious sorrow in self-reflection. ‘You know I hate losing, be it games or bets, but-  but I- I-‘ Breaths grow short as tears start to brim in the corner of beautiful almond-shaped eyes. Hands fall away from the cheeks to wrap around the middle, the waist caught in a sturdy grip. Foreheads rest against each other and the arms of a claimed mistress wrap around the neck, fingertips playing with the pale strands at the back. ‘I would scorn myself if I’d lose you.’
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‘You’ll lose readers if we go public.’ After all, not everyone enjoys a real life romance and certainly not those imagining one individual as their partner while he is, in truth, already faithfully bonded to another woman. 
‘Doesn’t matter, I don’t care. If they’re true fans, they’ll be happy for us.’ Chanyeol’s voice has renovated its ocean deep steadiness, tiny lights appearing out of nowhere to illuminate a sudden bright cheery idea in a nightly gaze creating a bit of distance. ‘You know what? I’ll buy you a ring and a matching one for myself so everyone can see you’re mine.’ A palm shows itself from behind the small of the back to grab the left wrist and trace over the second-to-last digit. ‘To wear on this finger.’
‘You’d do that?’
‘Yes.’ The breathless chuckle is strangely melancholic yet delighted, the curious combination taking over demeanour entirely. ‘Yes, of course. Anything to keep you with me.’ The mere embrace suddenly turns into an inescapable hug, broad shoulders blocking out the world that wants to be temporarily forgotten. ‘I want you with me, only you. Please, stay with me. Here.’ The nose often kissed in the morning or cheekily out of sight of the publishing house staff nuzzles the side of the neck, whispering against the warm skin. ‘I want you to move in.’
‘Is that a wish or a command? I’m my own person, you know?’ The weak attempt at humour is seemingly appreciated, Chan tangibly chuckling before sighing in relief when being kissed on the top of the head. 
‘There she is, there’s my good clever girl.’ Foreheads come to rest against each other once more in the air scented by whatever remains of dinner, perspiration and our perfumes combined, creating a weird musky howbeit fruity undertone. The chin is lifted by a curled finger after calmly being put to rest against the wall instead of being fully at the mercy of the writer’s engraved arms. ‘But you know very well what I mean, young lady.’
‘I do,’ fingertips bashfully run over the side of the storyteller’s neck, leaving behind a growling trail of anticipating goosebumps before rising to comb through pale strands, ‘sir.’
‘Don’t.’ 
A peck. 
‘Tease.’ 
A kiss. 
‘Me like that.’ 
Lip caught between teeth. 
And freed once having clearly asserted dominance. ‘I’m yours.’ Although the inquiring peck on the cheek does not partake in the sensual teasing but is severe in character. ‘And you’re mine?’
Catching on to the need for credibility, the erotic novelist acknowledges it while sweetly yet sincerely murmuring. ‘Entirely yours. Not just in stories or audios, in real life as well. As long as possible, until we no longer breathe. This I promise.’
And thus this part of our tale ends, the fragment of the middle part leading to the end.
Of that which ink cannot fully capture on paper, in sounds or on skin.
Withal, it is not necessary because we have each other for inspiration and retellings.
Musing.
In love.
In medias res. 
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shemakesmusic-uk · 4 years ago
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This segment features artists who have submitted their tracks/videos to She Makes Music. If you would like to be featured here then please send an e-mail to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!
With What Eyes
With What Eyes are duo Phoebe and Callista, an indie-pop act formed at Oxford University by two English girls who have been friends since childhood. Harmonising down the school corridors as soprano and alto, playing for the orchestra as clarinetist and violinist, and trumping their peers in Battle of the Bands, they had a very collaborative musical upbringing which they were determined to continue after they arrived at our academic focused University. They started out on the Oxford and London open mic scene with a simple folky sound infused with classical and choral influences from their school days. Today, piano and harmony continue to be the foundation of their music, yet their style has developed substantially over the last year. With What Eyes’ EP Coral Moon debuts these poppier inclinations. Written, recorded and produced by just the two of them, they are always endeavouring to stretch ther sound and add instrumental and electronic depth to their music. ‘Dragonfly’, Coral Moon’s lead single, was picked up by BBC Introducing and aired by the BBC with an artists profile. “Our focus is on creating sensitive, thoughtful lyrical pop with eclectic production choices, flirting with multiple genres whilst remaining distinctly 'With What Eyes’,” the duo say. “We are entirely self-sufficient, writing, recording and producing everything ourselves. The song ‘Dragonfly’ is about dancing by yourself, and being at one with nature - something we’ve been doing a lot of since the UK’s lockdown.” Listen below.
With What Eyes · Dragonfly
V!V
On October 2 emerging Chicago based recording artist Viv Badynee aka V!V kindly graced our eardrums with the release of her new single ‘Sun x Moon.’ Speaking about ‘Sun x Moon,’ a song Viv wrote in collaboration with her producer CBVB (who happens to be her dad), she explains, “It’s essentially about two people that just can’t figure out how to connect (social media be damned!). Or maybe it’s just one person that can’t seem to figure it out. The first lyric I came up with while I was in the shower became the chorus. I was feeling excited for an upcoming date that never happened due to, let’s say ‘a miscommunication’. I started singing a little rhyme comparing us to the sun and moon and how hard he was to reach. I thought to myself, ‘damn, it’s like I need to wait for an eclipse to make this happen!’ Thus a song was born.” The track is a deft mix of Alt-R&B leaning pop with blissed out bedroom beats contrasted by darker distorted elements that’d make Tyler, the Creator proud. Listen below.
V!V · Sun x Moon
Sister Echo
Sister Echo grew up in Essex, and went on to live in London for ten years. She played open mic nights every week and did as much music stuff as she could. “Eventually I had to get a boring adult job and music took a major backseat,” she says. “I just recently moved back to my family home in Essex during this crazy pandemic and have re found my passion and desire to write and record! So, I’m making an e.p in my bedroom and I feel like a teenager again... it’s great haha. I love grunge and soul and trip- hop. I’m obsessed with singers and anyone who puts their balls into a song. I’m especially obsessed with powerful women and their voices.” Sister Echo’s latest single is ‘Tokyo Konveni’. She explains: “The song stems from the idea of control in a relationship. Not in a negative way, more just an exploration of control, and the way society assumes men should be one way and women another. It’s a playful look at one part of the relationship being in total control. I wanted the words to paint a picture which is why I talk about watching me dance and move. It’s just a vibe you know!” Listen below.
Eunice Keitan
Eunice Keitan's soulful voice makes a big impression on listeners. Both her international upbringing and her eclectic music background show in this Canadian singer-songwriter's work which mixes R&B/Acoustic Soul and World Folk influences. While traveling and moving often with her family in simple circumstances throughout her childhood, Eunice noticed the everyday people and their often harsh realities, struggles which impacted her perception of social issues at play in the lives of people around the world. That impact surfaces in the themes of many of her songs, where she explores mental health, social inequality and social change. The songwriter's latest offering, ‘Standing With You’ is an uplifting anthem of hope and solidarity that makes a bold and moving statement for a better future of true justice and equality. Eunice expains: "Five days after the death of George Floyd, during the emotional protests and social unrest that followed, I began writing my new single, ‘Standing With You.’ During this period, I read a pamphlet that was circulated immediately after the lynching of Emmett Till. It felt eerily like it was written yesterday and got me thinking. I began asking a lot of questions about what really needs to happen so that we can stop repeating this same cycle of hate and injustice over and over. The seeds of what would become ‘Standing With You’ were sown as I considered these issues. The message of this song is one of empathy and solidarity. It is a promise to do better and the hope that if we can move forward together as one, we can see real changes."
Eunice Keitan · Standing With You
LORE CITY
Lore City is an American art rock duo formed in 2011 and currently based in Portland, Oregon. Band members include Laura Mariposa Williams (vocals, keyboard, guitar) and Eric Angelo Bessel (percussion, keyboard, guitar). They met in 2003 as peers in the College of Visual & Performing Arts at Syracuse University. Reconnecting years later, Laura and Eric formed Lore City in 2011 and married shortly after that. Alchemical Task is the third studio album from the Art Rock duo. It’s been six years since their last release, Kill Your Dreams, and subsequent move to Portland, Oregon. The band’s sound combines elements of Psych Rock, Post-Rock, and Dream Pop. Listen to the album below.
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voiceofghilannain · 4 years ago
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The Voice of Ghilan’nain: Introduction to my Blog
My beloved subjects: This is my first post on this blog so I will take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Gerasimos (though Jerry is what I usually introduce myself as out of courtesy, as both my name and surname sound like gibberish to most people). I’m a 23-year-old male biology student currently studying in Greece, and an aspiring entrepreneur with quite a long way ahead until I make that dream come true.
Before I introduce you to this blog, I would like to say a few more words about myself. I am a firm believer in education (scientific, technological, and financial) and I do enjoy learning new things, especially if they can be used to solve problems. I am interested in astronomy, biology with emphasis on plant biology, game design, and video game art. I also enjoy walking outdoors, cooking, relaxing at a beach while stargazing, talking about politics and money, teasing the cat (my friend, not the feline pet) and playing video games. 
In regards to the latest subject, Bioware’s Mass Effect was the first RPG game I ever played. Though it took me a year to appreciate it due to its lackluster gameplay and limited weapon options, I eventually managed to see it for what it was rather than what I wanted it to be. I played through the trilogy with a dictionary next to me as my English skills were laughable back then. It was through Mass Effect and later Halo that I built my English skills, with the later giving me the opportunity to be part of a great community filled with incredible members such as Haruspis, Covenant Canon, HiddenXperia, LateNightGaming, and Halo Canon. I also had my ride as part of the Halo Archive community, with wonderful discussions and theories throughout the years, and I was fortunate enough to watch the community grow from 40 to over 2000 members and survive several crises until its eventual collapse. During the three or so years that I was part of the Halo Archive (known there as Faber of Will and Might), I got to see video games as far more than just games and develop a passion for delving deep into the lore of video game franchises and their extended media. It is for this reason, that I would like to take a moment and thank every member of the Halo Archive for the incredible conversations and debates we had during that time and particularly Haruspis, whose incredible analyses partially inspired me to start this endeavour (You can visit his blog by clicking here: https://haruspis.blog).
It was during the end of my first year at University that I got into tabletop gaming, but it took several years for me to discover the existence of Dragon Age. Eventually, both the release of disappointing games, like Halo 5: Guardians and Mass Effect Andromeda, and toxic fans caused my interest in these franchises to wane and the Halo Archive to fade. This caused me to search for new franchisees to fall in love with and this is how I got into the world of Dragon Age, starting with Inquisition. THE Dragon Age Setting is currently my favourite fantasy setting and the reason I started making “my own” tabletop RPG for it in order to play Inquisition with my friends. I used the quotation marks in the previous sentence because I started by homebrewing for the Official Tabletop DA RPG with each update and homebrew rule making it more and more distinct from the RPG it derived from and pushing it closer to the feel of the games, with mechanics like Barrier, Guard, Status Effects, Critical Hits, the addition of several dozen warrior, rogue and mage abilities and spells, the removal of the stunt mechanic, the introduction of sustained abilities and many more features.
I have always found Medieval English themed settings and happy worlds boring and dull. I don’t see fiction as escapism from problems but as an opportunity to do things I would normally be unable to do, such as setting foot on alien worlds, standing against the Covenant as they kill billions in their genocidal campaign or simply playing as an elf that throws fireballs at sleeping targets in the midsts of a death cloud and then paralyzing them or scaring them to death by casting Horror. Due to my bias against the classic medieval fantasy setting, Ferelden is the least interesting part of the Dragon Age setting for me. I do enjoy the extravagant gold and blue themes of Orlais, the Necropolis of Nevarra, the villainous city of Kirkwall, the Blighted Anderfels, the decadent Rome/Byzantium inspired Tevinter cities, the war-torn Seheron, the pirate heaven of Estwatch, the exotic Rivain and Par Vollen, the assassin filled Antiva and the mystery of the tainted Black City far more than the mostly bland Ferelden. It is thanks to these locations and their stories that, for me, Thedas trumps any setting with a million races each worth half a page of text or settings made for adventurers that go on a killing spree to get rich within a fixed world that refuses to change.
Thedas is a continent that never stops changing. Old feuds are resolved and new conflicts emerge. Racism, blood magic, squandering nobles, the blight and other horrors make the life of most people in the setting a challenge at best and a nightmare at worst. Within the span of three games, the setting has changed dramatically and the world has moved forward. Thedas is thus very different from what it used to be when Dragon Age Origins released. Being dynamic and reacting to player choice is a very important aspect of the setting, which is both a testament to Bioware’s own talent and the setting’s innate simplicity.
Thedas’ richness doesn’t derive from an army of races or from endless classes and deities, but from its smaller scale, with fewer races and emphasis on the dynamics between their societies and the struggles that various groups, societies, scholars, nations and individuals face. With fewer things in the setting, there is more room for them to be fleshed out and explored in depth. Furthermore, Thedas has a rich history, exposed to players mostly via codex entries written from an in-universe perspective. This allows events to be portrayed differently depending on whose perspective they have been witnessed by, encourages fan discussions and theories, turns new contradicting information into a quest for the truth that often results in revisiting old passages and finding new meanings after certain revelations. Unlike most fictional universes, Dragon Age’s lore takes effort to extract and while this might not be for everyone it has kept the community far more engaged and alive throughout the years.
Thedas is a land full of mysteries filled with danger. The Horror of Hormak, the Black City and the Blights, the Old Gods, Arlathan, the curse of Nahar, the Pyramids of Par Vollen, the Kossith, the ships from beyond the Volca Sea, the Executors, the history of the Dwarves, the Second Sin, the Cekorax and many more are all shrouded by the element of the unknown, which drives the curiosity, fear, dread, nostalgia and most feelings associated with them. It is elements like these that make me want to write about and share with others stories set in this world, whether official or my own.
Thus, after several months of thinking about it, I decided to create my own blog about Dragon Age. The Voice of Ghilan’nain is a blog named after my favourite Elven Goddess, Ghilan’nain, with me acting as an echo of her guiding voice through the world of Thedas. Just like She focused on creation, so will this blog focus on the things that can be, the transformation of what exists and the discussion of content that many people don’t talk about, navigating through the darkest, deepest and most obscure parts of the lore in search of stories, characters, creatures and their potential, expressing it either through my analyses or through attempts at poetry and short story writing. I will also make some posts that serve as feedback for Bioware on issues regarding gameplay mechanics, UI and story and if people are willing I can provide a few builds or ideas for DMs who want to introduce their friends to the world of Thedas through tabletop gaming. With that said, I hope you enjoy reading my future posts and I am looking forward to your feedback, suggestions and comments.
And now the melody begins, calling you to the depths of darkness:
Na melana sah’lin, La mala suledin nadas. Vir’enfenim ghilana Sulevin’an. Ma garas mir renan La ir las mir enansal.
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aviewfromtheclouds25 · 5 years ago
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Tell me your other theories on his return. I’m intrigued if you say it all fits together.
What’s you feelings on a reunion in the future? How would it happen?
Oh don’t be intrigued haha! That was really just in terms of the Luke aspect (because he has to have a bigger purpose, because otherwise his introduction and role in this storyline is such an utterly perplexing choice even for the current state of ED) and the timeframe, in that I expect Luke to have some knowledge which he’ll reveal eventually - not any time soon, because Aaron needs to spiral (and breakdown please) and he can’t even start that until he stops suppressing his feelings and distracting himself with Cain’s drama etc (all the while Vic and Luke will be progressing I imagine) - and this could help to change Robert’s sentence from murder to manslaughter, or even the original GBH with intent, and therefore shorten his sentence. So with time served, Robert could be out a fair bit sooner (how much, I don’t know) than the 14 years he was given… Which just helps me reaffirm to myself that half the reason they gave Robert the longer sentence in the first place (aside from the plot of tearing him away from Aaron obviously) is because ED are prepared to wait a few years to see if Ryan wants to return. With the potential of being able to change the charge and sentence, it means their options are relatively open for the time being to see how things develop both on and off screen. (If I’m wrong, just let me stay here please.)
I don’t have any fully-fledged theories yet, it’s a bit too soon for that! All I have at the mo are vague thoughts which aren’t that exciting… I’ve seen quite a bit of talk about “affair 2.0” but I have to admit I’m personally not interested in seeing that. Because 1) The drama and angst and intensity of the original affair just could never be emulated again, even by the very same and always amazing Ryan and Danny! 2) How would nobody pick up on it this time? 3) The whole point of everything that happened in 2017 and the creation of “Robron 2.0” was that their marriage has been built on far more solid foundations than those forged during their affair, and I would hate for all the progress they made together to be taken backwards. 4) It is madness to me that anyone could even contemplate that if Aaron is with another dude (if ahem), that he wouldn’t just drop him as quick as Alex the incompetent doc in that club. Regardless of whether he was prepared to take Robert back or not, if the love of his life has returned, I just don’t see any potential new guy sticking around. (Unless there’s a plot.) (I also say all of this in the hope that no new guy becomes serious or long-term.)
I’d like the reunion 3.0 to be dramatic and angsty, but at the same time I want it to be true to Robron and where they were in their life together before they were torn apart. I don’t know that I can really form any theories on what I expect to happen so soon after Robert’s gone (I love that he’s been gone a week and all we can all talk about is when he comes back haha), but I can offer you a vision of what I personally would quite like..? :P
So I have no clue on the timescale - I guess that depends on Ryan! :P I always thought Vic would be the natural choice (for the show, not me haha) to bring Robert home, but then @nooneelsecomesclose17’s post put the image of Jimmy greeting Robert outside that prison in my head and now I can’t unsee it (nor would I want to, it’s genius). So I’ve decided to tie that image to a long-held dream of mine…
So in this dream Aaron will have signed the divorce papers once he’s finished spiralling because we need wedding 3.0 obviously, but in his heart he still won’t have given up on being reunited with Robert some day. So I’d like him to spend much of the time Robert’s locked up doing things which remind him of Robert and help him feel closer to him - things like ripping people off, scamming them and trying to get his hands on Home Farm. Because my old dream which I think I’ve covered before (although probably just in my tags haha) was for Robron and the Kings to own Home Farm together; for it to become the hub of Home James once more, for the sheer comedy of having these two power couples and their chaotic families getting under each others’ feet, making it more relevant to the rest of the village than the house on the hill with its panto villains, and for it to actually become a home. So in terms of this new dream, I would have Aaron and Jimmy team up on this endeavour - and they’re actually the only ones left from that original portacabin quartet! So Aaron because he needs a goal and a focus and if it’s one in which he feels more connected to Robert then even better, and Jimmy because Nicola is always going to be up for improving their lot. I also quite like the idea of Aaron being able to do what Robert never could, and I have no idea who will be at Home Farm x amount of years down the line but if it was still the Tates (although could we at least get rid of Kim + co. and bring back Joe instead?) then I would be delighted to see the Kings take it all from them once more! :P
So I would have Aaron and Jimmy very close to achieving their goal by the time Robert is about to be released. And because Robert still hasn’t had any contact with his family and is nervous about how they’ll feel towards him, who does he contact? Jimmy! And Jimmy of course is a great oaf and would immediately let it slip to Aaron. And regardless of what’s passed, I think Aaron would have some understanding and empathy of how daunting and overwhelming it would be for Robert to return to the village after so long of complete isolation, from the world and from the people who are his world… So he and Jimmy would hatch a plan…
Cue Jimmy driving Robert back to the village, chewing his ear off or “pecking his head”, when they suddenly happen to “break down” in the lay-by… Robert would get out of the car to get away from Jimmy’s incessant talking and because it’s obviously a small confined space, but then he would realise where they actually were and become overwhelmed by that too - and since this is my dream world, they would treat us to another little montage of memories to come full circle from that too! :P Meanwhile, Jimmy would be “phoning for a mechanic” before joining Robert outside because he might be an oaf, but he cares… And then much quicker than it should be, Aaron of course turns up. So then he would step out of the car and we would get the delightful combination of intense Robron eye contact and a very obviously awkward Jimmy… And because it’s still my favourite thing, I would like a wordless embrace with alllll the emotions similar to when Aaron was released. At which point Jimmy would clumsily make himself scarce and drive off (in the vehicle which very obviously had not broken down, bless).
So then we’d be left with an awkward, tense Robron because neither of them know what happens next, only how good it feels to be even breathing the same air again… Perhaps at this stage Aaron would be in some kind of relationship (because he tried to convince himself he had to “move on” and because I might be able to accept it for a few weeks if I have the guarantee that Robert’s on his way home already :P), so we’d obviously get a conversation with a lot of callbacks and then Aaron would just dump that chestnut in there and we’d get something along the lines of; R: So why are you still here? A: You know. [But Robert doesn’t respond. Unsure of what Aaron is saying, he waits.] A: Because I love you, that’s why. I never stopped. And they can both be emotional, not knowing the next step, so Aaron could fill the silence with some quip about also needing to give Robert a lift home now Jimmy’s gone which Rob, bless him, wouldn’t even have noticed. And then Robert and I would both be left pondering what exactly Aaron means by “home”. But on the journey home, Robert will find his watch in the car (yeah, I’m really going with that old theme and sentiment of the cars here!)…
Beyond that I would have Aaron finish with this new dude and then for him to have a proper conversation with Robert about where they stand, once Robert’s started adjusting to the outside world again. And in this conversation we’d see that they’ve both been hardened by everything that’s happened since Robert went away, that Robert in particular has some issues he needs to work through before they even contemplate what the future might look like for them, but I’d want Aaron to tell Robert that line “I’ll wait for you. ‘Til you’re ready.“  And then I’d like them to embark on friendship…3.0?…with Aaron being supportive to Robert and helping him through the process of adjusting back into normality after x years of total isolation on that island. (The phrase "no man is an island” would definitely come into play with all of this, especially with Robert having cut all lines of communication.) And gradually they’d grow closer, and I’d be reliving the good old days of “It’s going to happen soon! It has to happen soon!” :P Meanwhile, Aaron and Jimmy would have one last big job to do to have the means to get Home Farm and naturally Aaron would have told Robert all about the scheme. So Robert would want in on this last stretch but Aaron would put his foot down, reminding Robert that if it all went wrong he’d end up back inside. But if Aaron’s getting mixed up with dodgy people and risking his life, there is absolutely no way Robert is going to listen to that of course. So he gets involved and the two of them help Jimmy escape before they themselves get stuck in some life-and-death situation and acknowledge that they absolutely cannot live without each other ever again. They both live, the dodgy people either get carted off to jail or die by their own ends (I have no specifics on the deadly situation, you know), and we get settled for wedding 3.0 and years more of Robron…
This is a ramble which serves absolutely no purpose except to distract me from the current Robert-less situation, so if you actually committed to reading all of this, I’m sorry haha!
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callumhumphreys · 5 years ago
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INTERVIEW: BRYAN SHUTMAAT FOR TRESPASSER
Callum Humphreys: Hi Bryan, firstly, thanks for taking the time to speak with me. Can you start by giving anyone who’s reading an overview of Trespasser?
Bryan Schutmaat: Trespasser is a small, independent art book publisher based in Austin, Texas that was founded in 2017 by Matthew Genitempo, Cody Haltom, and me, Bryan Schutmaat.
CH: What inspired you to start Trespasser?
BS: Before launching Trespasser, Matthew and I had talked for a couple years about starting an imprint together. He and I have really similar taste and passions, and we wanted to see books made that might have less of a chance to be made with established art book publishers. When the opportunity arose to publish my short book, Good Goddamn, we decided to make the imprint a reality, and we recruited Cody Haltom, a brilliant designer, to join us on the endeavour.
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CH: I come from a graphic design background and one thing that instantly jumps out to me is the construction of your books. They mix DIY / zine elements like staple binding, with high-end offset printing and foil stamping. Do you think these design decisions enrich the experience or enhance the books narrative?
BS: Yes, that’s our hope. The design, materials, and all further considerations put into our books are meant to reflect the narrative, meaning, and emotional atmospheres within. As objects, we think photobooks need to honor the images and the stories we’re telling as best as possible. Regarding some of the stylistic choices you mention, Matthew and I grew up skating and listening to punk, which might account for the DIY/zine elements - maybe an outlook and aesthetic that stayed with us after youth Cody compliments that with what he brings forth in terms of layout, typography, an acute attention to detail, and so on. I think it amounts to books that feel somewhat against the grain yet don’t sacrifice great printing and overall quality.
CH: Congratulations on your newest publication ‘Polar Night’ (Mark Mahaney 2019) it seems to have been met with universal praise. Polar night, similar to many books in your back catalogue seems to touch upon themes of isolation, anxiety and the interaction we have within our landscape. This type of ‘documentary’ photography has almost become a genre in itself. Is this the kind of work you are actively seeking to publish through Trespasser?
BS: I don’t think we’re trying to push that kind of work necessarily. We’ve only collaborated with close friends on our projects so far, and perhaps the themes you notice might just be shared interests among a small friend/artist group. I like that all of our publications up to now have a sense of cohesion, but we’re also eager to branch out and tell different stories.
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CH: In an age where sharing work, ideas and opinion is instantaneous, what role do you think the photobook plays in modern photography?
BS: I have a bit of spiel about this. I think photobooks are the saviours of photographic meaning in an era when we are constantly bombarded by the ubiquity of images and digital media. There’s a torrent of content everywhere we look, and most of it adds no significance or benefit to our lives, aside from being momentarily stimulating. They quickly disintegrate into the abyss. But a good photobook can transcend this meaninglessness and function like work of literature. A book is physical and lasting. It slows you down. It can convey profound concepts, engaging narratives, and unique points of view.
CH: Can narratives or ideas be shared in the same way on social media as they can in photobooks?
BS: No, I don’t think so. On this topic, I often reference a great video of David Lynch, which can be found on Youtube, talking about how sad it is that people think they’ve seen a film when they’ve watched it on an iPhone. “You'll think you have experienced it, but you'll be cheated,” he says, “It's such a sadness that you think you've seen a film on your fucking telephone. Get real.” I think it’s the same with photobooks. There’s no way the attributes of photobooks - their tactile characteristics, mechanics, poetic nature, etc - can be equalled on a computer screen, especially a tiny mobile device with a three-inch screen. There are some interesting ways media is evolving on bigger screens - desk/lap tops and iPads, etc - but I still think books win out every time.
CH: Do you think the resurgence in the popularity of film, and its tactile nature, has played a role in keeping physical prints and books alive?
BS: I think it goes hand in hand to some degree. These days, people spend so much of their lives in a digital world -- working, communicating, shopping, banking, etc -- that I think a part of us yearns for something tangible. To me, this explains why photographic film is resurging, as well as music on vinyl, photobooks, and other things analog. Digital tech has conquered a lot of our lives, but for some people, maintaining a relationship with physical objects has value.
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CH: Is there any advice you can give to someone who is interested in publishing a long-term body of work in book form - For example, knowing when to draw a line in the sand and consider it ‘finished’ (if there is such a thing)?
BS: It’s important to keep in mind that great photos are what make great photobooks, so it’s crucial for photographers to put their energy into their body of work foremost. The photobook is the reward for the work after completion.
The question about when to consider a project finished was recently asked of me in the recent released Aperture book, Photo Work, edited by Sasha Wolf. I hope you won’t mind if I recycle that answer: “What’s the cliché? A work of art is never finished, only abandoned. With the kind of work I do, I could shoot forever, trying to improve the photos or tweak the edit or just fuck with things endlessly. But life is short, and at some point you have to say, ‘Ok, this is enough.’ If you feel the subject matter isn’t thoroughly explored after the completion of a project, then you can always go shoot the same kind of stuff in the future.”
CH: Do you have 3 book recommendations that helped shape you as a photographer, whether classics or more recent works.
BS: It’s so obvious, but The Americans by Robert Frank is the godfather of photobooks and sort of touches everything that comes after it, so it has shaped me without question. Truck Stop by Marc F Wise is a much lesser known book, but I came across early on and it helped to ignited my interest in everyday America and the subject matter I came to shoot. Laura McPhee’s River of No Return is a book I fell in love with early on as well, and it probably shaped my vision in untold ways in terms of its content and the sensitive, poetic way she conveys her subjects.
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That said, I like these books because of the astonishing photos inside, not necessarily because of what the books are themselves as aesthetic objects. I think a new standard has been set in recent years in regard to design and physical characteristics of photobooks, so if I were to choose books that have shaped me as a publisher, it would be a different selection.
CH: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, is there anything else you would like the readers to know about Trespasser?
BS: We don’t do a newsletter at this time or have much of an online presence outside Instagram, so that’s the best way to keep up with us, @trespasserbooks. 
See more of trespassers work here:https://www.instagram.com/trespasserbooks/
Bryan Shutmaat here: https://www.instagram.com/bryanschutmaat/?hl=en
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