#putting the final plush together takes maybe 1/3 of the total work time. it's a lot of prototyping

[barksbog]

Do you take commissions for patterns or just physical plushes? As in, we pay for you to create a custom pattern for our personal use

sorry i only do custom plushies

i don't sell custom patterns and if i did it would cost more than a finished plush because preparing a pattern and instructions takes a lot of time

[batz-zzz]

please explain fnaf lore to me i want to know i dont care if it's bad

OKKKK FASTEN UR SEATBELTS ( @cottagecorexboy tagging u bc bc u told me i could spam u w fnaf lore <3<3) HERES MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE FNAF LORE!

tw for like. kidnapping. and murder. lots of murder. and gore. also spoiler warning obviously

IM GONNA TRY TO MAKE THIS AS COHERENT AS POSSIBLE!!! ALSO FAIR WARNING A LOT OF THIS SOUNDS LIKE COMPLETE NONESENSE BC THATS WHAT IT IS!!! THIS LORE IS FUCKING STUPID! i love it tho <3

fnaf timeline:

fredbears family diner

fnaf 4 (1983)

sister location ( somewhere between '83 and '87)

fnaf 2 (1987)

fnaf 1 (likely 1993)

fnaf 3 (around 2023)

freddy fazbears pizza sim

fnaf help wanted

fnaf security breach (approx 2024-2029)

ok so all this shit started with a diner which was opened by william afton and henry emily in 1967. it was called *ahem* fredbear family diner!!!! and featured the brown bear mascot!! neither henry nor william had money at the time to hire someone, (also they were both busy studying; henry studying comminucation and business admin while william studied engineering) so the mascot suit was normally worn by henry during working hours

3 or 4 years go by and fredbear family diner starts to pick up more business! to help it grow, william designed bonnie, the yellow rabbit mascot to go along with freddy! how cute! after they got a bit more successful snd earned some more money, william designed the first 2 springlock suits, bonnie and freddy <3 so now the lineup we have are the freddy animatronic, the freddy and bonnie springlock suits that double as a suit an animatronic, and a marionette puppet that kept an eye on the children and rewarded them when they won arcade games

explanation of how springlock suits are operated (fnaf 3)

also! outside of work, good ol willy met a lady!! who is unnamed. n e ways! they got married and had 3 kids! the oldest son (michael❤️), daughter (elizabeth) and another son (not officially named, but widely recognized as evan/crying child)

OK NOW ONTO EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN THE ACTUAL GAMES. LOL. HAHA. HAHAHA.

ok! um. ok. so. cut to evans birthday one year. 1983 to be exact. he has his party in fredbears family diner! great right? WRONG. evan was terrified of the animatronics. and his older brother michael and his friends decide its a good idea to SCARE EVAN by SHOVING HIS HEAD INSIDE OF ANIMATRONIC FREDBEARS MOUTH. take a guess how that turned out :)

basically evan gets his head CHOMPED! but he doesnt die there! in fnaf 4, u play as evan, recovering in the hospital after the bite trying to survive the nightmarish versions of the animatronics he was so afraid of. but he dies on the last night. lol rip evan

one afton down

william afton, distraught over his sons death vows to "put him back together" as seen in this screencap from the ending of fnaf 4! (william is,, talking to evan through a fredbear plush that has cameras in it,,,,, but we'll get into that later lol or not)

anyways,,, mr afton decides to take the phrase "put you back together" very seriously and uh. starts doing research on an element called remnant which is basically. large amounts of human agony condensed into a metal??? that can. help souls to possess inanimate objects. this is only mentioned in the books and i think its kinda wacky tbh. some people speculate that he did this research to gain his own immortality which is totally valid but i like to see it like this bc it helps fit the story together anyways we'll get back to that. maybe

moving on

after evans death, business wasnt exactly booming,,,. so! henry and william decide to sell all rights to the diner/animatronics to a bigger company that turns it into...... *drumroll* ......... freddy fazbears pizza!!!!!! (and the overarching fazbear entertainment). freddy fazbears pizza finally opened later in 1983 with a lineup of the man himself, freddy fazbear, bonnie, chica the chicken and foxy the pirate

also another springlock failure happens that isnt really touched upon, but after said failure, the springlock suits are deemed "too dangerous" to be used in performances! and they r stored in the back storage room!

one day, during a birthday party at the new and improved freddy fazbears pizza, a child was MURDERED! outside of the building, unable to get in and ask for help. the child then went on to possess the puppet, as it followed her outside and was there as she died, unable to help her. guess who murdered her lol! YEP! MR WILLY AFTON! he was tried in court but never found guilty due to...... lack! of! evidence!

um alsoo like,,, william kills more kids lol. he got into the storage on the old springlock bonnie costume and and lures 5 children to the back rooms and murders them!!!!!! and then in an attempt to save the children, the puppet stuffed each corpse inside rhe 4 core animatronics + golden freddy. this caused the childrens spirits to inhabit each suit lol (golden freddy now having 2 spirits possessing it; evan and the new child called cassidy) anyways since the bodies were hidden in the suits, detectives never found them and william afton was never caught. freddy fazbears pizza closed down after many complaints about the foul odor and mucus oozing out from the animatronics and after outsiders found out about the missing childrens incident

anyways! mr william afton is up to bigger and better things! in order to like capture more kids in a cool way he creates circus babys pizza world!! a smaller pizza place under the control of afton robotics featuring improved animatronics like circus baby! funtime foxy and freddy, bonbon and ballora! mr creep afton created each animatronic to capture children! each one has specific,,, abilities and design choices. for example, all of them are much taller than they should be, circus baby being 7.5 feet and the rest being over 6ft. funtime foxy has abilities like

parental voice sync and replay??? mhm. and same with funtime freddy

voice mimic/luring? storage tank?

yea,, thats a child. in the storage tank

however uhh circus babys pizza world closes on the first day bc. um. circus baby. eats. elizabeth (williams daughter). yeah..... william tells her to stay away from baby bc shes dangerous but she didnt listen!!! so she got herself snatched up and her soul went on to possess circus baby. lol. heres a clip! the actual death is at 2:35

second afton down! and both killed by williams own inventions! how poetic. anyways after circus babys pizza world closes, willy boy opens an underground facility titled 'circus babys rentals and entertainment' for the purpose of rentibg out his child kidnapping animatronics to different parties and events <3 cute!

anyways!! time for the events of the third game in the timeline and 5th game overall, sister location! michael, our beloved eldest afton son travels to circus babys rental and entertainment at the request of his father to "put [elibabeth and unnamed wife] back together" which he does! but he gets his skeleton innards scooped out in the process. lol.

yea so turns out, baby, ballora, funtime freddy and funtime foxy dont wanna be trapped in the rental facility, being forced to kidnap and murder children anymore! valid! so, in order to hide amongst other humans, they scoop put their own endoskeletons, fuse them together to form ennard, and use michaels body as a flesh suit :)

scooping room cutscene

and they succeed! for a while. after a while of being a flesh suit for a big robot thing, michaels body starts to decay! as bodies do. so, ennard decides to. leave. the body. bc its no longer habitable! leaving michael (whos still alive for some reason) as a rotted, skeleton-less corpse person!

and at the very end of the game, michael has another cutscene where he's kinda talking to william? but not rly bc william isnt there. hes talking to himself but to his dad. here loamso

cutscene at the end of the games true ending

ANYWAYS!!!!!! A NEW FREDDY FAZBEARS PIZZA LOCATION OPENED UP IN 1987!!!!!!!! with new and improved "safer" animatronics! consisting of toy freddy, toy chica, toy bonnie and mangle! this is the setting of fnaf 2, the 3rd game in the timeline! where, instead of michael afton, you play as jeremy fitzgerald! also, william comes back and murders 5 more kids in the new location!

also, the infamous bite of 87 happens here! and the victim is *drumroll* 🥁🥁🥁🥁 YOU! JEREMY FITZGERALD!!!!!! u get ur frontal lobe bitten off by the mangle animatronic! anyways, new location closes the same year, toy animatronics are SCRAPPED! and william afton was arrested, but there was no evidence proving that he was the murderer again

OKAYYY!!!!! FREDDY FAZBEARS PIZZA REOPENS (again) BUT THIS TIME, IN THE OLD LOCATION THAT THE FIRST MISSING CHILDRENS INCIDENT TOOK PLACE IN! ITS KINDA OLD AND BROKEN DOWN LOL! william afton tries to disassemble the haunted animatronics bc yk. theyrw obviously out for revenge on him. but accidentally releases their spirits into the living world. in a bout of fear, he runs to his old safe room (thats hidden from security cameras) and hides in his old springlock bonnie suit! hahaha! hes safe! except hes not. since the building is old and broken down, there is a water leak from the ceiling! and yall know what water does to the springlock suits!!!!

cutscene from the game

fanimation of the springlock failure (gore warning)

but he survives bc ofc he did. and hes left in that backroom until 2033 :) no one came to find him, because that backrooms have been sealed off and employees were told not to go back there or mention them to anyone outside the company!

slay!

anyways, the year is now 2003 and this is when fnaf 1 happens! at the end of the gamey freddy fazbears pizza closes for the final time </3

but fear not! 30 years later in 2033, a haunted attraction called fazbears fright is preparing to open in the same building! crazy how that happens. anyways, the managers of fazbears fright found william afton (now known as springtrap) in the back rooms and somehow doesnt realize that he is a decaying corpse inside a rabbit suit so! they use him as their only animatronic prop since the ogs have all been scrapped! this is where fnaf 3 starts- you play as security guard michael afton again, where hes finally found his father. the game ends with michael burning fazbears fright to the ground with springtrap still inside <3 slay

anyways, moving on,,,, after all the tragedy thats happened at freddy locations, fazbear entertainment hires a game developer to make a bunch of games meant to make light of all the deaths (this is the fnaf game devs self insert basically). to complete their coverup story, they hire a bigger company to make a vr game!! in fnaf vr: help wanted, u play as a game tester pretty much. however, the game was taking a while to develop, so fazbear entertainment sent a bunch of circuit boards to be scanned into computers in order to make the game faster

however!!!!!!!!! and heres the funny part: a virus known as glitchtrap (which is basically william afton... as a computer virus...) gets scanned into the games code! and after a while, glitchtrap successfully infiltrates the mind of one of the other game testers named vanessa, who becomes his unwilling successor known as 'vanny'. in help wanted, u have to help test the game while finding vanessas prerecorded tapes which have glitchtrap saved onto them. after finding all the tapes,,,, u accidentally set him free lol...... yea.

ANYWAYS NEXT GAME! FNAF 6, FREDDYS PIZZERIA SIMULATOR! this game was meant to tie up any loose ends left in the story, which it absolutely did. u (again) play as michael afton, who is tasked with salvaging old animatronics and keep them in the building. this is so at the end, old pal HENRY EMILY!!!! can make his badass comeback and burn down the building with everyone inside (including springtrap whos still alive not surprisingly) and it has the coolest ending cutscene imo

and after that, the extra game ultimate custom night is released, in which u play as william afton, trapped in hell- a neverending loop of trying to survive the very spirits u murdered. it was a really good ending to the story

but of course. it doesnt end there. because WERE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE GOOD THINGS IN THIS FANDOM APPARENTLY. sigh. no. after this game comes the most recent, fnaf security breach! in which u play as gregory! our dearest beloved homeless kid whos trapped inside the mega pizzaplex and enlists in the help of freddy fazbear to help get u out! in the true ending of this game, u and freddy travel below the pizzaplex to..... THE LOCATION FROM FNAF 6???!?!?!??? yea. they built the mega pizzaplex on top of the charred up building. and guess whos still alive???????? william afton. but he looks BUSTED and DUSTED to all hell

.... yea..... this is peepaw willy.........

anyways! um. in the final battle u set him on fire.... again... but this time guess who shows up!!!! molten freddy! who is basically ennard but without circus baby. anyways molten freddy snatches up peepaw willy and kills him im pretty sure, while gregory and freddy make their great escape

AND THAT BRINGS US UP TO SPEED! I WILL NOT BE GETTING INTO THE BOOKS BC I LIKE TO PRETEND THEY DONT EXIST ❤

[howtolongfurb]

How to Long Furb

For whatever reason, furbies have taken over the internet. It’s beautiful and terrifying and I desperately want one. Original 1998 furbies are hard to acquire but that doesn’t mean you can’t make one of your own. Imagine the potential for neck pillows with long furbies! I’m going to walk you through step-by-step how I acquired the supplies and compiled these monstrosities. Note, this is not by any means a comprehensive guide, just my personal experience. I am an ameteur. There is a huge community of furby fans online with tips and tricks on executing a variety of furby modifications. Read more below!

I will start off by saying there were many points throughout this whole process where I got frustrated and set the project aside for weeks at a time. I initially started hand-sewing long furbs but was disappointed with the poor craftsmanship. That’s when I impulse bought a cheap Singer over the 2020 holidays and retaught myself how to use the machine. The point I want to make here is to persevere. Every furby is beautiful! Crooked faceplates and chunky bellies just give a furby more personality. They say practice makes perfect, right? So let’s get started. The main components of a furby are:

1) The faceplate: unless you can get your hands on an original furby, finding a faceplate for your project can be tricky. There are a variety of people online selling furby faceplates. You can also 3D print faceplates using files from thingiverse. I’ve even seen faceplates pressed in resin. My favorite faceplate is from MrDsPrintedCreations on Etsy. The iris of the eyes are recessed so you can easily insert glass eye chips. The first thing I do with my faceplate is glue a piece of fabric behind it so it’s easier to sew into the head. I paint my faceplate with acrylic craft paint and top it off with a clear gloss coat. 2) The spine: for a poseable long furb, there needs to be a flexible inner piece. I thought thin wire from Menards would do the job, but once it’s in the plush it doesn’t hold it’s shape. I found plastic doll armature works well as a spine. It even creaks when bent for that extra spritz of cursed, spooky energy! You can also use a flexible coolant hose as a spine. I’ve ordered doll armature online from CR’s Crafts: the 1/8th and 1/4th size works well. The 1/2th inch armature is hard to stuff around. 3) Fabric! Fur and belly piece: In order to make furbs, I knew I first needed a sewing pattern. Tumblr user Cavity Sam created a template based on the 1998 furby and I used this to make my first furb with my new machine and scrap fabric lying around. My friend Gunnar 3D printed a rudimentary faceplate to use. After using Cavity Sam’s sewing template, I modified the pattern to use for long furbs specifically. You can download that sewing pattern here.

You’ll need the following supplies per one 3-foot long furby:

quarter of a yard faux fur fabric (9 inches x 44 inches)

patterned fabric for belly, ears, feet (~3 inches x 44 inches)

sewing machine (thread, needle, scissors, pins)

faceplate, 14mm eye chips, eyelashes

E600 glue, scrap fabric

paint (acrylic or nail polish), paintbrushes, clear top coat

spine (plastic doll armature)

cotton stuffing (I cut open cheap pillows from Walmart)

Step one: Use the sewing pattern to cut fabric pieces for the head and body. When cutting on fur, make sure to trace the pattern on the flat backside of the fabric with the fur flattened in the right direction. For example, the hair on the Y-mane piece (back of the head) should be pointed downwards. I made notes on the paper pattern pieces where you can eyeball more or less space. The mane piece should have more rounded corners, for example. I made my furbies 3 feet long, so the front belly piece was 2 inches wide by 3 feet long. The back fur was 6.5 inches wide by 3 feet long.

Step two, feet and ears: Depending on how small you cut your fabric, it can be really hard to combine two separate pieces. For the feet I folded a piece of fabric in half and sewed the C-shapes before cutting them out. Using tweezers made it much easier to turn them back right-side-out. After cutting the ear pieces (making sure the hair on the fur was pointed in the right direction, inside out) I pinned them together before sewing. Turn back right-side-out. 

Step three, head: Line the pattern pieces up so the Y-mane is in the middle. Sew the sides of the head to the mane first. Once that is one solid piece, fold it in half to sew the top curve of the head. I have pinned these pieces to ensure they don’t slip when going through the machine. Slow and steady wins the race; make sure to turn the fabric as you’re curving the top of the head. Finally you can sew the piece under the ear together, leaving a gap for the ear to go in.

Step four, ears: Everything up to this point has been done on the machine. I haven’t figured out a way to attach the ears with the machine, so this step was done by hand. With the ear facing right side out, pin the ear to the inside-out head. Make sure the patterned part of the ear is facing outwards (where the faceplate goes). By hand, sew the ear to the hole in the head. After the ear is secured, turn the head right side out and voila!

Step five, body: Lining up these pieces is important and a little tricky. You’ll want some excess belly fabric on the top to merge with the bottom of the beak on the faceplate. See the diagram; rotate everything 180 degrees to begin sewing. The fur hair needs to be pointed upwards and the belly fabric pattern is facing down on top of that. After sewing the belly fabric to the fur, fold it over to sew the other side. The fur should be on the inside of the sausage/ body piece. Once you’re finished sewing, the finished piece needs to be turned fur side out.

Step six: Faceplate break time! This step can be done at any point in the process, up until you hand sew the faceplate into the head. To start, glue a piece of fabric behind the faceplate. The faceplate itself should just be the eyes and the beak, making it easier to sew into the head of the furb. You don’t need that extra plastic around the bottom of the beak (or at least I haven’t figured out how to sew that in convincingly). I used grey scrap fabric and E6000 glue to adhere the faceplate. Then you need to paint the faceplates. In earlier furbs I used acrylic paint topped with clear DecoArt gloss varnish on top. You can also use colored nail polish with a clear coat on top. In the pictured furbs I tried sealing the faceplates with mod podge but it dried tacky/ uneven. Optional: you can accessorize your furb with jewelry!

Step seven, inserting the faceplate: You need to sew this part into the head by hand as well. Start from the top center (head inside out, faceplate facing into head) and work your way down the right. Make sure to use a thicker needle and poke the needle through as close as you can get to the faceplate to ensure the fabric fur is flush to the face. The needle may be stubborn (poking through the hardened glue) so use a thimble or bottle cap to help push the needle. When you get to the bottom corner of the eye, the fabric may not line up perfectly. Use excess fabric to sew a seam, effectively acting like a cheek. This part takes a little finessing. Finish attaching the fur fabric one third of the way down the beak. This is where the belly piece will connect to. The final step (later) will be to put the eye + glass chip in. 

Step eight, attaching the head to body: I was able to use the machine for this part. Turning the head inside out, pin the head to the outside of the back fur. The head and back should line up so a gap is left for connecting the patterned belly to the bottom of the beak (that step comes later). After the head is connected to the back, I do a second pass to make sure there isn’t any gap in the seam. When turned right side out, you’ll see that excess patterned belly spills out the top. Keep the furb inside out to connect under the beak. 

Step nine, connecting the belly to the beak: On the excess patterned fabric sticking out the top of the body, trace the shape of the “M” to cut out. See the highlighted yellow portion in the picture, as well as the printed sewing pattern piece. The piece directly below the beak needs to be done by hand. If you can manage it, you can sew a diagonal line with your machine before trimming the patterned belly. I found it easiest to start from the right and work my way to the left. The acute angle under the cheek will need finessing, but with small and tight enough stitches the end result is good. Turn the furb inside out to see your long sausage of a creation!

Step ten, spine insertion and stuffing: Now THIS is where I may have messed up (i.e. got frustrated multiple times) and need feedback from the furby community. The furby is essentially complete, it just needs the butt and feet attached to seal it off. Because of this long sausage of a furb, it was hard to push stuffing all the way up into the head/ ears, even using a yard stick. Maybe if I printed my original sewing pattern at 115% or 130% size, the completed project wouldn’t have been so narrow. (The ears are a perfect size now that I think about it, so maybe just the head pieces need to be bigger.) This resizing would make for a larger in diameter, plushier furby too. I thought I could insert the spine after stuffing, but the opposite is true. Insert your wire or doll armature after the ears and head are stuffed but before you begin stuffing below the beak. Alternatively, you can fasten the top of the spine behind the faceplate before stuffing. I taped a cup to the end of a yard stick and that helped push handfuls of stuffing into the furb at a time. Leave 2 to 4 inches of the bottom unstuffed so it’s easier to sew on the bottom circle. We will leave a small gap for the rest to be stuffed before totally sealing it off. 

Step eleven, connecting the feet and bottom: Stuff the feet and seal them off with a couple stitches. Don’t stuff the feet completely full, the top seam should lay flat. Place the two feet on the bottom of the belly, pointing upwards. Sew the feet onto the belly in a straight line. Now comes the part that takes more finessing, the bottom. When you line up the bottom circle, make sure the hairs of the fabric are pointed backwards. If you can manage it with the machine, sew the bottom circle to the bottom of your furby where the feet connect to the belly, about a third of the way around the full circle. The fur of the circle should be facing down, touching the belly of the furb. Once you’ve attached the circle to the feet, you can fold the circle back to see the butt starting to take shape! You can give it another pass on the machine, sewing the opposite side/ flip the furby so you can see the backside of the belly. Leave enough room to stuff the rest of the cotton and close the gap by hand sewing. Now that your furby is essentially complete, you can add the finishing touches! I always leave the eye chips for last so I don’t scratch them in the process of turning my furb inside out. You can print or paint the eye designs to place behind the glass chip. Use clear glue like superglue or E600 for the best results. Gluing eyelashes on with superglue is an optional last step.

Aaaaaaand the furbies are done! Again, I’m an ameteur sewer who’s learning as I go. I’m always open to suggestions and feedback; if there’s a way to revise this process to make more efficient and better quality furbs, I’d love to know. Thanks yall and enjoy making these cursed friends!

[xoxo-teddybear]

Oh, The Lies You Tell - Bakugou Katsuki - pt.5

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: angst, trauma, abuse, betrayal, fluff, slice of life, smut, cursing, manipulation, possible spoilers, physical harm, 18+

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

Ep. Warnings: cursing, blood, DADZAWA, tiniest bit of angst, Kinda Short Again : P

Summary: Bakugou and Y/N have made up and have gotten much closer. Y/N still isn’t completely sure what they are yet, but that thought will have to be put on the back burner since Shigaraki has a job for her. But what happens on that job is what makes this part interesting. 

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9

All day, you and Bakugou were together. Talking, laughing, just doing whatever. Almost like a couple. Quick kisses here and there and long hugs quite often. It even got to the point where they were constantly cuddling. Mind you, this all happened in just a day. Speaking of which, at the end of it, Bakugou went back to Y/N’s room and they fell asleep together.

*Beep* *beep* *beep* *click!*

You woke up to the glorious sun, shining it’s golden rays through your dorm window. It’s 6:00. Time to get ready for school. As you looked around in a strangely peaceful atmosphere, you found the reason why. Right next to you, layed a sleeping Katsuki.

You smiled at his peaceful state and took a moment to admire all of him. Bakugou chose to not sleep with a shirt due to his quirk, which gave you the benefit of laying eyes on someone who was truly built by the gods. His chiseled chest glowed under the solar rays and his abs were covered in scars from his past adventures as a UA student. Your eyes traveled to his face, where porcelain skin lay. His ruby eyes shut, as his long lashes curtain them. Your hands automatically went to his head, running your fingers through his surprisingly soft spiky hair. You giggled as you noticed it refused to lay calm, much like Bakugou himself. To your surprise, his deep morning voice spoke up.

“Can we just stay like this forever?” He smiled in his drowsy state. You jumped at his voice as he chuckled at your jittery behavior. Your hand had left his hair, much to Bakugou’s dismay, and so he brought it back to where it previously was. “I never said stop, princess.” He said as he attempted to drift off back to sleep.

“Heh, well I didn’t ask if you did. You gonna keep sleeping or you gonna get up and get ready for school?” You teasingly asked.

“You gonna keep petting my head?” Bakugou asked with his eyes still closed and a slight smile.

“No.”

“Then no,” he said as he woke up with a scowl and grumpy eyes. He sat up from his previous position and stretched his arms as he watched you get up and walk to your dresser. You grabbed your rebellious uniform before walking back to Katsuki.

“See you soon, okay?” You said and pecked his pouted lips. He replied with closed eyes, a smile, and a simple “mhm” as he got up and left to his dorm.

As Bakugou walked to his dorm, he tried to savor the feeling of your plush lips on his. He smiled at the recent memory. He walked back into his dorm and got ready, excited because he knew once he was done, he would get to see you again. As Bakugou finished and left, he walked to your dorm and found you and Rumor shutting the door, ready to go. He walked to your side and held onto your waist.

“Ready to go?”

“Mhm!”

You both walked and talked until you reached class, as you opened the door and walked in, everyone saw you and cooed.

“Ouuu~ whats this Bakugou?” Sero asked in a playful manner. Bakugou just rolled his eyes but continued to hold onto you.

“Is she your girllllfriendddd?” Kaminari teased. The whole class giggled at the cute little POSSIBLE couple. It was adorable. Who would’ve guessed the ruthless and “dedicated to being number 1 only” Bakugou would have fallen for someone. They continued to laugh until Bakugou spoke.

“Maybe she is, morons. Is there a problem if she is?” He asked with piercing eyes, causing the group to shut up. “Good.” He said as he sat down in his seat and placing you in his lap. You guys had a couple minutes before class started so it would work out just fine.

As the group continued to talk, a deep voice was heard throughout the room.

“Are you going to continue holding my daughter hostage in your lap, Bakugou? Or are you gonna let her take her seat?” The group looked towards the door and saw their teacher, Mr. Aizawa, standing in the doorway. Everyone, besides Bakugou, Y/N, Kaminari, and Kirishima, gasped at the revelation of Y/N being Aizawa’s daughter.

Bakugou sighed as he let you go to his seat, which was right next to him, and looked towards his teacher. “Happy?”

“Very.” Aizawa replied.

“You know, for the record, you aren’t my real dad.” Y/N clarified.

“Correct, but I adopted you. Which legally makes you my daughter. So listen to your dad and hush!” He said with glowing red eyes which made you quiet down with a huff. You placed your head in your hand as you blew a strand of hair out of your face.

‘He’s probably gonna mention the competition tomorrow,” you thought to yourself.

“Alright class, to begin let me tell you about a battle competition we’ll be having next week.” He said.

‘Next week?’ You were confused. What happened to tomorrow? This would throw off the league’s plans, which surprisingly, you were kind of okay with.

“It was supposed to be tomorrow, but we caught word of a few villains figuring out about the event so the school rescheduled it to a different time at a different location,” Mr. Aizawa began, “the competition will be a battle of schools. Class 1-A and B will be attending. Each class will be its own team. You guys will do something similar to a race but depending on the routes and turns you take, you will end up facing a challenge or fighting an opponent aka a different school’s class. The race is over when a class gets to the finish line and rings a bell. Winners get a week off from all work.” He explained.

The class cheered in excitement at the event coming up and spoke amongst themselves about how they would prepare. You, however, were in minor distraught.

‘Villains? The only villains that could’ve know were the league. Did one of them slip up?’ You thought.

Mr. Aizawa refocused the class and began the lesson. Blah, blah, blah, quirks, blah, blah, blah, law, blah, blah, blah, heroes. The usual. Except this time, you payed a little attention. Hero work did interest you but there was no way it was possible for you. You were already in too deep with villainy, so you just sat in self pity as you listened to the lecture.

At the end of the class, Aizawa pulled you aside to talk. He said he had a few things he wanted to ask you.

“Y/N..” he said.

“Eraser-Head..” you replied. He rolled his eyes at the name.

“It’s Mr. Aizawa, or Aizawa sensei, or even dad!” He complained but this time you rolled your eyes.

“Alright then, DAD, what do you want?” You asked.

“I just want to know what’s going on with you and Bakugou. You’ve gotten awfully close. Kissing in the kitchen, sitting on his lap. Are you dating that boy or what?” He questioned you, and to be honest, you couldn’t really answer. What exactly was your relationship with Bakugou? You weren’t dating, that wasn’t established, but you guys weren’t just friends. This was all so confusing. Still, you couldn’t give the man a straightforward answer.

“Even if I was, it’s none of your concern.” You said with a puffed chest and total confidence.

“It is my concern as your now father.” He said. “I just want to know. I’ve seen some improvements since you came here.....I’m proud of you.”

This shocked you. It threw you off and your body basically deflated from its once confident state. He was proud of you. Words you’ve longed to hear from somebody..anybody, and you finally got to hear it. It almost made you tear up but you had to stay composed.

“Proud of me? For what?” You asked with a little sass and attitude. Gotta keep up your bad girl rep, you know?

“Proud of you for choosing to come here in general. You made a good choice. You’ve benefitted yourself in all the right ways. You’re going down a path of greatness, I can see it. I’m also proud of the friends you’ve made and how open and social you’ve become. It makes me glad knowing that you’re coming out of that dark spot you were stuck in for so long. And it seems that having Bakugou around really helps.” He explained.

The whole thing almost brought you to tears. A father figure was proud of you. He knows your past and who you are and he was proud of you. It’s like a dream come true. You were so stunned, you could barely speak.

“Yeah...Umm..thanks.” You began. “Well! If that’s all..I have to get to lunch. I’ll see you around,” you said as you blinked away the tears gathering in your eyes and began to walk to the door.

“Y/N...if you’re ever struggling, you can come talk to me about anything. I’m your teacher and dad now, so I’m always here to help.” He offered. You looked back at him with a kind face before speaking.

“Thank you..”

‘...Dad,’ you thought to yourself as you let out a small smile and walked to the cafeteria.

——————————————————————————

The day went on as usual and when school and training was finally over, you and Bakugou got to spend more time together! You don’t know what it was but being around each other just made each other feel more..complete.

After school, you guys took a fly around the city on Rumor, stopped for some ice cream, and went to play with puppies at the local shelter. By the time you guys got back, dinner was being prepped in the kitchen, so you guys had some time to kill. You both decided it was cool to just hang out in your room.

“Hey, I’m gonna change real quick and I’ll meet you there, okay?” Bakugou said, pointing to the area of his dorm.

“No problem!” You said as Bakugou leaned down and pecked your lips before leaving. You smiled as he walked away and looked towards Rumor who had to be giving you some type of smirk. “Shut up,”

When you both walked in to the room, you changed out of your school uniform and opted for something more comfy. Before you sat down in bed, your earring went off. The league was calling.

“Y/N!...Can you hear me?!” Shigaraki said through the communication device. You ran to it in fear of displeasing your superior if you took too long.

“Right here. What happened?! What villain got caught speaking about the competition???” You asked in shock.

“It was Twice. Idiot can’t keep his mouth shut.” Shigaraki said as you heard Twice’s voice in the background saying it was an accident.

“Look, it doesn’t matter, because the events been cancel due to concern.” You explained.

“ARGHH, figures!” Shigaraki screamed, “look, I’m just here because I have a quick job for you. The others are out setting up our next attack so you’re the only one available.” He said.

“But- but I have something to do right now,” you said, hoping you wouldn’t have to go.

“Well drop it. You’re not getting out of this one. Besides, it’s simple. Get in and get out.” He said.

“..alright,” you didn’t know why. It wasn’t like this was your first job, but it made you want to cry.

“Good. All you have to do is get into heartfilia manner. Boss man, Jude Heartfilia, hired the league for a job offering big banks. He never payed up. All we want is revenge and you’re our best stealth fighter. So get in, kill the man, and get out. Oh! And grab his checkbook too, it’s signed off with his name already. Sounds like easy money. Okay?” He explained.

Kill. Kill. It wouldn’t be your first time. Heck, it wouldn’t even be your 100th time, but the thought of doing it again made you nauseous. However, denying a request from Shigaraki made you even more nauseous. You feared him. You didn’t know just how powerful you were so in your mind, you were the weakest link in the league. So with that in your head, you answered. “Okay.”

You looked towards Rumor in sadness. He seemed to have known what was about to transpire.

“Go get ready, Rumor. We have a job to do.” You said as you walked towards your closet to pull out your villain costume tucked in the back. What stopped you was your...whatever he was to you, walking in.

“Hey princess, I’m back! Miss me?” He said with open arms, closed eyes, and a cocky face, expecting you to leap into his arms. But nothing came. He opened his eyes and saw you near your wardrobe.

“K-Katsuki! Hey! Umm, I’m sorry, but something came up so I can’t really hang right now.” You explained while closing your dresser and walking towards him.

“Oh? What happened? Do you need some help?” He offered. Ugh, why did he have to care about you so much. It’s making things so much harder.

“Um, no. I’ll be good. I just remembered...Korra wants to speak to me. So..I’ll be heading out to talk to her for whatever she needs.” You lied. You felt so guilty lying right to his face but it had to be done.

“Mind if I joined you?” He asked.

“Um, yeah actually, I kinda do. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that these meetings between mentor and pupil are kinda..private. You know?” You asked. You could feel in your soul how furious Korra was that you were using her name to lie your way out.

“Okay, no problem. I’ll see you later?” He said hopeful. You couldn’t deny him that.

“Of course,” you said while giving him a tight hug and a peck on his cheek. Satisfied, he walked out of the room and off to wherever. You let out a sigh as you shut the door and locked it. “Okay Rumor, let’s go.”

——————————————————————————

Rumor was in giant hawk form as you sat on his back and you both were flying over the estate. You looked down and saw the place covered with security, however, there was a landing on the rooftop with a doorway inside. You had Rumor glide down there in silence and quickly tranformed back into Wolf-dog form mid air as you landed on your feet. You both quickly ran inside but not before knocking out the single guard standing inside.

Inside, you both were very cautious. The halls were surprisingly emptied. Nothing but a guard or maid here and there. When you finally found the master bedroom, you busted in and saw he wasn’t there. You scoped around, checked his private bathroom, and still got nothing.

“Rumor. Go into the closet and find some dirty laundry or something. Track his scent and then come find me.” You ordered and Rumor nodded in confirmation. You went back out into the halls and found his study. You walked in prepared to kill and get you still saw no one.

‘Where the hell is everyone?’ You thought to yourself.

You saw scattered papers laying on his desk as you approached the laying furniture. He must’ve been in a hurry if he left the place so disorganized. That or he’s always been a slob. You scurried through his desk and drawers and found his checkbook.

“Bingo. At least we found one thing.” You placed the check board into your pocket as you continued your search. You read through the papers on his desk and saw he had frantically signed a signature to book a place at the Inko Hotel right in Musutafu. Then your eyes went wide.

“.......He knew!” You said in shock. He knew the league would send an assassin. Right when you said that, Rumor came in and barked. He had his scent. You ran towards Rumor as he transformed into giant wolf form and hopped on him. He began to run not caring about the people he bumped in to. Security obviously noticed you all and began shooting at you. You turned around on Rumor’s back and used your metal bending to stop the bullets and send them back, killing others in the process. You cringed behind your mask at the sight but kept a strong facade as Rumor finally made it out. You jumped into the air giving him enough time to turn in a giant hawk again and fly off, picking you up mid-air along the way. You both flew off as fast as you could to the hotel where Rumor’s nose was taking you.

Once you arrived you entered the hotel through a back way entrance. You realized you would have to fit in so off came your black cloak and mask. You walked around in your villain costume that thankfully no one was suspicious of and followed Rumor’s nose. He sniffed the floor and followed Jude’s scent until he reached door 402. You noticed a guard standing by and so you used your charm to seduce the man. While he was distracted by the flirt, you surprisingly used your dim mak and paralyzed him from the neck down. You knocked him out and dragged him to a storage closet and returned to the room. You busted open the door and saw Jude laying there in his sleep. You shut the door and locked it. In case he woke up, you put your cloak and mask back on as you approached his unknowing body.

‘He looks so.....peaceful.’ You thought while watching him. ‘But I have to do my job...no matter how cruel,’ you reminded yourself. You reluctantly and shakenly used your air bending to create a sphere of wind around the man’s head. While maneuvering your hands you took his breath away, depriving him of oxygen and killing him in the process. You just killed a peaceful man in his sleep. As you came to that realization, you released a breathy sigh as you put your hands together to pray for him and allow his spirit to leave the world in respect.

Once you opened your eyes again, you noticed tears pricking at the ends. You hated this part of the job. Stealing and grifting was easy. But murder? That was a whole ‘nother level that made you want to scream. As you walked off with your head handing low, you left the building in a sadly successful job. On the journey back to UA, you called Shigaraki through the earring and told him of your mission results. He congratulated you on a job well done and asked for you to return the checkbook when they would later attack UA. Your face grew sour at the reminder that you’re all here just to create misery. What a pity.

You had noticed Rumor had gotten generously tired and so you opted to just walk instead of fly home. It wasn’t that bad and you needed to clear your head anyway. After walking for some time, you were close to the dorms but as you took a turn, you of course ran into....... Bakugou?!

Due to a quick reaction, Rumor had shrunk to a mouse and you were so thankful you wore your cloak and mask....YOU WORE YOUR CLOAK AND MASK!

“Woah! Hey! Watch we’re you’re-“ he cut himself off as he noticed your attire. He recognized you instantly. “You’re...Titania!”

Thankfully he wasn’t aware of who was under the mask. You picked up Rumor dashed off before anything else happened. But Bakugou being the hero he is, he chased after you.

“Hey! Get back here!” He said using his explosions to blast himself further and give him some speed. However, you had a few tricks yourself. You used your air bending and applied it to help with your running and give you a boost.

As the chase went on, you zig-zagged through alleyways and over city obstacles like trash cans and such. Bakugou was right on your tail...or so you thought. As you turned back to see if he was still behind, you saw nobody, and in the heat of the moment, you let your guard down. You allowed yourself to stop and just breath as you layed against a brick wall in the shadows but to your surprise Bakugou had tackled you to the ground from the side. Now he had you pinned down as he huffed closed to your face.

“You damn villain scum“ those words made you cringe behind your mask. He was right. Villain scum is what you are, but those words coming from Bakugou just made your heart hurt. “What the hell are you doing out here?!”

When he asked that questioned, you remained silent. He grunted as his eyes squinted in frustration. “Tell me!” He demanded.

As your head got back in the game, you kicked his groin and used some wind to push him back. Throwing him behind a pile of trash cans, you quickly used your fire bending to blast you into the air as Bakugou’s sight was blocked. You threw Rumor’s mouse form into the air as he transformed into a giant hawk and you both escaped before Bakugou looked back up to look for you. You successfully got away.

—

When you returned, you had Rumor go back to his mouse form to sneak into the dorms. You waited by the side as Rumor went to retrieve some clothes for you to change into on the side of the building. When he returned, you changed under your cloak and then hid it as you walked in with Rumor. You passed a few students but none seem to be suspicious of anything. You made it to your room and sighed in relief as you layed down but then, Bakugou of course barged in.

“You’re never gonna guess what the fuck just happened, Princess.” Bakugou said as he threw off his jacket and flopped on top of you. You let out a ‘Oof,’ and giggle as you began to pet his head. Yes, you felt guilty for what you did and were about to do but you had to. Right?

“What happened, Suki?” You confidently said. Bakugou slightly flinched as he looked up to you with a slight blush.

“Suki?” He questioned.

“Mhm! My new name for you. Cute right?” You happily said.

“M-mhm,” he said as he tucked his head away in your chest and blushed even more.

“So tell me what happened.” You said. He sighed before speaking almost as if he was frustrated.

“I was out walking after stopping by my parent’s place to drop something off and I ran into..Titania.” He explained.

“Titania?” You played dumb, “that top ranking villain?”

“Not just any top ranking villain. She’s the top and most wanted female villain out there. She’s bad news and I chased her down. Of course she got away though, can’t believe I thought I could take her down. Her skill level is insane. She’s had to have been fighting since she was probably our age or even younger.” He went on.

“You know her age?” You said with a slight panic. You didn’t want Titania’s anything to be revealed.

“With her skills, I’d bet she’s at least in her late 20s.” You were slightly flattered by the fact that Bakugou thinks you’re that powerful, but of course he didn’t know it was you. That was kind of disappointing though, he didn’t know who you truly were. Then you thought back to what he said. Villain Scum. If that’s what he thought Titania was, then when he found out who she really was, he would definitely have a thing or two to say about you. You saddened at that thought but wanted to change the topic after becoming slightly uncomfortable with the “news.”

“Don’t let it get to you. We are still hero trainees after all. We can only do so much. C’mon, let’s watch a movie and cuddle instead.” You offered to which he happily agreed. And so you both sat and just enjoyed each other’s presence and the movie. You were seated in Bakugou’s lap as you both sat on your bed just living in the moment. Bakugou would pepper you in kisses every now and then to which you laughed and happily accepted.

You loved the time you got to spend with Bakugou. It felt right whenever he was around. Your life was a hot mess but then he came and became your little getaway. He was a breath of fresh air to you and everything about him just made you smile. His presence made you happy, his smile made you swoon, his touch had you melting and his kisses were just...amazing. You guys weren’t an official couple, but you were something. And although it was confusing, that something was enough to fill your heart with all the warmth and love that you’ve been missing for the past 16 years of your life. The only question was...how long was it going to last before it all came crushing down?

*sorry for any spelling mistakes, this was quick and delayed*

[noocturnalchild]

OK LADS , this is a short fic for a forgotten adorable character played by Adam, another Adam from “ Not Waiving But Drowning” He was so adorable, pure and naive and like plain good ! That guy surely needs a lot of love and hugs and cuddles <3 

1. YELLOW LIGHTS 

The rooms were like huge boxes, stuffed with furniture, things, obstacles. Boxes with doors, and he was there alone. He was so used to it he could manage to walk and explore that functional vast space with eyes closed if he wanted to. Every night.

He recalled the time a blond frail girl was there with him, under the white recessed lights that always made her look paler. He smiled to himself, it was long ago. The way he is searching his memory to put her features back together is enough to make him know that indeed, he forgot about her, completely.

*

The bulb in your bed room flickered.  Yellow dim light fading out, then swelling , then dying and resurrecting again. He changed the bulb this morning though. You smiled to yourself. You didn’t even have to ask him. The only thing you did was to mention without second thoughts, that you liked “yellow” light in your room, that it was “ appeasing” and that you liked to read to it because those “ blinding white lights remind you of morgues and it's creepy...”.

The following morning you woke up to him on a ladder, fixing your light and you were so surprised you threw a pillow on him and he almost fell.

You suppressed a guilty laughter as you recalled the fresh memory. Poor, nice Adam. He nearly broke his leg for nothing, cause the light just faded away for good.

You closed your book.

It was late, reasonably late to sleep. But as you closed your eyes, his beautiful asymmetrical features materialized under your lashes. This was happening a lot lately. A smile played on your lips, you knew you were blushing and your heartbeats raced a bit. Nothing bad. Nothing bad yet.

You were just glad your roommate was a kindhearted guy and no, you weren’t staying late every night to see him come home, definitely not.  You tried to wash away thoughts of him as you shifted in your sheets. Why did he have to come late every night? You barely had time to meet him during the day… and isn’t he working extra hours? What time was it again? 1 AM? He is definitely working overtime. Why though?

Why would you care?

*

One last hour and I’ll be done, Adam thought as he proceeded to rearrange a shelf in the building basement.

He checked his wrist watch again. He was being impatient to come home. An image of you reading in your room on a dim yellow light played in his mind.

You were comfortably tucked in your plush pillows, a fantasy book on your lap, your hair fluffy because of tossing and turning. Cheeks red because of the heat in the apartment. He could also be sure you had a cup of tea on your right night stand and you were wearing your blue pajama, that’s a thing he was sure of, too.

it was becoming distracting, and he wished he was home looking at you instead of being under this cold roof and inside this humid basement. But he remembered why he was working late this last month, and he resumed working faster this time, but then again always hoping to come home and find you awake.

It was past 2AM when Adam finally stepped in your shared little apartment. And god he was exhausted, completely dead tired. His eyes were flickering, heavy with sleepiness and his limbs felt like wrongly adjusted robot’s parts. He was sore everywhere, and maybe he was catching a cold or something. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t switch the lights on when he came in. He knew your common little space like the inside of his pockets. He just sighed when he felt you sleeping soundly, before seeing you, because in the dead silence of the night, your deep breathing was enough of an indicator.

He stilled a moment in the darkness, inhaling the scent of a mix of vanilla and something else. That was your doing. You always managed to make the apartment smell good, just like you. That smell was so appeasing and the apartment was nicely heated and he could actually see the shape of you snuggled in your bed, clinging to your sheets. Were you cold? Were you wearing your blue pajama? He just wanted to know.  

And he was tired, and a bit frustrated, and his bed room didn’t look appealing at all. But yours looked warm and welcoming just because of your presence and your scent. While his, his looked like pure sadness and loneliness. And damn it, he was just dead tired, he craved comfort and warmth.  And just like that, Adam got rid of his boots and jacket and threw himself on your bed, next to you, not bothering anything in the world, and that’s how he fell asleep in seconds.

*

You woke up to two beautiful closed eyes, inches away from your face, and to a vague feeling of numbness, a sort of weight on your belly.

Adam !

He was still breathing deeply in his blissful sleep. His arm thrown on your waist. Oh, so that’s why you felt numb. Your surprise didn’t last long because it was quickly replaced with something deeper and warmer. Something electric and rich coming from your gut, spreading heat through you so fast. You belly was burning hot in the places his arm touched. You felt like a prisoner of his hold. Even when sleeping he was strong, and you never thought him that …big. You never got to see him closely after all. Now you could see the freckles on his nose, strands of hair on his cheek and forehead, the lips, slightly parted… so full, so inviting. You bit your own lips hard so that you could shake the thought of your head.

What was he doing here in your bed, that stupid, stupid Adam ?!

You moved a little, trying to remove his forearm from your belly, but he snuggled more into you in his sleep with faint throaty moans of comfort. It didn’t take much to give up on leaving your bed. It was nice like that after all, wasn’t it? So nice you found your hand slipping into his wild strands of hair, trying to free his hidden ears. They were large, and round, and red from the heat of sleep. You laughed tenderly in spite of your will, your belly trembling under his arm as he opened his eyes slowly.

You stopped laughing as his eyes widened, before he jumped away from you. One second he was sleeping quietly in your bed, the next he was on his feet, a guilty hand on his mouth.

“ It’s …. It’s not like that … I can explain” He muttered, his ears turning redder and his legs stumbling as he tried to find balance.  

You wanted to tell him that it’s ok now, you wanted to catch his collar and bring him back into bed, and kiss him raw. You wanted so many things in a row but all you could do is squeeze your hands together on your heart, looking at him in confusion.

“ it’s … ok” you said softly after what seemed like long seconds of  total  mess.

“ I mean, it’s ok , explain to me .” You added quickly.

“ I … I just… I guess … um … well,  I can’t explain.” He breathed, a look of defeat in his eyes.

“ we good?” he added, hopeful, as you stayed silent, eyes round.  

So he couldn’t explain and he wanted to know if you were good like that? You know you were good like that, but you wanted to know!

So you shook your head and he panicked.

“ It’s my room, my room is …”

“ Your room… is?”

“ yeah…” he scratched the back of his neck.

“yeah?” you repeated.

“ You wearing your blue pajama”

What?

“ Adam are you all right?”

“ I guess no?”

You wanted to laugh, you wanted to hug him…you wanted to … kiss him. Poor Adam looked so tortured and miserable, but you stayed like that, silent, heart swelling and pounding violently. Eyes locked on his, you couldn’t figure out what he was seeing in them. You should reassure him, you should make him stay, tell him, tell him it’s ok. Tell him.

But your stupid mouth wouldn’t open.

“ I better get going”

Before you could react, he stormed off the room, long legs performing long strides, impossible to catch.

Twirling emotions assaulted you as you tried to process what just happened. You didn’t know if you wanted to cry or if  you wanted to celebrate, no,  you wanted to beat yourself to death. He likes you. He likes you just as you like him, doesn’t he? Wasn’t his behavior clear for a smart girl like you? He definitely likes you. He is so cute and pure you could read through him like an open book, isn’t it always the case?

He likes you and you let him go.

A nervous short laugh of realization escaped your mouth as tears swelled in your eyes.  The idea of facing him again made your stomach chrun in anticipation. You are gonna fix this when you’ll face him again, today, and you’ll make all this clear to him too. You’ll definitely do, no escape, Adam.

No escape for both of you.

[missingrobin]

Unconditional (part 2)romance

Description: Love. Lies. Heartbreak. A recipe for disaster. When you move to Riverdale you have to face your dark past and a possibly hopeful future.

Pairing:Sweet Pea x Reader, Jughead x Reader

Warning:language, drugs, violence, underage drinking, parties? (just don’t get triggered)

Word count: 4199 

A/N: Yall this story is getting so good! I’m so excited to keep writing and if you’re enjoying it  tell me below and if you have any thing you might want to see in this series or just in general send me an ask or dm me :)

Part 1

You woke to feel a heavy hand on your back. The hand belonged to Sweet Pea, your sorta kinda friend. It was around 11am most people had  already left the bar but few remained because they were still too tired to drive home. You looked up and saw that Sweet Pea was still asleep, so you gently wiggled his hand off your back and grabbed your things. Toni was awake and was already cleaning up the bar. You walked over to her to see what your newest adventure together was going to be.

“Hey Toni good morning,” you said

Hey Y/N how are you feeling?” Toni replied 

“Pretty damn good honestly,”

“Hey we should probably get you all moved in,” said Toni 

“Alright let's hit the road.” 

You both jumped in your cars and you followed Toni to her trailer. You drove down a windy road till you reached the trailer park. The trailer wasn’t anything you expected. It was painted a raziliant purple color and was quite large on the outside. The trailer was partially graffitied with beautiful drawings that made the outside even better. There was a pink motorcycle and a garden with lavish plants along the trailer. The inside was so much grander there were two bedrooms and a very modern kitchen .The living room was screaming comfort from the plush chairs to the soft blankets that sat in a basket near the tv.  After your tour of your new home for the time being you resided to where your room was and placed down your few  belongings.

 You laid your bed and took some deep breaths and tried to process what the hell was going on. One second you were in California fearing for your life now you’re in Riverdale in the safety of your new friends home. Time felt like it was never ending while you were being held captive by Nico, now you feel like there’s finally room for you to love your life and yourself. 

“Y/N let's go to Pops you’ll love it.” Toni declared while almost breaking down your door

“Okay,” you agreed. 

You spang from your bed with power and met Toni in the main living area. Together you set off for Pops in Toni’s white jeep.

When you arrived at Pops you got situated and ordered a Strawberry milkshake and a large basket of fries that you and Toni would share.

“Do you miss it,” Toni asked while twiddling her fingers around her glass.

“Miss what?” You responded even though you were deep in thought. Toni noticed. 

“California.” 

“Yeah,” you hesitated slightly. “I wish things didn’t have to go so wrong,” a small sigh left your lips.

“I just miss the beaches and the boardwalk but most of all my family.”  You didn’t dare to look up. You could feel your eyes start to grow heavier and your heart start to beat faster. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that stuff Y/N,” Toni reached her hand across the table in hopes to comfort you.

“It’s okay things will work out they always do.” you smiled 

“Hey on a lighter note there’s a party next weekend we should totally go,  It would be a great way to meet more people  and it's being held at the Quarry so it would be fun to explore,” Toni remarked brightly. Her puppy eyes gleamed and you couldn’t resist.

“Yes! That would be awesome!” you exclaimed with fake excitement. 

You both finished your meal and drove back home.  It was already getting dark so you decided to stay in and have a girls night. You stayed up to the early hours of the morning watching Clueless, Legally blonde, and many more movies to pass the time.

When you woke up you saw that it was 3:27 pm.

“Toni, Toni wake up it's the afternoon already,” you shook her till she woke up.

“Oh damn well there goes most of our day,” Toni replied with a melancholy voice 

“It’s fine lets just go hang out at the Whyte Wyrm,” you suggested 

“That’s a really good idea, let's go,” Toni slightly cheered up. 

You both hopped on Toni’s bike and drove to the Wyrm. The parking lot was nearly empty except for a shady black van but you ignored it and walked inside. 

“Lets play pool!” Toni exclaimed 

You both walked over to the pool table and had a pleasant evening playing pool and chatting with your new friend.  

“You suck ass Toni, why did you even ask me to play?” you laughed while holding the cue stick in between your hands.

“Because I thought you would suck more,” she giggled and poked you playfully with the stick.

“I just remembered my first day of school is tomorrow ugghh,” you rolled your eyes a

“Oh it's not that bad I promise, school can actually be sorta fun and plus you have Sweet Pea, Fangs and I to keep you company,” Toni replied with warmth in her voice.

“Yeah that’s true, I should really try to be positive about this,” you declared with hope.

“Precisely.” Toni smiled 

“Oh this is gonna be such a shit show,” you said while burrowing your hands in your arms.

“I thought you were gonna be positive.” Toni looked at you with a smirk.

“I gave up,” you replied with a grim look.

Toni looked around the room. You saw a clock by a dart board that read 11:12 pm. 

“It’s getting late, we should head home, we have a big day tomorrow,'' Toni smirked with an evil look.

You flipped her off and laughed. You were home in less than 5 minutes. You both returned to your designated areas and retired for the night. You took off your makeup and itchy day clothes and picked up your latest read The Diviners from your night stand. You read yourself to sleep and soon drifted off to a comfortable slumber. 

You woke to your loud ass iPhone alarm and groaned. You rolled out of bed and got ready for the day. You put on a fabulous denim skirt and a cropped long sleeve button up top. You accessorized with gold rings and a gold necklace. You looked in the mirror and you looked like the baddest bitch ever. You threw on your black heeled boots and headed out the door. You had to drive to school alone because Toni was already gone but you weren’t worried because you knew you were gonna make this school your bitch. 

Your drive to South side high was quite refreshing. You listened to Tame Impala with the windows rolled down and thought about what school was going to be like.

You pulled into the parking lot and got out of your car. All eyes were on you, boys looked you up and down, girls gave you fake smiles and whispered to their friends . People made crude comments  in all directions but you ignored the unwanted attention. You strutted up to the school doors and you were met by Toni and Sweet Pea.

“Damn Y/N you look so fucking hot,” Toni exclaimed while stared at you in awe.

“Thanks babe,” you wrapped Toni in a tight hug.

“Yeah Y/N you really do look great,” Sweet Pea said while raking his hands through his dark lush hair.

“Thanks,” you replied 

Sweet Peas face turned a velvety shade of pink and you noticed. Sweet Pea was obviously gorgeous but you didn’t have time to deal with a boyfriend, especially another drug dealing one that likes to pull knives on you. 

You and Toni headed off to your first period class together leaving Sweet Pea in the dust. His mind was filled with thoughts of you and what he would have to do to get you. 

In your first period class you sat with Toni and her friend Fangs who you just got acquainted with and laughed and talked about how shitty the school was. You were genuinely enjoying yourself. You giggled and barely paid attention to the teacher who was lecturing the class about drugs.

At lunch you sat with Toni and her friends again but this time you met Jughead. He was simply angelic, he had the best personality and above all he was a writer just like you. You couldn’t help but stare at his gorgeous face.

“So Jughead what do you usually write?” you questioned and slid  your hand under your chin.

“Oh god Y/N please don’t get him started,” Toni begged.

You ignored her comment and connected eyes with Jughead.

“I write anything that I feel matters, from articles to poetry,” he smiled at you and looked at your red stained lips.

In your head you thought of you and him sitting in pops together sharing a milkshake on your first date and of course you thought of your wedding and how cute your kids were going to be.

“Snap out of it woman, you’ll start drooling in a second ,”  Your internal monologue told you. 

You quickly realized that you were staring at his lips and you forced yourself to look at the ground.

“Y/N do you write?” Jughead asked 

“Yeah actually I do, but I haven’t written anything in a while,” you started staring at his lips again.

“Why not?” he questioned and adjusted his hat.

“So many reasons, maybe I can tell you sometime over coffee,” you flirted, making sure to make direct eye contact then to him and look him up and down. 

“I’d like that,” he smirked playfully while sucking on a cherry lollipop.

During that whole debacle Sweet Pea was staring at you and he was pissed. He felt his insides burn with rage and jealousy. 

“Why didn’t she look at me that way, I’m ten fucking times better than that dickhead,”  he thought  and sank his head to the ground with slight defeat.

He couldn’t take it. Sweet Pea stood up and stormed off through the cafeteria. His whole face was bright red and he wanted to fight someone. Fangs noticed Sweet Pea’s change in attitude and he took off after him.

“Hey bro what’s got you all hot and bothered,” Fangs questioned trying not to make Sweet Pea even more upset. 

 “That bitch and her little boyfriend.” Sweet Pea spit 

“Huh,” Fangs said utterly confused.

“Y/N and Dickhead,” Sweet Pea had anger fuming off him at this point. He reached forward and struck a locker leaving a dent.

“How many fucking times do I have to tell you not to talk about girls that way dumbass, and Jug didn’t even do anything they were just talking,” Fangs rolled his eyes.

“Is a coffee date just talking idiot,” Sweet Pea mocked with hate in his voice. 

“Look dude, it's not that serious and aren’t you the one who pulled a knife on Y/N when you first met her,” Fangs leaned forward closer to Sweet pea and balled his fists to his sides.

 “Oh yeah she told me about that dumbass,” Fangs replied with equal amounts of anger.

“Go Fuck yourself.,” Sweet Pea slashed words at his friend and stormed off and out the doors to the parking lot.

Fangs knew that Sweet Pea could get like this sometimes but he had never seen him so upset. He wondered why Sweet Pea was so pissed off about a girl that he just met a few days ago. Fangs knew that he had to let Sweet Pea go blow off some steam by himself, but it didn’t make how he just acted okay.

The school day went very fast and was pleasant. You had noticed tension between the Sweet Pea and Fangs but you didn’t want to get in the middle of that so you ignored it. Although you didn't see much of Sweet Pea at all for the rest of the day. 

After school you had your first shift at the Wyrm and you were excited because you would be able to bartend. You had drinking experience since you were 16 but you really didn’t like alcohol too much, only the sweet refreshing stuff but you absolutely adored making drinks.

You drove to the Wyrm and Toni walked you through some of the signature drinks which were simple enough to learn. Within 30 minutes you could make anything on the menu. You were fucking amazing at bartending and talking to strangers so this job was an excellent  way to make some cash while still doing something that you loved. Time went by like a breeze and before you knew it your shift was over. When you finished and clocked out for the night FP approached you. 

“Hey Y/N your work at the bar was fucking incredible great job tonight,” FP was thoroughly impressed by you.

“Thanks FP, I really appreciate the opportunity to work here. It's great,” you gave him a bright smile and wrapped your tired arms around your body.

“You’re welcome kid, Anyways have you met my boy?” FP prodded hoping to gain insight on your relationship with Jughead.

“Yeah I met him today at school he’s really nice,” your palms started to sweat.

“Oh cool, cool, hopefully you guys can become friends, god knows that boy needs some more of those,” FP chuckled lightly.

You gave a brief lowkey uncomfortable laugh.

“Oh I should really get going goodnight FP,” you tried to make your escape as fast as possible.

“Yeah you’re right kid, goodnight,” FP replied while strolling off to a group of older serpents. 

When you finally made it to your car you sat and tried to take in that conversation. Why was FP asking about Jughead? Why did he put such emphasis on you being friends? Most importantly why did your hands start sweating when he brought up Jughead? Sure he was really cute and he liked a lot of things that you liked but it's no reason to get all worked up about. Damn it, you knew you had a teeny tiny amount of feelings for him but it doesn’t matter, or does it?

“Let it go,” you whispered to yourself with slight disappointment. 

In Jugheads trailer he was having the exact same thoughts as you. He questioned why he felt like this and how he magically felt this strongly about some girl he just met. In his head he replayed the first time he saw you walking through the cafeteria looking stunning. With your beautiful long luxurious legs and your impeccable sense of fashion. He thought about holding you in his arms while he recited poetry to you in fourign languages. What the hell man he thought. Then he suddenly slapped the shit out of himself to make the day dreaming go away. 

“That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.” Jughead muttered to himself as he rubbed his brutally attacked cheek. 

Several days later…

It was finally Friday afternoon. The weather was blazing and bright and you took that as a good sign. Your week had been thrilling from you starting your new school to you hanging out with your new friends and sneaking off with Jughead to hang out at the library during lunch. If you were being honest you would even say that life was currently fucking awesome. Although your week was going great you still had so much more to do like the Snake Bash starting at midnight. You still had to get on your craziest rave outfit and pregame but you just got out of school and you wanted to take a drive to reminisce on all the bomb shit that had been happening lately.

 After your drive you went back home to find sparkly shit all over the floor in your living room. 

“Y/N which one do I wear? It's the last Snack Bash of the school year.  I have to start it with a bang.” Toni was speaking so rapidly and she was quite literally jumping up and down. She held outfits up to her over and over again.

“Okay first of all where did you get all these dresses? Second wear the diamond cover up with a black swimsuit set under you’d look so hot in that.” you replied and took a second look at the shiny mess.

“Okay thank you so much.” Toni jogged over to you and wrapped you in a quick hug while trying not to step on the eight million outfits on the floor and then took off into her room.

You stepped off the mountains of clothes and went into your room to get ready. You searched through all your old rave clothes and then found the one. It was a metallic super cropped top with matching cheeky bottoms. You paired that with white fishnet tights and white doc martens that you stole from a store in California when you were homeless after your parents died. You did a ravishing makeup look that consisted of a lot of glitter and crystals. Finally your masterpiece was finished. You looked like a goddess and you knew it. 

You came out of your bedroom to find a crowd of your friends. Fangs, Sweet Pea, Jughead, and Toni were waiting for you so you all could drive to the quarry together. When everyone laid eyes on you they were stunned. You were thrown up on with immediate compliments. Jughead's jaw dropped to the floor. Sweet pea looked like he was drooling all over the floor. 

Someone finally spoke up. “U- Uh Y/N you look beautiful,” Sweet Pea professed while pushing back his hair with his strong ring covered hands. 

“Yeah you really do,” Jughead chimed in. He walked over to you on a finally clean floor and wrapped you in a warm comforting hug. 

Sweet Pea frowned and gave a look of disgust from the action but to everyone else it was just a simple hug.

The guys couldn’t keep their eyes off your body and you had to keep saying out loud that you weren’t a piece of meat. Although you looked divine your friends did too. Fangs wore a see through shirt and skinny jeans and his makeup consisted of a shit ton of glitter too. Toni wore the outfit you told her to and she curled her bubblegum pink hair into loose waves. Sweet Pea actually didn’t wear a shirt, he only had a kimono and pants on and a bandanna tied around his neck. Jughead wore a short sleeve button down shirt tucked into distressed black pants and of course that god damn hat.

You and your friends got in Toni’s jeep and drove to the Quarry. You blasted music and laughed the whole way there. 

When you reached your destination you could tell that this party wasn't going to be fucking crazy. Pretty girls danced with dangerous guys. Heads bobbed up and down, the ground almost felt like it was shaking. Colorful lights decorated the floor along with colorful outfits. You were drawn in just like the first time you went to a rave. Your eyes darted to where most people were dancing and you  and your friends immediately joined them. You ran off to the dance floor and moved your body with passion. You shook your hips along with your hair. You felt eyes on you as you got lost in the music. You were dancing with a group of Serpent girls when a handsome  stranger walked over and asked you to dance. You took the mysterious stranger's hand and deepened in the crowd. 

“I’m Leo.” the gorgeous man remarked 

“I’m Y/N,” you said while connecting eyes with the man.

He had a soft smile and beautiful hair that touched his chin. His eyes dared you to get lost in them. You danced wildly and rested your arms on his shoulders. 

The man became a little too handsy and you moved his hands off of your lower back. 

“Not so fast lover boy.” you smirked 

“Hey don’t be like that baby girl,” Leo said sternly. He moved his hands back to their previous place and discomfort washed over you. 

“Back off asshole” you spit pushing his arms off of you. You stormed off into the abyss of bodies.

You didn’t like that at all. You knew that it was probably a good idea to get away from him. You drifted off to find your friends but they spotted you first. 

“Hey Y/N is he giving you trouble?” Sweet Pea said while cracking his knuckles 

“Nah it's no big deal Sweet,” you replied in an effort to calm him down.

“Alright,” Sweet Pea hesitated

You grabbed Toni’s arm and you sped to the dance floor. You wrapped your arms around her and you swayed to the music. It was nice to have really good friends that would look out for you.

“Toni.” 

“Yeah Y/N,” 

“Thank you for everything,” you said warmly 

“You’re welcome, thanks for being here,” she pulled you into a close hug.

You both held each other and listened to Somebody Else by the 1975.  People were all around holding their loved ones and best friends. Time felt infinite. You felt Infinite. 

Behind the trees Leo and a gang of ghoulies plotted a scheme. 

“That bitch is so full of herself,” Leo spat while looking over at the crowd of people.

“Don't worry about Leo, we'll take care of her,” some goulie said while lighting his cigarette.

Sweet Pea stood lips locked with some pretty girl. Fangs was talking to some guy and you and Toni were dancing, but where was Jughead? 

“Hey I’m gonna go look for Jug okay,” 

“Got it,” Toni replied while still dancing . 

Your eyes scanned the crowd but there was still no sign of Jughead. You tried to come up with an idea of where he could be, but then a melancholy thought crossed your brain. Maybe he left with someone else, you dismissed the thought simply because you didn’t want to think of that. You walked back to the car with a droopy mood and tired feet.

When you arrived back at the car to your surprise you saw  Jughead sitting on the roof of the car looking at the stars. You strolled up to him.

“Hey stranger,” you almost whispered 

“Oh hey Y/N,” Jughead replied trying to act like you didn’t just scare the shit out of him.

“Not the party type?” you questioned

“Yeah not really.” he replied dully

You climbed to the hood and sat beside him. The sky was decorated with stars and the moon shined in the distance.

“It’s beautiful,” you sighed and laid down on the roof to rest your aching body.

“It is.” he agreed while resting his arms on his crossed legs.

“Tomorrow wanna go get breakfast at Pops and hangout?” you said calmly 

“Yeah that would be nice.” 

“It’s a date.” 

“Like an actual date?” he questioned 

“Yeah if you want it to be,” you replied with your heart racing. You were so good at flirting on accident that it should be a crime. 

“Then it’s a date,” he proclaimed while looking at you. He saw how the moonlight shined against your skin and his heart twirled. 

Your eyes were darting at all the different stars. 

“You’re a dork you know that,” you said while giggling.

“You’re too,” he said while playfully bumping you.

You sat up and looked at him. Time stopped. The World stopped rotating. It was just you and him. You turned to face him. Your eyes connected and you slid your hand on his neck. You pulled him closer and your lips locked. Your lips seemed to fit together like the perfect puzzle. The kiss was like no other, nothing could ever come close to it. It lasted a lifetime and when you parted you still felt buzzing on your lips. You had never been kissed like that. That kiss danced in your heart and was ingrained in your brain. Jughead looked at you and smiled, his cheeks were flushed with pink.

The air was filled with passion, there was no need for words. You simply just laid back down on the roof of the car and he slid his hand into yours.

You could still hear the music from the party booming in the other direction. The wind was chilled and the fresh spring air swept over your body like a blanket. Your body shivered because of the temperature outside. Jughead noticed.

“Do you want my jacket?” he questioned 

“Yes please,” you replied with a smile.

Your hand felt safe and right wrapped in his but that didn’t stop the various amounts of insecurity from coming in and drowning your brain with hesitation. Was this right? Is it too soon? What if he’s like Nico? You silenced and came to the realization that he might not be like Nico. What if he was actually a good guy.

You jumped into conversation with Jughead about the copious amount of things you shared in common. Maybe things will work out.

Well that was pretty freaking cute but the good shit never really lasts. Hearts break. People lie. And love is a dangerous thing…  

Tag list:

@chipster-21​

(If you want to be added to the tag list comment below) 

[guylty]

Hello hello hello! A week has passed and I am back from my mini break. I am going to indulge in a little travel report here, so those of you who have no interest in sitting through someone else’s holiday pictures – no offense taken, I totally understand! – please just scroll down to where you see the header for the round-up. All your tumblr Armitage needs will be satisfied down there 😉.

Tbh, it was lovely to leave the confines of my home town and finally venture out a little bit farther afield. In fact, it only occurred to me as we were on the road, that I hadn’t left Dublin at all since mid-January 😱. Ireland is not really that big – it reaches about 500 km (300m) from top to bottom – but the terrain here is characterised by rocks and hills, which makes for small, windy roads, especially as the infrastructure does not need to be as car-friendly as in other, more populated countries in the world. So don’t be surprised if you see the estimated travel time in the map below.

Yes, it takes more than 4 hours to travel 287km (178m) in Ireland. 😁 If you look really closely at the map you will actually notice a black jagged line running through the land. That is the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Our route this time took us the Northern Irish way, crossing into NI near Belturbet and then exiting again via Pettigo. The border is still “green”, i.e. there is no visible sign that you have actually moved from one jurisdiction to another. (I can usually only tell by the difference in road surface 😂 and the fact that the speed signs are suddenly in miles/h and not in kilometer/h any more. It’ll be interesting to see the Brexit regulation work out the issue of the United Kingdom’s *only* land border while keeping both EU customs rules as well as inner-Irish peace…) This is the shortest way of getting up from Dublin in the centre of the East coast, into the Northwestern corner of Ireland, which is part of the Republic and called County Donegal.

Our journey took us even longer than the estimated 4 hours, but then we also had to switch drivers in order to relieve my mother-in-law (77) and take a lunch break. We eventually arrived in Dunfanaghy in the late afternoon where my father-in-law had specifically booked rooms with a view in the plush Arnold’s Hotel. At first I was a bit taken aback at the layer of dust in our otherwise lovely room but then I realised that it meant the room had not been used in months and we were the first occupants since reopening the day prior, i.e. no lingering viruses there… From our luxurious king-size bed we had views out to the beach. (Click all images to enlarge!)

View from the bed

Village idyll

Busy despite the Covid crisis

Dunfanaghy beach at low tide

I have to say I was a bit skeptical as regards the attitude of the holiday makers towards keeping safe from the virus, though. Dunfanaghy was packed to the gills with tourists, particularly from Northern Ireland. (The weekend actually coincided with the traditional, Protestant celebrations of the Battle of the Boyne on the 12th of July every year. This is a significant date in NI, marking the victory of Protestant king William III over Catholic king James II, celebrated with drums, huge bonfires and marches by the Orange Order. It continues to be a controversial tradition within NI, with (some) Catholics offended by the celebration of this victory, while (some) Protestants insist on their right to express their traditions.) As part of the UK, NI has had a different approach to the Covid crisis than the Republic, and tbh I was not really that impressed with the general lack of social distancing displayed last week. (It goes without saying that it was *not only* NI people who were far too close for my comfort; there obviously were also plenty of Irish holiday makers there, too.) Within the hotel, there were hand-sanitisers at all exits and corridors, so it was easy to keep hands clean. In the restaurant, the staff wore PPE masks and the guests were seated well apart as fewer tables than normal were set up. So I felt relatively safe in there. But I hardly saw any face masks worn in the village, people were congregating in big groups outside pubs and shops, and it felt as if there were no covid restrictions at all. All that made me very angry. On our walks, particularly in the very busy Glenveagh National Park, people would not keep distance even though the paths were more than 2 meters wide, and on the parking lot, cars parked directly side-by-side. But then again, at least we were outside, and Glenveagh is an absolutely stunning place.

Glenveagh

Glenveagh Castle

In the kitchen garden of Glenveagh

Bag End?

Entrance to the kitchen garden

Wild life very close by

I have been to Glenveagh a good few times before. It’s a stunning valley with a 19th century hunting lodge castle at the centre. There is a formal garden through which you enter the castle grounds, but what I had not see until now was the amazing kitchen garden. The little gardener’s cottage under the large tree somehow reminded me of Bag End.

The best thing, of course, is the beaches and dunes and the mighty North Atlantic.

Tramore Strand

Horn Head

View of Tramore from the dunes

Horn Head from Dunfanaghy

I was thinking of Squirrel/Radagast who had commented about wild flowers before I left for the North, and I took a good few photos of flowers.

Native Irish orchid

Calla lily – associated with the Irish struggle for freedom

The weather was – Irish. We had two days that were predominantly dry, with only a little bit of drizzle here and there. Only on our last day the weather really turned against us, which was annoying as we had planned to go walking with my in-laws a bit. But well, a bit of wet doesn’t deter my hardy in-laws. There is no bad weather – only inappropriate clothing. So we trudged off on a two-hour walk in the Ards Forest. I think I was the only who got drenched to the skin. Yep, even after 20 years I still haven’t learnt… or bought the right equipment.

Typical family picnic. In the rain. Sharing 1 bottle of Guinness, 2 apples and 2 sandwiches. No lie.

However, we did also get a bit of sunset in, and so the trip’s best memory is this – a sundowner from Horn Head with the ragged shape of Tory Island in the background.

So, that was my summer holiday 2020. Four nights away with family. It was actually really lovely, especially as my f-i-l is now getting really old. This may have been his last trip up to Donegal. It was lovely to spend time with him and my m-i-l who are still very active and who are interesting to chat to. I was especially delighted that Little Miss Guylty came along, too – not just for myself but also for the grandparents for whom her presence is particularly special. And I had four nights of sound sleep that really recharged my batteries. So much so that I can now jump energetically into this week’s tumblr round-up:

  Badtennantwolf has put together a set of icons. I am including the set here for the first four pictures of RA at SDCC in 2015 as we recently had a chat about that occasion (and the famous dragon beanie throw) elsewhere

Richardarmitagefanpage reminds us of a Hobbit Extended Editions rewatch organised by One Ring Net for 21 July

Some dramatic Guy of Gisborne gifs, season 3, by riepu10

LOL. Including this mainly for the spot-on caption by thewarriorandtheking

*sniggers* Mezzmerizedbyrichard has come to the aid of many hot and bothered Mr Thornton admirers…

I have always been somewhat intrigued by that pock mark on Richard’s arm. Maybe he had it removed or something, because I also remember pictures from around the same time where he sported a blue plaster on his bicep. Picture posted by hobbitoferebor

Goodness me. 13 years ago. Yes, he looks a good bit younger. And full-on Gisborne-sideburns. Gifs by riepu10

Eyelash porn courtesy by mezzmerizedbyrichard

Ignore the wig and enjoy the nose! Richard as Claude Monet, giffed by mezzmerizedbyrichard

Lehnsharks’ Thorin drawings

BTS footage of Richard as Thorin was few and far between, so here are a few precious scenes, giffed by riepu10

Daniel Miller/Trevor Price looking ominous… Gifs by riepu10

One of nfcomics’ What A Guy Wants… interesting metaphor…

There we go. Sorry for the whole long holiday crap. I can faithfully promise that that is it for this year *sardonic laugh*.

However, before I go and more importantly, just a quick reminder:

It’ll be August soon and that means… RA birthday auction time!!! Donations of items have been coming in and it is high time for me to start organising and promoting, soon. Watch this space for more info!

Have a lovely weekend,

Sonja ❤️

  2020 Armitage Weekly Round-up #28 Hello hello hello! A week has passed and I am back from my mini break. I am going to indulge in a little travel report here, so those of you who have no interest in sitting through someone else's holiday pictures - no offense taken, I totally understand!

[dancingbaek]

To End in Ice and Fire | Part 4

Being born with a particular birthmark is the lurking fear every parent has in their hearts when they bring a child into this dark world. Your parents are the only ones who have never received relief when creating life, because they knew your soul would be damned for eternity when he finally comes to claim what’s his.

Moodboard // Prologue // Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

You’re warm.

 That’s the first thought you have when you become semi-conscious. You had fallen asleep cold – cold and terrified. But you’re warm and content now, snuggled under… blankets?

Your eyes open groggily, your vision focusing on the heaps of blankets spread over you. The plush pillows beneath your head are practically begging you to close your eyes once more, but you hear the soft crackle of fire in one corner of the room. The opposite corner of the one in your bedroom. Where am I?

The question causes you to push up on your elbows to get a better look at where you are. The walls look like stone with a thin layer of gold pressed over them, perhaps showing the pinnacle of wealth. The floorboards are a reddish wood, your blankets being cream fur and wool and linen. The fireplace is broad and grand, the fire taking the bite out of the winter air wafting in from a crack in the giant window in the room. Swinging your legs over the side of the bed, your feet meet cool floorboards and manage to knock away some of the sleep still clouding your mind.

The murdered boy.

The walk to the church.

The demon waiting.

Everything comes flooding back to you, and your heart speeds in sudden fear. The demon brought you here, it must be his home. He used some sort of black magic to put you asleep to make sure you wouldn’t know where you were. Or perhaps it was just to make sure you wouldn’t fight him. Either way, you were panicked and ready to bolt.

As quietly as possible, you padded over to the cracked window. Peering outside showed the estate’s overgrown grass and out of control garden, with an expanse of forestry beyond it. The sky was dark and cloudy, and the ground was at least 3 floors below. There goes the idea of sneaking out the window.

You move away, going to inspect the fireplace. There’s a fire poker leaning against it, and you pick it up, feeling the weight in your hand as you give an experimental swing. It’s got heft and it feels like solid iron. Somehow you doubted it would offer much protection if all the rumors you had heard about this particular brand of evil were true. However, it would have to do, so you continued on.

You found your slippers set next to the bed, and you slipped those on before you moved to the door. The handle was unlocked, so you twisted it slowly and pulled it open. Thankfully, the door didn’t creak, so you crept out. The walls outside were stone, lit up candles in gold sconces placed evenly down the hallway. Tapestries were sometimes between them, but you hardly took notice as you continued down the hallway and took the first set of stairs you found.

It led to another hallway, same stones, same sconces, and you pushed forward. An uneasy feeling had made its home in your stomach, having moved through an entire floor and not hearing one whisper of a voice as you went, not a single creak of a floorboard, not a single instance that would lead you to believe you were anything but completely and totally alone. The second staircase was easy to locate, because it was a grand set of split stairs that led to the foyer, and beyond that, a set of dark-wooden doors that undoubtedly led to freedom.

Having decided you were alone, you picked up your skirts and rushed down the remaining steps. You crossed the expansive foyer with long strides, practically throwing yourself at the doors when you reached the. Each hand tugged at a doorknob, but neither of them budged. Abandoning that idea, your left hand joined your right and you tugged at one doorknob with all your strength, but it didn’t budge, let alone turn. Having already worked up hope to escape, your hopes dropped, and you kicked the door in frustration.

“Ouch!” You hissed, leaning down to clutch your foot. Your slippers did nothing to shield your toes from your lashing out, and the white-hot fury you felt start to build was doused with water as you heard a low chuckle sound from behind you. You straightened immediately, turning in you spot with wide eyes to see who had snuck up on you.

It wasn’t your demon. My demon? You briefly thought and expelled the unexplainable drop in your stomach when you realized it wasn’t him. It was a different demon-man, slightly shorter, with poutier lips and thicker brows. The eyes were a similar ruby red, and his skin was like paper.

“My brother won’t like you trying to break things in our home.” He spoke, and his voice sounded just as melodic as the other’s had.

“Why am I here? Who are you?” You demanded, finding your voice after a moment of gaping. Your hand tightened around the fire poker.

“He should have talked to you before bringing you here.” The demon sighed, tilting his head a bit as he regarded you for a moment. “My name is Junmyeon. Yixing had to step out to… well, he had to step out for a bit. Consider me your babysitter. Are you hungry?”

“Am I-am I hungry?” You spluttered at him, thrown off by the nonchalance and apparent disregard for the situation you were in. “Do you both kidnap girls so regularly this doesn’t surprise you?”

“Like I said, Yixing should have talked to you.” He shook his head. “I apologize for his behavior; he doesn’t have a lot of interaction with humans outside of our usual capacity. However, if you come sit down for breakfast I can answer some questions you might have.”

“Breakfast?” You question in confusion. You risked taking your eyes off the demon to glance around, noticing each window had heavy curtains hanging over them, blocking out any sun that might be coming out.

“Well, admittedly breakfast for you might not be for a couple more hours. You’ve been asleep for over a day though, so I believe you should be hungry. Humans still eat three times a day, yes?”

As he spoke, shock rattled through you. Asleep for a day? You couldn’t believe it. The nerves in your stomach wouldn’t allow you to eat, but he hadn’t made any move to harm you. If the other one could make you sleep for over a day with just a few words, you had no doubt this one could kill you without breaking a sweat. This might be the only way I get answers.

“Okay.” You respond, unsure. The demon – Junmyeon – nods and turns on his heel, leading the way back he that he most likely came. He seemed to glide on air, his movements graceful and entirely inhuman. You followed tentatively, still holding the fire poker in one hand. Glancing around didn’t yield many results – the place was sparsely furnished. You supposed demons didn’t have much need for material things.

He led the way into large dining area. The ceilings were high, a single chandelier hanging above the middle of an expansive marble table. A spread of fruits, breads, different meats, and sweet treats were spread out across the top of the table, candles lit intermittently throughout. The great windows in this room were covered with the same thick curtains.

“Please sit where you like.” Junmyeon offers, standing off to the side of the table. You manage a small nod, choosing the seat closest to where you just came from. Junmyeon took the seat across from you at the table, and you set the fire poker at your side for easy access. He never mentioned the weapon, never looked at it, and at once you knew you first thought was correct – if he wanted to hurt you, nothing would stand in its way. You felt silly for even trying.

“Why am I here?” You ask him again, gazing at him from across the table. The candles closest by cast shadows across one side of his face, and outside of the light one eye looked almost normal, just a handsome face sitting across from you.

“You must already know why you’re here.” He responds, eyes trailing down to rest over where birthmark was on your collarbone. Your hand flies up to cover it, your cheeks burning lightly. You see his eyes widen a bit, swallowing. It was the most human thing you had seen him display so far, but it felt predatory. You shift in your seat, suddenly feeling even more nervous.

“I know what I’ve heard about it.” You admit. “But I want to know what you think. Why he thinks he has a right over my life.”

“You’re his.” Junmyeon says simply. “You were made for him, crafted specifically by a higher power in order to give him companionship. That mark you have is just intended to bring you together faster.”

“He’s not human. Neither are you.” You find yourself arguing. “I’m meant to be with someone like me, someone who won’t steal my soul and damn me for eternity.” You don’t know where the sudden fire comes from. Perhaps it’s at being referred to like a pet or maybe it’s because he speaks like God intended to give his creations to demons, but you were not having it.

“You should eat.” Junmyeon says, not feeding from your sudden anger. “Your next meal will not be until midday, Yixing will be disappointed if you starve yourself further.”

“I don’t care what Yixing feels.” You mutter, but pile the closest things onto your plate anyways. Junmyeon’s lips twitch in amusement.

“You will.” He shrugs a bit, picking up an apple to bite into it. You blink in surprise but decide not to question it.

“What is he going to do with me?” You voice wobbles towards the end. You had to know if you had any chance of returning home, of having a normal life again – or if you were going to die in a foreign place surrounded by evil.

Junmyeon looks away after a moment, lips pressing together lightly as a faraway look glazes over his eyes. “I’m not sure.” He admits after a moment. “I don’t think he thought much further ahead than just finding you.”

“That’s comforting.” You bite out, but simmer down when Junmyeon cuts his gaze back to yours.

“Eat.” He says, standing from his seat. “Perhaps I will answer more questions for you tomorrow. For now, eat. Any doors that are locked are impermissible to attempt entrance. Attempting to leave our home will end in vain.” He walked around the table before he paused. “And please return the fire poker to its rightful spot. It will not help you here.” His eyes shined in something akin to humor, but you weren’t quite sure that was possible for a being like himself. He left the dining area without a noise.

Your fury burning out ignited hunger pangs. You decide Junmyeon was right, you had to eat – if you wanted to escape you would need energy and starving yourself was not the answer. You avoid the meat altogether, sick thoughts running through your head about what it could possibly be. Instead, you choose to focus on the fruits and breads. It isn’t the healthiest breakfast, but it fills you up and you decide it doesn’t taste poisoned.

When you finish you stand from the table uncertainly. Outside of attempting to break into any locked rooms, Junmyeon hadn’t left you with any substantial information about what to do with your day. Not being allowed outside drastically cut down on things to keep you distracted. You decide it wouldn’t be a bad idea to familiarize yourself with the layout of the estate. As far as you knew, it was just Junmyeon and Yixing who lived here, and one of them was apparently away.

Remembering to grab the fire poker, you move out of the dining area. You move through the lower floor easily, and outside of the foyer and dining area, there’s a large ballroom with access to the dining room and foyer. The kitchen is connected to the dining area, but it’s locked and you don’t push Junmyeon’s rules. You go up the entrance stairway and come from the opposite way you came from. There were few doors unlocked, one leading to a sitting area with a plush couch, loveseat, and a few armchairs, while another door led to a library roughly three times the size of the Count’s. You resist the urge to comb through the titles and continue on your way.

The last unlocked door on the second floor grants you access to a larger room. Inside, the windows are still covered, and the lack of lit candles causes it hard for you to see. Squinting and taking a tentative step inside, your eyes adjust after a few moments of strain. Just barely you’re able to make out the shape of a grand piano sitting in the middle of the room. Beyond it are other shadows of what seem to be instruments like a violin and a bass. Unfortunately, your parents had never deemed it necessary for you to learn to play like many other young ladies would, so you back out of the room and shut the door quietly.

The third flight of stairs yielded no results other than the room you woke in. Deciding to peek behind the curtains you saw that the sun was crawling its way up, casting reds and oranges over the sky. Sighing, you decided to go back to the first floor and peek behind the curtains. Not so surprisingly, beyond the glass window were bars of metal, perhaps put there just to keep you inside. Feeling the most discouraged you have felt since the day the witch called you out in front of the square, you trudged back to the library. At least you had an assortment of books to waste away your time.

The rest of your day was spent reading. In any other situation you would be excited to be met with such exotic and new texts, however being locked away without any human interaction, against your will at that, had a way of sapping your enjoyment in totality. No one comes to summon you for lunch or dinner or even tea, so you curl up in an armchair for hours on end. Luckily you had thrown open the curtains in the library, so the sunny sky retreating behind the forestry was your hint that the day was ending and soon your source of light would be gone.

When the sinking sun has officially robbed you of your reading light and your eyes ached for the strain, you set aside your book and get up, stretching your legs and arms. Padding lightly back to your room, you decided to take a look in the closet. A few pieces of clothing were hung up, and you located something very modest to wear as sleep clothes. You lay down in bed after sliding out of your slippers, pulling the blankets up around your neck. Maybe you would die here, alone of old age, instead of him ending your life. It was a more chilling thought than you imagined. You turn on your side, closing your eyes, trying to keep the coldness away.

As you’re beginning to feel the tendrils of sleep penetrate, a soft melody floats up from the floor below. Your eyes open tiredly, recognizing the sounds of a grand piano, and you realize it must be coming from the one you had found earlier. The full, rich sound of each key being pressed resonated throughout you as it took on a more melancholic feel. Despite the deep-seated sadness emanating from whatever piece was being played, it was steady and smooth, somehow offering comfort as your eyes slid shut, lulling you into another dreamless sleep.

-

Uh, surprise? I promise I wasn’t waiting for Yixing’s birthday to post this, I’m just a shitty person.

[mypassionfortrash]

Do More of What Scares You (Part 13)

You're shocked to find out how Roger's been living since you left him - and since the end of Queen's American tour. But you're also determined to find a way to bring your relationship back from the brink. Will it work? 💡Catch up: 1&2 ~ 3&4 ~ 5&6 ~ 7&8&9 ~ 10&11 ~ 12💡

Notes: Thank you so much for reading! This is the penultimate chapter of this, with the final chapter going up tomorrow. It’s also the first Queen fic I’ve ever finished... it’s only taken me ten bloody months! How will it end? It's anyone's guess! Enjoy.

Roger resembled nothing of the man you fell for. His once vibrant blue eyes were weighed down by dark purple bags; his grown-out dye job left him with matted, unwashed tresses topped with inch-thick roots and his pyjamas hung around his frame like a sack. He was always lean, but now, he looked like a gust of wind could topple him. Standing in his doorway, he swayed with determination to keep his eyes off of you as he uttered a feeble, almost inaudible: “What’re you doing here?”

You sucked in some air, feeling the pressure of the words you needed to say threaten to choke you. The trembling wasn’t far behind.

Roger contorted his face into a scowl that twisted with every second of hesitation.

“I-” you began. The words stung. You couldn’t get them out. 

“I don’t want to see anyone right now.” 

The scene unravelled in slow motion. The door was a mere inch from being slammed in your face before you caught up.

“Wait!” you piped up, thrusting your foot between the door and the frame. “Jim came to see me.”

Roger stretched the gap in the door again - enough for one tired, sunken eye to peer out. His voice was still obscured by a sheet of oak. “I need a break. From Queen. It’s not good for me. I can’t see you right now.”

”I don’t know why I’m here,” you implored. “I thought things were getting easier since I got back. But it’s been hell.”

Roger emerged from his house, on to his porch for the first time in weeks. He sagged against the wall and folded his arms. He gawked at his feet. He gnawed at his lip. 

You couldn’t be certain whether he was grasping anything you said or simply bolstering himself against the autumnal nip in the air.

“I thought I was ok. And then Jim showed up,” you continued, your tone softening. “And I don’t even know how I got here. That’s the worst part of all this! I guess I just wanted to make sure you’re ok.” Your speech faltered. “I still care about you, even if…”

Roger peered at you through his lashes, through you. “Well, I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“And you’re starting to sound like me. That’s no way to live, Roger.”

Roger’s shoulders softened as he pulled his focus back to you.

“Can I come in?” you asked.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

Roger trailed off as you swept past him and into his home. Wandering through the dim, dusty hallway, you recalled him mentioning that a maid would visit him twice a week when he was here. However, judging by the stench of mouldering rubbish that permeated the place, that hadn’t happened recently. The living room was a splendid space, tastefully furnished and filled with photos of Queen in their heyday, and Roger’s mother and his sister, and pop culture posters neatly framed and hung from the dark crimson walls. Ornate gold lamps lit the high-ceilinged room and illuminated the flecks of dust that danced around you as you ventured further into Roger’s personal cesspit. He had made a nest on the plush looking sofa in the centre of the room; a bundle of blankets and books sat on the soft leather seats, and empty bottles of wine and pizza boxes lay strewn on the floor around it. This was the spot where he whiled away the weeks since the tour, trapped inside his head.

The scene made your soul ache and a numbness claw at your bones as your brain bleated on about how you did this. You were to blame. 

Roger stood in the doorway, fumbling with his hands as he witnessed you getting to grips with how he had been living.

“I did some shopping today,” you croaked. “I can cook something if you like? While you clean yourself up.”

“What’s the point?”

“Because we need to talk, and I don’t want you to be alone.”

Roger sighed and stopped his anxious handwringing. “Ok.”

You moved closer, trying your hardest not to startle him. “Take a shower. Take as long as you need,” you said, pushing your fingers through his hair and down his chin. “I’ll tidy this place and fix you something to eat. You look like you’re starving.”

———————————————————

Egg and chips.

Two plates of egg and chips sat on opposite sides of Roger’s dining room table as you paced the length of the room, waiting for him to join you. You wracked your brain for something to say to him. Something to make it all better for both of you.

None of this was your fault.

You repeated it over and over again above the crippling fear that, actually, you were to blame. You wrestled with your brain to convince yourself otherwise.

The door creaked open, interrupting the conversation your brain had with itself.

Roger slipped inside. He had changed into another t-shirt and another pair of pyjama bottoms; both drowned him. He folded in on himself as he took his seat the table. But at least he didn’t stink. You could bow to the urge to give him a cuddle without the possibility of vomiting over him. That was a start.

Sitting down at your food, your stomach growled. And yet you lacked the strength to pick up your cutlery. As soon as you had them in your grasp, your fingers let go. It was like they weighed a ton.

Roger, on the other hand, was ravenous, wordlessly devouring his food, but at the same time, getting no pleasure from it. It was just a function to keep him from dying. Nothing else. He kept his eyes on his plate.

“Are we going to be ok?” you asked.

He winced in response.

“Because I miss you.”

Roger put down his knife and fork and hardened his posture. “You left me.”

“I felt like I had to. I didn’t think there was any way out. You hurt me.”

“I know,” Roger grimaced. Then he finally looked at you. “And I’m never going to forgive myself for that.”

“We need to find a way to move on. Either together or apart. Because this-” you began, swinging your hand in his direction, “isn’t sustainable. For either of us.”

“I just needed time to think straight.”

“But you’re not going to find any answers festering here on your own. And I don’t want to go back to going out on awkward dates, or having my friends try to set me up with people who don’t even understand me. It’s humiliating. I don’t want it.”

Roger’s eyes glossed over. He enveloped his arms around his torso, clawing at the hairs on the underside of one of them. “You’ve been on dates since…”

You nodded. “Alex set me up with her boyfriend’s brother. Dragged me out to some Greek place last night. All three of them were a nightmare,” you explained. A scowl flitted over your features as you recalled the rest. “He works in finance. What a fucking catch.”

“How did it go?”

“How’d you think it went? I climbed out the bathroom window and legged it home.”

Roger smiled for the first time in weeks. An innocent, childish smile. “That sounds like something you’d do.”

You shook your head at the thought of the stunt you pulled. “Do you know, I never once felt like that with you?”

“That’s because I never worked in finance, so I’m not fucking boring.”

“Touché,” you giggled, settling back into your chair. “Touché.”

The air between the two of you grew cold again as that line of conversation died. You and Roger searched for something else to say. Something kind, or familiar.

“How was the rest of the tour?” you asked.

Roger exhaled with a pained laugh. Then he shuffled forward. “On or off stage?”

“Both.”

“Fucking awful. I don’t remember any of it. I can’t even remember how I got home - I just woke up here at the end of it all with a headache and a nosebleed.”

“Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?”

Roger shook his head. “S’just what happened.”

“You know you’re supposed to be in Munich tomorrow?”

“You know people jump off the roof of that fucking recording studio? How depressing is that? I can’t spend four fucking months holed up in there.”

“Jim’s worried.”

“He should be. There’s too much out there. I might…”

“What are you saying, Roger?” you asked, leaning in.

“I’m saying, I don’t want to go there while I’m in this state.”

“But the label-”

“Fuck the label.”

“Maybe we should just focus on getting you in a better headspace.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Both of us… in a better headspace.”

Roger nodded.

“It’s not going to be easy. But we need to talk about it,” you continued. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach at the lightning speed of your conversation. You and Roger - finally together and singing from the same hymn sheet.

“What do you want out of all this?” Roger asked.

“I want to feel better. And to have you back.”

“Would you really have me back? After everything?”

“In a heartbeat.”

—————————————————————————

“I don’t think I’ve ever slept over at yours,” you mumbled, attaching yourself to Roger to block out the sunrise slicing into Roger’s bedroom through the curtains.

“Hm?” he purred. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head and pulled you even closer. “Hopefully we can do this more often.”

“I’d like that.” Your fingers curled through the soft smattering of hair on his chest as it rose and fell steadily. “Are you going to Munich?”

His movements stilled. “I’m tired of it. Everything… I’m just glad to have you back.”

“There’s still a lot we need to work on, though. You know that.” The wires in your mind untangled as you thought all of this through. Maybe he was right. Maybe going to Munich wasn’t a good idea.

“What was that?” Roger asked.

“What was what?”

“If you don’t want me to go to Munich, then I totally agree with you.” 

You were completely unaware that you had verbalised your inner monologue, but you could hear the smile behind Roger’s words. “Did I just say that out loud?” you giggled. “I just don’t want you throwing all of this away for me,” you continued, rolling on top of him. “I made you happy once. But if you decide to abandon this - if you get tired of us - what’s to say you’re not going to resent me for it? That’s all I’m saying.”

He hummed in response while his calloused fingers rubbed contemplative circles over the small of your back. “The parties would have to stop, for starters. And I just… don’t want to go to fucking Munich. All there is is cocaine and strippers and those god awful clubs. And touring’s a fucking drag these days anyway. We’re getting old. Due a rest.”

“Maybe not now, but you’re going to have to go at some point. Your friends are relying on you for some drums,” you grinned, slapping his chest.

“Mmmm,” Roger sighed, flopping his head back down on to the pillow. “When you’re right, you’re right.”

“You don’t have to go to the strippers. Or the clubs. Or snort all the coke under the sun.”

“No coke. No clubs. No strippers. Got it.”

“Have you apologised to Freddie?”

Roger groaned.

“He’s your best mate.”

“He’s my best mate who left my girlfriend for dead outside one of those seedy little knocking shops. If anything, I think he owes both of us an apology.”

“But he was so kind to me, otherwise. And I don’t think it was his fault. You know how he gets carried away. And I’m a bit of a flake on nights out. You know what I’m like.”

“When I see him again, I’ll make sure he apologises to you.”

You rolled your eyes and prodded his chest: “Roger…”

He fluttered his lashes, looking down at you and acting oblivious. “Yes, my love?”

“Please?”

“Oh, alright!” He huffed, squeezing you in his arms. “But can we agree on one thing?”

“What?”

“Munich’s out the window until further notice?”

You nodded, burrowing your face into Roger’s chest. You missed this. “Can we just stay like this for a bit?”

“How do you feel about a holiday? Just the two of us? Where no one can bother us?”

You glanced up at him, feeling a wave of excitement course through your body. It made your heart thud. “Where to?”

“Anywhere.”

“Anywhere?”

“We could get on a plane in an hour and go anywhere.”

“But I haven’t even packed a suitcase,” you giggled, getting on to your knees.

“That’s the beauty of it.”

You sighed. Not a pained, exacerbated sigh, no. This was a content, over the moon sigh. The kind of sigh you might give when everything just falls into place and you just go along without a care in the world. Fuck your job. Fuck your friends. Fuck the life that had beaten you down for so long. 

It was time to take a risk - a bigger one than ever before.

“What do you say?” Roger grinned, squeezing your hips. “Anywhere you want.”

——————————————————————————————

The last time you found yourself inside an airport, you could barely navigate your way through it. Your body was so wracked with sorrow, guilt and shame.

But now, every thing was ok. Roger clutched your shaky, sweaty hand and led you out on to the tarmac where a private plane waited. 

The pair of you were bound for the south of France, but who knew where you’d end up? No plan, no luggage, no worries.

All that mattered was that Munich was on the back-burner. You wouldn’t have to go on any more forced, awkward dates. And you and Roger could finally be together in peace for a while.

Fuck everything else.

[hookedontaronfics]

Honky Dancer series - Chapter 8

Chapter title: Consequences Read the previous installments here: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3  | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 Rating: M Pairing: Taron x OC Warnings: Trigger warnings for a subtle mentions of an eating disorder and some medical drama A/N: A lot happens in this chapter, and it’s quite dramatic. The chapter bears its name well; you cannot outrun the consequences of your actions, as our beloved Juliette will soon find out. I hope you enjoy this emotional ride! X

Night shoots, I quickly learned, were a special sort of experience. Most of us had tried to nap before the call time, and we were all standing around clutching cups of coffee, full of caffeine and running on adrenaline. The choreography for “Saturday Night’s Alright” required every dancer that was hired, and a cast of extras simply to fill the background too. The amount of crew and the rigging required to give the number an expansive feel also added to the sheer number of people on set at the moment. The volume level was almost too much, with everyone chatting excitedly.

I was standing with my usual group, minus Markus, who was giving me an extremely cold shoulder by not acknowledging my presence at all. I couldn’t blame him, though; I’d told him to never talk to me again, after all. But now that it was the next day and my simmering anger had dulled, and I’d managed to smooth things over with Taron, I wondered if I hadn’t acted out too irrationally. Blame the baby hormones, I thought ruefully to myself.

Being on that carnival set, amongst the twinkling lights and magical atmosphere, made us feel like we were transported somewhere else. And I certainly hoped that effect would come across on film when it was all said and done. My favorite part was the massive Ferris wheel, ablaze with color. I spotted Taron, talking animatedly with Dexter, and when he looked over I gave him a small wave, which he cutely returned.

“Ugh, adorable,” Leah commented, making me smile behind my coffee cup lid as I took another sip. After what felt like a waste of an hour, we were finally called into place. We discarded our coffees and dumped our jackets and bags and went through last-minute costume checks, the costumers nit-picking over the littlest details, adjusting collars here, snipping stray threads there. We had already been walked through some preliminary blocking, but now that the cameras would be turned on, we all wanted things to be as perfect as they could be. The less takes we all had to do for each beat, the better.

Still, that constant ripple of excitement and thrill ran through all of us and kept us going as the nightly hours wore on. Watching Taron in his element really felt like a treat though. How he managed to turn that energy on and maintain his performance level take after take after draining take was mind-boggling, really. And whether he was tired or not, he never showed it, and he stayed positive and kind to everyone around him. But even though the work itself was exhausting, I still loved everything about it. 

The track itself was phenomenal, and Taron’s vocals were strong. I never got tired of listening to it no matter how many takes we did. Giles Martin was a genius, keeping the original integrity of the song but building segments of the different musical influences that Elton had been exposed to and incorporated into his music over the many years, and those flavors had also been used in our dance styles. The choreography was engaging, energetic and exciting, and being a part of this musical number certainly felt like being a part of something much larger than ourselves. The sequence was a crucial part of the storytelling, and needed to feel as youthful and adventurous as Elton’s life was during that time.

I had to admit that I was more than happy when they finally called that night’s filming to a close, as the first creep of dawn was just beginning to tinge the sky. I felt the exhaustion and soreness in every fiber of my body, and blearily changed out of my costume, located my bag in the pile, and wearily made my way off the set and toward the tube station before realizing someone was calling my name. I whirled around, nearly knocking myself off my own feet as I stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk.

“Juliette! Hey, wait up,” Taron said, jogging over to me and sweetly brushing his fingers over my cheek, still somehow not looking exhausted. “Clara’s with her dad and your mum has Troy. Can I just drive you over to my place?” he asked, and I was so tired I didn’t bother arguing, and nodded instead, letting Taron slip his arm around me supportively.

“How are you not completely exhausted?” I grumbled.

“Well, I’m not pregnant, so that helps,” he quipped lightly. “But I’m also just used to it, I think. Not exactly the first night scene I’ve ever been in.”

“I can think of a few,” I smiled. “Bit of a fan of your work, here,” I teased lightly.

“Well you nearly have to be, now that you’re dating me,” he smirked back, and I cracked a smile despite my exhaustion. I sank gratefully down into the plush of the car seat, fighting off falling asleep right then and there. The last thing I needed was Taron taking it upon himself to carry me to bed, as sweet of a gesture as that would be.

“I think today went well,” Taron spoke into our tired silence.

“Really well, at least on our part. It’s always one thing to rehearse a dance. It’s another to see it in the place, in the world so to speak, the lights and colors and costumes. Something about that just made everything feel much more real today,” I replied. “And you… You totally killed it.”

“I don’t know if I killed it, but I wager I gave it everything I had,” he smiled, looking over at me.

“Well, I think, from what I’ve seen, you’re carrying this whole damn thing.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said, running his fingers through his hair in the way he did when he felt humbled by something.

“Well I do,” I smiled, more to myself than anything.

“I am so ready to crash,” he yawned when we finally pulled into the drive and parked. 

“You and me both,” I sighed wearily. We made our way inside, and I realized oddly that I hadn’t been in his home for a fair bit. It felt just as cozy as before as he led me to the bedroom, pulling me to him for a couple of sweet kisses before we both got ready for bed, too tired for anything more. He did his best to try and block the morning sunlight creeping across the floor, able to darken the room a bit, and we curled up together and were sound asleep within minutes, my brain for once too worn out to keep me awake.

The baby, on the other hand, had other ideas, waking me up a few hours later. I stumbled to the bathroom and wretched, hardly anything in my stomach to get rid of. I groaned slightly and splashed water on my face before returning to my slumbering boyfriend. I checked my phone briefly, scrolling through social media mindlessly, waiting for sleep to find me again, but hunger found me first instead.

I got up and, still too exhausted to make anything else, popped some bread in the toaster oven, rapping my fingers on the counter as I waited for it to be ready. I smeared some butter on, then took a few bites, chewing slowly, my hand resting on my belly. But then the part of my brain that worried about calories kicked in, and I found I couldn’t eat another bite. I tossed the rest of the toast in the trash and reminded myself I needed to stay away from carbs as I returned to the bed, not entirely satisfied but at least my stomach had stopped gurgling uncomfortably.

“Mmmm,” Taron murmured next to me, turning over and sliding his arm over my waist and nuzzling into my neck. “Can’t sleep?” He asked, cracking his green eyes open and looking at me.

“I got sick. And then I got hungry,” I smiled, as his eyes drew down to my stomach, his fingers splaying out under my sleep shirt and caressing my skin there sweetly.

“This will be worth it in the end,” he said gently, kissing my forehead. “Try to get some more sleep. Tonight will be difficult if you don’t.” I nodded at that and tried to let him soothe me back to sleep, and I eventually did end up drifting off again.

We woke with enough time to shower, make some dinner, and watch a little telly together before heading to set and doing it all over again. The second night seemed a little easier, but maybe it was just because I knew more of what to expect, the lag between scenes, the flurry of activity, the massive rigs swinging around and being readjusted constantly, the dead space where we had to try and keep our bodies warm, the constant makeup and costume retouches, the attempt to keep our energy up through the slog of what felt like a 14-hour night. We had fun with some bumper cars and there might have been more horsing around than actual dancing during that sequence.

The next two nights felt a little more laid-back, as a bulk of the large group shots were already done. The transitions into and out of the scene, with the bar and with Kit Connor, who played the mid-aged Reggie, were the focus of those days, so I spent more time sitting around than anything else, but that also gave me time to be curious about the behind-the-scenes machinations of putting a movie together. I found it completely fascinating, so different and removed from what I did on the stage when I danced professionally, a completely different set of lingo I didn’t quite understand. What was a grip? A racking focus? A polarizer? I had no idea, but hearing people talk casually about the technical aspects made me feel curious to know more.

Needless to say, I was grateful when night shoots, at least for that sequence, were done. It was kind of saddening to see the carnival get dismantled, but of course it had only been put up for the film and I knew that. I had to return to my own crazy schedule, my daughter and my own students and trying to balance that with further rehearsals for “Bitch is Back” and time with Taron as well, though the next few nights he spent at my home with me. It wasn’t even a conversation we had, he just showed up every evening, joining me in making dinner and helping Clara with her homework and walking Troy and just generally filling a space in my home I hadn’t realized had been empty. Eventually I thought it was high time he had a key, so I made it a point to make a copy and give him one.

“You’re in the special group of people who gets one of these,” I giggled as we cuddled on the couch together, long after Clara had gone to bed.

“Oh?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “And just how many people get a key to my girlfriend’s abode?” he chuckled.

“My mum, of course. Zayn, just in case something came up with Clara. Now you…” I smiled, as Taron flipped the key around in his palm slightly. He seemed a bit reserved about it, but then he’d been a bit reserved the past few nights. I chalked it up to just being knackered from night shoots until he sighed slightly and spoke my name in a hesitant manner.

“Juliette. I really need to ask you something,” he said, his eyes focusing somewhere just above the crown of my head.

“Anything, T,” I replied, even though a cold knot had formed in my stomach.

“Markus pulled me aside the other day and um, he wanted to pass along a few… things.” It was just like Markus to try and fuck everything up for me, even if we weren’t together. Even if I’d thoroughly ended things. Why could nothing in my world stay perfect, ever? I swallowed past the lump in my throat, willing my voice to not shake.

“I’m sure he wasn’t doing so out of the kindness of his heart,” I said coldly.

“Of course I took things with a grain of salt. We haven’t exactly had the best history, Markus and I, all things considered,” he said, finally focusing on my face, but the look of hurt that knitted his brows caught me off guard. “But he told me that you two were still together, that you slept with him again, when you had told me you wanted to be with me. When you were supposed to have broken up with him. And you never told me about that, and your nonadmission might as well have been as good as lying to me,” he continued, his voice cracking slightly.

“I… I’m so sorry,” I tried, my brain still processing what he was saying to me.

“I’ve been wrestling with this for a few days, whether to ask you about it or not. Whether to strike a divide between us or not. I’m forgiving, but relationships have to be founded on trust and communication, neither of which you’ve given to me, and that hurts.”

“I tried to break up with Markus. I tried to tell you that I failed. I felt so...humiliated and… ashamed. Of my history, of my weakness, of this shitty pattern I’ve never been able to get myself out of. I never meant it to hurt you, so I thought I could protect you from… me,” I said, stumbling over the words, unable to keep the tremor out of my voice. “You have to believe that, please.”

“I believe you, it’s just a misguided principle, really. Relationships sometimes hurt. Sometimes you have to be raw, and open, and vulnerable, and ugly in front of the other person, and sometimes that makes them hurt for you, because they love you. I want to accept your flaws, your imperfections, but I can’t do that if you won’t open up to me. I can’t do that if I can’t trust you to be honest with me. I can’t do that if you try to protect me from the difficult, painful bits. I can’t do this, if you won’t extend that to me,” he said into the dead silence of the room. My heart was near pounding out of my chest and I felt the need to get sick.

“What are you saying, Taron? Are you breaking up with me?” I asked softly, tears already threatening in my eyes.

“I just need...some time. To think. To know where I stand. I am hurt, and you’ve got to learn that there are consequences for your actions. But I’m not leaving you, no,” he said as evenly as possible. “I told you I loved you, through the hard times too. I stand by that. I just need you to try and earn my trust back,” he said softly, brushing his fingers lightly over my chin.

“Okay,” I sniffled slightly, feeling the shame burning in my chest.

He leaned over and set the key on the coffee table, the clink of the metal against the wood top making me cringe slightly, before he stood up and turned to me.

“I’ll see you around at the studios. We’re not going to be strangers. But there is this wedge we need to deal with, and I hope you can understand that.”

“I created it,” I said, a couple of tears rolling down my cheeks. But I couldn’t pity myself; I had done this. I had turned Taron away from me, yet again. I had made a muddled mess out of something that should have been good and pure.

“Hey, no need to cry. We will work through this, alright?” he said, tipping my chin up to look at him, but his face was fractured into a thousand tiny pieces through my tears.

“Why would you want to? Why aren’t you pissed off at me?” I asked, pulling away from his touch, his arm returning to his side awkwardly.

“I was, at first. But I try incredibly hard to not act out in anger. It never leads to anything good; it tends to cause more problems than it solves. I also know that even while you had promised to choose me, you really hadn’t, not yet. I wanted to believe I’d be enough to convince you...” he trailed off.

“Fuck, of course you are, T. You’re the best thing that’s ever really happened to me. And I keep trying to ruin it, so maybe you’d be better off without me dragging you down,” I said harshly.

“Stop, stop. I won’t let you talk about yourself that way,” he said, kneeling down in front of where I sat on the sofa, directly into my line of sight again. “Your self-loathing won’t help anything. Please see that.”

“Maybe I’m one person you can’t fix. Maybe no one can,” I said shakily, and Taron sighed deeply.

“I hope this feels better in the morning, but going around in circles on it with you all night won’t help either. I’m going to take my leave, and you should get some sleep, and we’ll figure out how to move forward together. That is, if you still want to.”

I couldn’t give him an answer so the silence between us yawned open until he stood up and placed a soft kiss on my forehead before gathering up his jacket and letting himself out the door. I’m not really sure how long I sat there, staring at nothing, thoughts whirling around my head. Time passed me by unnoticed until Clara padded barefoot into the room.

“Mum?” she asked, and I startled back into reality.

“Yes dear?” I asked, trying to push back the edges of darkness I felt threatening to overcome me.

“I got sick in my bed,” Clara said, starting to cry.

“Oh, honey,” I said, instantly sweeping up off the couch and going to attend to my sick daughter, cleaning the linens and giving her medicine and crashing in my bed with her that night, her feverish little body shivering next to me as I held her tight. At least I had this; I could look at my bright, inquisitive, beautiful daughter and know I had a hand in bringing her up in this world, hopefully teaching her how to avoid the pitfalls I’d fallen into in so many ways. I was grateful she was still young, that boys still had cooties and she was still years from her first kiss, her first love, her first heartbreak.

By the time the morning rolled around, neither Clara nor I had gotten much sleep, as much from Clara’s illness as from my dark thoughts. I called my mum to see if she could watch my sick kid while I went to teach classes and later Rocketman rehearsals, and of course my mum was all-too-kindly available to come over. I tucked Clara in her own bed, glad that her fever had come down overnight, and called school to tell them she wouldn’t be in that day while I waited for my mum to arrive. I made some coffee, desperate for the caffeine boost, and when my mum finally made it across town I blearily stumbled through my day. 

I couldn’t help glaring daggers at Markus’ back during rehearsals every time he wasn’t looking, which was most of the time, but I knew that was petty. It certainly wouldn’t make him apologize for ratting me out to Taron, and it wouldn’t take back what happened between us either.

By the time I got home I was completely exhausted, but Clara was feeling better and I couldn’t just crash out, even if my mum offered. I shook my head, telling her she’d done enough already for me, and sent her home with a thank-you pound note she tried to protest but I slipped into her purse anyway when she wasn’t looking. I ended up tossing a frozen pizza in the oven, but found it difficult to choke down the calories, while Clara didn’t seem to notice how little I ate as she chowed down on her slices. We watched a movie together, and I admittedly might have nodded off a few times, the Disney songs drifting in and out of my dreams.

I was so happy once Clara was tired enough to put to bed; I even skipped a shower just so I could faceplant in my bed that much quicker. I missed Taron’s warmth next to me as I pulled the blankets tightly around me. He promised we’d be okay, but what if he found more reasons to stay away from me in this temporary absence? What if he didn’t really miss me all that much? What if I was the one that was unlovable? I shivered slightly under the covers, the darkness creeping even closer than it had before in my mind, threatening to take over as I sank into a restless, dreamless sleep.

That darkness that resided inside my brain manifested itself in my attempt to control my calories; every little thing I put in my mouth had to be accounted for, and controlling my diet seemed to help me calm my nerves. Even when everything else felt like it was spiraling out of control, this one thing I could have total control over. I had exactly one scrambled egg white and 8 ounces of a protein shake in the morning, a 150-calorie protein bar at lunch, a handful of plain unsalted nuts for a snack to sustain my energy, and usually made some fish and vegetables for dinner. Eating for two was an absolute myth; I was religious about my prenatal vitamins and making sure the growing baby inside me was still getting the crucial building blocks it needed. But overeating wasn’t going to help either of us so I stuck to my routine, obviously varying things up for Clara so she wouldn’t be bored or wrinkle her nose up at my dinners. 

Over the next couple weeks of classes and rehearsals, I started to see an instant change in my arm and leg tone, and that made me at least happier. I had been needing to lose that unnecessary weight for years, and even if I couldn’t stop my belly from getting bigger, I could stop the rest of me from following suit.

As we headed full on into the summer months, the weather grew hot and sticky, as London weather was wont to do. We’d been rehearsing the Broadway musical-style choreography for “Bitch is Back” for a while in the studio, but were finally taking rehearsals outside, into the back lot to do some initial blocking. Taron was of course there, sporting some mockup cardboard wings that looked completely ungainly to manage. But somehow he did, as we danced our way through the piece and Dexter showed Taron and Matthew Illesley, who played the youngest version of Reggie, how the scene would operate.

I could feel the sweat trickling down my back, down my arms and legs, dripping off the edge of my nose. We were all allowed to wear our sunnies since it was a rare bright day in London and we weren’t officially filming yet. But when the production was able to secure the Pinner Street location, we would all need to be ready to go, so putting in this work now was important. They made us take a lot of breaks, providing Gatorade and water in massive jugs to keep us all hydrated, but I was beginning to feel rather sick to my stomach and had to fight through the nausea for the rest of the rehearsal.

Seeing Taron there, being so close to him and yet feeling far away, was painful. He acknowledged me, but it was mostly in a professional manner, and I could feel the difference in my bones. I wanted nothing more than to have him scoop me up in his arms and hold me to him, but that reality had been shattered. There are consequences to your actions, Juliette, the words popping into my brain and making my heart ache. I couldn’t run from those consequences; the only way to move forward was to accept them and move through them.

But how was I going to be able to prove to Taron that he could trust me, when we weren’t even spending time together? What grand gesture could show him how much he meant to me? I wasn’t really sure, and these thoughts hounded me throughout the day.

The next few days were much the same, the temperatures staying sticky hot and making me feel worse for wear. Pregnancy and heat did not go well together, and I found myself taking a few more breaks than everyone else, coming up with some lame excuse as I hadn’t told anyone on set I was pregnant. Only Taron and Markus knew that, and well, we all know who actually did his part to check in with me, concern written all over his face.

But then rehearsals suddenly ground to a halt, and we were left in a strange holding pattern as the production moved onto other scenes, keeping to its schedule and of course keeping Taron very busy. We had a couple short rehearsals to keep the choreography fresh in everyone’s brains, but there wasn’t much else for us to do. I focused more on teaching my classes, texting off and on with Taron when he’d ask how Clara was doing.

<She’s got a recital next week, if you’d like to go. She’d probably like that; she’s been wondering why you haven’t been around as much. I just told her it was because of work.> I responded one evening.

<Of course, I’d love to go. Text me the details and I’ll be there.>

And be there he was, dressed in a sharp navy suit coat, a white shirt underneath, and pressed slacks, looking as handsome as he ever did. Sitting next to him was almost intimidating, stealing glances at each other, sharing awkward smiles with each other as we waited through student after student, some well-practiced, others not so much, waiting for Clara’s turn.

When she got up on the stage, I could hear a bit of an audible gasp from the crowd; my opinionated little girl had chosen to don a sequined, sparkly pink jacket over her recital dress, and she had on a pair of star sunnies too, “just like Elton!” she’d declared when I’d tried to convince her otherwise.

“That’s our Clara,” Taron grinned over at me with a chuckle, before looking down at my hand and slowly taking it in his. I sucked my breath in slightly, still staring straight ahead as Clara took a seat at the piano. “You look beautiful today,” he whispered in my ear, taking in the light summer dress I’d chosen.

“Thank you,” I said, glancing over at him, those dimples of his causing my heart to flutter again. That special thing we had, it wasn’t gone by any means. We sat through my daughter’s songs, Clara gamely making it through Bach and Debussey with only a few stumbles, before getting to play a chosen song. And of course she’d chosen “Your Song,” playing it with gusto to much applause and appreciation from the audience. She gave an enthusiastic bow after her performance and skipped off the stage, returning to us excitedly as we were still clapping for her.

“Lovely job, sweetheart,” I said happily, giving her a huge hug.

“I think Elton himself would be very proud,” Taron added, making Clara grin so big she was showing off her toothless gaps.

“Yeah, if only he’d been able to watch it,” she sighed, making us both laugh.

“He’s a very busy man, but maybe some day you could play for him,” Taron said, as I playfully slapped his arm.

“Don’t promise her that!” I hissed slightly under my breath, but Taron waved it off.

“I’m sure I could get it arranged,” he said, as Clara fairly begged Taron to stay around for dinner. He obliged, and it turned into a really decent evening, the first one I felt I’d had in a bit, even after Clara commented “ewww, fish again?” when I served us dinner. He stayed long enough to tuck my daughter into bed, but said he probably shouldn’t wear out his welcome, though we lingered too long at the doorway, unspoken words and feelings passing between us.

I was actually at the academy when I got the phone call that the Pinner Street location had been secured, and that we’d be needed on set within a few hours. I scrambled to get my afternoon classes covered and made sure mum could pick up Clara from school before heading over to the studios, arriving just in time to get through hair and makeup. We changed into our costumes and were all boarded onto a shuttle and driven across the city, dropped off on a suburban street where crews were already busy setting up rigging for the cameras.

The place was an absolute blur of activity as us dancers huddled in the shade of some trees, trying to stave off the bright sunlight. We used each other to stretch and warm up, a steady hum weaving through the shimmering air as directions were shouted loudly, people running frantically to and fro. I hadn’t imagined this much chaos as the rest of the production had always been incredibly orderly. But I supposed this could happen with locations in the streets; it probably was a pain in the ass to secure city permits to shut entire blocks down for filming. When the city gave you a window of time, you had to spring into action; there would be no dragging feet here.

This sequence, of course, was an important element of the story that brought Taron into the picture as a sort of segue from rehab into his childhood years. It involved the other patients in rehab and the counselor, a brass band, and Taron in a bright orange neoprene Elvis-inspired devil costume with massive wings. The first time I saw him in it I nearly tripped over my own feet. The costume left very little to the imagination, but it was also somehow fitting to the vision of Elton that Dexter and Taron had created for the film. Elton at times played the devil, but he could also be the angel, and in many ways he was neither and both at the same time in his own story.

I loved the energy of this part of filming; the heat, not so much. The makeup crew constantly had to step in and powder us all between takes, and I’m sure our costumes weren’t going to smell very nice by the end of it. The filming day was kept short, as there were heat advisories and the production certainly didn’t want anyone to pass out. The heat sapped the strength right out of my body, and I wondered at how weak I felt as I made my way home, knowing I’d have to fight through the next few days in the same way.

The weakness in my body didn’t really abate the next day, and was joined by more nausea. Even if I didn’t get sick, I still felt turned inside out. I could barely stomach water, but I made myself push it down nonetheless. If my performance suffered for it, no one said a word to me. The third day, the dizziness hit me like a sack of rocks, making me stumble into another dancer and completely ruining the take. I mumbled my apologies and tried to concentrate the best I could. My muscles knew the motions; my brain couldn’t keep anything straight so I tried not to think too much and let my body do the work it knew by memory.

But some things you cannot win against, no matter how hard you fight. Weeks of undereating had caught up to me, leaving me emptied out; spots began to dance across my vision, my skin flushed cold despite the heat, and I found it difficult to breathe. I vaguely thought someone was calling my name, but I couldn’t hear them over the rushing in my ears. The music continued on, but my body did not; I dropped to the ground and stayed there. I don’t remember hitting the pavement, but I came to with my face burning, pressed against the hot surface. I was dimly aware of people gathered around me, and I thought I heard Taron yell at someone to “get these bloody wings off” before bright orange swam into my view.

“Juliette, can you hear me?” he asked as he knelt down beside me, the material of his costume stretching taut over his thighs. I don’t know why my brain focused on that, but I couldn’t move my head enough to look up at his face. The crystals glittered almost painfully bright in the sun as my vision went in and out of focus.

“She’s probably got heat stroke,” one voice said.

“Give her some space,” another added.

“Where’s the fucking medic?” someone else in the throng of voices shouted, my brain picking these out amongst the murmurs.

Did I really look that bad? I wondered, unaware of how crumpled I must have looked. Someone brought over an umbrella and at least shielded me from the sun; someone else tried offering water but I could neither hold the bottle nor swallow when it was poured into my mouth, vomiting onto the pavement instead, a strange thought that I should be embarrassed weaving its way through my brain, too wispy for me to grab onto.

I felt my body being moved as my pupil reaction was checked, my pulse taken, my body fussed over. Words were said that I didn’t understand and then I was being lifted through the air on a stretcher and pushed into the back of an ambulance. I flicked my eyes around at the faces staring down at me, the hands pushing IV lines into my arms, everything blurry and strangely in slow motion. 

And then I felt the sharpest pain in my abdomen, making me cry out. I instinctively tried to curl into a ball but the straps held me down, and I started to feel panic rising in my chest as another sharp pain wracked my body. I clutched at my stomach, gasping out something incoherent; this wasn’t right, and I knew it could only mean something terrible was happening.

“Oh god, the baby,” I heard Taron say, his voice sounding too loud and tinny to my ears, my secret spilled out for everyone within earshot to hear.

What was happening to my baby?, I thought, as more hands poked and prodded me, more needles stuck into my flesh, more words were said I couldn’t make sense of. All I could understand was the shivers that shook me, the pains that tormented me, the blackness that threatened to overtake me. The noise was too loud, the siren, the beeping machines, the medics’ voices, the rattling of wheels over roads as we sped toward the hospital, the hush of the cast and crew we left in our wake, growing in a cascading crescendo inside my brain until, mercifully, there was silence. 

I began to float into the void, the absence of noise, of feeling, of the physical realm, detached from what was happening to my body. The darkness came up to meet me, soothing me, warming me, easing me into slumber, the medicine working through my veins, easing the fire in my body. And then everything, everywhere, went black, and I was gone.

This is not the end of the story. Read Chapter 9 HERE.

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Living with a Hybrid Part 9 (Hybrid!Taeyong x Reader)

Summary: Finally the day of the amusement park opening has come. Even though this should be the happiest day in some time there still lingers something on your mind the entire day. You try to enjoy the day even though some of your worst memories are coming back up after receiving a letter from a person you really didn’t want to think about.

Contains: fluff

Warnings: none

Wordcount: 3,5 K

Enjoy!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

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The next morning was beautiful like usually. Taeyong and I woke up that morning cuddling close since the night had been a bit cold and it was still too warm to turn the heat back on preparing for the winter coming soon. We had prepared everything we would need for the amusement park like little snacks, water and lots of different bags that could fit whatever we were to win at the lottery and different stands there. Johnny, Mark and Haechan agreed over text to join us at the opening that was scheduled around 1 pm today. It was still early as I looked at the clock showing we still had three hours til the event started at the park that was about 20 minutes away from the apartment. Everything was perfect until the post man had brought a letter that I really didn’t want to open. As Taeyong went to shower I sat at the kitchen table, the letter laying directly in front of me. I’ve already seen who it was from and I really didn’t want to open it. Especially not when I was about to have the greatest day at the amusement park with my friends and family. I stared at the letter thinking about what the person could have written and why now was the time to get this letter. I grabbed it and walked over to the trashcan. As I was about to throw it away I heard Taeyong come into the kitchen. I quickly hid it on top of the fridge and leaned against it trying not to act obvious that I just hid something from him. I’ll deal with that another time.

“Are you ok?”, he asked looking around the room as if he was searching for something.

“Yeah, I’m ok. Are you ready?”, I asked back trying to quickly change the conversation.

I shouldn’t be thinking about the letter. Today I should be a hundred percent focused on Taeyong and the amusement park. Nothing should come between that. He nodded at my question and I walked past him and towards the bedroom. As I arrived I walked over to the closet and looked through my clothes. It was still a bit cold outside right now but the weather forecast said that it would get warmer this afternoon. I chose a pair of jeans with a shirt and a hoodie that I could still take off if it would get too warm and then went to use the bathroom to get ready. After showering and doing a bit of make-up I walked into the living room to see that Taeyong was sitting on the couch watching something on his phone with headphones in his ears. I walked behind him to look over his shoulder at what he was looking so focused. I had to smile as I saw the video. It was an ASMR cooking video. I plopped down on the couch just to see Taeyong almost throw his phone away as he flinched and almost screamed. He took out his headphones and looked at me sighing and heavy breathing.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you ok?”, I asked noticing that I just almost startled this boy to death.

“I-I am ok. You just s-suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I just didn’t expect that”

He was still breathing heavy and I had to tell him to take a deep breath to calm him down again. As I succeeded I looked at him with curious eyes.

“You were watching ASMR cooking videos?”, I asked more like stating a fact.

“They are calming and I really like food. It’s a great combination.”, he explained and handed the phone to me and put one of his airpods into my ear and started the video again.

He was right. The voice of the girl explaining how to make the perfect steak was really calming and the sounds she was making with the tools she used were causing my body to have goose bumps all over. It really was calming and relaxing. We watched the video together until it ended with Taeyongs head resting on my shoulder while I held his phone for both of us to see.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course”

“But you have to promise that you don’t get mad, ok?”, he asked and looked at me waiting for my answer.

“I promise”

He took a deep breath before he began to speak again.

“I always watch these videos when I get anxious or when I have bad memories again. I didn’t want to burden you with my problems so I didn’t tell you”

“Since when do you have them again?”

“A bit over a week maybe…”

His head was hanging low now and he had hidden his hands in his hoodie. I placed my hand on his shoulder and softly pat it. It wasn’t like I was mad at him. It was just that I was kind of disappointed that he didn’t entrust me with his worries and problems since I always told him that he could tell me every little thing on his mind that might burden him.

“It’s ok. I’m not mad even though I’m a little bit sad that you didn’t come to me but that’s fine. As long as you’re ok”, I assured him and showed him a smile.

“Well you were so happy after Haechan went to live with Johnny and Mark and I thought that sharing my feelings with you would just bring you down…and…I really like seeing you all smiley and happy”, he admitted and looked at me with his puppy eyes.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll always listen to you and I’ll try everything to help you. You know…you’re the reason I smile every day so I’d like to be the reason for your smile. So don’t hold back anything that roams your mind.”

Taeyong grabbed my hands and intertwined his fingers with mine. His gaze wandered from our hands up to my face and to my eyes. He leaned closer and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

“Thank you for everything”, he whispered.

“Thank you for being with me”

I smiled at him and leaned my forehead against his. I loved intimate moments like this. We spend the time that was left until we had to go with watching random videos on Youtube and cooking our lunch together. After we ate we got ready to go. I grabbed the backpack we had prepared this morning and put on my shoes. Taeyong followed me shortly after. We went downstairs to the lobby and waited for the boys to show up. As the elevator arrived in the lobby, Haechan instantly ran towards me as the doors opened and his eyes spotted me. He jumped into my arms and hugged me tight. I had to giggle at his behavior.

“Y/N! I haven’t seen you since Tuesday”, Haechan complained and looked at me pouting.

“I had a lot of stuff to do at work and was pretty exhausted when I got home. I’m sorry I didn’t visit you more”, I apologized and ruffled his hair before turning to Johnny and Mark.

“He really missed you”, Johnny said as he hugged me.

“And you guys didn’t miss me at all?”, I asked towards Mark and Johnny and both of them grinned.

“Of course, we did. How could we not miss such a beautiful person?”, Mark joked and I noticed Taeyong tense next to me and moving closer.

I stepped closer to him and poked his side with my elbow. I smiled at him and mouthed “Jealous?” towards him. A slight blush appeared on his face and he grabbed my hand intertwining our fingers. The boys looked at me with a knowing look.

“Can we go now?”, Haechan asked totally excited and ready to go.

“Sure”, I laughed looking at this bundle of pure energy.

We made our way to the amusement park. On our way there a lot of people joined us and arrived with us at the venue. The entrance already was stunning. It looked like the entry of a castle with big steel doors that were decorated with flowers, balloons and even golden elements. I noticed Haechan and Taeyongs eyes sparkle and we went to buy the tickets. The tickets were about 20 $ per person which was a lot cheaper than I expected since the park was definitely huge, but we would still have to pay extra for the attractions in the park like the Ferris Wheel or the rollercoaster. They had a huge stage arranged at the entrance. The major of the city stood somewhere next to it and looked like he was going over his script again since it had been announced that he would be the one officially opening the park. We walked to the front to get a good view at the stage and waited for the festivities to start. Taeyong was still holding on to my hand and whenever I would look over at him I’d see him looking like the happiest boy in the world.

The crowd got even bigger just a few minutes before the major went on stage to deliver his speech. Everyone was listening closely and was fascinated by what he said about the park. As soon as his speech was over everybody cheered and the crowd scattered around the park. We looked at one of the park plans that showed our location and what was where to find.

“Can we go to the haunted house first?”, Haechan asked jumping up and down excited.

I noticed Taeyong tense next to me. I somehow understood what was going on inside him and decided to suggest another plan.

“How about we start with the nearest attraction and work our way through til the end?”

Haechan slightly frowned but then agreed after Johnny and Mark convinced him. The first thing on our way was a shooting stall. Johnny instantly walked over and bought a few bullets to try and get a gift for Mark and Haechan. From his 7 tries he hit all of the targets he focused on and was able to choose from one of the more expensive prices. He could choose between a little plush golden retriever, a few other plushies and a really cool looking hat that would look great on Mark. Johnny chose the hat which made Haechan frown a bit. His eyes lit up again when Johnny bought another set of bullets and hit every target again just to get Haechan the golden retriever plushy.

“Thank you”, Haechan said almost starting to cry as he hugged the little dog in his arms and smiled at Johnny who ruffled his hair playfully.

“You’re welcome, Haechanie”

Taeyong looked at them almost with jealousy in his eyes. I would instantly go and shoot him a plushy too but I was just really bad at hitting targets.

“I’ll get you something, too. Don’t worry”, I said and squeezed his hand.

He just nodded and we walked to the next thing on our way. It was a free fall tower. I wasn’t really good with heights but I wouldn’t say no if the boys decided to do it. After going back and forth discussing if we wanted to go Johnny decided to stay and take care of our bags while Mark, Haechan, Taeyong and I went on the ride. To be honest I was pretty scared after we had bought the tickets and got called over to take a seat on this hellride.

“Are you sure you’ll be ok?”, Taeyong asked me concerned after he noticed my legs starting to shake.

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me”

To be honest I was terrified, but at the same time I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to share the first ride on a free fall tower with Taeyong. After we were fully prepared to be send up to the top, the “elevator” in which we sat brought us up. Looking down was already making me nearly pee my pants, while Taeyong, Mark and Haechan didn’t even seem bothered by it. As soon as the construction dropped us down to the floor all of us where screaming. Some from excitement others (like me) from pure fear. As we finally sat our feat back onto the floor I ran out and searched for the next toilet to empty my stomach in. It wasn’t far. Thank God. As soon as I entered the cabin my stomach was empty and all I had eaten today was in front of me in the toilet. Who told me this was a good idea? I flushed the mess down and walked outside to clean my mouth and wash my face. Looking in the mirror I saw my pale face.

“Brain why? This sounded so fun but it was a big mistake”, I said to myself and laughed as someone came out from another cabin and saw me talking to the mirror like I was crazy.

I walked back out just to see 4 worried men looking around searching for me. As they spotted me all of them sighed relieved and I just send them an awkward smile as I walked over.

“I’ll be fine my ass”, Mark laughed playfully hitting my shoulder.

“I was worried about you as you suddenly ran. I told you this was a bad idea but you didn’t want to listen to me”, Taeyong scolded me before pulling me into a hug and kissing my forehead.

“Don’t force yourself, ok?”

“Ok. I’m sorry I made you worry”, I hugged back and nuzzled my nose against his.

“Enough being lovey-dovey. Let’s move on. There’s a lottery stand over there and I can see stuffed animals”, Haechan complained and as soon as Taeyong heard stuffed animals he was gone immediately.

That boy and stuffed animals. We followed the two excited hybrids to the stand and watched them look at all the prizes fascinated. I walked to the lady handing out the lottery tickets and bought 40 tickets for Taeyong and 40 for Haechan. We then sat down on one of the benches nearby and started looking through the tickets for wins. After what felt like seconds all the tickets had been sorted out and we had some little wins and 2 first prices. We split them so that Haechan and Taeyong could get one each. We walked over to the booth and showed the win tickets to one of the employees there.

“Oh, we have two first prices here”, they announced over the mic and then turned towards Taeyong and Haechan.

“What would you guys like?”, they asked and showed them the first prices they could choose from.

Haechan instantly chose a big white alpaca which he instantly hugged as he received it from the employee. Taeyong seemed to have a more difficult decision. He took his time before he chose a big white teddy bear. As he received it he turned towards me and handed it over. I looked at him confused.

“This is for you”, he mumbled, his cheeks slightly pink.

“I can’t accept that. It’s your prize and you look cute with it so keep it. It’s my way of saying thank you”, I said.

He blushed even more and shook his head. I looked at the bear in my arms and handed it back to him. Taeyong grabbed it and slightly frowned.

“But I won this with your money. So it technically is yours already”, he reasoned and pouted as he looked at the bear.

I sighed and stepped closer to the boy. He looked at me as if I just rejected him. I couldn’t see him like this. I reached my arm out to put it around his shoulder and pulled him closer to me.

“How about we say this is our teddy? Would you be satisfied with that?”, I suggested and watched his face as he thought about an answer.

Taeyong just simply nodded and then looked at the teddy. He moved it to his ear and then looked back at me.

“Teddy said he would be really happy about that”, Taeyong joked and I almost died from his cuteness.

“Dork”

He laughed and hugged the teddy tight before he grabbed my hand again and pulled me towards the next part of the park. My heart melted looking at the happy boy next to me. It reminded me of myself when I first visited an amusement park with my parents. As I thought back at those happy days I remembered the letter from this morning. I quickly tried to shove that memory far back in my mind so I could keep my focus on the presence.

We went on a few more rides like the roller coaster and the bumper car ride. Taeyong insisted on getting cotton candy and I chose the pink one for him. His cheeks turned a slight pink as I he saw that. I knew that he was thinking about my comment yesterday as he blushed and I complimented him. He really did look good with anything pink. One of our last stations was the haunted house that Haechan insisted on going in. We made a bet that whoever got scared first would have to pay for our last station at the park, the Ferris Wheel.

“Oh it’s on. I won’t even flinch”, Mark said fearless.

I was sure that he would be the one to pay since whenever he said something fearless he would be the first one to nearly pee his pants. He was a scaredy-cat just like me so there was no way that he wouldn’t flinch at all.

“We’ll see that”, I laughed and looked at Taeyong who was squeezing my hand.

“Scared?”, I asked and he shook his head quickly.

He definitely looked scared.

“I got you”, I whispered and saw a smile appear on his face.

We entered the haunted house and shortly after the first guy with a chainsaw appeared Marks confidence was gone. We first laughed about it but then soon followed his terrified screams as we tried to get out of there as quick as possible. As we finally got out all of us panted heavily and I almost felt as if my voice would give up on me as I started to speak again.

“That means Mark will pay the tickets”, I said still catching my breath.

Mark sighed and lifted his arms in defeat.

“Even a man of steel might get scared sometimes”, he joked and received a slap on his shoulder from Johnny.

“Mr. ‘I’m so brave’. You should think before you speak next time, love.”, he commented and put his arm around Mark.

“I knew he would lose”, Haechan laughed and shrugged as Mark threw him an angry glance.

We joined in his laughter and then walked towards the Ferris Wheel. It was slowly getting darker and the sun was about to set soon. We bought some hotdogs at a stand nearby to kill some time before going on the Ferris Wheel. The city would probably look really pretty with the sky painted by the sunset. The cabins were big enough to fit all of us in one. Taeyong sat next to me while Haechan, Mark and Johnny sat on the other side facing us. As the ride started the cabin slowly moved up. As we reached the highest point it stopped. The view over the city was absolutely beautiful. We were able to see the apartment complex and the sunset painted the nearby lake in a beautiful mix of red, orange and the blue water. It was perfect. Taeyong put his arm around my shoulder pulling me closer to him.

“I can see our apartment”, Haechan said excited as he sat there, glued to the window.

We all had to laugh at his behavior. He was just too cute. We enjoyed the rest of the ride in silence watching the sky turn from beautiful colors back to black. As we arrived back on the ground we left the cabin and made our way to the main entrance again. We walked all the way back to the apartment complex. The closer we came the more I realized that when I would get there I had to open the letter. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t avoid it any longer. What if something happened? I needed to get clearance on that. We arrived at the lobby and got into the elevator together.

“I’m tired”, Taeyong said next to me and yawned.

“Me too”, I whispered back and stared at the elevator door.

Johnny, Mark and Haechan parted ways with us as they arrived the 3rd floor. We hugged them and waved goodbye as the doors closed again. Back at the apartment we took off our shoes and Taeyong instantly said he’d go to the bedroom. I put our bags onto the couch and went to the kitchen to grab the letter from the fridge. As I didn’t find it there I started to look around just to see Taeyong standing in the door with the letter in his hand.

Next Part

[you-get-to-exhale-now-cyrus]

Cyrus’ Dictionary

1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10

Summary: Cyrus has always been good with words; there’s a reason English is his favorite subject. But with TJ, he seems to be at a loss for words. When they get paired up for a summer assignment, Cyrus slowly starts to build a new dictionary. One that involves TJ and everything they do together. Along the way, maybe he’ll find the words to tell him how he feels.

Chapter 10: Naz

Word Count: 3292

Read on AO3

Buffy paced around her room, waiting for the ringing on the phone to stop.

“Hello?” came Cyrus’ voice from the other end.

“We have a problem,” she muttered, plopping down on her bed.

“Oh? Is everything okay?” Cyrus asked, his brows furrowing together.

“Marty told me he loves me,”

Cyrus nearly choked on his own spit. “He did?”

Buffy nodded, even though Cyrus couldn’t see her. “And it was totally out of the blue, like we were literally playing Mario Kart,” she explained, “and I was just so shocked and taken aback. So I just left,”

“Yikes,” Cyrus mumbled, much to the displease of Buffy.

“Not helping. What do I do?” she asked, playing with a lock of her hair.

“Well, do you love him?”

Buffy paused, and Cyrus almost thought that she’d hung up. “I-I don’t know. I’m not sure,”

“Tell him that,” he offered her, “feelings can be really hard and silence can be worse than the truth,”

“You’re probably right,” she said, “so, you and TJ?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

Cyrus froze, inhaling sharply. “What are you talking about?”

“Your text seemed off,” she stated.

“Nah, things are good, I’m good, we’re good,” he rambled, his face scrunching up as he spoke.

“Oo, you gonna hang out with him again?” she cooed, and even though Cyrus couldn’t see her, he knew she was smirking.

“Yeah, we’re going to the fair in town,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Not sure how that’s gonna go with his mom,”

“What do you mean?”

“Long story. I’ll talk to you later?” Cyrus offered.

“Talk to me after your date,” Buffy chuckled, grinning widely.

“I love you and I hate you,” he said, hanging up and putting his phone in his pocket.

“Stay still, I’m gonna screw it up!” Walker insisted, pouting.

“But it tickles,” Jonah countered, looking up at him with a big grin. He put his hands under his legs, trying to keep himself from squirming and ruining Walker’s face paint job.

“Bi the way, you look great with this,” Walker joked, to which Jonah replied with finger-guns.

“And you look pan-tastic. . .that was awful, I’m sorry,” he shook his head, peering in the mirror to admire Walker’s work, “it’s so pretty! I love it,”

Walker beamed, taking Jonah’s hand and rushing down the stairs. “Mom, we’re ready to go!”

Walker’s mom hurried into the room. “Well don’t you boys look lovely,” she remarked, ushering them out the door, “you know if anything happens to call me, right?”

“Right, we will,” Walker promised, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, “love you!”

The couple walked down the street, hand in hand, until they saw the big arch of rainbow balloons. Flags in every size and color danced in the wind, people threw confetti everywhere, and the whole environment looked a little hectic, but loving nonetheless.

“You ever been to pride before?” Walker asked, squeezing through the crowd to try and get a better view for the parade.

Jonah shook his head. “Never, what’s it like?”

“It’s like someone threw up the world’s biggest rainbow, then doused it in glitter,” he joked, “it’s really great,”

The parade was up and running by the time they got there. There was a bi float, to which Jonah screamed at the top of his lungs about. Someone on the float tossed him a little pin that said ‘I like my men how I like my women’. Sure, they were getting jostled and bumped around, but Jonah wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything in the world. Confetti filled the air, as did whoops of applause, when a proposal took place on one of the floats, and everyone collectively lost their minds.

“This is so great!” Walker cheered, turning towards Jonah, who had a small, telling smile on his face, “what?”

“. . .I love you,” he said softly, thinking the words would get lost in the cacophony of the parade.

Walker grinned, tears brimming from his eyes. “I love you too, you know. I was . . .gonna tell you, but I was afraid you were gonna freak out,”

Jonah cupped Walker’s face, bringing their noses together. “You absolute dork,” he mumbled, pecking his lips. People around them joined in with a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, a few clapping the boys on the back and telling them they were adorable together. Everything was going so well.

Until a certain middle-aged woman was walking down the street and was able to pick out her son from the crowd.

“Jonah!” a shrill voice stood out from all the others, “Jonah what are you doing here?”

His blood ran cold. He felt like he was going to faint or cry or throw up or all three. Luckily, Walker was there holding his hand, and telling him things were going to be okay. People around Jonah and Walker stared at the woman.

“C’mon, let’s go,” she said, holding out her hand.

Jonah opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. By this point, more and more people had gathered around him, whispers and murmurs tearing through the crowd.

“With all due respect, Mrs. Beck,” Walker piped up, ever the brave one, “he’s gonna stay with me. I really care about him and,” he looked at Jonah, smiling softly, “I know he really cares about me,”

“But. . .you’re both boys?” she hesitated, all of a sudden feeling quite uncomfortable in her situation.

“Good catch, lady,” someone from the crowd called out, earning a few ‘woos’ and applause.

“So?” Jonah said, trying to stand his ground, “Mom, I love him. Isn’t that all that matters?”

Jonah’s mom looked at Walker, conflicted, as if trying to ask him for answers, but his face read ‘don’t look at me’.

“Wouldn’t you rather have a happy son who loves a boy rather than a sad one who pretends to love a girl?” said someone else, offering some advice.

She took a few steps forward, parting through the crowd to get to her son. “Jonah,” she started, putting her hands on his shoulder, “I love you no matter what, you know that right?”

And at that, Jonah collapsed into her arms and started to cry. Happy tears, sad tears, all the tears. Cheers and applause ensued, but all Jonah could think about was how happy he was to finally have this weight lifted off of his chest.

When his mom pulled away, she looked at Walker. “So, you’re the artist?”

Walker ducked his head, trying to hide the ever-growing blush on his cheeks. “How do you know?”

“Jonah has a drawing you did in his room,” she supplied, to which Jonah groaned of embarrassment, “and that’s my cue to leave. I’ll catch you boys later,” she said, walking off.

“You have a drawing I did in your room?” Walker asked, a soft smile gracing his face.

Jonah nodded. “The one you did of me in the park that day. It’s always been my favorite,”

Walker grinned, slinging an arm around him. He opened his mouth to say something, but then what seemed like a pound of glitter rained down on them.

“Happy pride, you’re never getting the glitter out of your hair,” Walker chuckled.

“Worth it,” Jonah assured him, grinning like an idiot.

“Yes!” TJ pumped his fist in the air, after he’d sunk the last basket.

“Surprise, surprise, ladies and gents, TJ Kippen can shoot basketballs,” Cyrus teased, poking his shoulder.

TJ ignored him, pointing to the plush dinosaur behind the man. “For you,”

Cyrus looked from the stuffed animal to TJ. “Really?”

TJ nodded. “Of course. You love dinosaurs, so it only makes sense that I’d give it to you,”

“It’s also a stuffed animal and I’m 16 years old,”

“I can easily take that away from you. I will turn this prize around,” he threatened with mock authority, crossing his arms.

Cyrus sighed, tucking the dino under his arm. “Thanks,” he muttered, kicking the ground.

TJ frowned, trying to meet his gaze. “Do you not like it? I can pick something else,”

Cyrus shook his head. “No, it’s not that. I just. . .I wish I could win you something, but my lack of hand-eye coordination impedes that desire,”

TJ rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, most of these games are probably math driven,” he insisted, peering at the booths, “darts?”

“Sure, we’ll just end up in the ER when I inevitably forget which direction to throw it in,” Cyrus mused, following TJ.

“I’ll help you,” he offered, handing the lady behind the booth a few tickets, and getting a few darts in return, “take the first shot. I’ll hold your beloved dinosaur,”

Cyrus picked up one of the darts with extreme caution. He shut one eye, trying to gauge where he should throw it. After a few intense moments of concentration, he threw it, and it hit the board and landed on the ground.

“Help?” TJ offered, setting the plush animal aside and coming up beside him, holding the dart in both their hands, “so, just pinch it like this,” he said, moving Cyrus’ fingers in the right position, electricity zipping through him with each touch.

Cyrus felt like he almost couldn’t breathe, and he didn’t even know why. Was there something in the air? Was it some weird summer curse? Either way, the next thing he knew was that the dart had left his hands and the balloon popped.

“Hey, you did it!” TJ cheered, ruffling his hair gently, “told you,”

Cyrus pointed to a small, plush basketball, thanking the lady. “For you,”

TJ beamed, picking it up like it was his own child. “I love it, thank you,”

Cyrus shrugged, grabbing his dinosaur as they walked. “Doesn’t begin to compare to this, but I’m glad you like it,”

“Cyrus?” a voice called, followed by a slew of excited squeals.

“Amber, hey!” he greeted, “ and Andi. What are you guys doing?”

“We’re going to recreate Love, Simon,” Andi said, pointing to the ferris wheel.

“Ah,” TJ nodded sagely, “round and round the lesbians go, where they stop, nobody knows,”

Cyrus chuckled, holding out his dino. “Look what TJ won for me!”

Amber raised her brows, giving her brother a knowing look. “Wow, that’s really special. He must have really known you’d like that,”

“Well look at what Cyrus got me,” TJ said through gritted teeth, “it’s a basketball because he knows I love it,”

Andi looked between the two Kippens, trying to figure out what was going on. “Should we head towards the ferris wheel? Recreate that iconic scene,” she said, taking Amber’s hand and running to the line.

“I want that,” Cyrus sighed, hugging the dino to his chest sweetly.

“To go on the ferris wheel?” TJ nearly squeaks out, “yeah, let’s do it,” he says with the least amount of confidence possible.

Cyrus grabs TJ’s hand, tugging him along and catching up to Amber and Andi. The girls and Cyrus talked about the movie for a little while, Cyrus gushing about the lighting and the cinematography, while Amber just kept repeating the word ‘gay’ over and over.

When they got towards the front of the line, Cyrus handed the man tickets for him and TJ, and they both took their seats, their respective prizes on the outside of the seats. The man started the ride, and the boys weren’t even three feet on the ground when TJ squeezed his eyes shut.

“Would this be a bad time to tell you I’m afraid of heights?” he muttered, feeling something gentle rest on his hand that was gripping the bar for dear life.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Cyrus assured him, “open your eyes. You don’t have to look down, just look at me,”

TJ slowly fluttered his eyes open, the first thing he saw being Cyrus’ hand on his. His gaze trailed up to his face, meeting his eyes; gosh, he could drown in those.

“Hey,” Cyrus whispered, scooting a little closer to TJ.

“Hey,” TJ said back, heart pounding, his breath coming in quick breaths, not because of the ferris wheel. He’d forgotten that he was so high above the ground. “I’m kinda weak, aren’t I,” he chuckled, shaking his head.

Cyrus frowned. “You know I’d love you no matter what,” he said, biting his tongue, “I mean, you know like, I-I love all my friends, like how friends love each other,” he stammered, exhaling.

“Oh. Yeah. Me too,” TJ replied, suddenly remembering he was on the ride, and clenching the bar a little tighter.

When they reached the bottom, TJ grabbed his basketball and flew off the seat. Cyrus took his dino, and walked off calmly, laughing as he caught up to TJ; the kind of laugh that made you dizzy with excitement. While TJ took a moment to catch his breath, Cyrus pulled out his phone and googled:

being loved no matter what

He opened his notes, and jotted down the word quickly so he wouldn’t forget.

naz: the pride that comes with knowing that you are loved no matter what you do

Amber and Andi stumbled off the ferris wheel, both laughing and smiling like two idiots.

“You two okay?” TJ asked, having regained his sense of safety.

“We’re good, just gay,” Amber supplied, squeezing Andi’s hand, “and also kind of tired and ready to go home,”

TJ nodded, turning to Cyrus. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” Cyrus agreed, walking in the opposite direction with Andi, as Amber and TJ headed home.

“So how was your date?” Amber cooed, batting her lashes at her brother.

TJ pushed her, making her stumble a little. “It wasn’t a date,”

Amber stopped dead in her tracks, grabbing TJ by the wrist. “It was literally Love, Simon, you dumbass gay disaster,”

TJ rolled his eyes, tugging his arm away from her. “So, how was your date?”

Amber shrugged, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. “It was a sort-of date. We both like each other but are trying to keep this under wraps, you know?”

TJ nodded. “Yeah, I know. . .mom stuff,”

“Speaking of which, what did you tell her about this ordeal?” Amber asked, the two of them rounding the corner and walking down the street.

“I said we were going to the fair, just you and me,” he supplied.

“We need a selfie to prove it,” Amber decided, “my phone’s dead,”

“Fine, fine, I guess we can use mine,” he mumbled, unlocking it and clicking through. He accidentally selected photos instead of camera, and the picture of him and Cyrus in the Christmas shop popping up. Just his luck.

Amber’s jaw dropped, making incoherent noises as TJ tried to close the image, but Amber was holding onto his phone like death. “Oh my gosh, you guys are literally so cute,” she finally said, nearly fangirling over the picture.

“I mean I already know that Cyrus is adorable so,” TJ shrugged, giving into the fact that Amber was never going to let this go.

“No, like, you guys are legitimate couple goals,”

“Not a couple,”

“Yet,” Amber replied, not missing a beat.

“So,” Andi started, plucking a fry from the basket, “you and TJ?”

Cyrus groaned, bringing his forehead down onto the table. “Why does everyone phrase it like that, like we’re dating! We’re not!”

Andi was taken aback, chewing on her fries in confusion. “I just meant that you guys were having a fun time here, but dating, okay, let’s go there,”

“Let’s not,” Cyrus pleaded, picking his head up.

“Too late,” Andi chuckled.

Cyrus pouted, crossing his arms. “I don’t wanna talk about ‘us’,” he groaned, using air quotes.

“I’m, like ninety-nine percent sure he likes you, Cy,” Andi insisted, drumming her fingers on the table, “have you seen the way he looks at you?”

“. . .yeah, right, whatever,” Cyrus mumbled, taking another fry from the basket.

“I’m serious,”

“Hush,”

“But do you like him?”

And there it was; the loaded question that was there lurking in the shadows, but now it was on full display. He really didn’t want to answer, because heck, he didn’t even know how to answer it. So he stayed silent.

“Aha! So you do like him!” Andi clapped her hands together.

“I never said that! TJ’s my best friend,” Cyrus defended, taking the last fry in defiance.

“Cyrus, be honest. You don’t think that there could be something more there?” she asked, searching his face for some sort of answer.

“. . .no,” Cyrus said meekly, almost like he was disappointed, but not quite. His voice didn’t wobble, and he said it with as much confidence as he could.

Andi shrugged, tossing the empty basket into the trash can. “Whatever you say,” she chirped, getting up from her seat, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Cy,”

He gave her a wave as a good-bye, and turned his attention back to the ferris wheel, watching people go around and around. Couples, kids, parents with their little ones, all smiling and laughing. He sighed, silently hoping that one day he’d get to do that with someone special.

6/25

Today Cyrus and I went to the fair, and it was so much fun! I played a basketball game and won him a dinosaur, and he played a dart game and gave me the stuffed basketball he won. Well, in truth I helped him a little bit, but his face when I said ‘you did it!’ was priceless. We ran into Amber and Andi, and we all went on the ferris wheel. Admittedly, I’m afraid of heights, but Cyrus was there with me, telling me that things were okay, and to just look at him, which helped. I was worried he’d think I’m weak, but he said he’d love me no matter what. You know, like friends do.

TJ sighed, shutting his journal and setting it on his nightstand. That little moment had meant everything to him, and even if he wanted it to go further or mean something more, deep down, he knew it didn’t. It was just a thing friends said to each other, like when Amber would text Cyrus and end the conversation with ‘love you!’.

[Underdog <3: so for tmrw, there’s free painting classes where the art gallery was that day! do you wanna come?]

TJ smiled, butterflies erupting in his stomach no matter how hard he tried to quell them.

[Me: totally! when is it?]

[Underdog <3: around noon, sound good?]

[Me: i’m there]

TJ turned off the lamp on his nightstand, shutting his eyes and trying to go to sleep. But even though it was late, and he was relatively tired, he couldn’t stop thinking. Thinking of Cyrus. Thinking about what they ‘were’. Friends, he supposed. Best friends.

6/25

TJ and I went to the fair today and it was so much fun! He won me this giant dinosaur stuffed animal and I love it! It’s sitting in my chair in my room right now. I tried to win him a stuffed basketball with a game of darts, but he helped me so much that he basically won it. We saw Amber and Andi there, and then all four of us went on the ferris wheel and it was so much fun! It was kinda dark when we were at the top, but I could still see TJ’s green eyes. They’re pretty nice.

And there it was again; Cyrus focusing on TJ’s eyes. “It’s a normal thing,” he told himself, flipping to the back and jotting down the notes he’d written in his phone. Naz. What a lovely word to describe him and TJ. They would love each other no matter what. Love, like friends do, of course. Because that’s what they were.

Friends.

Tag List: @shortstackofpeaches || @seanna313 || @geekingbeautytx || @heavenlybyers || @ginnychrises|| @wlwandimack || @giocondasstuff || @lemonboytyrus || @adorejrizzle || @swingsetboys || @ifellintotyrushell || @idk-dude-17 || @rbf-lesbian || @marianara-sauce || @kaptainjinxz || @alex-poster-pizz || @quietmarvel || @blueberry-my-hero-macadamia || @broadwayitbitch || @tjsmuffin || @tjthekippen || @idpleasesir || @hi-hello-hey-there || @bingewatchingenthusiast|| @booklove-2 || @illbeyourreasonwhy || @birdiesandflowers || @whistlepunk || @phinallyjackie || @thedampjofangirl || @tyrus4eva || @tj-is-a-lemony-boy || @tj-goodman-bittersweet-boy || @dis-app-oin-tme-nt || @nessarinthegay || @breadisticks || @typewriter-riz || @gobletofash || @bluemuffinboy || @sofuuh || @cheesystars || @tjmuffin || @multifandom-bxitch || @allylovessadie || @hithatsmyname || @tyrusinarush || @tyrus-lookback ||

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: YumeTwins July 19

Hello~ Welcome to our review :3 today we’ll be looking at the July YumeTwins. For anyone curious, my mom is doing very well and they said she could leave later today (Sunday).

“It’s finally summer time and with the weather heating up we hope you’re looking forward to getting outside and enjoying the sun! We had exactly that in mind when we put together this month’s selection of goodies for you. Isn’t it funny how when the sun comes out it somehow magically brightens our mood? We hope you’re feeling motivated and excited to get together with friends for a fun day in the sun or a Pool Party! Don’t forget to bring along your kawaii pool party items from this month’s box! Are you excited yet? We sure are! We hope you enjoy!“

(Just pointing this out for anyone new... I know people like sunny weather, but my mood improves when it’s rainy and cloudy out.)

Photo Contest

This month the winners and runner-ups could look forward to an adorable My Melody plush and chocolate-shaped pens!

Yume Prize

Meanwhile, Rilakkuma is our featured character in the special Yume Prize box. With several items perfect for bringing to a pool party.

Gudetama Sticky Notes/Pokemon Stickers

I know, you’re probably wondering “there’s no Gudetama though“, and I have a good reason for this. The booklet lists Gudetama Sticky Notes, but as you can see I didn’t get them. If I recall, this is because something happened and they had to replace them for some boxes... I’m not 100% sure, this was back in July when I looked into it.

Keep in mind things like this usually don’t happen- and since I can’t exactly remember why it did, I won’t fault YumeTwins for it. With that, let’s take a look at this cute sheet of puffy stickers I did get instead. There are 65 in total, featuring a variety of Pokemon and some pokeballs. They’re a bit on the small side, but that just means you can use a lot more :P

Although I don’t like tiny stickers, I do admire all the detail you can see in these. However, I noticed some of of mine have little itty-bitty smudges or markings, they’re also pretty hard for puffy stickers.

Kawaii Character Pouch

Our next item is a cute little pouch, which would come in handy at the pool for storing small items you can keep nearby. There was a variety of fun prints and Sanrio characters available. The one I got is an adorable Sumikko Gurashi pouch, featuring a pastel floral background and black details surrounded by the series name and writing that says “Day after day we have fun in the corner.“. There is also a light pink ball chain connected to this, giving you the option to attach it to various items.

Although I’ve gotten numerous pouches like this, I think this would be one of my most favorites. I love the floral background on it~ It’s well made, it feels nice on both the inside and outside, although I did notice its on the thin side, so I’m not sure it could handle a lot of abuse, or getting wet. Not sure.

Key Chain and Strap

To go with the pouch, we also get this adorable chain and strap piece that can be used as is, or you could split it into two portions and use both pieces separately if you wanted. You could even “cross swap“ the chains, so you could make the rubbery piece into a phone charm if you wanted. Like the pouch, these consist of various Sanrio characters partnered with various items they’re often found with, for example, besides Hello Kitty and her bow, there’s also Gudetama with an egg.

I love Hello Kitty, so I’m always a little disappointed when I don’t get her for items featuring various Sanrio characters~ Which happens a good amount of time! But this time I got lucky x3 I’m especially fond of Hello Kitty phone charms because back when I had a phone that could have them, I used a vampire Hello Kitty charm I loved more than anything. I still have it (and a Hello Kitty Frankenstein too, it was part of a Halloween series) but I can’t use it at the time.

As you can see in the picture, the details are perfect, the lines and colors are smooth and crisp, the figure is especially extremely well done for something its size and has a lot of details on it. The pose and item are obviously on the generic side, but I think in this case it actually works for the line.

Handy Mist Fan

A perfect summers item (and probably really fun at a pool :D), this adorable Sanrio hand fan comes in the shape of a star wand and is available in this hot pink and red various Sanrio mascots, or there is a pale colored Sumikko Gurashi one. Besides being a cooling hand fan that requires no batteries, there is a special feature that makes this one even more fun; it has a water mist function!

Initially I didn’t know that. but I did see the hole the water comes out, and had been wondering what the side tab did. I never really looked at the description until I began writing about it, and as it turns out you just unscrew the bottom and fill it with water. The tab on the side is for controlling this feature, and the water will mist out while you’re using it. There is also a long string you can use to hang this from your neck or various items.

This is actually a lot of fun! I usually don’t get that excited by hand fans because while they are cute, I find they either work or they don’t (or the breeze is so small you can barely feel it) so I wasn’t very sure I’d be satisfied. But it works really good, I was surprised by how cooled I felt while/after use, and the misting function is really strong, to the point you get water all over you. I can’t see this being an ideal winter toy, but it’s perfect for late-spring and summer! 

Sailor Moon Jar

Next up is a pretty KiraKira Canister inspired by Sailor Moon that was available in 2 colors (pink or purple), both featured alternate images. But otherwise they have the same physical appearance. The jar has a diamond tile etching you can feel on the inside, and on the top of the lid is a gem. It’s also a decent size and the booklet suggests using it for things like candies, hair accessories, and cosmetics; which I think I will do. Lately I’ve been putting all my unique lip products from the boxes in the Sumikko Gurashi container I keep my earrings in and I ran out of room <3<

This is a pretty item that could come in a lot of handy in numerous cases, it’d also be the perfect gift for a Sailor Moon fan x3 The details make it extra-special, I like it a lot~

Kirby Inflatable Ball

This is our last item of the box, an adorable Kirby inflatable that also serves as the featured item this month!

This airy toy makes for a lot of fun at the pool or just as an inflatable yo-yo :3 it’s very fun to play with and was surprisingly easy to blow up for me -and I have asthma- although my cheeks still felt a little sore afterwards~

There is one downside I noticed, and I don’t know if its just mine, or if they all have this issue. I noticed over time Kirby seems to lose some air, and I don’t know if it has a hole somewhere -despite being kept in its packaging until I took the pictures- or if its meant to do that. It’s still playable of course, but it’s a minor concern.

♡ Cutie Ranking ���

Content - 5 out of 5. We got some good, quality items this time! I didn’t notice anything messed up or sloppy (besides a couple Pokemon stickers), each piece was detailed and very cute/pretty and individually I essentially liked all of them.

Theme: 2.5 out of 5. Honestly this is where they fell a little short I thought... I mean, we only have 2 really obvious pool-based items in the box- but you could use them in multiple locations too, which is good. But while you could store small items to bring with you in the wallet and jar, who would actually bring these to a pool? Maybe to a poolside locker or hotel. The stickers/sticky notes and charm kinda don’t work for me theme wise, and all they suggest is using the charm as an accessory to the pouch. They could have just as easily included a water-filled charm or something to add more of the pool touch to it. 

Total Rank: 7 out of 10. I really did like this box, would recommend, the only thing I had a problem with was that I felt like the theme could have been better. The theme suits summer strongly, it was just the items didn’t fully meet the theme in my opinion. 

♡ Cutie Scale ♡

1. Sailor Moon Jar - I love, love, love it~! It’s so pretty looking and it’s a decent size so I know it will come in handy regardless of what I choose to do with it. 

2. Hand Mist Fan - Great for cooling down when you feel particularly warm or just want to have some fun~

3. Character Pouch - I got tons of these, I didn’t need another one; but I love how it looks! Definitely in my top 3 of pouches I own, I’d be very likely to use it. 

4. Kirby Inflatable Ball - As precious as Kirby is and as fun as this is, I’m worried over the air draining out of it, but I couldn’t find any holes. I’ll probably hang it up somewhere safe to make sure it doesn’t get one for now.   

5. Keychain and Strap - I’m very happy I got Hello Kitty!

6. Pokemon Stickers - I don’t like repetitive sticker sheets, even though they do have their good points. And because a few of them got messed up I can throw them away with no remorse.

[kellyyisstrange-blog]

Warped Tour/Roadie For A Day Blog: July 13, 2018

Okay, wow! I have A LOT to talk about today. This blog might be all over the place because I am terrible at this, but I really want to share my experience with everyone! 

So, Doll Skin. If you haven’t heard of them before, let me educate! Doll Skin is a punk/rock band from Phoenix, AZ. In my opinion, they are beyond wonderful and extremely underrated and I try to bring their music to everyone’s attention as much as I possibly can. The members are as follows:

Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar: Sydney Dolezal | Lead Guitar: Alex Snowden | Bass: Nicole Rich | Drums/Vocals: Meghan Herring

Doll Skin played at Warped Tour 2017 and are currently playing at Warped Tour 2018 on the Owly stage! SO. A few months ago, I had learned about this contest sponsored by an organization called “Girls Behind the Rock Scene.” Basically, this organization helps bring more females into the music industry and showing women what it’s like in the backstage/roadie scenes of band life. I support this 100% because well, being a female myself, I love getting any opportunity that comes my way in a “male-dominated” world. Women are truly making breakthroughs all over the world and I could not be more proud to be a woman in this day and age. Well GBTRS partnered with Doll Skin for Warped Tour 2018 to have a contest, where for each tour date, someone would be selected to shadow/be their roadie for that day. I really wanted to apply, so I did, but at first I had no confidence that I was going to win. I was blessed with that email saying I was going to be Doll Skin’s roadie in Camden, NJ’s Warped Tour show. I had no idea how to prepare or even if I needed to prepare. So I just read up a little bit on what roadies do and took it from there!

Showtime!

So, I rode to Warped with my best friend, Kait. Unfortunately, my car decided to give me problems just 2 days prior. My luck in a nutshell. So, I arrived and had to meet with the girls’ tour manager, Nicole (since there are 2 Nicole’s, one being the manager and one being the bass player of the band I’m going to do this: when I’m talking about the tour manager, I’m going to say ‘Nicole (TM)’ and when I’m talking about the bass player I’m going to say ‘Nicole (DS)’.) So, I met up with Nicole (TM) and she was the absolute sweetest. She did everything in her power to make sure I could soak in as much information as possible, while also staying properly hydrated and having a fun time. It was very hot out that day. She probably gave me a total of 6-7 water cans throughout the day. 

Anyway, Doll Skin was scheduled to perform at 4:30, therefore they did not really need me until 3:45. But, Nicole (TM) asked me if I wanted to go with her and Meghan to see Don Broco at 11:30 (I believe) and I said sure! They took me SIDE STAGE and I was completely blown away. I have never seen any bands side stage before so this was an amazing new thing for me. I was trying to keep my cool because so many band members were just walking right past me. I got to give Meghan her gift, which was a red treble clef necklace and she loved it! She wore it during their set! So, after seeing Don Broco, I was taken to the band’s merch tent and I met Cameron. He was giving me pointers about how to sell merchandise to fans and he is just a natural! He convinced so many people who have not heard of the band to go check them out. He had stickers with the band’s name, set time and stage and handed them out to everyone. My favorite thing about sitting at the tent was when people would come up to us and say, “Doll Skin? I’ve never heard of them” and Cameron would say, “Oh but they are only the BEST band on Warped Tour this year!” with SUCH confidence and I could tell it made everyone interested in learning about them. Though, one lady approached us and asked if they were the “Powerpuff Girl band” which made me laugh because the girls told me they get that all the time. 

After that, I was pretty much free to watch some bands and do whatever I wanted until 3:45. The first thing I did was look for the Christina Grimmie Foundation tent. Since Christina was tragically murdered at her concert in June of 2016, her family decided to start a foundation in her honor and any donations are shared to families/victims of gun violence as well as breast cancer. Christina is one of my idols, and I’m friends with her brother Marcus who was running the tent, so I visited them and hung out for a while. Mark gave me a bracelet and we were laughing and joking around. It’s good to see him happy again. 

I decided to walk around for a while, just to check out all the tents and see what was going on when all of a sudden I notice a sign that said, “Simple Plan free signing 1:00″ It was 12:00 and I IMMEDIATELY went in line!! Simple Plan has been a favorite of mine since I was about 13 years old. I was able to get a selfie with them and my inner child was screaming for joy! Finally, after walking backstage and just looking at all these bands walking past me, I actually MET one! They were signing right next to the stage where Tonight Alive were performing, which made me happy because I really wanted to see them. So yes, another dream of meeting Simple Plan has finally come true! Then I went with Kait to see We The Kings and we got MURDERED in the pit pretty much! Haha, they said they were filming us for a video and around 8-10 fans all decided to crowd surf all at once and they were all coming towards us and we pretty much got squashed. One girl almost fell head first into the concrete! Thank goodness we saved her! Seriously! Be safe when trying to crowd surf people! (Ok, ‘safe’ and ‘crowd surfing’ do not go together, I know. But still, be careful!) 

After their set was done, I was escorted by Nicole (TM) to see Simple Plan side stage!!!! I repeat: SIMPLE PLAN...SIDE STAGE!!! It was an amazing experience. The crowd was fantastic and honestly, seeing everything from the opposite side, meaning from the stage as opposed to the crowd, was life changing for me. It really inspired me to maybe get myself onto a stage performing in front of crazy awesome fans one day! But oh my, were the fans crazy for Simple Plan! The band had huge water guns and were giving water to the fans and they were so loud and active and amazing! I got to see what really happens behind the scenes during a show. It is A LOT of hard work, guys! These shows don’t just have a magic button that you press to make it all happen. These crew members bust their asses for every single show and I don’t think we give them nearly enough credit! So shoutout to all of you wonderful crew members working Warped or working at all for any band! Keep it up!

NOW. It is 3:45 and I’m at Doll Skin’s tent backstage helping them prepare for their set! Now I just want to start this part off by saying that all of the members of this band are the nicest human beings I have ever met! So, I see Alex first, and she gave me a hug and was saying that their photographer, who is also named Kelly and also who I met earlier in the day, kept talking about me and how they were all so excited to finally meet me. I gave Alex her gifts, which were a Harley Quinn plush and Avenged Sevenfold All Excess DVD. Her jaw dropped and she gently put them down and gave me the biggest hug in the world, thanking me and saying I’m such a sweetheart for the gifts and that she is going to be watching that dvd for the rest of the tour and I just thought it was so cool that she loved them so much! Sydney shows up next and I hugged her and gave her the Doll Skin Photo Book I made and HER jaw dropped! She’s going, “Guys did you see this?!” and everyone is saying how awesome it was. I included a letter for them in the book which Sydney promised me they would read together. Nicole (DS) shows up next and it was so funny because Alex goes, “Woah! ...Omg from far away she looked naked!” And I started laughing. So I give Nicole (DS) her gifts, which were a pink wrist pouch, a MCR bracelet with Helena lyrics on it, and a bear keychain that was pink. She put the bracelet and keychain on instantly and thanked me and gave me a hug. I went to take a photo with Alex and Nicole (DS) and Nicole says, “OH WOW I DO LOOK NAKED! ...Oh well” Haha. Amazing. There was even a point when Kait asked me if I could bring her a water and Sydney ended up walking over to the gate and talking to her for a bit! Sydney is so amazing! I told her how much Kait loves her and she immediately wanted to meet her and they took goofy selfies together. It was amazing. Doll Skin really does love and care about their fans!

Their set was starting in a few minutes and basically what I learned was that the girls are pretty much their own roadies. We just helped them bring Meghan’s drums up to the stage and the girls took care of everything else. They are very independent and want to have control over how they set up their stage and I respect the hell out of that! We also put water on the stage for them in case they needed it. So, the set begins and I’m side stage of course. It’s like they have this internal switch, from normal people to ROCKSTARS and they definitely just flipped the switch to star! WOW! As soon as I heard Alex’s guitar and Sydney’s “WHAT’S UP, WARPED TOUR?!” I had so many emotions running through my head. These girls, these normal, average everyday but yet so amazing girls, are also in a band playing at Warped Tour. So, I have been wanting to get involved with music for the longest time. Whether it be doing photography for a band, being a roadie, a tour manager, or actually in the band myself, I’ve always wanted to be involved somehow. BUT, my little to no self-esteem, no confidence and anxiety have always been holding me back. But watching them perform like that just inspired me in so many ways. I don’t think I have ever actually felt THAT inspired before. They kicked ass and had a blast! I found myself in tears a few times during their set. I was so overjoyed! Here I am, just a random girl from Jersey, at the final Warped Tour show in Camden, working for Doll Skin and seeing all of these amazing bands up close and experiencing backstage life. It’s incredible!

Doll Skin’s Set List: Family of Strangers, Daughter, Shut Up (You Miss Me), Lets Be Honest, Uninvited, Persephone and Puncha Nazi. (They also said they were going to play Africa by Toto, then proceeded to play the first 10 seconds, stop and say, ‘That’s all we’ve learned!’ which was hilarious! I could tell they were having fun up there!)

When Puncha Nazi started, Nicole (TM) and I ran off stage to get their cases opened and everything ready to be put away and back on to the tour bus. They ended with Sydney grabbing the large Doll Skin flag and saying, “If you guys wanna hang out with us at our merch tent follow me!” And she took the fans, while Alex, Max, Nicole (both), Meghan and I were putting all of the guitars, bass guitars and drums back on to the truck. I can’t imagine doing that on a daily basis, but I would love to! It is A LOT more work than everyone makes it out to be, but it felt so rewarding to hear all of the ‘thank you’ comments from the entire band and we were just cracking jokes while putting things away. We had to be quick too and according to Nicole (DS) I was very quick and very helpful! It was adorable because there was one thing that was WAY too heavy for Meghan to put onto the truck so I did it for her. Nicole (DS) gave me her water and her chips which was great because I was starving. 

Ok, so on to the meet and greet and dinner. I waited until the girls were done meeting everyone. They were having so much fun meeting their fans! Then Kait and I hung with them a bit and took some more photos together. Then, I went to catering with Nicole (TM) and Meghan. WOW! I was literally surrounded by the majority of the bands! The singers from Mayday Parade and We The Kings walked past me a few times and I was thinking to myself, “Keep calm! You cannot fangirl in front of them! Stay cool!” It was very difficult. But overall the food was great and I was able to chill and eat dinner with the band again. Then Cameron and Sydney came with me to see 3OH!3 side stage. Again, amazing! I cannot put into words what an amazing day it was. After that, I talked to Sydney for a bit at the RV, she gave me a written set list, I thanked her, she thanked me, I saw Motionless in White with Kait and then we went home. 

So, I knew this was going to be a long post but DAMN! Haha, I HAD to share my experience! It was definitely, seemingly like a once in a lifetime opportunity and I just feel so blessed to have learned SO much in just one day about tour life backstage! This definitely inspired me to work harder with my music and hopefully I’ll be performing one day too! HUGE thank you to Doll Skin, Nicole, Cameron, Simple Plan, everyone I encountered at this show! I could not have asked for a better Warped Tour experience and I hope to see Doll Skin again very soon! Thank you to GBTRS for even putting this contest together. Women can do anything!!! Always remember that! 

And with that, LATER EVERYONE! :D 

-KellyKatt 

[jaemtens]

Rescue (Chapter 10)

seventeen | junhao | side meanie / vernkwan | chapter 10 of 10 | 40.3k

tumblr links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 ao3 links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

written with @rendawnie | updates every saturday morning

summary:  When Soonyoung finally “agrees” to let Junhui get a dog for their apartment, he realizes that he needed something a little bit more than a puppy. Enter Minghao, the bona fide Bad Boy™ with tattoos and piercings. Oh, and he doodles puppies and kittens in their Probability and Confirmation class.

chapter 10: minghao

Bright.

Really bright.

Too damn bright.

Minghao rolled over, facing Junhui’s side of the bed -- away from the harsh light streaming in from the window. His eyes were barely open, and he could hardly see anything. He wrapped his arms around what he thought was his boyfriend, but he instantly knew something was off. Junhui was soft… in like the intangible sense of the world, not physically soft. Not plush, like whatever he was hugging right now.

“Junhui,” he whined, squeezing his body pillow or whatever he was wrapped around.

“Junhuiii,” he repeated, flailing a little as he released the pillow.

Minghao finally willed himself awake, opening his eyes more than before and lifting up the bedsheets to find what was definitely not his boyfriend.

Nope, that was definitely a mish-mash of pillows and Junhui’s shiba inu plush, not the boy he wanted to be cuddling with right now. Where did he go, Minghao thought to himself. He finally rolled off of their bed, tossing on a shirt that wasn’t even close to matching his pajama bottoms. That’s what you get for picking your pajamas based off of what’s on the floor closest to the bed. He kept walking toward the door to the rest of the apartment, eyes still adjusting the bright morning sun streaming through the windows of their apartment.

Well, their apartment… plus Soonyoung’s.

Not that Soonyoung spent much time in their apartment now. Alone, at least. Shortly before Minghao moved in, Soonyoung had started spending about half his time at Jihoon’s larger apartment. When Soonyoung was here, Jihoon inevitably was too. It was almost gross watching the two of them steadily become more domestic. Not that Minghao also didn’t notice Soonyoung’s condom stash steadily getting depleted at a rate of three per week.

He figured if he had to take a math class for college, he should at least put it to use, right?

The whole Junhui-and-Soonyoung-getting-boyfriends-at-about-the-same-time thing helped make it easier for Junhui to convince Soonyoung to let Minghao move in. Apparently Junhui had also agreed to be on dishes duty for “til the end the time,” as well.

Oh, Minghao had almost forgotten their fifth family member. Shortly after walking out into the shared living space, she came running up, jumping up into Minghao’s lap as he crouched down to grab her. Lilli having two dads was quite a boon for the young Dachshund -- twice the number of treats, Minghao mused while looking over the Dachshund’s steadily rounding torso. We need to take you to the park more, he thought. And maybe go on more dates at the park.

“Morning, Hao-hao~” a sweet-sounding voice sing-songed from the kitchen. Minghao looked up, seeing his boyfriend in his own soft (and actually matching) pajamas standing in front of the stove with a wooden spoon in hand.

“Morning, Jun-jun,” Minghao replied, putting Lilli back down on the floor. “You know, you might have some competition for who loves me more.”

Minghao wandered into the kitchen, catching the tail-end of Junhui’s incredulous-looking side-eye. “That’s not fair, she only has one setting,” Junhui complained while Minghao wrapped his arms around him.

Minghao furrowed his brow. “That’s not true,” he softly countered. “She barked at Jihoon the other day.”

“That’s probably because she feels threatened that she may not be the smallest thing in the apartment anymore,” Junhui deadpanned with a smirk. They laughed together, Junhui trying not to knock the pan over while he stirred their scrambled eggs. Just then, Lilli sauntered up to them, knowing that Minghao might be weak enough to give her food.

It was tough not being able to resist two sets of puppy eyes every day.

“Did you already feed her?” Minghao lilted, placing a soft kiss on the side of Junhui’s neck.

“Half a piece of bacon.”

Minghao looked down at the pair of puppy eyes staring back at him. “Not today, Lilli,” he cooed. Lilli barked, switching sides. She was probably hoping that Junhui would be clumsy enough to stir something out of the pan he was working on; not a bad bet, if you asked Minghao.

“So why the special breakfast today, babe?” Minghao asked, returning to littering kisses up and down Junhui’s neck.

“Well, all four of us are here…” Junhui started.

“Oh, Jihoon and Soonyoung came back here?”

“Their shoes are by the door, so I think so.” Junhui motioned toward the door with his head, nearly whacking Minghao’s head in the process. “Whoops, sorry Hao. Also, it’s been a month.”

“A month?”

“A month since you moved in with me,” Junhui quietly repeated, leaving the spoon in the pan to gently remove Minghao’s hands from his waist with his own hands. He circled around to face Minghao head-on, pecking him on the lips. Afterwards, Junhui turned the burner off, grabbed the pan’s handle, and dumped the eggs onto a waiting plate near the stove.

Minghao followed Junhui like a lost puppy (even Lilli knew enough to vacate the kitchen), bumping into his boyfriend a few times while he grabbed silverware and chopsticks and plates for the table. “A whole month?” Minghao finally said, “Feels like three days.”

Junhui scoffed. “We’ve gone through half of Soonyoung’s condoms, Hao.”

“Right. Three days,” Minghao repeated, earning a light punch on the arm from Junhui.

“Go wake them up, will you?”

Minghao nodded, feeling a little bit more purpose in his routine now that Junhui had given him a direction.

That’s how he felt in general, too.

Minghao rounded the kitchen counter and walked up to Soonyoung’s door. Looking back to Junhui, he pulled his fist back, ready to bang on the door. Junhui giggled, and Minghao let loose, pounding on Soonyoung’s door five times. “Wake up, you lazy pipsqueaks!”

Junhui started cackling from the kitchen. “I think Jihoon’s gonna have to fight you for his honor now,” he wryly commented.

“Unless he gets a stepstool, I think I’ll be fine.”

Minghao was already halfway back to the kitchen when Soonyoung’s door swung open. “You woke Jihoon up, asshole,” he dryly commented.

“Food,” Minghao dryly replied.

Soonyoung turned back around and whispered something into his room before closing the door and heading over to the kitchen table with the rest of them. Minghao wandered toward Junhui and planted another string of kisses along Junhui’s cheeks until he reached his lips, connecting his lips with Junhui’s for a spell longer.

“Gross,” Soonyoung complained, taking a seat at the kitchen table and pulling some pancakes and strips of bacon onto a plate that he promptly placed at Jihoon’s seat.

“Oh c’mon,” Minghao challenged. “Like we haven’t seen you sucking Jihoon’s face for three years.”

“Yeah, but when you two do it, it’s gross,” Soonyoung snarked.

Minghao looked back at Junhui with an offended face, earning an amused look from his boyfriend. So much for backing him up. “I think you’re really gonna have to fight Jihoon for your honor now.”

“Great,” Minghao defensively replied, picking up a lamp from near the door. “I’ll use this.”

“Hey now!”

“That’s the only thing you can use,” Soonyoung sassed, stuffing his face with more eggs. “The rest of the furniture is mine.”

Minghao’s expression dropped a little, turning back to face his boyfriend. “You only bought a lamp?”

“Um, listen, Soonyoung’s parents, uh, gave him a lot of furniture.”

Minghao shook his head, ignoring Jihoon finally joining them in the kitchen. “We’re gonna have to redecorate, babe. Class this place up.”

“Finally,” Jihoon added, taking his seat at the table. “So when are you two leaving then?”

Soonyoung guffawed, his face still stuffed full of food. It was a resting state, to be honest. Junhui was less offended than Minghao, but that was mostly because Junhui enjoyed any attention, even if it was blatantly insulting. Minghao didn’t dare challenge Jihoon, though -- if there was one thing he had learned about the older boy, it was that he could skewer him with words four times over before Minghao even understood the first insult. Junhui consoled him by intertwining his fingers in Minghao’s hand and leading the younger boy to the kitchen table, their hands still connected when they took their seats.

“So how was last night?” Junhui started, spooning food onto Minghao’s plate.

“Great!” Soonyoung chimed, surprising everyone by not having his mouth filled with food again. Jihoon took another dainty bite out of his pancake, the contrast not totally lost on Minghao.

Minghao smirked, ready to throw some shade back. “I think he meant the play.”

“Yeah, Soonyoung’s screaming was a little loud when we got back…” Jihoon muttered. “Not as loud as your whining for Junhui every hour of the day, though.”

“Awww, babe,” Junhui cooed, pinching his cheeks while Minghao felt his face flush bright red. He knew better and he still went for it… Jihoon could always destroy his puny insults.

“The play,” Soonyoung started, accentuating the fact that he was indeed talking about the play this time, “was great, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.”

“Jihoon was too, so his feet could reach the ground,” Minghao added.

“I’ll have you know that he was on my lap for most of it.”

Minghao nearly choked on his food. “He -- he chose to do that!?”

“Well,” Soonyoung mused. “There was a rather tall person in front of him. And my lap is rather comfy.”

Junhui and Minghao turned to look at Jihoon, who looked like he had accepted that Soonyoung was gonna rat him out at one point or another. Or maybe he was secretly seething. You could never tell with Jihoon. Well… except that this was Soonyoung, and Minghao was pretty sure Jihoon couldnever get angry at Soonyoung. Ever.

“If I weren’t dating you, I think you’d be dead in a ditch by tomorrow,” Jihoon calmly replied. Minghao started cackling before Jihoon cut him off -- “Next to Minghao, of course.”

“Oh, beware though Jihoon,” Junhui playfully added. “Minghao might have a lamp.”

Jihoon gave them both a look of total and utter disgust, like their inside joke was ridiculously awful and they should feel awful for having it. Soonyoung giggled a little though, and Jihoon softened up a bit when he noticed that. Minghao looked over at Junhui, and, honestly? He felt the same as Jihoon sometimes. A lot of his moods had gone away since he started dating Junhui; he still was snarky and a little defensive, but Junhui softened him up. As much as he hated to admit it, Minghao wasn’t really all that scary to begin with… but with Junhui, he was extra not-scary. Just like Jihoon around Soonyoung.

*

“Do we have to go in together again?” Minghao whined, standing just outside the shelter with Junhui and Lilli. Last time he went in with Junhui, Dokyeom and Dino wouldn’t leave him alone about it for a week. Actually, they still wouldn’t leave him alone about it -- it had only been a week since last time!

“Yes, we do,” Junhui insisted, putting a hand on his hip while Lilli sniffed some bushes near the entrance to the shelter. Maybe it smelled like Junhui? “Dino loves Lilli, and Lilli loves Dino. And I’ll be damned if I deprive her of all the love she deserves on a daily basis.”

Minghao shook his head. “There’s not enough love in the world,” he muttered.

“What was that?” Junhui questioned. “Did I just hear my boyfriend saying that he doesn’t have enough love?”

“Um, no,” Minghao lied. “It’s just that all of the world that exists in the entire universe goes to you, babe, so I’m a little short on it for Lilli.”

“Gross,” a third voice chimed in. Dino swaggered on into their conversation and scooped Lilli up, disconnecting her leash while she attacked his face with her tongue. “I’ll just take Lilli til her dads are done arguing.”

“Oh, and Junhui?” Dino lilted, halfway in the door. “If you wanna hide from your feelings for Minghao again, the bush is right there!” he finished with a wink.

Minghao looked over at quizzically. The bush? he tried to ask with his confused expression, earning a sheepish look from his sweater-clad boyfriend. “I know you love me Hao,” Junhui explained. “We probably shouldn’t argue in front of Lilli. It’s bad for her.”

“Junhui, I love you, but I don’t think Lilli can hear us,” Minghao retorted, rubbing his temples slightly.

“She knows,” Junhui politely replied, pulling one of Minghao’s hands down from his head to lace their fingers together. “She knows.”

“Ooookay,” Minghao acquiesced, walking into the shelter with Junhui.

Dino may have made fun of him about Junhui, but he knew that Dino secretly loved that they were dating. Well, it wasn’t even a secret -- Dino just couldn’t resist giving Minghao a little bit of shit about how much he softened up for Junhui. And Dino had learned much more about when to lay off; he nearly tore Dino’s head off after Dino exclusively pestered Minghao about Junhui during their first shift together after they were, you know,official. Now it was just a jab here and there, like the little brother Dino always was.

Minghao was working his shift at the shelter today. Unlike last term -- when Minghao worked the afternoon -- he worked mornings before his afternoon class. He hadn’t missed one of his volunteer shifts since the whole debacle last month… not that Dokyeom minded too much about him missing a few shifts. He was a volunteer, after all.

At least for now.

Dokyeom had mentioned something about finding enough money in the budget to throw him on payroll? He was cautiously optimistic, a much healthier attitude than before with the whole Junhui thing. Ya know, when he was actively pessimistic.

“Oh, have you guys made up?” Dino teased, holding Lilli’s floppy ears down. He was sitting on the floor near one of the couches with Lilli in his lap and toys already strewn about around his person. “I guess I don’t need to cover Lilli’s ears anymore.”

“Oh my god,” Minghao protested, vehemently rolling his eyes. As if that every persuaded Dino to stop being a little shit.

“Hey Minghao and Junhui,” Dokyeom called out from the front desk. “What brings both of you here?”

“Um, I volunteer Monday mornings,” Minghao blankly replied. “You scheduled that, like, weeks ago.”

“I mostly meant Junhui.”

“Oh.”

“Well --” Junhui started.

“-- Junhui was here to take Lilli on a…” Dino interrupted. He paused for a moment to cover Lilli’s ears again with his hands. “W-A-L-K.”

“Right,” Junhui agreed with a nod. “Can’t say the ‘W’ word around her, she’ll get too excited.”

“We have the same thing with Minghao,” Dino cheekily continued. “We can’t say the ‘J’ word around him.”

“You little sh--”

“-- Junhui,” he whispered toward none other than Junhui himself, earning a bout of adorable giggling from his boyfriend. Dino was just fortunate that Junhui would be ridiculously upset if anything were to ever happen to the little shit… that was the only thing between Dino and complete and utter annihilation.

“Yeah, he just perks up and looks around for you like a lost puppy,” Dino added, miming what was probably supposed to be a lovestruck Minghao but ended up looking more like a meerkat.

Minghao shook his head. “Don’t mind Dino, he’s actually 12 years old.”

“Wow, babe, you’re getting dissed over and over by a 12 year-old?” Junhui quickly snarked, walking over toward Lilli to hook her leash back on. “Maybe I’ll have to find a new boyfriend…”

Before Minghao could stammer out a response, Junhui floated over to him and pecked him on the lips.

“Gross! ” Dino bemoaned from behind them.

“It’s okay, kid, you’ll get it when you’re older,” Junhui quickly replied, before waving goodbye and blowing a kiss at Minghao. Lilli promptly hopped out of the store with Junhui, leaving Minghao alone with his disrespectful best friend and dopey boss.

Though… he did start to feel a little insecure about being with Junhui.

“Dino… do you -- do you really think Junhui and I argue too much? That we’re not right for each other?”

Minghao watched as Dino looked like he was immediately about to respond with something snarky, but he caught himself, realizing that Minghao was being serious about this. Dino retooled himself, pausing to come up with a good answer.

“Obviously you know your relationship better than me, Hao-hao,” Dino started. “But, like, I know what I’ve seen of you in the past month. And you’re doing a lot better. A lot better. You seem happier. Less on-edge. Junhui makes you a better person, even if there are little bumps along the way, you know?”

“But sometimes I worry that I’m not good enough for him,” Minghao blurted out, earning a befuddled look from Dino.

“You’ve been worrying about that since Day 1, but he keeps coming back to you. If he wanted to get out and move on, he had plenty of chances. Clearly he thinks you’re plenty good enough for him.”

“He asked you to move in with him,” Dokyeom added from behind the counter. Minghao had forgotten about him because, well, Dokyeom was hardly paying attention, absentmindedly filling out forms.

“Right?” Dino agreed. “Hao-hao, he really loves you, and you love him. You rescued each other from crappy spots, you know?”

“I -- I guess.”

“You think too much about it, Hao-hao.”

Just then, a very frazzled-looking Seungkwan burst through the door with a worried-looking Hansol not far behind. True to form, Hansol was holding a pet carrier -- again.

“I swear to god, Minghao, if I run into your boyfriend one more time, I’m gonna lose it,” Seungkwan complained, marching up to the front desk. “And we all know how close I am to losing it.”

“How close are you to losing it?” Dino quickly asked, snickering a little.

“Well, if you guys thought my last semester was hard, this semester is even harder. I’m overloading with five science classes -- and we all know that science classes are the hardest, of course -- and two of them have labs. One of them doesn’t even grade on a curve. Can you imagine that? What the hell was that professor thinking, not grading on a curve? We’re all gonna fail. But I have to fail the least so that when they inevitably haveto curve it, I have the best grade.”

“Uh huh,” Dino snorted, glancing over at Minghao with an amused look.

Minghao was more focused on what Seungkwan said first.

“What the hell did Junhui do to you?”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes, like he didn’t have time for this. Or anything really. Anything unless it was named Buttercup or Hansol, at least. “Well, every time I run into him, he just starts blabbering on and on about his boyfriend -- you -- talking about how in love he is and so on. Like I have time to hear about that?”

Dino glanced over in Minghao’s direction again. “Told you,” he whispered, winking at Minghao.

“And what’s wrong with Buttercup this time?” Dino asked, effortlessly directing his attention back to Seungkwan and all of his Problems.

“We think she lost her voice,” Hansol answered.

Minghao nearly lost his shit. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

*

By the time Dokyeom convinced Hansol and Seungkwan that, no, chinchillas cannot lose their voice, Dino and Minghao had nearly wrapped up their shift. Minghao was in a rush to run back to campus, leaving Dino alone to tidy up the front while he bolted out the door.

It was Monday, so he had an afternoon class and not a lot of time to get lunch. Junhui insisted on getting lunch together on Mondays -- not that Minghao objected -- but this time his boyfriend had invited two of his friends from Prob and Conf to join them.

Junhui casually mentioned that his friends were dating. He winked at the same time.

If that was Junhui challenging Minghao to be as flirty as possible during what turned out to be a double-date… well, Minghao didn’t need a written invitation.

Apparently one of the guys from Prob and Conf suggested a sushi place near campus. Something about an all-you-can-eat option? Not that Minghao needed that… but Junhui? Junhui could eat everything. In fact, in the past few weeks, Minghao had seen Junhui put at least seventeen different things that weren’t food or his toothbrush in his mouth. And sixteen of those didn’t make sense.

Minghao wandered into the restaurant, instantly spotting Junhui and two other boys sitting near a row of windows. Junhui waved him over. All three of them stood up, and… well, Minghao had never felt short before, but one of the other boys there easily had some height on him. And then there was Junhui and the other boy, who were slightly shorter than the tall boy. But Minghao? Minghao was shorter than all of them.

Oh god.

As he got closer, he instantly recognized the other two boys Junhui invited. They were the ones always doing coupley shit in Prob and Conf. This might actually be a challenge if Junhui wanted him to flirt.

The taller boy greeted him first, shaking his hand enthusiastically. “Minghao? I’m Mingyu.”

“Wonwoo,” the other boy waved with a small smile.

“Nice to meet you,” he replied with a smile. “Again, I guess.”

“I’m so glad Junhui finally decided to ask you out.”

“Wait, what?” Minghao asked while Junhui pecked him on the cheek, pulling out Minghao’s chair next to his own. “Junhui talked to you about me?”

“Talked. Vented. Cried. Junhui was absolutely smitten for you,” Wonwoo reported, scooting his seat closer to Mingyu’s once he sat down. Minghao collapsed into his chair, watching Junhui warily while his boyfriend took his own seat, blushing a little. He must’ve known that Wonwoo and Mingyu were gonna bust his chops about this. He must’ve known.

He wanted Minghao to know about this?

It was kinda cute.

He leaned over and planted a kiss on Junhui’s cheek while the two other boys looked through the menu.

“They’re still in the PDA stage of the relationship,” Wonwoo muttered, earning a giggle from Mingyu.

“Like we can’t one-up them, babe,” Mingyu snickered.

So that was the idea.

Minghao leaned over to Junhui, bringing his mouth really close to Junhui’s ear. “Did you plan this?”

Junhui giggled a little. Then he nodded ever-so-slightly, subtle enough not for Mingyu and Wonwoo to catch. Not that they didn’t already know that this was Junhui’s plan as far as he knew.

“Fine then,” Minghao whispered again.

Minghao adjusted his head, and he leaned in toward Junhui’s face again. He placed another kiss on Junhui’s cheek and started smiling shortly thereafter.

“Maybe we should order something,” Junhui lightly suggested.

Minghao quickly replied. “Are you on the menu?”

Wonwoo started choking on his water.

“They… they might have us beat,” Mingyu commented.

Wonwoo put his menu down and gave Mingyu a look. “Do you even know yourself? Do you even know who you are as a person?”

Minghao giggled a little. “Are you gonna do all-you-can-eat?” Minghao asked his boyfriend, scooting his chair a little bit closer so that their bodies were almost touching.

“No, I was actually thinking about splitting something with you, Hao-hao. With Salsa dancing after this, you know.”

Oh right. They decided to take a dance class together.

“That’s what we were gonna do,” Mingyu pouted. “I wanted to split something with you, babe.”

“No, we weren’t?” Wonwoo objected. “I wanted to eat today.”

Minghao started laughing again.

By the time he stopped, Junhui was staring back at him with a soft look. Junhui immediately swooped in and kissed him on the nose. “You are socute.”

After a few more minutes of not-so-subtle flirting, Minghao and Junhui eventually decided on ordering a combination platter of a few different sushi rolls. Wonwoo begrudgingly agreed to split something with Mingyu, but only after the taller boy pouted for about three years. Minghao also thought that maybe Wonwoo wanted to get it over with because the other boy groaned a little every time he and Junhui did something a little flirty.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t just a little flirty.

He loved Junhui so much, and he sucked at the whole words thing most of the time, so they liked to do little kisses here and there and cuddling and touchy-feeling things and -- now that he was describing it, Minghao could see why Wonwoo thought it was a little gross.

It was like the two of them had to get out all the love they had built up over the past few weeks of pining after each other.

By the time their sushi rolls came out, Minghao had already decided exactly what he was going to do next. He quickly grabbed his chopsticks, picked up one of the rolls, and held it up in front of Junhui’s mouth. Junhui giggled, and then opened his mouth.

“Oh my god,” Mingyu muttered. “See, babe! It’s a totally normal thing.”

“I am not letting you feed me,” Wonwoo rejected. “Not after last time.”

“I didn’t know that you couldn’t handle spicy!”

“And I didn’t know that you wouldn’t warn me! Am I supposed to magically read your mind?” Mingyu lightly punched Wonwoo in the arm, earning an amused look from the shorter boy.

Wonwoo chuckled. “You? With magical powers? I doubt the world would trust you with that kind of responsibility, babe.”

Junhui giggled before swallowing the whole sushi roll that Minghao had been holding for like thirty seconds. “You’re worse than Lilli,” Minghao lilted, thinking about Junhui literally ate anything and everything.

His boyfriend tried to make an offended face before falling apart and laughing his butt off. “I love you, Hao-hao. You rescued me from being an old cat lady. Just with dogs. And being a guy. And gay.”

Minghao smiled. “You rescued me from my own dumb self, Junhui.”

[closetkpop]

Acquainted Final Pt. 1 (Mark Tuan x You Arranged Marriage AU)

Word Count: 3.8K

Trigger: Mature Language

Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch.6 Final Pt. 1 

You two sat on the floor for sometime. You were in between his legs, your back was leaning on chest and his head was nuzzled on the side of your head. He held your hand up and was examining the ring. “It suits you.” He said kissing your cheek and interlocking his fingers with yours. “What are we going to tell the others? Why are you in such a rush?” “We don’t have to tell anyone until you’re ready. I’m in no rush, I know we have the rest of our lives together. I just can’t believe I didn’t tell you sooner.” “This is why you shouldn’t bottle up your feelings.” You said leaning back and looking up at him, “The more you keep it in, the bigger the explosion. You never have to be afraid of sharing your thoughts or feelings with me.” “I will do my best.” He said smiling at you “That’s all I ask.” You said getting up “Is it too much of me to ask to stay here tonight?” “My couch was that comfy you want to sleep on it again? You teased “No I meant-“ he started but then stopped to think, “Yes, if that is what you want.” “You keep saying whatever I want. What is it that you want? If this relationship is going to work we need to be a hundred percent honest with each other.” You heard a gasp by your door and immediately went to see who made that noise. You open it and look down and there is your best friend and Jackson totally eavesdropping on your entire conversation. “Guys get up! I can see you.” You yelled “Is it true, you guys are in a relationship?” your best friend squealed “How much of that did you hear?” you asked “You guys were making a lot of noise in the kitchen but then it got quiet in your room so I got worried. I haven’t heard much. Why is there more?” she asked prying “What’s going on between you two?” Jackson asked half asleep “We have an arranged marriage.” Mark said casually “What?” your best friend and Jackson exclaimed in unison You stared at Mark in disbelief, and he just shrugged, “He’s my best friend.” “I guess that’s Mark’s way of saying he confessed.” You said blushing “So what does this mean?” your best friend asked, “Is there going to be a wedding soon?” “Please can we just keep this between us until we figure out how to tell everyone else?” you asked “Sure your secret is safe with me.” Jackson said hugging you and Mark, “It’s about time you two got together, I’m going to bed.” “Of course.” You friend said before going back to bed “Well I guess I should be taking the couch.” Mark said ruffling his hair “You haven’t answered my question. What is it that you want?” “I want you.” He said grabbing your hand and kissing it, “And now I have you.” “I was joking about the couch.” “I was hoping you were.” He said sliding his hand to your waist and pulling you into a kiss and ending up on the bed. There was nothing sexual about the kiss it was just full of love and happiness. “I want to know everything about you.” “Everything, that’s a lot of information,” You said cuddling next to him. “I have all the time in the world for you.” He said pulling covers over your bodies. You two talked through the night getting to know each other’s likes, dislikes, fears, dreams, and passions. Conversing with Mark was calm and easygoing. You are not sure exactly when you fell asleep, but you felt complete with Mark sleeping next to you.

When you woke up Mark was already awake facing you and running his fingers through your hair. “That feels nice,” You said with your eyes closed. “Good morning.” “Good morning. When did you get up? Why didn’t you wake me?” “You looked too peaceful to be bothered.” He said smiling and kissing your head “How did you sleep?” “Let me just say, it’s better than the couch.” He said pulling you closer to cuddle, “As much as I don’t want to leave this bed, I have work today.” “Me too.” You said groaning, “At least have breakfast before you go.” “I’d love to but maybe next time. I’m actually really late, but I didn’t want to leave before you woke up.” He said getting up “Seriously, you should have woken me up, I would have understood.” You said sitting up “You can make it up to me this evening, dinner at my house.” “Okay.” He leaned on the bed and planted a sweet kiss on your lips before he headed out. You were left in your room as the sunlight started to brighten up everything and you seriously thought that everything last night was a dream. You went to your bathroom to brush your teeth and realized it was real because you saw the ring on your finger and smiled to yourself. Your best friend and you shared a large office, since you came in later, you brought coffee for the both of you. “I noticed Mark stayed the night, how was it?” she said accepting the coffee “We talked.” You said smiling “Really? No sex? That grin plastered to your face would make anyone think otherwise. I would imagine after getting engaged there would be some action.” “We kissed and although I do want to have sex with him, I also want to know him beyond a physical level.” “This is his mother’s right? Why are you wearing the ring on your right hand?” she said examining it “Because I don’t want the drama. When I figure out how to deal with everyone’s questions I’ll switch it back.” “Y/n, Mark is in love with you, and you with him. Who cares about what other people think. You two deserve to be happy.” She said taking the ring off, “Now put it on the right way on your left and show the world you are a taken woman.” You laughed at her gesture, and you knew she was right. Mark risked everything he had with you to confess, the least you could do was show how appreciative you were to that. 

After work you went straight to Mark’s place for dinner. You had purposely dressed up a little extra wearing a maroon skirt, white blouse, and heels. Before you got out of your car, you let your hair down from the bun it was in and ended up having some nice texture to your hair, and re-applied your makeup. You had been to Mark’s home so many times before but today you were actually nervous. You rang the doorbell and seconds later Mark opened the door. “Hi.” You said smiling “Hello beautiful.”  He said pulling you into a short kiss “How was your day? I hope you didn’t get into a lot of trouble,” you said holding hands as you made your way to the kitchen “I’m the CEO, although I don’t like being late, it is okay if I am.” He said stopping before the kitchen, “I hope you like it.” You turned the corner and you see the lights are dimmed and in the center there is a table set up for two. There are candles lit everywhere and soft music playing in the background. Mark guides you to sit down before he takes a seat in front of you. “This is amazing Mark, you really didn’t have to go all out.” You said leaning on the table to hold his hand “This is nothing. And I wanted to.” He said serving champagne. “To you.” He toasted “To you.” You replied taking a sip You both took your time at dinner talking about your work life and family. When dinner was done Mark took you on a house tour, showing you where everything was. You both had your hands around each other’s waists as you made your way outside. The last stop was the pool area and if it wasn’t such a cloudy night, everything would have been perfect. “I want you to have this.” Mark said handing you a flower, “It’s a rose I picked out of my mother’s garden.” “Thank You.” You said planting a kiss on his lips. You felt his hands snaking around your waist to pull you closer and intensify the kiss. He started rubbing your back with one hand and cupping your face towards him. You wrapped your hands around his neck and you felt his tongue asking for entrance to the kiss. You smiled and happily allowed. You two were making out and the wind started to pick up which caused your skirt to slowly life, and your hair to blow in your face. You pushed your hips against him to prevent the front from lifting and held the back down. Mark noticed you do this and stopped to collect all of your hair and hold it as he continued to make out with you. All of a sudden it started raining (which explained why the wind suddenly picked up), the both of you laughed and Mark grabbed your hand and both ran for some shelter. By the time you made it into the mudroom, the both of you were soaking wet. “I didn’t know it was going to rain, I’m sorry.” “It’s okay, the rain never really hurt anyone.” You notice Mark look down at you and blush. He turned around and was looking for something in the closet. When you looked down at yourself, the white blouse you were wearing was completely see through and you instantly covered your chest with your arms. You looked away embarrassed, and began to shake because of the A/C mixed with cold rain. You felt Mark put a large plush towel around your body and hugged you tightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to look. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” “Mark, I’m not uncomfortable, just embarrassed.” You said hiding your face “Please you have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about,” Mark said peppering kisses, “You’re perfect the way you are. You are so incredibly beautiful and sexy, and there are so many things I want to do to you but I want to wait a little, and not rush into things.” You giggled, “Mark, we’re married remember.” “How can I forget?” He said letting go of you. “Let’s get some dry clothes for us.” When you got into Mark’s room, you made your way into his large walk-in closet. He handed you a large hoodie and sweatpants and took clothes for himself to change into as well. You went into the bathroom to change. When you got out Mark was ready waiting for you by the door. This time he was shirtless and wearing sweatpants. “You look cute in my clothes.” “Thanks, where should I put my wet clothes?” “Give them. I’ll put them in the wash.” You handed it to him and left to put the clothes in the washer. When he returned he sneaked his hands around your body and lifted you bridal style to his bed. He laid you down, and he was hovering on top of you. “We have an hour until our clothes get washed and dried, what did you want to do?” Mark asked “Let’s watch a movie.” “Okay,” Mark said leaning back on the pillows and pulling you close to him. He took out the TV remote from the side table and the TV came up from the foot of the bed and we began looking for movies to watch. We decided on The Lion King to keep the atmosphere light. Through the movie, Mark was lightly feathering your shoulder, which caused you to get goose bumps of course you Mark couldn’t feel them through the hoodie. You shifted under his touch and Mark looked at you confused. “Everything okay?” he asked not taking his eyes off the screen “You give me goose bumps when you do that.” “I didn’t even realize I was doing anything.” He said looking at you and the his arm around you You giggled, “You’re adorable.” You said kissing his jaw “You’re adorable.” He said locking lips with you and you involuntarily moaned. The kiss quickly changed course and turned into a steamy make out session. You were straddling him, hands were running through his hair and his bare chest and his hands made it under the sweater feathering your back causing the goose bumps to come back. “Mark, stop. The goose bumps.” You panted even though you did not want him to stop “I can’t help it, your skin is so soft. Better get used to it babe, or else.” Mark said kissing you again. You broke the kiss, “Babe?” you asked confused “Yeah. You’re my baby, I’m going to take care of you whether you like it or not.” He said tapping your thighs so you get off his lap. “The washer should be done. I’ll be right back.” When he left you slowly started to feel you heartbeat returning to it’s normal pace. You were smiling to yourself and walking around his room looking at various pictures he had up. There were pictures of him with his siblings, parents and pets. There was one with all the guys in the punk rock phases and you couldn’t help but smile at how they all looked. Mark came back and turned off the TV. You turned around and said, “I guess we’re not finishing the movie.” Mark had dark eyes, and pinned you against the wall. “Why is it that when I was putting the clothes in the dryer, you had your… intimates in there too?” “Because they were wet.” You said slowly taking a deep breath and swallowing “This entire time, you haven’t been wearing anything under.” He said trailing his hands down your body and grabbing your butt. He placed a hot kiss on your neck. “I thought you knew.” You said panting throwing your hands around his neck “If I knew that, you think we’d be watching the fucking Lion King.” He said lifting you and pushing your body to the wall. You wrapped your legs around him, “I thought you wanted to take things slow?” “I want to fuck you so badly right now.” He said leaving love bites on your neck before lowering you down again and walking away leaving you hot and bothered and most importantly confused. “But I can’t. A part of me is still jealous about Jinyoung.” “You can’t be serious.” You said walking up to him, “What do I have to do to make you feel better?” “It’s not you it’s me. I just can’t keep thinking that one of my best friends got to see you in a way only I should see you. And he made you feel the way only I should make you feel.” “Mark, I’m not worried about what happened in the past.” You said holding his hands, “We may have had sex, but he does NOT make me feel the way I do with you. Being with you makes me feel so much better. You’re the only one that gives me butterflies when I think of you. When you kiss me or even touch me, I can’t think straight, that’s how head over heels I am about you.” Mark leaned in and kissed you. His entire body pushed up purposely against you to feel everything against him. “Can I touch you?” He asked and you nodded. His hands went under the hoodie and started to grab your chest and his tongue made its’ way passed your lips. Then his hands traveled lightly down your stomach and then back to your ass. He had a firm grip and you could feel him getting hard. “Mark.” You moaned as he made his way kissing your neck He didn’t say anything, he silenced your moaning by kissing you again running his hands through your hair, chest, butt, and thighs. He started walking back towards the bed, never breaking the kiss as you both laid down. You start to place kisses along his jaw and down his neck. You hands were running along his arms and torso, and slightly brushed over his hardness. “Baby, not yet.” He said panting, even though the tent in his pants was obvious. You stopped and looked up to him embarrassed that you took it too far. He took note of that and immediately took you in his arms. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I really REALLY want to. But just wait for me okay?” “Okay.” You said sighing. He started laughing rested his head on your chest, “I know, I just want you to meet my family first. We have a family dinner tomorrow and I want you to come. I’ll pick you up.” “Do you think they’ll like me? We spoke briefly at the funeral but I was a nobody then.” “You were never a nobody, and they will love you.” He said hugging you tightly. “Okay.” You heard the dryer tune and the both of you got up to change your clothes. Marked reached into the dryer and pulled out his dress shirt and pants, and then he pulled out your blouse, skirt, bra and panties. “Did you wear these just for me?” He said referring to your underwear “Give it.” You said embarrassed, reaching for it “Not until you answer my question, although they are a great choice.” “Mark!” you exclaimed trying to reach it again He laughed and handed it to you and placed a gentle kiss on your lips, “It doesn’t matter what you are wearing, you’re always beautiful in my eyes.” He left the room and you changed quickly and neatly folded the clothes that he had given you. You met up with Mark who was wearing a t-shirt now and handed him the clothes. “I guess I should get going now.” You said holding his hand and walking towards the front door and your car. “I had a great time, thank you.” “I had a good time too.” Mark said hugging you, “Let me know when you get home safely okay?” “I will. Goodnight.” You said kissing him “Goodnight beautiful.” He said opening the door to your car and helping you in. You turned on your car and rolled down the window, “Don’t forget tomorrow I’ll pick you up after you’re done with work.” You nodded and kissed him one more time before leaving. You got home and noticed your best friend was still awake. You texted Mark while sitting next to your best friend. You: Hey, I’m home. Going to bed soon. Thanks again for tonight, it was lovely. Goodnight <3 MK: Okay and it’s nothing really. Goodnight <3 “What’s up, why are you still up?” you asked your roommate “Couldn’t sleep, I was thinking maybe some of this reality trash would help me.” She said flipping through channels, “How was your night?” “Really good.” You said smiling, “I had a romantic dinner with Mark, and then we watched some of the Lion King and cuddled.” “Really, the Lion King?” “Don’t hate. It’s a classic.” You both laughed, and after sometime you started again, “Do you need anything? I’m going to head to bed.” “No I’m good. I have the afternoon shifts anyways, so I am going to stay up a bit. Oh I almost forgot, Jackson and the guys want to go to the beach this weekend, and was going to drive. Has Mark told you about it?” “No he hasn’t, but I’m sure he’ll tell me tomorrow.” “Oh, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something important tomorrow.” She said nervously “If, it’s important just talk to me now. Is everything okay?” “Yeah, things are great, just…” she paused and took a deep breath, “Jackson wants to move in together.” “Oh.” You had always lived with your best friend, she’s been your neighbor since 3rd grade and you knew a day like this was going to happen eventually. “I mean, I don’t know. It’s been the two of us for a really long time and I don’t want to leave you but I also love Jackson so much.” “Do it.” You said hugging her, “You will always be my partner in crime. So what if we don’t live together, we still have work to bother each other am I right?” “Really! Yes, and you and Mark are always welcomed into our place.” She said squealing “I’m happy for you. But I really am tired. Goodnight.” You said hugging her one more time You woke up early the next morning, and it was weird because you actually felt refreshed. Today at work you had back-to-back meetings with two different publishing companies. These meetings tend to drag on with everyone asking questions about everything.  By lunchtime your meetings were over and you decided to call Mark while you ate. “Hey baby.” Mark said smoothly “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you calling me that.” you said laughing “What’s up baby? Everything okay babe?” He said teasing “Nothing, I’m eating lunch. What are you doing?” “I’m with my mom. I’m telling her about you, and how I am the luckiest man alive.” “Be sure to thank her for me.” “Thank her for what?” Mark asked “For being so stubborn, and getting her son to actually have some feelings.” “She said thank you, for being patient with her son and all his stupid antics.” You giggled. “So what time do you think you’re getting out?” Mark asked “Maybe around 4:30.” “Ok, I can’t wait to see you baby.” “I miss you too.” “Is there anything else?” “Yeah actually,” you paused, ”Jackson and the rest of the guys are going to the beach this weekend. Are you going to come along?” “Yeah I was going to tell you about that tonight because some of my family members are also going.” “Okay, he was offering a ride, that’s why I was asking.” “Babe, you know you have a permanent spot in my car always.” “Yeah, but why go to the hassle of going in opposite directions, Jackson is going to be here anyways, so I’ll just meet you at the beach.” “You sure?” “Yes.” “Okay. Can’t wait!” he said excited “Me neither, I got to go. See you soon.” “Okay bye baby.” He said laughing The next four hours was a blur, you friend came in and immediately had two meetings as well with potential new authors to join our firm which meant you had to make all the decisions about which media was going to be used for the weekend articles. Your office was like a revolving door and after everyone had finalized the details you had to think of a title, which was always the most difficult task. “Hey you ready for dinner?” Mark asked by your door. You totally lost track of time. You grabbed your things and locked up before heading out with your soon to be husband. ~end of flashback~

Final Pt. 2