#she legit just hadn't gotten around to it yet

[alphacrone]

my mom's best friend--unmarried and childless older woman--has managed to establish her brand as a wine-loving cat lady so well that basically every gift she gets from someone is a cute cat-themed knick-knack or a bottle of wine. i don't think she's bought her own wine in decades. her supply is endless. i aspire to be her.

[nightcall99]

Dreams from 1.7.24

Dream 1: I got invited to a wedding. I was at home and had gotten ready and was about to leave but I was unsure of how I would get there. I was late. Then the groom showed up for some reason, at my house, and and he was going to be late too. He got into his car and I thought maybe I could ride with him there. I said, It would be weird wouldn't it, if I show up with you. He agreed, even though we were just friends. He said, Sorry and took off. So I got into my car and drove there. It was far away. I ended up leaving my car at the train station and the rest of the way, I took a train.

When I got there I had missed the ceremony and now it was just the reception part. I hadn't made it inside yet. I took out my wedding invite on my phone, which had been sent a long time ago and I realised I had never sent my RSVP so I wouldn't even be allowed in. I knew that the reception started at 9:30pm and the fireworks display was going to be at 10:30pm, so only an hour in between. Since I was not an official wedding guest, I had to go home. But I was lost. I got into some other business building and couldn't find my way out. There was some emergency that had just happened involving injured people. A girl was being wheeled in through the revolving door via a stretcher. The medical staff didn't notice me, even though I definitely shouldn't have been there. There was some kind of air-pressure thing in that particular room, to make sure that people don't get infections and they didn't notice that when I left, it didn't re-activate.

I couldn't figure out which station I'd left my car at. I wasn't sure if I should just leave it there and make my way home by some other means. I knew that my phone sometimes automatically saves where I parked my car so I checked and it was there. But for some reason I didn't follow the map and tried to my way there without it. When I inevitably got lost again but unfortunately II lost the map because I'd exited the app and never saved my 'parked car' pin. This section of the dream felt really real. It felt like I was actually awake irl and this was happening. I was walking around and thinking, is this real life?

Then I ran into some Asian dude that I recognised like an old friend and we hugged. My sister showed up and we had to find our way home together. I kept showing up to different stations and spots. I tried to recreate my steps but I was still lost. Then I was at a train station with a bunch of girls who had been at the wedding I had missed. I was explaining to them how I had never RSVP'd and we were chatting about some other stuff. Then we go onto a train which then turned into little pods that would drive us out of here. But first we were just waiting for some reason. I think we had to get 'ready' to leave. They gave us little toiletry kits with toothbrushes and toothpaste and there were sinks right on the station, next to where everyone sat. I saw beds (presumably ones we'd slept on but this didn't happen in the dream) which started self-cleaning at the touch of a button. I saw the foam, it was an inbuilt system.

Dream 2: Some high class woman chose me and two other Asian children to work for her. She sold Asian/Thai style home decor like furniture, art etc. For some reason we were just sitting in a row facing the window but the blinds were closed. I said, I know why we're here, it's because of our ethnicity/heritage. She was obviously using us to make her merchandise seem more legit. She didn't reply to me. She was unloading cupcakes and said she didn't mind if we had a cupcake as an Xmas gift. The other two kids were happy to leap up and eat it. I think I was new and she was kind of rude to me. She said my skin was spotty but I pretended not to understand what she was saying. I was taking my time to put on face oil and ignored her/the cupcakes.

[marcoscntos1]

As they stood there staring at each other for probably a moment too long, Marco couldn't help the pang of regret that hit him. He had missed out on five years of getting to live next door to her, five years of movie nights and cooking together, and watching Gabi together. He had missed out on five years with her. And even if those five years had been spent just as friends, he still couldn't believe he had sacrificed that for his piece of shit brother.

Snapping back to reality, he let out a small chuckle. "Oh yeah. My grandmother is so happy she legit locked me out of the house today." he replied with a fond shake of his head. Then he glanced down at Gabi and a huge smile spread over his features. "I can't believe how big she's gotten." he admitted. His smile faltered, however, at her next question, the sarcasm he could hear laced in her words despite how hard she worked to keep her voice light. Shit! She wasn't supposed to find out... at least, not yet anyways. He glanced around, keeping his voice low. It wasn't like there was much that could be done after the fact, but still... he didn't want it to become common knowledge that he had lied under oath. When he was sure no one within earshot was listening he brought his gaze back to meet hers. "Who told you?" he asked quietly.

But then she was stepping forward, into his space, and wrapping her tiny arms around him and god, he wasn't sure a single hug had ever felt this good before! Marco immediately wrapped his own arms around her, giving her a squeeze as he leaned down and placed a kiss atop her head. "I've missed you too." he finally replied. "Let's go get a drink." he answered, but he hadn't let her go yet. and for a moment he relished in finally getting to physically feel her again. She was here, she was real, and he was never going to let her go again.

She had pictured this moment so many times, ever since she had heard how long Marco would be going away for. She had been so angry at him when she found out that he had taken the fall for something he didn't do, especially as she knew that Juan wouldn't take the lesson. He had been her best friend for longer than she could remember but the sting of rejection, knowing that he had picked going to jail for his brother over being with his family, being with her, had kept her from visiting him in jail.

What she had hoped was then when she saw him again, she wouldn't picture how close he had been to her that night, how she had all but stared at his lips, hoping that he was finally about to kiss her but as she looked at him, her eyes pulled to the curve of his lips for just a second, she knew she wasn't going to be that lucky. Her breath caught in her throat for a second and she wished she could be cool, for just one second. "I bet the family are happy to have you home, Gabi looks the happiest I've seen her for a really long time." Glancing back to the little girl, Cali couldn't help but smile. Not only had she been there for Gabi over the last few years, she had been there for Cali too, without even knowing it. "I guess that comes with not really being a criminal, right?" She kept her voice light and she even smiled at him as she said it. She was being serious, she could've even been more snappy, but even she couldn't bring herself to ruin this.

Nibbling on her bottom lip, Cali brushed her hands through her hair, pushing it back before she crossed her arms loosely over her chest. The last thing she needed was for him to see her fidgeting with her hands, a sure sign of Cali being nervous. "Uh, up and down, I guess." Biting down on the inside of her cheek, she knew she had to tell him but as she opened her mouth to speak, she just didn't have the words. "I have missed you, you know?" Shrugging a shoulder, Cali finally gave into an emotion as she unravelled her arms and reached for him. Wrapping her arms around his middle, she held herself against him for a second, his scent still so familiar. "Do you want to get a drink or something? Ilia could watch Gabi for a few minutes?" @marcoscntos

[cipheress-to-k-pop]

i frickin love the idea of yjr being w jason, it honestly makes me so happy,, sorry if the ask is long but how do you think tt jason and t jason would react to the multi dimensional madness + yjr’s mistreatment, how close would they be w the canon readers respective counterparts (considering you said but ttr and tr approved)? (and how do you think yjr would react to jason’s death bc poor girl going through it every other second)

Yesss ikkk Jason and YJR gives me another type of serotonin entirely

Don't worry about the ask being too long, it's pretty short honestly. I've gotten way longer XD And you're welcome to send me more while I'm on the whole yjr and jason todd thing

I'm gonna leave TT!Jason out of this because we were never introduced to him so idk his character at all (even though it was widely speculated that Red X was Jason Todd)

T!Jason would be equal parts of horrified and smug if he found out that he was dating reader in another dimension. Smug because ha-ha you dick, your wife chose me. Horrified because he kind of thinks of TR as a mother figure type person. Either way, doesn't tolerate any disrespect towards her. The only one allowed to disrespect her is him.

TR sees Jason as her wayward, impulsive, rebellious child who also has a heart of gold. T!Jason always plays sort of hard to get with her, which is half of the reason she very intentionally smothers him with affection

TR is kind of weirded out that her counterpart wants to date him but since they have a large age gap in their point of meeting, she's able to see yjr as her own person and not really affect her too much. and she knows that jason would be good for her so she approves

TTR doesn't really have much of a problem, she hadn't spent too much time with jason but she knows he's her boyfriend's younger brother. she doesn't really care because as far as she can see, this world doesn't even resemble a shadow of her own.

and YJR really can't catch a break

I feel bad for her until I remember that I legit created this world but like heh anyway

Jason's death hits hard

YJR has faced everything in the book: rejection, neglect, self-hatred, depression, isolation, etc but she has never faced the death of a loved one yet. Yes, her entire race was wiped out but she wasn't old enough to remember that yet.

Jason was her ray of sunlight after years of never feeling like she belonged anywhere. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. Whenever they were together, it just worked, it was like perfect chemistry. They were in-tune with each other like no one had ever seen before.

People could describe them as the moon and the stars, two perfectly fitting puzzle pieces, magnets. When they were around each other, it just fit.

Jason was the place of belonging, acceptance and judgement free environment that YJR needed, and she was the same for him. He pushed her past her limits and always made her feel confident and YJR made him more cautious and always look before he leapt. And they both supported each other through and through.

If there were less toxic and more healthy relationship in the YJ team, they hadn't ever seen it.

YJR was still living at the cave when she found out that Jason died. A notification popped up on her phone from a Gotham outlet that said that Robin was found dead before anyone on the team was even informed by Nightwing or Batman.

YJR didn't remember much, other than screaming when she first saw it. Throughout the years, she had never had problems controlling her powers. She was always able to restrain them but when she found out that Jason, the love of her life, was beaten to death, she just couldn't hold it all in.

All the windows of the cave crackled and some lights even shattered. There were small earthquakes in their area for 3 days and whenever anyone got too close to her room, there were waves of grief that were emanating off it. If they got too close, they could literally feel the heartbreak she was going through.

It was horrible, she never remembered crying so much in her entire life.

She should have wanted revenge on Joker. If that were her personality. But it wasn't. She could barely even get out of bed.

As hilarious as it sounded, the person she got closest to during this time was Batman. She wanted to be able to support him through his loss and tell him all the things that Jason never got to say. Batman in turn wanted to learn more about his son that he never got to.

Lemme insert a cute lil snippet here

"I have something for you." YJR muttered, reaching into her bag for something and then handing a file to Bruce. He raised a brow at the cover page that said 'The Jason Todd Foundation' in big and plain letters.

She smiled softly, "We had a project in our Economics class to create a company and manage our budget in different departments. Jason tried but he couldn't come up with a concept. He said he already had money, and that he didn't need anymore."

Emotions slowly began washing over his face and she continued, "The day I asked him out, I taught him how to wrap his injuries to prevent sprains and he said that it was more meaningful that I taught it to him instead of just do it for him. That's the principle of the Jason Todd foundation, to help under-privileged kids like him from the Narrows by teaching them how to help themselves."

Her eyes watered slightly at the memory of Jason smiling so brightly when he told her about his plans, "He totally failed the assignment, of course, because it was a non-profit and generated absolutely no money. And I teased him because he wasted his time on something useless."

She pushed the file towards him with a meaningful gaze, "But maybe he didn't."

Bruce opened it up and did a quick glance at what was all written in the report before his eyes zeroed in the board of directors, "He made me his subordinate?"

You laughed, quoting her boyfriend's words, "Nothing says you're the boss like having your old man as your employee."

[acourtofthought]

I would honestly worry more about why el/riel have always been in such good terms than elucien being on pause from the start. To me, it's very odd that Sarah would make elucien mates, just for her to sink elucien so fast when they haven't even had the chance to try at least. I would think differently if they had been on pretty good terms the whole time.. but they haven't even tried for at least a few chapters? Sure, they were on better terms in acowar than acofas and acosf, but it's minimal compared to what el/riel have in acowar. El/riel don't banter at all and they do not challange each other that would make me ignore the fact that they've always been good. They’re shy and polite around each other and it's just not Sarah's style if you compare el/riel to the other ships. It would be even worse if the el/riel fandom were right and el/riel are actually in love, because you're gonna tell me that all they needed were some cute moments here and there and boom- already in love? They have it that easy while the other ships (even the dead ships) went through hell and heaven for each other?

El/riel feels very much like Chaolsryn to me. Chaolsryn also didn't have that much going on between them and they've been only on good terms from the start. I had this gut feeling that they’re not gonna last and I was right. El/riel is lacking something and I always felt like there was something odd about that ship. Before Acosf, I was just a casual reader and all I cared about was Nessian and Feysand, yet even then I felt like el/riel was off compared to Nessian and Feysand. Nessian had such a great Impact on me in acowar, why couldn't el/riel have that too? Why only built Nessian if el/riel was always planned?

"Because Sarah needed to develope them before their book" she legit broke Nessian off in acofas and if El/riel's book is after Acosf, why didn't they have the great development like Nessian had? The only el/riel scenes we got from acosf were mostly moments of Azriel being an overprotective dick, at least 2 or 1 moment of them looking at each other and one little conversation where it wasn't even el/riel related at all. Then we have the bonus chapter that did not make el/riel look great at all.. Sexual tension? Yeah, but instead of "I see all of her" we got "He hadn't gotten that far with his planning, certainly not beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself to". Cut out the gwynriel part and I would still think the same because that el/riel scene just ain't it.

The bonus chapter only confirmed my speculations. I would worry why they're the only sjm couple that has been just going good. I'm feeling that el/riel is there to distract the readers from what's actually going to happen, just like when everyone thought Azriel was the one who knew Elain's problem ("she's a seer" scene) but Lucien was the one who already knew and knew what she needed -> sunshine.

I think casual readers can decide wether or not the el/riel scenes in acowar were romantic (there's a reason why so many were torn between them having chemistry or not), but it takes a second or a third reread with an open mind to see the trap that Sjm has laid there. Even though el/riel was odd to me, I too thought Azriel knew Elain when that was not the case at all.

That was so well thought out and I completely agree. This is a bit off topic but you bringing up the "hadn't gotten that far in his planning" made me remember something that I've been thinking. One of the headliners of the big "Smear Lucien" campaigns is when he said, "I want to see her just once to know" which they completely take out of context. Because Lucien had literally never officially met Elain and she was engaged to someone else. So his reasoning for wanting to first meet her before deciding on his next move makes perfect sense. But what's super ironic is that after knowing and spending time with Elain for over a year, this was Az's thought of Elain, "This one moment and maybe a taste and that would be it." Lucien deciding he wanted to meet her just once while she was in love with another Male is a lot better than Az actually having spent time with Elain and deciding that "this one moment" was all he needed. But somehow that's romantic while Lucien gets torn apart? Hmmmmm....... But back to your comments. Of course none of us know for certain what will happen but if something doesn't logically make sense, it's difficult for me to follow. And what makes no sense is to have SJM make Elain and Lucien Mates only to have them never really get to know one another simply due to the fact that Elain is upset a Bond was forced upon her but to allow her to comfortably and happily fall in love with another Male in someone else's book. So safe, so easy. Just Elain never bothering to deal with the gravity of a Mating Bond while finding herself easily in love with Az. Like you said though, that's the problem. Safe, comfortable, easy. There's really no major issues preventing Az and Elain from being together if that's what they both wanted and either bothered to have a serious conversation about it. The fact that neither is willing to talk about it or anything of depth when together is a major red flag. And you're absolutely right. Elain is super awkward and hesitant around Az and Az is closed off around Elain. Nothing in their body language or conversations speak of any level of actual intimacy. Seriously, what have they been doing for the last year? It's too "middle school crush" to me and definitely not endgame potential. With what you said about Elain and Lucien and why make them Mates only to sink them so fast, YES! Would it make more sense for Elain to have been engaged to Graysen, get kidnapped, thrown into the Cauldron, find out Lucien was her Mate and fall madly in love with him while 1 month out from her wedding? Or......does it make perfect sense that she's struggling with everything that happened and found it easier to distract herself with a Male who she has no freaky Bond with, who looks more human than her actual Mate and who didn't immediately feel drawn to her in the way Lucien did? But a distraction now does not mean it's what's right for her in the long run. Maybe we'll see Elain really get to know Lucien and decide the Bond is still not what she wants. But I find it almost impossible to believe that she's going to make the decision to be with Az based on anything that's happened up to this point in the series. They have no real connection, no common interests, no real depth to their conversations. And I honestly believe there is ZERO chance of her making any decisions until we actually witness her spending time with Lucien and I have to say....E/riels should be very afraid of what those interactions are going to look like compared to those we've seen on E/riel so far.

[spookymultimedia]

A Summer to Remember Ch4

CW: internalized homophobia

the f slur and queer used as a slur

[Ned Pov]

My eyes fluttered open to the sound of birds early in the morning. It was still dark outside. I looked down at Maude who was spooned into my arms. I recalled the conversation we had last night. As much as I wanted to hide from it, it was clear that I was homosexual. . .a queer. The word queer made me wince for some reason. I was gay, I was a gay man. It made too much sense. I bit my lip suddenly remembering something that happened in my youth. I remembered being in a group of.  . . secular non-Christian people. It was the early 70s and no one knew where I was. They didn't have to know. It was simple teen curiosity; there was a desire to explore the world that was kept away from me. Again, I always had an innate curiosity to understand. It's impossible for a person to be perfectly free from sin. It was only human nature to have sinful tendencies. What I'm trying to say is I tried marijuana. It wasn't that bad. I actually felt less stressed than I  usually was but let's not focus on that. There was this boy. This boy who was good with the guitar. He had long hair and wore blush from time to time. He called himself bisexual. I remembered how comfortable I had gotten with him one afternoon where we all were hanging out by a river. I remember the smoke and the lesbians who had made love in the shallow water. There were s'mores and homemade tea. By all logic I should have felt scared I was there; I wasn't. 

        I got up close to him by my own will, I remember. He asked me if I had ever kissed a boy before. I hadn't. He asked if I wanted to. Despite the quiet guilt in my soul I nodded. We kissed and kissed again and again until I got a hang of the rhythm. I liked it. The more I reflected on the memory, I remembered how much I enjoyed it. I stared at the window thinking while watching the warm glow of sunrise touch the curtains. I really am gay aren't I?

      I looked down when I felt Maude move and wake up. She stretched her arms and legs and blinked awake. She smiled at me, "Good morning." 

          "Mornin." 

She pressed a small kiss on my cheek and sat up. 

       "You don't have to do that kind of stuff to me if you're not comfortable." 

            "Hm? Oh. .I'm sorry it just felt natural I don't know. Are you uncomfortable?"

    "No, not at all. . .shouldn't I be uncomfortable?"She shrugged. "It doesn't mean anything inherently romantic to me. . .does that sound silly?" 

 I shook my head, "I don't think so. .but I get what you mean."

She rubbed her eyes and played with her hair. 

      "So. . when you said you where gay last night do you mean. .?"

         "That I'm a. . . lesbian? Yeah, yeah I think I'm a lesbian. Sounds right." 

  "That's just lovely Maude."

She frowned, "Is it? I. .thought it wasn't right to be. .-"

     I laid there thinking for a minute, "Is it really wrong?"

        "I'm not sure. . "

"It's just love. I can't see what's so wrong about it. . . Maude I. .I kissed a boy when I was younger." Why did I suddenly feel ashamed? It was just a kiss. Imagine what my uncle would say. He'd probably call me a f*gg*t or something. What would Reverend Lovejoy say? I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.

     "Oh? Hm. . . was it nice?"

"Yeah. ." I stared at the wall again.

        "Are you going to tell them?"

"Me?"

    She nodded.

"I'm not sure. You?"

        "I'm too scared."

"I understand." I pet her upper back to comfort her.

[Maude pov]

      After breakfast we followed Tim and Helen led us to the Rock climbing area. There was this gigantic wall in front of us. It had multicolored rubber rocks that I adored. It wasn't my first rodeo with rock climbing. I had climbed with Ned plenty of times. I smiled up at them with anticipation. I had on some white tee from a church event and

jean shorts that reached my knees.

"Now this exercise is supposed to encourage teamwork and support in each other. When this world brings you down you need to have someone to encourage you." Helen explained as Timothy put on a harness. Helen looked at me puzzled as I put on one myself.

        "What? It's not on backwards is it?"

"Oh, no it's just that. . ." She trailed off looking at my harness. She bit her lip lightly for a second before her concentration quickly returned. "Well I was going to have Ned climbing the wall but that's fine that works. . .Maude, are you sure you can?"

      "I've done this many times." I smiled and laughed. 

"Oh. Okay." She said a bit surprised.

Was it just me or did she blush? Was she checking me out. . .? No, no it had to be my imagination. I dismissed any other possibility of why she looked at me like that.

      Once me and Tim were set up we started our climb. I made a speedy start grabbing onto each rock I saw available. It was fairly easy. I made a mental note of the colors. I loved them. Red pink yellow pink orange red blue green red turquoise. I focused on the rocks and moving.

  "You got this Maude!" Ned cheered. I smiled and kept on climbing. I glanced over at Timothy who was only a couple feet from the ground. It seemed I had more upper arm strength than him. I wouldn't have guessed. 

    "I believe in you Timothy! You're doing great. One at a time." Helen cheered, encouraging him. God bless her, she's so sweet. He nodded and slowly found himself a bit higher. At some point I got stuck. 

     "Go left, use your legs!" Ned coached. I nodded and did as he advised. Tim had caught up with me before I made my way ahead of him again. Before I knew it I was at the very top. 

I sat on the wall and smiled as Ned clapped for me. Helen was clapping too. So cute of her. I stared out at the trees and the shimmering lake as Tim was making the rest of his way up. Do I like Helen? I asked myself. Of course I did, she's been my best friend for years. But, Ned was also mine for longer. Yet, something in her sparkled that hadn't in Ned. Every time I had saw her, things we're better. I felt . .giddy. Oh. . .oh. I do love her. I love her more than anything. My chest had ached. Oh God, I love her. 

   "I'm so proud of you!" I looked down at Helen who was cheering at her husband who loved her too. She loved him. She loves him, not me. She's straight, I think. It didn't matter anyways. I sighed. Still I couldn't help but smile. I was in love and couldn't do anything about it. I wonder how Ned was coping with this yearning. I then faced the wall and quickly leaped my way down. With gravity and my emotions taking over me I couldn't help but laugh. I landed on the ground giggling. "That was fun." I snorted and covered my mouth blushing. But then she laughed too. "Oh Maude, that's adorable." She put an arm around my shoulder. Oh God I could kiss her right now. She's so close yet so far from reach. So I just stood there blushing and smiling. Tim slowly but surely came down with a bit of a dizzy stumble. Ned was close and caught him. For a moment the two men were arm in arm. Tim smiled bashfully and a tad embarrassed. 

       "Thanks." 

    Ned stared at him a moment before helping him stand-up straight. "You did great, Reverend." Neddy said smiling. The poor thing. He must feel the same ache in his soul. He has to. 

[Ned pov]

          Later that day I found Timothy by the river. He was just sitting there watching it flow. I had to ask. I needed to know what he thought on the matter. Despite everything, I felt in my soul it was right and only natural. But I just needed to know. You always need to know, it'll be death of you, Ned. I sighed and walked up to him before sitting by him on the grass by the sore. "Hi Reverend."

      "Ned, we're friends, you can just call me Timothy. Really I insist."

         "Of course. Timothy," his name was so intense. Calling him by his name was so tender and intimate it almost felt wrong. "I wanted to talk to you about something. Well, I at least wanted to hear your thoughts on the matter."

         "What is it?" He looked at me slightly exhausted. I felt a pang of guilt. He probably wanted a break from being asked things everyday. It had to be exhausting. But I needed to know. I knew it was important.

    "What do you think about homosexuality?"

                   "Hmm. . ." He hummed and looked out on the lake. "Sexual deviance isn't a good thing."

      "Deviance?" I felt a bit hurt. Was it really cheating if my wife knew how I felt. I mean, it would be if I kissed a married man. I wanted to kiss a married man. Am I lusting? Is this sin? The homosexuality couldn't be though. "Is it really deviance??"

    Tim paused to think again. "Well. Hm. There are some verses-"

            "I know, I've heard about them. But I don't think they're talking about homosexuality. It could be just an error. It could be referring to a completely different sin. But if you don't mind my boldness Reverend, I really don't think it's a sin at all."

     He nodded slowly, pensive. 

"There are verses that have forbidden the consumption of some meats that were unsafe at the time. . .hmm. That's not a sin at all anymore. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. Prophets are still human after all." He stared at the water. "I suppose homosexuality isn't so bad. Why, it's not bad at all. I mean everyone feels sexuality . . .right?" He looked a bit confused. I wasn't sure why. Was he gay? No. . . was he?

          "I believe so."

He stared at the water thinking, I assume. I looked at those hands that tempted me. Guilt was burning me alive. 

      "Timothy I've been sinning!"

He looked at me startled at my outburst. 

      "Ned. . Ned, why are you asking me about this? Is. .this why you and Maude are having issues? Are you gay?"

I froze.

        "Ned you said it yourself and I agree, I don't think homosexuality is a legit sin."

"No. I mean, no that's not the issue." I felt my eyes water. 

"Ned. ."

        "I've been lusting after a married man! That's a sin!"

       "Ned. . .are you talking about me? Do you like me that way?" His eyes were wide. 

       "I do." I started to cry. 

"Why are you crying?"

         I looked at him like he was absurd. 

       "It's lusting!"

"Eh, well. You're not acting on it. I'm sure the Lord understands your intentions and will forgive them."

     I shrugged, "I understand if you're uncomfortable. ."

         "Not really. Don't worry about it."

"I just don't want to ruin anything."

          "I understand."

"How long have you felt like this?"

                   "I . .I don't know. Maybe I was born like this." 

      "Born??" He looked confused.

"Well not literally. I mean. I've just always liked men." I rubbed my arm anxiously. I was still trying to make peace with myself.

     Timothy stared at the ground, his eyes furrowed.

 "Like them?"

           "Yeah. Like I've just always wanted to.  . .kiss them and stuff. You know?"

 He slowly shook his head looking a bit lost.

   "I don't understand."

I suddenly felt sick. Did he think my attraction was that weird?

       "It's just the same feeling that you get  with women."

    He fiddled with his hands. He looked really uncomfortable.

    "What's wrong? Is it me?"

"No it's not you.  You're fine Ned I promise. I'm glad you decided to come to me about this." He closed his eyes and bit at his finger gingerly. I had seen him do this a couple times. It was usually when he got stressed or something. "Does Maude know?"

"Yeah. She took it well." 

        "Good." He stood up and walked off.

[fantasci-side-blog]

Oh my... (spoilers below)

What the heck?

They killed their sisters? And not just one of them, but both?! Just for the house/money? The one they played as kids in, they killed their sibling and friend they grew up with.

Wow.

I legit thought it was going to be like this post (haven't gotten around to tagging yet) and be one of the servants that they can't see through their rich people glasses. I mean, they're rich folk and they actually hosted and take care of a house and they know how to do household tasks?

Because, if not, then that would mean someone killed their childhood friend or their sibling. And that's so much more than just killing a stranger.

But I was wrong.

And when we find out that she's not dead, and they're waiting for their deaths and then are so neutral (I don't think they're neutral) about it...

I mean, yeah, there are stories and plots where a known person like a friend or relative turns out it have done it or whatever. That's normal, yeah, I mean, that's what we all thought and suspected.

But it hits different when you actually see the premeditation. The planning. The looking forward to it.

Wow.

It's nothing new to kill your sibling, but it is new (for me) to witness the thought process and murderous actions in the flesh.

---

It wasn't about what they'd witnessed, but what they hadn't.

Nice line. Obvious, yes, but nice way to put things in perspective and remind us about an aspect of mysteries we take for granted.

"Of course it is," Isobel told her. When tradition dictated, it so often did so in her voice.

Haha, this was cute :)

Scarlet fève

It began with the clearing of a throat, easily washed down with her third glass of claret of the night. For all her complaints during the cutting of the cake, Otilenne had embraced her time as the Lady of Misrule, paper crown askew on her head, a playful smirk affixed to scarlet lips. It was only when her breathing became tight, and that tickle evolved into an unrelenting hacking cough, that the others realised something else was wrong.

Well, one of them had to have known: they'd seen her symptoms from the start, long before they began to appear. It was the other two who were genuinely petrified with shock, and able only to watch on, horrified, as she writhed and collapsed in front of them. Both families had seen their share of death, but they'd never been so close to it, not before tonight. Otilenne's eyes stared lifelessly ahead, her fingers curled around her own thin neck, as if attempting to save herself from choking. The smirk had gone, by then. For all the evening's merriment, she hadn't even died with a smile.

In truth, though, that was only the beginning of the end. This grisly scene was the dénouement of a story that began perhaps three decades hence, when the Robins and Lasoe families first decided to winter together in the mountains. They had met here, in fact. The sleepy Alpine town of Nem was not a particularly popular ski resort, but it was popular amongst those who avoid them, and both families had the wealth to justify that sort of privacy. Mr and Mrs Robins owned a chalet there, and Mr and Mrs Lahoe were visiting for the first time. It was not to be the last.

There were a cluster of intermediate runs on the north side of the mountains, a little away from more beaten slopes, which served as a secluded patch of snow for the rich and powerful to use as a childhood playground. The Robins' children, Henry and Isobel, had earnt their skis there, and they soon befriended the visiting Matis and Otilenne Lahoe. The four children were close in age, and as similar in background as any they might meet; their watching parents shortly followed suit, and the families became firm friends, agreeing to return to Nem at this same time every year to reconvene.

So it was that the Lahoes gave up their usual diversity of destinations to spend each winter in this quiet, isolated town, now habitual guests at the Robins holiday home. The chalet itself was even more remote, accessed only by a steep and twisting mountain road away from town, and not even wired for telephone or internet: Mr and Mrs Robins had always said that was ideal for this time of year, a catalyst to spend more quality time as a family, as Isobel now liked to remind the rest of them.

There had never been an explanation for the way the wind whistled through the cracks in the old stone walls, or the way the slabs underfoot seemed to drink in any warmth they managed to generate overnight, but three decades passed and they still found themselves coming back. The four children had begun to drift apart as they grew older, but the untimely passing of each of their parents had brought them closer together than ever before, united in their grief and the responsibilities of their newfound inheritance.

They each processed the shift in their own way, but Isobel wasn't alone in seeking the familiarity of tradition. Once a year, at her invitation, they began to meet here once again: the family they'd found, at the place where they'd begun. It was Epiphany, Twelfth Night, and the occasion seemed to justify a feast, the same pretext by which the Robins had first invited the Lahoes to brighten their door.

The centrepiece was always the galette des rois, the three kings cake, made to order by a boulangerie in town. Henry and Isobel placed the request when shopping for the remainder of the banquet, and Matis and Otilenne picked it up on their way up the hill. The cake had a centrepiece of its own, a fève which Isobel dropped off at the bakery, a small token to be hidden in one lucky slice: she turned up with a different favour every year, the one new stitch in her blanket of tradition.

Sometimes it was a charming model of an animal, sometimes a traditional festive item, sometimes a cartoon character. This year's fève was all three at once: a small ceramic reindeer, clearly modelled upon Rudolph from the song, except that the whole body, not just the nose, shone a garish, gaudy shade of scarlet red. Henry had thought it tacky, but then he always did. Isobel wasn't known for her love of subtlety.

"You outdo yourself," he said on their first evening back, rotating the token between his fingers. "You know that some people make do with a bean?"

"It has to be visible," Isobel pointed out. "We don't want anyone missing it and choking, do we? Besides, it's supposed to be fun. I like it. If you decide you suddenly care about such things, you can bring the fève next year."

After they'd supped on goose and soft cheese, the time came to cut the cake, and distribute the slice which would crown its recipient. As the youngest of the four, tradition dictated that Otilenne sit under the table and decide who would receive each piece, to ensure a random allocation. That was the way it always was: Henry did the actual slicing, ever the surgeon with his scalpel, in front of two pairs of watchful eyes, whilst she called names from down below. But not before complaining about the indignity of her role, which fit her less well than it had all of those years ago.

"Is this really necessary?" It was the same dining table as they'd used when they were children, and Otilenne now had to stoop to fit underneath it. She was relatively tall, and there had been incidents in the past, where she'd tried to stand up too soon and caught her head against the edge, so she was ever wary of getting back onto the floor. She'd always thought that Isobel should practice what she preached instead.

"Of course it is," Isobel told her. When tradition dictated, it so often did so in her voice. These rituals were important to her, now more than ever: echoing the cherished moments of their childhood, walking in the footsteps of their parents, in a bid to keep their memories alive. "Come on Lennie, be a good sport. It's just a bit of fun."

Otilenne changed her tune once they began to eat. Her prospecting spoon struck ceramic at the second attempt, and she drew the fève from the frangipane as if it were a sword in a stone, holding it aloft for all to see. There were muted cheers, a smattering of half-hearted applause, and Henry explained that the scarlet deer hadn't been his choice, as if there had ever been any doubt.

The evening's Queen accepted her coronation with good grace, but for the rest of the evening she leant into her new title, commanding the table to drink to her toasts and top up her drink, before finally keeling over into her bowl. There was nothing muted in the way that Isobel screamed at that, nor half-hearted in the way Henry and Matis leapt out of their seats, but there was nothing that they could do.

"She's gone." Henry finished his search for a pulse, and brushed his hand across her face to close her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"No!" Matis moved to push past him, but Henry held him back. "Please, you have to check again."

"I'm sorry, but it's clear without a doubt." Henry had been to medical school, as the others had often been reminded around this same table, as they dithered over their own paths in life after leaving education. As if their successful parents hadn't cast enough of a shadow.

"But... how?" That was Isobel, finding her words for the first time. "Did she choke on the cake?"

"There are no obstructions in her windpipe," Henry said. "I hesitate to say it, but this looks like something else."

"Like what?" Matis asked.

"Like she's been poisoned."

They all turned to look at the galette, and their own empty bowls. Otilenne had upturned hers, together with the jug of crème fraiche, her scarlet lipstick already darkening the cream. Or were those flecks of blood? With the shade she had chosen, it was impossible to tell. The colour reminded Henry of the reindeer, and he moved to where she'd placed it on the sideboard.

"She was coughing for a while," Matis offered, his own voice hoarse with grief. "Since we cut the king cake."

"There's a pinhole in the base." Henry lifted the fève for the other two to see, just as Otilenne had done not long ago. A white liquid was seeping out of the reindeer's gut - but it had been baked together with the cake, and never left to wallow in the cream. "The poison could have been placed in here, designed to contaminate the surrounding slice, and leaving the others unscathed. This could be the murder weapon."

"A murder weapon you two brought."

"I had no part in choosing the fève," Henry protested for the second time tonight. "That was all Issy, as it always is. But it was you and Lennie who turned up with the cake. Anything could have happened in the week it's been out of our sight. The fève could have been tampered with."

"Or the hole could have been there for innocent reasons," Isobel added. "They have them in some toys, to stop children from choking."

They turned to look at Otilenne again. Her crown was soaking in the cream, the flimsy paper soiled and plastered to her long dark hair. With a mumbled excuse, Isobel went to fetch the serviettes left untouched from their meal. She might have played the nurse in her and Henry's childhood games, but only he had pursued those ambitions, whilst she had frittered her youth as a socialite and part-time artist, subsisting on her family's largesse. That experience wouldn't help her now, even if the dramatic colours of the murder scene cried out to be captured in oils.

"She was my sister." When she returned, the accusations were flowing in full force, and Matis was unhappy to find them falling on his lap. "The last family I had left."

"Your next of kin," Henry pointed out. "You may have had the most of lose, but you also had the most to gain."

Isobel attempted to mop up some of the mess. The pool of cream was still expanding slowly, and threatened to spill into all of their laps, but the serviettes did little to stem the tide. They were flimsy, paper things, printed with a festive snowman scene, and tore at the slightest resistance. She might as well have used the crown on Otilenne's head.

"Are we sure it was any of us?" She tried to defuse the tension instead. "I mean, why take the risk? None of us could have known who would get the poison slice. Lennie chose them herself. It would be like a game of Russian Roulette."

"Russian Galette." Matis didn't mean it as a joke. "That's right. If I'd wanted Lennie dead, I could have poisoned her claret instead."

The others considered it. They'd all eaten the same thing, from the lentil soup to the galette, but the other three had all been drinking a crisp South African white. But being right didn't mean that he was innocent.

"You seem to have given this some thought", Henry noted quietly. "Lennie was just telling me that you'd been arguing recently, about your family's place in Berkshire. She wanted to sell, and you wanted to keep it. Apparently you had quite the spat on the journey here."

"What is Christmas for, if not family arguments?" Matis looked exasperated. "I don't see why I would kill her for that. I don't need her agreement to get my way, right? I have the status quo. Besides, don't you have a similar situation with this pile? This must be one, two million tied up in the distant past?"

"Neither of us want to sell," Henry said, looking to his sister for support. "Isn't that right?"

"Of course not!" Isobel agreed. "All of the memories we've had here... how could I ever let them go?"

"You certainly insist that we always came back here." Matis stepped away from them and stood in the corner, not quite able to look at where his sister lay slumped. "Always repeating the same traditions. If the king cake was the perfect murder weapon, allegedly random in its delivery, this would have taken quite some planning. Years of rehearsal, perhaps."

"What are you saying?"

"We're here because of you. That fève was in the cake because of you. I don't know where else I'm supposed to look. Who else could have done it?"

"You brought the cake. You could have dosed it on the way, perhaps prodding it with a toothpick from underneath to find the fève, like the way you test if it's cooked enough. It wouldn't have been hard to add the poison. I don't even know if it could have been added before the baking, or if it would have to have been done afterwards. Does poison survive being cooked?"

They turned to Henry, the scientist in their midst, but he shook his head. "Look, I studied medicine, not assassination. Poisons are hardly my speciality, before you start pointing those fingers at me. I have no idea what this could be. Arsenic, cyanide, or strychnine would have been much more violent. Ricin, maybe? That comes from the castor bean, so it could have been someone's idea of a sick joke."

"It sounds like you still know more than me," Matis said. "I wouldn't know where to begin. Besides, even if we did pick up the cake, I was with Lennie the whole time. I couldn't exactly lace it with ritalin or whatever in front of her. How do you suggest I go about doing that? I don't have a syringe."

They looked to Henry again, but it was Isobel who spoke first. "I'm sorry, but... I did see Henry with a syringe, earlier. It had some dirty-looking water in it."

"You mean the baster for the goose? The marinade?" Her brother sighed, and slumped back into his seat. "Seriously, Issy? I know you've never understood my work, but come on. Not everything I do is medical related. I took out the giblets too, but that doesn't mean I was performing surgery."

"I don't know, do I?" Isobel looked on the verge of another bout of tears. "We've all been through a lot. There's no need to be mean."

"But it's fine to imply that I'm a murderer?" Henry was unmoved. The siblings had grown apart over the years, with this annual tradition one of the few ties that kept them together. "We've all been alone with the cake, as far as I can remember. I don't appreciate being targeted just because I save lives for a living. I'm sure that either of you would be just as capable of taking one."

They cast their minds back to before Otilenne's stint under the table, before the first clearing of her throat, before the world had fallen apart. For them, this story went back not quite to those first childhood meetings, the vast pool of nostalgia in which Isobel continually seemed to bathe, but to the evening's opening exchanges. Sure enough, each of the trio had wandered the house alone for a time, Matis getting settled, his hosts making the final adjustments for tonight. Had one of them been more final than the rest?

Even after the merriment began, there had been plenty of time left for tampering. The Robins and Lahoe clans had always been spread across the globe, and they were at liberty to indulge in whichever local traditions they chose: chalking the door and opening windows to usher in good luck, before closing them again to keep in the warmth. None of the survivors could say that they'd always had eyes on the other two, with or without a syringe or a baster in their hand. It wasn't about what they'd witnessed, but what they hadn't.

"We aren't going to solve this ourselves," Henry conceded. "You two should head down to town and get the police. I'll stay with Lennie's body until they arrive. I'm the only one who's spent time with a cadaver before, and I've already touched both her and the reindeer."

"Do both of us have to go?"

"Do either of you trust the other to go alone?" They shared an uneasy glance, but neither disagreed. "Matis, your car is blocking mine in. We can't all go, in case you're the killer and decide to take us elsewhere, so I'll stay back as insurance. If you don't both make it back within half an hour, I'll head to the police myself and send them after whichever of you survives."

He saw them to the door, and watched on as they headed down into Nem's murky night. The sun set sooner down the slopes, and the Robins chalet often enjoyed the last vestiges of winter light before dusk rose to claim their windows too. Matis's headlights mapped out golden skis ahead of them, and the car was soon careering down the frozen hill as if they had no time to lose. They certainly didn't have much of it left.

"You dragged that out," Otilenne told him, once the heavy door had clicked in place. "I can't breathe cream, you know."

"At least I closed your eyes." Henry passed her the serviettes. "You've been having a nice nap whilst I've had to lie through my teeth. I can't believe that Issy saw me with that syringe."

"I can't believe she bought the baster outrage. I had to keep a straight face."

"I'm lucky she didn't see me doing it. I must have barely closed the bonnet, because I hardly had the brake fluid for a minute."

"Did you pour it down the drain?"

"Over the tyres. I thought I'd grease the wheels, you know?"

"With brake fluid?" Otilenne shook her head. "Like someone's idea of a sick joke, huh?"

"I couldn't resist." Henry smiled back at her, and helped her wipe the last smidgeon of cream from her lip. "So... it's finally just the two us, all alone in this awful old house for the first and last time. It'll be gone too by this time next year, and you can sell your family's pile as well. We can finally make our own life."

"And not a moment too soon." In the distance, they heard the echoes of a crash, an explosion; like fireworks, rising to welcome in a new year. "That sounds like time to celebrate."

"Another glass of claret, my queen?" Henry reached across to take her glass. "I suppose we're due another toast."

[honey-subs]

an angst/fluff one: you're working for ceo!jinyoung (he looks so good in suits it should be illegal istg) as his personal assistant. he actually likes you quite a lot but due to the stress of being the ceo of one of the biggest companies he had to push you around all day not even being able to give you a minute to catch your breath if he wanted to. he still always kept a good eye on you though making sure that you're doing okay but that one time he hadn't been there you fainted (part 1)

part 2 to the ceo!jinyoung one he had been in a when it happened, you were on your way to make some copies taking the stairs as the elavator was broken. you hadn't been feeling well all morning but you forced yourself to work knowing that your boss (whom you had a crush on) needed your help. someone called out for you from behind as you nearly reached the bottom you spun around a bit too quickly as suddenly everything was spinning and you lost balance falling down the couple of stairs

this is legit turning into a secnario 3rd and last part (i hope) : an employee rushed into the meeting breaking jinyoung off. jinyoung was known for being a kind man as every employee was swooning for him because of his looks and personality, but the fact that the meeting had been quite important made him turn to the worker in annoyance, cocking an eyebrow at her. but before he could say anything he was broken off by her only now noticing how distressed the woman in front of him looked.

ceo!jinyoung second last part "it's y/n" she said, eyes watering as her voice quivered. jinyoung got worried he had a soft spot for you and this situation didn't look good. "where is she?" jinyoung asked not even caring what was up. he needed to get to you, to see you and hold you if you were in pain.. professionalism be damned. the woman told him where to find you and he rushed out after hastily dismissing everyone from the meeting. he ran to his office where you apparently were.

ceo!jinyoung (not) last part he ran to his office not caring how his own employees eyed him as he ran down the halls of the building. when he burst through the door there you were positioned on the small couch. he crouched down in front of you, wincing as he saw the small bruise on your cheek. he nudged you awake cautiously, when you woke up you told him everything that you remembered about. he took you into his trained arms after you finished. (still isn't the last part like i expected lmao)

ceo!jinyoung "can't you take care of yourself? i nearly had a heart attack when i heard about something happening to you. i thought that maybe you-" he stumbled over his own words pulling you even closer. you only realized what was happening when you felt a wet patch on your shoulder. jinyoung was crying. the strong ceo everyone admired, your crush was crying.. over you. you tried to pull away to look at him but he didn't let you. "can we just stay like this? i thought i lost you."

i gave up numbering the parts lmao- he never showed his vulnerability or softness to you so you were quite confused when he cried holding onto you for dear life. he eventually calmed down not daring to look at you, so you decided to take matters into your own hands. "why are you like this?" you asked him carefully as he was still your employer, you were on thin ice right now. "because i like you." shock was evident on your face. jinyoung took it as a bad sign. (jinyoung is a softie lmao)

ceo!jinyoung last part "y- you like me?" you stuttered out and jinyoung looked at you pain flashing in his eyes as he prepared himself for rejection. he nodded watching your reaction carefully. "it's okay.. i get it." he mumbled about to stand up but you turned him back to you. "i like you too you idiot." and with that you pressed your lips onto his your tounges fighting for dominance but as a whine left jinyoungs mouth you took control.. leaving the rest to your imagination lmao

CEO - Park Jinyoung

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

⤷pairing - jinyoung x (could be gender neutral?) reader

⤷genre - angst, fluff

⤷summary - the summary is basically up there lmfao aosjejsksj

⤷warnings -sub!jinyoung, dom!reader, fainting, boss x employee relationship, suggestive, mentions of injuries

⤷notes - long asf, so grab some popcorn.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

you knew the moment you accepted the job that your work would be hard. but did you imagine it’d be this hard? hell no. you’d never wanted to cuss out an inanimate object more tham right now — this morning as you woke up. you threw an arm over your eyes as you huffed out a sigh. you threw the blankets off your body and got up to get ready for the stressful day ahead. you didn’t really feel well, it felt like your head was splitting, and you tired to ignore it as you made your way to the bathroom.

you rolled your eyes as you looked at your reflection in the mirror, scoffing as you reached for a tooth brush. you had to rush a bit, moving quickly around your house as you multitasked — brushing your teeth as you searched for an outfit in your closet. you finally settled on some ripped skinny jeans and an oversized shirt.

you return to the bathroom to finish brushing your teeth, and eventually struggle to put on your outfit for the day. you finally exited your room and went to the kitchen to grab a banana nut muffin as your small breakfast. you hurry out or the door, yelling out a goodbye to your still-asleep-roommate.

it was a struggle to get through the bustling streets of your city, mumbling excuses as you pushed your way through the crowd. you sighed and shook your head when you made it to the coffee shop that your boss favored. the barista smiled at you, already knowing what you wanted before you even opened your mouth to speak.

“here you go, y/n! i hope your day goes well.” she says apologetically, knowing how hard mr. park could be on people, especially assistants. you smiled back at her before rushing out of the door with a goodbye.

it’s not that long of a walk to the office building you worked in, so you didn’t complain too much on the way there. mr. park operated in a tall business building, around 60 floors in the building alone; not including other branches that held specific professions. you pulled open the doors of the main building, and walked in — ready to start your long work day.

you too the elevator all the way up to the top floor, the 60th floor. you knock on the door three times, signifying that it was you and not anyone else. “come in.” your heard his smooth silky voice from inside the room, so you pushed the door open to step inside. he was standing up and fixing some misplaced files on his desk. he gave you a firm smile as he looked up for a split second.

mr. park himself couldn’t deny the bubbly feeling in his stomach he had when he saw you enter his office. he tried his best to push it down so that it wouldn’t interfere with his workplace. he hoped you didn’t notice the pink blush that spread across the tips of his ears.

“here’s your coffee, sir.” you place the coffee in a holder on his desk. and you don’t notice it — which he’s thanking the gods for. “thank you.” he says, not looking up, being more focused on his desk than you. finally, he does look up and he has a thick stack of papers in his arms. “here. take these, make around... 200 copies? thanks.” he gives you yet another tight smile. “is there anything else you need, mr. park?” you ask, a fake smile plastered to your face. “actually yes, after you make the copies, i need you to go to each wing and make sure they have the copies they need, if they don’t make a hundred per wing. i also want you to make sure checks are filed. i’ll be in a meeting later at about four, so i need you to clean my office a bit, thanks.” he says, moving to sit down. he hopes that was enough to keep you busy for the rest of the day so he wouldn’t have to suffer seeing your beautiful face again, he probably wouldn’t be able to control his words or blush if he saw you again.

you try to keep your look of disdain and annoyance off your face as the paper weighed your arms down. “anything else?” you asked through gritted teeth. “no, that’s all.” you exit the door, and exhale once you’re out. your headache has gotten worse since you left your apartment, almost loosing your balance as you became stressed at the mere thought of all you had to do. you huffed out a breath and got to work on going to the copy room.

as you’re on your 199th copy, your grumbling to yourself and shaking your head. ‘he’s lucky i have feelings for him.’ you thought to yourself, rolling your eyes. if you didn’t have feelings forhim, you most likely would’ve quit by now. the 200 copies you needed were finally finished, and you took them all, plus the originals, back up to his office via elevator.

“here are your papers, mr. park.” you told him, quickly pushing the papers onto his desk so you could do the task he had set for you next. “y/n, wait.” he told you, fixing his suit and tie, and trying to keep from stuttering out his sentence. “my meeting got pushed forward, so could you clean my office now before you do everything else, thanks.” it wasn’t a question, it was more of an order. he let his eyes linger onto you to make sure you were okay with all the tasks he pushed onto you — and you seemed okay for the most part. he pushed past you to leave his office and go to his meeting.

you heard the door close behind you, and you allowed your hands to fall to your sides with a slap. you sighed, and winced as a wave of pain from your headache washed over you. you groaned, doing your best to start cleaning. his office would be easy to clean, it wasn’t messy per se, it was just cluttered. you fixed papers around the room and put things in their respective places.

you were done quickly, within an hour or two, sighing as you shut off a light and left the office, on to do the next task. your headache-turned-migraine only got worse. you felt like you could’ve screamed when you found out the elevator was broken and out of order. you gifted your teeth and clenched your fists to keep from lashing out as you stomped your way to the stairs.

yet another wave of pain flowed through you as you made your way down the stairs. you paused for a moment to regain balance, placing your hand on the wall to steady yourself. “y/n? are you okay?” you spun around on your heel quickly to see who called for you. a major mistake.

it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. your coworker looked at you with eyes wide with curiosity and concern. she still hadn’t register the fact that you were falling. your hand slipped off the wall, and your fell backwards. your migraine caused you to get dizzy with pain and fatigue, your eyes closing slowly. the last thing you saw was your coworker putting their hands over their mouth as they were frozen in place and watched you fall.

you felt your head tip back, and your back make contact with the hard edges of the stairs. your body folded and tumbled as continued to fall down the stairs. when the fuck did the staircase get so long? it felt like forever until you reached the ending stopping point, laying flat on your back. eyes closed.

the coworker couldn’t believe what she just saw. you were one of the most loved and important people at the business firm, and to watch you fall like that was scary. she immediately called for help, gaining he attention of many nearby people, telling them to help you to mr. parks office while she told mr. park himself.

she ran, as best she could considering her choice of shoes, towards the meeting room, barging in without making herself known. mr. park immediately turned to glare at one of his employees, and tell them off for interrupting the meeting, but he looked at the distress on her face and paused. “i-it’s y/n!” she says, eyes watering and tears beginning to fall. “what is it?” he asked urgently, moving towards her as he dismissed everyone from the meeting room. he put bass in his voice as he asked again. “what is it?” he stared her down. “she- she fainted as she was going to the west wing. she wasn’t moving after she fell!” she says, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

“take me to her,” he says, trying not to imagine the worst. she nods for a short second before hurrying out of the meeting room, and jinyoung was not on her heels. he couldn’t help the thoughts that took over his mind. if something terrible did happen to you, it would’ve been all his fault. his fault for working her so hard just for his selfish benefit — so he could mask his own feelings.

she pushed open the door and allowed jinyoung to enter first before she did. he could feel his heart crumple at the sight of you, laying unmoving and unconscious on the small black couch in his office. “can you um, can you give us some alone time?” he asked, walking forward. the coworker along with the other two people in the room nodded, leaving immediately.

he looked down at you, biting his lip as he tried not to show his most vulnerable emotion. you were covered in bruises and marks, and apparently they had a doctor come because there was a bandage wrapped around your back and your head, and probably another place he couldn’t see. the moment he freed his lips from his teeth, it quivered immediately.

he wasn’t an emotional person, but seeing the person he was most likely in love with in a state like this, really broke him. he pulled up a chair and sat down, leaning his head forward.

he sat like that for awhile, ignoring everyone when they came and told him to eat. “why does everything hurt?” he looked up instantly to see you wincing as you tried to move. “my chest feels like that one time i had a cigarette. teen me lived for danger.” you mumbled, moving a hand to cup your head where you felt bandages. (i really hope someone got that reference) “hey, hey, hey, wait, you shouldn’t be moving so much.” he murmured, slowly leaning you back so that you were resting on a pillow again. “what happened? are you okay?”he asked, swelling the lump that formed in his throat.

“i’m fine. i guess i fainted..? the last things i remember are heading to the west wing to check on them, and someone called my name. i turned around to fast i guess and fell. i wasn’t feeling well prior to that though.” you explained, straining to remember what happened. he chewed on his lips, taking a deep breath. “can’t you take care of yourself? i thought something happened to you and you almost gave me a heart attack. everything would’ve been my fault and i just-“ he paused his words and leans forward, engulfing you in a hug. unsurely, you wrapped your arms around him as well.

soon you felt a wet patch on your shoulder. it shocked you a bit. everyone thought of him as this strong and thoughtful and all powerful CEO, yet here he was, crying over you because he thought he lost you. you pulled away slowly, trying to meet his eyes. he kept his head down, a slight sniffle came from him as he wiped his eyes and his nose. “are you okay, mr. park?” you asked, using a soft and comforting tone. he let out a bitter laugh. “it would’ve been all my fault. you would’ve- something terrible could’ve happened to you and it would’ve been because of me. because i couldn’t face my own feelings.” he smiled for a split second to keep more tears from spilling.

“what?” you asked confusedly, maybe it was the concussion, but nothing seemed to be making sense. “i like you, at this point maybe even love you. i understand its wrong because i’m your boss but the thought of loosing you today just broke me.” he said, sniffling again with a bitter smile. you couldn’t control the expression of shock on your face as your eyes widened considerably. your crush and boss just admitted his feelings for you.

“you like me?” you asked slowly, processing the information. clenching his jaw, he nodded, preparing himself mentally and emotionally for rejection and heart break. “i- uh, i completely understand.” he cracks a small smile. he begins to get up. “i’ll leave you alone so you can process every-“ you pull him down by his tie so that he was on top of you on the couch. you connected your lips with his slowly. he easily allowed you dominance which was surprising.

the both of you pulled away breathlessly. “i like you too.” you told him as you watched his cheeks tent red. he peels himself away from you, opting to sit beside you. it’s amazing how shy he got instantly after you pulled away, ears red as he played with his fingers. “i hope you know this means that i’m not taking my eyes off you. y’know, to make sure you don’t get hurt again,” he says with a nervous laugh.

“i won’t mind that.” you tell him, pulling him towards you again.