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missskzbiased · 4 years ago

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I Hate That I’m Afraid to Love You (17)

Genre: Romance, Friendship, Angst, Hurt /Confort , Suggestive, Fluff, College Au, Enemies to Friends to Lovers Au, REALLY Slow burn, Love Square (?)

Pairing: Hyunjin X Fem!Reader X Han X OC

WC: ~ 7,5,K

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Masterlist

Warnings (general*): Language, Mentions of (Physical abuse, Death/ Loss of Loved One, Child Abandonment/Neglect, Divorce, Toxic Parents, Cancer, Mental disorder, Anxiety Attack, Alcohol, Food), Suggestiveness

Notes: It’s Hyunjin’s Pov. I got to finish chapter 18 today. Probably gonna try to write some of 19 later. I’m posting earlier just because I’m really tired and I’m afraid I might be too sleepy later LOL

Updates: Tuesdays

////

HYUNJIN’S POV

You were being ridiculous.

You crossed your legs, sighing as you stared at both cups in your hands in wonder. Why would you be sitting on a bench on a Monday morning with two cups of coffee ─ well, actually one cup of black coffee and one of iced Americano ─ if not to wait for someone? It was so painfully obvious that for a second you thought about throwing them away in the trash and acting as if you weren’t a… You didn’t even know how you should be calling yourself now.

You scowled, getting up from the bench and heading to the closest trash bin, settled in assuming your usual fuckboy façade to try to approach Y/N. Why would you act differently now? It wasn’t like you loved her or something… Maybe you were a little bit infatuated by the fact that she could listen and understand you better than anyone else –

See? That kind of awfully awful thought… You should be ashamed.

You kinda were.

“Hey” Yeah… Of course, she would see and talk to you at the exact same moment you were about to throw coffee away for absolutely no reason. You exhaled slowly, closing your eyes to recompose yourself before turning around with a smug smile.

“Hey” You offered back in a husky tone.

“Did you scratch your throat or something?” She asked in confusion, frowning as she stared at your neck “You sound… I don’t know… Kinda different?” She said unsurely, hands trailing to her own throat and massaging it mindlessly.

Great… Exactly the reaction you wanted.

“Oh, no!” You cleared your throat, massaging it as well “I bought these drinks and I drank yours by mistake” You explained, handing her the cup. She narrowed her eyes at you, studying you closely before reaching for it.

“Thanks…” She said warily “What’s the occasion?” She asked, tilting her head, eyes wandering around your face before she sipped the coffee, humming in appreciation “This is really good!” She raised her brows in surprise, shifting her gaze to the cup.

“Well, I stopped by a café to buy some for me on my way here, and… Well, I remembered you have an exam today, right?” You smiled at her, knowing far too well that what you just said was bullshit “I thought you could use some real coffee today” You shrugged.

“I don’t have an exam today…” She frowned, holding the cup with both hands as she thought about it.

You fought back a smile, watching as she scrunched her nose and tried to figure out what was going on; lips slightly projected forward in something close to a pout but not quite. The way she held the cup with both hands made her look smaller than usual, and for some reason, you found it incredibly endearing. There was something soft spreading in your chest, some kind of warmth that made you want to wrap her in your arms and squeeze her but you ignored it.

Y/N wasn’t the cute little type… She would hit you for sure if you tried to do anything similar to this. You were yet to understand how she didn’t just kill you after the fake kiss at the stairs… You were lucky as fuck. She raised her eyes to you in question, making you gulp down. You had those eyes so close to yours… That nose brushing against yours… Those lips…

“You don’t? I must have heard it wrong then” You lied, sipping your drink mindlessly. Or at least, you hoped she thought all of it was natural and unplanned “Well, you like coffee anyway…” You shrugged, glancing at her as you walked together towards the stairs “Consider it a friendship treat” She hummed, nodding in mock acknowledgment.

“Why does it sound like a poor excuse to buy me something?” She laughed, nudging your side “It’s awesome to have two rich friends to pay for my stuff” She joked, taking another gulp of her coffee “I guess this one is pretty good because it doesn’t even feel like grumpy o’clock anymore” You laughed at this, smirking at her.

“Maybe it’s not the coffee but my company” You said suggestively, wiggling your brows at her, making her chuckle, “Or it could be the sugar” You said playfully, grinning when she took the bait.

“Not really, those from the stands are usually really sweet… This one is actually way more bitter than I’m used to” She admitted “But it’s g—“ You didn’t even let her finish.

“Oh? So you’re saying you prefer sweet things?” You could tell she knew you were about to make some silly input just by the way she arched her brow in expectation “If you want some more sugar, I can be your Sugar Daddy, you know?” You joked, fighting back your laughter as she grimaced at you, huffing.

“Really?” She couldn’t help but chuckle “That must have been the worst pick up line you have said in your whole life” She pointed out, grimace dissolving into a playful expression “You’re too young to be my sugar daddy, though” She reminded you, shaking her head in amusement.

“I can be your honey, then” You chortled when she choked on her coffee, pushing your shoulder lightly as she looked at you astonished.

“Oh my God… You’re a compulsive flirter, what the hell!” She whined, wiping her mouth “How can you come and show your face when you’re like this?!” She asked dumbfounded, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Did you look at my face? There is nothing to be ashamed of here” You joked, and she grimaced again in mocking disgust “Come on! You love me just like this” You said in a singsong “You said so yourself” You reminded her, making her snort.

“I do love you just like this” She agreed, offering you a small smile that made your heart flutter for a second “The amount of self-esteem oozing out of your ass is going to be my thesis’ theme, so I have to love it” You rolled your eyes when her small smile dissolved into a mocking one “I may even get a prize… I don’t think someone ever saw something as big as this” She joked, making you snort.

You opened your mouth to retort her but she beat you to it.

“Please… No comments about your dick and your hook-ups” She pleaded, furrowing her brows at you in disgust.

“Hey, I wasn’t going to say something like this!” You protested, even though it did cross your mind “I was going to smoothly change the subject to the book I couldn’t finish reading because I had to save Han’s ass that day” You threw her your best condescending smile, getting a knowing mumble as an answer.

“ I see… So you want the juicy gossip” She mocked, making you roll your eyes “I have the book back if that’s what you want… But the coffee and that not so smooth change of the subject make me think that you want to know more” She smirked.

“Not really” You shrugged, though you really wanted to know, “I just want the book back so I can finally finish it” You lied, and she nodded, clearly not buying your words “I mean it” You tried to emphasize your fake intentions but she just rolled her eyes.

“What do you wanna know?” She asked bluntly, stopping to rummage through her bag before handing you the book “We’re okay now… He needs more time and I’m okay with it” She summarized, zipping her bag close “Everything is fine and I’m late for my classes” She chuckled, hoisting the bag over her shoulder.

“So… He talked to you like an actual human being?” You sneered, and she threw you a look before sighing.

“Yes… He made a good point, to be honest” She giggled, remembering something from their conversation “He was afraid to talk to me about needing more time because he knew I’d go and try to convince him otherwise” She seemed to find it funny “Anyway… He has a lot to deal with right now, and I can wait for him to act normal again” She shrugged.

“I see…” You pursed your lips, patting the book’s cover distractedly “And what about Paris? She told me she kinda confessed to him…” You cleared your throat, trying to change the subject again.

She narrowed her eyes at you, suspicious of your question.

////

The book was good but that wasn’t the only reason for you to be here.

You looked around the library, trying to find an inner excuse to be here apart from returning the book to Y/N, but finding nothing interesting enough. You leaned on the counter, waiting for her to show up as you mindlessly flipped through the pages, clearing your throat to see if you could catch her attention on the back. As much as you felt ridiculous doing things like this, there you were acting like a needy crushing boy…

What goes around comes around.

Would you even imagine that one day you would be trying to catch someone’s attention instead of simply having it on your own terms? No. You wouldn’t. You could just return the book to her tomorrow ─ when you would see her in class anyway ─ but you choose to come to the library on a Thursday afternoon just to do it… Someone should be stopping you from being… A Han or something.

Ugh.

“Oh!” She blurted when she came back to the counter, looking at you with curious eyes “What are you doing here?” She asked interested, suddenly frowning and seeming to think deeply “Shouldn’t you wait like… I don’t know some weeks to break up yet?” She seemed genuinely confused by your presence, and you found it too amusing.

“Can’t I come here to visit a friend?” You teased, arching your brow as you failed to fight back your smile.

“I mean- Well, yeah…” She floundered, clearing her throat “It’s kinda unexpected” She admitted, chuckling “Not even Chan comes to visit me in here and he actually likes to read” She joked, and you leaned on her way, resting your chin on your palm as you smirked at her.

“Well, maybe you should pick me instead” You suggested, looking into her eyes with your best alluring look but the girl seemed to be built to ignore all your charms.

“You wish” She snorted “At least, Chan doesn’t jokingly flirt with me all the time!” She rolled her eyes, bumping your nose playfully before organizing some books on a desk behind her.

“Neither do I” You said sincerely but she laughed dismissively.

Well, you weren’t jokingly flirting with her… She was just too dense.

“Anyway!” You shrugged off, placing the book on the counter with a thud “I’m here to give it back to you” You smiled at her as she glanced over her shoulders “I’ve finished it and I hate to admit it but you were right… It’s really good” And you weren’t just saying it.

“Oh? Better than your drama?” She taunted, grinning mischievously.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself” You grimaced at her, making her giggle “But I was wondering… Do you have any more indications? I may have liked it enough to read some more…” You muttered, and she smiled knowingly at you.

“I always have some good indications!” She chirped “I knew you would like it! We have a section here that is filled with books that might be of your liking… Do you want to check them out?” She asked excitedly, and you had to fight back the urge to coo at her.

She was too cute for her own good.

“Well… Why not?” You shrugged as if you weren’t interested at all “I can help you out with those” You gestured to the books pile behind her “And then you can show me this section… Maybe I’ll find something I like” She smiled at you, picking up the books and placing them on the counter for you to have access to them.

“Sounds great!” She said, studying you from head to toes “And kinda suspicious too…” She narrowed her eyes, a grin plastering on her face “First you buy me coffee and then you help me out with my work? Spill the beans” She said teasingly, and you looked at her with unimpressed eyes.

“If Chan was the one doing it… Would you find it suspicious?” You asked, arching your brow at her “You’ve been saying I’m too flirty and all that… But I’m beginning to think that you like to think I’m flirting with you, Y/N” You smiled condescendingly at her, tilting your head in a silent mockery.

“I didn’t say you were flirting with me now” She pointed out, grimacing at you judgingly “I said you were being suspicious” She reiterated “Maybe you’re the one who likes to think I want you to flirt with me, Hyunjin” She sneered, making you scoff as you looked away.

She was a too attentive piece of shit…

How could she be so perfect?

For Lord’s sake… You were wasted.

////

You were lucky enough to not be soaked to the bones.

You walked into the classroom, fingers running through your wet hair in a slow-motion that wasn’t really intended but also not completely unplanned. You didn’t mean to make it an event but what could you do? You knew what people wanted to see. You stopped in front of the board, fixing your hair as you looked at Y/N, licking the drop of water that reached the corner of your lips.

You lifted your chin just a little bit, half-lidded eyes fixing on your friends as you stretch your neck, letting the drops slid down your throat to your covered collarbone. You could hear some gasps around, and the quiet admiration fueled your ego as you shook your head to get rid of some of the water in it. You licked your lips, biting them before making your way to your seat.

You felt Y/N’s eyes on you, lighting up your smugness.

“Morning” You smirked, tilting your head as you threw her a look, eyebrows millimetrically positioned to give off the confident and sexy vibe you were aiming for “How are you today, ladies?” You asked jokingly, taking off your coat.

“Cold” Y/N answered mindlessly, studying you from head to toes.

You chuckled at her ─ making sure your voice sounded husky enough to enhance your attempt to look desirable ─ dusting off your shirt that was half-way opened. You noticed how she fixed her gaze on your bare chest for a second, though you couldn’t really tell what was going through her mind, and you smirked at her as she did. You opened your mouth, ready to tease her about it. The ‘Like what you see?’ almost slipping from your lips.

“Aren’t you feeling cold like this?” She asked in utter confusion “It’s freezing outside…” She added, tilting her head and looking at you as if you had three heads “Didn’t you see it was going to rain today? Do you need a coat? I can ask Chan to pick up something in my room” She offered, and you had to fight all your instincts not to scowl at her.

I can ask Chan to pick up something in my room… Tsk.

Unbelievable.

You glared at Paris as she snorted, looking at you filled with amusement. You grimaced, pretending to laugh along with her before sulking and sitting down. She pinched her nose’s bridge, trying to concentrate enough to not laugh straight to your face. You were surrounded by great friends… You scoffed, shaking your head in disbelief as you buttoned up your shirt.

“What are you talking about, Y/N?” Paris asked playfully “Can’t you see that he’s too hot to be cold?” She mocked you, giving you a teasing look that quickly turned out in a pained one as you stepped on her foot.

“I don’t think that’s how it works” Y/N chuckled, resting her cheek on her palm and leaning forward on her seat to look at both of you.

“Don’t you think he’s hot enough for heating up the room?” She continued her teasing, and you had to breathe deeply not to slap the back of her head.

“You guys are so funny… Ha!Ha!Ha!” You rolled your eyes, huffing.

////

You should thank God for not being a spy.

You couldn’t really say you were doing a good job at hiding your newfound feelings ─ though feelings might be too strong of a word ─ from your friends. It was more than obvious that Chan would find suspicious the fact that you just fucking snapped your head to the mere mention of her name on the phone. So right now ─ as you sat on the couch, back straightened unnaturally ─, his eyes seemed to shoot a hole in your head to search for something in your soul.

“What?” You spat annoyed, trying to cover up for your slip-up with some fed-up manners that were bound to make him go away if you were lucky.

You weren’t.

“What?” He repeated fascinated “I’m the one who should be asking it” He chortled “You almost broke your neck just to pry into my call” He pointed out, brow arching up in suspicion. You pretended not to notice his narrowed eyes and musing; humming before he finally asked it “Hyunjin… Are you into Y/N?” the amusement under his tone was heavy enough to hit you like a brick.

“Please… What is there to like about her?” You scoffed, but Chan didn’t buy it at all. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his back on the counter as he studied you with attentive eyes. You cleared your throat, averting your eyes from him before connecting them again.

“Well… You tell me” He sneered “I wasn’t the one who got hard because she was on my lap” He reminded you; the teasing mixing with contempt as he huffed “I also wasn’t the one who spent weeks fucking random chicks trying to get the idea of fucking her out of my system” You paled at this, the cold sweat getting to your palms.

“I wasn’t trying to –” He interrupted you with a scoff.

“With all due respect… I have known you for years, Hyunjin” He rolled his eyes “You have never once fucked so many girls in a short amount of time like this… And just after you had a boner like a bloody teenager?” He snickered, grimacing at you knowingly “It sounds like someone was trying to prove something to themselves and failed” He tilted his head, challenging you to say otherwise.

“To be fair, I didn’t fail…” You muttered grumpily “It was all good until she talked with me…” You were fully aware that you weren’t making any sense, grumbling like a kid that had just been separated from their toy.

“Care to enlighten me?” He smirked.

Yes, I do! Fuck off…

This is none of your business!

What do you have to do with it? Are you her boyfriend?

“There isn’t much to tell…” You answered instead, shrugging at him “I realized that we have more in common than I thought… And it felt good to be listened to and have someone who understands me…” You cleared your throat “I was pretty much convinced that it was just a thirsty episode after…” You hummed, trying to search for a good word “That week…” You trailed off.

“So you actually fucked her out of your mind” He chuckled, finding it funny the way you tried to be polite about it now.

“Yeah…” You agreed embarrassed “And then she started to go after Han and it got me really mad because… Well, you know” You rolled your eyes “She was trying to make it all better and he was treating her like shit and…” You glanced at him uncertain but as his smirk dissolved into a serious expression, you knew he had understood it “Yeah” You concluded warily.

“It doesn’t answer my question” He pointed out, and you sighed.

Would he be less attentive someday?

“So I kinda pretended to kiss her to throw him off…” You mumbled, and you never saw Chan straightening his back so fast before “But I had my thumb over her lips!” You blurted, eyes widening as he uncrossed his arms.

“You did what?!” He sounded more surprised than mad, brows arched in utter disbelief “And it didn’t cross your mind to tell me this?!” He chortled “Didn’t she punch you or something? She definitely can take you down in a blink of an eye” He mused, looking for any bruises on you.

“She didn’t” You admitted, still finding it strange “I guess I was too hurt and she saw right through me… She knew that there was something wrong and she wanted to listen to me… So we talked it through and…” You played with your hands, glancing at Chan in expectation “Well, I don’t know what else to say” You shrugged.

“Just say you like her” He suggested, chuckling at you.

And that was exactly the thought you were trying to avoid all this time.

What was it to like someone? You had asked yourself thousands of times already. Was it about what you wanted them to see in you? Was it about what you wanted from them? Was it about how you felt when you were with them? Was it about the understanding between each other? Was it about wanting to be with them?

You wanted her to see you as the best one out there.

Although you found this urge silly and embarrassing, you kept acting like a fool every single time you were around her. You thought that trying to make someone like you, acting differently around them, and trying to convince them that you were the best version of yourself… It was definitely liking.

The problem was that as much as you wanted her to notice you and see you under a whole new light, you knew that there was no need to hide anything… She knew the deepest and darkest parts of you and didn’t run away. So, yeah! Maybe you were putting too much effort ─ even if you weren’t planning to do so ─ into impressing her but you knew that it didn’t matter in the end.

She liked you just the way you were.

For you, liking someone meant to be obsessed with things that shouldn’t matter at all. You didn’t expect her to do anything special… You didn’t expect her to say sweet things to you, or take care of you, or run her fingers through your hair… Well, you kinda wanted it but it didn’t really matter. As long as you had her smiling and sharing things with you… As long as she could tease you and laugh with you when you guys stumbled over each other around the campus…

You didn’t want her to go out of her way for you.

You wanted to be on her way.

You couldn’t remember a time when you felt genuinely happy with a girl… You could remember being smug as you walked around with them as if they were your new trophy. You could remember being playful and teasing and thirsty… Well, you could definitely remember being thirsty a lot of times. Yet, you couldn’t remember feeling so… At home? You didn’t even know if you could actually say something like that.

It was like she could understand all of you and still welcome you at the end of her day. It was like she could set you on fire and give you some kind of light and warmth that you didn’t feel for ages. It was like being with her was an adventure and still, you didn’t fear anything when you were beside her.

It was humiliating to feel like this.

And you probably were a hell of a masochist because you loved it.

You had to be stupid to think that all that had come from a simple talk on a Friday afternoon. You knew it was much more than that. It came from years of being disgusted with each other… Hiding and searching for the greatest weakness you could find. It came from being vulnerable enough to open up and redeem yourselves… It came from accepting each other… It came from listening, sharing, teasing, healing…

You scoffed, nodding at Chan as you met his eyes.

“Yeah… Maybe I like her” You agreed, lowering your gaze to the floor.

The problem was that Friday didn’t show you how you liked her… It showed you every single thing you were trying to ignore until now. It showed you how much you have gone through and how much both of you were connected to some extent.

It showed you that liking wasn’t quite the word you were looking for.

////

The first step was to acknowledge your feelings.

Bullshit.

The first step should be you burying your feet into Chan and Paris’ heads so they could stop being so painfully obvious about all of it. Was it just in your head or were they actually working together to humiliate you right now? Maybe they were just too excited… To be fair, you couldn’t understand what was going on inside their heads anymore.

It wasn’t like knowing your friend’s favorite dish was a crime, right?

Apparently, to the two holy detectives that watched every single step of yours, it was the worst of the crimes; worthy of knowing looks and teasing kicks. What a great way to live your life. You deadpanned as you looked at them, arching your brows to see Paris giggling as she retreated her leg and Chan smirking in your way. You let a hint of disgust show on your face as you wandered your eyes between both of them, wondering why ordering Y/N’s favorite dish should be an event now.

So what that you wanted to please her?

“Isn’t that like your favorite dish, Y/N?” Paris decided to play innocent. The way you had to hold back to not kick her under the table ─ just like she had been doing with you every two minutes ─ was worthy of mention on Guinness Books.

“Won’t you go to the kitchen to cook it?” Chan arched his brow playfully, and you closed your eyes to breathe deeply, trying to stay composed. You opened your eyes to stare at him, lips quivering as you held back a grimace and laughed it off sarcastically.

Of course, Y/N laughed about it as well.

So maybe on Saturday ─ when you finally acknowledge your feelings to Chan after he invited her over for lunch ─ you had let it all go to your head and tried to pretend you were a good cooker… But did he need to expose you like that? What a great friend you had! You kinda expected Chan to tease you about your feelings but you also thought it would be something more… Private, to say the least.

So, I made it for you… You had said to her and as soon as those words came out of your mouth, Chan chortled, almost choking on his food, throwing you an amused look.

You meant made the order, right? He laughed, and Y/N giggled along with him, pushing your shoulder.

“Fucking hilarious” You snickered, scrunching your nose “You should drop Med school and try to be a comedian or something… You’re so talented” You added, utterly done with them.

“You make it too easy” Y/N mocked you, grinning as she rested her cheeks on her hands, leaning on the table “No, but seriously now!” She said, grinning dissolving to an attentive frown “Even though roasting Hyunjin is one of my favorites hobbies” You scoffed, rolling your eyes “Paris and I actually wanted to invite you guys to a party” You frowned at her conclusion, tilting your head, intrigued.

“A party?” You decided to make sure, suspicious of it.

“Yeah” Paris intervened, smiling at you “Minho got into a team!” She said excitedly, and you couldn’t help but snort, grimacing at her as if she had just told you the best joke ever.

“So what? We don’t even talk to him” You pointed out, getting a nod from Chan, who also seemed curious about their suggestion “I mean… Congratulations to him! But why would I go to a party because of this?” You questioned, narrowing your eyes at Paris.

“Well… Han—“ You chortled, poking your cheek with your tongue.

“Really?” You sneered “So Han suddenly have the time and the urge to speak to you again?” You rolled your eyes “Unbelievable…” You darted your eyes at both of them, frowning “And both of you are going to go?” You gestured between them, arching your brow.

“And hopefully you and Chan!” Paris chirped, trying to keep the mood at the table “Come on… He was having a hard time figuring everything out and finally, something worked for him!” She pleaded, offering you big doe eyes that didn’t make you flinch a bit “Come on, Hyunjin! Do it for the team!” She forced a smile, and you sighed, shoulders dropping as you did.

“What in the hell makes you think that we would agree to go to his party?” You asked tiredly “You know far too well that I don’t like him… He hates me, he punched me, he hurt Y/N… I don’t have a single reason to talk to him” You enumerated, pulling one finger at a time as you did.

“He’s our friend, Hyunjin” Y/N reminded you “We’ll keep talking and walking with him and if you both keep hating on each other it’ll make everything awkward” You scowled at her “Just saying!” She shrugged “You don’t need to come but Paris and I really want you and Chan to get along with him at some point” You tried to hold her gaze but ended up averting your eyes anyway, tsking.

“Well… I don’t have anything against him” Chan shrugged “I don’t need to go to a party to hang out with him… I hung out with Paris wanting to choke her every once in a while for all this time!” He added, chuckling as she tried to slap his arm.

“Will it hurt you to go to a party, Chan?” Y/N nagged, rolling her eyes and getting a chortle out of all of you “I’m counting on your Daddy vibes to keep Hyunjin under your wing and prevent them from fighting” She pouted, trying to convince him.

Ridiculous and yet cute… What the hell.

“I don’t even go to parties to have fun… Why would I ever go to babysit them?” He grimaced, arching his brow “Moreover… Pouting doesn’t work with me, Sweety” He smirked, patting her hand over the table “You’ll have to try a little bit harder” He sneered, and she kicked him under the table, smiling obnoxiously at him.

“Was that hard enough?” She taunted.

“What about a deal?” Paris interrupted, trying to negotiate “If we convince one of you to go by the end of the day, then both of you will come with us” She smirked, throwing you a smug look that made you scoff, tilting your head.

“Deal” You shook her hand.

There was no way that Chan would agree to go.

////

So you had a party on Saturday.

“How the hell did you convince him?” You whined, looking at Paris in a devasted way as you sauntered through the campus, trying to find a bench to sit down. She chuckled, nudging you and taking a look at your face before grinning mischievously, shrugging her shoulders.

“I have my ways…” She answered mysteriously, making you roll your eyes.

“You’re working together to play matchmaker, aren’t you?” She stuck her lower lip out, tilting her head in a mocking way that said ‘who knows?’ and making you shake your head in disbelief “You’re sly as hell” You whined, getting a chortle from her.

“Come on! You clearly need it!” She insisted “You’re being way too obvious, Hyunjin! Paying attention to her likings? Buying her coffee? Ordering food and pretending to cook it?” She snorted, grimacing at you playfully “Trying to seduce her with a half-opened shirt?” She broke into a fit of giggles, probably picturing the humiliating scene.

“Look, I wasn’t thinking straight at the time” You scowled at her, pouting as you thought about it “If it really was that obvious, she would have said something by now” You pointed out, and Paris snickered, giving you a thumb up in mockery.

“Yeah! Because Han was so subtle and she totally figured him out” She sneered, and you couldn’t bring yourself to disagree. In fact, Y/N was blind to any kind of romantic feelings. You could come with a bouquet and a love letter… She would still find a way to see it as a great gesture of friendship.

You were too naïve for your own good.

“It’ll be so cute to see the two of you dating!” She chirped, eyes twinkling as she clasped her hands together, finally sitting down on a bench. She looked straight at you, waiting for you to say something, but you couldn’t bring yourself to answer her at first.

Dating? Who said anything about dating? You didn’t want to date her… You frowned as you looked at Paris, unsure of what to say to her as you cleared your throat, wondering how you should put it. Yes, you might be in love with her but… Dating? You snorted. A relationship demanded too much from you… Were you ready to attach to someone like this?

You didn’t think so.

“What is it?” She narrowed her eyes at you, suspicious of your behavior “Why do you look like…” She studied you from head to toes before settling her gaze on your face “…This?” She floundered her hand around, gesturing at you with a disgusted frown.

“What do you mean?” You tried to play dumb, sitting down beside her.

“You know far too well what I’m talking about” She accused, eyes narrowing once again “Hyunjin, by any means are you thinking about playing with Y/N as you do to the other girls?” She asked cautiously, searching for any sign on your eyes that confirmed her assumption.

“Never” You reassured her, hand going to squeeze her knee “It’s just… I mean, I don’t think I’m ready to go all in, you know? Yeah, I like her and all this… She’s my dear friend and I may or may not be in…” You gulped down, eyes darting at her as you cleared your throat “…to her” You finished, afraid to speak your real feelings out loud.

“In…To her?” She snorted, looking away for a second before throwing you a look “You’re in love with her, that’s what you are” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief “You never did anything like this before, Hyunjin… You’re the type of guy who has people throwing themselves at your feet” She acknowledges, and you shrugged smugly, a playful smirk playing on your lips “Tell me one time you tried so hard to get someone’s attention” She requested, crossing her arms and leaning back on the bench in a silent challenge.

Romantically?

Not even once.

“Exactly” She grimaced, looking at you as if she could read your mind “If you don’t want to date her, why are you trying so damn hard? What is your point?” She asked skeptically, tilting her head as you opened your mouth to answer her.

Just to close it again in wonder.

She was right… Why were you trying to impress her so much if you had no intentions of actually getting into a relationship or something? It was more than obvious that Y/N wouldn’t be the kind to hook up with you and then just go with it… As far as you could tell, she had no experience in love. None. At all. There was no way she was going to just go with the flow and… And what? What were you expecting from all this?

“Hey, Hyunjin” The husky voice got you out of your thoughts, making you realize that someone was standing right in front of you. Not only someone. You remembered her from… Maybe a month ago? You couldn’t even remember last time you got laid “I haven’t heard from you for a while…” She continued; tone still sexy enough to turn your smug façade on “New catch?” She asked, studying Paris for a second, a subtle smirk on her lips.

“We’re just friends” Paris voiced your thoughts before you could, jolting her leg for you to let go of her knee. The girl chuckled, tilting her head as she seemed to eat Paris with her eyes, licking her lips before averting her eyes to you.

“Yeah… I’ve been his friend a couple of times too” She joked, winking at you “If you guys are up to more friends…” She let her sentence hang in the air, shifting her gaze in a suggestive way that made you flustered. Good Lord… She was asking Paris to join your… Oh my God.

“No need!” You blurted out, getting up abruptly “I mean- Do you want to be her friend?” You looked at Paris startled at the thought, getting furrowed brows that answered you right away “We don’t need any more friends, thank you!” You rushed to say, getting a blank stare before she averted her eyes to Paris, landing them on her for a few seconds.

“I see…” She hummed, smiling at both of you mysteriously before throwing a few glances over her shoulder as she walked away.

For some reason, it didn’t settle too well on your stomach.

////

You snorted, rolling your eyes as you smirked at Paris.

“I’m telling you!” She insisted, leaning forwards to slap Minho softly on the knee “The girl just came out of nowhere and suggested a threesome with me!” She laughed, leaning back on the chair as Minho huffed in disbelief.

“There’s no way” He looked at you in awe “I’ve heard your reputation but… I mean- Where can I sign in?” He joked, arching his brows playfully as he chuckled. He crossed his arms, letting his body relax on the chair as he looked at you in amusement, tilting his head as he seemed to ponder something.

It turned out that Minho wasn’t as unbearable as you thought.

“You’re not really my type” You fought back a smile as he scowled, nagging at you as he gestured mindlessly for you to get off of his tail “I guess you have to be born with a pretty face like me” You joked, and he groaned in answer, throwing his head back.

“Is that what you need to get girls now? Have an obnoxious attitude like this?” He scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief as he connected his gaze to you again, trying to hide his smile “You’re not really my type either, baby boy” He scorned, grimacing at you sarcastically.

“Who said he gets all the girls?” Paris teased, looking at you with grinning eyes that twinkled devilishly “A little bird told me that Hyunjin has a crush on someone and I haven’t seen him getting laid recently” You glared at her; lips quivering as you tried to hold back your frown.

“Wait” Y/N slowly raised her eyes from her beer, snapping them at you in surprise “You’re crushing on someone and everybody knows except me?” You paled, clearing your throat as you stared blankly at her, trying to think of an answer.

That’s how blind you are…

It’s not my fault you have such busybody friends!

Yep! Because that’s you.

“Aren’t you too interested in my love life?” You asked instead, trying to maintain a smug façade as you smirked at her, arching your eyebrow questioningly. She narrowed her eyes at you, seeing right through your attempt to change the subject. You hated when she did that… Yet, it was kinda endearing to know that she could figure you out like this.

“I won’t even begin to talk about how you’re always meddling in my life” She raised her hand as if to tell you to stop with your bullshit “You’re a fuckboy and you’re not getting laid! How can I not be curious about this?” She scoffed, making you chortle.

“I see… So you’re interested in my sex life” You corrected yourself, and she rolled her eyes “You can’t just live your sex life through me, sweetheart” You teased, pouting at her as she glared at you, clearly done with your teasing “You should have your own experiences… Actually having some sex instead of trying to stick your nose into my business” You chuckled as she huffed, poking her cheek with her tongue.

“Who said I didn’t?” She arched her brow in a challenge.

“What?” You asked, tilting your head in confusion as she gulped down her beer.

“Who said I didn’t get laid?” She repeated, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at you “I may not be like you but I had a share of affairs as well” She shrugged nonchalantly, and you could swear your jaw was on the ground by now.

“You’re not a virgin?!” You blurted out in utter surprise hand snapping to your mouth as soon as the question slipped from your lips “Sorry! I didn’t mean to ask that” You rushed to say but she just snorted.

“I always thought you were a virgin” Minho added anyway, sounding surprised as he frowned at you “You’re always working and eating hot dog… When the hell did you have the time to bang?” He asked in wonder, tilting his head “I can’t be the only one who’s not getting some here” He nagged, making you chortle.

“You guys are too naïve” Paris chuckled “Y/N was clearly the cool mysterious kid that had a bunch of people over her feet!” She reasoned, gesturing to Y/N to make her point “It’s obvious that she got laid at some point of her life! Just look at her” She stated matter-of-factly, giving you all a know-it-all look.

“Not really” Y/N chortled “I just got laid because I ended up hooking up with Chan—“ You could have choked to death right at that moment but as soon as you opened your mouth to gasp, Chan’s voice reached your ears, startling you to the point that your choking died on your throat.

“Hey, Sweety!” He called, interrupting her “Can you come over here?” He gestured for her to get closer, and she frowned at him, suspicious of his behavior “I wanna talk to you” He added, making her sigh in surrender.

You watched her making the way to Chan, attentive eyes glued on his figure as you tried to process what she had just said. So Chan and Y/N hooked up in the past? And they had sex?! You were kinda suspicious of them lately… You wouldn’t lie. The sheets all messed up in the morning? His comment on how she was like a beast? The way he inquired you about your feelings on that night? The way he held to the bulge incident? The way he spent over a week at her place?

They had to have something going on…

You clicked your tongue as you thought about it, furrowing your brows as she finally got to his side, being guided ─ and you didn’t fail to notice his hand on the small of her back ─ to somewhere more private. The thing that didn’t make any sense was that Chan was actually trying to help you out to get your feelings out of your chest… Why would he do that if he liked her? But again… Who said anything about liking? They could be just banging.

“Wow” Minho said as soon as she left, looking at you and Paris “So the rumors are true? They’re together?” He arched his brows in awe. As soon as he arched his, you frowned yours, confused by his question. What rumors?

“What are you talking about?” Paris asked, as lost as you.

“Haven’t you guys heard about it? I’ve heard Chan has been visiting her at the library and there are even some rumors talking about how he spent the night at her dorm” He explained, trying to find any signs on both of you that confirmed those rumors “Chan is quite popular, so I guess people just tend to pay attention to it… He also called her sweety right now, didn’t he?” You scoffed, poking your cheek.

“People talk too much” You reassured him “There is no way they’re dating… One of them would tell us” You looked into Minho’s eyes, shrugging “Never heard them fucking either” You added, shifting your gaze to Paris, looking for something that gave them away “So I guess those are just rumors…” You chuckled, trying to act nonchalantly.

You weren’t so sure yourself though.

////

Obviously I had to forget something LOL

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ellewritesathing · 4 years ago

Text

(Un)Requited - I.L. II

Summary: Isaac Lahey had gone through many twists and turns in his life, but none of them compared to the whiplash he got when you asked him to tutor you. With a few weeks until the end of the semester and the big dance coming up, he’s hoping to figure out a way to ask you to go with him before it’s too late.

Masterlist Prev. | Part 2

Word-count: 3.3k+

A/N: i’m sorry for taking forever to update this but!! here we are!! i hope you guys enjoy it!! 💕💕

“Life coaching?” Derek repeated, looking up from his book for the first time all morning. He hadn’t interrupted Isaac once or shown any sign that he was listening, and then all he said was two words.

Isaac tried to be offended by his tone, but honestly, the idea was a little ridiculous. He couldn’t blame Derek for thinking it was a dumb idea, especially after hearing thousands of dumb ideas from Erica and Boyd over the years.

“Yes. Life coaching,” Isaac said, folding his hands neatly in his lap.

“I think it’ll be good for him,” Erica said, grabbing an apple off the table. She started cutting it with a knife as she spoke, “I mean, it’s obvious that his life is in shambles.”

“Hey!” Isaac said defensively. It was true but she didn’t need to say it.

Erica shrugged and offered him a slice of her apple.

“Yeah, that was a little harsh,” Boyd said as he slid his oatmeal bowl away from him. Isaac was going to thank him but then he continued, “It’s only obvious to us because we live with him.”

“Hey!” Isaac whined.

Erica laughed and ate a slice of her apple, talking through her full mouth and offering cut pieces to Boyd. Their lighthearted bickering soon devolved into a fight, with threats of claws coming out and knowing comments about what would happen when the other slept. Isaac tried to be cool and calm about it, but Erica knew exactly how to push his buttons.

“Look, it doesn’t matter what you guys think anyway,” Isaac said eventually, arms crossed over his chest and breakfast untouched. “I’m doing it.”

Before Erica could snap at him, Derek got up and drew all the attention to himself. “Is it going to interfere with our plans?”

“No,” Isaac answered immediately. At least he didn’t think it would.

“Then do it…” Derek locked eyes with Isaac over an empty bowl of cereal that he was clearing away “-quietly.”

Isaac figured he must have pulled a face because all three of them started laughing and Derek was telling him to lighten up and that he was making a joke. He had to pretty wound up if Derek I-Never-Smile Hale was telling him to lighten up, but Isaac picked up what he meant: Isaac could spend all the time he wanted with you, but his duty to his pack came first.

Like you would ever want to get close enough to him to interfere with the pack, but a guy could dream.

---

The week could not have possibly gone by any slower, but eventually it ended and all Isaac had to do was wait it out until Monday ended (which took forever). Then it would be Tuesday. Then he could talk to you again, because then it would be the first of hopefully many tutoring sessions.

The fact that Isaac planned all this out was kind of embarrassing - and he knew he could never plan enough when it came to you because you made him act like an even bigger idiot than he already was - but is it so bad that he wanted to be prepared? That he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of you?

Now that he was sitting next to you, though, Isaac realized that he would never be prepared for you and he would never not embarrass himself. You were sitting next to him, looking like you just stepped out of a magazine shoot to boost literacy in teens; hands covered in ink, messy eraser shavings on the ends of your sweater, and deep lines of concentration on your face. And he couldn’t stop staring. It was embarrassing.

“I’m not getting it,” you said in a quiet voice. You sighed and sat back in your seat, clearly frustrated. “I’ll just marry up. I hear trophy wives never need to do algebra.”

Isaac laughed. “You’re not gonna be a trophy wife,” he said. He thought that would make you feel better but you raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh, I mean, of course you’ll be a trophy wife. You’re really hot- I mean. Anyone who ends up with you will be- I just meant that, you know, you’ll get this. You don’t have to-”

Now it was your turn to laugh. And though he panicked at first, your laugh eased all of Isaac’s worries and he relaxed into his seat … until you put your hand on his arm and sat up. You looked at him with kind eyes and made his heart beat out of his chest. “Show me again?” you asked with a smile.

“Yeah, sure,” Isaac said once he started breathing again. “Okay, so-” he took the pencil out of your hand “-The problem you have is that you don’t carry over your coefficients. See? Like this.”

When Isaac stole a glance at you out of the corner of his eye, you were biting your lip as you stared at his messy handwriting. Logically, he understood that you were trying to figure out the problem but irrationally he was cursing out his dad for breaking his hand because he was wasting too much time drawing comics. His handwriting had never recovered and he was convinced that you were staring at it and not the numbers on the page.

“Okay, coefficients. Got it,” you said with a small nod after a few seconds that felt like lifetimes. “And I add them?”

“No. Multiply.”

“Huh.” You got so quiet that Isaac could hear you breathing. He could do that before thanks to his super-senses, anyway, but you were so close now. It was different. It made him more flustered when you were inches away.

You reached over his arm for the hand that was holding the pencil and Isaac almost passed out. Were you trying to hold his hand? No, you were writing something. Should he let go? What was the protocol for this?

“Like this?” you asked when you were done, not noticing his existential crisis.

“Uh…” Isaac looked down and pretended to pay attention. Your handwriting looked perfect, but then again everything you did was perfect to him. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s perfect!”

“I did it?” you asked, frowning at the page. Isaac laughed and nodded, mumbling something encouraging that he didn’t pay attention to. “I did it!” You let go of his hand and lifted both of your hands in the air in surprise. It was adorable. You were adorable.

“You did it,” Isaac smiled. He sat up straighter and started flipping to another section in the textbook. “Ready to tackle something new?”

“No.” The words came out a little too fast and Isaac smiled at you again. “I just mean … I should practice this some more before we go on, right? Just to make sure.”

Isaac closed the book and shrugged lightly as he leaned back in his chair. “If that’s what you want, then sure.”

You laughed slightly at him and pushed some hair behind your ear. “You’re so sweet, Isaac. Thanks for this.”

“Yeah, of course,” Isaac said. His voice had dropped to a quieter volume and you held his gaze for a few seconds. He wasn’t sure what he did but it felt like time slowed down for that split second. Isaac would have given anything to know what you were thinking.

You spent the next fifteen minutes doing practice problems, and Isaac spent that time trying to focus on his English assignment - a task made undoubtedly more difficult whenever your knee accidentally brushed his leg. Who cared about Hamlet and his mommy issues when you were right there?

“Okay! Done!”

You beamed as you slid the piece of paper over to him. Your smile fell as Isaac started checking your answers, but he could have told you that you had nothing to worry about. Even if every answer was wrong, you’d get it eventually.

After checking them all, Isaac looked up at you and smiled at how anxious you were. You were biting your lip and your eyes were double the size as you waited for him to give his verdict.

“You’re going to be putting me out of business soon,” Isaac said, looking back down at the paper and sliding it over to you.

You laughed again and Isaac felt his heart melt in his chest. He’d be dead by the time finals week came around.

“Speaking of business,” you said as you let out a breath after filing the practise questions. You shifted in your chair to look at him, drumming your fingers on the table lightly. “When do you want to get together for me to teach you about girls?”

Your tone was playful but there was something in your voice that Isaac couldn’t place. That uncertainty, coupled with the fact that he’d forgotten that he asked you to do that, resulted in Isaac staring at you with wide eyes and a stumped expression.

He realised he had to say something so Isaac sputtered out the first words that came to his mind. “Friday? After school?”

“Don’t you have lacrosse practice then?” you asked. Isaac frowned slightly; he didn’t know that you knew he was on the team.

“Oh, right. That,” Isaac said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. You laughed again and Isaac used that time to think of something to say. The weekend felt too far away to suggest it. Even if it was just a day later than Friday.

“I’ll tell you what,” you said with a smile as you started packing away your things. “I’ll sit in the stands while you practice. You can check my homework when you’re done. And then we can go to my place to talk things through. Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” Isaac exhaled. He couldn’t believe this was working or that you offered to sit through his lacrosse practise and then spend the rest of the afternoon with him.

“Perfect,” you smiled. You got up and shouldered your backpack, throwing a smile at him over your shoulder. “See you at practice, Lahey.”

God, did you just wink at him?

Isaac watched you walk away, and - once he deemed the distance to be enough - he slumped down in his chair and groaned. He was in way over his head. And he was only digging himself deeper. How was he going to get through practice without taking a ball to the face if he knew you were watching?

---

Lacrosse practice was going surprisingly well considering that Isaac had a heart attack every time he looked at the stands and saw you cheering him on instead of doing your homework. At least, Isaac thought it was going well until he saw the look on Coach’s face.

“Lahey! What the hell has gotten into you?”

The whole team was jogging back to the bench to be dismissed, and Isaac didn’t think he was that bad during the practice to warrant getting called out. Greenberg sucked way more than he did and Stiles can’t play for shit.

“Uh, I had something different for breakfast?” Isaac said uncertainly, turning his lacrosse stick over on itself as he spoke.

Coach looked at him like he was insane. Worse, actually: like he was Greenberg. But then he said, “Well, whatever that was you better keep eating it! You hear me? You were great out there!”

“I was?”

“This is why I’m not nice to any of you.” There was that glare again as Coach pointed his finger accusingly at Isaac. He shook his head and threw his arm in the direction of the locker rooms. “Hit the showers! You all stink!”

Isaac started heading that way when he saw you running down the bleachers with a notebook in your hands. His heart beat faster than when he thought Coach was going to kick him off the team.

“You were great!” You were beaming at him again. “I think. I know more about algebra than I do lacrosse.”

Isaac laughed. “Well, maybe I could show you how to play sometime,” he said with a small smile. He felt strangely at ease now that you were next to him.

“I’d like that,” you smiled, voice quiet again but still smiling. “Uh, do you want to check this before or after you shower?”

“I can do it now.” Isaac sat on the bench and read through your practice problems. “You missed a few but most of them are good. Solid B- work.”

"B-?” you repeated.

Isaac’s heart spiked. Was he supposed to lie to get you to like him? Was he supposed to just say everything was right?

“That’s great!” You took the notebook and pencil, staring at the ones Isaac had marked wrong. You didn’t even look up at him when you spoke next. “Go shower, I’ll be right here when you’re done!”

Though Isaac was confused and a little distrusting while he showered and changed, he still felt good about the interaction. It was the first time you two had spoken and he hadn’t stuttered - that was a start.

True to your words, you were sitting on the team bench when Isaac came out. You'd swapped the algebra homework for a book in the time he was gone and you didn't seem to notice him until he was right next to you.

“Pride and Prejudice,” Isaac said after reading over your shoulder. “The one with Keira Knightley is my favourite.”

“Mine too.” You looked up at him with a smile and closed the book. Your cheeks looked slightly flushed, but that was probably from all the sun and nothing he’d done. It was gone an instant anyway. “Are you ready to go?”

Isaac nodded and you got up, shouldering your bag. He picked up the notebook that was lying next to your bag and held onto it as the two of you walked towards your car.

“You carry my books, you’re smart, and like Pride and Prejudice?” you asked, nudging him with your elbow and giving him a smile. “Why do you need me to impress your dream girl? You seem like a real catch to me already.”

Isaac didn't know how to respond so he laughed and scratched the back of his head, mumbling something about not being so sure about that. He was quiet for most of the drive to your house, just stealing glimpses of you as you hummed along to the radio and giving you a quick thank you for giving him a ride when you stopped in the driveway.

He stayed a few steps behind you as you walked up to the front door and unlocked it. You let him in and dropped your bag inside, shaking off your jacket and kicking off your shoes. You said he could do the same, if he was comfortable, and flashed him another heart-stopping smile.

“I’ve just gotta feed Max,” you said. “Do you want something from the kitchen?”

“Just some water,” Isaac said politely.

“Sure thing.”

You motioned for him to follow and he did. Isaac watched as you filled up a bowl with dog food, and no sooner had you set it down had an Australian shepherd come bounding around the corner and into your leg.

“Hey, buddy,” you laughed, rubbing his back. “This is Isaac. He’s gonna be hanging around for a bit, okay? Hey, you’re not allergic to animals, right? It’s probably a little late to ask.”

“Me? Oh, uh, no. Don’t worry about it.” Isaac smiled and bent down to stick his hand out but Max didn’t like that. He barked and you jumped.

“Max!” You reprimanded him and tugged on his collar to keep him close to you. “Buddy, come on. Isaac’s a friend.”

Max simmered down so, after apologizing a few times and offering to take him to the yard, you turned to grab some glasses from the cupboard and Isaac decided to make his move. The only way to get Max to cut it out was to show him who he really was. So, while your back was turned, Isaac flashed his bright yellow eyes at the dog and watched his demeanor change.

Max let out a small whimper before padding over and curling up around Isaac’s feet.

“See, buddy, I knew you’d like him,” you said happily when you turned to find Isaac and Max. You handed Isaac his water and crouched to pet Max. Looking up at Isaac, you said, “I’m so sorry. Max is usually never like that with strangers.”

Isaac smiled, relieved that you didn’t suspect anything. “Yeah, no worries. We’re all good now.”

“Yeah, you are.” You smiled at him again and rubbed Max one last time before standing up and getting ready to walk out of the kitchen. “I was thinking we could just go to my room and talk for today?”

“You, uh- your room?” Isaac repeated, immediately reverting back to being nervous. He knew you obviously didn’t mean anything by it, but still. Erica and Cora were the only girls whose rooms he’d ever been in, and they both tried to kill him before he made it two feet in the door.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep the door open,” you said with a mischievous smile and Isaac mentally slapped himself for being so awkward. Then you added while the two of you were walking, “Plus, it’s not like anyone else is home,” and he tripped up the stairs.

Luckily you didn’t say anything about his literal and figurative misstep.

Isaac figured if he could just stop his heart from beating out of his chest, he might actually have a shot at pulling this off. That is, until he walked into your room and saw possibly the biggest, fluffiest, and angriest cat he’d ever seen. If Max had been a challenge, this cat would be a near impossible feat to get over.

Isaac hovered at the door, not taking his eyes off the cat. “You have a cat?”

“Oh, yeah.” You set your glass down and walked over to the bed, scooping up the ball of fluff. The cat made an upset sounding noise at being woken up, but started purring as soon as it realised it was in your arms. Jesus, that thing had to be bigger than your entire torso. “This is Magnus. I got him when Alex went off to college.”

“Oh.”

“You wanna pet him?” you asked, pulling increasingly adorable faces at the cat. You laughed when Magnus bonked his head into yours. “He’s a little grumpier than Max but he’ll warm up to you just the same.”

“Uh, sure,” Isaac lied. He reached out a tentative hand and Magnus swatted it away, claws and all. He made a low growling noise and leapt out of your arms.

“Ow!” You winced as Magnus jumped, clearly not expecting the abrupt motion. “Oh, my god, Isaac. Are you okay?”

You reached for Isaac’s hand and he almost blacked out. The jolt of electricity that started where your fingers grazed his hand and spread through the rest of his body surprised him. You were holding his hand in both of yours, inspecting it gently.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t think he got me,” Isaac said quietly. You were so focused that speaking any louder felt wrong.

It also felt wrong to lie to you. Technically, Magnus had scratched him but it wasn’t deep so, in the seconds it took you to process what happened, the scratch had healed. Isaac was perfectly fine now.

You were still frowning at his hand, though, and Isaac worried he’d done something to mess it all up, that you could somehow sense he was lying.

“Hey,” Isaac said gently, turning his hand around so he was the one holding your hand. Aside from the minor cardiac attack it caused, it felt good. Meant to be. “I’m fine. Promise.”

“I could’ve sworn he scratched you,” you said, equally gentle and quiet. You shook your head and laughed under your breath. “You think I’m crazy now, don’t you?”

“There is literally nothing you could tell me that would make me think you’re crazy,” Isaac laughed. If you knew half the stuff he’d seen since joining Derek’s pack …

You gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand before pulling away. “So, you wanna get started?”

Part 3

Tagged: @ietss @lettherebelovex

#isaac lahey #teen wolf #isaac lahey imagine #isaac lahey fanfiction #isaac lahey x reader #(un)requited

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smolsk · 4 years ago

Text

Solace

I wrote this for Obey Me mctober’s Day 27 (Last Night in The Devildom) on my twitter for my Mc, Maya. The grammar and/or spelling isn’t perfect, so please bear with me on this one :3

[Word Count: 4982]

----------

A week.

A week is all that is left in the Devildom student exchange program that Lord Diavolo had created nearly a year ago; Nearly a year of learning almost everything from the three realms, of trying to memorize every stairway, hall, and dead-end in RAD to not get lost in its massive corridors, of spending every second with the seven demon brothers she had grown so fond of.

It all ends in a week, and Maya felt lost.

On Monday she left her room to join the brothers downstairs for breakfast, barely having the energy to even get out of bed.

“Hey, Maya!” Mammon greeted her as they walk past each other in the hallway. “How’s my favorite human doing? Well- not my favorite favorite- I mean-” He cleared his throat. “How are you doing?”

Maya raised a brow. “I’m doing good. You?”

“Honestly, not that good.” The white-haired demon shrugged and looped an arm around her shoulders. “You only have a week left before you go back home, and I’m seriously gonna miss ya. Everyone will.”

“I’ll miss you too you know. Who’s gonna try to steal my wallet every morning when I’m back home now?” She smirked. “I saw you putting my wallet in your pocket, Mammon.”

“Aw come on, I almost had it!” Mammon exclaimed, handing it back.

They laughed for the rest of the walk downstairs.

Tuesday rolled in and Maya headed over to Leviathan’s room, holding up two bottles of cold orange juice and a bag of chips, yawning a bit every now and then. She needs to get some sleep soon.

She knocked gently at the door when she arrived. “Hey Levi, it’s me.”

When she heard a grunt of approval from the other side of the door, she let herself in.

“Oi normie, you’re late,” Levi told her, pausing the game he was playing on his DDD to look up at her. “Our anime marathon isn’t going to watch itself you know. Unless you’re too busy for a yucky otaku like me…” he grumbled the last part.

“Sorry about that.” Maya scooted over and sat beside him, placing the bottles and chips on the floor next to the pile of snacks Levi first brought. “And no, Lev, I’ll always have time for you and our weekly marathons.” She ruffled his purple hair.

“O- oi! Cut it out!” Levi swatted her hand away. “And besides, this is gonna be our last one.” His shoulders visibly slumped.

Maya gave him a gentle smile. “Let’s just make the most of it then.”

They played the last few episodes of their anime in each other’s company, loudly singing the opening songs until their throats were sore. The orange juice bottles lay on the floor; condensed, forgotten.

She sat on the couch with Satan in the common room on Wednesday night, both with a book in hand. It was quiet, as all the others in the house of lamentation are asleep (all except for Lucifer, who’s pulling another all-nighter for the third night in a row in his room), nevertheless, they both didn’t mind the comfortable silence that surrounded them.

“Still can’t sleep?” The blonde asked her, putting the book he was reading down on his lap.

“Yeah.” Maya sighed. “I have a lot on my mind, that’s all.” The bags under her eyes are starting to get visible by the faint glow of the fireplace.

“If you want, I can let you borrow some of my books when you get back home.” Satan suggested, “To keep you company in case this occurs again.”

“Yes, if that’s alright with you, that is.”

“Everything’s alright if it’s you, Maya.” He smiled at her, closing his book. “Come on, it’s time for bed.”

“You’re not even my mom!” Maya laughed softly.

“But I am older than you.” The blonde laughed back.

The fire danced in their eyes, crackling softly as the wood burned in its brick walls.

When Asmodeus saw Maya at RAD on Thursday afternoon, he let out a loud, dramatic shriek.

“Oh, honey!” He exclaimed, rushing over to her. “You look so pale!” He cupped her cheeks as he scanned her features, horrified.

“What do you mean?” Maya asked him, voice muffled from her cheeks being squished by the avatar of lust. “I’m okay, Asmo. Don’t worry.”

Asmo didn’t take any of it, as he grabbed her hand and dragged her into one of the empty classrooms.

“Sweetheart, I don’t want to impose, but is something bothering you? You looked like you haven’t had any sleep in days.” He asked her, hands gently resting on her shoulders.

The pink-haired demon considered the silence that followed it as a yes, and removed his hands from her shoulders to cup her cheeks.

“Do you want me to do something? Anything? I can call Lucifer and the others-”

Maya cut him off.

“No, please don’t tell them. I’m fine, Asmo.”

Asmo sighed, tucking away a stray strand of hair behind her ear with his finger. “Okay, I won’t force you to tell me anything. But if I see your condition worsen even a tiny bit, I will tell Lucifer about it, okay? Wouldn’t want you to look awful on your last days here, right?” He tried to lighten the mood.

“Right.” Maya smiled at him. “Want to grab a bite before we head home?”

“Of course, darling!” He beamed, “I still need to update my devilgram story!”

She laughed. “Well, what are we waiting for? let’s go!” It was now her turn to grab his hand and lead her out of the classroom.

Asmo didn’t point out that her laugh was forced that day.

Beelzebub found her in the kitchen on Friday, fixing herself a cup of coffee.

“Maya.” He called out, walking over to her side at the kitchen counter.

She turned around when she heard his voice. “Oh hey, Beel! Good morning.” She greeted. “Fancy a cup of coffee with me? There’s also some leftover pasta in the fridge from last night’s dinner If you want.”

Beel eyed the obvious exhaustion prominent across her face. The bags under her eyes are noticeable now; dark, angry. Her eyes were glossed over and puffy; Beel would’ve guessed it was from recent crying.

“I think you really shouldn’t drink any coffee right now.” He told her, taking away her mug and downing the hot beverage down his throat. The drink burned his throat a bit, but he didn’t care.

“Hey!” Maya weakly protested, pouting that her coffee got taken away. “Why not?!” she questioned him.

“You look exhausted, Maya.” Beel pointed out. “Is there something bothering you recently? Having trouble with your tasks?”

Maya shook her head. “I just have a lot on my mind Beel, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“If you say so.” Beel nodded, moving toward the fridge. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” She told him. “I just ate.”

The demon hummed, opening the fridge and leaned down, practically inhaling whatever food that’s in there.

Maya leaned on the kitchen counter, picking on her nails as she listened to Beel’s rapid consumption of the fridge’s contents.

“Do you miss them?”

Maya looked back at his patch of orange hair that’s peeking out from behind the fridge door.

“Who?”

“Your family.”

Maya stayed silent for a moment. Beel stopped eating and turned to look at her.

“..Maya?”

Maya jumped when he suddenly called her name. “oh! Uh-” She cleared her throat. “I do, actually.”

Beel stood up and closed the fridge. There were bread crumbs on his cheeks.

“I just don’t think that they feel the same way for me.”

Saturday rolled in and Maya was being dragged away by the youngest brother.

“Belphegor, what are you doing?” Maya asked him, wrist sore from being tugged on too much.

He remained silent, his boots clicking on the steps as they ascended further into the stairway that led to the attic.

“Belph, I’m not in the mood to argue with you right now.” She told him. Her hand was going numb by the tightness of the demon’s grip.

“I’m not looking for a fight, Maya.” He retorted, opening the door to the attic and dragging her inside.

“Then what do you want?!” She tugged her hand free of his grasp. The blood slowly rushed back into her hand, her fists clenching.

“Beel’s concerned about you,” Belphie stated.

Maya went quiet.

Of course, Belphegor knew. It couldn’t be helped though, the twins are psychic.

The Avatar of Sloth decided to press further. “Maya, when was the last time you slept?”

She averted her eyes, choosing to look down on the cool wood flooring of his attic.

“I don’t know.”

He sighed, motioning for her to lay down on the bed. She hesitated, yet she eventually gave in.

She lay on the soft mattress of Belphie’s bed, the smell of fresh linen reaching her nose. She let out a breath.

Belphie then laid down beside her, sighing in content when his body landed on the silky sheets.

“I don’t get you,” Maya started, rolling over to her side to face him. “One day you’re breathing down my neck, looking for every chance to try and annoy me into snapping back, and the next you’re worried about me, dragging me into the attic, your attic, and insisting that I need to rest.”

“Because,” Belphie paused, thinking about what he wants to say next. “Because believe it or not you matter to me. No, to us. We care about you."

She hummed, rolling over once again so her back faces him. He scoots closer, choosing to place his arm over her waist; a sign of content, a sign of acceptance that they’re finally on the same page.

“Is there a reason why you can’t sleep?” Belphie asked. “If I may ask, does it have anything to do about you leaving on Monday?”

He could feel her stiffen beside him, relaxing a bit when he started to stroke her hair. The bleached part of her hair was almost gone now; she had cut it a month or two back when it started to become too long. She sighed.

“I don’t want to go home.”

“Then stay,” He offered. “Stay here with me and Beel.”

“I can’t,” Maya whispered.

“Then let’s just sleep.” Belphie closed his eyes. “You can do that for me, right?”

“I’ll try.”

Everything seemed fine on Sunday.

Lucifer offered to walk with her to the Demon Lord’s castle that day; They were heading over there to deal with her remaining paperwork so she could go back home without any issues.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, “You seem tense.”

Maya let out a shaky breath.

“I feel nervous, Luci.”

They walked through one of the streets in the Devildom. Maya could recognize a face or two from the bustling crowd in the stores; Demons she had acquainted with at RAD once. The lights from the streetlamps glowed above them, like little stars that twinkled in the night sky back in the human world. Back home.

The Avatar of Pride extended his hand, hovering ever so slightly above hers. “I could hold your hand if that would make you feel better.”

It did. A smile crept across Maya’s face when she felt his fingers laced with her own. Maya can feel the callouses on his palms; rough, yet so soft at the same time.

When they finally arrived in front of the castle grounds, the other exchange students were with Barbatos right outside the door waiting for them.

“Maya!” Luke called out in joy, moving away from his spot beside Simeon to run towards her.

“Go on,” Lucifer ushered her, hands finally pulling away. Maya missed the warmth of his hands against her cold ones.

The two met and engulfed each other in a tight hug, with Maya picking the little angel up to spin him around.

“Hello, Luke!” She greeted, as Luke giggled in her embrace. He smelled like freshly baked cookies and butter.

“Aren’t you excited?” The angel gawked at her. “We’re finally going home!”

Maya didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth.

She placed him down, and they headed over to the others, with Lucifer following right behind.

“How’s my favorite magic man?” Maya grinned at Solomon, raising a hand to give him a high-five.

“Nice to see you too, Maya.” He chuckled.

“Hello, Maya.” Simeon moved over and placed his hand on her head.

“Hello to you too, Simeon.”

“It seems that everyone is already here,” Barbatos hummed, pushing the doors leading to inside the demon lord’s castle.

“Come,” The demon butler gestured them all to come in. “Lord Diavolo is waiting.”

It was now Maya’s turn to be in the Lord Diavolo’s presence and her body involuntarily shook. She didn’t even know why she was shaking; She’s on good terms with the demon prince, even formed a close friendship along the way, so what was she even nervous about? The angels and Solomon saw her nervous stature and gave her a comforting look. She nodded at them in a silent thanks, before heading inside Diavolo’s office.

The moment she stepped inside, she was immediately engulfed in a big bear hug.

“Hello, Lord Diavolo.” Maya relaxed in his arms, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She has this strange feeling of safety despite the fact that she’s being hugged by the demon lord himself.

Lord Diavolo let out a booming laugh, “You look different,” He held up his large hand to hold her cheek. He frowned. “And pale. Have you been sleeping well?”

She shook her head. “It’s fine, my lord. I can just get back the sleep I lost once I go back home.”

“How many times do I need to tell you that you can call me Dia just fine?” Lord- no, Diavolo held her hand and guided her to his desk. Maya noticed Lucifer standing in a corner; calm, composed. He nodded at her in greeting.

“Okay, but it’s your fault if Lucifer punishes me later for calling you so informally.”

Diavolo chuckled and let her sit down on the seat across from him, and sat back in his chair as well.

“First things first,” He started, reaching for his drawer to grab something. “Do you want a lollipop?”

Maya raised her brow, a smile crept on her face in disbelief. She huffed a laugh.

“I’m kidding!” Diavolo laughed, putting it back. “That one’s saved for Luke.” He opened another drawer, finally fishing out her papers and grabbing a fountain pen that was sitting on his desk.

“Tell me, how was your stay here in the Devildom?” He asked as he flipped through the pages, wrote something down, then flipped once more.

“It’s alright,” Maya answered. She could hear the faint scribbling of his pen against the paper. Diavolo hummed, contemplating. “Any troubles with the students?”

She shrugged, fidgeting in her seat. She could feel a headache coming in soon. “The constant ruckus of them brawling with the brothers in an attempt to eat me alive, I am used to.” She explained. “Them not eating me and befriending me instead though… That’s new.”

Diavolo sighs, pausing whatever he writes in her papers. “I apologize for the trouble that must’ve caused you.”

“It’s okay, Dia.” She assured him.

The demon prince leaned back, stretching his back and fixing his posture. “I think we’re almost done here. Is there anything you want to suggest if ever there’s a chance for the exchange student program to start again next year?” He questioned.

“Other than sending my deepest condolences to the next human exchange student because they’re about to babysit the brothers for a whole year, no.”

That sent both her and the demon lord in a fit of laughter. Maya can hear Lucifer chuckle from his corner.

“Thank you, Maya.” Diavolo smiled. “Thank you for making this exchange program possible. Because of you, the program was a success. You can join the others outside now.”

Maya stood up from her seat and bowed at the Demon Lord. “Thank you as well.”

“For what?”

“For choosing me.”

Diavolo smiled. “My pleasure.”

Maya started to head over to the door when she stopped in her tracks.

Something was wrong.

She blinked. Once, twice. Everything seemed so blurry all of a sudden. The two demons behind her stared at her in confusion. “Maya?” Lucifer called her. “Are you okay?”

Maya looked back at them, squinting to try and refocus her eyes. Her head was pounding like someone dropped a bag of bricks on it. “Yeah, I'm just-” She tried to assure him, a hand raising to give him a thumbs up. “I’m just tired, that’s all.” Her hand was shaking violently.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” It was Diavolo’s turn to ask her, rising from his seat in alarm, concerned.

“I’m-”

And then everything she ever felt that week suddenly came down at her, coming together to form the worst migraine she ever experienced. The room blurred more, with splotches of black mixed in her obscured vision. She felt dizzy. She felt sick. The last thing she saw before the darkness consumed her was a blurry Diavolo, running over to catch her from falling.

After all, the human body could only endure so much.

When Maya regained consciousness, she found herself wrapped up in a soft blanket. She sat up, shrugging the blanket off her upper half, despite her head violently protesting. She squinted, eye-ing her surroundings in an attempt to figure out where she is. The moonlight illuminated the room she was in, making it easy for her to look around.

There are large paintings hung up on the walls of people Maya couldn’t recognize, her vision still slightly blurry. She looked down; the bed she woke up in was massive, like she could roll over it for hours and won’t even fall off. Like it’s fit for a king.

For a king.

Maya immediately realized who this bed belonged to. She tensed, eyes frantically searching the room for him.

And then their eyes met; dark brown eyes swimming, drowning in his golden orbs, like two suns shining down on the Earth. Warm, loving, relieved.

Diavolo sat on a chair beside the bed, his bed, hand reaching over to hold hers tight. A look of relief was evident on his face as he let out a breath he’s been holding.

He called for Barbatos to go get the others, her hand still in his as if she would disappear if he dared to let go.

“I’m glad you’re alright.” He smiled.

Maya just stared at him.

“What happened?”

Diavolo frowned, “You suddenly collapsed. I had Barbatos prepare my bed and I carried you all the way here. I also had him inform the brothers as well. You’ve been asleep ever since.”

She furrowed her brows, “How long was I out?”

“Twenty hours, give or take.”

The moment Barbatos announced that Maya was alright, everyone immediately scrambled over to the demon lord’s chambers, door opening so violently it would probably come off of its hinges.

“Maya!” Mammon cried, rushing over to where she laid and hugged her tight, his wet tears dampening her shirt. Asmodeus followed suit, bawling loudly next to his white-haired brother. His tears stained his face, but he didn’t seem to mind at all.

Leviathan and Satan rushed in next, roughly shoving each other when they both entered the door at the same time in an attempt to free themselves from getting stuck.

The twins went in after them; Beelzebub was shaking violently, big fat tears rolling down his face. His hand grasped Belphegor’s tightly. His twin visibly winced at his grip.

Lucifer entered last, sighing in disbelief at his brothers’ behavior, but nevertheless relieved that Maya is finally awake. Barbatos is beside him, face stoic as ever. His eyes met hers, a silent message shared between them.

‘I’m glad you’re alright.’

Maya said nothing.

“Sorry about the mess,” The oldest brother sighed, closing the door behind him. “The others are going to follow shortly; Simeon and Solomon are still trying to comfort Luke.”

“What were you thinking?!” Levi exclaimed, “We were so worried about you, you normie!”

“You scared us, Maya!” Mammon sniffled beside her, “Please don’t ever do that again, ya hear me?”

Maya smiled.

And then she laughed.

And then the tears started falling.

The brothers rushed over and sat on the corner of the Demon Prince’s bed in alarm.

“Oh no, honey!” Asmo wailed as Maya tried so hard to wipe her tears. She couldn’t help it, it won’t stop flowing out.

“I’m sorry,” She choked, “I’m so sorry.”

Every time a tear strayed down her flushed cheeks, a part of her goes with it.

They all sat in silence, giving her a chance to break down her walls and finally let it all out. Diavolo squeezed her hand gently, quietly telling her that it’s okay to talk about it.

“I’m just so tired,” Maya told them, hiccuping every now and then as her body trembled in Mammon and Asmo’s arms. “I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t even get out of my own damn bed. Heck, I couldn’t even barely process anything. There are so many things running in my head right now. So many things, and it’s driving me insane. It’s making me feel afraid. I don’t want to go back home, I don’t want to be alone again. I know I can’t stay, but the place I live in back home can’t even be called a home. No light, no warmth, no one to go back home to. But here… I feel like I belong, like I have a family that cared about me and I… I love you guys so much that I’m afraid to lose it all.”

When she was finished, nobody uttered a word. Maya tensed, scared.

“I’m sorry,” She sucked in a breath. Her throat was sore from all the crying. “I shouldn’t have-”

She was suddenly engulfed by all of the brothers in what seemed like the best hug she ever had in her entire life; They weren’t like the hugs they would give her every time they go their separate ways in RAD’s hallways, they weren’t like the hugs they would give her whenever they would laugh when someone cracks a joke.

No, this hug was special.

It made her feel loved for the first time.

“Maya!” They all cooed, “We love you too!”

Maya burst into tears.

By the time they all broke their hug after what seemed like hours, the door opened once more as Barbatos let the angels and Solomon in.

Luke was sobbing in Simeon’s arms, making little hand gestures at Maya in an attempt to reach her.

“Barbatos told us what happened,” Simeon moved towards her and gave her a look of understanding. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”

Maya weakly nodded, “It’s okay, Simeon. It’s not your fault.”

“Maya!” Luke sniffled, finally calming down when Simeon placed him on the bed next to her. “Thank God you’re alright now!”

She smiled at him, running her fingers through his soft blond hair. “I’m sorry for making you worry, Luke. Will you accept my apology?”

“Apology accepted!” The little angel cried, hugging her tight.

It was time for all of them to go back home. They all exchanged one final hug with Maya. Lucifer insisted her to stay in Diavolo’s room that night, the oldest brother convinced that she needed to rest before going back home.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t go home with you all tonight.” Maya told them, “I hope you all have a safe trip back home.” She ran her fingers through Luke’s hair one last time.

“No worries,” Simeon hummed, “It’s okay to rest every once in a while.”

“I’ll promise to write to you every day!” Luke declared, eyes watering a bit. “You better read them.”

“Oh, Luke.” Maya softened, kissing the angel’s forehead. “I will cherish them all.”

Luke beamed.

“Well I guess this is goodbye,” She nodded at Solomon.

“This isn’t goodbye, Maya,” The sorcerer assured her, “It’s more like a “See you later” thing, you know? We’ll see each other again - I promise.” He winked.

“Thank you for listening to me.”

“No, thank you,” They told her. “Thank you for trusting us.”

After they were escorted back outside by Barbatos, It was now the brothers’ turn to say goodbye.

“I’m seriously going to miss you guys.” Maya smiled at them.

“You better!” Mammon was tearing up again beside her.

Maya sighed, lifting her hand to wipe away his tear. “It’ll be fine, Mammon. I’m sure I can still see you sooner or later.”

A thought formed in her head, “Which reminds me…” Her hand dove under the sheets and fished out her wallet. “Here, you can have it.” She placed it on the demon’s hands.

“What?”

“You can have it,” Maya repeated, a smile forming on her face. “Besides, I can’t exactly use Grimm back home, right?”

Mammon sniffled, then immediately threw his hands around her. He was crying now.

“Oi, normie,” Levi called her, “Don’t you dare forget about us.”

“Oh Levi,” Maya motioned him to come closer so he too can join their hug. “How could I forget you?”

The avatar of envy averted his eyes, blushing immensely, before finally joining them.

Satan stepped forward and ruffled her hair. “Do you still want the books I’ll lend you?”

Maya can’t stop smiling. “Always.”

The blonde hummed, “I’m gonna miss you, Maya.” He then moved away.

Asmo practically threw himself over Maya, landing against his two older brothers.

“Hey! Watch it!” Mammon growled from under him.

“Asmo-”

“Maya!” He bawled, peppering Maya’s face with kisses. “Take care of yourself more okay? Remember to drink enough water and eat!”

Maya laughed, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I promise, Asmo.”

The three demons immediately pulled away from their hug when they saw Beel approaching at a rapid pace. They didn’t want to get crushed by the Avatar of Gluttony’s huge stature.

“Hey there big guy,” Maya whispered, chuckling a bit when he trapped her in a bone-crushing hug.

“If you can, talk to your family for me?” He muttered, his purple eyes glossed over.

Maya closed her eyes. She sighed, “I’ll try, Beel.”

Belphie slid in between them, “So, can we all three sleep together now?”

Maya giggled, gently patting the youngest brother’s soft hair. “Soon, Belph. Soon.”

When they both finally pulled away, Lucifer approached her.

“If anything goes wrong,” He cupped her cheek with his gloved hand. “Just remember that you’ll always have a home with me. With us.”

She softened in his touch. Those were the words she always wanted to hear.

“Thank you,” She breathed, “I needed to hear that.”

“Anytime.” The oldest brother gave her one of his rare smiles, stepping back.

“I shall escort you seven to the door now,” Barbatos announced, reminding the brothers that it is time to go.

“See you later, Maya!” Mammon grinned, walking towards the door with the others.

“I’ll leave her to you, my Lord.” Lucifer nodded towards Diavolo, who was beside Barbatos.

“Don’t worry,” Diavolo assured them, “She’s in good hands.”

“Good night, Barb!” Maya called out to the demon butler as he accompanied the brothers outside. Barbatos smiled at her, before closing the door.

Diavolo was the only one that stayed behind.

“Move over,” He blurted out.

“What?”

“Move over. I want to cuddle you.”

“Tell me something about yourself.”

“Like what?”

“What did you like to do back home?”

Maya hummed, thinking hard. “I liked listening to theater.”

“Really?” Diavolo’s eyes shone in astonishment beside her, arms holding her close. “Can you tell me more?”

She giggled, amused at his reactions. “I had a dog while growing up. From what I can recall, I think we named him Kev. He was tiny; like a little white cloud zooming around in my family’s kitchen. Yet he had these big blue eyes; two sapphires, my mother would call them. But five-year old-Maya thought otherwise. They told me I thought of them as planets.” She paused, “I wish I had more memories of him to tell you. He passed away when I was eight.”

“I’m sure he was a good dog,” Diavolo assured her, a hand reaching up to play with her hair.

“He was one of the best,” Maya smiled at the memory.

“How long are you going to stay here?” She asked him.

“Until you fall asleep,” Diavolo answered. He was resting his chin on her head now.

“It’s okay if you need to go,” Maya sighed, “I know you’re busy running the Devildom. You’ve done so much for me already. You probably think of me as a burden right now.”

“No, you’re not.” He told her, “I won’t hate you. I won’t think of you as a burden. I know you think that’s what you deserve but it’s not. I want to stay with you.”

“Stay with me?” Maya repeated.

“As long as I get to hold your hand,” The demon prince chuckled, sheepish.

“Okay.”

Maya’s heart was caught in her throat when Diavolo’s hand slipped into hers, intertwining their fingers together.

It wasn’t weird. It wasn’t wrong. It was Diavolo.

They stayed like that for a while, relaxing in the comfortable silence. Diavolo suddenly broke the stillness when he breathed out a laugh.

Maya looked up at him, “What’s on your mind?” She questioned.

He smiled, “You.”

At that moment Maya realized that he was close. So close.

Diavolo seemed to notice it too. He leaned in, ever so carefully. He stopped when his lips were barely touching hers.

“Can I kiss you?” He whispered.

One look in their eyes and nothing more is said. They could tell they both wanted the same thing; the look they both had is what gave it away.

And then their lips met.

Their kiss was not at all the same as those romance movies Maya watched with the brothers. It wasn’t anything like how they described it in Satan’s novels. It didn’t feel like those rough kisses she had heard in Asmo’s stories.

This one was different. This one was soft.

It felt like laying in bed after a long day. It felt like rain in summer. It felt like the first bite into warm bread. It felt like living.

Yeah, Maya found her place. That place was wherever Diavolo was.

It was Monday when Maya woke up back in her apartment.

She was cold, she was alone. But she was loved.

She smiled.

Oh, so loved.

6 notes · View notes

iredreamer · 5 years ago

Note

I know you’ve posted before how Anne & Mariana spent Christmas together in 1834 and that Mariana tempted Anne unsuccessfully, but have you read Moving Between Worlds? Because the author (excerpting diaries) states plainly that kissing/ grubbling did occur during Anne’s visit (12/24/1834 diary entry: “gratify her passion by one parting grubble”). I take you to be the master at all things real life Anne Lister and Ann Walker so I wanted to get your input. THANK YOU for all your posts, seriously!!

hey :) thank you so much for your message! Yes I’ve read Moving Between Worlds, and I’ve also checked Anne’s diary (from the 22nd of December – when she arrives at Lawton – to the 26th – when she goes back to Shibden) to understand better what happened.

I transcribed AL’s coded parts where she talks about what happened with Mariana during those days. At the end you’ll find what I personally think of this whole thing.

EDIT: I updated the post with parts – coded and not – that even tho are not directly about what happened between them, still help understand the context and what went on during those days. I think that the context and the conversations Mariana & Anne had during this time are quite important to understand why some things happened. The only things I left out in my transcriptions are stuff like “I went from there to there, we visited this lady etc.”, things that are quite mundane.

December 22, 1834 (Monday) > (…) at Lawton at 9 – i.e. 8 ¾ by their clocks – Shewn into M-’s [Mariana] room. And she soon came nervous sobbing, but she got over it pretty soon and well – Had a couple of nice little mutton chops, and then coffee – Mr. L- [Charles Lawton] just came in for a minute or 2 but finding we were still going to have coffee said he had had tea, went back to the dining room and we saw him no more – M- [Mariana] and I sat talking till 11.35 by Halifax – She gave me the history of Martha Booth – not good – her head full of novels that she had read before coming to M- [Mariana] – and her principles spoilt by the bad examples of 2 succession cooks – had been deceitful – was too much set up – Mrs. Duff to give me Martha’s character – M- [Mariana] not to tell me anything – I said if Martha left here, I should have nothing more to say to her – M- [Mariana] then gave me the history of Miss Crewe (…) I never felt less in love’s danger. I thought M- [Mariana] prosy but this was better than the way she talked in at first, despairing & as if the sooner she died the better – she would not listen to my proofs that she herself had had things between us all her own way, however I would not give up the point tho’ I pressed it gently – I was very affectionate, spoke kindly of Mr. Crowe & said I would do anything in the world I could for her but there was no love in my manner or thoughts – I merely thought I was glad this was at an end & that I was as I was – Talked of the Norcliffes & Mrs. Milne’s sarcastic manner which seems to have shewn itself to M- [Mariana] at Scarbro – M- [Mariana] said she always appeared to know all about me whether she did know anything or not – She had talked at Leamington of her great anxiety to see Lady Vere as the most particular friend of her, M- [Mariana] most particular friend! I have guessed right, M- [Mariana] does not want to love the eclat of my friendship (…) M- came upstairs with me to my room & staid ten minutes – a little nervous again & hung on me & went off, talks of giddiness in her head & not living long but I said I should do her good, in fact as I shrewdly hinted I shall not be the death of her. Thank God I am as I am. I thought very little of M- as I came along & never felt more calm – Very fine day – till one tonight wrote all but the five first lines of the day – till 1 ½ wrote 2 pp. to A- [Ann Walker] to go tomorrow – account of my journey – good account of things. [SH:7/ML/E/17/0127]

December 23, 1834 (Tuesday) > (Go by the Lawton clocks) breakfast at 10.20 – then sat talking till 12 – from 12 to 2 walked (about 2 miles) to see a poor man (James Shaw) confined to his bed these 30 weeks for having fallen into a hot salt pan – Luncheon with Mr. L- [Charles Lawton] in his room (I not eating) then sat talking in M-‘s [Mariana] sitting room – Out at 4, for 40 minutes (…) then sat talking in my dressing room till 5.40 – dressed – dinner at 6.10 – coffee – tea… came upstairs at 10 ½ and M- [Mariana] sat with me ½ hour – sealed and gave her my letter written last night to A- [Ann Walker], Shibden, to be put into the post before 9 a.m. tomorrow – annoyed this morning to find I was too late for today’s post – the letters must be there at 9, and the mail goes at 10 – Told M- [Mariana] she had never come to me to see if I was up this morning, she said she would but thought I should not like it – I was rather attendrie this morning, particularly after our walk – She told Mr. Crewe had been with her at Scarbro, glad I had not heard of it in York & that she herself was first to tell me of it – He had said he hoped to her happy with the friend she liked best staying with her at Warmingham, meaning to have me with them – I asked if she did not think this speech plain enough – she said it had not struck her much but at last owned it was pretty plain tho she still says she never was in love with him & wonders if she ever shall be – I calmly said “Oh, yes all that would come” – she told me Mr. C- [Crewe] was very calm on that subject – in telling her a story of a chère amie [dear friend] of Brooke? Grevilles said but he & his friend could very well do without those domestic comforts – she still persists that all her love is for me – I led the conversation to A- [Ann Walker], said I really liked [her], was more than comfortable & that whatever might be said money had nothing to do with it – M- [Mariana] asked if it was true that she had three thousand a year – I said no, but our fortunes would be about equal & that we should have five thousands a year – said I had thought of her the first thing after M-’s [Mariana] break off – I was thankful things were as they were for I was determined to have one & certainly could not have done better – Charlotte said A- [Ann Walker] was not ladylike & she & Mrs. Milne thought she [Mariana] should not be flattered if she saw her successor, but that I could not do without money – M- [Mariana] took all well – said she thought I had done right & perhaps she herself was the cause of it, they wondered – Mr. C- [Crewe] does not like Mrs. Milne – she behaved sarcastically & he expected better things after all the trouble he had taken about Hamlyn – He wished M- [Mariana] to get her uncle & Lou to go to Geneva next summer. M- [Mariana] to join them & then he & his two boys would join them all at Geneva & make a tour for with her uncle there could be nothing wrong. I made no remark. But this explained the passage she read from Lou’s letter that came today, that with a little persuasion she thought her uncle might be got to go to Geneva tho she had preferred Scotland on account of not leaving her mother so far – This proves M- [Mariana] had thought of the plan & seriously too – perhaps she wished to sound me, what will the world say? She protests she feels towards only as a brother – well nous verrons [we’ll see] – I told her that but for him I might have acted differently – said I read her last letter to A- [Ann Walker] but she did not understand it – I had told all that was necessary but not quite all, that is not of our connection – nor did any know of this or ever would – This seemed to satisfy her – Said I was not quite satisfied with her brother’s conduct about Clifton to his mother in paying with so much difficulty, nor with his management of his wife & that he had latterly left A- [Ann Walker] ten days unvisited by him – but this not to be named any more than the brandy & water drunk by Miss. Bagshaw at Mrs. Bewleys – M- [Mariana] has seemed low today at intervals – it seems she does not now like Mrs. Wilbraham who has interfered with the friendly society etc. Mr. C- [Crewe] says how worldly they all are & he cannot endure them – somehow I do not like him – M- [Mariana] says Mr. C- [Crewe] was never conscious of his feelings towards till L-’s [Charles Lawton?] conduct to him at Mr. Woodsin – 1831 – I cannot quite understand M- [Mariana] – she shews me she is still in love with me – I might have her as heretofore without much difficulty. She says she is glad to see me but talks of the difference there is when my interest is hung on another peg – I asked tonight if I was not as much attached & as affectionate as she wished me to be – she made no answer – I pressed her to say yes & she merely replied “yes, you are very affectionate” – she has kissed me as warmly as she dared venture & given me licence enough if I chose to take it, but in answer “do you love me” my “yes indeed I do” bespoke nothing beyond friendship. The fact is I am really indifferent to her – but she would lead me astray if she could – She will send a present to A- sorry I had proposed it as it was her own intention – L- [Charles Lawton?] & I very good friends but no more – very fine frosty day – no use to look at my thermometer – my dressing room having a good fire in it – wrote all the above of today from 11 ½ to 12 ½ tonight. [SH:7/ML/E/17/0128]

December 24, 1834 (Wednesday) > Fine soft morning – jumped up at 8 ½ on M-‘s [Mariana] coming to call me; and we sat talking in my dressing room ¾ hour (…) M- [Mariana] and I then sat talking in her sitting room till 1 – Luncheon with C- [Charles Lawton]. Letter 3 pp. and 1st page crossed (nice, kind, chit-chat letter) from A- [Ann Walker] her aunt all kindness, but nothing transpired about the contents of her sister’s letter – my aunt not so well as when I left her – if worse would write by the next post – if no letter here, wishes me to call (en passant) at the post office at Manchester – M- [Mariana] and I came and sat talking in my dressing room till 2 – she asked to look at the handwriting and I read her the letter, she looking over me, she said it was a nice simple minded letter – she was better satisfied to have seen it – M- [Mariana] and I went out at 2 to see poor old Molly Owen at the Lodge… and then walked about home till 4 ¾ – Much talk about Mr. Crewe to whom for short I gave the name of short – spoke of Micklestone (pronounced Muckstone) & her living there & our all meeting – she said we should be an odd quartette but seemed in tolerable spirits saying she should now try to turn her thoughts that way – glad to have seen me, for till she saw me, could scarce believe things really as they are – she wondered if she could ever love him, perhaps it would come but thought she should feel as if she was breaking the seventh commandment – very well satisfied with A- [Ann Walker] – should like her all the daytime, could not bear her at night, could not bear to see her go off to bed with me – I kindly parried all this – she said if she had not seen me now perhaps we might have not met again – owned it was much better to have met – I told her & explained quietly that it was all her own doing, that no human influence could have done it but her own – spoke highly of A-’s [Ann Walker] high principle & honorable feeling & that even in any case if it cost me life itself I would not willingly give her up easiness she trusted me & she was right if I could do so much in this case what could I not have done in another, but she, M- [Mariana], had never understood me – I was never half as bad as she thought me – Home at4 ¾ and sat talking inmy dressing room till 5 ½ (…) Told M- [Mariana] servants would always be left in the house at Shibden – if ever she wanted a place to go to, the house would always be at her service – but said gently I would rather she was there alone supposing I was absent – she said she should take Louisa or Ann [Mariana’s sisters] – said I had never liked her family and was sorry for it, but somehow I never could get over my feeling of dislike – I certainly owed them nothing & she said she certainly owed them nothing – dressed – dinner at 6.20 (…) on our leaving the dining room M- [Mariana] and I soon came to my dressing room – She being so low she could not stand it – drank cold water sobbed & was almost in hysterics. Then asked if I loved her “yes” said I “you know I do” we then kissed – our lips seeming glewed together & somehow tongues meeting. She sobbed & said “it is hard, very hard, to be a friend for one who has been a wife” – I was attendrie – we both cried our eyes nearly when we were obliged to go down to tea after nine. She came for a few minutes on going but was quite upset I had to go for Watson to call Eugenie & saw M- [Mariana] almost undressed – I just kiss the back of her neck & came away for she seemed worse seeing me again. It occurs to me that I inadvertently kissed her rather too warmly just after dinner. Was it this that upset her for the night? it is very sad – I am very sorry but my own indifference makes me safer that she thinks. I advised her this morning not to meet Mr. C- [Crewe] at Geneva better go with A- [Ann Walker] & me than anyone I had thought of taking Mr. Brown for A-’s drawing if so M- [Mariana] might return with him, but what I could do very uncertain. [SH:7/ML/E/17/0128 & SH:7/ML/E/17/0129]

December 25, 1834 (Thursday) > M- [Mariana] came a little before eight & staid till nine in bed with me – rather in the pathetics – she cannot get over her love for me – but I behaved with perfect propriety. She said “well” if anything happened to A- [Ann Walker] & Mr. C- [Crewe] would I take her back again – I made no answer till she said “would I not” when I replied “I would not shut the door against you” on which she thanked me & said I was very good. (…) Letter from A- [Ann Walker] (Shibden) my aunt better – 3 pp. widely written – nice letter – properly affectionate – wants me back again – (…) M- [Mariana] said nothing & L- [Charles Lawton] said he [Crewe?] was a scoundrel, of which nobody apparently took any notice – M- [Mariana] mentioned it when we came up to bed, seemed low & nervous, I tried to cheer her – advised her going to London to her uncle & Louisa for a week to see little M- till she told me the history at length of L- [Charles Lawton] & Eliza Lawton – then told her not to be away – said I saw her mind wavered about leaving L- [Charles Lawton] but that she must not do it unless he compelled her for refusing to have the girl to live with them or unless something between him & the girl came out – she had taxed with it, with what the girl said & he declared it was a lie – the girl did not like to be alone with him – he out his tongue unto her moth [mouth?] which, said M- [Mariana], is you know, the last thing, but one to which I agreed – we talked of how the girl’s mind might be debauched till M- began kissing me & we got on to such tongueing warm work that she got excited. I kept my hands over her clothes & my arms decently round her till the right wandered to queer outside till she took up her petticoats & put it to her & I gave her a thorough grubbling – I think she will have her cousin for it – I certainly felt oddish but no wish to be near to her myself, tho she said in the midst “can you not come near to me for a minute or two” I made no reply but went on never opening my eyes. She asked if I loved her, I merely said “yes”. When I did look at her it was in silence neither as if ashamed nor as if attendri nor caring much. I was grave & silent. She said she was better & hoped I should have a good night. What is the meaning of all this? Can this be the conduct of a pure minded virtuous woman! I despise it – she had tried all ways to upset me – I have done what I have done, but she shall never gain more nor ever I hope a repetition ever of this. I could have done without it but somehow I thought gratify her passion by one parting grubble. It ought not to have been but I will try to turn it to some good account by telling her I shall shew her letters & by keeping out of her way – my respect is gone. – She read me Mr. C-’s [Crewe] last letter long & written at different times according to her request nothing absolutely improper might be read aloud but the understanding between them is evident – How will it end? He is a gambler – I told her today I did not think that right & I was sorry for it – She send’s A- [Ann Walker] little pocket book yet she will try to lead me astray from her! But she shall do no worse & I hope & trust the scene of tonight cannot recur. Is this the chaste & quiet M- [Mariana]? I will keep out to her way & Mr. C–’s [Crewe] too as well as I can. [SH:7/ML/E/17/0129 & SH:7/ML/E/17/0130]

December 26, 1834 (Friday) > Had slept in my clothes – M- [Mariana] came before eight & leaned or lay on the bed till I got up – I don’t think she found out that I was not undress, my night chemise hid all that she seemed in good spirits – said she had had a very good night & hoped I had had one too. I said not much on this part of the subject – she saw that I did not think of last night’s business quite as she did I said let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall – she seemed rejoiced at the sort of victory she thought she had gained & argued against my fancying there was any wrong in it – said it had done her good & she was now much happier – begged me not to abuse her in my heart. I said as little as possible not troubling myself to knock down her arguments but saying the only thing I had thought of as a consolation was the telling her I should show all my letters to A- [Ann Walker]. She made no objections, in fact she could not well make any, she was satisfied to have found as she thought that all her influence over me was not gone – she little dreampt the real state of the case, she had fallen in my opinion she had been too much in the style of Mrs. Milne & I mean to be as little in her way as possible in time to come. She said she still could believe herself belonging to anyone but me – the night before last she had left me in an agony quite wet thro & ill – last night she was calmer & could have done without it if I had not been different. I said nothing against all this but let it pass – she said I do not know what it is was to be obliged to restraint where formerly she had only to ask & have, I merely said I saw how she was on Wednesday night & was on my guard – last night I was off my guard & etc. etc. (…) Went down to breakfast at 11 – Mr. L- [Charles Lawton] had waited to wish me good bye – never so attentive before… off from Lawton at 11.50 (…) and at Shibden at 10.55 – all gone to bed but Cordingley and John expecting me, had come down – A- [Ann Walker] jumped up – and came to me in her dressing gown and cloak, delighted to see me back again – had given up in despair – had tea – the first thing we did was to laugh aloud at her droll figure and the bustle I had made – explained, sat talking – Told her I myself was astonished how little I had thought of M- [Mariana] either going or returning. Very glad to be back again. Mentioned how I had offered her the use of Shibden in the event of L-’s [Charles Lawton] death etc. etc. – [SH:7/ML/E/17/0130 & SH:7/ML/E/17/0131]

Anne Lister goes back to Shibden the 26th. She’s happy to be back and tells AW that she “was astonished how little I had thought of M- either going or returning. Very glad to be back again.” and then she and AW have sex: “One very good kiss after getting into bed & not long after this another not quite so good but very fair.” (December 27, 1834 – Saturday)

So, to wrap this up… Mariana tries to have sex with AL everyday while they’re together, and AL tries her best to stay away (and I mean, they do what they do but they don’t have sex?? at least for Anne’s way of thinking). Anne writes how indifferent she is to it all and that basically she doesn’t even know why she gave in to Mariana’s attentions (and she doesn’t really seem into it anyway). What I think is this: I see it as a moment of weakness, their relationship is so complex and their dynamic is just so established that I think it was easy for Anne Lister to fall in the old ways with Mariana just because it was what she was used to. Doesn’t seem to me that AL was very happy with what happened, with Mariana’s behaviour or her own behaviour. I’m also very curious about why, in everything I’ve read by any historian, everyone says that AL stayed faithful to Ann Walker, clearly no one considered this thing with Mariana an important fact…

The situation between them was quite complex. There are a lot of grey areas, there is a lot of history between them, and as always Mariana has a strong hold on Anne. We’re talking about real people here, with complex feelings, with contradictory feelings. It is very hard to say one thing or the other about this matter, there is so much complexity in their relationship, in what happens and in what Anne feels that I think that reducing everything to “she was faithful” or “she wasn’t faithful” is not the right way to deconstruct/understand the whole thing.

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fouralignments · 5 years ago

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An Update

I was not expecting that kind of response from my Dadneto fic Mir Veln Zey Iberlebn. But, thank you all for supporting me, those comments really made my day.

But, I do want to inform everyone that I am working on a spiritual sequel to it called: Hanetz Hachamah. It doesn’t take place within the same universe as the previous fic. It takes place pre-First Class and Erik is still trying to track down Shaw, but its going to have a similar feel to by previous work and it maybe a tad bit longer. Hopefully, this fic will be up by Tuesday or Monday. I’ve got up to 554 words written (one page) and it took me two days to write my other work. So, heads up.

I will also be working on some Dadneto headcanons, that will hopefully be up by the end of the week; there’s a one about food and the other three are in part of a group dealing with Dadneto, swimming, ADHD medicine and a bit of biology in regards to how Pietro’s body function. I do come from a medical background, my mom works in the ER, my dad just retired from being MRI tech, and my sister works at a hospital, so medical discussions were held at the dinner table growing up. In addition, I was a bio-chem major for a while, so there is that as well and I am a huge sci-fi nerd. I aspect theses to be done by the end of the week.

Sorry @hashkivenu if theses headcanons have taken so long, I got distracted by other Dadneto headcanons.

Theses Headcanon do inform my writing for longer pieces. So, if you do see them pop-up, there you go.

The other thing I wanted to discuss is, I’m debating myself what to work on next. Option 1.) Is I finish up Spring Flowers Bring Forth A Worried Father which I have written a page and half for. It’s about Pietro wanting Raven to fill proud of her blue form, Erik taught him well, and decides to pick her flowers, however leaves without telling anyone, which leads to a very worried Dadneto.

Option 2.) Finishing up Vati, Please Make it Back Safe, which I haven’t worked on. It’s about Pietro being worried about his father going on a mission and he wants his father to make it back. It’s based on some really good Dadneto fanart.

Option 3.) Now, this one will be my first foray into multi-chapter fic writing in a long time. I am including another chapter, because I recently watched First Class again and was inspired, so Shaw almost successfully kidnaps Pietro from the CIA base and talks in German to Pietro about what he did to Erik that he shouldn’t have learned at his age. Sebastian Shaw’s national pastime is hurting Erik Lehnsherr. The fic is generally about how Erik’s hunt for Shaw is affecting Pietro, along with his experiences of being a mutant and dealing with bullying in school.

I might add, I will be getting to all theses ideas, its just a matter of order. Hopefully, once I get a few more one-shots and some writing done for the Star Trek: Enterprise Fandom. (Drum roll please) I will be working on my longer-form fic and when I mean longer form I mean novels.

Because well I have not nothing better to do. All my shows are off until the fall, the only show I will be watching that have new episodes coming out is Queen of the South. I’m getting tired of watching re-runs and watching TV. I’m only taking two summer classes, both online, but one per five weeks; so I will have plenty of time to write and read.

Thought? Ideas? Suggestions?

@hashkivenu @secretlymagneto @fairyscorpicus @anthony-e-stark-3000

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bladekindeyewear · 5 years ago

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HS^2 bloggin’ bonus 2020-02-01

bladekindeyewear:

Boy that sure is a new HS^2 bonus I should blogread. And there was a commentary on the Patreon for the last proper upd8 too.

I’ll… do it sometime this weekend, not right away. (Had a stomach virus through Monday and Tuesday that’s left me pretty fucked over and still waiting for the aftereffects to flee.)

Alright, taking a crack at both of these now. (Both light on images and quoting, since it’s all Patreon material.) So what’s going on here? Are the bonus chapters splitting into separate stories perhaps, following the lecture in one and the PS^2 crew in another? Also, from the replies on the previous:

gaaraofsburbia said: It was very good and I was very happy

Good to know. Time to read, bonus first! *clicks link*

...the title of a book someone’s holding. Bookmarked (with a red flag?). Uh huh. Good start.

> ==>

“A picture book for young parliamentarians.) ...oh wow, it’s Carapacian even. Did the Mayor have anything to do with this book?

--Wait. Waitwaitwait. This isn’t-- the authors wouldn’t go back in time and show us like-- PM and the Mayor trying to start the-- nooo.

> ==>

Oh shit, never mind. This is a book ABOUT the Mayor. Starting from him farming on Skaia and continuing from there with a focus on societal structures presumably. So, sort of like what I just said but not quite as goddamn heartwrenching, most likely.

You know, this WOULD have been a good opportunity for the authors to finally bring some canon awareness to all the rampant Breath and Blood visual-and-textual symbolism around WV and PM’s arcs, giving people some HINT of their potential importance outside some crazy unproven blog post on some crazy wrong person’s blog. But I’m not really convinced Andrew or his new replacements, er... y’know. Care. About letting us know about all that cool shit. Or even dissuading us if we were somehow wrong. Just gonna... let us haaaang in the breeeze there forever, more likely. :T

...this is still what I’m most bitter about regarding the end of Homestuck, as you can obviously tell. Thinking -- still believing -- that we found something beautiful and deliberate he’d done, but refusing to have canon openly acknowledge any of it so that 99% of readers will never have a clue about it and the few of us who caught on -- if right -- are just regarded as nutters, and if wrong, NEVER have what we need to finally disprove and accept that wrongness thanks to his silence, thus continuing to believe wrongly and be regarded as nutters.

So I just keep reading and... vacillating. Vacillating on whether to believe any of this will get brought up in HS^2 canon, or whether to cynically fear they’ll take the worst route: Doing things EXACTLY like Andrew did and dropping only vague hints that keep it an implied-only, unconfirmed mystery forever. Because that’s what made the comic popular! And it’s “safe”. :(

...man, gut issues really bring the pessimist out of you, don’t they. Let’s keep reading. Once upon a time there was a simple farmer...

> ==>

Horrible kings kept fighting and didn’t care about the land, destroying it underneath their war. Right. (Mostly paraphrasing here and from now, mind you.)

> ==>

WV wanted to stop the kings, but the kings had power.

> ==>

That power had to be destroyed too. (Shows the rings.)

> ==>

Hm, the journey that ends up in the rings’ destruction to the desert? Are we going to fill in some context here?

> ==>

--And made friends with curious creatures and powerful people! (Showing the fake Can Town built with Dave and Karkat along the meteor trip.)

Assumedly internalizing all those practice-town lessons, of course.

> ==>

--Oh, cool! So one of the first things WV and PM did upon coming to Earth C to start their founding process was destroy the rings, the temptation of that power, throwing it into the Forge.

EDIT: krixwell said: "I don't know exactly how it reads in the bonus update because I'm not a patron, but WV and PM throwing the rings in the Forge happened before they entered Universe C, and was shown in HS proper (8107-8111, 8123-8126 and at the beginning of [S] Act 7). It was required to light the Forge and send the Genesis Tadpole to Skaia." Ah, file that under more things I forgot about, then.

> ==>

Where once nothing,

> ==>

Earth C was founded/born, etc.

> ==>

Ah okay! So with a backdrop of the Town Hall under construction, we’re getting some context specifically as to how and why the Mayor set up society the way he did on Earth C. Especially the challenging question of who would govern the world and how.

> ==>

Oh shit, text dump! :D

The problem was unfortunately compounded by the fact that when the topic of fair and effective governance is broached, most sparing intellects immediately assume a certain posture. Not one of surrender or admiration, but of abject and interminable boredom.

This fact makes it hard to treat such a fascinating subject with the proper amount of attention and enthusiasm, BUT WE SHALL DO OUR BEST TO UNDERSTAND REGARDLESS.

Alright, loving this.

Also, this’ll undoubtedly put into context just how MUCH the Mayor had to think about how society would work best to have set up -- and how little comparative thought Jane put into the process when just drafting up something United-States-like and familiar. Remember how awful it was the childlike way the Condesce essentially kept trying to recreate her familiar surroundings and rule structure on Earth? It was only natural that her Life-aspected protege would make similar errors, I suppose.

Back to reading this long page... I won’t just quote all the details of this representative system, because that’s up to y’all to pony up for. But I’ll note if there’s anything interesting in it that makes me think. Let’s see...

...Hm! The number of seats each kingdom got in parliament was based on voter turnout... THAT’S a heavy incentive to get out the vote, if your kingdom can literally lose influence if you don’t.

On the happy occasions where the maximum number of seats were allocated in all four quarters, this was known as a "full House".

Oh, fuck you. :)

...oh dear, that was only the beginning of the card slang.

I’m not going to list all of them here. They make sense in context, which is even worse.

Without going into too much detail, consorts all tend to have significantly shorter lifespans than the other citizens of Earth C. Because of this, a large number of House Rules were dedicated to describing exactly what to do if a seat was vacated mid-term due to the death of its occupant.

Not the carapacian kingdom, the consort kingdom. Don’t panic, y’all.

The DELIVERY OF JUSTICE (DoJ) was founded to keep the peace and arbitrate in all legal matters, and its members were the brave soldiers of God in this righteous crusade.

They also took care of the MAIL.

Oooooof course. :)

Unions get their rep, if only for a pun...

Oh, hm. The Mayor’s office is much like a ceremonial-only monarch’s office without serious power. Etc etc...... reading...

So governing Earth C was a complicated affair, and only became more convoluted over time. But the really important thing was that, despite all this complexity, it worked. It really worked. At one point, a whole field of mathematics was developed just to explain why the interim government worked so well, and they ended up proving it categorically. It was theoretically perfect.

Ppfffff

--ah. And then the Mayor has a chill as he looks at the clouds and somehow anticipates something terrible happening to it all.

That’s it for the bonus. I’m guessing the next chapter of this separate bonus story will go over some sort of threat the system endured, while the Mayor was still alive, possibly? Or cut forward to the creators’ arrival and how that fucked a bunch of stuff up? A sort of demonstration on why the gods who create a universe shouldn’t take charge of those living in it or such? Hm.

Alright, if that’s it for the bonus, let’s see what’s available for Patreon commentary... here we go, just the one for the latest mainline upd8 that I knew had come out.

Sketches and Commentary: Chapter 3, How Are Your Feelings

Before starting into this, I want to note that I do have SOME ray of hope for more Awake Jade involvement to shine against my previous rant -- because that OTHER callie-controlled younger Jade body is coming, which I’d forgotten about. As soon as the pursuit crew arrives in-system and THAT Jade finally gets there through whatever black-hole-powered teleportation magic she’s using (with Aradia and Robodave), it’ll be completely safe for OUR Jade to be awake and active at will. Theoretically.

So... y’know, that’s nice. Whenever that will happen.

So onto the commentary, we’re starting with that stupid ship.

(I think I actually said something along the lines of, "this is stupid, so we're using it." I know my Homestuck history. For those interested, the ship is modelled after a schooner, and continues the Homestuck tradition of spaceships that look like regular sea-faring vessels, only with additional stuff bolted on. - Pip)

...Yeah, can’t blame you there.

This is Jake’s “second best” ship. It makes me really nervous to think about what the third-best looks like.

Flying booty shorts, most likely.

...yeah, I did notice that latest upd8 playing with colors in a way the comic rarely even did, it was pretty nice. Glad to see they appreciate it too.

...Yep, Karkat getting owned just for the sake of it, there.

First off, Jade’s outfit. It rules. Alt!Callie may have violently forced her consciousness inside of this innocent girl’s brain, but damn these threads are sweet. She’s managed to keep Jade pretty on brand, while throwing in a couple embellishments of her own. That’s what we call “making it work”.

Yes, you’d better WELL fucking acknowledge what you’re doing by keeping Jade in a miserable isolated state for three years. A G A I N.

Nice bit about the casual showing of Dave’s eyes as evidence that Dave’s recovering through some of his old mental blocks.

Dave and Karkat are wearing each other’s shirts, which is traditionally a very gay thing to do. Even more notably perhaps is the fact that Karkat is wearing crimson without a hint of complaint. Again, I doubt this was an intentional move on his part. Just, sometimes you’re coming out of the shower, it’s chilly, and your boyfriend’s shirt fits. Busting through mental blocks should typically come across as whispers to me, rather than shouts.

--Hm, never considered the latter angle.

Karkat is being pretty mean to Possessed Jade. Which sucks, but this situation is incredibly stressful, and Karkat tends to react to stress by being mean. Treating Jade like an irritant allows him to put some distance between himself and the reality that he may have lost another friend.

Guh. That one stung :(

Initially the panel directions here were “everybody pauses to contemplate Dirk fucking Strider”

Mhmm, and you figured it’d be more unsettling to reverse it and remind us that the Prince is aware of all of this too.

Roxy’s heart-shaped sunglasses have become such a thing in the fandom that I kind of can’t imagine him without them at this point, so we decided to make it settled law.

Mhmm, I figured that was how they played it. One of the ways they’re incorporating fandom involvement.

Sometimes I feel like it should be Xam who does these commentaries, since there’s so much incredible shit going on with the art here that I’m really only equipped to comment on with shit like “oh wow, look at these colors. Green and purple huh. Wild. There’s also some light.”

It’s pretty understandable to have the writers take the lead on most commentary as opposed to the artists... normally.

But then you’d have the weird places where they’d have to work together without necessarily giving away their game. Like, all that WV/PM Breath/Blood visual representation I mentioned.

I still don’t know if they’re gonna give away the game on that eventually -- or if Andrew even gave them enough to go on to properly REPLICATE that sort of thing in this official continuation, even though my mind keeps telling me it’d make all sense to -- but if they are thinking about it, I doubt they’ll first show their hand in the commentary.

I love Kanaya’s new outfit.

I understand that sure, but will she be sticking with this outfit through the action though? Looking like a mourning nun?

Kanaya’s nursery story is, of course, The Little Prince, a French fairytale from the 1940’s. It tells the story, rather appropriately, of a young Prince traveling through space looking for something he believes he has lost.

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I’m not sure why I keep thinking about this quote. Probably some shit that has to do with “themes” or something.

Hinting that once he’s beaten down and likely dying from this stupid exodus plan, at least some part of Dirk may finally realize that any fulfillment and purpose he was looking for with this megalomaniacal nonsense was left behind in the peaceful life he fucking ruined for everyone to do all this. The Heart-blind bastard.

God, Dave is just losing family members left and right, isn’t he? Really makes you think.

Gdi. :(

“Maybe it was naive to think a bunch of twenty something trauma victims could run a society.”

There it is. That’s the whole Epilogue.

And Andrew just had to let us ruin our naivety.

Wow. There really are just a whole lot of feelings in this chapter, aren’t there? It’s very aptly named. And it’s also actually the first part of HS^2 that got drafted; at least the first part that actually made it into the final draft. I wrote it earlier in 2019 when we were still kicking around ideas of what an Epilogue follow-up would actually look like.

Huh. Yeah, I can imagine when writing all this it would make sense to write/use this chapter first, as a knee-jerk reaction.

I do really think Karkat would have been a great president. He would have hated it, but he would have been good at it.

I’m glad the authors are in agreement with everyone else with a brain on this one.

Did you guys know that Karkat still feels immense survivor’s guilt for murderstuck?

Yes. Yes we did.

(Some continued remarks about how Karkat’s self-loathing is like a singularity that draws all blame onto himself in his mind etc.)

Apparently there was a metal gear reference in this second-to-last conversation? Don’t tell me, I don’t care.

Eat the fucking pancakes, dude.

A good place to end the commentary. See y’all when there’s more content!

#Homestuck #hs2 #upd8 #Homestuck Liveblog #Homestuck Commentary #bladekindeyewear #blastyoboots

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talltalesandbedtimestories · 5 years ago

Text

A View To A Winchester (Part 7)

Series Page

Summary: Julie’s starting a new life after divorce in a home with a very nice view.

A Dean X OFC story. I got this idea staring out the view of my home office window and thinking how nice it would be to have Dean Winchester to ogle. Gotten pretty cute and fluffy, with some angst. I’m a few sections ahead now in my writing so the outline of the story is taking shape and smut is on the near horizon. This has been a fun escape during stay-at-home orders. Getting to know Dean through my heroine’s eyes has been a great writing exercise and therapeutic reduction in anxiety. There should be studies done on what staring at photos and video of Dean/Jensen does to the human body. (But the SPN fandom has probably done one already; if not, it could be the next big scientific breakthrough.)

Section Word Count: 3,385

Section Content: fluff, angst, R-rated language, drinking, Spice Girls references, Dean being Dean and turning ladies to puddles

Thank you to @deanwanddamons for reading some of the story so far. Appreciate it.

~~~~~

Dean had not returned the next day. But Julie was apparently on his mind. He’d texted her that morning with an update. Another job had dropped into his lap. One too good to pass up. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone. But he was looking forward to seeing her when he got back.

That was on a Monday. She filled that day with decisions about what to make for her “girl power get together” scheduled for the end of the week. There was also the necessary recuperation from overdoing it with the wine. She hadn’t been that hungover in a while. Bingeing on caffeine and “The Office” helped.

By Tuesday, she’d become ancy. Staying home was not going to work. If her mind was going to run around in circles, there would need to be something else to occupy it. Rifling through options landed on a trip to a nearby state park. She’d decided on one with a bit of a challenging hike. Composed of winding hills and trails near the Brandywine River, the nature reserve filled her senses, balancing the whirlwind of emotions. She spent close to an hour sitting beside the riverbed. A turbulent spot chosen where the white water rushed over boulders and splashed into a slight descent. The river’s frantic pace cancelled out the chirping of busy birds. A gauge nearby displayed a healthy amount of rain had occurred over the past few weeks.

Even the intrusion into her personal space by a talkative, friendly dog walker didn’t bother her that much. The petite raven-haired woman, whose age was hard to pinpoint, made some chit chat while Julie trekked back to her car. Her name was Ina and she was new to Delaware. Currently, she was in search of a server job at a high-end restaurant where the tips would make it worth her time. “Any recommendations for decent food markets? Best place to order take-out, Thai being my favorite?” Ina’s chocolate lab, Cocoa, sniffed at Julie’s sneakers with abandon as questions were tossed in her general direction. Julie pet Cocoa, dodging some inquiries and rambling off information about places near her home. Cocoa got a few good scratches behind an ear before she wished Ina well settling into Pike Creek.

Wednesday ticked by even slower. Her fingers itched to text Dean. The basement had been the lucky recipient of her time and attention. A large amount of progress was made unpacking boxes, sorting out donations, and finding permanent spots in the house for decorative items. She broke down and reached out to her brother and sister-in-law, Patty, and face timed with her nephews later that night.

By Thursday, she went over her mom’s house. They ended up going to the mall and then shopping for the food Julie needed for her Friday night get together. She was reminded by her mother to feed the ladies well, with various cooking tips. Dean was also a large part of her mother’s focus. Julie feigned as much non-interest on the Winchester topic as possible. But her mother knew her well enough. She was reminded upon leaving to feed him the lasagna in the freezer soon.

Karen, Stacey, and Cat benefitted from a substantial number of Julie’s hours in the kitchen that Friday night. She’d attempted chicken parmesan, one of her mom’s signature dishes. Sauce had simmered on the stove for a couple hours - not as long as Brigida’s, but not bad. They were on the second bottle of red wine, having moved out of the dining room and into the living room. Cat, sensible and responsible as usual, was abstaining and had driven the other former college roommates over to Julie’s house.

Streaming radio played. They ended up singing along to “Holler” by The Spice Girls, sans Ginger. Julie had always been eager to take Posh’s lines, mainly because hers were few and far between. But, Karen, with her mocha colored skin, coiffed haircut, and pencil-thin skirt wrapping a pencil-thin body truly embodied the word posh. In spite of all that, Karen tapped away on her cell phone while covering Scary’s verses.

Julie had always admired Karen’s drive and dedication. She even hoped to get the divorce thing down as well as Karen. Her two teenage boys were spending the weekend at the Ex’s. She was heading up to New York by train to see her wealthy lawyer boyfriend Saturday morning. Karen made more money than “new man” did. She was a partner in a very successful law firm.

Stacey always loved Baby Spice. She had the requisite long blonde hair and blue eyes and curvy figure. She also apparently loved babies, as she had birthed three of them in her fifteen years of wedded bliss. The youngest child was two and at home with the rest of the brood that night. Her somewhat sickeningly sweet hubby was great with the kids, she gushed. “He doesn’t think he’s babysitting when he spends time with them.” She nodded and pointed at all three women in succession. Her affinity for wine had not faltered either from their college days. Stacey’s lips are already way too loose when she’s sober. Her rouge stained mouth was downright slippery at present, wet with a good Cabernet Sauvignon.

“Lucky you.” Karen quipped. “My ex went to the mat to get shared custody. Yet, every time it’s ‘his’ weekend, there has to be an argument.” Karen’s love for air quotes hasn’t gone away. She smiled over at Cat. “You should have tried harder to seduce me, Kitty Kat. Would have saved me decades of dumb dick.”

Cat, who always seemed relegated to Sporty Spice by default, pushed black rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose. Her blue eyes crinkled behind the frames. “It wouldn’t have stuck, Kar.” She dipped and sipped at her soda. Sharp angles of her brown bob curtained a pale face. Stubby fingers with short nails - that she probably still bites - flicked the hair back. “Besides, I wouldn’t be happily domesticated with Sheila now. And you hate dogs. I have two, remember? Big ones.” Cat turned to Julie. “What about you, Jules?”

Julie’s eyes widened behind her own glasses. “Are you offering to try and seduce me, Cat?”

Karen and Stacey laughed. Cat blushed. “No, smartass. Are you going to get a pet to keep you company?”

Julie shook her head. “Don’t think so.” She was taking it easier on the wine than the other two, still milking her second serving. There would be no hangover repeat.

“Well, a man, then?” Karen asked.

Stacey guffawed. “It’s only been a few months. Give the woman a chance to grieve.”

“Grieve over what? A shitload of baggage she never checked on the flight.” Karen shot back.

Cat rolled her eyes. “Here they go,” she mumbled.

Julie cleared her throat. All three turned to stare in her direction. “There is… someone.”

Karen slapped her thigh. “That’s my girl!”

“Already?” Stacey’s lids blinked in rapid succession.

Cat waved a hand at Stacey to hush, looking at Julie the whole time. “Details.”

Julie began the very lengthy tale that was Dean Winchester. When she was done, she was met with mixed reactions from the trio.

“He’s been stalking you?” Karen’s brow furrowed.

“He’s a bounty hunter?” Stacey added her concern.

“What’s his name again?” Cat pulled her tablet out of the huge purse by her feet. She was a communications manager at a large non-profit and social media was her specialty.

Julie shifted in her seat. “Dean Winchester.” Defense mode shot up. “To be fair, it’s not like I was innocent in the whole stalking thing, either.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t go much beyond some Googling, right? He got downright illegal in his activity.” Karen shook her head.

“Hm.” Cat frowned. “You said he’s around our age?”

Julie nodded. “43, he said.”

Stacey wagged a sluggish finger. “Hey, we’re 40. Don’t age us all prematurely. Nature’s doing a fine job of that without any additional assistance.” Stacey’s starting to slur. May have to cut her off soon.

Cat ignored Stacey, swiping and typing. “I’m not coming up with anyone around that age with that name. Weird.”

“Why’s that weird?” Stacey asked.

“Everyone has a digital footprint. Something can be found on anyone pretty quickly. Even if it’s the smallest, inconsequential bit of data. But, to find nothing…”

Julie shrugged. “Maybe he’s good at covering his tracks.”

“Even more reason to be wary of this guy, Jules.” Karen attempted a maternal look. “He sounds like the epitome of a bad boy. Come on, a vintage muscle car? You’re a sucker for that type. We were study partners working on our Minors in Psychology together, remember? Think about it. Ten years with a man you thought was a good partner and reliable, only to have that rug ripped out from under you? I’d be searching for the exact opposite, too, faster than you could say peanut butter sundae.” No wonder she makes the big bucks. She presents a damn good argument.

“Karen’s right.” Stacey tried to sound soothing. “You’re in a very vulnerable state right now. Hormones are probably all over the place. Any guy with ill intentions could take advantage of that.”

Julie raised a brow. “If you saw this man in person, Stace… trust me, you’d be all aboard the Dean Train. Remember Gavin Teller?” Julie leaned forward for emphasis.

“Yeah?” Stacey squeaked out the question.

“Imagine Gavin having aged to perfection, like that fine wine you enjoy so much.” She pointed at Stacey’s glass. “Now, square that. You get Dean Winchester.”

“We all remember Gavin in his heyday.” Karen let out a low-key whistle. “Damn. I may have to reconsider my opening statement.” Her original career path of a prosecutor fell by the wayside midway through her college career. An enticing salary that could be earned helping clients buy and sell publicly traded companies won out.

Stacey shushed Karen. “College quarterbacks don’t turn into bounty hunters.”

Cat raised both hands in the air. “That is an opinion, not fact. And a totally ridiculous leap. Besides, Gavin Teller sells cars at his dad’s dealership now, is bald, and has a pot belly. His local TV spots are downright cringeworthy. Such a pain in the ass when his company sponsored one of our events. Wanted his cheesy grin inserted in so many media posts. How is that better than being a badass bounty hunter?”

Julie smiled at the tension and exchanged a knowing glance with Karen. They had long suspected there’d been some sexual experimentation between Cat and Stacey around college graduation. It had centered around a night of lemon drop body shots.

Stacey tilted her nose up. “He was always nice to me.”

“That’s because he liked how you looked in that cheerleading skirt, Stace. I know I did. But, really, Julie… you should be careful.” Cat repeated the other’s concern.

The doorbell chimed. Stacey gasped and Karen’s posture stiffened. Cat returned the tablet to her purse.

“Did you order more food?” Nervous laughter from the ladies followed Cat’s question.

Julie shook her head. She looked at her watch. It was not quite 7:30 pm. Seconds later her phone buzzed. She tapped at the screen to view the text.

Knock, knock

“Oh, shit.” Julie whispered.

“What?” Karen placed her wine glass atop a coaster on the coffee table. Even in high alert, the woman has good etiquette.

“It’s him.”

Stacey cupped a hand over her mouth.

“Dean Winchester?” Cat asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why’s he coming by unannounced?” Karen was in full-blown fact-finding mode.

Julie wrinkled up her nose. “I may have told him to stop by when he got back.”

“How desperate are you?” Stacey scolded.

“Stacey…” Julie sighed.

Karen raised two hands in the air with a smile on her face. “This is great.”

“Why?” Cat asked.

“So we can all get held hostage by Julie’s lady killer?” Stacey’s voice got higher with each word.

“We can vet him.”

“Vet him?” Julie groaned.

“Yep.” Julie had seen that stern nod from Karen countless times. “If he seems like a creep, you’re done with him. I’ll call in a favor to get a court order issued if need be.”

Stacey nodded. “Yeah. Between the three of us, we’ll be able to give you a decent character profile. And Cat’s not affected at all by men…”

Cat slapped both palms on her thighs.

Karen waved Julie to the door. “Hurry up and open it.”

“This is a horrible nightmare,” Julie mumbled. Her stomach was doing somersaults. What the hell will Dean think? What will the girls do?

“Your phone’s buzzing again.” Cat commented. “Anxious little bugger, isn’t he? What did you promise the man?”

Julie took a deep breath, her hand on the doorknob. The last rays of daylight sparkled through the etched glass. Maybe this is good. I may really need an objective opinion. After all, he’s probably not as irresistible as I’m making him out to be. Context.

When she opened the door, Dean greeted her with a full watt smile. “Hey there.” The two words slipped out slow. His hands held the cake box, fingers thrumming against the cardboard sides. “I was told to deliver this as soon as I got back.” His tongue darted out to the side for a quick lick of his bottom lip while he inspected her.

Damn. He was outfitted in a light grey, muscle-hugging t-shirt and faded blue jeans. Positively edible. Fuck context. She couldn’t stop the smile from spreading over her lips. This will be fun.

He stepped up into the entryway, not waiting for permission to enter. His hands offered Julie the box. She was careful to grab the box from the base. He glanced over her head and spotted the company in the living room. His eyes narrowed, tilting down to look into Julie’s eyes. “Sorry. Am I interrupting?” He whispered. “I saw the car parked out front when I drove into the neighborhood… didn’t recognize it…”

Julie arched a brow. “Were you worried for my safety? Or being nosy?”

He grinned. “A little of both.”

She nodded him into the living room. “Come meet some friends.”

He nodded in return and shuffled into the living room, hands stuffed in his pockets, shoulders back, a swirl of timid confidence. The ladies were all up from their seats. The tiny living room felt even smaller with the congregation and Dean’s frame occupying some of it. Julie’s slow steps gave her time to take in the reactions, hiding somewhat behind Dean’s impressive stature. In his wake, she picked apart his scent. The heady mix of leather, sweat, and grease was sharp and crazy intoxicating.

Stacey’s mouth hung open in slight disbelief. Karen fiddled with her hoop earrings and gave Dean the full top to bottom to top inspection. Cat’s eyes narrowed.

When Julie strolled up to Dean’s left, she saw his cautious smile preparing to melt the group. “Dean, these are some college friends of mine.” Julie rattled off their names in order. “Karen. Stacey. Catherine.”

Cat smiled over at Julie, appreciating the replacement of her nickname reserved only for select company.

And, then, Dean unleashed the smile that Julie was certain would topple their wall of uncertainty. He extended his hand and shook each one with the right amount of strength. “Pleasure to meet you, ladies. I didn’t think Julie had any friends.” He chuckled. “She doesn’t get many visitors.”

“And you’d know that because of all the spying you’ve been doing on our dear friend, I hear.” Karen was ready to knock him down a peg or two right out of the gate. But the look on her face betrayed the lackluster attempt at disapproval.

Dean’s eyes widened and he stared at Julie. “Have you been talking about me?”

Julie pursed her lips.

Dean shrugged, intense eyes still on Julie. “Well, if you appreciated beautiful ladies as much as I do, you’d understand.”

Stacey cleared her throat, Dean reddening her cheeks even more than the red wine had. She looked in desperate need of fanning. “Where’re you from, Dean?”

The question pulled his gaze from Julie. He smiled at Stacey again. “Kansas.”

Julie tilted her head, wondering if it was the truth.

“Long way from Kansas.” Cat added.

“Well, I’ve been all over the country.”

The three nodded in unison. Karen asked, “Have you gotten a tour of Julie’s house yet, Dean?”

Julie’s eyes zeroed in on Karen with laser focus.

Dean licked his top lip. Julie caught Stacey and Karen taking particular notice of that sexy tick of his. Not the only one at the mercy of those physical attributes, am I, Ladies? “Um, no. This is the first time I’ve been allowed entrance into Julie’s compound, actually.” He pointed to the sliding door. “I’m usually relegated to outside chores.”

“Uh-” Julie started.

“We were getting ready to take a look around,” Stacey interjected. “Jules, why don’t we get the full narrated tour with Dean, here?”

Julie could feel her cheeks blushing.

“Oh, that’s…” He laughed, protesting with a shake of his head, “that’s okay. I’ll leave you ladies to your night. I was only dropping off this cake.” He pointed to the box Julie was still holding. “Still pretty damn tasty after a week.” He grinned at her. “I snuck another slice before bringing it back.” He rubbed a hand on his thigh. “It was nice meeting all of you.”

The three nodded again in unison. As Dean turned their gazes all dropped to stare at his ass. Julie stifled a giggle and pushed the box into Stacey’s hands. She met Dean at the door. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

He bent close to her ear and whispered, “You’ll have to let me know if I passed the test later,” waited a beat, straightened his posture, then ended with, “Jules.”

The light spilling in through the front door glass lit up his eyes a crystal green. “You’ve already passed mine.” She whispered back.

“Good.” He grinned.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” she asked.

His tongue peeked out only a sliver between his lips, revving up the grin even more. “Guess that depends on you.”

“Come over around 8:00.”

He tilted his head. “Is that a request or an order?”

She ignored the question. “Make sure you eat dinner ahead of time. Cause I’m not making any.”

Surprise mixed with amusement on his face. He glanced into the living room. The ladies were seated now, talking amongst themselves, but still staring at the pair. His gaze heated her back up when it returned. “Want me fueled up for any tasks in particular?” Julie shrugged in response. “Hm. Any other commands?”

“Just don’t disappear tomorrow.”

He nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

She sighed. “Don’t call me Ma’am.”

His eyes narrowed. “Kind of sexy when you’re bossy.”

She laughed, blushing again.

“And when you’re blushing.” He opened the door for himself, waved a hand to the women and then mouthed “See you tomorrow night” to Julie.

As soon as the door shut, Stacey called out, “I take back everything I said earlier.”

Karen added, “If you get kidnapped, give him my address so he can swing by and grab me, too.”

Julie giggled, walking over to the group. “Seriously, what did you think?”

Stacey’s eyes bugged out. “Oh my god! He’s gorgeous and knows how to use it. That’s dangerous on a ton of levels. But I don’t think he’s a crazy psycho.” Stacey fanned herself. “My husband’s in for it when I get home.”

Karen nodded. “Oh, he’s totally trouble and you’re in for an amazing ride. But, in this case, it’s not the destination but the journey. The journey all over that fine man, of which explicit details will be mandatory. Plus, he didn’t go for the bait to inspect your house. I think an under the radar creep would have been all for that.” She pointed at Julie. “But, we still get a tour as your oldies and besties.”

“Of course.” Julie turned to Cat. “What about you?”

Cat shrugged. “He seems alright. I still think he’s got stuff to hide, though. I’m going to do some serious digging.”

Julie frowned.

“Just looking out for you,” Cat added. “But he did have a really nice ass.”

Part 8

Series Page

#dean winchester fanfiction #spn fanfic series #supernatural fanfiction #spnfanficpond #dean x ofc #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester angst #spn fanfiction

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prorevenge · 6 years ago

Text

A social media marketing agency fires me while being sick without any notice or explanation.

I worked for a social media marketing company. I'd been there almost a year and hadn't used any of my 14 paid days off. I was the only contract worker, but I didn't complain. The money was ok, paid the bills, and my degree was not in business.

It's Saturday. I got from a whole day of running errands, it was raining and nasty, I was wet and cold, I felt sick. I emailed to my team and HR that I'm feeling sick and will be updating them. I felt it's important because there was a big pitch the whole agency was bending over. On Sunday, I felt it in my bones. I wrote another email. I didn't want anyone else to get sick before the pitch. Monday morning I was pouring gallons of shit water from my ass. I threw up twice, couldn't eat, couldn't swallow even water, couldn't sleep, couldn't move, no health insurance. I sent another email on Monday saying I feel worse, sent what I was able to finish to my manager and the team and wished luck with the pitch.

It was strange that this time I didn't get any, "get better," "sorry to hear that," etc. I was so sick I wasn't thinking too deeply about it though and decided to mindlessly binge on Netflix. Tuesday morning, I'm asking if all looks bueno. No response. I'm texting to my manager because this wasn't normal. No response. Then, I couldn't log in to my email. I got locked out from my work email. Doesn't take a genius to notice that something wacky has been going on. I got all my shit from Dropbox and whatever accounts I had on an external hard drive. I started making peace with the thought that I'm being fired. I just didn't know what for.

The next morning I see an email from HR with the subject "Effective Immediately" and saying, "Due to your repeated absences and your abuse of the paid time off, it was decided to terminate your employment." That's it. No further instructions, nothing. I tried to call my manager, but he didn't answer. He texted me later that day to give the address where my belongings should be delivered. I was still sick on Thursday. On Monday I got an email asking to sign it and send back. No instruction if I should do it by mail or email, just a lot of words reminding me what was in my contract: confidentiality blah blah blah, non-compete clauses blah blah blah, company's intellectual property blah blah blah. It looked like it was copied from an online template. I asked HR to send me a copy of my contract as everything was on my company's laptop. The contract was worded the way that working or even contacting with their clients could put me in legal trouble.

I got another job almost 2 months later. With maxed out credit cards and a $3K loan, I felt little helpless. They treated me like a piece of trash. After winning the pitch the agency has been bragging on social media about how amazing and millennial they are. On the company's social accounts they were trying hard to turn every little thing into a huge win. For me, every day was harder because the new job sucked, I felt excluded and didn't feel I'm the part of the culture. So, I've been checking the old agency's social media like a maniac. It got so bad I had to delete the Facebook app from my phone and install some chrome extensions to prevent me from visiting their social media. I stopped going to the gym, was eating unhealthy, broke up with a girl who actually liked me over a stupid argument, was stressed, and felt like a loser.

One day they posted a blog with so much praise for themselves... I cringed. While scrolling through everything people were saying, I realized that their pride blinded them to anything but positive feedback.

After 3 months since I got fired, my bank offered me skip a pay or something like that for 2 next months and I used the $700 to buy as many fake likes, follows, views, etc., as it was possible. From 2K they went to almost 50K followers on Facebook. They were getting 300-500 likes on their Instagram posts, their Twitter also jumped high from only 200 followers. After a week the $700 got me, I decided to go full in for another week and added $500 to the revenge budget. I was more selective, knew more, had better sites for cheaper, I was posting comments everywhere praising the agency, I even created a fake site which was "featuring" the best social media campaigns and ads. I created fake 2 months worth of content in the form of "awards," "special features," and fake polls, and then featured this agency on the front page. Every comment was retweeted, shared, commented back, thanked. It seemed they enjoy the ride a lot. From 1-2 post a week before I got fired they jumped to 2-3 posts a day on every platform. They were so full of themselves they thought they got all of this with their hard work.

2014-2015 was the golden era of Facebook and social media for this type of activities. After over 2 weeks of the hype, suddenly, one of their most cocky posts of theirs got 0 likes. Null. These fools were so caught up in the chase of their 'hard-earned' success, they didn't even check who likes their shit, who follows them. Those were bot accounts, all of them probably in India, cheap as hell, from some scammy sites you don't want to associate your business or name with, or even your IP. The agency had almost 120K followers on Facebook at some point. Going from less than 2K followers to 120K, imagine how the engagement went down. All their organic posts were non-existent. The whole agency looked like idiots because it was apparent from the outside it's all weird and that the hype's fake.

They were trying to get that hype back they started writing useless blogs like more pointless and worthless content would fix anything. Their headlines were screaming "clickbait," their posts and the volume of images they were posting looked desperate. One day... Oops, their FB is "not available." They got blocked! Since there were hundreds of thousands of the same cases in review (blocked accounts for similar schemes, etc.) and they had $0 ad spend on that page, they would wait months to get their account back. They had to create a new FB page, a new Instagram account, and after they shared again the link with their "we're honored to be featured..." I replaced the URL to link to another business in San Francisco lol and removed their entry from the front page. I wasn't even aware at the time, but after these 2 weeks of imverybadass behaviour they lost a few crucial employees. I heard a rumor they left the agency in the mid-project and someone inexperienced, with no fucking clue and their own projects had to finish it. It had to be a shit show. The client refused to pay and eventually they lost every single client they had on a regular yearly contract. From 25 employees, in less than 1 year, they went to 9! I don't think they realize even now the ratios of likes to comments was suspicious. 2K likes on a photo post with only a single comment saying "Amazing!", posted by Rakesh Johnson from nowhere, with the profile pic of an anime character...? You need to be a true-born idiot to buy that, and they were "an agency."

They still have fewer FB followers than they started with before firing me. They gave up on Twitter. Instagram is also bad, no engagement, no regular posts. Overall, $1,200 bought me back my self-esteem, which I consider money wisely spent.

As of today, I've been talking to that girl I screwed up with and things are looking promising. I'm making more than my previous manager (according to Glassdoor), and he is still with the same company, not having any client on any sort of retainer fee. Only small projects, zero social media activity, almost a dead company, with no talent wanting to work there, and a bad reputation in the area Imagine, a social media marketing company gets kick out from Facebook... laughable. Bunch of egocentric people who got the taste of their own bitter piss. Sometimes I really want to add another nail in the coffin, but I'm a better man now. I moved on and don't consider them worthy of my time. This post is my final goodbye to this issue.

TL/DR: A social media marketing agency fired me for being sick. Got their ass kicked by their own ego and have been recovering ever since.

(source) (story by PierceJames)

#prorevenge #by PierceJames #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #revenge story #last10

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alyghea · 5 years ago

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Week 2

First week of my maybe classes is done and over. I found out Tuesday night that a class (which has been preapproved by the university) I wanted to take I couldn’t because we don’t allow pass/fail classes (I checked and this class has only been offered as a pass/fail, but like whatever I guess). So I had to pick a different class which only meets later on Mondays (1400-1700), which is okay because I can come back from weekend trips early Monday and I’ll be fine. So Monday I’ll have to go to that class and get added to the SULIS page so that it officially becomes part of my class list. Other than that, my classes seem real chill. Most of them have an essay/group project and a final exam and that’s it. No quizzes/tests in between really (expect the small possibility in my Major Author class). My major author class, we are studying (drumroll) Marilynne Robinson. The prof thought it would be a cool person to read since she’s American... nice. It’s not too bad, we got a week to read the first book (it’s a little less than 250 pages, so it’s not long at all). LIO (Limerick Inside Out) is a volunteer module I get credit for and it’s all about doing community service projects around Limerick and downtown Limerick. It seems really cool and a lot of fun, so I’m excited. My psych class I’m super excited for and then my Celtic and Civ class seems okay. It’s a mix of learning about the kings and other history stuff and the other half of the 2-hour lecture is all about folklores and oral traditions, which interests me much more. On another note, I did the Ring of Kerry today. There was some really cool water-type pictures and we stopped at the ocean again, which is always one of my favourites. There were a lot of cool little stops, my favourite being either Waterville or Sneem. It was a good, cute little day trip. Next week (early Friday morning) I will be on my way to Germany to visit a real good friend of mine who is studying in Marburg for the semester. I will be spending the weekend with him (I’m going to the Frankfurt Zoo while I’m there, which is def something I’m really looking forward to) and I think he said he wanted to do some hiking on Saturday and we aren’t sure what we’re going to do on Sunday yet. I will eventually have to go back or stop in Heidelberg one weekend when I’m near Germany to meet my other friend, who I met at WHS when I was a senior since he studied abroad during his HS years. Anyways, I’m excited to see my friend and visit him for the weekend. Plane ticket was really cheap (€9.99 each way!) So it’s not too bad to go visit him for the long weekend and it saves me more money since I don’t need to pay for a hostel. I’ve also started planning my spring break trip with some of my friends I’ve met here for Italy. It is packed, but it is also going to be so much fun, I cannot wait. Hoping tomorrow I figure out when my friend Madi wants to do Paris (+ Disney) and London (HP mostly) so that my travel companion and I can figure out the rest of our trips. Once everything is planned, I’ll probably post dates where I’m expected to be so that everyone can keep up. Not planning on bringing my laptop with me on weekend excursions, only for Italy so that I can update daily on what I did and what’s to come and all that fun stuff. I will post pics of today later tonight!

#university of wisconsin stevens point #university of limerick #blog?#Ireland #study abroad #Italy trip #Ring of Kerry #classes #so much to do #so little time #germany!

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triviaggukcore · 6 years ago

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her blooming flower | one

prologue / one / two

→summary: you’ve known him since you were just a young girl during his trainee days. He watched you grow into a woman, but he’s always hated you from day one for whatever reason it may be. To you, he thought of you as a nobody. But what you weren’t aware of was a secret that he never wanted you to know.

→pairing: enemy!jungkook x dancer!reader

→word count: 7.6k

→genre: angst, fluff, maybe smut??, some humor

→warning: implied smut

→a/n: hi guys, it’s finally here! I’m so sorry it’s been almost two months! It’s been super hectic from having family over the break and having no time to write. And it became even more hectic as my schedule became packed when coming back to second semester of school. I had theatre rehearsals every day after school until 6pm to prepare for our musical back in January with so much homework and chores to do, and then I was gone with my dance team at Disney World for 4 days which also didn’t give me any time to write, and missing three school days. I had to make up a bunch of work to bring up failing grades which had me super stressed out. Now that it’s February, it’s competition season and this past Saturday was the second contest. I’ve just been constantly tired physically, mentally, and emotionally where I just lost so much motivation to write. But I definitely took time in between my spare time to try the best I could. So thankfully, it is now here and the good news, I have a two week break before last contest. I will say this series will have a bit of slow updates. It just all depends on how packed my schedule is. But most of all, I would like to thank you all for being super patient with me, I really appreciate it sweeties! I would also like to thank @9uk and @stxrrysuga for being wonderful helpers into keeping me motivated and writing just a few small details that’ll help me get going.

Another side note, I’d like to credit and thank @dearmyjimin for granting me permission to use a concept she made on her blog which I was desperate and in such need for this series since I felt like it could absolutely be perfect for the storyline. Once again thank you!! The concept is based on 3J! That is all I have to say as you all should read and find out what it is.

So here it is finally! Chapter one! Enjoy!

It was dawn when you had woken up, your eyes drowsy from the lack of sleep you had been getting the last few days. The constant late nights because of work had kept you up at ungodly hours of the night. You tried to get fewer hours but you knew you needed the money so you stuck with the long hours and your days dragged on, each one seemed longer than the next. You sat up and sighed softly as you climbed out of bed while grabbing your glasses and putting them on. Your mind clouded with thoughts of what was going to take place later today, so you walked over to your desk and took a glimpse of your planner that you created almost a year ago.

Today, at 8am, you have breakfast with your best friend Jess, a contemporary lesson at noon, then lunch at 1pm, and then game night at Taehyung’s, including a no work shift today.

Okay, not so much to do today. Thank God. You grabbed your phone and put some music on shuffle with your mini speaker, then made your way over to the bathroom. You did your daytime skincare routine after doing your business on the toilet. While washing your face, you wondered how could you get this far in life. No, you’re not famous. You thought it would be kind of a scary career. But you still wanted to dance and create amazing pieces for artists for the wish of sharing your work to the world. Plus, you have choreographed for some artists before.

You’re not always booked for appointments with idols, but your schedule does get tight due to the fact that you work. You basically have a job at this cafe in Seoul, and you’re still working at your mom’s studio, hosting classes every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night. You usually teach contemporary and ballet but you have taught some hip hop classes too, due to the fact that you’ve choreographed for some idols as an example. It’s been requested by many residents who take your classes for you to teach more hip hop. And you might as well take that chance to balance all the styles out.

Looking at your face in the mirror after washing your face, you also thought about how life was for you when you moved to Korea. You missed your friends from back home, but you also love it here too. And you made some decent close friends here too, especially Jess being the closest friend you see literally every day. And of course, you can’t forget the Bangtan boys. You grew close with the boys over the years, they basically became your family. You always had fun with them, whether it was game nights or through video chat. And you have a very special bond with each of the boys, nothing was ever different from how you all acted with each other.

They adore you a lot, and you were like their very own little sister that they look out for. They all found you sweet and sincere, prestigious, intelligent, and super adorable. Well, except Jungkook. He, being the only one who disagrees, finds you as the exact opposite. He’s got one hell of a grudge against you. All because of a damn smoothie you accidentally spilled on him a couple years ago. You find it super confusing and a little dumb that he treats you like shit over that incident. Although, it saddens you too as you took the blame upon yourself, coming up with the many excuses in your head. Maybe he was having a really bad day and you just so happened to ruin it even more. If you were paying a little more attention, you would have caught yourself and not spilled your smoothie on him. Then maybe, just maybe, you could have had a better introduction with each other and become friends.

Jungkook loves to criticize and pick on you. Everyday. That’s no surprise to you. But you don’t usually conduct to anything he does to you, and it made him full of annoyance from how you wouldn’t try defending yourself (more so, argue). But there’s a reason why you don’t. If you ever stood up against Jungkook, you’re sure that he will probably laugh his ass off at your pathetic self. You don’t think you could ever try to face him with defense. It doesn’t work that way for you. Sure, it hurts you. But you find it useless to do so. And being the sweet person you are, you’re not gonna want to come out as some bitch.

No matter how much you respect him and treat him nicely, your presence is what makes him irritated. The man has got a grudge against you.

Sliding out of your pajamas, you threw on a random outfit and then you sat down at your vanity set and decided how you were going to look upon your face and hair. After 30 minutes, you were already putting on a pair of shoes at your front door. You grabbed your bag and car keys, and you were out the door of your apartment. Shortly then, you were on the road.

“Okay, so here are all my ideas for the boys’ next comeback. I’ve been working on this for a couple of days now and I thought I’d share them with you!” Your friend Jess said, dropping a plain journal in front of you next to your plate full of breakfast. You picked up the journal once you set your vanilla latte down and opened the journal, flipping through the ridiculous full pages of notes and ideas followed up for BTS’ comeback.

You gave her a glance, “You are crazy. Are you seriously helping them find new concept ideas? I thought they already figured that out.”

She shrugged, “Not exactly. Besides, they asked for my help so I could have better ideas on what music to produce with Yoongi and Namjoon.”

“A sexy comeback darker than the Love Yourself: Tear and Wings era?” You read aloud, “Sounds kinda…”

“Kinda good right? I think it’s time they now get into that, and besides, they’re all adults now that Jungkook became one.” She mentioned.

“You do know he’s been an adult for a few years now.”

Jess glared at you, “And him being an expert shirt lifter was only the beginning of his little bad boy era.”

The thought of Jungkook and his image only made you feel weird. He grew up drastically and puberty hit him harder than a truck. Instead, it was more like god and the devil worked together to mix cute and hot in their mixing bowl but decided to go with he’s gonna make every person gush in adoration and suddenly they get down on their knees and are thirsty hoes. But, there’s no denying that he really had you gawking at him. After all, you do like the man.

You nodded, “Wow, how logical.” Your sarcasm erupted as you took a sip of your latte. She hummed, “You know it’s true. Anyways, what’s going on for you today? Are you coming to game night?”

“Yeah, I am. I have a contemporary class to teach at noon, then lunch, and then I have a whole day to myself until game night. I think I might do some shopping, maybe go to the book store and read a few novels since my package arrived there. If I have time, I might just work on my poetries.” Yes, you write since you found your love for novels. Thanks to your dad’s career. He’s the best selling author in the country and back in yours.

“Speaking of dance,” Jess started, “Did you hear about 3J Studio?’

Yes, 3J as in J-Hope, Jimin, and Jungkook, the BTS dance line. They built a dance studio for those who want to have exclusive dance lessons with the boys. Millions of people have signed up for classes just so they can stand a chance to be coached by the boys. You were yet excited and definitely going to their first class on Saturday.

You nodded, “I did. Jimin and Hoseok told me about it. I’m really excited about this Saturday.” You smiled. “Me too!” Jess gushed, “Are you planning on attending?” She asked. “Of course! For sure I’m taking Jimin and Hoseok’s class.”

“Oh, but not Jungkook’s?” She raised an eyebrow. You sighed, “I mean, I’m not sure if I want to. I know he’s a great dancer and I’m certain he’s going to be an amazing coach but do you really think I want to feel the awkward tension where his blood literally boils around me? I’m not sure if I even want people to be speculating his hate for me. That’ll just put him at risk.” You fiddled with the thin straw in your latte, stirring it.

“But it’s not like he would ever talk to you in front of his students, would he? He’s an asshole, don’t get me wrong. Yet, I’m pretty sure he’s not an ass to treat you like crap.” Jess stated, “There’s no way he would do that to you in front of many people.”

“I guess you’re right.” You shrugged. The guy always puts you down and even humiliates you, he probably wouldn’t do that in public otherwise it would defame his image. The people wouldn’t even know who you are anyways. You’re only specified as, BTS’ friend, BTS’ music producer, Jess’ friend, Min Yoongi’s wife’s friend. It’s pretty much anything with you labeled as a friend of the band.

“He’s such a dumbass.” Jess shook her head. You looked up at her, “Hey, don’t say that about him. You know that’s not nice.”

She rolled her eyes and glared at you, “Really? Y/N, You’re defending him when all he ever does is bitch at you? He’s one hell of a brat who’s still stuck up on that smoothie mess! He makes me want to shove my foot in his face.”

“But you know he doesn’t have to like me right? Come on, Jess. Besides, the accident was my fault anyway.” You said softly as your eyes wandered somewhere else. “You really like him, don’t you?”

Your head snapped back at her, “Just because I like him doesn’t mean that has to do with what happened in the past.”

“Oh, so defending him and constantly worrying about his health along with your care and support in every accomplishment he achieves doesn’t mean anything to the way you feel about him?” Jess caught you there. “It’s not that I… I don’t know, Jessica.” You sighed, holding your cup firmly with both hands, “I respect him whether he doesn’t like me or not. My feelings don’t matter. He would never feel anything romantic for me. Besides, he has a girlfriend who’s definitely prettier and has a more slammin’ body than me.” You awkwardly locked a piece of your hair behind your ear.

“And this is where I call you stupid.” Jess looked at you, “That girl could never compare. She’s only got a pretty face but not a nice personality. Plus, you’re freaking gorgeous. More than she is. I don’t think you have any idea on that she’s only dating Jungkook for the attention and the fame.” She ate a bite of her egg sandwich, speaking in a mouthful, “The girl is a hooker but Jungkook being his gullible dumbass self believes she loves him for him.

You sighed, “Of course.” He loves her.

“And 5, 6, 7, TILT. Excellent!” You complimented, watching through the mirror as everyone in the studio did a tilt from the floor and rolled into fetus position. “So that whole 8-piece, just remember that it’s very very subtle, not too much energy until after the tilt, which you want to push your legs up and extend them like a whip but as light as a feather. Have grace with the tilt. 5, 6, 7, UP!” You demonstrated by being an example and showing your students the technique.

“She’s good isn’t she?” Jimin said with his arms crossed as he observed your teaching skills and your charismatic moves. “I’m really surprised she declined the trainee offers from the entertainment industries.” Hoseok nodded in agreement. A chuckled then came along, “I’m not.” Jungkook smirked.

“Dude, you’ve been going against every word we say about her.” Hoseok crossed his arms to face Jungkook. “Since day one.” He specifically added. Jungkook narrows his eyes as if he couldn’t comprehend what Hoseok was trying to get at.

But only the blind wouldn’t be able to tell that Jungkook bears a deep, stubborn grudge on you. And his attitude towards you contrasted too much from his members for them to not notice his behavior. It was an issue constantly swept under the carpet to not escalate things given Jungkook’s temper, but the matter has finally rose from dust. “Yeah that’s right, did she do something to offend you or something?” Jimin looks at Jungkook worriedly. The both of them kept going on about the issue of you, pressing Jungkook to the end of wits.

“Yo, if you have seen...another side of her she’s not showing to us,” The three of them slowly spin to watch you conduct the dance class. The smile on your face when you teach, and the way you go about asking every student about their struggles and issues—make Hoseok doubted the words that came out of his mouth. You looked genuinely passionate in this company, and it couldn’t be that you put up an act in front of evil intentions for so long. As long as however many years. Jungkook remains his gaze on you for a while, before his hands are coming up to rip off his hair from his scalp in frustration as he groans. “I-It’s not like that..! It’s just.. just the sight of her irks me!” He knew he sounded like a brat hating on someone as innocent as you for no reason at all. But before he could save himself from further embarrassment, you are strolling towards his triangle of friends with an anticipated look cast on your features.

“What are you guys talking about?” Your voice interrupts his rant. The three men stare at you in expressions you can’t make out—you couldn’t tell what they were thinking. Then the both Hoseok and Jimin shot Jungkook looks.

“Uh…” Jimin darts his gaze back and forth his two friends, before pulling you by the arm away from them. “Come on, let’s get a drink.”

And with that, you and Jimin walked out into the hallway to the studio kitchen where there were a few staff eating lunch. “So are you going to join us this Saturday at our studio?” You took out a bottle full of cold water from the refrigerator when you opened as Jimin leaned on the wall next to him. “Definitely. I’m excited what you guys have in store for your lessons and I’ll be taking them all too.” You took a couple sips from the water. Jimin looked at you with a raised eyebrow, recalling that you are taking ALL the lessons, “And by all, you mean you’re going to participate in Jungkook’s class too?”

You clenched your lips together in awkwardness, “It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t take his but yours and Hoseok’s would it?” You sighed, “And besides, even if he cared, he’ll forget I’m even there. He’s going to have a class filled with people, and his main focus is his students.” Leaning against the counter backward, you always felt awkward talking about him with his members, and it wasn’t because you didn’t want to say the wrong thing at all. His hyungs were always lecturing him about you and never accepted the behavior he acted upon you. They didn’t know what really happened the day of the stupid incident because he never liked to talk about it or else he would have been made fun of or worse. They don’t even know why he’s held a grudge against you for so long. So what is the problem? When will he man up and get over it?

Jimin sighed, “At least you’re not an asshole like him.”

“Truth or dare?” Taehyung looked over at Jess as he popped the question.

“Dare.” She smirked.

After playing Jenga, Uno, checkers, and a whole bunch of other games in Taehyung’s house, everyone, including some of the boys’ girlfriends, are sitting in a circle on the floor with beers and snacks playing truth or dare. And unfortunately, Jungkook’s girl, Yuna couldn’t be there. But you felt relieved and happy about it. She’s just as worse as Jungkook. Pretty yet mean and nasty to you.

“Funny you guys are bickering but since you all ate my jjigae, I haven’t gotten a single bowl of it you hungry ass pigs!” Jin exclaimed just when Taehyung and Jess bickered over who has the best shoes.

“It was some good shit though.” Taehyung’s mouth waters, “I wish I could have more.”

Jin mumbles something under his breath and takes one huge gulp of his beer.

“Okay moving on. Truth or dare, Y/N?” Jimin turns to you. You kept your knees close to your chest, looking down as you weren’t prepared for your answer. You were always unsure and nervous about whatever choice you choose. You could feel everyone’s eyes on you, especially Jungkook with his little smirk.

“Ummm… truth?” You weren’t sure but went with it anyway. “Who was your first kiss?”

And that question almost made you shit yourself, “W-What?” You could feel your eyes widened.

How the hell were you going to tell that you’ve never kissed anyone before without feeling embarrassed?

“I’m sure she doesn’t want to reveal her privacy.” Namjoon noticed the nerves just by the position you were in. You were hugging your knees which were up to your chest. Jess even looked over at you in such worry since she’s the only one who knows you haven’t had the experience.

You gulped and stuttered, pushing up your glasses, “I uh… I actually never kissed anyone before.” You said softly as you looked down.

Taehyung raised his eyebrows in surprise, “What? No way. Seriously?” You looked up at Taehyung and looked at all the other reactions. They seemed just as surprised as him.

“That’s surprising.” Yoongi nodded in agreement. Jungkook rolled his eyes in annoyance, “Not a surprise to me, I mean look at her.” He looked over at you in disgust and you only looked down in shame. You felt so embarrassed and disgusted with your own self with not having any experience with a guy at all.

Jess glared over at him just as her blood was boiling, she could beat his ass at any second now, “Shut the fuck up, you ass. She doesn’t need your nasty opinions.”

Jungkook shrugged, “Like I care.”

“I think it’s great that she’s never kissed anyone, Jungkook.” Nari, Taehyung’s girlfriend, spoke in regards to defending you. Nari is sweet and soft, and even a creative person. She’s a cosmetologist in makeup and is definitely talented in making so many makeup combinations. She’s short and a few years older, around the same age as Taehyung. She has gorgeous glowing honey skin with long black colored curly hair, and lovely blue eyes. She’s just as beautiful as Taehyung and to you, they’re considered the most beautiful couple ever.

“It’s a good thing, stop being an ass Jungkook,” Jimin glared at him. You sat there awkwardly but you gave a little smile at Nari for giving her defense.

“Don’t mind him, Y/N. It’s good that you haven’t had your first kiss. You don’t need one, not even a guy. You’re a strong independent woman who doesn’t need a man.” Hoseok, who was sitting beside you, smiled at you with a good rub on your shoulder, “And you are also a beautiful woman.” He added, being sweet and full of sunshine as always. You could feel yourself blush and get shy at his compliment, “Thank you.” You nodded.

Of course, Jungkook shook his head unsatisfied. He knew that you never had a boyfriend. Everyone knew. And he was sure that you weren’t ever going to get one. But what he didn’t know was that you were definitely talking to someone as opposed to be dating soon.

“What do you mean she’s talking to Jonghoon?” He asked Taehyung as he looked at him in disbelief. It was the next morning and the two boys were in the kitchen making themselves some breakfast.

Taehyung glanced over at Jungkook from where he was cutting tofu, “What do you think I mean?”

While sighing, Jungkook bit his lip in question while he shook his head, “You’re kidding me right? He’s a frat! Does she not know that?” Was he actually for real? There’s no way you could be talking to some player. Jonghoon is a friend of Taehyung’s who used to be a trainee at BigHit. He’s damn beautiful and looks like he could be related to Taehyung. Tall, caramel skin, built, an unreal God like face, yet he’s definitely one hell of a man who only hooks up and has one night stands, leaving girls the very next day. Jungkook wasn’t very fond of him because he knows he isn’t the type of guy himself to play around with women.

“Apparently not.” Taehyung shrugged, “I tried telling her that he’s not what she thinks he is, but she didn’t listen.”

“She’s stupid! You could have told Jonghoon to back off! He can’t talk to her! She’s not realizing that fucker could slip his hand in her panties and fuck her! She’s not into those things! She’s not ready and she shouldn’t be anywhere near him” He exclaimed in anger.

“And why all of a sudden are you sounding like you care about Y/N?” Taehyung raised an eyebrow at him, he could sense the protection Jungkook had for you.

“You’re fucking crazy. I don’t give a crap about her. I’m just saying that she shouldn’t be talking to him because he’s not good for her at all.”

Taehyung hummed, but he wasn’t convinced, “Okay, whatever you say. But I can’t forget to add that she’s going on a date with him later this afternoon.” He smirked.

“WHAT?!” Jungkook looked at Taehyung as if his eyes could pop out of his sockets.

“Yeah, you heard me. A date. Where two people who are attracted to each other go and hang out to be romantic and shit like that.” Taehyung kept his little smile, waiting for Jungkook’s major defense mode.

“It’s definitely not an attraction or going to be romantic when really he’s gonna take her home and get in her pants.” He growled and his tongue poked out of his cheek, “She’s not going on that date. I have to go tell her this after I eat breakfast.”

It was around two o’clock in the afternoon and Jungkook took forever to find out where you were going on your date with Jonghoon. Jess could not answer his calls from her being occupied in the studio with Yoongi, Jonghoon wouldn’t tell Taehyung exactly where he was meeting with you, Jimin, Jin, and Namjoon had no idea of you going on a date. That was left with Hoseok who had been stuck in the 3J studio finishing his choreography for his first class tomorrow, had known exactly where you were going to meet Jonghoon. The Lounge Cafe.

It was a twenty minute drive but he didn’t care. He needed to find you and prevent you from hanging out with Jonghoon. When he arrived, the cafe was definitely modernized although that wasn’t the point. His eyes roamed the cafe from sitting in his parked car and that’s where they landed on a familiar girl wearing a cream floral dress, sitting alone outside at a table while reading a book. It was you.

With honesty, Jungkook thought you looked stunning. Maybe because he’s never seen you all dressed up. But your presence somewhat attracted him. His eyes read your look. The way your hair flowed from the light breeze, your adorable wide eyes blinking as you flipped a page, the way your posture is. Undoubtedly yet not realization, Jungkook always had thought you were beautiful without even saying you are. You are just naturally attractive. He wondered what life would have been if you weren’t so irking… or if maybe just things went the right way between you two. Would you two have become friends? Would there have been any feelings of? Well, that’s not that he would know of.

Before his thoughts could go any further to drive him away distractedly, he snapped out of them since he was here for a reason. Jungkook got out of his car, taking his keys, phone, and wallet and slipping them into his sweatpants as his made his way over to you, knowing of the arrangement with Jonghoon. When he reached you, he was already infuriated just as he took a seat in front of you, “Why are you wasting your time?”

You looked up from the page you were reading of your book to find Jungkook sitting right there with an incensed expression on his face. What the hell was he talking about? “Excuse me?” You questioned.

He let out a hollow laugh, “The guy isn’t worth the time, Y/N. Are you blind?” Your eyebrows knitted together in confusion, “You mean Jonghoon? How do you even know him?” Most of all, how did he know about this? Jungkook shook his head, “He is a friend of a friend I have. And he has a reputation Y/N. He doesn’t take too fondly to girls… that aren’t experienced.” His thumbs circled around each other as his fingers were interlocked.

You sighed, “And why do you care? You don’t know if he’s really like that, Jungkook.”

His eyes rolled in exasperation and looked at you, “Look Y/N, I know what I’m saying. I know that douche too well and you are just walking into one of his traps.” He nodded in assurance. “How did you even know about this?” You asked, “First of all, this is my business that you’re barging into. I don’t think he’ll even do such thing to hurt me.”

Jungkook leaned towards you, “He will use you for a bad purpose and break your heart, Y/N.” His voice deepened, “So don’t cry when he leaves you stranded and broken.”

You giggled, not believing him, “Please, he won’t.” You crossed your arms while leaning back on the chair, “And if that doesn’t work out and I end up wrong, then lesson learned. I like him.” You shrugged in yet confidence. Jungkook studied you in distaste with a hum, “You are so blind huh? Not just in sight but in judgment.”

That’s when you just had enough. What rights does he have to be telling you this? You were done kissing his ass, “Judgement? Who are you to tell me this? Why can’t I just like anyone for crying out loud? Are you that surprised at the fact I’m probably going to start dating?” You asked.

Jungkook nodded with no expression, “Obviously yes, as no guy would ever be interested in you anyways.” He shrugged as he sat back. You looked down in distress. It was true, but yet you just had a strong feeling that Jonghoon was actually interested in you, “At least it feels nice when someone is interested in me...” You said quietly.

“As if any guy would.” He said expressionlessly. You have yet nothing to say and he got the message that you were done listening. He got up from his seat as he looked at you with no sympathy, “Don’t blame me if he tears you apart.” And with that, he walked off. You sat there, not knowing what to think. You didn’t want to believe him because you were already over with him being an ass. He couldn’t be telling the truth… right?

The clear skies with shining sun soon faded when dark and grey clouds have flown into them. It would have been much better as a delight to maybe brighten up the day a little and not ruin it for you after what just clearly happened.

Jungkook on the other hand just did not care about what was going on with you and Jonghoon. Or does he because of the guy’s reputation with girls? No, that didn’t matter to him. If Jonghoon did anything to mess with you, then it was your fault for not listening to Jungkook. And he basically told you so. No fucks were given in the end.

At the end of practice at BigHit’s dance studio, Jungkook sat down on the floor with his back against the wall and grabbed his phone. Seeing an odd countless amount of messages from Jess, he was confused. She seemed worried and angry, but why was she?

Jess (4:33pm): Jungkook, idk where you are right now and honestly i don’t care but y/n hasn’t come home and i’m fucking worried.. Like seriously.

Jess(4:33pm): Can you look around and see if you can find her?

Jess(4:36pm): If you don’t, just know your hair won’t make it to the morning :)

Jungkook groaned in annoyance and responded.

Jungkook(5:02pm): Are you serious?? Do I really have to do this? Why can’t you just ask any of the other guys?

Jess(5:07pm): For one, Yoongi is at the studio but he is working on your comeback so he is out of the question. Hoseok is with Family at the moment, Jin is probably asleep, Jimin is out with Taehyung somewhere and Namjoon… I’m not sure where he is but you’re in her area and I need someone asap as my car is out of gas unless I’d be doing this shit my fucking self.

Jungkook(5:08pm) I could just give you money or bring gas to you. I literally have no idea where she is and I am nowhere in any mood to even find her.

Jess(5:12pm): See you’re the last fucking person I want to ask anyway but I need you to do this cause I’m working on something for Mr. Bang and if it’s not finished I am screwed. So just text Namjoon as he was the last one to talk to her after you decided to be an ass before her fucking date. Which I'm tempted to smack you for doing but you’re right about this guy which is why I'm extra worried… so just for my fucking sanity please jungkook. I’ll pay you back in whatever the fuck you ask for, games etc. just do it.

Jungkook(5:14pm): fine, but let this be the last fucking time you ask me to do something with y/n involved. I give no fucks about her or whatever she does with that douche just an FYI.

Jess(5:15pm): you can say that all you want but I know you Jungkook. Just find her, and if that fucker has hurt her tell me so I can plan his fucking funeral.

Jungkook(5:17pm): What is this, you’re not believing me now? In what aspect do you mean by knowing me? As if. But whatever, you can do whatever you want. If she ends up hurt, I’ll tell you. But it’s her fault and I don’t care anyway. She’s a stubborn pain in the ass and is the last person I ever want to put in my car no offense.

Jess(5:18pm): Whatever Jungkook, you act like a douche on purpose but I won’t argue with you as you’re just as hardhead as yoongi. So just find her, I have shit too before Mr. Bang has my head on a pike.

Jungkook(5:19pm): alright fine. I’ll keep you updated if I find her or not.

Jess(5:21pm): Thank you... You really don’t understand how much I am thankful that you are doing this. She is like a daughter to me. So yeah I gtg Mr. Bang is yelling at me now lmao

Jungkook(5:22pm): I mean I guess lol… I’m only doing this for you.

Jess(5:23pm): it won’t only be me in the end, but thanks.

Jungkook(5:23pm): no problem

Jungkook sighed in annoyance and hung up slipped his phone in his pocket. Do I really have to do this? Yes, of course, he does. He’s not that much of an ass to reject doing a favor for someone who needs it. And if Jess is that damn worried about you, then he may as well go out and find you. Jungkook grabbed his backpack and carries it on his back after putting his sweaty towel in and zipping it up. Walking out to his car, he thought to himself, what happens if he doesn’t find you at all?

During the car ride, he went to various places that he could in order to find you. Locations that may seem where you might be based on where you probably like to go. And he even went to the most random places too. He’s driven around everywhere in Seoul basically trying to find just you.

An hour passed and you were not found. Jungkook was in utter anger and stress that he’s wasted on time looking for you. He just wanted to go home badly to rest, and at that point for finding you everywhere, he’s given up. He shook his head and turned his car around to his way home. How was he going to tell Jess that he didn’t find you?

Although it was one question that he was focused on, there was another one that he just couldn’t help but keep thinking about the most. Is she okay?

The thought if it makes him worry a little. And it was odd. Where could you possibly be that you suddenly disappeared all day? Then suddenly while driving down a road, he found someone familiar walking on the sidewalk with their head down. Their outfit just seemed to look too much like what you were wearing earlier. Your figure and the way you walk even caught him off guard. With curiosity and hope, Jungkook slowly drove up close to get a better look of you, and as soon as he was just there, it was suddenly and thankfully you, walking with your head down.

To be sure of it, Jungkook rolled down his window and slowed down next to you, “Y/N?” The familiar voice caught you off guard and caused you to turn. Surprisingly, you found Jungkook in his black luxurious car right next to you. And it was definitely bad that he could see your face full of sadness and regret.

Jungkook, who was ready to pop off his madness and yell at you, studied your face. Your eyes were puffy and watery, your nose was red and cheeks were a peachy color. You had been crying and for some reason, his face softened. It was weird seeing you cry and it didn’t make him feel good inside at all.

“Go ahead, laugh at me.”

Jungkook stood there with trying to keep no expression on his face, but he only blinked, “I… I’m not going to,” he said quietly and he took a deep breath with his chest rising, “Get in, it’s gonna rain soon and Jess is worried sick.”

You shook your head with your arms still locked, and making no eye contact with him, “No thanks, I’m fine.” You turned to walk off in the same direction you were heading. That wasn’t until “Y/N please.” Jungkook watched you walk away. But you just kept walking. You knew you didn’t want to deal with him. But he wasn’t going to let you walk away from him.

“Y/N please stop.” His voice arose and it sounded quite like a demand. But that didn’t stop you from turning around with a pissed look on your face with tears streaming down your cheeks. “And why do you care?” And at that, Jungkook stays silent for a while.

You couldn’t be bothered to turn around to face him properly, for your insides were seething with rage and your heart felt empty to the core. Jungkook was right, he always was. The things he said to your face, how badly he spoke of you, and now this, about the guy who you thought was pretty decent—and something about Jeon Jungkook being right about everything is making your jaw clench in anger as you recall the buried grudge he has for you. Why must he keep meddling in your life? Right now, you wished he just disappeared off the face of earth. That way, your life would be much, much easier. You wouldn’t have to keep caring about your stupid feelings getting hurt and being the constant target and Jungkook’s antics.

And that’s the worst part. Feelings.

You’ve been harboring them for him god knows since when and you are afraid to open up about it to him. There’s this side of you Jungkook always fails to see and you doubt he ever will. Even if he does, it is highly unlikely that he would even care. And that is the question bothering you most as of the moment.

Why did he fucking care?

With your back facing him, you missed how he churns on his inner cheek and doesn’t know where to put his gaze. The rain pattering on the concrete floor didn’t provide him with the answers he needed. He directed the question back to himself and he realized he could not give closure as well.

With a sigh, he spoke, “Because I hate seeing you sad when it’s because of someone else hurting you like no one should or I shouldn’t.”

“I know you’re upset but can you please get in the car for my own good sake to get you home and save you from being sick at least?” Without a word, or looking at him, you walked past him and your shoulders barely touched as you walked to the passenger side of his car. That gave him a slight tingle in himself as he’s rarely been that close to you.

On the way back home, it was pure silence in the thin atmosphere. Jungkook gave glances to you here and there but you never once took a glimpse at him. And your position was obvious. You were sitting with your legs tightly closed and your fingers were brushing against each other as you only looked out the window, keeping your emotions as stable as you could. But it was so difficult to just give in and not cry. Then you realized, how could you be so stupid to not listen to him? He was right. You were angry. Not at Jungkook. But yourself. You felt bitchy. So bitter. Yet it was wrong to be that way to him. Although he has had a big hatred for you, you just can’t ever treat him the same. It just doesn’t work that way for you, which is a big problem. You’re too nice.

“He hurt you didn’t he?” His soft voice snapped you out of your thoughts, that you didn’t even realize he was already parked in front of your apartment. You gazed over at him and by the look on your face, Jungkook felt a little pang in his heart. Eyes puffy and glossy, your nose and cheeks peachy. He has never seen you cry once before, not even has he seen you express a sad or depressing emotion. He’s always seen you smile.

“Yes. And I let him.” Your voice cracked as if it hit the flu. Jungkook clenches his lips as he caught your eyes blink with tiny little tears, “What did he do?” You shook your head, “Just something that I learn my mistake from. It’s nothing-“

“Y/N” He started, “What did he do?” He stared at you with a straight face, almost like a demand. And it wasn’t that he was forcing you. He needed to know.

You sighed quietly as you could feel the slight order from him and you just couldn’t say no to him. “He groped me.” You vocalized in a shaky tone. Jungkook could feel his blood boil fast and kept calm, “Where did he touch you, Y/N?” His voice lowered.

“I c-can’t tell you-“

“If you can’t tell me, then point to where did he touch you.”

You gulped and your heart thumped rapidly, “Um…” You didn’t want any trouble at all and you were so hesitant in just telling him Jonghoon’s attempt to getting in your pants. But Jungkook could tell what he tried to do when you stuttered and look down at your most private area. As soon as you picked your head up at him, your tears were already swimming around your eyes, “H-He-“ you tried to speak but you were cut off by Jungkook’s hand grabbing you and pulling you onto his lap with your legs straddling him, in which you began to let out a breathy cry. His arms engulfed around your fragile figure and he held you tight in his arms, your response with burying your face in his neck with your hands on his hard chest as you sobbed in his neck.

But this was weird. You’re sitting on your enemy’s lap and he’s comforting you. He’s practically holding you in his own arms and you’re letting him. Ye his comfort made you feel safe… and you didn’t want to pull away. You didn’t even dare to. His soothing fingers stroking your hair as his hand rubbed your back slowly but keeping a light grip on you.

Jungkook on the other hand, he didn’t know what in the hell is he doing or what he was thinking. Why is he holding you? Why did he grab you and suddenly felt that he needed to protect you? He was in rage deeply inside and one of these days when he finds Jonghoon, he’ll make sure he doesn’t have his perfectly straight teeth.

You were glued to each other, the steady beat of his heart making you never want to open your eyes. Some nights, you’d lie awake just thinking about what he would say if he ever felt guilty about what he did and here it was. And somehow, it was so much more than what you asked for. But you also were wary. The bigger part of you, though, knew he was being sincere, that he held this crushing guilt over his head over what happened between you two for the past five to six years.

”You don’t deserve this,” he softly spoke up along a sigh, “You’re too special and fragile…” He added.

Wait what? You pulled away from his neck and looked at him, “What?” Your cold soft voice barely could be audible. Jungkook got a better glimpse of you up close—broken and terrified. And it sure damn stabbed his own heart deeply. He locked a piece of your hair behind your ear as he stared at you, “I know I was an ass to you earlier but I know that what I’m about to tell you is what I really mean to say. You’re too unique and wonderful for him. He’s nothing but a scumbag looking for a just a fuck and you don’t need that. You need and will get a guy who will treat you loyally and kindly with all of his love for who you are. Any guy would be lucky to have you, Y/N. Wait for him…the right one will sweep you off your feet.” His thumb rubbed your hip softly and the feeling warmed your skin.

You blinked. Is he really telling you this or are you just dreaming?

He sighed, “Just trust me.” He said softly. Jungkook reached his hand up to your face and wiped your tears gently with his thumb, “You’re so beautiful…” And it was true to him. Being this up close to you, he was able to see your flaws but they resembled how gorgeous you are. You shook your head, you didn’t believe that “I’m not that-“

“Yes, you are.” He cut you off, “Honestly, you’re so attractive and stunning, don’t tell yourself you’re not beautiful when you have seen yourself in the mirror.” He looked into your eyes, deep into them.

And you just didn’t know what else to say because his brown doe eyes caught you off guard. Neither of you could look away and it’s like your eyes were having a never lasting conversation with each other. You could feel your own pupils dilate the more you looked closely into his, and you could have sworn that his eyes looked at your lips then at you. But you also didn’t think he did. And at that moment, it was when you come to the realization of what was going on, causing you to clear your throat, “Um..” you hummed, which had Jungkook probably get the memo too. You looked down awkwardly as your mind was going crazy but you remained calm, “Thanks for the ride… and listening.” You said softly. Jungkook eyes darted elsewhere but you with a blank expression on his face, “Yeah,” he started, “No problem.” He said and he just sat there, his tongue poking out of his.

You slowly got off his lap to the passenger side and got out his car, grabbing your bag as you fixed yourself and closing the door afterward without saying a word. Making your way into your apartment, you didn’t dare to look back. After locking the front door, you leaned your back against it, questioning what just happened.

You almost kissed your enemy.

#jungkook x reader #jeongguk x reader #jungkook imagine #jungkook #jungkook smut #jungkook au #BTS jungkook #bts imagine #bts scenarios #enemies to lovers au #bts smut #her blooming flower #hbf

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tiffersthenerdyficrecs · 6 years ago

Text

BakuDeku Fluff Fics

(*) Indicates my most suggested reads.

where sunlight flows by shousanki

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku Additional Tags: Childhood Friends, Humor, Fluff, Allergies, Spring, BakuDeku Week 2018, Questionable hygiene Summary: When pollen allergies hit 1A's resident pseudo-delinquent, Izuku's credentials as the certified Bakugou Whisperer, earned via fifteen years of blood, sweat, and borderline creepiness, emerges to save them all, in these trying times of emotional constipation.

build this love (from the ground up) by chaoticheroes

Rating: General Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Class 1-A (My Hero Academia), Uraraka Ochako, Kirishima Eijirou, several characters mentioned - Character Additional Tags: Not Beta Read, We Die Like Men, Wedding Fluff, Fluff, it's so soft, so so so soft, LISTEN TO THE SONG COWARDS, this is my first fic pls be easy on me, also idk anything about japanese weddings im sorry, aksdjfhjust kinda writing from the heart tbh, short and sweet, Extremely Summary: “It’s the day, bro. How are we feelin’?” Kirishima places a hand on Katsuki’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. There’s a certain look on his face that Katsuki really doesn’t want to analyze right now. “I’m fine.” He’s not fine. He’s so far from fine that he can’t tell where the line between “fine” and “I’m about to have a nervous breakdown please take me to a hospital” begins. He’s nervous. He’s shaking, his hands are cold and his throat feels like it’s closing. There are far too many feelings running their courses through his brain right now. “I need a shot. Please tell me you have something because I feel like I’m about to shake out of my own skin.”

A Winter Wonderland by Hollowed_Soul

Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku, Kaminari Denki/Kirishima Eijirou Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Inko, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Kirishima Eijirou, Kaminari Denki, Akatani "Yamikumo" Mikumo Additional Tags: we need more fluff of these two i stg, angst???, no, smut??? n a h, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, ye s, fucking.. fluff, fluff!, only fluff, ALL THE FLUFF, Bakugou Katsuki is a Dork, They both need a Hug, they both need to hug eachother, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Midoriya Izuku is a Dork, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, this ship needs to sail, character development is at a T, i love these two dorks so much, I'm bad at details, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, i need more bakudeku, bakudeku, KatsuDeku, these two??? i love em, A very subtle of kami and kiri aha, brief but worth it?, also yes im bringing yamikumo in here, like fucking look at that precious face Summary: It's winter break at UA, and Midoriya has no plans; until Bakugou shows up and changes his whole afternoon.

Kacchan's Hero Name by Noukon

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, Yagi Toshinori | All Might Additional Tags: Canon Universe, Canon Compliant, Character Development, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Flashbacks, Little Izuku & Little Katsuki, Cute Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Manga Spoilers (Chapters 218 and 219), Headcanon, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hugs Summary: Katsuki finally got his Hero License and had his first official fight against villains. He feels free, powerful and explosive. But with the acquisition of his new license, he also had to make an important choice, which will determine how people will identify him and what he was going to hear a lot of times throughout his life: a hero name. But it was all good. Katsuki has already made his choice, and he knows a certain green-haired boy will have some things to say about it.

love is blind (and deaf) by kagehinataboke

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Additional Tags: One Shot, First Meetings, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Aged-Up Character(s), Deaf Bakugou Katsuki, Meet-Cute Summary: Izuku hesitantly opens the door, wielding an umbrella and ready to square up against a mugger. but it’s only one of his neighbors: a new one, in fact. Izuku faintly recalls him moving in a few weeks ago, but one unfriendly glare was enough to stop him from approaching. he discreetly drops the umbrella behind the door. “can i help you?”

Sugar Stardust by milkcandie *

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, Iida Tenya, Todoroki Shouto, Kirishima Eijirou, Aoyama Yuuga, Yaoyorozu Momo, Hagakure Tooru, Ojiro Mashirao, Toshinori | All Might, Mineta Minoru, Kaminari Denki, Jirou Kyouka, Midoriya Inko, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead Additional Tags: Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Drama & Romance, Light Angst, Aged-Up Character(s), Baking, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Romantic Fluff Summary: Between baking pretty macarons and sculpting wedding cakes, Katsuki slowly falls in love with a certain green-haired coworker who has effervescent stars in his eyes. Maybe working as a pastry chef in Nowhere, Japan isn't so bad after all, especially when he’s in such close proximity to a boy who manages to beautify every little thing in his presence. ☆ A pâtisserie AU where Katsuki and Izuku are really the perfect ingredient for each other.

Life Status: Currently Holding It All Together With One Bobby Pin by Kaiwen

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Class 1-A (My Hero Academia) Additional Tags: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Pre-Relationship, First Kiss, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Kisses, Sleepy Cuddles, Oblivious Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Soft Bakugou Katsuki, Drunk Bakugou Katsuki, Alternate Universe - College/University Summary: “Do you even sleep anymore, shitty nerd?” Rubbing his tired eyes, Izuku really did not want to answer that question. Katsuki was already a ticking time-bomb as it was on a good day. Now that he was most likely shit-faced, it would probably only be worse. “Don't you have a party to get back to? I think I can hear Kaminari yelling something about beer pong over there.” “Don' avoid the q'stion, Deku. When were you planning on sleeping?” “I scheduled a nap in for a week from next Tuesday,” the green-eyed boy grumbled, glaring at the book on his lap. Hadn’t he already read this page…? “I'll sleep when I'm dead.” There was silence for a moment before Katsuki loudly growled, “Yer a fucking idiot,” suddenly hanging up the phone.

Give Me Something (something to hold on to) by SurelyHeavenWaits

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Brief mentions of others Additional Tags: Insomniac Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Fluff, just pure fluff and soft sweet goodness Summary: Deku hasn't been sleeping lately- not that Katsuki cares. It's just… it's just that lately, Deku's freckles are drowning in the blue-black shadows threatening to swallow his eyes and he has a habit of napping if he stays still in one place for too long.

"I'm Better When I'm With You" by InkspillsNotebook

Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Kirishima Eijirou, Uraraka Ochako Additional Tags: Talking, Bakugou isn't great at it, Confessions, Future Planning, Fluff, this is all just fluff whoops Summary: N/A

Rain Smell by lalazee

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Additional Tags: Developing Relationship, Secret Relationship, Fluff, Canon Compliant, Romance, Teen Romance Summary: Rise.

Let's Be Alone Together by lalazee

Rating: Explicit Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, Smut, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Flirting, Graduation, Comedy, Romance Summary: Prompt: Deku being aggressively forward in his pursuit of Bakugou, and how that big oaf would react to someone else actually making the first move. “Are you going to spend your entire life wishing you’d kissed me or are you gonna grow some balls and fucking do it?”

Starshine by blueslove

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku Additional Tags: bakudeku, Bakusquad, Dekusquad, Fluff, Alternate Universe - Fantasy(references), Canon Compliant, One Shot, One-Sided Attraction, Falling In Love Summary: Deku’s eyes always light up when he talks about that book.

It’s as if his being lives to praise the pages, like his lips don’t know how to form any other words. He speaks of the characters like they’re friends, the story as if he’d lived it himself, and the place like he’d seen it with his own eyes.

Katsuki can’t stand it.

Don't Lick The Desk (Just Another Monday) by Kaiwen *(Updating/Incomplete)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, Todoroki Shouto, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Kirishima Eijirou Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - No Quirks (My Hero Academia), Alternate Universe - Professors, Established Relationship, Romance, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst, Comedy, Childhood Friends, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Protective Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Hisashi's Bad Parenting, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Sassy Midoriya Izuku, Soft Bakugou Katsuki Summary: Chemistry Professor Katsuki Bakugou and Biology Professor Izuku Midoriya have been in the fiercest of rivalries since they both started at the university of Yuuei. If they aren’t trying to outdo each other on who has the most obnoxious classroom ever, they are fighting against one another to try and get funding for activities when they both work out of the same tiny budget. Half of the student-body seems to “ship” them together, impatiently awaiting the day they realize they belong together. Too bad they are both already married… to each other.

Icebreaker by EtherealBeing *(Updating/Incomplete)

Rating: Explicit Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, Much of class 1-A will appear Additional Tags: Humor, Fluff, Eventual Smut, Crack Treated Seriously, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Doctor! Bakugou, Secondhand embarrassment, Alternate Universe - No Quirks (My Hero Academia) Summary: Izuku tried his best to stay positive, and remind himself that his predicament was nothing to be ashamed of — that doctors dealt with this sort of thing all the time. Needless to say, he gave up on trying to maintain that optimism the moment his childhood friend walked in, white coat, stethoscope and all. “Holy shit, I can’t believe this!” Katsuki managed to wheeze, in between raucous, choking bouts of laughter. “You— You got a dildo stuck up your ass?!” Or: After several years of no contact, Izuku and Katsuki are reunited at the ER when the former gets a dildo stuck in his ass, and the latter is the doctor tasked with removing it.

The Spell in Her Name by Merrywetherweather *(Updating/Incomplete)

Rating: Mature Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Kirishima Eijirou, Original Child Character(s), Inashi Midoriya, Ashido Mina Additional Tags: bg kirimina, Adoptive Parent Izuku Midoriya, child abandonment (past), Babysitter Bakugou Katsuki, more tags to be added later, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Canon Compliant, Aged-Up Character(s), Heroes & Heroines Summary: Bakugou Katsuki returns home to Japan after his 3 year contract runs out with his agency in America. Unfortunately, the house he had contracted to be built by the time he got back has had a few setbacks and his closest friend, Kirishima, just shacked up with Ashido. Rather than live in a hotel for another month, he tries to crash at Deku's place. He arrives at his door uninvited. But Katsuki wasn't expecting Deku to already be living with someone. An adoptive child au where Deku took in and raised a little girl someone left on his doorstep.

The SKIRT by Kurohimex105(Updating/Incomplete)

Rating: General Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Ashido Mina, Uraraka Ochako, Asui Tsuyu, Jirou Kyouka, Hagakure Tooru, Yaoyorozu Momo, Kirishima Eijirou, Kaminari Denki, Sero Hanta, Todoroki Shouto, Mineta Minoru, Shouji Mezou, Kouda Kouji, Iida Tenya, Satou Rikidou, Aoyama Yuuga, Ojiro Mashirao, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Monoma Neito Additional Tags: Cute Midoriya Izuku, Angry Bakugou Katsuki, Crossdressing, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Mush, Class 1-A Shenanigans (My Hero Academia) Summary: The girls want to get their own back on the boys for tricking them into wearing those cheerleading outfits at the sports festival. The boys punishment is to make them wear a SKIRT of course what could go wrong? The girls weren't counting on a cunning Mineta to change their plans and come up with a scheme to draw lots to see who it will be. Who's the lucky guy? you guessed it our very own bunny boy Izuku Midoriya how will things turn out for our sweet greenette.

Summer Daze by erza_mikazuku

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki's Parents, Bakugou Mitsuki, Bakugou Masaru, Midoriya Inko, Todoroki Shouto, Iida Tenya Additional Tags: Reunited and It Feels So Good, Fluff, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Sweet, Childhood Memories, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, lifeguard izuku, Summer Vacation, Walks On The Beach, Beach City, Summer, Summer Festival, Jealous Bakugou Katsuki, Boys Kissing, Kissing, First Dates, Surfing, Sunsets, Sunrises, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Long Lost Friends Summary: After Izuku moved away as kids, he and Katsuki reconnect and soon find themselves inseparable on social media. As summer hits, Katsuki finds himself bored on vacation with his parents at a beach town far from home. However, a twist of fate leaves Katsuki in a daze.

License and Registration Please by mzmirrorz

Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, Kaminari Denki, Kirishima Eijirou, Shinsou Hitoshi Additional Tags: Soft Bakugou Katsuki, In my christian minecraft server? more likely than you think, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Inappropriate use of Careless Whisper by George Michael, Police Officer Midoriya Izuku, ProHero!Bakugo, Pre-Relationship, Getting Together, Crimes, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Being gay and doing crimes Summary: "License and registration pl-"

"Evening officer it's been a while. What a whole week since you pulled me over last?"

"This is the sixth time this month I've pulled you over for speeding Ground Zero-"

"Katsuki, please."

Or Katsuki has the hots for Officer Midoriya and goes about asking him out the wrong way.

#bakudeku #katsuki bakugou #midoriya x bakugou #bakugou x midoriya #bkdk #fanfic #fanfiction #fic rec #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #mha #fluff

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inyournightmares97 · 6 years ago

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GOT7 AS: Managers in a Company

Just a few thoughts about what GOT7 would be like if they were managers/Head of Department in a company. Totally inspired by the fact that I’ve been watching the kdrama Chief Kim lately and corporate politics fascinates me.

Mark

Mr. Tuan is the head of the IT Department.

He works with computers and is the acknowledged technological genius of the company. It takes Mark Tuan exactly two minutes to scan a software and he can suddenly use it as though he designed it himself.

At the insistence of the employees from other departments, he regularly conducts tutorials and FAQ sessions to help employees better utilize the office software but nobody ever attends those. Instead, they just summon the IT Department to their desks whenever they can’t figure out something.

It makes Mark furious.

Sometimes there isn’t even any problem with the software. It’s just the female employees who have nothing better to do and want the chance to flirt with the cute guy from IT.

He was even slipped a man’s number once.

Mark finally ended up going to the CEO and making his tutorial sessions mandatory for all employees, So now on the first Tuesday of every month, all the employees have to gather in the auditorium for an hour and listen to Mr. Tuan give a lecture on the latest updates to the office Intranet and explain how to use the software.

He knows it’s a waste of his time since people will keep calling the IT Department for help anyway, but Mark figures the least he can do is waste some of their time in exchange. It gives him a small sense of achievement to look at all their bored and miserable faces.

Mark is a silent genius when it comes to IT, but his managerial skills are... non-existent.

The IT Department essentially does whatever they feel like because Mark has never scolded his employees or even told them to get back to work.

His only strategy is non-interference. He doesn’t care if the employees are playing games during office hours (he often does so himself, with the door to his office locked and his secretary warned to send all visitors away) and even if he catches them in the act he never says a word.

But the employees know better than to completely neglect their work, because if they do, somebody from another department might file a complaint about them and that complaint would get forwarded to Mr. Tuan.

Complaints = Paperwork

There is nothing Mr. Tuan hates more than paperwork. The only time his smiling and handsome face turns dangerous is when somebody comes up to him with paperwork. He would rather install the intranet software into a hundred office computers than file a single report.

Mark doesn’t even remember the names of all the people who work underneath him in the department. So during performance reviews, everyone just gets a good/decent review because who knows how much work is being done by each employee? Certainly not Mark Tuan. He couldn’t care less.

Mr. Tuan has never worked a minute of overtime in his life.

He leaves the office at 5 pm sharp, every single day and he does not come in on weekends under any circumstances. I’m sorry, the company is about to fall to pieces and you need someone to fix the software? Sure, remind me first thing on Monday morning.

Orders pizza and coke for the entire Department whenever it’s somebody’s birthday (his secretary slides him a note to remind him whenever that is the case).

He’s a little absent-minded and clueless at times, but the entire IT department agrees that they pretty much lucked out getting Mark Tuan as a manager. They wouldn’t exchange him for the world.

Jaebum

Mr. Im Jaebum manages the Production Department

Production and manufacturing isn’t easy work. There are deadlines to meet and quality standards to maintain. Production is the lifeblood of the corporation.

The quality of the products is extremely important to the company’s reputation and Im Jaebum does not compromise on anything. Everything has to be done perfectly and he expects his employees to come up with flawless results. He comes up with numbers and his employees have to bring them into existence.

But his expectations come with a responsibility of his own.

Jaebum takes excellent care of his employees. Even though the production goals he sets seem a little high at times, he also makes sure that every single employee, right down to the lowest factory worker is well-taken care of.

The company hasn’t faced a single worker’s strike since Mr. Im took over the Production Department. He can often be found arguing with the Directors and higher-ups to ensure better working conditions and benefits for his employees. A healthy workforce makes for a healthy company. He genuinely believes that his workers need to be happy for the department to function efficiently.

Mr. Im is both feared and respected.

He sometimes goes down the factories himself and conducts surprise inspections, so the warehouses and production facilities are always on high alert. But if the inspection goes well, then he treats all the workers to drinks after working hours end.

Jaebum sometimes gets a little drunk himself and does a really good impression of the CEO which gets everyone cracking up. But if anyone tries to take a video of him doing it, they’re going to be treated to a death glare.

Jaebum also secretly really adores kids, even though he doesn’t have any of his own. So he organizes a ‘bring-your-kids-to-work’ day twice a year. All the employees of his department can bring their kids to work to see what their parents do. Jaebum places a huge jar of candy on his desk and blushes whenever the kids come up to him. He’s too awkward to actually entertain them but he thinks they’re really cute.

He even let a particularly adorable five-year-old girl sit in his large, swirly leather office chair and wheeled her around like a rocket until he noticed the other employees were looking at him weirdly.

Even though Jaebum works them hard and enforces a lot of strict rules, everyone in the Production Department agrees that you can never find a manager more fair or just than Mr. Im Jaebum.

Jackson

Mr. Jackson Wang is head of the PR Department: Public Relations is his natural calling.

Jackson is that guy who constantly has a little Bluetooth mic in his ear; it’s really hard to tell whether he’s addressing you in front of him or he’s just talking to somebody through the Bluetooth. He likes to pace up and down the main office while taking calls in a loud voice. It makes him feel important.

Jackson takes a lot of phone calls. Most of them aren’t even work related, he’s just chatting with people in high positions but he claims that “maintaining contacts” is what he’s getting paid for.

Mr. Wang also uses the company card a lot. He submits receipts for various clubs and restaurants that he took some big politician or journalist to. Jackson can often be found in the Finance Manager, Park Jinyoung’s office towards the end of the month, begging him to clear all sorts of absurd expenses made in the company’s name. They usually have an hour-long meeting in Mr. Park’s office and Jackson ends up paying for the events by himself.

He’s not the best problem-solver. Jackson’s solution to just about any problem is “let’s call for a press conference.”

- “Mr. Wang, it’s actually very important that we keep this information away from the press for the time being-”

- “Yeah, yeah, I get that. But don’t you think we should hold a press conference? I’ll set one up right away!”

Somehow, he’s extremely hurt and surprised whenever he finds out that he’s been kept in the dark about confidential company matters.

Whenever there is a press conference though, Jackson makes it the most flashy and extravagant event possible. He hands out imported care packages to all the journalists and gives them free hampers with company products.

Every minuscule charitable contribution the company makes is on international headlines the next day. Pictures of the CEO visiting orphanages and making donations to starving children in poor countries can be found all over the internet. Jackson put them there.

He has a special team of people dedicated to leaving nice comments about the company on all sorts of internet fora. Sometimes he logs on himself and responds to haters just for the hell of it. He also manages the company’s social media presence; they have an Instagram page, a Twitter page, a Facebook page and exist on pretty much every social media platform ever.

Jackson has an excellent employee incentive scheme. Friday mornings are brainstorming sessions and anybody who comes up with a good idea to boost the company’s image gets a special gift; usually an expensive bottle of wine Jackson scored from a guy he knows, or a little bonus. The Finance Department severely disapproves of this scheme, so the funds come directly from Jackson’s own pocket.

He also likes a comfortable and bright environment. The PR Department’s office spaces are all painted in colorful shades, with beanbags and funny-looking chairs and fluffy rugs. He tried to get a cafe installed but the Finance Department put an end to that nonsense very quickly.

Although Jackson can be a little wild and loud at times, everyone agrees that the PR Department is undoubtedly the most fun department to work in.

Jinyoung

Mr. Park Jinyoung manages the Finance Department.

Before he turned up, the department was a corrupt mess. There were accounting scams everywhere, people at all levels of the corporate structure were siphoning off money whenever they pleased. Jinyoung personally tracked every single one of these people down and found proof that they’d been embezzling company funds.

Let’s just say that a lot of employees got arrested during the first two months of Mr. Park’s appointment. The PR Department was in panic (the only time Jackson Wang was forced to actually work overtime to ensure the entire company wasn’t labelled as corrupt by the media), but it worked out in the long run. Now the company is clean and Mr. Park does not compromise on integrity.

Jinyoung has one golden rule, which is written in bold letters and pasted on his office for everyone to see as they arrive. The sign reads ‘No Wasteful Expenditure’. There is nothing Jinyoung hates more than useless expenditure. Every penny spent must bring in some solid, traceable returns and that is how he runs the finances of the company.

He can regularly be seen arguing with Mr. Wang of the PR Department in his office. “Taking the journalists to a strip club is NOT a business expense! I refuse to sanction your reimbursements! Pay for your own entertainment!”

Jinyoung is also extremely stingy about allocating budgets to the Research and Development team. Kim Yugyeom can often be found in Mr. Park’s office as well, pleading for more funds while Jinyoung ignores him completely. “When is the last time your Department ever designed anything worth selling? All the money we’ve allocated you in the past is a sunk cost. Do you know what that means, Mr. Kim? It means it’s sunk to the bottom of the fucking ocean and we’re never getting that money back!”

Mr. Kim Yugyeom doesn’t ask for money anymore. R&D make do with what they have.

Jinyoung is extremely anal about his office space. The entire Finance Department is stuck with posters like “Reuse and Recycle” and there are reminders to turn off the lights when not in use. Jinyoung also insists that the air-conditioning be switched off for at least two hours every day. Even in summer. Sweating is good for your body.

The prevailing system is tough love. Jinyoung is harsh with employee performance reviews and getting a bonus is not easy if you work for the Finance Department. He’s also a micro-manager, requiring that every small thing be passed through him for approval.

Delegation is not a term well-respected in Mr. Park’s vocabulary. He doesn’t trust people to do things themselves. Sometimes he wanders around the employee’s desks for no reason, hovering over them like a schoolteacher trying to make sure the students aren’t cheating on an exam.

Whenever the auditing season is over, though, Jinyoung makes sure to throw a huge party for the accounting branch and invites the entire Finance Department. Work outings aren’t often but when they do take place, they get wild.

Overall, the employees of the Finance Department work hard and long hours, but they can’t really complain because Mr. Park works just as hard as them and he never sets any standards that he doesn’t follow himself.

Youngjae

Mr. Choi Youngjae is the friendly Human Resources manager.

The HR Department is a very calm and peaceful place. Youngjae has strategically placed potpourri all over the Department office to disseminate calming fragrances and he keeps scented candles in his own office. It’s his way of relieving stress after a long day of dealing with people screaming at him.

“Yes, sir, I understand that you booked the conference room in advance and that the PR Department should not be allowed to play loud music and disturb your meeting. Yes, I’ll have a talk with Mr. Wang about this.”

“It does make sense that an executive of your level should be allowed to travel in business class, but it’s up to the Finance Department to allocate budget and sanction your... yes, I understand. I’ll talk to Mr. Park.”

The HR Department is essentially the anger management center for all the other employees. Many of the managers like to come and walk into Mr. Choi’s office at all times of the day to vent their problems to him. He’s often dealing with noise complaints filed against the PR Department and the Marketing Department.

His only friend in the office is Jaebum, who often comes to talk to him about employee benefits and payroll issues. Youngjae admires how passionate Jaebum is about worker’s rights and he generally backs him when trying to beg the Board to allow for an increase in wages or additional holiday bonuses for the employees. It’s the only time Youngjae’s job feels worthwhile.

Youngjae is also required to hold seminars and training courses on conflict resolution and workplace ethics every quarter. The sessions are largely pointless because they usually just end in Jinyoung making snarky remarks about how all of the other departments waste the company’s money and Jackson’s cellphone goes off every five minutes because he refuses to keep it on silent. Bambam and Yugyeom are usually entirely absent from the seminars completely; they translate seminar day to mean holiday.

Youngjae is extremely grateful to Mark and Jaebum for being the only two people who actually pay attention to his seminars, but they’re never involved in any conflict anyway so it makes no sense.

Youngjae also regularly has to talk to Bambam about taking too many vacations days. Somehow, the man turns up with perfectly valid medical certificates stating that he was ill even though everyone knows he went on a trip to Bangkok with his new girlfriend. Youngjae doesn’t really know how to deal with the problem. He chooses to ignore it.

On slow days, Youngjae brings his dog into work and spends the afternoon playing with Coco.

Overall, he’s an extremely sweet HR manager who secretly hates his job but puts up with it because he doesn’t know what else he would do. Also leaves work at exactly 5 pm sharp and sometimes runs into Mark in the parking lot.

Bambam

Bambam runs the Marketing Department.

The Department is largely a mess. It’s meant to be a hub of creativity, and the office is filled with drawing boards and sticky notes and all sorts of scribbles all over the place.

A clean environment does not get one’s creative juices flowing.

Bambam also has dartboards with pictures of their major competitors set up all over the office. Employees are encouraged to use them often.

The job of marketing is to get products to sell and Bambam firmly believes that there is one foolproof way to do that; glamour.

He makes the company sign endorsement deals with almost every single famous celebrity in town; actresses, sports-persons, singers... Bambam knows them all and they’re all endorsing his products. If his team can’t come up with a good enough marketing strategy then they can just take their pick of all the celebrities Bambam has signed deals with and use one of them to endorse the product.

It’s not easy convincing Jinyoung to part with millions so that he can pay some famous actress to advertise their cosmetics line, but Bambam is better at wearing Jinyoung down than the other managers. Also, sales figures have been skyrocketing ever since Bambam took over so Jinyoung has a soft spot for him. At least he brings in results, unlike the R&D team.

Bambam maintains a very casual work environment with his employees. The moment their workload decreases, he’s usually off visiting some exotic foreign country. It’s surprising how he manages to get work done despite almost never being in his office; but Bambam parties hard and works harder.

He probably would have been fired by now if he hadn’t been bringing in so many sales, and if Youngjae hadn’t been too soft to bring up the matter of him overstepping his allocated vacation days.

All the same, all his employees love him.

Yugyeom

Mr. Kim Yugyeom manages the Research and Development team

The R&D team was one of the biggest spenders in the company until Mr. Park Jinyoung was hired and slashed their budget in half. They’ve been struggling to operate since then, but their productivity hasn’t increased much. They still produce next to nothing.

Yugyeom always encourages his employees to share their wild and insane product ideas. Since the R&D department don’t actually have to show any concrete results, they can often be seen slacking off. Most of their ideas are insane from the start and could never have been implemented anyway.

The only productive research that was taking place through the R&D Department was in the cosmetics line, but Yugyeom had that research shut down after he found out that they were testing the cosmetics on little bunnies and mice. He spent the rest of the day locked up in his office watching PETA videos on the horrors of animal testing and crying himself to sleep.

It took the combined efforts of Youngjae and Bambam to reassure Yugyeom that he wasn’t responsible for the deaths of hundreds of animals and that he should just shift his focus to products which didn’t need to be tested on living things.

The biggest achievement of Mr. Kim’s career was convincing the company to start a line of chocolate milk-based products. It was a line of research that Jinyoung firmly refused to fund but that didn’t matter because Yugyeom and his employees were fully willing to test the product on themselves. They drank nothing but chocolate milk for an entire month before the product was finally approved for sale.

Nobody complained because Yugyeom looked so hopeful.

Bambam was so proud of his friend for having finally developed a successful product that he hired one of the most popular actresses to endorse it and the chocolate milk sold like hotcakes. It’s still one of the most popular milk brands.

On days when they don’t need to work because Youngjae is holding one of his workplace ethics seminars, he and Bambam go to the amusement park or the bowling alley and have the time of their lives.

Most of the employees in the R&D team love Yugyeom because, well, nobody every really does any work there and he doesn’t care either. Who wouldn’t love a manager like that?

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missjanjie · 5 years ago

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Branjie Fic | Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer (7/?)

Title: Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer Summary: Brooke Lynn is a graduate student anxiously embracing her new position as her favorite dance professors’ new TA. Vanessa is a sophomore dance major who just might make her way into being more than the teacher(assistant)’s pet. (lesbian/university AU) Word Count: ~2.9k (this chapter)/~18.9k (total) Relationship: Branjie (Vanessa ‘Vanjie’ Mateo/Brooke Lynn Hytes) Rating: E

Read on AO3 | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch.5 | Ch. 6

After going back and forth about it over the weekend, Brooke Lynn decided she would attempt to go to class on Monday. She went through all the steps; shower, dress, eat quickly, she had made it all the way to the visual arts building before she panicked. The second she caught sight of Vanessa, all resolve went out the window and she ducked into the first room available.

The room she ended up in turned out to be the auditorium. There were various people milling about, but most occupants were on the stage, rehearsing for the winter musical – RENT. No one particularly minded, or even noticed, Brooke’s presence, allowing her to quietly find a spot to sit and watch. She had never been much of a musical theatre person, but she appreciated the soundtrack and found herself aimlessly humming along to the song they were performing.

“Brooke Lynn? Is that you?” a girl had spotted her from the front of the auditorium and had gotten all the way to the seat next to her without being noticed. “What brings you over here?”

Brooke looked over and winced. The girl’s name was Donna, a senior who she’d had a fling with the year prior, who had pushed for them to start dating and was promptly ghosted. Frankly, Brooke was surprised Donna seemed happy to see her. “Oh, I just…didn’t feel like making it to class today. I’m Katya’s TA now, she’ll understand,” she was talking at her more than to her, the last thing she needed was Donna trying to weasel her way back into the picture too.

“So, the rumors are true? You hooked up with one of her students?” Donna sat cross-legged and sideways on the chair and looked at her curiously. “Is that why you’re here? Did things go bad?”

Abruptly, Brooke got up and grabbed her bag. “I don’t need this right now,” she muttered and briskly walked out and went right back to her apartment. She should have just stayed in bed, she thought.

But on her way back, she was stopped by yet another girl she recognized. This time it was Vanessa’s roommate, whose name was embarrassingly lost on her in that moment. She stopped her on the sidewalk and pulled her to the side. “Listen, it’s really none of my business, but you need to consider forgiving Vanessa. Not for her sake, for mine. She doesn’t shut up about you, even in her sleep,” and the roommate even sounded exhausted.

“You’re right, it is none of your business. Get some earplugs,” Brooke huffed and walked past her, praying she could finally get back to her apartment in peace, but even her own subconscious kept playing showtunes on repeat.

‘Take your brown eyes, your pretty smile, your silhouette…no day but today…’

----------

“She wasn’t in class today. What if she skipped town?” Vanessa was pacing back and forth in her dorm while a beleaguered A’keria sat on her bed, subjected to another round of her friend going on about Brooke Lynn.

“You think she skipped town cause she’s mad at you?” A’keria stared at her incredulously. “Are you even listening to yourself right now? She probably just stayed at home or whatever,” she pointed out, looking up at the sound of a knock at the door. “Please, lord, let that be Brooke Lynn,” she muttered putting her hands together as if in prayer.It was not, it was Blair. “Hey guys,” she turned to Vanessa, “Okay, latest Brooke Lynn update is that my friend, Donna, saw her in the auditorium earlier and she said that she seemed sad and frustrated,” she recalled.

“Fuck, what do I do about this?” Vanessa groaned, plopping herself down on the floor. “What if she meant it? What if she does love me, but I ruined it by being an asshole?” she rests her head against the wall. “I need to do something, just being sorry isn’t gonna cut it anymore.”

“Oh! Big romantic gesture! I love these, I bet we could think of something,” Blair bounced on her heels cheerfully. “Well…you don’t sing or play piano, so that eliminates like, half of my ideas…but we’ll still think of something!” she assured. “What about a flash mob?”

Vanessa shook her head. “That’s too over the top, Brooke Lynn wouldn’t go for something that extra,” she explained. “I wanna do something, but she’s not gonna be happy if it’s somewhere crowded. She hates people seeing her emotions,” she sunk down to sit on the floor and groaned. “Fuck, y’all, I’ve never fucked up like this before.”

“Personally, I think both of you are way too worked up about this. Just jump the redheaded bitch and call it a day,” A’keria remarked.

“You know Brooke would be all ‘beating her up won’t solve anything’,” Vanessa rolled her eyes, though that might not stop her at this point. As mad at herself as she was, she felt like Lily needed to take some of the blame, it would make her feel better, that was for sure.

But then she was pulled from her train of thought when an alarm went off on her phone. “I gotta go to class, but we ain’t done brainstorming,” she said as she got up, the three of them leaving the dorm and going their separate ways.

Vanessa knew things were bad when she was actually relieved to be in class, and this one was actually sort of fun. It was the one she sat next to Yvie in, and they had come to appreciate each other’s company and chat candidly when they could. “Can I ask you something?” she asked when her classmate sat down.

“Go for it,” Yvie propped her elbow up on the desk and rest her chin on the palm of her hand.

“Let’s say you did something that really pissed off someone you care about and they don’t want to talk to you. What sort of, like…big gesture would you do to let them know how sorry you are?” One thing Vanessa was able to count on Yvie for was her honesty. While her friends did more to try to spare her feelings, sometimes it was necessary to have an outside perspective.

Yvie tilted her head and strummed her fingers against the desk. “Well, if just talking is out of the question, you still have to work on their terms. Maybe ask someone close to them and see what they suggest. Just don’t do something stupid and extra, like a flash mob,” she told her.

Vanessa pursed her lips as she listened, quickly concluding that Yvie was right. She didn’t know too many people in Brooke Lynn’s life, having gathered that most of her family remained in Canada. But she knew there was one person that would be able to help her.

----------

“I have been waiting for this moment for so long,” Katya grinned, sitting upright in her office chair and leaning forward.

“I feel like that’s a conversation for another day,” Vanessa remarked. “Anyway, what do I do? It’s been like, three days and I feel like I’m losing my goddamn mind.”

Katya was still giddy but took on a more pensive expression. She was silent for a few moments, then suddenly brightened right back up. “The student radio show!” she looked around until she found the flyer about it. “Brooke did it during her undergrad, so she’s still sentimental about it. She listens to it every week, Tuesday evenings. Go ask them to play a song and give them a message to read. Like that episode of Friends except it works because you’re not a heterosexual douchebag.”

Vanessa nodded, taking the flyer. “I knew you’d come through,” she beamed. “Thanks!” she waved and left. She went straight back to her dorm and opened her laptop and notebook. She needed the perfect song, and the perfect note to go with it. With a google search of ‘best love songs to apologize with’ open and a clean page of paper ready to go, she cracked her knuckles and got to work.

By one in the morning Vanessa had moved on to a second notebook and had finally believed she had captured her feelings into the best of her abilities. And the song? Well, she couldn’t have picked a better one. The lyrics fit so well; it was as if it was written for her to play for Brooke Lynn. She only hoped she would feel the same way.

Early the next morning, Vanessa made her way into the building where the radio show was done. It was foggy and dark, foreshadowing rain, and she only hoped that didn’t reflect the outcome of her plan. While she found the building easily, she did get a little lost finding the actual recording room. After about ten minutes of confusion and wandering, she found just where she needed to be.

As luck would have it, the room was occupied with students that worked on the show, and luckier still, one of the students was Yvie, so Vanessa ran right towards her. “Yvie, I took your advice and now I need your help again to follow through,” she went over and sat at the other side of the desk. “I talked to someone close to the person and—”

“You can just say Brooke Lynn, you know,” Yvie cut her off, “Everyone’s like, aware that something’s happening. It’s an open secret, like Rock Hudson.”

“Who that?”

Vanessa rifled through her bag until she pulled out a sheet of paper. There were several lines that had been crossed out and rewritten, but the bottom half of the page contained a coherent note. “I need you to read this note and play that song tomorrow during your show. Don’t proofread it or nothing, she’s gotta know this came from me,” she was fidgeting with her hands and shifting around in her seat. This could be her only chance at winning Brooke Lynn over.

“For what it’s worth, I’m rooting for you guys. I have no idea why, I just feel like this needs to work out,” Yvie remarked offhandedly.

“Thanks, I think.”

----------

Tuesdays were relatively decent days for Brooke Lynn. She got to be a student instead of a teacher in class and was home in time to cook herself an actual meal for dinner, this time without nearly killing herself or setting anything on fire. It was a nice way to distract herself from her stresses and woes. Especially since, on top of everything else, it had been drearily raining from the moment she woke up.

At this point, she had moved on from her initial fury towards Vanessa, but she was still angry, still hurt. But above anything else she was embarrassed. She was embarrassed that she had let herself fall so easily, that she had gotten sucked in by – quoting the song that had been stuck in her head – brown eyes, a pretty smile, and silhouette. Incidentally, she doubted she would ever be able to listen to the RENT soundtrack again.

But still, she knew better. She didn’t even date and all of the sudden she was vulnerable and lovesick towards someone that would flirt with a girl dressed like a CW character just to make her jealous. Suffice it to say, the past couple months have been a rollercoaster.

“Time for the one consistent staple in my life,” Brooke murmured to herself, sitting down with her dinner at the table and her phone hooked up to a Bluetooth speaker. She checked the time – two minutes to six – the radio show was about to start.

The introduction went as it usually did, and Brooke Lynn was tuning in and out as she ate. That was until the first song ended and the announcer said something that captured her attention.

“This next song was requested by my fellow dance major, Vanessa Mateo, aka Vanjie,” Brooke’s heart skipped a beat and her fork dropped on to her plate. She quickly made the volume louder and listened intently.

“Vanjie wrote a note that she asked me to read: ‘I won’t say your name ‘cause I know you get paranoid when it comes to you and me. But I need you to know how fucking sorry I am that I hurt you. It was stupid and not worth making you that upset. And I know sometimes ‘sorry’ isn’t enough, but it’d mean a lot if you gave me one more chance. If you will, you know where to find me’,” Yvie read. “Aww, that was sweet, wasn’t it? And with that, from Vanjie to ‘you know who you are’, this is Songbird by Fleetwood Mac.”

If Brooke hadn’t already been close to tears from Vanessa’s note, the song would have done the trick. Within the first few lines the dam broke and tears streamed down her cheeks. By the time the chorus hit, she was reduced to sobs.

“And the songbirds are singing, like they know the score. And I love you, I love you, I love you, like never before.”

When the song ended, there was no doubt in Brooke’s mind as to what she had to do. She went to the bathroom to wash her face and get herself together. And with that, her coat and shoes were on and she was out the door.

Vanessa had said in her note that Brooke would know where to find her, and apparently that had rung true, because the next thing she knew, she was running into the dance studio with a certainty that must have come from somewhere other than her conscious brain. It didn’t matter that she was soaked and shivering, she knew that this was where she needed to be.

The Vanessa that stood in the dance studio was one that Brooke had never seen before. She looked meek, hesitant, curling into herself. This was Vanessa without the confidence and attitude she brandished like weapons. She looked terrified, and her red, watery eyes made it clear that she had been crying too. Her bottom lip quivered as she looked up at her. “You showed up.”

Brooke wordlessly ran across the room to Vanessa, grabbing her head and kissing her fiercely. When she pulled away, she picked her up and hugged her tight and damn it, tears were slipping out again. “How dare you turn me into a hopeless romantic?” she laughed through the tears before eventually setting her down. “You have me wrapped around your pretty little finger, it’s just not fair.”

Vanessa was tearing up again too, which admittedly made Brooke feel a little better about her own inability to keep her feelings under control. She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her sweater and smiled up at her. “I won’t take that for granted no more. No more foolishness neither. So, we’re giving us another shot?” she asked because, despite everything that’d just happened, she needed the verbal confirmation.

“Yes. We may not be able to pick up right where we left off, but I can’t picture myself with anyone but you,” Brooke confessed. They would have to try a little harder, having undone some of the trust they’d built. But she had faith in Vanessa, and faith in their relationship. She took a half step back to take off her coat. “Can we sit? That took a lot out of me,” she admitted and sat with her back against the wall.

Vanessa sat in Brooke’s lap, a space she fit perfectly in. She combed her fingers through her damp, blonde hair and kissed her forehead. “Y’know, you’ve changed me too. Got me being responsible, taking care of myself. I used to think that shit was boring, but it feels healthy and good.”

Brooke couldn’t help but giggle at that. “I’m glad I coerced you into self-care,” she teased. She rubbed her hand up and down Vanessa’s back and kissed lightly along her jaw. “You know what we haven’t done yet? Gone on an actual date. Let’s do something fun this weekend, just you and me, maybe venture outside the city…”

“Shit, if I didn’t think we’d get caught, I’d show you how good of an idea I think that is,” Vanessa winked playfully as she leaned up and kissed her.

Brooke laughed and kissed back languidly. “Baby, I don’t have the energy for that right now anyway. What I’m gonna do is bring you back to my apartment, make you try what I made for dinner, then we’re gonna watch some shitty movies until we fall asleep.”

Vanessa smiled and let Brooke pick her up. As they went outside, they realized the rain had cleared and left them with a calm night – or as calm as a night in New York City could be. “It’s a sign,” she joked.

But sometimes the universe was funny like that, whether it was a change in the weather or hearing the right song, sometimes life brings you exactly where you need to be. And hopefully, it put Brooke Lynn and Vanessa on the path to rebuilding their relationship.

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