#piers is back once again the bad piers xD

[bloody-bee-tea]

BeeTober 2020 Day 1

Cliff - Mid-Autumn Festival

It’s October and you all know what that means! Another writing event, where I will post a fic every day. Since the Untamed Fall Fest is happening at the same time, I combined the prompts! There’s a series on my AO3 where you can read all of these as well, if that suits you better.

This first fic is Mingcheng, and it will probably change everything, plot-wise, but like always, don’t ask me about it XD

I hope you enjoy this event with me!

Jiang Cheng has a bad feeling about this conference. Despite what everyone thinks, he is in fact able to read a room and what he reads spells trouble.

And going by the looks Jin Guangshan keeps throwing him it will come from him.

The conference is just drawing to a close and Jiang Cheng finally allows himself to relax—if only a little bit—when Jin Guangshan turns his eyes on him.

Jiang Cheng immediately stiffens again.

“There is one more matter to address,” Jin Guangshan says and Jiang Cheng feels relieved to see that he’s not the only one who suppresses a sigh.

“And what would that be?” Lan Xichen asks, when Jin Guangshan falls silent, clearly waiting for someone to inquire after that mysterious matter, and a cold shudder runs down Jiang Cheng’s back when Jin Guangshan smiles at him.

“The matter of the Jiang Sect,” Jin Guangshan sweetly replies and everyone in the hall falls silent.

“What is the matter with my Sect?” Jiang Cheng asks with a slight bow and when Jin Guangshan looks at him like one might look at a particularly stupid child Jiang Cheng has to fight the urge to throw himself off a cliff.

Or maybe he’ll just throw Jin Guangshan off one, that should solve almost the same amount of problems for Jiang Cheng.

“You’re recruiting, and heavily at that,” Jin Guangshan says, just as Jin Guangyao nods in agreement. “One has to wonder if there’s a hidden reason behind that.”

Jiang Cheng works his jaw, before he gets up and bows low to Jin Guangshan, aware that all eyes are on him. And not all of them are friendly.

Jiang Cheng never did deal well with attention like this.

“There is no hidden agenda,” Jiang Cheng promises and then his petty streak makes an appearance. “I know Lanling Jin didn’t suffer the same losses, but Yunmeng Jiang nearly got destroyed when Lotus Pier was burned. I barely have any disciples as it is. I’m just trying to fill the ranks again.”

“And for what purpose?” Jin Guangyao asks him, clearly picking up on Jin Guangshan’s thread of thought.

“Yunmeng Jiang is one of the Great Sects. There is nothing Great about Yunmeng right now, and I’m just trying to rebuild it,” Jiang Cheng says through clenched teeth.

“Recruiting at this point of time seems suspicious. One could think you’re trying to replace Qishan When,” Jin Guangyao says, a polite smile on his face and Jiang Cheng wants to do nothing more than wipe it off.

Preferably with Zidian.

“I am not actively recruiting, though,” Jiang Cheng forces himself to say, because he can guess where this is going. “People come to me to pledge loyalty. I am in no position to send them away.”

“Even when they already have a Sect they belong to?” Jin Guangyao wants to know and of course this is the whole problem.

“I don’t question where my people come from,” Jiang Cheng admits. “If they are willing to be loyal, then I am willing to let them wear purple.”

“How can they be loyal if they already betrayed one Sect?” Jin Guangshan says and Jiang Cheng suppresses a sigh.

“What do you mean?” Nie Mingjue suddenly chimes in and when Jin Guangyao looks at him with much the same look Jin Guangshan just gave Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng feels his skin itch.

“People are falling over themselves to join Yunmeng Jiang. Even disciples who already pledged their loyalty to one Sect.”

“Ah, I see,” Lan Xichen says and stands up. “I don’t think that is much of a problem,” he goes on and Jiang Cheng inwardly shakes his head.

Of course he won’t think of this as a problem. Barely any Lan disciples came to Jiang Cheng after all. But his Sect is overflowing with Jin disciples and Jiang Cheng is honestly not surprised about that.

“Er-ge,” Jin Guangyao gently chides him and Jiang Cheng sees how Nie Mingjue works his jaw at the patronizing tone.

“I don’t see a problem with that, either,” Nie Mingjue says after a moment and Jiang Cheng is honestly surprised he is speaking up for him.

“But you should,” Jin Guangyao says. “I heard some Nie disciples defected as well.”

“As they should, if they can’t serve under me,” Nie Mingjue gives back without a beat and for once Jin Guangyao falls silent.

Jiang Cheng sees a dangerous glint in his eyes, and he thinks it might be better if someone interferes.

“Sect Leader Jin, I apologize if I offended you in any way,” Jiang Cheng says with a low bow. “But I am not actively recruiting and I am not doing background checks on my disciples at this time. Anyone who wants to serve me is welcome. I hope you understand the need to rebuild what was lost in this gruesome war.”

Jiang Cheng bitterly thinks back to his burned home, while Jinlingtai stands strong and perfect as ever and he wants to shake Jin Guangshan until his head falls off.

Besides, it’s not his fault that Jin Guangshan is such a shitty leader that his disciples are coming to Jiang Cheng in flocks. At this point, there are probably more Jin disciples in purple than any actual Yunmeng people.

Jin Guangshan narrows his eyes at Jiang Cheng, who keeps his bow low and respectful, even though he feels anything but, and eventually he waves his hand.

“Just see to it that your actions cannot be mistaken for anything but rebuilding,” Jin Guangshan warns him and Jiang Cheng suddenly understands that Jin Guangshan is afraid of him.

Jiang Cheng lost everything; his parents, his home, most of his Sect. His sister will marry into the Jin Sect and only the gods know what Wei Wuxian is up to these days and yet Jin Guangshan feels threatened by him.

It’s honestly a better feeling than Jiang Cheng has expected.

~*~*~

Jiang Cheng is on his way back to his quarters when Nie Mingjue stops him.

“Do you have a moment?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng nods, despite how uneasy he feels.

Nie Mingjue had seemed okay with the fact that a few of his people decided to serve under Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng knows better than to trust it.

“Of course,” Jiang Cheng stiffly replies and when Nie Mingjue steps closer, Jiang Cheng is acutely aware of the fact that Nie Mingjue is a very imposing man and that Baxia is a very huge saber.

“Is it true? Did some of my people join your Sect?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng squares his shoulders.

These people came to him in hopes of finding a new home, and he will not sell them out to their previous Sect Leaders.

“And what of it?” Jiang Cheng snaps but Nie Mingjue only smiles slightly at him.

“Nothing,” he easily replies. “I meant what I told Jin Guangshan. If they found someone more worthy to follow than me, then I am fine with that. I only wish the best for my people and if I am not it, then I would always encourage them to go find it.” Nie Mingjue tilts his head slightly before he adds, “Unlike some other people.”

“I see,” Jiang Cheng replies, because he doesn’t quite dare to trust this.

It is still very fresh in his mind that the other three Great Sects now have a sworn brotherhood, while Jiang Cheng and Yunmeng Jiang are standing all on their own.

“I am looking for seven disciples,” Nie Mingjue says and holds out a small scroll to Jiang Cheng. “Those are their names. I try my best to give the families of my disciples an account of what happened to them during a fight, but I can’t find these seven. Maybe they are with you?”

“I will not sell them out to you,” Jiang Cheng hisses and Nie Mingjue seems honestly taken aback by the venom in his voice.

“I am not asking you to. If they are with you, then that’s okay with me. I just want to know if I have to tell their families that they are dead or not.”

Jiang Cheng mulls that over for a few moments before he snatches the scroll out of Nie Mingjue’s hand.

He quickly unrolls it and scans the names, before he rolls it up again and puts it inside his own robe.

“I recognize four of them,” he finally tells Nie Mingjue. “They are alive and well.”

“And the other three?” Nie Mingjue lowly asks and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

“I haven’t heard their names. I’ll have to ask around.”

“Would you?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng scoffs.

“Do I have a choice?” he bites out and he almost—almost—softens at the surprised look on Nie Mingjue’s face.

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“I might be a newly appointed Sect Leader but I am well aware of the consequences refusing you would bring for me. Especially with the support you have in your back.”

“You have nothing to fear from me,” Nie Mingjue says with a small frown. “You have support as well.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Jiang Cheng sarcastically says. “I have your support, of course. Is that the reason you and your two sworn brothers decided to forget about me?” he can’t help but ask and Nie Mingjue rears back as if Jiang Cheng had hit him with Zidian.

“We didn’t mean to—,” Nie Mingjue starts but Jiang Cheng doesn’t let him finish.

“It doesn’t matter, it is done after all,” Jiang Cheng bitterly mutters. “I will see if I can find your missing disciples, Sect Leader Nie,” he then says with a mocking bow. “And please be lenient with me in the future.”

“Jiang Wanyin, we didn’t mean to.”

“And yet you did,” Jiang Cheng gives back. “You isolated me and now I am without support. Jin Guangshan must really love this. No wonder he comes after my disciples now. Thanks to you, they are the only support I have left. Now, if you would please excuse me,” Jiang Cheng finishes, before Nie Mingjue can find his words again, and he simply turns around and leaves.

He can’t even find it in him to care that he was rude. They don’t respect him anyway, one bow more or less won’t change that.

~*~*~

Jiang Cheng is in the middle of the preparations for the mid-autumn festival, when a disciple finds him.

“Sect Leader Jiang, Sect Leader Nie is requesting to see you,” he politely says and Jiang Cheng let’s out a frustrated sigh.

This is the first major holiday since Lotus Pier burned, since Jiang Cheng lost everything. He had planned to spend it with the only remaining family he has left, had hoped to spend it with his disciples who will hopefully turn into a new family for him, and he was not prepared to have this all interrupted.

“Fine,” he still sighs. “Send him in,” he instructs the disciple, not even caring that it is incredibly rude that he didn’t go out to greet Nie Mingjue himself.

Well, better the other Sect Leaders learn to manage their expectations early when it comes to Jiang Cheng.

“Jiang Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue greets him when he enters Jiang Cheng’s study, and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.

“Sect Leader Nie,” he gives back, but Nie Mingjue waves him off.

“None of that, please.”

Jiang Cheng frowns but he doesn’t argue with Nie Mingjue.

“What brings you here,” he asks when it doesn’t seem like Nie Mingjue is going to talk, his gaze wandering around the study, and Jiang Cheng has a quick second to regret meeting him here.

But then remembers that this is Nie Mingjue, who is righteous and steadfast in a way not a lot of the other Sect Leaders are, and he reassures himself that he has nothing to fear from Nie Mingjue.

He would know it if Nie Mingjue wanted to harm him and his Sect, Jiang Cheng is sure of that.

“I have a proposal,” Nie Mingjue thoughtfully says but then stops himself. “But first I wanted to ask if you had any luck finding the other three disciples.”

“I did,” Jiang Cheng nods and gets the scroll. “Two of them are dead. I’m sorry. They died wearing my colours, which is probably why you didn’t find them. The third one is with me as well, and she is alive and healthy.”

Nie Mingjue scans the names and Jiang Cheng sees honest sorrow when he reads the names of the two deceased ones. 

Jiang Cheng knows the names of all his disciples, makes it a point to learn them, even though due to the recent influx of them he is a little bit behind, but he didn’t think anyway else bothered to.

Jin Guangshan certainly doesn’t seem the type, and neither does Lan Xichen, if he’s being honest.

“Thank you for finding them,” Nie Mingjue softly says and then quickly puts the scroll away.

“Don’t mention it,” Jiang Cheng gives back, more threatening than he actually means to, but this is making him uncomfortable now.

He shouldn’t be thanked for simply being a decent human being.

“Now, what’s the proposal?” he gruffly asks, desperate to change the topic and Nie Mingjue straightens up.

“We were wrong to leave you out of our sworn brotherhood,” Nie Mingjue starts with and Jiang Cheng already wants this conversation to end.

He doesn’t need to be reminded that despite whatever Nie Mingjue is saying right now, they did leave him out of it.

“And I know we can’t make up for it, because it’s already done, but I have an idea.”

Jiang Cheng hesitates for a moment, but then his curiosity wins out. He wonders what Nie Mingjue thinks he can do, given that he is already sworn brothers with Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao and a brotherhood of four is bad luck.

“Speak,” Jiang Cheng orders when Nie Mingjue falls silent again.

“You can swear brotherhood with Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan,” Nie Mingjue proposes and Jiang Cheng shakes his head, because what?

“I know it’s not the same, since neither of them are Sect Leaders, though Jin Zixuan is the heir. But it would still strengthen your standing. It would also help you to protect Wei Wuxian, because I have seen the greedy look on Jin Guangshan’s face when it comes to the Stygian Tiger amulet, but I have also seen how Lan Wangji looks at your brother. I doubt he would let anything happen to him, if he’s given a chance.”

Jiang Cheng has to admit that Nie Mingjue is right about that—he had noticed it as well—but he still can’t help the bitter huff he lets out.

“And you get out of this without any bonds,” Jiang Cheng bitterly says, because it didn’t escape his notice that there was no mention of the Nie Sect in any of this.

“I wouldn’t,” Nie Mingjue gives back and puts a box on the table.

“What is this?” Jiang Cheng wants to know, eyeing the box with suspicion.

“A courtship gift,” Nie Mingjue easily replies and Jiang Cheng freezes.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I am not. A sworn brotherhood can only get you that far, especially since you can’t swear with any other Sect Leaders. So I am proposing a marriage.”

“Between me and—?” Jiang Cheng wants to know, because he can’t quite believe that Nie Mingjue would sell Nie Huaisang like this, but on the other hand he can’t see Nie Mingjue accepting a spouse either.

“Me,” Nie Mingjue says, much to the surprise of Jiang Cheng and then chuckles. “I wouldn’t sell Huaisang. If I was proposing a marriage with him, he would be here.”

Jiang Cheng gapes at Nie Mingjue because this is so far from anything Jiang Cheng had imagined that he can barely wrap his head around it.

“You must be joking,” he finally manages to say, but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.

“I assure you, I am not.”

Jiang Cheng allows himself to imagine it for a few moments; not only the support this would bring to him, but also the marriage in itself. He can see himself falling in love with Nie Mingjue—he’s a catch, really, if you don’t mention the qi deviations—but Jiang Cheng knows better than to expect the same in turn.

“I will not enter into a loveless marriage,” Jiang Cheng declares, thinking back to his own parents, but Nie Mingjue shrugs.

“You are a very attractive man, Jiang Wanyin. And I admire your strength, your resilience and your biting tongue, and how you all use it to hide the fact that you love your family and people. I can see myself falling in love with you, but that is what the courtship is for, is it not?” Nie Mingjue gives back and effectively renders Jiang Cheng speechless. “And even if it doesn’t work out, I doubt I’m going to live to old age. You’d be free of me sooner rather than later.”

“You actually mean it,” Jiang Cheng finally chokes out, deciding to ignore the last part for now, and Nie Mingjue pushes the box towards him.

“Of course I do. I do not have the time for lies and deception.”

“Yeah,” Jiang Cheng agrees, because that he actually noticed before.

Nie Mingjue is the most no-nonsense person Jiang Cheng has ever encountered, and he knows Lan Wangji.

Jiang Cheng reaches out for the box with shaking hands, and he lets out a startled laugh when he opens it.

It’s full of nails.

“I thought you could need some funds to rebuild Lotus Pier. This was the easiest to carry with me,” Nie Mingjue sheepishly admits and Jiang Cheng chuckles again.

“You’re not actually wrong,” he admits and closes the box again. “If we’re doing this, there will be a proper courtship, Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng dares to say, figures if this is really happening then they better get used to this sooner rather than later, and Nie Mingjue nods.

“I wouldn’t want anything else,” Nie Mingjue replies with a smile and Jiang Cheng is startled to see dimples appear on his face.

He didn’t know about that. It could be a problem.

“Stay for the mid-autumn festival,” Jiang Cheng finds himself saying and is taken off guard when the smile grows in its intensity.

“With pleasure.”

~*~*~

When Nie Mingjue insists that they send a lantern off together, Jiang Cheng is not as surprised as he would have been a week ago.

Nie Mingjue stayed the whole week in Lotus Pier, helping with the rebuilding, but also actively courting Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Cheng has to admit that he didn’t think Nie Mingjue even had one romantic bone in his body.

He had been wrong.

Sending off a lantern together, like only lovers would do, does not actually come as a surprise.

When the lantern drifts off, taking Jiang Cheng’s wish with it, he can’t help but to look over at Nie Mingjue.

The other man is already looking at him, and there’s something so soft in his look that it makes Jiang Cheng’s knees weak.

Jiang Cheng fights the instinct to run away and hide from that look—if this is going where Jiang Cheng finds himself hoping it will go he will have to get used to this, he’s sure of that—and instead he leans up on his toes to press a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s cheek.

Nie Mingjue freezes in surprise, Jiang Cheng can feel it, but he also puts a hand to Jiang Cheng’s waist, keeping him close and Jiang Cheng finds himself enjoying that more than he maybe should.

“I didn’t think my wish would be fulfilled this quickly,” Nie Mingjue mutters, much to Jiang Cheng’s embarrassment and he hides his face in Nie Mingjue’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m not used to getting what I wish for either,” he gives back and then feels how Nie Mingjue presses a kiss to the top of his head.

“Well, then it’s something we can get used to together,” Nie Mingjue decides and Jiang Cheng nods.

He’s actually looking forward to it.

Link to my ko-fi on my sidebar.

[champion-leon-imagines]

Chronicles of Galar - Prologue 1: Taiko Hirebayashi

Some Info beforehand. This is going a pretty long fic with several chapters. But the chapters are somewhat different than normal fanfictions. Because they are just in chronological order but some of them are not actually connected to each other and some may have a greater timeskip than others. Imagine it like a readable diary of your adventures with just the mention worthy adventures added. But be careful, because this story is like a HELL OF A TOOTHROTTING-FLUFF fic. The main pairing is of course You x Leon. A side Pairing is Taiko(OC) x Raihan and a mentioned Pairing is Leiko(OC) x Piers Although, you won’t have to deal much with Leiko. But Taiko will get a bigger role since she becomes your best friend. Oh and if you wanna look for the Fic and it’s parts, make sure to follow the tag: Chronicles of Galar. Now enough Chatting, here is the introduction of the first character: My lovely tsun Taiko! And don’t forget: This is NOT proof read. English is NOT my first language. So please be gentle with mistakes.

[Prologue: Taiko Hirebayashi]

[9 years before  the timeline in sword / shield]

“Taiko, honey. Don't run too far away from the camp. The wild area is teeming with Pokemon. ”, a woman, around her late 20s to early 30s with purple hair that was tied in a pigtail, spoke in a warning tone. She wore glasses and petted a Flareon, her loyal partner Pokemon. "Yes, mommy.", a 9-year old girl with fiery red hair replied cheekily. "And stop using this word, please. Did you learn that here in Galar? Please just call me mother. ”, she corrected her daughter. Ever since the holiday in Galar began, the child seemed to have increasingly adopted the linguistic peculiarities of the inhabitants of this region. "Okay, mother.", Taiko muttered and rolled her eyes in slight annoyance. She didn't thought it was that bad, because she loved everything in Galar. Much more than at her home in Ecruteak City, in Johto. Her mother was one of the dancing geishas at Ho-Oh's temple, which was why Taiko was promised an Eevee for her 10th birthday as a starter Pokemon. Like all geishas, ​​she should learn the art of meditation dance one day, in order to command the awe of the holy phoenix pokemon. But now they were here, in Galar, enjoying a few days of vacation.

Taiko quickly got bored, however. In her tent, she started to felt shut in. Her toys were only entertaining for a short period of time. She wanted to explore the wild area and see Pokemon! No matter how much her mother told her not to.

The young redhead sneaked out of the tent, while her parents were talking to an employee of the Pokemon Rangers, because a wild Dynamax Pokemon attacked the Lake of outrage nearby. Therefore, a warning was issued to all traveling coaches and tourists to stay away from this lake in any case.

If that didn't sound like an adventure ..

Without even thinking about it, the girl simply ran through the wild area. Lake of outrage was relatively in the middle of the area and her parents' camp was quite far to the south, at a popular campground for out-of-towners. Because there were only weak Pokemon running around, which did not pose any danger to hikers.

So Taiko just had to walk south, right? ... But she didn't knew where the south was.

The extroverted redhead remembered her days in the scouts camp, which had taken place near Cianwood City. She remembered that moss grows  on the northern side of trees because they are often in the shade due to the rays of the sun on the other side and the moss can spread there. So Taiko examined the surrounding trees and based on the position of the moss, she quickly knew where north was. She nodded proudly and then strutted north, full of energy.

Meanwhile in another part of the wild area.

“Pokeball, go!” an 11 year old boy with dark skin, casual clothes and a red headband that hid most of his hair, shouted. The pokeball hit a small, white spherical pokemon, which was vaguely reminiscent of a slug. The dragon pokemon Goomy. The ball wobbled three times before stopping and trapping the Pokemon. "YES!" the boy smirked and put himself in a victory pose, which, of course, nobody could see because he was alone. Shortly afterwards, he took his Rotom smartphone out of his pocket and took a picture of himself and his latest catch. Then he opened a social media page that was similar to Facebook.

'Look, I caught a Goomy! The dragon tamer Raihan has struck again! : D Soon nobody can stop me, so take a good look @Leon! I will be champion before you!'

With a grin, Raihan tapped 'Publish' and waited for the many likes from his friends and “fans”, as he liked to call his followers. It took less than 5 minutes before his best friend and rival had already made a like and comment.

'Wow, congratulations @Raihan! This Pokemon is totally rare! Unfortunately I haven't seen one yet. But don't be too early! Who will be champion first is still to be decided! '

Raihan grinned and replied, in his cheeky way. 'You have to find the stadium for our decisive fight first! XD I have enough time to train my Pokemon. '

The young man put his smartphone back in his pocket, he knew that Leon never accepted his provocations and therefore it was a waste of time to wait for an answer. “Come on, Vibrava. Let's see if we can find more cool Pokemon! ”He said to his partner Pokemon. The green, dragonfly-like Pokemon nodded eagerly and flew over the area, while Raihan grinned and followed his companion. He just loved looking for Pokemon in the wild area.

Back to Taiko. The young redhead was already regretting her spontaneous ideas and had to admit: she was lost.

This part of the wild area was so heavily overgrown by dense forest that hardly any sunlight penetrated through the thicket and consequently the moss grew on all sides of the trees. So it was impossible for her to determine in which direction she had to go.

"...MUM? DAD? DO YOU HEAR ME? ”And then she gave up and called desperately for her parents. Why the hell was she always so .. stubborn and had to give in to her curiosity?

The girl fell on her knees and began to cry. She was just too spontaneous and didn't think about the consequences. Now she was here in an unknown area, far away from her parents and who knows what else was lurking in the dark thicket?

A bush near her began to jiggle and that frightened the little girl. She stopped her emotional outburst and looked frightened at the bush. She crawled a few feet back from her almost sitting position and shivered as the rustling increased. Taiko swallowed lightly, trying not to make a sound to attract the attention of this unknown creature in the bush.

Suddenly a small, white rabbit pokemon rolled out with some somersaults. It had a kind of red fur in the shape of a plaster on its nose and its long ears wiggled and twitched as it straightened up and looked around. Taiko looked at the little Pokemon, which noticed her now too. It looked back. Neither of them moved for a few moments until Taiko blinked several times.

"How cute ..", she beamed and crawled forward on all fours. The little Pokemon stopped and tilted its head slightly as it watched the humans movements. "Scor? Scorbunny!" the little creature said. Taiko knew that Pokemon could only say their name, so now she knew the species. So that was a Scorbunny! She had never seen it before. Was it a regional Pokemon from Galar?

"Mmm, I think I have some candy somewhere …" the redhead mumbled. At least the situation calmed her down enough to forget about her outbreak minutes before ... She searched her pockets and actually found some fruit gums made from red haban berries. A very sweet type of berry that was perfect for sweets. Taiko smiled and offered the Pokemon some fruit gums. "Little one? You're are hungry, aren't you? ”She asked.

Scorbunny bounced closer and sniffed the girl's hand. Probably a first approach as to whether it could trust the person. As it took a fruit gum on its paws, it sniffed the gelatine again and stuffed it into its mouth. Taiko giggled as the Scorbunny gleefully chewed the fruit gum and then happily hopped up. "Scor! Scor Scor Bun?"

Taiko didn't knew what the Pokemon was trying to tell her, but from it's hopping around and staring at the fruit gums, it was obvious. It wanted more candy. The redhead smiled and gave Scorbunny a few more fruit gums. This time the Pokemon was braver and patted Taiko's hand with its paws before pounding on the fruit gums. Taiko had to laugh gently when Scorbunny let 5 fruit gums disappear into it's mouth at once and chewed contentedly. "You remind me of me." Taiko giggled.

Scorbunny finished snacking and as a token of gratitude, leaned it with its head on her arm and cuddled up to her. Taiko blinked slightly in surprise. Who could have guessed that wild Pokémon would approach humans so quickly? So obviously love goes through the stomach. Taiko smiled again and ruffled Scorbunnys fur behind it's ears. The Pokemon let out a satisfied purr and closed its eyes.

After a while, the Pokemon hopped onto her lap. This action surprised Taiko and she put both hands around the Pokemon. "It's so trusting .. it definitely belongs to someone ..", the redhead sighed, disappointed. She would have liked to keep the Scorbunny to herself. The two lingered like this for a few minutes until Taiko noticed that she was still in a quandary. She still didn't know how to get back to her parents. And the Pokemon was certainly not a sign back.

Slowly, the girl got up and let Scorbunny on the floor. “Go, your trainer is probably already worried about you.“ Taiko smiled and gave it a few last fruit gums before she continued on her way.

For the next 10 minutes she already missed Scorbunny .. She sighed softly to herself and stopped to lean against a tree. "Scorbunny ..." Taiko's eyes widened when she heard the Pokemon's call and turned around. Scorbunny was a few meters away from her. Taiko didn't even think for a second that it might be another Pokemon. It MUST be the same ..

When the Pokemon saw the girl kneel down, it ran into her arms and snuggled against the redhead's chest. Taiko straightened up and hugged the Pokemon. "You probably missed me too ..?", She asked and as if Scorbunny wanted to answer, it's nose nudged her fist when she raised her hand in front of it. Taiko smiled. "Then let's find a way back together." Scorbunny nodded and climbed onto her shoulder, where it made itself comfortable.

Taiko went on for a while, she didn't know how long, but it was already getting dark. Her parents were probably worried ... Then suddenly a huge lake was before her. Scorbunny sniffed the new surroundings and then tensed up with a menacing growl. The redhead swallowed at this cautious behavior. "The Lake of Outrage ...", she realized then. She wanted to run in the other direction when suddenly a giant Pangoro blocked her way. Apparently she had invaded it's territory because it looked angry. And aggressive.

The redhead stepped back, startled, and tripped over a thick branch. She fell on her bum and held her aching foot after she fell on it with her weight and cried out in pain. Pangoro seemed angry at the noise and stepped closer. It's dangerous threatening gesture made the girl's blood run cold. Scorbunny growled loudly and jumped in front of the girl as if it wanted to fight Pangoro.

"No..! This is an evolved Pokemon ...! It's too strong .. ” Taiko warned, but Scorbunny tried to attack with a double kick and jumped on the evolved Panda Pokemon. Pangoro held up Scorbunnys leg with one paw and tossed it back so that it landed in the mud next to the girl. "Scorbunny!" Taiko shouted distraught and took Scorbunny in her arms when Pangoro came closer and raised his paw for a blow. The redhead closed her eyes tightly and tears ran down her cheeks. "I don't want to die yet ..."

"Vibrava, dragon rush!", a boy's voice penetrated her ears and Taiko looked up when something enveloped in a blue aura slammed into the menacing Panda Pokemon from above in full speed. Pangoro was staggered by the recoil and  Raihan jumped in front of Taiko, ordering his Vibrava to make further attacks. "Super power, now!"Raihan ordered, causing Vibrava to launch a wave of attacks on the Pangoro. The fighting Pokemon appeared to be extremely robust and put up with all attacks. "Damn it, well then we have no other choice. Vibrava, use sandstorm! "Raihan shouted. Then he turned to the girl behind him. "Cover your mouth and nose!"

Taiko nodded and pushed the scarf, that her mother had given her over, half over her face. Vibrava created a dense sandstorm that made the entire area so opaque that you couldn't see anything. It was only when Taiko felt someone put a hand on her shoulder that she recognized the outlines of the boy, who helped her. "Let's get out of here before the storm subsides," he said. Taiko tried to get up, but a strong pain in her leg made her fall back to the ground.

"Ouch .."

"Hey, are you okay?" Raihan asked, holding her to keep her from falling again.

"I must have broken my leg when I tripped earlier .. I can't step .." the redhead sighed in frustration. Raihan blinked for a moment and saw his Vibrava land on his shoulder. He knew the sandstorm wouldn't hold up the enemy Pokemon much longer. An idea occurred to him without further ado and he turned his back on the girl while he knelt down. “Climb on my back. I'll carry you. ", He said.

"T-I can't ask that of you ..", Taiko mumbled and shook her head vigorously.

“Come on, my tent is not far from here and the storm won't hold back Pangogo for long. We have to get out of here. ”, the young trainer explained and Taiko probably had no other choice. She sighed and climbed onto his back, the Scorbunny clinging on her shirt and holding onto her as the boy carried her away from the lake.

It really didn't take long, a maximum of 10 minutes, until the boy reached his tent and gently laid the young girl on his sleeping bag.

"Here we are. Uhm. What's your name anyway? ”The boy then asked with a smile.

"T-Taiko and what's your name?"

"Raihan. Are you a Gym Challenger too? " Raihan asked and saw how the Scorbunny had snuggled up with her and was sleeping. The redhead shook her head. “I'm not from here and I'm only 9 .. My parents and I are only here for vacation. I live in Johto. “, She then explained.

“Then why were you alone at Lake of outrage? It's not an approved campsite at all. On the contrary, it is strictly forbidden for travelers to enter here.“

"Uhm .. well .. I was curious because I was bored in the tent and .. then I somehow got lost ..", the redhead explained, embarrassed, and tugged on a strand of red hair. Raihan just looked at her before he laughed. This reaction offended Taiko now that she thought he was making fun of her situation.

"Hey, that's not funny, I was really scared!" She said with a pout and turned away with slightly flushed cheeks. Raihan wiped a tear of laughter from his face and grinned slightly before winking at her. "Sorry, I didn't laugh at you. Just .. I've done so much nonsense too. When I was 5, my father was camping here with me too and I saw a Trapinch and followed it to Lake of outrage too. My father had to save me from a wild Gyarados in the water. And I was just thinking that I was having a deja vu when I saved you, ”he admitted with a laugh.

Taiko blinked slightly.

"Uhm ..", she just wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Thank you for the rescue ..", she said quietly, but still slightly offended, and turned her head away from him.

"You are welcome. But let's take care of your leg first. ", Raihan said and got a first aid kit from the corner of his stuff. Taiko lingered as quiet as a mouse, a rarity with her otherwise extroverted personality, when Raihan exposed the leg by lifting her pants up the affected leg and pulling down her socks to inspect the damage. “That looks bad. No wonder you can't walk. ", He said and took a rag that he moistened with a kind of disinfectant spray. "That could burn a bit now," he warned her.

The redhead bit her lip and squeaked softly as he placed the rag on the wound on her leg. Raihan smiled and praised her for how bravely she got through this action. She even had to laugh a little when he confessed that he had screamed like crazy when he was injured and his father wanted to treat him with the stuff too. She didn't know why, but somehow Taiko didn't feel so helpless anymore.

She watched spellbound as he expertly cleaned the wound and treated it with a bandage. "You don't seem to be doing this for the first time," she said then. Raihan blinked and then looked up at her as he kneeled in front of her to put his foot on his lap.

"Yeah. I have a clumsy best friend. His injury rate is pretty high when he's got lost. I don't even know how often I've been bandaged his falls and grazes. ", Raihan said thoughtfully and Taiko giggled. “Sounds like me. I am also at risk of injury. A miracle it was only the leg. ", She sighed. Raihan smiled and put her leg down again.

“You would certainly get along well. He exudes the same positive energy as you. ", Raihan said, whereupon Taiko went a little red in the face. However, she didn't know why. "I exude positive energy?" She asked.

"Sure, of course. You can see that just by how Scorbunny has taken you to its heart! I thought to myself that it wasn't yours when you said you were only 9 and not from here. So it's a wild Pokemon, but it behaves like you've been training it for years. ", The boy remarked, whereupon the girl's cheeks turned even darker. "Uhm .. I'll take that as a compliment .." she whispered, slightly embarrassed. "It was one." Raihan winked and was amused by the shy behavior of the girl. At the lake she had behaved differently. Then there was a short silence between the two of them until Raihan reached for his smartphone. For once, he wasn't interested in his social media activities. “Which campsite are you at? In the east or in the south? ”He asked.

"Uhm .. south?"

"All right." Raihan smiled and started dialing a number.

"Who are you calling?"

“Mr. Pascal. He is practically the lessor of the campsite. Your parents surely miss you. So I'll give him our coordinates so that someone can come and pick you up. Because I can't carry you the way to the campsite. ”At this comment the redhead blushed again and turned away slightly. “Your last name would still be helpful to find your parents more easily. "..Hirabayashi."

Raihan called and talked to Pascal for a few minutes until he had passed on all the informations. About the aggressiveness of the Pokemon at Lake of outrage, about the injured girl and also their whereabouts. Then he thanked him and hung up. “They can't send a rescue team out until tomorrow morning because they'd have problems finding us and transporting you. I told them that you can spend the night with me in the tent and that you are safe. ", Raihan said. "Uhm .. but you only have one sleeping bag." Taiko spoke. "But that doesn't matter .. I can sleep on the floor."

Raihan sighed.

“There is no way of letting a girl sleep on the floor. You sleep in my sleeping bag, I sleep on the floor. " He said.

"Never."

"Well, then we'll both sleep on the floor if you don't give in." Raihan shrugged his shoulders, whereupon Taiko rolled his eyes. "Then give in.", She said and shrugged her shoulders. Raihan grinned slightly and folded his arms behind his neck.

"Only if you sleep in my sleeping bag." Was the devious answer. "To what extent is that giving in for YOU?" Taiko asked now and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The two just looked at each other for a few moments before Raihan sighed in defeat. "Well, let's make a compromise.", He said, which made Taiko sit up and take notice. “It gets darn cold here at night anyway. If we cuddle up a little ... together, we can both sleep in the sleeping bag and the body heat prevents us from half-freezing to death. "

His suggestion made Taiko look shocked. He wasn't really serious, was it? She didn't know this boy at all. But now that he said it, it was actually quite fresh. "..."

"You can of course also become a living Vanillite if ​​you prefer that.", Raihan said and spread out the sleeping bag. "Okay, okay. It's only for one night. ", She gave in, whereupon Raihan had to laugh again.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next morning, Taiko's parents and some of the wild area staff members went to the location of forest that Raihan had described for them. It wasn't long before they found the tent, which was guarded by a Duraludon. “This is Raihan’s tent. It has to be. " Pascal remaked, before Taikos parents ran to the tent. "Taiko ?!"

Taiko blinked, she was still half asleep when she yawned and snuggled into something warm. This warmth moved slightly, from which the redhead woke up. She wiped away the sleep on her eyes and then saw how she was snuggled up against Raihan, her legs tangled and his arms pressed her to his chest.

The girl quickly broke away from him and Raihan woke up too. "Woah?"

The redhead ignored him and let her mother hug her tightly.

"What kind of things are you doing?" Her mother scolded her. "I'm sorry .. really .." the girl apologized and was then pulled into a hug by her father. "Never do that again," he said then. "You're hurt, aren't you? I'll carry you back. ", He said then and wanted to pick her up. "Wait, dad ..!" Taiko stopped him and then turned to Raihan. She made a beckoning hand gesture that signaled him to come closer. "Thanks again for everything, Raihan. I hope to see you again. ", She smiled and hugged him goodbye. Raihan smiled and hugged back. “Well, if you ever want to visit Galar again, you are always welcome. Until then, I'm champion and you can visit me in my palace. ”He laughed. "The champion lives in a palace?" Taiko asked and her eyes widened greatly.

"I dunno, but definitely!", Raihan laughed then, whereupon Taiko had to laugh too. "Well, see you at some point, hopefully. And take care of yourself, you risk-of-injury. ", He said teasingly.

Taiko was then carried back to the campsite and was even allowed to keep Scorbunny.

And what should she say?

5 years later, she set foot in Galar again after her divorced mother wanted to start a new life over there and Taiko seized the opportunity and followed her to see the cute boy from back then again.

[jamieatthebarricade]

Maids to Wives / Chapter 4

In 1619, one hundred and forty-four English women from good families crossed the Atlantic in response to the Virginia Company of London’s call for maids “young and corrupt” to make wives for the planters of it’s new colony in Virginia. One in six of the maids could even claim gentry status. Although promised a free choice of husband, they were in effect being traded into marriage for a bride price of 150 pounds of best leaf tobacco, the profits to flow to individual investors

In 1619, Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp made the voyage to do one thing: marry a man she's never met. But when she arrives, she comes to the startling realization that her heart belongs to someone else, a certain James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser.

Chapter 4/? : A New Life

Previous Chapters : 1 / 2 / 3

Find Maids to Wives on Archive of Our Own!

May 16th, 1619, Claire’s POV

“Alright, we’re home,” Our horses approached a small cottage overseeing a large field. In it, various men worked, sweat covering their bodies. It seemed like they’d been working out there all day, and a part of me felt bad for being seated comfortably atop a horse. ‘I ought to do work once I get settled in’ I thought, having worked before doing manual labour for my uncle years before. He thought it useful for me to know the art of creating feed for livestock and plowing fields for harvest. Perhaps it could make me useful to my new husband.

Once our horses stopped, Frank went around and helped me down by the waist. Just that small interaction caused a slight flicker in me. ‘Had it been that long without true human contact?’ That idea led to more unholy ones but I put my thoughts aside, not wanting to accidentally spill and appear to be a loose woman.

“It’s small, but we’ll have our own room so we’ll have plenty of privacy,” the house was 2 stories, with stones covering the exterior. It was a good deal fancier than some of the other houses we passed, having white trim along the windows and doors. Overall, the home was in good shape and looked quite comfortable. I looked over to Frank and smiled, showing my appreciation.

“It’s better than I could’ve ever imagined,” at the mere idea of the life we would have together, the urge to lean in arose. Truthfully, I’d been waiting a whole boat trip to kiss whomever my husband would be, but I’d figure it come later. Frank must’ve felt the same, as he started leaning in as well. Our faces were a few inches from each other when a loud wolf whistle interrupted our romantic interaction. It had come from the house, and from someone standing in the front doorway.

The man looked identical to frank, aside from some small details. His eyes were a shade darker, and the lines of his cheeks dug deeper into his skin. He also had an aura about him, that I felt slight anxiety just looking at him. He leaned against the doorway, checking me up to down, then smirked.

“This is my brother, Jonathan. He’ll be living with us,” Jonathan sauntered over, making sure to keep his distance as if to say ‘you come to me’. Surely enough, Frank finished the trek so he was in talking distance. I timidly followed him, not wanting to be so near to the new man. Jonathan looked at me again and held his hand out, which I hastily took. It was cold, not like the warmth I'd felt from Frank’s earlier. I was quick to pull my hand away, hoping I didn’t come off as rude.

“You two won’t have to worry about me, I work late into the night so anything you want to do can be done,” he smirked again. I felt myself internally cringe. Looking over to Frank, he safely looked about as done with the conversation as I was.

“Could you go to town for me? I meant to pick something up before but I arrived late and didn’t have time,” Frank handed Jonathan a paper that read something, probably a list. Jonathan took the piece of paper and opened it. He smiled, a smile I knew I already hated and moved past us, onto the horse Frank had been riding. I didn’t even have enough time to watch him ride away before Frank tugged me into the house and up the stairs. He led me into a small room on the left side of a hallway, directly facing another door I assumed was Jonathan's room. Once inside, he took my small bag and set it down on the bed.

“This is our room. You won’t need to worry about Jonathan too much. He keeps to himself most of the time thankfully. I know it’s not glamorous but it’s one of the bigger houses in Jamestown. I hope it’s okay,” In the room there was a large bed and a dresser, with 2 drawers opened near the bottom. I smiled at him, taking his hand into mine. Though the gesture was small, I felt my heart beat a million times a minute.

“It’s wonderful,” I smiled at him, and that urge to touch my lips came back. I leaned in, and he did too, but before I knew it I felt his lips on my cheek. He pulled back and smiled at me.

“I need to go check in on our workers, make yourself at home,” He was out the door, almost like he left before his sentence was over. The gesture felt cold, but I brushed it off, feeling a slight tingle of the kissed spot of my cheeks. I made my way over to the window in the back, it’s view being a small clearing with a pond. I made a mental note to go there later. The grass was greener than I’d ever seen, and the water from the pond looked almost drinkable. Looking at the clearing made me breath out, realizing that this new life I had would be a happy one. I had a nice husband who would take care of me, and large house with good money coming in. A part of me thought about the man at the pier with the red hair, but I felt guilty even thinking about him. Hopefully I wouldn't run into him, or that connection we had would come back. The only person I wanted to think about was my husband.

- - -

A/N Ahhhh I’m not in love with this chapter but I wanted to write something before getting really into the story! I hope you all enjoy, and my apologies with updates being so late. From school to general life things it’s been hard finding time to write xD Stay safe everyone!

[sneakymalou]

Here I go again xD. Guzma arriving to Galar cause he wants to speak with Raikichi but he finds that Raikichi is dating Piers.

I really hope I won’t disappoint you with this one, it gave me so much fun to write but I hope you’ll have as much fun to read it !! 😍😍 Sorry for the little delay sweetie 🥺

Piers x Raikichi (OC) 🌺👑

“Dammit...” Guzma sighed and insulted himself again and again. Why did he come to Galar exactly ? Oh yeah. In the first place, he came to say sorry, to apologize to the woman he truly loved. Damn, this woman... breaking her heart was maybe the best mistake he ever did in his entire life, but the Team Skull’s former leader happened to be ready to make amend. It took time, of course. To think his behavior wasn’t the right one was clearly difficult to understand, especially for him. In the past, when he wanted something that bad, he had only to snap his fingers and his all team got it for him... but that was no longer true ; and Raikichi couldn’t be considered as a trophy...

Some time later...

Piers and you were alone in the woods, taking care of your two babies ; Obstagoon for the gym leader, and Glaceon for you. The both of you made a comfortable camp, and spoke about this lovely day before you... some curry would be made, certainly. Who was going to make it ? Piers or you ? Haha. “Why don’t we gamble it ?” you proposed, a sneaky smile taking place on that sweet expression of yours. Gambling... damn, the last time he tried with you, he lost quite something... you made him do some funny things for a week and if it had been reaaaaally awesome to watch, Piers happened to be a little mad at you. But only a little... how could he possibly real mad at the woman he loved the most, along with his precious little sis’ ? “Gambling, heh... you're gonna win and you're gonna be too much happy about it babe !” he said jokingly, not ready to give up. “Why don't we gamble our berries instead, heh ?” he finally proposed, showing some rare berries to you. On the way to that lovely camp you made, Obstagoon helped him gather some.

As you were playing and gambling - always with the most shining smile on your face, time ran with no warning. It was almost dark when some footsteps came to both your ears. If your precious pokemon friends went to maximal alert, in case they had to defend you, your chestnut colored eyes saw. In a matter of a second, you knew what was going on, what was happening here. “Holy crap” you murmured, your heart beating so fast you had to compose yourself not to collapse by the surprise. Guzma. The man that broke your heart, who made you left Alola with no turning back was here, in front of you, a cruel and angry expression on his face. “What the Hell are you doing here ?!” you claimed, fists clenched. For a moment, you thought best not to look at Piers’s incomprehension. All you thought about was your own anger... and fear.

“What the Hell Imma here ?! Oh jeez Raik’, you’re the smart one. You know exactly why Imma here.”

This tone... cold as ice, drilled your flesh and bones. He had never been this way with you. “As a matter of fact, I don’t !” you screamed, holding back all your own rage. You acknowledged too well how it couldn’t work with him. He beated rage by one even stronger and devastating. “I came to say sorry. But as far as I was concerned, you weren’t with some shity man ! How could you be with... HIM ? He has no muscles, no class, no brain, nothin’ !” he yelled without any pity, looking at Piers like he was nothing more than a piece of garbage. That made you see all red. Without even thinking strait, you ran to Guzma and slapped his face with all your strength. “SAY IT AGAIN YOU BASTARD !!”

Before you totally lost your mind, Piers took and squeezed your hand tight, leaving his Obstagoon lifting in the air, by his shirt, the man you used to care so deeply about. “He’s not worth it, babe” he said so quietly you almost asked yourself if he had really spoke. His eyes went white of all anger he could’ve felt, without losing his mind even for a second. On that point, as on many others, the gym leader was truly your hero. “A man capable of breaking a girl’s heart is not worth it. You’re not worth the time we could’ve lost talking to you, Guzma” he continued, holding your hand softly, not leaving the former leader’s eyes even for a second. “I’m gonna say this only once. You leave these woods now and never return before us... or next time, I’ll take some mesures. Trust me, you don’t want that from me, boy.”

If his Obstagoon left the man go, it was only because Piers nodded. Guzma growled loudly, but said nothing more... and it was for the best. For a second, you wanted to punched him again in the face, but your gym leader held you tighter and kissed your temple in order to calm you down. “He’s not worth it, babe. Look at me, if he dares coming back, my boy would eat him for lunch !” he finally said, touching your cheek and smiling. “We had a gambling going on, hadn’t we ?” he joked, not giving Guzma’s intervention any more importance. You had so much luck to have him by your side... “I love ya, babe” your murmured against his lips. “I know, I know...”

(Gif by me 🍓)

[apriorisea]

Hi! Could you write something for the boys discovering that their shy s/o keeps photos of them on their phones with silly captions like "love of my life", "prince charming", "best boyfriend". Well things like that xD

–Hi! Thanks so much for this request—such a cute idea! sorry it’s taken me so long, but here are my takes on this scenario. Hope you enjoy!💕💜

You x BTS“Secretly Mushy”

JIN

“Are you sure you don’t want anything, babe?”    Jin stretches out across the couch, taking your spot. “No, I’m okay. Thanks.” He flips to the next photo in your camera roll and grins. It’s you, standing next to a giant statue of a wooden fish, stretching up on your tiptoes with a kissy-face. He selects the photo and airdrops it to his own phone. “How long until our next vacation, princess?” he says, rolling onto his back and scrolling through more of the photos.    You laugh but don’t turn away from the fridge. “We just got back.”    He sighs dramatically and swipes through a few pictures quickly. Just as he’s opening his mouth to whine more, he comes across an unfamiliar picture and freezes. It’s him at the dinner table, a bowl of ramen in front of him, smiling goofily for you, but what actually caught his eye was the caption you had written across the bottom: “my prince charming.” He twists his head around quickly to look at you; you’re still invested in snack-hunting, so he turns his attention back to the screen. The smile continues to grow as he swipes through more pictures of him, the mushy captions ranging from the ridiculous “my perfect giant goofball” to the more serious “my everything.” When he gets to the end of the series, he puts the phone down and grins to himself, over-the-moon happy at his accidental discovery. Twisting around one more time, he makes sure your back is still turned before opening your camera and switching it to front-camera mode. He takes a bunch of selfies—smiling, kissy-faces, sexy faces, goofy faces—and saves each one to your secret collection album.    Finally finishing your snack creation, you open the fridge and ask, “Do you want water?”    He quickly closes out the app, sits up, and sets the phone down in your spot. “Yes, please!” He can’t stop smiling.    When you come back to the couch, you hand him the water bottle and sink down next to him, balancing your snack (nachos) on your knee. Looking over at him, you instinctively mirror his smile. “What?”    “Thank you for the water,” he says sweetly, leaning over and kissing your cheek.    You pull your feet up underneath you. “You’re welcome.” Looking around, you add, “Where’s my phone? Did those pictures in front of the pier come out good?”    “Yes.” He puts his hand on your knee, squeezing it gently. “You look beautiful, like usual.”    Rolling your eyes, you pop a chip in your mouth and unlock your phone, opening your photos. You look through the first few photos with a fond smile and lean your head over onto his shoulder. “This was a good vacation, wasn’t it?” you say around a mouthful of nacho. He nods and presses a quick kiss to the side of your head. “We definitely should go again.” You continue looking through the photos. “Hey…” You had come to his first added-selfie, a smiley one. You laugh. “You giant goof. Trying to show off how handsome you are?” You kiss his shoulder. “We both know that’s true,” you murmur against him, then turn your attention back to the phone. Another selfie, another laugh. “How many did you take?”    He’s grinning so big and trying not to laugh. “Oh a few,” he says, as you keep going, scrolling through them faster. Just before you reach your own collection, he adds, “I’m sorry I haven’t had time to add captions yet…”    Your mouth drops open, accidentally letting a few chip crumbs tumble to your shirt, and you spin to look at him. “Wha—”    He bursts out laughing, clapping his hands together like a giddy seal. “I love you so much,” he gets out between bursts of laughter.    “I….” You try to swallow and start coughing, unable to defend yourself.    Still grinning, he stops laughing to pat your back and hand you your water. “You okay, princess?”    You shake your head and guzzle some water. “Oh sure, I’m fine,” you say, clearing your throat a few times. “Just dying of embarrassment.”    He brushes his hand across your face. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he says persuasively, pulling you close to him. “You’re the cutest thing on the planet.” He leans over and kisses you gently. “I was just trying to match you.”    You groan and duck your head against him.    “I love you,” he murmurs, then peppers your forehead with kisses. “You’re the best, most beautiful girlfriend in the entire world. I’m just sorry I don’t have an entire photo collection to back me up.”    “Oh zip it,” you say, stuffing a nacho in his mouth. Sitting up, you decide to turn the joke back on him: you thumb through his selfies again, pretending to study them carefully. “Hm…some of these are pretty good, actually.”    He chews quickly and swallows. “Only some?? Here,” he says, reaching for the phone. “Let me add some more.”    

YOONGI

You grin at Yoongi as you sneak another drink of his soda. He makes a face, but doesn’t stop you—just like he hadn’t stopped you the last 3 times. Setting it back down next to his plate, you bump your leg against his and stretch your hand across the table. He immediately slips his hand into yours, squeezing it once. “How were your noodles?”    He shrugs. “Not bad.” A smile flickers across his lips as he asks, “What about your burger?”    “I will never be ashamed of ordering a burger,” you defend, grabbing another fry with your free hand. “It was great.”    He smiles completely at this, but you notice his gaze shift. “Oops,” he says, exhaling a little laugh. When you give him a questioning look, he taps his collarbone. “Ketchup spill.”   You look down at the corresponding spot on your sweatshirt and groan. “Oh shoot.” Dropping his hand, you grab your napkin and try to dab the sauce away. “This is going to stain. Here,” you pull your phone from your pocket and pass it across the table to him. “Will you hold this for me while I go fix this?”   He takes your phone from you, still grinning.   You try to shoot him a dirty look, but his smile is too adorable, so you end up just rolling your eyes. “Still no regret about the burger,” you say airily, leaning down to kiss his cheek.    “Not even a little bit?” he teases, grabbing your arm and holding you still so he can kiss you properly.    You kiss him back, ignoring the stain on your shirt until a waitress bumps into you on her way past. You almost fall into his lap and he catches you, his face immediately concerned. “I’m fine,” you reassure him, planting a kiss between his eyebrows. “I’ll be right back.”    He watches you leave, a fond smile on his face. He waits patiently for a few minutes, then a few more. Finally, getting a little bored, he unlocks your phone and opens up the photo app, scrolling through your collections to find his favorite selfie of the two of you together. He pauses to look at one picture a little closer: it’s not the one he’s looking for, but it still brings a giant smile to his face. Quickly glancing in the direction of the restroom, he scrolls through a few more, unable to keep from grinning at what he sees. A phone call interrupts his gleeful exploring and he answers dutifully, knowing you’ll be back soon.    The ketchup proves more difficult than you had thought, so it’s 13 minutes before you get back to the table; the waiter has brought the check and Yoongi is sitting back in his seat, signing the receipt. You slip into the booth and sigh dramatically.    “Hi sweetheart,” he says absently, clipping the receipt back to the bill-book. “Did you get the stain out?”    “Pretty much,” you pout, looking down at your shirt again. “It was tougher than I thought.” You look up to find him smiling at you again.    He nudges your foot with his own. “It looks fine. Are you ready to go?” He smirks as you reach for one more fry. “You really want to test fate?”   “It’s like lightning,” you shrug. “It never strikes the same place twice.” To prove your point, you pop the fry in your mouth and show off your still relatively-clean shirt.    He laughs. “Okay, okay: you win.” Stretching his hand across the table, he hands you back your phone. “Your mom called. It’s your grandma’s birthday tomorrow, she wanted to remind you.”    “Oh yeah. Glad she reminded me, I definitely forgot.” You take your phone from him and get back to your feet. He joins you, wrapping an arm around you and you turn to kiss his cheek again. “Thanks for lunch, babe.”    He squeezes your waist and gently guides you towards the exit. “I think if we go right now, we can probably get a gift in the mail to your grandma before it goes out tonight.”    “I have it already,” you say as he helps you into the car. “It’s in the apartment. …Somewhere.”    He just grins at you and shuts the door.    The rest of the day passes by in a whirlwind: among other errands, the two of you do manage to get your grandma’s present in the mail and, as a reward for your quick work, you buy ice cream for both of you before you head home. He holds your hand all the way up the stairs, and pecks your cheek quickly before you go inside. “Thanks for a great day, love,” he says, meeting your eyes with a smile.    You smile back and help him take off his jacket, hanging it for him in the closet. “Do you think my grandma will like that gift?”    “Mmmhmm.” He’s busy locking the door behind him, reorganizing the messy pile of shoes, turning out the kitchen light. When he’s done, he joins you in the hallway and gives you a playful nudge towards your room. “She’s going to love it. C’mon, sweetheart, I’m tired. I have to get up early again tomorrow.”   You make a mock-pouty face at him, and he grabs your waist, tickling you until you squirm out of his hold, laughing, and race down to the room. “I call washing my face first!” you say triumphantly, and he just smiles tolerantly.    42 minutes later, the two of you are finally in bed. He turns his lamp off first, stretching his arms above his head and yawning wide.    “All right, all right, all right,” you pretend to grumble, setting your glasses on the sidetable and turning out your light. In the sudden darkness, you snuggle under the covers, smiling when he reaches out and pulls you into his arms. You press a kiss to his collarbone and then cuddle against him, your eyes drifting shut as you feel your pulse settle in his safe embrace.    He kisses your forehead and then murmurs, “You are the sweetest thing in the whole world, you know.”    “Oh yeah?” you ask, eyes still shut; you can feel sleep creeping in on you.    He brushes his lips across your skin. “Yes.”   “Why is that?”    “I found those photos,” he admits, pulling you a little closer to him.    “Photos?” you repeat. “What—” your eyes snap open as you remember exactly which photos he’s talking about. “Oh my gosh.”    He laughs softly, like he can’t help it, but when you bury your face against him in embarrassment, he says, “I love it. You are so cute.”    “You weren’t supposed to find those,” you groan, shaking your head against him.    “I know. I didn’t mean to, but I’m so glad I did.” He hugs you to him. “You are my everything, sweet girl, and I love you more than anything else in the whole-wide world.”    You cringe as you realize he’s directly quoting one of your captioned photos of him.    Sensing this, he laughs again, not unkindly, and kisses the top of your head a few times. “It’s the truth,” he insists, running his fingers lightly up and down your back. “I really am glad I found them.” He waits a beat, then adds, “Because now I have leverage.”    You thump his arm. “Yooongiiiii, come on, it’s so embarrassing, I—”     “No, it’s not,” he insists, and pulls back a little so he can look down at you. Calling your name softly, he waits until you look back at him. “I love you.”    The words slip out on their own, automatically, like a reflex. “I love you, too.”    “I promise I won’t tease you about them again,” he says, and you can hear how sleepy he’s getting in the way his words have gotten slower.    “You better not,” you threaten, but already most of the heat in your face has evaporated, chased away by his presence and encouraging words. Sighing, you rest your head against his chest again. “And don’t mention a word of this to any of the others!”    He sounds genuinely affronted. “Of course not. I’m very selfish, remember—I’m keeping all of that for myself.” He kisses you again. “I’m keeping all of you for myself.”    Warmed by his words, you snuggle against him and there’s a brief silence.    It’s broken by him: “….Are you going to make more of them?” he asks hopefully.

HOSEOK

“Here,” Hoseok reaches for your phone. “Stand there, this skyline is gorgeous, you’re gorgeous, it’s perfect.”    You grin and go stand where he directs. “Right here?” When he nods, you pretend to pose pretty, but at the last second make a funny face.    He explodes with laughter. “Perfect,” he says again, still giggling. When you relax at the sound, your face slips into a natural smile, and he lifts the phone again, snapping a few more candid pictures.    You don’t notice, turning instead to scan the view: it was day 5 of your week-long vacation, and you were already dreading going back to reality. Spending days—plural, a blessing you never stopped counting—with him, 24/7, exploring and eating and laughing and just being together was definitely your sort of paradise. You start to turn, to look back at him and call him over, but he calls your name.    “Wait just a second, don’t move!” He’s holding up your phone again, moving around a little to get the perfect angle.    You roll your eyes. “Hobi, c’mon, I—”    “Pleeeaase.”    You sigh heavily, but don’t move, staying in your same, now slightly-awkward, position until you hear him say, “Perfect.” Shaking your head a little, you turn to look back out across the skyline; the sun was setting and from here you could see every glittering building in the city, trace them as they connected to the gleaming ocean. The soft breeze lifts your hair away from your face and you close your eyes. Why can’t this last forever? “Hey, babe,” you say, not opening your eyes or turning around. “Come here.” When he doesn’t join you, you turn your head towards him. “Babe?”    “Angel…..” he says slowly, his tone unreadable. “Hey, angel, what are these?”    “What?” you ask, but he doesn’t answer, so you turn all the way around, only to find the biggest smile on his face. “….what are you looking at?”    He holds your phone up, flashing the screen quickly towards you before turning it back to look again. In that split second, your stomach drops. He’s scrolling through more pictures, his smile getting bigger and bigger.    You understand immediately: he must have flipped through too far, past the pictures he had just taken, and stumbled across your secret collection. Your face burns as you think of the photos, all pictures of him, all with stylized text exclaiming things like “my only sunshine,” “the love of my life,” “cutie-pie,” “my angel babe”, etc etc etc. “Wait!” you almost shriek, racing towards him.    Laughing, he sees you coming and intercepts you easily, holding the phone above his head. “Am I really the best thing that’s ever happened to you?” he grins, quoting one of your captions.    “Hobi,” you try to scold, your face still on fire. “Give it back!” You reach for the phone but he lifts it a little higher.    “How long have you had these?” he asks, craning his neck up to keep looking through the pictures.     “Hoseok,” you whine, grabbing for his elbow. “Please.”     He grins and wraps an arm around you, pulling you tight against him to keep you in place. Calling your name in a calm voice, he waits until you meet his eyes before squeezing your waist and saying, “Sweetie, I love these. I’ll always be your prince charming.” There’s nothing but sincerity in his voice, and that helps cool your cheeks a little.     Groaning, you tip your head forward to rest on his chest. “Baby, please, can we just…can we not talk about it?” You feel him press a kiss to the top of your head, and shake your head against him. “Give me my phone.”    “Mmm….” he pretends to think. “I can probably bring it a little closer—for the price of one kiss.” He grins at you when you look up, and starts rubbing gentle circles against the small of your back.    You know he’s trying to persuade you out of your embarrassment, so you make yourself take a small breath and mumble, “It’s so ridiculous.”    He kisses your head again. “No, angel, I swear—it’s probably the highlight of my day.” He squeezes you again. “And that’s saying something, considering I’ve been able to spend every second of every hour with you the last few days.”    “You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” you say, but you take another deep breath and lift your head a little.    He meets your eyes and shakes his head.    You study him for a second and can’t help but smile at his expression. Feeling the last little bit of self-consciousness fade, you lift your hands and place them firmly on either side of his face. Meeting his gaze, you reach up and kiss him. “There,” you say softly, feeling your smile grow bigger when you see that he still has his eyes closed. “Now give me my phone, you punk.”    He grumbles and opens his eyes a tiny bit. “I think…I think it’ll cost 2 more kisses, angel.”

NAMJOON

Namjoon leans back in his chair, tipping his head back in a picture of pure exhaustion.    You look up from your phone and smile at him from where you sit on the couch. “You okay, baby?”    He nods, but doesn’t open his eyes.    “Time for a break,” you say softly.    His mouth opens wide in a yawn. “I still have a verse to finish.” His words are slow, his voice deep and rough from his weariness. “If I take a break now, I won’t get back to it.”    “But if you don’t take break, you’re going to be down for the count in the long run…”    He sighs heavily, then sits up and shakes himself a little. “5 more minutes,” he decides. “Let me see what I can get done in 5 more minutes.”    You don’t argue because you know it’s pointless, but you do glance at your watch: he had exactly 5 minutes. Grabbing your phone, you open your photo app again and continue with your work; the studio settles into a relatively peaceful quiet. 4 minutes and 23 seconds in, you’re startled by Jimin’s picture popping up on your screen with a phone call. You answer: “Hey. What’s up?”    “Are you in the building?” He’s speaking in a soft voice, like he’s afraid of someone overhearing him.    “Yeah. I’m with Joon in his studio.”    “Perfect—can you come meet us downstairs? We’ve got Hobi-hyung’s cake and we need some help.”    You smile. “Sure! Who’s we?”    “Me, Jungkookie, and Yoongi-hyung.”    “Yoongi is with you? How did you manage that?” You raise an eyebrow, grinning at Namjoon when he turns in his seat to look at you.    Jimin’s laugh rustles across the line. “He heard that and he’s mildly offended.”    “Oops,” you hop to your feet. “All right, I’m on my way down.”    “Great. Hey, you’re near Namjoon-hyung? We’ve got a few questions for him.”    You cross to where he’s still sitting and brush your hand through his hair. “Sure thing. Let me pass the phone to him.” You pull the phone away from your ear, but before you hand it over, you lean down and plant a soft kiss on his lips. “Jimin wants to talk to you,” you whisper. “I’m going to go meet them.”    He reaches up and takes your face in his hands. “Okay,” he agrees, then brings you close to him for another kiss. “Hurry back.”    “Soon as I get back, it’s break-time,” you agree, then press the phone into his hands and leave with a final smile.    10 minutes later, you go back to get him after helping the others set up Hoseok’s surprise party. He’s still sitting at his desk, but when you open the door, he sits up suddenly and turns to face you. “You ready?”    He nods, but still looks flustered.    You give him a look. “Everything okay?”    “Yeah.” He flashes you a quick smile as he gets to his feet, grabbing something off his desk. He crosses to where you stand in the doorway and wraps his arms around your waist, holding you tight against him in an unusual greeting. He kisses your cheek and you smile at the touch, confused at his sudden cuddly state, but don’t question it. He finally releases you. “Are they in the practice room?”    You nod, still glowing a little from his surprise affection. “Oh, hey: do you still have my phone?”    “Yup.” He pats his jacket pocket, then laces his fingers through yours and tugs you out into the hallway. “Are the staff bringing Hobi in?”    You lean closer to him and rest your head on his shoulder as the two of you walk. “I think so.” You smile as you feel him kiss the side of your head. “The cake looks great, I think he’s really gonna like it.” The two of you stop just outside of the practice room. He reluctantly drops your hand to reach for the door, but stops halfway to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear. When you look up at him, he gives a little half-smile and holds your gaze.    “You’re so beautiful,” he says, his smile growing wider when you blush at the unexpected compliment. He brushes another kiss against your cheek and then pulls open the door.    All throughout Hoseok’s surprise party, Namjoon is clingy—it’s the only way you can describe it. He laughs and jokes with the others, but any chance he gets, he links his pinky with yours, wraps an arm around your shoulders, puts a hand on the small of your back. The touchy-feely behavior continues all the way home: he holds you close to him as you walk, follows you around while you get ready for bed, pulls you against his side and plays with your fingers while you talk before falling asleep. He never mentions the cause of his sudden attachment, and you don’t complain.    The next morning, you feel his lips on your neck when he wakes up early to go to work, but he’s gone before you can wake up enough to say goodbye. Though you spend the rest of the day apart, he sends you almost hourly texts with cute emojis; when he gets home that night, he’s still the same snuggly-koala he had been the whole day before.    The next evening, you finally discover why. While looking through his phone for a screenshot of an online order, you happen to notice a recently-saved image—of him. Your disbelief increases as you realize that it’s your photo of him, with your added caption “love of my life.” You quickly scroll to the next one and realize it’s another of your creation (”cutest boy in the whole world”). How did he get these?? Out of curiosity, you go to his texts, open your conversation, and scroll up until you see them, all in a neat line, timestamped from the other day when you had gone to help the boys with Hoseok’s party. You go back to the photos, trying to gauge if you’re more upset or mortified.    Getting up, you march back down the hall to where he’s sitting at the kitchen table, picking over his dinner while reading. He looks up when you come in, his face breaking into an automatic smile. “Hi baby,” he says, reaching out for your hand.    You hold up his phone instead. “Did you send these to yourself??” It’s a stupid question, but all of the questions you’d come up with were stupid.    He laughs. “Well, yeah.”    “I–” you splutter, your eyes growing wide. “Why were you…how did you even see them?? You weren’t—”    Realizing that you’re upset, he turns in his chair to face you completely. “The other day,” he explains, “When I was on the phone with Jimin, he said he had sent you a picture of Hoseok’s birthday cake earlier, so I went to find it. And then I came across these…” He works his phone out of your fingers, unable to keep the smile off his face as he looks at them.    “And you just sent them to yourself??”    “Love, of course I did!” he answers. When you stand there, dumbfounded by his response, he exhales a soft laugh and gets to his feet, pulling you towards him. “It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.” He locks his arms tight around your waist. “I just love you so much.” He leans in to kiss your cheek, then says against your skin, “…Are you mad at me?”    You sigh. This was why he had been so snuggly lately; it wasn’t really a bad thing. “Not mad,” you answer, winding your arms around his neck. “Just embarrassed.”    He kisses you. “Don’t be embarrassed. It really turned my whole day around.” He brings one hand up to gently cup the side of your face: “Having you turned my whole life around. These pictures are a good reminder of why I’m so lucky.” He meets your eyes with another happy smile. “Thank you.”  

JIMIN

You tap your hands against the steering wheel irritably, which causes your sister to laugh. “Dude, beating up the car isn’t going to make the traffic go any faster,” she grins.    “It’s taking foreverrrrrrrrr,” you whine, slamming your palm against the wheel one more time. “Why are they so slow??”    “Hey, it’s not their fault you left your phone.”     You sigh. “I know.”    “It’s gonna be fine,” she says, scrunching down in the seat. “Thanks to your freakish need to be extra early, we could sit in this traffic for another hour and still not be late.”    You slap her leg. “Yeah, you’re welcome, brat.” Turning down the music a little, you scan the traffic ahead of you and sigh again. “What this really means is that I’ll have to drop you off, go back and get my phone, and then you’ll have to come to the store with me.” She grumbles, but you just roll your eyes. “You’ll be fine. Can I borrow your phone?”    “Sure.” She hands it over. “Hoping your phone’s gained enough sentience to answer you back?”    “Ha ha ha,” you say sarcastically, dialing your number. “No. It should be with Jimin still…I’m hoping…” It rings twice before he answers. “Hey.”    You can hear his smile as he answers. “Hi babygirl—did you forget something?”    You ignore your sister’s smug face. “Yeah. I’m gonna drop this punk off and then I’ll come back and get it.”    “Can’t wait.”    The silly butterflies fill your stomach at his words, but you just say, “Thank you. See you soon!” You end the call and hand the phone back over to your sister as the traffic finally starts moving forward.    She takes it back and changes the song. “I think you left it there on purpose…”    “I think I’m going to leave you by that bus stop on purpose.”    Twenty-five minutes later, you’ve dropped her off and made great time back to the company. You make your way through the building with a smile—getting sidetracked for only a second when Jin wants to show you his ideas for the upcoming album cover—and eventually pull the door to the small dance studio open. He’s sitting in the middle of the floor, stretching out; you can see your phone sitting next to him.    “Well that doesn’t look like practice to me,” you say with a grin, shutting the door softly behind you.    He looks over at you and jumps to his feet, his face unreadable. You notice him tuck your phone into his back pocket as he comes towards you.    “Hey,” your smile falters slightly. “Is everything okay?”    Without warning, he wraps his arms around you and buries his face in your neck. You stumble back at his sudden attack, but his hold on you is so tight that he holds you upright easily. He holds you even tighter, crushing you against him, but doesn’t say a word.    Your mind races as you try to figure out what could have possibly happened between your phone call 32 minutes ago and now. “Okay,” you say calmly, bringing your hands up to stroke his back. “It’s all right.” You awkwardly turn and kiss the side of his head. When he still doesn’t speak, you release a soft breath and hug him. You know that if you give him enough time, he’ll eventually tell you what’s going on, so you swallow down your questions and focus on comforting him.    After a long time, he takes a deep breath and then presses his lips against your neck. “I love you so much, babygirl,” he murmurs, then plants a few kisses along your jaw before straightening. He smiles down at you, arms still wrapped around you, although more loosely than before. There’s a little extra emotion in his eyes, but he doesn’t look upset.    You stare at him, confused by his actions. “I love you, too,” you answer automatically, wriggling out of his grasp so you can look at him better. “I don’t understand, what–?”    He squeezes your waist and leans down to kiss your neck a few more times.    “Jimin.”    Releasing you, he reaches into his back pocket and grabs your phone. “I wasn’t having a great day,” he begins, unlocking it easily. “But then I got your call, and I was looking through some of the pictures we took yesterday, and then….” He grins and turns the screen towards you.    It takes you a full 30 seconds to understand what he’s showing you. When it finally registers, you feel the blush creep up your neck. “That’s—” your voice falters as you stare at the picture. It’s a candid shot you got of him, his head tipped back in laughter, with curly script across the bottom reading “my handsome angel.”    “There’s a lot of them,” he says, turning the phone back to him and smiling even wider. “I didn’t even realize you took some of these….”    “You…you weren’t supposed to see those,” you say lamely. “They were just…I was just playing around with Snapchat.”    His expression falls just a bit as he looks at you. “So…you don’t mean these?”    “Of course I do!” His face lights up and you regret falling for his little manipulation immediately. Rolling your eyes, you put your hands on either side of his face. “I thought something was wrong!”     He turns his head to press his lips against your palm. “I love these,” he says, snaking his arms back around your waist. “You always give me strength to get through the bad days and somehow you always know what I need.” He kisses the corner of your mouth. “Like these.”    You take a deep breath, feeling some of your embarrassment fade at his sincerity, and look into his eyes until it’s gone completely. Sighing, you stroke his face gently with your thumbs and say, “I love you, Jimin. Clearly.”    “Not even half as much as I love you,” he laughs, pulling you even closer. He gives you a look. “Am I really your handsome angel?”

TAEHYUNG

“Okay, Tae, come on,” you laugh and put both hands on his chest, pushing him away. “I have to get up early tomorrow morning, babe.”   He kisses your neck a few more times, then sighs and sits up slowly. “Why don’t our schedules match up better?” he grumbles, lying back against the headboard.   You laugh and reach over to pat his cheek. “Remember, we’ve got a whole weekend together coming up.” You swing your legs out of the bed and toss him your phone as you get up, heading for the bathroom. “Hey, speaking of: I found a couple of really nice hotel options for our trip. I screen-shotted them, will you take a look?” You leave the bathroom door open as you reach for your toothbrush. “They’re all right next to the water.”    “Mm,” he hums, opening your phone and stretching out on the bed. “I’m sure they’re all great, honey.”    “The third one is super close to that restaurant you love, too.”    You can hear the smile in his voice this time: “You’re the best.” He sighs and shifts around a little. “I can’t wait for this trip,” he admits. “Just you and me and nothing to do for a whole weekend.”    “Yeah,” you agree, glancing over at him fondly. “It’s going to be great.” You put your toothbrush down and lean closer to the mirror. “We can still leave around 6 on Friday, right?” He doesn’t answer. “6pm, right?” you say again. When he still doesn’t answer, you frown. “Tae?” Leaning back, you peer into the room and see him absolutely giddy about something he’s seeing on your phone. “…what is it?”    He turns towards you, his face squished up with his happy grin. “My angel-face,” he quotes, flipping to a new picture. “Light of my life, prince charming, best boyfriend in the whole wide world…”    You stare at him. “What are you…what are you looking at?” you ask, even though you know. You feel your stomach twist up. “Taehyung…”    “These pictures,” he says delightedly. “Who knew you were such a softie??”    “Those—” You hurry out of the bathroom, launching yourself at him on the bed. “No, Tae, let me see it!”    He laughs and rolls out of your grasp. “I can’t believe you have these! How did you make them??” He giggles at another one of your captions. “Awww, so sweet, my lover!”    You snatch the phone from him, feeling the tips of your ears get hot. “It was just a-a joke. I was messing around with that new app, where you can put text on the pictures, you know—”    “Riiiiight,” he teases, still grinning.    “I’m just going to delete them,” you say huffily, re-opening the photo app. “And then we won’t have to talk about it ever again!!”    He sits up and reaches out to grab your wrists before you can move. Holding them gently, he ducks his head to look into your eyes. “Please don’t, honey,” he pleads.    “Why, so you can make fun of them some more?” You pull against his grip, still upset.    “No!” His eyes get wide. He releases your wrists and slides his hands up your arms. “I’m sorry,” he says contritely, “I was just so excited to see them, they honestly made me so happy!”    You shake your head, but don’t try to delete the photos. “Yeah right. It’s silly, isn’t it? You’re right to mock them…”    “No, no, no, I’m sorry, honey-love, I’m so sorry.” He looks really worried. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just…” He takes one of his hands away and grabs his own phone. “Now it matches mine!” As you watch, he opens his own photo app and navigates to a secret collection of photos. Looking suddenly shy, he hands it over. “See?”    Giving him a look, you take the phone and start flipping through the pictures. The more you see, the quieter you get, feeling your embarrassment fade, only to be replaced by a warmth spreading all over you.    There are over 100 pictures of you: you laughing, you smiling, you seriously reading a book, you scrolling through social media, driving, walking along the river…..there’s even photos of you brushing your teeth, styling your hair, eating a bowl of cereal. Most of them you can’t remember him taking, and even though you don’t love the way you look in all of them, the fact that he had taken them just to have made everything else melt away. “Tae…” you say softly, looking over at him.    “I love you,”  he says simply. “Please don’t delete your pictures, I really like them.” He’s looking nervous.    Exhaling, you set your phone down. Studying him for a moment, you eventually say, “I really like yours too, baby.”    He leans over you again with a smile and gently strokes your face. “So…..you’ll keep yours?”    You try to hold onto your resolve, but it fades with every touch of his fingers on your skin. “Yeah,” you agree, the corner of your mouth turning up at the happy little noise that he makes.     “You’re the best,” he says, ducking his head to press his lips against the hollow of your throat. “The best girlfriend in the whole wide world…”     You laugh and wrap your arms around him, kissing the side of his head gently.

JUNGKOOK

“…And then on Saturday, we have the company party,” Jungkook finishes, setting his phone down. He smooths back your hair with his now-free hand and looks down into your face. “Does that all work?”     “Yup.” You finish adding the party to your calendar and smile as he strokes your hair again. You’re lying on the couch, your head in his lap, enjoying a lazy Sunday morning together while you coordinate schedules for the week. You were pretty happy: it was going to be one of those rare weeks where you’d get to see him a lot. “As long as nothing changes, this will be a great week.”    He laughs, and bends over to press his lips against your forehead. Catching your eye, he says with a grin, “Every week with you is a great week.”    You hit his chest lightly, and he just laughs. “You sound slightly sarcastic,” you warn.    “Never.”    You roll your eyes, but get distracted by an incoming text from your friend. “Uh oh….”    His hand pauses in its journey through your hair. “What?”    You turn the screen towards him. “She’s having a little get-together Friday night.”    “Oh.” You can tell he’s not thrilled, but he still tries to cover it. “Well, will we have time to go?..”     “Friday is our one free night,” you confirm, and you can see his expression fall. Smiling a little, you reach out and catch one of his hands, bringing it to your lips. “But she doesn’t need to know that.” You relish the happy-grin that flashes across his face and kiss his fingers again. “Hope you don’t get sick of me.”    He just scoffs and runs his free hand through your hair again.    Smiling contently, you shift slightly, getting more comfortable, and open your social media. “How long until our show’s on?”    “About an hour,” he answers, checking his watch. He squeezes your hand and then slips it from your grip, wrapping it across your waist instead, his thumb absently running along your side. “I still can’t believe they cancelled the rehearsal today.” He sounds relieved.    You look up at him and notice again how tired he looks, worn out from the extra-long week. You rub his arm. “I’m really happy they did,” you say. “You should probably take advantage of your day off and nap, babyboy.”    He nods. “I will. But first…..” he reaches out for your phone and then cranes his head to be closer to you, opening your camera.    “Really, Jungkook, right now??” you whine: your hair is a mess and you hadn’t put on any makeup that morning.    “Yes,” he insists, holding you tighter. His voice gets a little softer like it usually does when he says something cheesy: “Because these are the times I want to remember the most, just sitting here with you.”    You melt immediately and give-in. “All right. But at least put a cute filter on it!”    He laughs, but presses his lips to the side of your head as he takes a few photos. Grinning, he pulls back and switches your phone to his other hand. “You always have a cute filter on, baby.”    “Oh shut up.” You cuddle against him, intertwining your fingers with his. There’s quiet for a moment before you remember something you were going to tell him earlier. “I think we should take Taehyung with us when we go to the beach next week. He really seems like he could use a break.”   He doesn’t reply.   “I mean, maybe we could all go?” you continue. “Jin looks like he’s going to crack soon, but I’ve been a little worried about Tae for a while now.” He still doesn’t answer. “Babe? Hello?” He’s gone completely still, and when you look up, you notice his focus is trained entirely on your phone. “What is it? Do I look that ugly?” It’s a joke, but he doesn’t even crack a smile. “Jungkook, what is it??”    Wordlessly, he turns the screen towards you: it’s a picture of him, taken by you, with hand-written caption scrawled across the bottom reading “the cutest babyboy EVER.” Still mute, he flips to the next picture, a selfie of his you had saved and added the caption “my whole world.” He scrolls to another one.    “Oh.” You feel yourself blushing. “Okay, so—so my friend was telling me about this app where you can put text on pictures, and I…I thought I’d try it out.” You reach for your phone, but he pulls it subtly out of your grasp. “It was just–just for fun.”    But he knows you’re lying, because the pictures go on forever, each of them painstakingly edited with cute, cringey text.    “I–”    Before you can defend yourself further, he leans down and kisses you on the lips, silencing your protests. The kiss is long and intense, and by the end of it you’ve nearly forgotten what you’re so worried about. When he finally pulls away, he runs his fingers gently over your lips. “How did I ever get lucky enough to find you?”    “You…you don’t think they’re cringey?” you ask, still feeling how hot your face was.     “No way.” He leans in again, dropping your phone to pull you a little closer. “I love you, darling.”

[giggly-squiggily]

Hey!! I hate bothering you because I totally get how long prompts take to write so you probably just haven't gotten to it yet but also I've been having a ton of trouble with my asks and messages sending on tumblr XD I sent in a prompt a while back with Guzma and Piers being goofy bad boys and trying to out-tough each other, did it actually go through? Or has tumblr cursed me once again? XD

Don’t worry, I got it! X3 I’m actually almost finished with it :3 Thank you for having patience, friend! X3

[echodrops]

The Promises I Made (2018)

For the past twelve years, I’ve spent every New Year’s Eve compiling a list of fifty promises I intend to keep or fulfill over the next twelve months. The results have been truly amazing, and I have kept some promises I never thought I could. Although this year was really, really bad, oh lord... This year, for New Year’s, there will be a new set of promises for to me keep, but here are the old ones, for review!

 The Promises I Made (2018 edition)

1) I will be less anxious at work and not let passing comments from students or passive rudeness get under my skin as much. Status: Somewhat kept; I feel like I wasn’t as upset by students being rude this year as last year, but then again that might just be because I had better students. XD

2) I will be more proactive about my responsibilities for the college newspaper committee so we can make a great product. Status: Uhh… Can I count this as kept if the newspaper committee was put on hold due to decisions from the higher administration, so I didn’t have to be proactive about these responsibilities?

3) I will actually visit Mexico, not just accidentally take a wrong turn and end up there... Status: Broken. You know how some people like live next door to a restaurant for years but somehow never get around to trying it? Yeah that’s me, with the entire country of Mexico. Like, I literally live less than a mile from the border… I really should just go get lunch one day or something…

4) I will actually decorate my office with all the stuff I have had sitting around at my house for months. Status: Actually kept. I don’t feel like the decorating is really done in the office, but the decorations are no longer cluttering up my actual home instead of the office!

5) I will be better about focusing so that I can grade quickly and feel less overwhelmed throughout the course of the semester. Status: You know, it’s hard to say whether or not I did grade more quickly because spring semester I took on a really annoying class schedule and it screwed me over hard. I feel like I was a little faster this year, but I felt more overwhelmed than ever.

6) I will get the scratch on my Camaro buffed a bit to clear up the parts that can be cleared. Status: I just… didn’t do this. Broken.

7) I will repair the mortar on the fence outside the Utah house and seal the bricks on the window sills. Status: Somewhat kept/broken. I fixed the mortar on the fence outside but did not seal the windowsill bricks.

8) I will finish at least 26 books over the course of this year. Status: Look man. If my promise had been “Finish 26 fanfics longer than 100,000 words,” I would have blown this promise out of the water. But as it stands, I think I only made it to 10-ish printed books. I’m naughty. 9) I will retrim the grape vine at the Utah house and also spray/get someone to spray to kill the wasps. Status: Broken. I don’t know why I thought it would be smart to make a promise about trimming the grape vine, since that’s something you do in fall… when I’m not even in Utah… Hrmmmm… 10) I will get the mail man to stop delivering the wrong mail to my box because I’m getting ten times more mail for other people than for myself. Status: I had so many opportunities to do this, and I just didn’t. RIP.

11) I will have the fire escape window installed on the Utah house to make it legal to rent. Status: Broken. That’s a lotta money fam.

12) I will update Home and a Half at least four times (and no more double posts, just be chill Yehn, be chill for once…) Status: WOW. I was so, so optimistic, wasn’t I? 13) I will actually build all the furniture I bought for the Texas house and never assembled. Status: Mostly kept? I think there’s like one more thing I haven’t assembled (the spare futon), but up to this point I haven’t needed it, so...

14) I will actually watch Stranger Things since everyone keeps nagging me about it. Status: Broken. I just didn’t do this at all.

15) I will go to a dentist and get this annoying wisdom tooth removed and also see what can be done for my front tooth that got pushed out of alignment by said wisdom tooth. This really needs to happen ‘cause the partially erupted tooth is killing me. D; Status: Wisdom tooth is still hurting me… I am the worst at taking care of myself… 2019… the year of self-care?

16) I will take a road trip with my friend Karen like we’ve been talking about for a while. Status: Actually did this! Finally something completely kept. It was a great trip too.  

17) I will continue to serve as the video game club’s faculty sponsor. Status: I was too busy… T_T Broken.

18) I will lower my credit card debt by at least $2000. Moving is so expensive. T_T Status: I ended up having major set-backs this year in the form of having to pay out of pocket for a new windshield in my car and also my Playstation flat out dying on me, so this goal did not get satisfied. But now that my car is completely paid off (hell yeah!), I’ll finally be able to start making big payments on this sucker.

19) I will have ALL my lesson plans planned out in advance for Fall 2018 so that I can just chill next fall. Status: YO THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. There were still some instances of needing to fix things, but overall I did actually have all the lessons done in advance, and that was probably the only reason I survived fall at all lol.

20) I will finish painting the living room in the Utah house, finally. Status: I… forgot I even made this promise. Yikes.

21) I will be better about walking my dog because I have been slacking lately. Status: I wanted to be better, but every fucking time I go to walk my dog, the neighbor’s Chihuahua runs through their fence and tries to attack my dog, so literally every walk becomes a nightmare and there were a lot of days when I just didn’t want to deal with that stress… :/

22) I will finish a game other than FFXIV this year. Man, so many games have been piling up… Status: I couldn’t even find time to play FFXIV this year, let alone another game… 23) I will write a new, original short story. Status: I… did not write like at all this year. 2018 was just really hard for me. T_T

24) I will get my black glasses fixed this year, finally. Status: Uh… Kept… I think? At least I think this promise was referring to the damage to the frames of my black glasses, which I did get fixed. But now the lens has a scratch… V_V

25) I will attend more professional development/on-campus events and trainings to bolster my evaluation. Status: Eh, kept? I’m signed up for a conference and did some extra training thing that I can throw on the sheet, so I’m calling it good.

26) I will ink and color at least the one drawing of Yehn’zi that I finished sketching a while ago and did absolutely nothing with. Status: A whole lot of nope on this one.

27) I will really finish moving in to my Texas house, no more “I’ll fish out the clothes from the Space Bag when I need them but never actually hang them up.” Status: I’m counting this as kept, since the only thing that didn’t happen is that I never took the plastic wrap off the top of my nightstand, but like… hey that’s a really convenient way to avoid water spots so…

28) I will volunteer at a non-profit organization to fulfill my “service to the community” work requirement. I mean, I will volunteer from the goodness of my heart… yeah… Status: Shitttt this didn’t happen and it really needed to… Oh dear…

29) I will level ALL my classes to 70 in Stormblood. Status: This also did not happen. No time to play.

30) I will reach 1000 followers on tumblr. You should follow me. I’m only marginally a waste of time and space. Status: Kept and exceeded! I’m at like… 1540-ish right now I believe.

31) I will find a salon so I can get my hair dyed consistently instead of looking like a shabby blob half way through each semester. Status: Well, the good news is that my hair color fades so nicely that one of my students actually asked if the strawberry blonde was my natural color. But uh… no… it’s not… so…

32) I will find some way to pay back my coworker for all the incredibly nice things she has done for me already. Status: I mean, I took her out to lunch a lot but I don’t know if I really managed to feel “equal” on the debts I owe her for helping me out.

33) I will see an Anhinga (it’s a kind of bird!) in Texas. Status: Kept! The very first time I went looking for it, I found it, so score.

34) I will win Camp NaNoWriMo this year (because November might never be a possibility for me again, given how much grading I seem to end up doing during that month). T_T Status: Broken. Again, I wrote almost nothing this year. Too much stress. T_T

35) I will scout for new neighborhoods to move to with better internet access and closer to my work. Status: Kept. It’s still a bit too early for me to be looking for specific places, but I have a better sense of where I’ll be aiming for when I do go to buy something.

36) I will try to get better at Spanish, possibly by using my DuoLingo app more. Status: …Broken.

37) I will buy sod for the front part of the Utah house so that my house actually looks decent from the curb. Status: I COULD HAVE… But I didn’t.

38) I will be more proactive about commenting, reccing, and reblogging content I appreciate online because I find so many wonderful things but I rarely say as much about them as I should. Status: I think I was worse about this than last year. I miss the days when I didn’t feel like every five minutes taken to myself was stealing from my work responsibilities…

39) I will actually use my Instagram account to upload my photography somewhere public. Status: I forgot I made this promise too. Oops…

40) I will go dolphin-watching in the Gulf. Status: Somewhat kept? I mean… I stood on the pier… And saw dolphins in the Gulf. That counts, right???

41) I will clear all the photos and videos off my phone and camera SD cards because they are overflowing. Status: Kept but now they’re just sitting on the hard drive unsorted and in a confusing jumble of unnamed folders...

42) I will update my calendar with important dates—holidays, birthdays, etc.—and be productive about sending cards and well-wishes. Status: Broken, just totally broken.

43) I will complete my series of posts about Yato/Hiyori. Really. Status: >___> One day…

44) I will not work later than 10pm on any given work night. I can’t keep running myself ragged. I need to brake sometimes. Status: HA. I was really hopeful. More broken promises…

45) I will explore some new places/cities in Texas that I have not been before. Status: I… did not do this. I had a chance to do this and I didn’t. D;

46) I will get a gardener for the Texas house because the lawn is basically unmanageable by myself. Status: Kept. Because… the lawn really was unmanageable by myself so…

47) I will clean out the fridge more often. No expired milk or ancient leftovers this year please… Status: >_____> Ooopppssss.

48) I will get some sort of watering system set up so that the lawn at the Texas house isn’t a total disaster anymore. Status: Somewhat kept. I did buy hoses and sprinklers to water the lawn but mostly it’s just been raining a lot and that made the grass greener on its own.

49) I will help make one of the super complicated cookies from the new cookie cookbook I bought for Karen. Status: Actually kept! We learned much about the workings of cookie guns.

50) I will keep these promises. Status: Ouch, this one hurts a little.

Totals Kept promises: 12 Broken promises: 29 Somewhat kept/broken promises: 9

Y I K E S ™. I thought last year was crazy and was so hopeful for this year… I had NO IDEA how hard this last year was going to be. So many broken promises; I feel so guiltyyyyy. DDDD; Although I’m still at the same job and not planning on dramatically swapping entire career fields again, things are still in the process of settling and there’s still SO much more I feel like I need to work on. 2018 was the year of being constantly overwhelmed. Unfortunately, 2019 doesn’t seem like it’s going to be much calmer because I’m still working on designing classes and getting my lessons ironed out, but I at least no longer feel like I’m at rock bottom… So, I’m cautiously, very cautiously, feeling the tiniest bit optimistic?

  Let’s do this, 2019! The new set of promises will be up by tomorrow.

[cyber-zombiee]

So, this past few days has been eventful, haha.

It was my birthday on Sunday, but we ended up celebrating on the Friday just before it. Before I ramble I'm gonna shove a read-more here. It's gonna be a long post...

I think I mentioned some time ago that we were going to Blackpool for the day with my fam & best friend - and we did, and it was fun. We didn't do as much as we'd hoped, but went to the zoo & had a good time, then we went to the promenade & split off because everyone was drinking (not a big, public drinker tbh, and my anxiety isn't very good in loud, crowded places any more - unless it's a gig, lmao).

Also we probably might be going again (just sticking on the promenade/piers/in the arcades) soon, although it's really dependant on the day, our status/financial situation, & my dad because he might be working over the weekend. If we don't go, then we're having a BBQ. xD

Though real talk, I think my folks feel bad because they essentially blew me off. ON MY BIRTHDAY FAMILY TRIP of all things - it's rare we ever do anything like that, even when I was younger. So we're going back so they can make up for it? I think that's what they said? Like, I wasn't explicitly angry about it because they'd already arranged to meet a family friend which was alright, it's been years since I saw her & it was good to see she was doing well. But I think they kinda got the hint that I'd felt excluded because my homie & I weren't there for reasons.

Despite how I felt about it, I hate when people go out of the way for me like that, I always feel so bad. ;o; I'm so undeserving. People shouldn't go out of their way for me, I'm not worth it.

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On Saturday, I didn't really do much. I went to the pub again because we were throwing a surprise party for my friend's 21st. It was fun once I had a few drinks in me, but hoooly shit the sensory overload was unreal. :| At one point I had to fully leave for a few minutes because I was too overwhelmed. My social anxiety is at its all-time-high and I hate it, haha...

Anyway, I loosened up eventually, got pretty high after, then Sunday happened.

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I went for pizza in Manchester with my fam, & it was hella tasty - we went to a place called Rudy's & it was peng ting! It's a little pricey but if you're in the northern quarter & you want a good pizza place, go there. Everything's fresh af & traditionally made. God tier pizza, 10/10!

Afterwards however, I didn't really do much. I mostly went online w/ my homies & stayed on Dark Souls until the wee hours of Monday.

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So, that's where we're up to now! It's been a weird weekend, but it's been a fun one regardless of everything. Kinda sad everthing's over, but on the same token, I'm kinda glad I'm not being fawned over any more, I always feel so bad when people dote over me tbh.

Still though, I'm really appreciative of everything.

I think that's where I'm going to end this post.

[whothefuckiscassandracain]

Batgirl Vol 1 32

We once again begin with Agrippina (this time threatening to crucify Eddie Fyers, if he does not tell her what she wants to know), before switching to the kids tracking the van signal… right off a pier. Cass (now dubbed “Spookgirl” by Steph, probably thanks to her recent conversation with Dinah) dives in and returns with a lease paper that leads them straight to the bad guys’ hideout. Good job, Cass! Also, XD at the contempt dripping from her words every time she mentions written information. Creepy Bat: 16 Aphasia: 58

On their way to Agrippina, Tim receives a call from his dad, who finally fills him in: all members of the Ninth Legion have been receiving threatening letters from someone claiming to be a direct descendant of the true legion and the eagle used to be the symbol of the legion, believed to have mystical powers.

Connor and the others arrive just in time to save Eddie from death on the cross and their ruse is finally uncovered. Connor saves Cass from death by arrow and is saved by one of her batarangs in return, which even breaks Agrippina’s fancy weapon.

Cass faces Agrippina while Connor takes care of her goons. Unfortunately, the place is about to go up in flames and while everyone else is happy to leave, Cass insists on taking down Agrippina. Thankfully, the others manage to talk her out of it. Plight Of Permanent Perfectionism: 10

Back at the cave, Bruce displays a surprising amount of good parenting by telling Cass that she was right to run, since the risk to her own life was too great. He also let’s her know that the eagle is in safe hands. Turns out Jack Drake is hiding it behind his golf clubs. Batdad: 21