#she’s felt a little better lately I’ve been stretching more but omg

[lordgolden]

society if my right leg wasn’t fucked up still

[hoe-doroki]

Can I have a bakugou smut where he had just come home from a hard day and he needs to blow off some steam and the reader has been horny all day so she/they do whatever he says. Sorry if this was long, it's ok if you don't do it. Thank you ��❤

Omg, not too long at all! Seriously, for requests for me, generally the more details the better, especially for what kinks you may or may not like, because then I can better cater it to you! Since you didn’t specify, you’re stuck with choking, degradation, and exhibitionism, because I like them, oops. Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this—I’ve been so excited about it the whole time but…there’s no but, I just didn’t write it until now 🤷‍♀️

minors do not interact

warnings: 18+, exhibitionism, degradation, choking, biting/marking, slight possessiveness

wc: 3.1k

a/n: Thanks to @dymphnasprose for making this gorgeous banner for me!

edit: I no longer write x reader but here’s my old masterlist - mobile | desktop

You heard him before you saw him.

It was the ding of the elevator that was first audible from the dining room table where you were working on your computer. Then you heard the heavy clomp of Katsuki’s boots coming down the hallway, already painting a picture of a frustrating day on the job.

When he shouldered his way in the front door, you saw that he was still in his full hero uniform. The roots of his hair were dark with sweat and Katsuki’s ire seemed to have made it all the way down to his fingertips, where he was clumsily batting at his shoelaces. As if anger and a glare would force them undone quicker than a nimble touch.

“Rough day?” you commented, standing up from the dark mahogany table and walking over to your boyfriend. Your hands were on your hips as you looked down at where he was bent over in the entryway.

He grunted as he cast his boot off. If he were outside, that shoe would have been flung halfway down the block, possibly with smoke coming off it. Inside your home, however, even the angriest Katsuki could only manage an angry shove before moving onto his next obstacle.

You didn’t press for more. You just watched as the second boot came off and your boyfriend stood up, knees cracking. He probably hadn’t so much as stretched at the end of his shift. He looked wound tight in every way, from his clenching fingers to the tension scrunching his face.

“Fucking cops stole the villain from under my nose,” Katsuki said.

The kitchen was just a few steps away, so you filled a glass of water and offered it to him. He downed it in a few gulps and was probably just a couple measures of force short from breaking the glass as he smacked it back down on the counter.

“But they were captured?” you asked. “That’s good.”

“The only good thing about it is that now they’re the ones that have to do the paperwork,” Katsuki growled. “I told fucking five-head that if I’m not needed, I might as well come home.”

Five-head was the name Katsuki used for his manager—with a deeply receding hairline—at the agency. Fortunately, Katsuki had only let the nickname slip to the guy’s face…a handful of times.

“Sounds like a rough day,” you said as Katsuki took his gauntlets off, treating them with more care than he had his boots. “You know, I’ve been a little bit…frustrated today too.”

Katsuki’s eyes, piercing when outlined by the dark cling of his mask, flicked towards you, hearing your intentionally placed drawl immediately. “That so?”

His tone was suspicious. Maybe it should have been, by the upward pull on your lips as you leaned in close to him, stroking his arm, still hot and damp from a day on patrol.

“Yeah.” You pouted, making your tone intentionally whiny as you blinked big, round eyes at him. “Or do you not remember this morning?”

That morning had been on your mind all fucking day. Katsuki’s alarm had woken you up, as it always did, and after the ringing had faded from your ears, your body had honed in on a different sense. Specifically, the morning wood that had been pressing hard against your ass. The boner that you’d wiggled back against, moaning as you trailed your fingers up and down your boyfriend’s arm—not unlike you were right now. Katsuki had kissed you on the cheek, and then on the mouth, and you’d expected a quickie before work. You’d felt yourself growing wet at the possibility, your cheeks heating at his touch.

But then he’d pulled away and left the room before you could so much as whimper in protest. It was like he hadn’t even noticed. Like his dick hadn’t been the one to start it.

You watched the memory from many hours ago work its way onto Katsuki’s face. An eyebrow rose—you could tell even from under the mask—and a low fire lit behind his eyes. “That?”

You leaned into his ear, latching yourself around his side so that your thigh just brushed against his groin and whispered, “I’ve been thinking about it all day.”

“Always so fucking desperate for me, huh?” Katsuki rasped, grabbing your thigh with his gloved hand and wrapping your leg around his waist. “You’re lucky I’m not cooled down yet.”

When his lips met yours, they were aggressive, pent up. You could taste the salt of forgotten trails of sweat that had run from his mask down his lips. He smelled manly with it, and smoky from his quirk.

“I’m gonna fuck you so hard you forget about this morning,” Katsuki said roughly before digging his teeth into your neck.

“All talk?” you asked your voice coming out as a gasp.

You were met with Katsuki placing both of his large hands on your ass, pressing your core against his hardening length. The pants on his hero costume were loose enough that he had room to grow and tent—or he would, if you weren’t grinding down on him without any pretense hiding your desperation.

Then, he let go of you. His hands were gone from your ass, mouth abandoning your neck. Without his support, you stumbled back, looking at him in confusion.

Katsuki, however, was grinning at you, lips shiny and flushed pink. “Strip for me, baby.”

After Katsuki’s inadvertent tease that morning, you hadn’t been able to help yourself and had dressed a little sexier than usual. You weren’t going to let Katsuki ignore you this time around.

You took off your clothes piece by piece, your eyes lingering on the garments and then flicking up to Katsuki, taking him in as he unzipped his pants and pulled his fat cock out. He stroked himself until you were left in nothing but a matching bra and panty set. Both were orange, matching the X over his chest and the palms of the gloves he’d just slapped to the floor.

“Fuck, baby,” he growled, taking a step toward you, hand never leaving his cock, “this is just what I needed.”

You were prepared to drop to your knees, stretch your mouth around that juicy cock, already glistening with precum right at the tip. Katsuki followed your gaze and caught your chin with just one finger, forcing your eyes up to his.

“There’s no need for that, sweetness,” he said. “Apparently, you’ve been patient all day. So if you’re a good girl and do what I say, you can have this cock right away. How’s that sound?”

“Good,” you said, nodding eagerly.

“Right answer,” Katsuki said, moving his hand to run his thumb under the band of your bra. His hand was feathering over the clasp when, suddenly, he snapped the elastic, earning a yelp out of you. “Now fucking strip.”

You removed your bra in a hurry, then your panties, leaving yourself totally bare to Katsuki’s roving eyes. Meanwhile, he was still dressed in the entirety of his hero costume, save for his boots, gloves and gauntlets. The spikes behind his mask were still in place, as was his belt. The only thing unusual was his thick cock hanging out of those black pants.

“Good girl,” Katsuki whispered. “Now be a good little slut and open the curtains.”

You stared at Katsuki for a moment. The windows took up the whole wall, floor to ceiling of your main living space. You lived near the top of your building—with the curtains open, you would barely be visible to the street, unless someone had a zoom quirk. But there were neighboring skyscrapers that would offer a view right into your apartment.

However, Katsuki didn’t have patience to spare today.

“I’ll go into our room and cum on my fucking hand if you don’t open the curtains.”

His eyes were stern, but not hard. Behind his mask, there was enough openness that you knew if you said your safe word he’d pull you into him, apologize into your neck just loud enough for you to hear, and make love to you slowly in missionary on your bed with all the windows drawn.

But this wasn’t a missionary kind of day.

You cocked your chin and walked past the leather couch and dining table over to the window. The curtains were drawn so that there wouldn’t be a glare on your laptop, but now you opened them, slowly but steadily. On your high floor, the afternoon sun was on the same plane as you. It was catching those late afternoon shades of bright orange that draped you in strands of golden luxe.

“You like that?” Katsuki asked when you looked over your shoulder, looking perhaps a little too self-satisfied. “You like everyone seeing what a slut you are? How fucking gorgeous you are?”

You could only moan as Katsuki came up behind you, catching your bare breasts in both hands and rocking his cock against your ass, just like that morning, but without the separation of your clothes.

“The thing is, sweetheart,” Katsuki whispered between kisses on your already bruising neck, “if anyone’s gonna see you like this, they’re gonna haveta see that you belong to me.”

One of Katsuki’s hands drifted back to his cock and slid it between your legs, through the stickiness that was already clinging to your thighs. He kicked your legs wider to make room for himself, thrusting between your pussy lips, forcing you to lean forward against the window for leverage. His dick dragged against your clit very intentionally, pulling groans out of you as your hips naturally rocked with his.

“So wet already,” Katsuki commented. “You really have been desperate for my cock all day, haven’t you? Did you touch yourself waiting for me?”

You’d thought about it. When Katsuki had left and you’d still felt that initial heat between your legs, you’d considered pulling out your wand and cumming against its rumbly, reliable vibrations. Your fingers had been itching for it, pussy craving the speedy finish it would provide.

“No,” you whined. “I didn’t.”

“Good girl.”

Your forehead fell against the window, eyes closed in the bright sunlight as the meaty head of his cock began to split you open.

“This what you wanted?”

“Yes,” you breathed, leaning your head against his shoulder, closing your eyes as he sunk into you. He claimed to be rewarding you for your patience all day, yet was going slow enough for you to feel every inch. You squeezed around him purposefully, trying to suck him in faster. He acted like he didn’t notice.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” Katsuki said when he finally bottomed out. He sat there for a moment, kissing your neck as you continued to flutter hopelessly around him. Then he pulled out and rammed back into you in one go, nearly knocking the wind out of you.

Katsuki cackled, squeezing the meat of your thighs in both hands as he pounded into you. “Do you really think I’d do this for everyone to see if I was going to do anything less than fuck your brains out?”

All that powerlessness that Katsuki had felt at work was now being turned around into sheer might—metabolized frustration being taken out on your poor pussy. He hadn’t been able to capture that villain, but now he had you in his clutches. That unutilized strength was forcing your breasts and one cheek flat against the glass as he let your body have it.

“Katsuki,” you whined. “More.”

“So desperate and needy today, aren’t we sweetness?” Katsuki said, driving his hips forward even harder. You could feel one of the grenades on his belt smacking dangerously against your ass. It was like Dynamight had found you on the street and dragged you down a back alley to fuck while on patrol. “Lucky for you, you’re asking for something I want too.”

You’d riled something up in Katsuki. In a mood like this, he might use you, cream his cock deep inside you and let you think that he was gonna leave you like that for a good few minutes before finishing you off on his tongue or his fingers, or going another round. But it seemed as though you’d just managed to maneuver yourself onto his good side today. He wanted the satisfaction of you squeezing around him, milking his cum out of him at least once.

One of Katsuki’s hands crept up your side until it reached your neck, gripping around it but not yet pressing in. His lips were on your ear, biting your lobe before whispering, “Is this what you wanted?”

“Yes.”

The end of the word came out as a hiss as Katsuki’s thick fingers closed around your throat. His other hand crept to the front of your pubic bone, flattening the hair there as the tip of his pinky reached just above your clit. Intentionally not making contact under the guise of just being able to hold you closer to his driving hips.

Your face grew hot as Katsuki pressed against your windpipe, against the veins so that you felt your throttled heartbeat begin its desperate dance. As your breath grew short, everything became sharper. Katsuki’s cock hitting right against your g-spot suddenly hit less like sparks and more like a thick stroke of fire with every go.

“You like that, huh?” Katsuki taunted as he pulled your neck against his shoulder, his thumb and middle finger nearly meeting behind your neck. “You like me fucking choking you for the world to see? So everyone can see what a dirty whore you are?”

It wasn’t like you could respond with his hand that tight around your throat. You could do little more than whimper, the vibrations buzzing against the rough calluses on his palm.

“Heh, that’s what I fucking thought.”

The power trip only seemed to be stoking Katsuki’s spirit as he pounded you unabashedly in the window. You were bracing yourself with one forearm but used the other to rest on top of the hand he had just over your sex. You just wanted to urge him just a few more millimeters south. A few blessed moments of contact on your aching clit would tip you over the edge, you were sure. But Katsuki only pushed you forward, trapping your hand and his against the cold glass, condensation framing around your hot touch.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said, his voice low and so far from apologetic. “I thought it was this cock you were so desperate for? And here I am, already so generous with my hand on your beautiful throat. ‘S that not enough for you or something?”

It wasn’t, and he knew it. His cock hitting your sweet spot and his hand keeping you just on this side of passed out would edge you from now until eternity. It would leave you burning in your core, dripping down your thighs, and desperate to cum until your dying breath. But it would never have you squeezing around him, never falling boneless against his chest. Not if he didn’t touch you.

Just when you were giving up, just when you were able to focus on little more than your head growing light, your vision narrowing on the blades of orange light on the buildings in front of you, Katsuki’s last three fingers came together, threading through your fuzz before they swiped furiously over your clit.

You jerked forward so hard Katsuki lost his grip on your neck, allowing you to cry out full throated as your orgasm took over, crashing into you with more power than you’d felt in months. Air felt like water as you gasped, nonsense falling from your lips as your thighs shook and Katsuki wrapped his now free hand around your waist to keep you upright.

Your raucous orgasm had Katsuki was groaning too, barely leaving your cunt as the last couple thrusts urged his seed out of him, painting your walls before you were done quivering yourself. Your cheek was flat against the glass as Katsuki leaned his forehead against you, breathing heavily once his orgasm had washed over him.

“Shit, how’s a guy not supposed to bust when you do that,” he said, slipping out of you and placing a chaste kiss on your shoulder. “Clamping around me like a fucking vice and screaming like that. If the neighbors didn’t see you, they sure fucking heard you.”

You might have mindlessly apologized, if you weren’t still struggling to get your breath back under you, your own recovery taking much longer than Katsuki’s. You felt him leave your back, your eyes blinking open to see the translucent reflection of him leaving the window as the sun fell behind one of the city’s many skyscrapers.

A moment later, you felt a washcloth between your legs, swiping at the combined cum that was already dribbling down your thigh. The cloth slowly trailed up and you shivered when Katsuki softly swiped it over your too sensitive pussy. Then the washcloth was gone from his hands and he was on your shoulders, gently kneading out the tension there as you lolled your head side to side to stretch.

“God, I needed that,” Katsuki said quietly. “You alright?”

“Yeah, that was amazing,” you replied, your voice raspy but dreamy as you began your slow descent back to Earth.

“Course it was.”

You turned around, raising an unamused eyebrow at Katsuki’s smirk and then walked back over to the corner of the room to pull the blinds back in place. Now that your lust was receding, you had no interest in flashing your tits and wrecked pussy to the neighbors.

“God, I need to take a fucking shower,” Katsuki said as he started dismantling his costume, starting with his mask. He hardly seemed to notice as he took off his neck brace and then his tank that he was giving you the exact same kind of strip tease that you’d given him just a few minutes ago.

“A shower?” you asked coquettishly as you sidled over to the dining table he was placing his costume onto. “Might there be room for two in this shower?”

“No,” Katsuki answered quickly, placing his grenades one by one on his shirt so they wouldn’t roll away. He didn’t so much as glance at you.

“No?”

Katsuki looked serious as he kept his eyes focused on his task, bending down to unstrapping his knee pads. When he stood up straight again, his grin was devilish.

“I think I like it better when you’re frustrated.”

[imaginedisish]

Rebellion - Lies (Ben Solo x Reader) (Star Wars TROS) Part 1

A/N: HEYYYY GUYS OMG!!! So this is my first fanfic in a pretty long time. I haven’t written since June I think. I’m so sorry I’ve been gone...BUT I’M BACK!!! AND I’M HERE WITH A STAR WARS IMAGINE :) I really hope you guys like it. I’m a little rusty, so I’m sorry! I hope you guys enjoy though :) Also, I’ll write for any character, so please don’t hesitate to request. ENJOY!!!! (ps yes the title is based on an Arcade Fire song)

Summary: You (the reader) have an incredibly strong force connection with Ben Solo. You two grew close, training together, constantly being together. It was once you and he that created balance in the galaxy. However, what happens now that Ben is chasing after Rey? jealous!reader. 

Warnings: This is a TROS world!!!! So please be aware of spoilers! Language, that’s about it...

Word Count: 2,163

Part 1:

The ground beneath you is cold and harsh. Rocks and rubble poke relentlessly against your skin. Your eyes open slowly. You don’t know exactly where you are, but the room is large. It almost feels like a cave. Stone walls surround you. It’s dark. There’s something in the distance. You squint, and realize it’s a silhouette. Within a second, you recognize who it is. You knew the shape of his body like the back of your hand. 

It was Ben Solo. 

You push yourself up. “B-Ben,” Your voice is hoarse. You come up to your knees, brushing the pebbles and such off of your arms. You feel so weak. Your head throbs in pain. 

Your knees buckle as you attempt to stand up, practically sending you straight back down to the ground. Something makes you feel as though Ben needs you, so you power through the pain. Something wasn’t right. There was palpable tension in the room. It was almost as if the force was telling you something. 

Something evil was here.

Ben feels so close, yet so far. “Ben,” You call out, much louder this time. But there’s no response. You walk closer to him. Suddenly, another figure reveals itself. The figure stands in front of Ben. 

“You are weak, like a child! Wasted ability and potential!” The figure’s voice is familiar. It's filled with a hatred you had heard before, possibly in a dream, or a voice in your head. 

A voice that once beckoned you to the darkness…

“No,” you whisper. It was Palpatine. His face is clear now. The man’s wrinkles are deep, his eyes  are dark, filled with malevolence, and sunken in. “Ben!” 

You’re running towards the two of them now, but you aren’t getting any closer. He and Palpatine seem to be moving farther and farther into the distance. You feel so helpless. Palpatine extends a hand out towards Ben. 

Almost instantly, Ben rises up into the air. You reach for your light saber, pulling it out of its holder. It ignites as you continue to charge forward, its yellow light shining brightly in the dark room. 

“I will end the Skywalker line once and for all!” Palpatine’s voice echoes against the ancient stone walls, sending chills down your spine.

You extend your hand out, hoping to to use the force to push Palpatine against the throne that stood behind him, but it doesn’t work. You’re stuck, powerless, forced to watch the man you love die. It feels as though you are trapped behind a wall of glass, or as if there’s some barrier that you can’t cross. You continue running nevertheless, refusing to give up. 

Ben rises higher in the air. Palpatine seems to be using the force to pull something out of Ben. It was white and bright. Then it hits you. You know exactly what Palpatine is doing. That’s why he tricked Ben into joining him.

“His life force,” You say, stopping in your tracks. 

“Ben!” You scream, wishing that Palpatine could hear you and possibly drop Ben in the process. 

“I know you’re here girl,” His voice reaches you. “But there’s nothing you can do. You’re powerless!” Palpatine cackles, his evil laughter makes the walls shake. Rubble travels down the walls. 

Palpatine grows stronger and stronger as each second goes by. But there’s nothing you can do. His face begins to gain color, and his wrinkles begin to disappear. His fingers take shape. He’s become human again. 

Suddenly, Ben falls to the ground. 

You begin to run towards Palpatine and Ben again. You’re quickly realize that you’re able to travel towards the Ben this time. Now that Palpatine had gotten what he wanted, there was nothing you could do to stop him. The damage had already been done.  

You reach the foot of the throne, and crash down on your knees next to Ben. You move him so that he lays in your lap. You run your hands through his dark black hair. 

“B-Ben, I-I’m so sorry,” You stutter as tears fall down your cheeks. 

“You failed him just as your grandfather failed Anakin. Just as your parents failed you,” Palpatine says as he approaches you. “You never even told the boy you loved him. Such a shame. You know, you would’ve lived with this guilt for centuries, just as Obi Wan Kenobi had before you. Yet, you were too stupid and naive to recognize this is all just…”

Your eyes flicker open. 

A dream. 

Palpatine’s whisper floats around your room. You’re in your bed. You instinctively reach over to the other side, but there’s no one there. Ben hadn’t been there in months. You wanted nothing more than to be reunited with him. You missed him. 

Before the First Order, before Luke had betrayed Ben, you and Ben were friends. You were connected through the force from birth. The connection was strong and intense. It didn’t take long to realize why you were connecting with him. After all, Ben was a Skywalker, and you were a Kenobi. 

Ben told Luke of your powers, and Luke took you from your home planet to train you. Luke had told you that you belonged with the Jedi, that you belonged with Ben. He said that the force had chosen you two to keep balance within the galaxy and the force.

But that was never a question for you. From the moment you made your first connection with Ben, you knew you were destined to rule the galaxy together. You had always felt as though, together, you could serve the galaxy and make your grandfathers proud. 

However, ever since the girl had come out of no where, out of thin air, Ben had been gone. You longed for him. More than all else, you feared for his life. Palpatine had been slipping into your dreams almost every night. You would talk to Ben through the force after each dream, but lately he failed to connect back. 

You sit up, and swing your legs over to the side so that you can sit on the edge of the bed.

“Ben,” you whisper, hoping to get through to him. 

“(Y/N),” Ben responds. Your heart flutters in your chest. It had been weeks since you had last heard his voice. But you can’t see his face. You feel a hand rest against your shoulder. You whip your head around to look behind you. 

There he was. It was Ben.

You take a deep breath. “You’re here.”

“I promised you I wouldn’t be gone forever. I meant that,” Ben says, a small smile playing at his lips. You stand up and run over to him, crashing into his arms the second you get the chance. Your head presses into his chest. You inhale, taking in his scent. You feel like you’re home. 

He isn’t wearing his First Order uniform. When he was with you, he was never Kylo Ren, he was always the Ben Solo you knew and came to love. He wore a long sleeved black shirt, scrunched up around his elbows, exposing his lower arms, and loose black pants. His hair was still long, just as it always had been. You pull apart from his chest to get a look at his face. His dark brown eyes glimmer in the light, and his smile stretches across his lips. But you can’t smile back. You begin to think about her; the girl you saw him extend his hand out to in your dreams and visions. You knew it was true. He had feelings for her. 

And he was losing his feelings for you. 

In truth, Ben had never confirmed his feelings for you. There was never a conversation about a relationship, or romance. You had always just enjoyed each other’s connection and company. It was clear there was something there, but you never verbally communicated those feelings with each other. 

That, of course, doesn’t mean you never wanted to. You thought every day about expressing your love for him. Your connection had always been strong enough that you felt as though he already knew without talking about it, but you wanted to tell him yourself. 

You continue on. “I thought you might not come back. You’re so wrapped up in-,”

Ben cuts you off, “Her?”

“You asked her to join you, but not me?” You move further away from him. “Explain that. Explain that to me.” There’s a familiar feeling in your gut that you’ve felt before. It’s a fire, a burning sensation that fills you with anger. You had been told throughout your life to ignore those feelings. But now it’s impossible to. 

“I chased after her because of Palpatine, (Y/N). He tricked me. You know that better than anyone else. I didn’t mean to leave you.” 

“But you did,” You respond. “You left me after all we’ve been through together. I’ve been here for you longer than she has. Why her, Ben? Why?” 

Ben shakes his head. “It’s not that simple, you don’t under-,”

“Understand? I don’t understand? You promised me forever, and then you went chasing after her, Ben. You and I are supposed to bring balance the galaxy. I’m supposed to lead you to the light. Hell, I’ve never stopped calling you Ben. I’ve called you Ben from the beginning, and you’ve never stopped me once. I know you, and she doesn’t,” You say, your voice filled with anger. You were channeling the very energy Luke and everyone else in your life had warned you not to engage with. But you didn’t care. It was how you felt. 

He steps closer to you. “I’m sorry. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to Exogol, too. I’m ending everything. When it’s all over, you and I can join the Resistance. All of this will be behind us. We can be happy again, (Y/N). ” 

You shake your head. “You can’t go to Exogol. My visions, my dreams, you die there, Ben. You can’t,” You plead. You know that if he goes, it could be the end.  

No. It will be the end. You had seen it a million different times and a million different ways. He couldn’t escape Palpatine, there was no way he could ever do that. Palpatine would kill him, just as he had done in every vision you had ever had. 

“I need to end this, (Y/N). I need to do what my grandfather couldn’t. My old saber is gone. I’ve left the First Order. It’s done. Now I have to finish this,” Ben says. 

Tears fill your eyes, and you fall into Ben’s arms. You sob into his chest. 

“Shh, (Y/N). It’s all going to be okay. Please don’t worry. I’m going to be fine,” Ben says as his fingers comb gently through your hair.

He would never listen to you. He was far too headstrong; that was always how he was. Ben always wanted to do things his way. Even growing up, he handled training differently than the other padawans. He was always so critical of himself too. Because of all this, you had learned how to talk him off the ledge, but this time was different. There was no talking him out of this one. In his mind, he was already on Exogol, he was already killing Palpatine. 

“Please let me go with you Ben. You can’t go alone,” You say into his chest. 

“I need to do this myself, (Y/N),” Ben says back. 

You lift your head from his chest. “Ben, if you go alone, you’re going to die. I need you to understand that you are not making it out of the fight if you go in alone,” You explain. 

Ben shakes his head in disagreement. “I will. I’ll take him on by myself.” Ben pauses, looking down at you. 

“Then I need to tell you something Ben. I need to tell you something I’ve always wanted to,” You say to him. It was time. You had waited far too long to tell him how you really felt. 

“Don’t. Please don’t say anything. I’m going to make it out of this. You can tell me after all of this is done,” Ben says back. 

This wasn’t right. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. You had a bad feeling about this. You knew something was going to go wrong. 

An idea comes to you. You know exactly how to protect him. “Let me go to Exogol with you. I’ll stay on the ship, and I won’t go into the fight with you. But please, let me come with you to Exogol,” You beg, staring deeply into Ben’s eyes. Ben looks away. 

“Fine.” 

“And promise me that if you need help, you’ll call for-,”

Ben interrupts you. “I won’t need help.” 

“You’re being stubborn. If you need help, promise you’ll call for me, please,” You say to him, hoping you’ll be able to sway his opinion. 

“I promise.”

To be continued…

Part two

Tags:

@w0nder-marie​ @loveablecharacterxreader​

[unpack-my-heart]

Under the stars and missing each other for reddie...only if you want to💗

omg this is probably half a year late but here we go!!

The first time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, it was a rainy Tuesday afternoon in January and he was drunk on a fermenting promise to himself that never came true. He was nineteen years old, old enough to know better but young enough that reckless decisions could still be dismissed as the recklessness of a youth not yet over. When he’d told the others he was going to leave, the phone crackling wildly under the strain of their seven way phone call, they’d whooped loudly, cheering a victory that he hadn’t won yet.

“I knew this would be the year you left, Eds! I could feel it in my dick”

Fucking gross.

After he’d chewed Richie out for being crude, he’d remained silent for a very long time, listening to the others babble excitedly about how great emancipation felt, how the air had never tasted sweeter than the day they’d left Derry and never looked back. He’d planned to leave, he’d always meant to leave, got as far as having his bags packed on no less than four separate occasions over the last six months, but something held him back, an invisible red tether that cut deep welts into his heart, and it tightened viciously every time he so much as thought about shutting the creaky old door behind him for the last time.

His mother tugged on the tether, and reminded Eddie that his wings had been clipped a long time ago.

When Richie left Derry, nearly two years ago, Eddie hadn’t cried. Not in public, not so that Richie could see it. Richie had cried, great heaving sobs that choked his voice and dampened the soft jersey of Eddie’s favourite sweater. He’d cried on Eddie’s shoulder for a long, long time, but Eddie’s eyes remained firmly, petulantly dry. They’d remained dry when Richie had told him that, out of all the Losers, out of all the people he’d ever met and even the people he hadn’t, his Eds was his favourite. They’d remained dry when he’d watched Richie shove his guitars and the half-broken metal box full of old mixtapes into his half-broken old car that wheezed almost as much as Eddie did. They’d remained dry as he watched Richie drive mouse-slow out of the drive way, hollering out of the window, “I’ll never forget you, Eds! Not ever! I’ll always remember you and those fucking shorts!”

The shorts remained folded away in the back of his wardrobe, unworn.

Eddie didn’t leave.

The second time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, he was twenty-four years old, and working full-time at the pharmacy that he’d spent so many wasted hours in over the years, queueing up dutifully, waiting for the prescription to be filled, always jittering on the spot. He’d hop from foot to foot, wondering whether these pills would stop the throbbing in his heart and the mocking voice in his head, “you’re cracked you’re damaged you’re ruined”. So many years and so many sugar pills, enough to make his stomach churn and his teeth itch. The pharmacy was much the same, aisles of dandruff shampoo and cough syrup, and he spent his days drumming his fingers on the counter, each pound of each pad against the dull white surface a declaration, a plea.

“You’re never going to leave if you don’t do it now. Rip the band-aid off, Eds, and stop being such a fucking pussy.”

Richie was right, in that very frustrating way that Richie was always, always, right, especially when it came to Eddie and his pathological tendency to self-sabotage himself into oblivion. Rather than grasp his life in both hands, a fragile little thing that needed nurturing, Eddie instead condemned it to a solemn existence of self-hatred and apathy, all the while staring at the little white sugar pills that he’d taken for so long, lined up neatly in piss-coloured plastic bottles on the shelves of the pharmacy.

He packs his bag with all the gusto he can manage that evening, shoving t-shirts and pressed chinos into an old rucksack with wild abandon, until he stops. He stops, and he stares at the bag, really stares at it, and he realises it’s wrong. He hasn’t packed his favourite books, the movie ticket stubs he’d saved from when Richie took him to see the new Star Wars and Eddie had complained bitterly about how boring it was, how stupid the entire thing was, and he’d annoyed Richie so much that Richie had dragged him out by the arm and they’d gone for burgers instead. There was no room for his favourite shoes, the sweater with the holes in it that Bev had leant him when he was cold and then given to him because the purple made the green in his eyes shine brightly, a freshly cut lawn on a summer morning.

Eddie emptied the contents of the bag onto the floor, and stepped over it. Tomorrow, he assured himself, tomorrow he’d leave. Tomorrow.

Eddie didn’t leave.

The third time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, he was thirty-three years old and he couldn’t remember why California called his name so loudly, why its sirens call echoed across the country, beckoning, seducing him with its call. California, a nihilistic melting pot of overworked and underpaid wage slaves who bowed to the corporate bell and submitted themselves to the scrutinising eye of the Silicon Valley start-ups. Surely there was nothing for Eddie there, a pharmacist with two degrees under his belt but no actual understanding of how the world works beyond the safe confines of his small town existence. Highways, supermarkets with more than ten aisles, electric cars, save the turtles, sandals in winter, and heatstroke in summer, sweat on your upper lip and tan lines on your knees. California.

His phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Is this Eds? Eds Kaspbrak?”

“Don’t call me that. Who is this?”

“Uh, it’s Richie?”

A question, not a statement, as if the caller is asking, ‘is it okay that this is Richie?’

“Richie? Richie who?”

“I thought you’d say that.”

A pause that stretches like tar, sticky and black.

“Oh Shit!”

Eddie remembered. He remembered a tangled mop of dark brown hair, he remembered bucked teeth and freckles that skate across skin like sand in the wind, he remembered the lisp, and the gangly limbs that hung awkwardly, gorilla limbs that were too long, too grabby, too energetic.

“Richie fucking Tozier”

“The one and only! Gonna be honest, Eds, I was sort of hoping you wouldn’t pick up, that some housewife would answer all, ‘he doesn’t live here anymore’, but … here you are”

“Here I am.”

“Still there.”

“Still here,” Eddie confirmed, and his gut trembled with the sort of embarrassment that hangs low and heavy in the air like smoke.

“I’m in California, got a sweet little place on the oceanfront if you ever … y’know …”

Oh. There it is. The static that had been buzzing around Eddie’s brain when he thought of California, the angry bees that stung him for not remembering finally relented, finally dropped down dead, because Richie’s on the other end of the phone, still lisping, voice a little deeper and a little hoarser, but Eddie had  remembered.

“Ocean front, you say?”

The most reckless thing Eddie had done before this was leave the house during a torrential rainstorm with an only shower proof coat, knowing full well that the long fingers of Flu would be tapping at his arm in the morning. Now, here he is, sat in a tacky sea-food restaurant with someone he hasn’t seen for over a decade, and he’s drunk. Not too drunk, he can still see without his vision blurring, and he can still count all the freckles that litter Richie’s face, and he can still wonder whether these are new freckles, or whether these are the same freckles he used to stare at when they were lying in the quarry, sunning themselves like heat-starved reptiles.  

But, nevertheless, here he is, stuffing paella into his face with one hand and with the other waving wildly in the air as he talks through bites of rice.

“Do you remember when you got kicked out of band?”

Richie groans, wounded.

“Don’t fucking remind me, I was washing that fucking yellow paint out of my hair for at least three years after that.”

“I’ll never forget the look on Mike’s face, he was so ready to beat the absolute living shit out of you!” Eddie brayed, stray pieces of rice escaping his mouth as he spoke, disgusting but in the dim light of the restaurant, Eddie didn’t care.

The wind whips Eddie’s face when they stagger out of the restaurant three hours and ninety dollars later, and Richie grabs him by the chin roughly.

“You never left, did you?”

“You know I fuckin’ didn’t”

“I shouldn’t have left without you, I never should have left you there.”

Eddie pushed at Richie, gentle enough not to hurt. “It wouldn’t have made a difference, Rich. I’ve grown roots, I’m … I’m stuck there, like one of those plants that dies in the winter but is back again in summer. All I would have done is dragged you down with me.”

Richie readjusted his grip on Eddie’s chin, and tipped Eddie’s head up, so he was looking directly into Richie’s eyes.

“I nearly kissed you when I left,” Richie said, the alcohol swimming in his veins dimming his inhibitions, if only for these few snatched moments. “I really nearly did, but you looked so …”

“So what?”

“You didn’t cry.”

Eddie blinked. “I cried every day for a month after you left, Rich. I cried so much my mother sent me to the fucking doctor because she thought I had hysteria.”

Richie barked out a laugh, a sad wet sound that sounded more like a sob, “I left you.”

Eddie pushed his face up, out of Richie’s grip, and pushed his lips against Richie’s quivering ones. The kiss is small, timid, and Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie’s shoulders and clung.

It didn’t last long, Richie was crying too much for it to be the storybook cliché that Eddie had so desperately hoped that it would be.

The next day, Eddie left.

The fourth time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, he left, and never looked back.

@tinyarmedtrex @xandertheundead @lifesucksheres20bucks @moonlightrichie @toziesque @violetreddie @eds-trashmouth @oldguybones

[sweetrosetta-martin]

Beatle tag (cause why not ✌💗) 

I’m new to this fandom online, so what best way to present myself but doing this (plz don't kill me guys I come in peace).

 But I do have to give an special to @sgt-revolver cause thanks to their post I decided to do it. 

How long have you been a fan ?: About two years if I’m not wrong, but god it has been two intense ones. Long story short, this band never was part of my life (grew up in a different culture) until the day I was reading some fanfiction in AO3 and stumbled across one about them. I then found out they were the guys behind “Let it be” and “Here comes the sun” so I decided do dig even deeper..... (Now I’m here simping and crying to their music at 2am) 🙃

 Favorite Beatle: Used to be Paul (man got a charm) but when I better discovered George as a hole human being, and not only a Beatle, I went 💥. Tho, sometimes I do get frustrated with him and stay on John’s side cause he was lowkey relatable and a big bi-disaster mood. (I suddenly feel bad for Rings.... srry bro ) 

Favorite era for music: At the beginning I didn't like the mop top era and practically only listened from Help! to then end, but now I appreciate each period as a part of the band’s musical history and can’t help to fangirl to most songs. (Tho I’ll always have a soft spot for 1966)

Favorite era for lewks: Each Beatles had its own I think. Ringo as a teddy boy (he looks like the bad boy of your dreams), George in 65` (longer hair but not to long and just overlay hotness) and Paul/John in 66`. (The perfect balance between early and late looks)

Favorite song: Guess it depends on my mood, but it’s surely a tight between “Strawberry fields forever”, “Happiness is a warm gun”, “Lovely Rita” “While my guitar gently weeps”, “Don't bother me” and “Across the universe”. (This is such an unfair question xd)

Favorite album: Honestly I just can’t decide.. Its prob either “The Beatles (aka white album)”, “With the Beatles” or “Revolver” 

Unpopular/Controversial Beatles opinion: “Revolution 9″ is not an unlistenable song and has an actual artistic value. I mean, I don’t think is a song meant to be listened during a car ride, but I do think it encapsulates pretty well the chaotic and changing vibe of the late 60s. This song makes you feel unwell because it’s meant to. Despite that, I do believe it should not have been included on the album, but rather as a John/Yoko project. (Ik Geo had a input though)

A song everyone loves but you dislike: Never was the biggest fan of “Come together” or “With a little help from my friends”. They are not necessarily bad, but rather average for me

A song everyone dislikes but you love: “Run for your life”... I know the lyrics are quite nasty but its so catchy and I love George’s guitar in it. I also really like “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”, but I don’t know if it really is that unpopular among people

Your fantasy involving The Beatles: The PG one or the ??.. 

JK, but I would have love to meet them during their cavern/casbah days. Like about 1961, just to chat with them about rock n roll and even jam some songs. (Even if I’m not sure that I would love to do that as a girl or a guy). And I sincerely wish I could just have some deep conversations with George and John while we share a joint . I just wish I could have known them better... 

Tell us about the moment you knew you were a fan: When returning home after a long school day I decided to look after some live material (At the time I only knew like 4 songs). I put YouTube on my tv, and found “She loves you” . I was not the same girl after watching that video. If I could explain how I suddenly felt so much joy and excitement looking at them that I even started singing and dancing. The rest is history 😉

Did you ever have a genuine ‘The Beatles suck !’ phase before becoming a fan?: Because their music was not around me 24/7 growing up, I never got fed up with their music. For me almost everything was new and interesting, so I never had a hater phase 

Favorite Beatle’s book: Have not read any for the moment, but I’m dying to buy Cynthia’s and May’s books. (Also the autobiography “I me mine” by George) 

Thoughts on the old generation of fans: Even if the few experiences I’ve had with them have not been good, I know most of them are chill people. I also love some podcasts made by first or second gen fans. The only thing that I dislike, is the average boomer who will claim they know more than you cause they were alive at the time, even if the only song they know its “Hey Jude” . (Or those who treat John as a saint, and blame the hole break-up on Paul... smh)

If Hollywood were to make a high budget Beatles biopic, what is one thing you desperately hope they include?: I wish they wont do it (We already got enough movies), but if they do something, it would be better if it was a series and not a film. If it had to happen, they better not forget how young the guys really were and how they were actual people. I know they were ground-breaking in so many ways, but they were also human beings with many defaults and even a bit naïve in some aspects. If you only give me a wife-beater (nasty) John, delicate flower Paul, silent George and dumb Ringo, the cartoon series has done a better job than you. 

Do you read/write fanfic: One word.... Yes... *Hides her unfinished drafts*

Are you the only one in your family/friend group to enjoy them?: Sadly yes. I have to force my dad to play some Beatle music while driving cause most of the music he plays is raegetton, and even if I’m proud of my Latino roots.. I’ll do salsa or merengue anytime but not some Bad Bunny ok. 

Are you a shipper?:  Yup

Favorite movie starring/made by them?: Help!.. I mean I also love AHDN, but it’s just so funny to see them run around being high af as they play music despite Ringo being in mortal danger. (Also the visuals we get each song just give me such a MTV vibe. Its genuinely beautiful)

Do you believe in McLennon?: *smirks at the camera*

General opinions on McLennon?: Oh boy. The Lennon/McCartney relationship is one that seems out of my grandma telenovelas. From Paris to the breakup, their story is one of up and downs, but they never really stopped loving each other. Not even death could stop their link as Paul still dreams of him and thinks about John when composing songs. I understand that not everyone may be convinced that something really happened, but I think we all should be open to the possibility. 

If you got to change ONE thing about their history, what would be and why?: Brian’s death. The beginning of the end was the moment he passed away. With Brian the band would still have broke up (All things must pass, even the good ones), but it would have been less messed up. No Paul trying to take the lead a bit too much, Apple Corps probably being better handled and no Allen Klein messing up everything. (And probably no Yoko in the studio but that may be a bit of a stretch) 

What song has the best vocals?: As a group, “Because” it’s probably the one. Such a simple, yet perfectly well put vocals. The peak of their talent for harmonizing in my opinion. In another side “Oh Darling!” is prob Paul best and John’s voice in “This Boy” always get me

What song do you feel had no effort put into it?: Prob an unpopular opinion but “Eight Days a Week” is such a basic song. It’s not innovative, it just uses the formula, and I feel like around this time the guys were kind of tired and just fabricated the song to be a single. It simply not feels genuine, and for me it shows the biggest problem from the “Beatles for Sale” era. 

What is a well talked moment in Beatles history you genuinely believe to be false?: The way Yoko met John. The most known story is that they met each other at a Yoko art gallery, but many sources (such a Cynthia or Brian personal assistant) tell us a complete different truth. I do believe she knew the band, stalked John and force herself into his life, despite of the romantic tale she keeps repeating. 

What is something you KNOW to be true, but often gets erased in their history: John. So many things about John. Many see him as only a funny character and ignore so many cues that he was a man struggling with his own self esteem to the point of having eating disorders. Not forgetting his fluid sexuality, the fact that many think that as house husband all his problems went away or that he was a wife beater. John was more than the “Imagine” martyr or  monster so many people (even some fans) make out of him.

Least favorite look from a Beatle(s): Ringo in the Help! movie. Horrible mushroom hair 😂

Favorite look from a Beatle(s):  George Harrison in the “Hey Bulldog”/”Lady Madonna” videoclip. (I also want that cherry SG Standard so bad omg)

I really don’t know how many others have done it but here are my tags 

@rocknroll-imagines @moreofthatdrowse @cultofbeatle @joan-deserved-the-silver-hammer

Thanks a lot guys !! ❤✌🥦🐘🎵😎

[bohemiansweede]

Baby it's cold outside

Fanfic

Pairing Roger Taylor Brian May Maylor

Warnings Smut 🔞

A /N Brians POV

Please like and reblog or if you want leave a comment

Thank you

~~~~~~🎄 ~~~~~~

It had start to snow like crazy now and we were not even half way home

The two of us had been Christmas shopping for our wifes and kids all day and Roger gaved me a ride home

- Fuckin shit... Cannot see a damn thing here, Roger shouted and tried to remove the snow with the windshield wipers

- Yeah.. Your eyesight is really not the best Rog, I scoffed

- Honestly Bri..

He started to get even more frustrated and the car slid on the road

- Roger.. Take it easy.. do not drive so fast in this weather.. I patted on his knee and his eyes trailed for a breaf second from the road

- You want me to take over?

- You? Driving MY car? No no no... No way..

It was a real blizzard outside now and on top of that it was soon dark

- C'mon Roger.. It is dangerous o..

I could not end the sentence until we were of the road, Roger tried to manouver it, but it was too late, the car stopped just on the side of a big tree

- Oh shit.. Damn it.. I took my palm over your forehead. It was a slight bleading

- Brian, are you ok?

- Y.. Yes.. I am fine.. Just a little scratch..

- Ohh fuck. M so sorry mate.. I..

- It is ok Rog.. Really... But we gotta stop driving .. It might calm down soon tho

I looked outside.. It was hard to see but..

- Hey, look, it is a big house over there they might have a phone.. I have 0% battery

- Even if you had charged it Bri, there is no connection out here.. Damn it.. Sarina is very impatient.. She has to know my every move..

- Anitha is on her theater rehersal so.. I guess she is prob not missing me.. Hey.. Let us check that house out ok?

We went out in the snowstorm and i almost slipped on the pathroad up to the big house

- Wow.. We are lucky Rog.. It is a little hotel

We opened the big door and went inside

The lobby was warm, cozy and fully christmas decorated 

- Good evening gentlemen. How may I help you

- Evening mam, we wonder if we could use your phone?

-I am so sorry Sir the landline is out due to the weather conditions

- Ohh fuckin dammit ... Perfect

- Relax Rog.. Have you heard the forecasts mam?

- They think this will go on all night.. Neither of us can get home either, we all have to stay here..

It smelled delicious from the restaurant and it was warm.. cozy..

- Guess we have no choice but to stay here Rog.

Roger rolled his eyes

- Let's see. We have 1..double left

- What do you say? Roger?. Sorry.. He is a little upset.. Yes we take it. Thank you mam

While I did all booking and got the key, Roger had already left to the bar

He sat alone on a stol swirled his glass and stared blank in front of himself

- Do you want to eat anything Rog?... or are you just drinking now?

- It is just so fuckin typical.. We had a huge fight yesterday.. One of many lately. Thought I was suppose to get home and fix it.. Instead I end up here in the middle of fuckin nowhere.

-.. With me...

- Oh Brian.. Sorry.. His eyes trailed on you while taken down his scotch.. Don't get me wrong but..

- I get it.. We are not suppose to be here.. but there is nothing we can do right now so... Just let us grab a meal and go to bed ahlright

He smirked a little, nodded, placed his empty glass on the bar and got up

The restaurant was pretty crowded But we managed to get a table little off side

- Mmmmm.. The salmon looks good. What are you havin?

- Not hungry

- C'mon.. You WILL be if you not..

- Yes Daddy..

It suddenly became awkward and quiet while he looked on the menu

I sipped on my guiniess and Roger ordered both yet an other scotch and a bottle of wine

His juicy steak looked amazingly good and I almost regreted to be that strict about food

- Looks good Rog..

- Yes it was really really great..

- Sooo... You are feeling better now?

Roger tapped with nervous fingers on the table..

- Well... Not entirely until I can speak to her..

- I understand, you two really love eachother right?

He did not answer.. Instead he waived to the waitress to come over with the bill

- So with that I asume you not wanting anything else?

He just shooked his head

On the way out from the restaurant he passed the bar

- You want one Brian? I can get really drunk now and regret it tomorrow..

Your head spun really fast

- Sure.. I can have... Well.. one more.. I want to think clear, but you knew you couldn’t

I grabbed my glasses and brought them to the open fireplace

We both sat down in the sofa and stared into the fire

- Bri.. I am sorry for being so grumpy.. I am just worried I guess

When Roger drank a lot he was very emotional.. anger, happiness, frustration, sadess,... guilt..

He had been my best friend for long over 40 years now and I knew him inside and out

I almost knew him more than I knew my own feelings.. With other words, I was honest to him, but not to myself

- Yes I know Rog.. But as I said.. there is not that much we can do.... the weather..

- Actually.. There is a lot we can do.

Our eyes locked and we both knew...

He placed his empty glass on the table in front of me, standing up from the couth, I emptied mine quickly

Without a single word we walked upstairs to our room, he fibbled with the room key and he muttered something about not being that drunk

He threw his jacket on the floor and tossed his shoes off, I unbottoned my shirt while looking at him doing the same

We both unbuckled our belts and the pants fell to the floor

I stod on the middle of the floor in just my underwear

Our bodies had changed over the years but I never lost my feeling about how good he looked, his hair was grey now but his eyes were soo big blue as ever and now I could see him looking at me up and down

We slowly walked towards eachother

It was silent, I just heard my own heart pounding in my chest

- I want to kiss you Brian May, Roger claimed, almost in a whisper. My eyes widened.. but don’t be mistaken…. I’ve been wanting to kiss you since the very first time I met you, he carried on.. In fact, I….

I cupped his beautiful face in my hands and kissed him.. Just a little kiss.. I backed out a little from him 

- Rog.. I.. I want this soooo bad I've alw..

Our lips crashed together with a loud moan his big hands trailed up along my back and in my unruly hair

Both our tounges wrestled together and I phanted in his mouth, he let out a little whine

With a struggle my lips left his, instead i kissed down his neck his collarbone.. Kissed the tiny little birth mark he had there, they continued to wander down his chest and down his belly, it was warm and soft like i always had imagined

I placed my hand on his bulge, mouth was watering, he helped me take his boxers off and his leaking cock sprung free

Not waisting any more time i quickly grabbed it in my hand and begun to pump him

I licked the tip with an eager tounge.. Roger growled and almost lost his balance of the feeling he had been hiding for so long.

My tounge licked his prominent vein and soon I finally closed my lips around him, almost swollowed him whole

- Shit... Shit.. Shit Br.. Brian

He whimpered and his eyes were wide and dark with lust

I bobbed my head faster and with tearing eyes I looked up on him, it was not long until his cock started to twitch

-OMFG.. Brian... I am ssso close..

I stopped and tried to stand up on my old legs

They weakened under me

- Lay down on the bed Brian... Let me take care of you

I managed to the bed and laid flat on my tummy

I felt him behind me , Roger kissed my neck and shoulders taking his big caloused palms caressing my ass

- I.. I have been thinkin about this so long... Cannot fuckin wait any longer..

I nodded and felt a lump in my throat... he felt the same

He wetened his finger by his own saliva and i felt his fingertip in my entrance

I whimpered and bucked my ass up at him, he started to stretch me out with his finger, slowly but soon i could not take it anymore

He grabbed my hips, lifting me up a little bit and placed a pillow underneath me

I could feel his cock slowly entering me and with a scream i took the other pillow trying to muffle myself

- Nno.. No Bri.. I wanna hear you

- F.. Fuck Roger.. biting my plump lip.. Oh shit... I.. Ahhh

His one hand grabbed the headboard and he thrusted faster and faster rubbing my prostate over and over again, my body was a trembeling mess and soon my tight hole maked him so close to the edge

Both of us screamed with lust and guilt

- Omg... Brian.. Shit.. I am coming.. Ahhh fuck..

Roger pulled out and just a brief second later I felt his warm cum all over my lower back

He was fast and grabbed my hips so I turned around, i felt totally helpless in his power

His mouth lowered down on me and he took my cock in his pretty mouth, started to bob his head fast, I grabbed his silver hair and bucked my hips up towards him

With a loud cry i came, it spilled over in his mouth and ran down his neck

He went out of bed and into the bathroom..

I looked outside, it had stopped to snow and my stomach burned with angst and guilt

Ok.. This was it.. Whatever it was. It was over.. It had to be

He returned to the bed, landed on his back next to me, wiped my back with the damp cloth

He looked at me and kissed my bruised forehead

- I love you Brian... Always have.. Always will...

He turned off his phone and layed back on my arm, our legs lingered together

This had changed everything

And I finally smiled to myself

~~~~~~🎄 ~~~~~~~

Enjoy more reading in my masterlist

Xmas fics

Updated

https://bohemiansweede.tumblr.com/post/638489349922635776/fanfic

[t0ngue-tech]

Deadline | Three

“Without saying a single word, you emerged turned around and reached out to wrap your arms around Jungkook’s torso. He stumbled a bit before finding his footing. You knew you caught him off guard because it took him a few seconds before he snaked his arms underneath your hair to secure them around your neck.

‘U-Uh--’ Jungkook stammered.”

↠fluff, angst, highschoolAU, fakerelationshipAU↞

word count: 7.4k

↠series: 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ↞ 

A/N: HI GUISE OMG IT’S BEEN SO LONG HASNT IT, BUT HERE I AM!!!! ive honestly been working on this since finals and even when finals finished, i hit a writer’s block. then, all of a sudden i was hit with a rush of motivation and this is the outcome huhu. i hope you all enjoy!!!!

-

-

-

The clock ticked endlessly on and on as the students of your history class were in disarray. Usually everybody would be working with their partners on the history project, but a substitute teacher sat at your teacher’s desk instead; this meant a free period.

Jennie sat with you, huddled in a corner of the classroom catching up on other work for another class. You assisted her with whatever she needed while also proofreading a paper from your AP English class.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit by Jungkook?” Jennie whispered.

Your eyes darted across the room and spotted Jungkook with his head down on the desk, buried within his arms.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” You brought your attention back to your paper.

“You do know that two of Chaeyoung’s goons are in this class, right? They’re probably going to tell every single detail about you and Jungkook that happens here.” Jennie leaned in closer to keep her voice at a hushed whisper.

Jennie did have a point, but despite that, you stayed planted in your seat. You were used to having Chaeyoung’s friends’ eyes glancing at you from time to time in class but ever since the night in the diner parking lot, they’ve been watching you like a hawk. It was a bit concerning.

The substitute reminded everyone that the sign-in sheet was at the front of the class and to straighten out the desk before leaving. Before the bell rang, Jungkook awoke from the sound of the desks scraping against the tile floors. He stretched out his limbs and lazily threw his backpack over his shoulder.

As soon as the bell rang, the students stampeded towards the door and Jennie bid you adieu. Jungkook glided across the class to where you were, still putting papers in their correct folders. He held your water bottle and phone in one hand, patiently waiting for you to get situated. When you finished adjusting your bag on your bag, he silently reached for your hand and slid his fingers in between yours. It’s been roughly two weeks and you still weren’t used to the feeling of holding his hand.

“I’ve never seen you look this tired.” You spoke over the rush of students in the hallway.

Jungkook yawned deeply and shook his head to wake himself up a little. “I’ve had three consecutive late night training and it’s been a while since I’ve done this.”

“Do you have a fight coming up?”

“Next month, but I need to make weight and train as much as I can so I have a lot of work to do.” He explained.

“Hm,” you hummed. “I guess this means you have to cut back on the fries.”

Jungkook dropped his jaw slightly. “Oh my god, you’re right.”

Since the two of you started this fake relationship, Jungkook always walked you to your fourth period. He didn’t mind being a few minutes late to his class because his teacher was “cool.” It worried you a little, but he stressed that it was really no big deal.

“Do you have a meeting after school?” Jungkook stationed you against the wall near your classroom to let other students pass through.

“I just have to drop off a few folders to the club classroom and then I have to pick up a package for my mom at the post office right after.” You reached for the items Jungkook held for you and he gave them back to you with ease.

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then. I’m gonna head straight home after school to sleep before my practice tonight.” Jungkook sighed as he enveloped you into a tight hug. The hug lasted roughly a minute and just before he let go, it felt as if he placed a soft kiss to the top of your head; unless that was his chin bumping against you because of how tall he was compared to you.

You were used to seeing Jungkook with an abundance of energy and seeing how physically exhausted he was now worried you a lot more than it should have. Instead of focusing like how you usually did, you spent the entire class period looking up different kinds of foods that boxers could eat while trying to make weight. A lot of the information you found were similar lists of light proteins and reminders to watch the sugar and fat intake.

A lightbulb went off somewhere inside of your head and you were now creating a small shopping list in the notes section of your phone. This wasn’t your problem, but somehow you felt compelled to support him. Maybe it was the title of being his “girlfriend,” who knows.

↠↞

You [3:04]: hi mom, i just picked up your package and i’m heading to the grocery store. let me know asap if you need anything

When you arrive at the grocery store parking lot, your mother replied with a short list of a dozen eggs, cherry tomatoes, and a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

“Ground turkey...ground turkey...ground turk-ah.” You dropped the package of lean meat into your shopping cart.

You never tried cooking any of the dishes you had bookmarked on your phone, so your nerves were shaking inside of you. There was a lot more options that weren’t as complicated, but of course, you didn’t want to settle with that.

It never occurred to you that there was a possibility you could poison Jungkook just before his boxing match. This thought made you want to put everything back on the shelves, but you also thought about how tired Jungkook looked today and it gave you some strength to follow through with your plan.

“Ooooh, mama y/n. Making dishes for your man.”

On your way home, Jennie called you to talk for a bit before she took her sister to her dance lesson. You filled her in with your plan to make a few meals for Jungkook so he can keep his energy up and Jennie was elated.

“Jennie, calm down. He’s not my man. I’m just trying to better a good...person? For him?” You pulled up to your driveway and disconnected your phone from your car. “Am I taking this role too seriously?”

“Sigh, y/n. You’re doing exactly what you need to do.” Jennie explained in your ear. “This is going to help you feel more like a girlfriend-girlfriend for him! I’ve seen you hang out with him at school and I can tell you’re still awkward with this whole thing.”

You shuffled into your house with your bags of groceries dangling from your arms and your phone tucked in between your shoulder and ear. “I’m still trying to get used to him, okay? You still have a point, but I might kill him.”

Jennie laughed in your ear and sighed. “That’s okay!”

Your mother waved at your from the kitchen counter and rushed over to help you with your bags.

“I’ll let you know how it goes, bye! Love you!” Just like that, you hung up before Jennie could say anything else.

You remembered that you didn’t tell your mother about Jungkook and you weren’t ready to confront her about him yet.

“How was school, y/n?” Your mother glided over to help you unload your bags.

“It was fine—it’s okay mom, I got this, you can continue with whatever you were doing.” There was a tinge of panic in your voice which didn’t sound as convincing as you wanted it to be.

Your mother lifted an eyebrow and reached in to grab her bag of chips. “Okay, honey. Just uh, don’t forget to put the eggs in the fridge.”

It took a few minutes for your mother to leave the kitchen because she rummaged through the fridge to retrieve a bottle of iced tea to have with her chips. She sat down at the dining table where her laptop was set up as well as a stack of papers.

You silently moved around the kitchen to put certain foods inside of the fridge and laid out a cutting board and other cooking utensils. The first order of business was to wash the lettuce and other vegetables you were going to use.

“Let’s see, lettuce wraps…” After rinsing the vegetables, you tied an apron around your waist. “Season the ground turkey with salt…” You whispered the instructions to yourself and carefully measured the spices and dropped them into the bowl with the ground turkey. It was such a delicate process and you wanted to get everything right on the first try because besides preparing him a few meals, you wanted to surprise him during his training tonight.

To an extent, you knew your way around the kitchen. You could easily whip a meal for yourself that could be done with minimum ingredients, but you weren’t skilled enough to create detailed meals meant for others to eat. This was one of those cases.

You were tempted to ask your mother for assistance because she cooked more often than you did. It wouldn’t hurt to do so, plus you could easily say that the food was for yourself.

“Mom…?” You called out quietly.

Your mother hummed and typed away at her keyboard.

“I may or may not need help.”

She stood up from her chair to take a glance at whatever you were doing. All of your ingredients were sprawled out all over the island in the kitchen. Everything was in disarray and your mother chuckled at the chaos.

“And what in the world are you making?” Your mother closed her laptop and strolled over to the mess of vegetables and packages of meat.

“I—uh, I’m making a whole bunch of shi—“ you stopped yourself from completing your sentence. “Stuff. A whole bunch of stuff.”

You barely started the cooking process and you already felt defeated. It was in your nature to figure things out and handle things on your own, but this was cooking for another party so you needed all the help the universe could give you.

“Okay, well, what exactly are you making y/n?” Your mother asked while tying on her own apron.

“Ground turkey lettuce wraps, roasted vegetables, sweet potato fries, and some sort of protein bowl with these chicken tenders, and a lot more stuff.” As you listed your menu, your mother stared at you suspiciously. “What?”

“Nothing, I just—I didn’t know you had such a healthy diet that’s all.”

There were two reasons why you felt yourself sweating: 1) prepping ingredients was tough work and 2) you hated lying to your mother.

“Yeah, I just wanted to try something new, you know? Gotta stay in shape somehow someway.” You let out a nervous chuckle and your mother stared at you, unconvinced.

It took a few seconds before your mother scaled the island to stand next to you. She eyed out the mess in front of you and sighed.

“You know, y/n,” she began and you swallowed the lump in your throat. “When your father was still alive, I used to prepare a lot of meals for him just like this because he always left for work before the sun came up.”

You knew exactly what your mother was trying to tell you and yet you still hesitated.

“I may be going out on a limb here, but is this for that boy who dropped you off back home a few days ago?”

Right on the money.

It only took a matter of seconds plus the piercing gaze coming from your mother to crumble and nod your head. You had no problem in confining in your mother with absolutely anything, but this was painful for you to do. Despite what you told Jungkook, the reason why you didn’t tell your mother about your “relationship” is because it was only temporary. She had just witnessed you sulk throughout the entire summer and you didn’t want to burden her a second time by telling her that you and Jungkook “broke up.” Keeping the relationship a secret would have been hard work but you had to do what you had to do.

“You saw him?” You asked quietly.

She nodded her head and pulled out an extra cutting board from one of the compartments in the island. “I was repotting some of my flowers at the side of the house and when I got up to stretch, I saw you two through the gate; he opened the door of his car for you.”

For the record, you and Jennie both bet that your mother was going to say something within the first week.

“Uh, y-yeah. His name is Jungkook.” The smile that appeared on your face happened on an impulse.

You proceeded to tell your mother the forged story Jungkook came up with and also mentioned that you known him since elementary and that he was your partner for a history project.

“Wait, is this the same Jungkook who put the gum in your hair?” Your mother exclaimed with a laugh.

“That’s—That’s the one.” The bitter memory of having to cut your hair just below your shoulders flashed in your head. You also remembered the moment when Jungkook’s mother showed up the next day to pick him up from school and made him apologize again. She also gave you a ziploc of powdered brownies because of how terrible she felt.

“Wow, what a small world, huh?” Your mother smiled fondly at you. “Y/n, you know that I don’t want you hiding this kind of thing from me. You can trust me.”

It truly broke your heart hearing her words. If it was already difficult admitting the relationship, you knew you were going to suffer when the deadline would occur.

“I know, mom. I’m sorry.” You replied sadly.

She patted your back and grinned. “Don’t be sorry, honey. Now let’s get this chaos in order because first and foremost, you should always prep all of your ingredients first.”

Cooking took a lot longer than you expected because of your lack of skills. It was a trainwreck, but your mother managed to assist you in making a few days worth of meal prep for Jungkook. Even though you burnt your fingers on the pans from roasting the vegetables in the oven, you were satisfied with the outcome.

“Hopefully Jungkook isn’t going to die.” You sighed.

Your mother pulled out a reusable bag from the cupboard and neatly stacked the tupperwares inside.

“He’s going to be fine, y/n. I taste tested your food and it tastes fine. Just be sure to tell Jungkook that I’m going to be needing my tupperware back.” She instructed.

You nodded and mentioned that you were going to use her car because your keys were in your room which was “too far” for you.

As you boarded the driver side of her car, you sighed deeply thinking about if this was too much of a gesture. Giving someone food is one thing but making a home cooked meal was another.

“It’s fine, y/n. It’s fine. It’s just food, it’s not like your kissing him or something—okay wait, no. Just shut up and drive.” You muttered to yourself and started the engine.

↠↞

The gym that Jungkook trained at was about a fifteen to twenty minute drive from your house which meant it was most likely closer to his house. It was no secret where Jungkook trained, plus you had him on almost all of your social media platforms so you saw parts of what the gym looked like.

When you pulled into the parking lot, you spotted Jungkook’s car easily because of how bare the lot was at that time of night. You had time to abort your mission, but you found yourself stepping out of your vehicle and grabbing the bag from the passenger seat.

Entering the gym, there was a strong stench of overused body spray mixed with the tiniest tinge of sweat. There were a few people still using the exercise equipment and a few boys and girls working with a trainer. You took a couple of more steps inside and you easily spotted Jungkook sparring with his coach in the boxing ring towards the left wing of the gym. You approached the surrounding area cautiously, not wanting to distract Jungkook from his training.

You watched Jungkook take forceful jabs to the sparring equipment that his coach was holding. The sound of his boxing gloves hitting his coach’s punching mitts was intense, almost making you flinch with each punch. With the headgear blocking majority of his face, it was still clear it was Jungkook because of his strawberry blond hair.

From where you were standing, you could hear his coach tell him to take a break for a bit. He helped Jungkook remove his mouth guard and boxing gloves. Jungkook took off his headgear and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. He quickly glanced in your direction and took a double take just as quick. Jungkook climbed out of the ring and you met him half way as he wiped down his body with a towel.

“Hey, uh, this is a nice surprise.” Jungkook chuckled.

“Hi.” You said blankly. You didn’t realize you were spacing out until Jungkook waved his hand in front of your face. “I come bearing gifts.”

Before handing him the bag, Jungkook offered you a seat at a bench nearby. He sat down a couple of inches away from you, apologizing that he probably smells disgusting and is drenched with sweat.

“I couldn’t shake the thought of you being exhausted all day and you also mentioned that you had to make weight. So I took the liberty to meal prep you some food.” You explained and handed him the bag.

Jungkook smiled at you with a shocked expression and peered inside of the bag. He rummaged through the tupperware that were labeled with post its.

“Y/n, I--I don’t know what to say, thank you so much.” He couldn’t erase the smile from his lips and opened up the tupperware that contained a thick turkey wrap that was cut into two. There was also a batch of roasted sweet potatoes, parsnip, and red bell peppers stuffed inside. “Did you eat dinner yet?”

Well shit. You were so focused on cooking for Jungkook that you haven’t even eaten anything since that afternoon.

“N-No, I haven’t.”

“Great! No, not great but, wanna stay for about ten more minutes? I’m gonna do one more session and I want to share this with you.” Jungkook closed up the tupperware and stood up.

You were worried that Jungkook felt hesitant about eating the food you made yourself; with the help of your mother of course. But he looked extremely excited about asking you to eat with him that saying no didn’t seem like an option.

“Yeah, I’ll stay.” You answered sweetly.

“Okay, just sit tight.” He spoke, practically skipping all the way back to the boxing ring.

Before getting started, Jungkook and his coach exchanged a few words and peeked over Jungkook’s shoulder to wave at you. It was most likely he introduced you as his girlfriend; it was still a weird title to have under your belt.

It was exhilarating watching Jungkook in the ring. You didn’t mean to stare, but you found yourself gawking at his biceps that were glistening under the fluorescent lights. You remembered Jungkook being scrawny back in middle school and freshman year. Then all of sudden, he grew taller, gained muscles, and gained the habit of dying his hair often. Honestly, he had always been adorable but you never saw Jungkook in that way, ever. It was difficult to admit, but he looked attractive in his element.

That was it though. Just attractive.

The ten minutes flew by in a blink of an eye. He politely asked you to wait for another five minutes because he wanted to wash up before sitting in close proximity with you for the second time. Just like those ten minutes, the five minutes passed just as quickly. Jungkook came out from another room, waddling with his drenched hair bouncing everywhere and his duffle bag swinging from his side. He gestured you over to exit the gym which you were thankful for. The overwhelming smell of the body spray started to give you a headache.

↠↞

“Are you sure you want to share this with me? I made this for you, Jungkook.” You questioned as you sat on the parking block in the empty parking stall next to Jungkook’s car.

Jungkook tossed his duffle bag into the backseat of his car and proceeded to sit next to you. He changed into a dark gray track suit and still had water dripping from the ends of his hair.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I always drink some protein after training and that’s going to fill me up pretty well. You can have the other half of this wrap since you didn’t eat yet—oh fuck, my blender bottle.” He retreated back to his car and retrieved his blender bottle that already had a measured amount of protein powder and a bottle of water. “Have you made one of these before?”

You shook your head and he handed you both bottles and just as you were making his meal prep, you felt like you were going to ruin his protein.

“You see this line here? 12 ounce? Fill the blender up to there, close it tightly and then shake as if your life depended on it.” He instructed.

The instructions were simple and yet you still continued to second guess yourself over something so trivial. You did as you were told and as you shook the bottle, Jungkook laughed at the strained look you had on your face.

“Hey! Cut me some slack. I don’t shake protein on a regular basis.” You abruptly stopped the motion and Jungkook continued to laugh whilst pleading for forgiveness.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just--” Jungkook still failed to stifle his laughter. “Your face---” He took the bottle from your hands and imitated the look of your eyes screwed shut and your lips pursed closely to your teeth. Jungkook’s expression caused a burst a laughter to rise out of you and playfully shoved him off of the parking block.

“Just eat your food, Jeon!” You chuckled.

Jungkook recovered from him fit of laughter and proceeded to take the lid off the tupperware. Your fingers trembled as he handed you the other half of the wrap. While your eyes held the gaze of anxiety, he had the gaze of astonishment mixed with hunger.

“So, what’s in it?” He asked whilst examining the wrap.

“Uh, turkey breast slices, yellow bell pepper, spinach, tomato, and hummus.” As you explained, Jungkook lifted the wrap closer and closer to his mouth.

The deafening silence between the two of you as Jungkook bit and chewed was astounding. Your throat had gone dry and it felt as if your half of the wrap was going to slide out of your hands.

Jungkook abruptly stopped mid-chew and looked at you with his eyebrows knitted together. Your eyes turned into moons as you felt your heart break piece by piece.

“Y/n…” Jungkook mumbled slowly.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, trying to prepare yourself for the rejection of your food. However, you did expect it.

“This is fucking delicious.” He said in pure bliss. “I don’t ever eat anything like this, but holy shit, this is amazing.”

The disappointed look on your face twisted into a confused facial expression. “Really?! Are you sure?”

“Try it.”

Even after your mother’s approval and Jungkook’s compliment, you were still hesitant in taking a bite. Jungkook gestured at you to try the turkey wrap as he took his own bite.

You took a breath and proceeded to follow through with the action. After chewing for a bit, you came to the realization that, “wow, okay, this isn’t bad.”

“See?! It’s great!” Jungkook gave you a pat on the shoulder. “Why were you so nervous about it?”

“It’s because the only people I’ve ever cooked for are my mom and Jennie.” You explained. “I make the most basic things ever, so you know, of course I’d be nervous making you something that I made.”

He nodded his head and reached for one of the vegetables in the tupperware. “Well, I really appreciate it, y/n—for doing this, I mean. You didn’t have to.”

“I know.” You sighed. “I wanted to.”

Jungkook smiled at you with his cheeks puffed out from the food that he stuffed inside. You felt compelled to poke one of his cheeks, but you fought it because bringing him food was already as “intimate” as you could get.

You still found it hard to make the first move to hold Jungkook’s hand in school or even hook your arm with his. He always initiated skinship first which you were grateful for because you were obviously too chicken to do it yourself.

“So,” You started after swallowing another bite of the turkey wrap. “I uh--my mom, she uh, you know, knows.”

Jungkook stopped midway through his bite and stared at you with concerning eyes. “What happened?”

You began to tell the tale of your mother’s smart instincts. Jungkook’s cheeks flushed for a moment.

“She remembers you as the kid who put gum in my hair.” You gently nudged his shoulder and he snorted at the memory.

“Ah, yeah, I remember that. My mom got so mad at me.” He sighed and flicked at a lock of your hair with clean fingers. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

You envisioned the eleven year old version of Jungkook who “stealthily” stuck a wad of gum in your hair but tripping over someone’s backpack while trying to flee.

“It’s alright.” You chuckled and put your hand up.

Jungkook quickly finished the rest of his wrap and chugged half of his protein shake. “You want to try some? It’s chocolate.”

You hesitated at first, only because you had that split second thought of sharing an indirect kiss with him.

I need to stop watching anime.

After what seemed to be forever, you reached out and took a swig from his protein bottle and scrunched your nose.

“It tastes like...grass.” You shuddered and smacked your lips, still tasting the chocolately-grass flavored protein on your tongue.

Jungkook laughed sharply and escaped to grab another water bottle to give to you out of his duffle bag. “Yeah sorry, it’s a vegan protein. You get used to it when you drink it often.” He offered you another sip which you declined with a sour facial expression.

Your brain sifted through the thoughts that were racing inside of you and you thought about whether or not Chaeyoung was used to the taste of Jungkook’s protein flavor. You wondered if she ever gave him a home cooked meal or if she randomly showed up at the gym while he was training.

Duh. Of course she has y/n. She was his girlfriend.

You weren’t trying to compare yourself to Chaeyoung, but he did date her for three years which meant he was accustomed to random acts of flirtatious banter and actions. On the other hand, you were also used to those things but with Sehun, not Jungkook. It never really occurred to you before, but you wondered why he never hesitated to show public displays of affection to you; his breakup with Chaeyoung was just as “recent” as yours and yet it almost seemed like a second nature for him.

Just this once, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“Hey Jungkook,” you began softly waiting for a signal from him to continue your words. “How is it so easy for you to do this?”

He tilted his head and pointed to his blender bottle. “Do what? Drink my protein?”

“No.” You chuckled. “I don’t know, pretend to be in this relationship with me. Pet names, holding my hand, you know, the works.”

Jungkook stretched his legs out in front of him and took a deep breath. “Honestly,” he started. “It isn’t easy.”

You raised an eyebrow. You weren’t expecting this answer at all.

“For three years, I’ve only affectionately held one girl’s hand and called only one girl babe or whatever. It’s all I’ve ever known--routine, you know. So, jumping right into something new terrified me a little, but I knew I had to be confident about this so Chaeyoung could finally leave me alone.” Jungkook explained.

This was probably one of the most serious moments you ever had with Jungkook. While you always made it known that you weren’t used to PDA with Jungkook, he remained confident with every move he made that you never suspected him to feel the same way as you did. It was honestly impressive.

Also, Jungkook was right. He had to do this in order for Chaeyoung to finally get off his back. Although you held his hand in the hallways and hugged him whenever he initiated it, Chaeyoung and her lackeys could probably tell from a mile away that there was something suspicious just from the look in your eyes; a woman’s intuition.

If you put as much effort as Jungkook did in the beginning, then maybe this whole thing would be over much quicker. After all, that was the stipulations of this fake relationship: it would last until Chaeyoung gives up. You also had a hidden goal embedded in this relationship which was to make Sehun jealous. Selfish? Yes. Did you care? A little.

You left the conversation as that and carefully eased into a different subject. Jungkook never questioned your question, he just casually followed your lead.

You decided to spend another ten minutes with Jungkook before deciding to head home; it was still a school night. Jungkook tidied up the backseat of his car to make proper room for the bag of meal prep so it wouldn’t fall over while he drove.

“By the way, am I still picking you up tomorrow morning?” Jungkook asked taking the bag from you.

“Yeah, if you still want to.” You gave yourself a few more seconds before continuing. “My mom actually starts a little later than normal tomorrow, so if you want to come out to say hi then..”

Jungkook took a noticeable breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, yeah. I’d love to say hi. I’ll stop by the usual time.”

You nodded your head and waited for Jungkook to ready himself to get into the driver’s seat. Instead, he shut the backseat door and gestured you your car. You cocked an eyebrow and spun around on your heel with Jungkook walking closely behind you.

“New car?” He asked.

“No, my mom’s.” You unlocked the car and just as he’s done every single time, Jungkook moved ahead of you to open the car door. You placed your phone into one of the cupholders and opened the middle console to double check if your wallet was still there.

There was a voice inside your head screaming at you to turn the fuck around and give Jungkook a hug or at least a high five. You hesitated because it’s what you do, but the voice grew louder and louder until your thoughts boiled over.

Without saying a single word, you emerged turned around and reached out to wrap your arms around Jungkook’s torso. He stumbled a bit before finding his footing. You knew you caught him off guard because it took him a few seconds before he snaked his arms underneath your hair to secure them around your neck.

“U-Uh--” Jungkook stammered.

This was your cue to release him and you did just that.

“Drive safe.” You playfully swatted his chest, making him flinch and then sliding into your mother’s car.

“You too. Drive safe.” Jungkook closed the car door and before he shifted his body, you caught a glimpse of a smile on his face. You started the engine and rolled the windows down. Jungkook turned back around to you and you waved him off so he could go to his car. He also waved goodbye and you waited until he got into his car before you pulled out of the parking stall.

The hug you gave him was going to be the first of many that you were going to initiate first. You promised yourself to actually act like a girlfriend for once. Hugs were a bit on the easy side for you because you didn’t need to look at him while doing it. Little by little, you were going to push yourself to initiate PDA towards Jungkook. Sehun would get jealous, Chaeyoung would officially call it quits with Jungkook and then everything would go back to normal.

↠↞

You loved it whenever your mother started later in the mornings. This meant you could sit at the table with her and chat before heading to school. It was rare for her to be home before you went to school because even on her days off, she would catch up on some sleep.

It was a quiet Wednesday morning and you were enjoying a plate of waffles drizzled with maple syrup and dusted with powdered sugar. Your mother sliced you up a few strawberries and poured you a nice tall glass of orange juice. Whenever she prepared a decent size breakfast like this, it reminded you of your childhood; breakfast with your parents on a typical Sunday morning with you begging your father to add whipped cream to your waffles and your mother nagged at you to not pile on more sugar on your breakfast. There wasn’t a lot of memories stored in your headspace, but you cherished them all.

“So that’s what you were working on yesterday.” You forked a slice of your waffle into your mouth.

“Yeah. I don’t know why the head honcho decided to move the meeting today on such short notice.” Your mother spoke from the kitchen, spooning another serving of the batter into the waffle maker. “At least I finished it, but I might be coming home an hour or two late because today’s schedule got completely rearranged.”

Nowadays, it was not uncommon for you to be home alone or alone until late hours of the night. Over the years, your mother worked hard and became head of her department in the office. By the time you were a sophomore, she went on a few business trips that left you home alone for a few weekends. You had to admit, it was a bit lonely at times, but you were extremely proud of her accomplishments.

Your phone vibrated against the hardwood of the dining table with a surprising text message from Jungkook.

[6:53] jeon kook: Outside

Your fork clattered on top of the plate and you bolted towards your driveway, disregarding your mother’s question.

“I thought the usual time meant 7:15?” You questioned Jungkook as he stood at the passenger side of his car, flattening out his shirt and ruffling his hair. He nonchalantly opened his car and pulled out a drink carrier that held three drinks.

Your eyes grew wide and your jaw dropped slightly.

“What--What is going on?” You asked suspiciously.

“Iced hazelnut latte for you and two orange-mango iced teas because I don’t know how your mom takes her coffee.” Jungkook explained holding up the carrier and shutting the car door.

“O-Okay.” You stuttered, still confused as to why he was doing this. “Let’s go in then.”

As the two of you walked up the pavement, you suddenly remembered this would technically be the first time he’s been in your home; the one time during elementary didn’t count because it was for your birthday party. Jungkook would be stepping into your home as your “boyfriend” and it was nerve wracking. Was your mother going to embarrass you? Were you going to embarrass yourself?

“Mom!” You called out, almost hesitant to let Jungkook inside. “Jungkook is here.”

You stepped out of the way to let Jungkook in who was struggling to kick hi shoes off before entering.

“H-Hi! Good morning Mrs--”

“Oh just call me ‘auntie’, Jungkook. It’s alright.” Your mother always instructed your friends to call her ‘auntie’ while Jennie called her ‘mom’.

“A-Auntie..” Jungkook repeated with a small smile. “I’m sorry to drop by on short notice.”

“It’s no problem. Have a seat and have some breakfast before you two head out.” At your mother’s words, you flashed her wide eyes. Even if this was all apart of the relationship package, you only prepared yourself for them to exchange greetings not have an entire conversation over breakfast.

“I don’t know how you take your coffee--or if you even like coffee, so I got you an orange-mango iced tea.” Jungkook took a few steps forward, nervous to enter the kitchen. You gave him a gentle push and he glided across your wooden floor to hand over her beverage.

“Oh, Jungkook, thank you.” She traded the drink with a plate of waffles for him to indulge in.

As he walked back towards you, you gave him a reassuring “okay” sign with your fingers. Jungkook seemed to want extra “good-boyfriend-points” and he seemed to be on the right track.

↠↞

Breakfast with your mother went surprisingly well.

One of the first things Jungkook said was an apology for ruining your hair and with a full hearted laugh, she forgave him. Your mother asked about school and shockingly, he didn’t quite lie about his academic performance. He expressed his struggle to focus in class sometimes and he was glad to have you tutor him from time to time. Nothing embarrassing, nothing too cringey, everything went exceptionally well.

Your mother thanked Jungkook for picking you up and also thanked him once again for the iced tea as you two were preparing to leave. She even witnessed him open the car door for you. You have to admit, you were impressed and proud of Jungkook for doing this.

“I’m pretty sure she likes you.” You commented and rolled down your window.

Jungkook chuckled and slicked his hair back. “Of course, why wouldn’t she?”

“Oh my god, I take it back.” You leaned further away from him, cringing at his greasiness.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Jungkook gently tugged at your wrist to bring you back to how you were sitting before. “I swear I was shitting bricks though, but your mom is a lot easier to talk to than what I thought.”

You smiled as you listened to Jungkook rant about how he couldn’t sleep last night because he was too nervous. His eyes flickered from you back to the road and even still holding onto your wrist, he still spoke with a few hand gestures. This would have been your cue to wriggle yourself free, but you suppressed the urge. You had to get comfortable somehow, someway and this was your way of trying.

“By the way, how does your mom take her coffee?” Jungkook released your wrist as he reversed his car into a parking stall.

“Straight up black. Iced or hot. Ugh, it tastes disgusting.” You shivered and rubbed your wrist.

“I guess I’ll bring that over the next time I meet with you two.”

Small words were exchanged as the two of you exited Jungkook’s car. You had both of your backpacks at your footside during the whole car ride and he walked over to your side to take his bag from you, you offered to put it on for him. He squinted his eyes at you, wondering what you were up to this time. But you nudged him on to slip his arms through the straps.

“Hmm, y/n. What’s going on? First the meal prep then--oh fuck, my waffles!” Jungkook thrashed around and quickly opened the passenger side door of his car to reach for the ziploc with extra waffles that your mother made for him. “Anyway, first the meal prep, then that hug you gave me--which by the way, you never do first. During breakfast, you dressed up my waffles for me and now your helping me put on my bag? What exactly are you planning, Ms. y/n?”

You rolled your eyes at him. “First of all, at my house, it’s called manners. Second of all, I’m not planning anything. I’m just...playing my part.”

Jungkook chuckled and slyly weaved his fingers in between yours because of the amount of students that were in the parking lot.

“Well, whatever pushed that on, I’m glad it did. Chaeyoung was seriously doubting us.” He whispered.

“You know that for certain?” You asked intrigued because he did sound certain.

“Yeah, she told me.” Jungkook kept his hushed tone. “Remember at the diner? She went on and on saying that you didn’t seem like a ‘girlfriend’ because you acted differently with Sehun or whatever. I told her to just mind her business.”

A quiet sigh slipped past your lips. Chaeyoung wasn’t wrong, which was why you were trying your best to push past your boundaries and act like a better girlfriend. Jungkook hasn’t done anything that you didn’t like. He always quietly warned you if he was going to do something out of the ordinary like a back hug. You were always grateful for this, so you needed to meet him halfway for once.

“I--” You started. “I’ll try my best to do better, okay?”

Jungkook smiled at you and shook his bangs out of his eyes. “Thanks.”

He guided you all the way to your locker and leaned against the cool metal. This was practically routine for the two of you; you’d head to your locker first to grab whatever textbooks you needed for first and second period, then head over to Jungkook’s locker to grab a single notebook.

“Any plans for lunch?” Jungkook asked as he entered his locker combination.

“I was going to go to the math lab. I have to go over some criteria with Chanyeol since I didn’t get to stay for a full meeting for the past week.” You explained.

“I feel like that’s my fault since you’ve been helping me with my math work. Sorry about that.” Jungkook kept his head in his locker searching for god knows what.

“It’s no...problem.” You said barely above a whisper. Across the hall, you easily spotted Sehun with his group of friends chilling against another row of lockers. There was no doubt that he was staring right at you while his friends became background noise.

It wasn’t fair. You wouldn’t need to be making Sehun jealous in the first place if you two didn’t break up in the first place. You and Sehun would have been happy together and nothing would be messy right now.

Ugh. Shut up, y/n.

You didn’t even need to make Sehun jealous in the first place; this was just you being selfish. Sehun became unhappy at some point in the relationship and you had a personal duty to show him that you were happy with someone else.

“I guess I’m seeing you after school then.” Jungkook shut his locker, making you break the eye contact with Sehun. He kept his back turned without knowing who or what you were staring at.

“Yeah.” You absentmindedly tugged at Jungkook’s shirt to smooth out a couple of the wrinkles that splayed across. In return, he gently pushed a few hairs out of your face with his fingertips.

“Alright, let’s get you to class, Ms. y/n.” Jungkook took the textbook out of your grasp so he could properly hold your hand.

As you laced your hand into Jungkook’s, you stole a glance of Sehun whose eyes were still trained on you. You swore to yourself once again that you were going to show Sehun that you were happy with your boyfriend, Jungkook. Sehun was going to have to watch in the background as you walked the halls of the school with someone who wasn’t him.

Your class was in the opposite direction of where Sehun stood with his friends. Just as you started to walk off with Jungkook, you softly squeezed his hand and lean your head against his shoulder. There was an intense feeling of eyes piercing through the back of your head and just before Jungkook could look down at your face, you smirked.

Bingo.

-

-

-

♡ rae jagi

[iatethepomegranate]

Homecoming Chapter 25

Masterlist

Pairing: DickTiger

Rating: Teen (this chapter)

Length: 3.3k

Summary: Tiger gets his communicator and an existential crisis. Dick gets a phone call. They also carpool into the city for a debrief and an appointment.

Notes: Can someone other than me please post in the DickTiger omg I’m trying to keep a weekly schedule but it looks like I’m taking over

Warnings: anxiety, allusions to the torture

****

Chapter 25

“Here you go.” Tim passed Tiger an earpiece. “All yours.”

“I still can’t believe Bruce literally offered to give you one,” said Stephanie. “Is he okay?”

Tiger looked at Dick. “Well? Is he okay?”

Dick snorted, which had always been oddly endearing. “I mean, he’s being nice which is always weird but I’m pretty sure he’s fine.”

Tiger pressed the earpiece into place. Tim passed him a wrist computer disguised as a watch, which he used to tune the communicator to his first Spyral frequency.

“Dick asked nicely,” Jason said. “Of course he gave it to you.”

“I didn’t actually ask Bruce to give Tiger a communicator,” Dick corrected. “I just insisted we include Helena.”

“Same thing.”

“And I wasn’t fucking nice about it.”

Jason laughed. Dick glared. No one took him seriously.

“It’s cute when he tries to be serious,” said Stephanie.

“No, it is laughable,” said Damian.

Tiger left Dick to the mercy of his siblings and stepped into the hallway. He called Helena, who answered immediately.

“There you are. I was wondering if you’d forgotten about me.”

“You are a hard woman to forget,” Tiger replied.

“Aw, is Dick teaching you how to charm a lady?”

“Do you find him charming? I do not.”

“You’re fooling nobody,” Helena replied.

Tiger resisted the temptation to retort. “I have arranged a meeting with Checkmate next Thursday at thirteen hundred hours in Gotham City.”

“During the day? Huh.”

“Which means most of my current associates will not be available to provide backup.”

“So you’re asking me? I’m flattered.”

“Helena.”

“Relax. I’m available. I’ll get in touch with your people and arrange logistics.”

“My people?”

“Your boyfriend’s people. His father specifically.”

“I knew that.”

“No, you didn’t.” Helena chuckled. “I’ll see you on Thursday.” She ended the call.

Tiger leaned against the wall behind him. He did not know how he felt about returning to Checkmate, only that it caused an unpleasant jittering sensation in his stomach.

Actually, he did know how he felt about it: awful.

Tiger had not been a standard agent for years. Now that his undercover mission was over, he did not feel a need to return to the way things had been before.

Even though his hands shook whenever he touched a gun and he hadn’t had a good night’s rest in so long he’d lost count, he would not trade that for a return to life before the Spyral mission. The realisation felt strange. Losing the ability to take orders and carry them out, no questions asked, no sleep lost… it felt like he’d lost a part of himself. A part of his identity.

And yet…

If he compared how he felt now to how he’d felt before going undercover…

Strange.

He was happier now. In an odd way. Checkmate had recruited him from Afghanistan when he was barely eighteen. He’d been old enough to fight, old enough to have a fearsome reputation, and yet…

He’d been so young.

So confused.

He was still confused today, but about different things. Perhaps confusion was a part of who he was. Well, at least that hadn’t changed, even if the source of his confusion had.

The young Tiger King of Kandahar had hidden his confusion, his uncertainty, behind fighting. There had always been someone to defend, or someone to punish. He’d taken the name given to him for his deeds in the place of his birth and fashioned it into a mask. Armour. That title became his identity. It still was, but in a different way.

The name Tiger felt like a comfortable old coat these days, worn in all the right places. The original occasion for which he’d first donned it had ceased to matter many wears ago. It was his, and that was enough. Somewhere along the line, it had stopped being a barrier and started being him.

In fact, it felt less like an old coat and more like his own skin. He owed some of that to Checkmate, but most of it had changed because he had changed.

In many respects, Spyral was equally as responsible… if not more so.

His feelings were beginning to make more sense. Checkmate felt like a step backwards. The Tiger who’d joined Checkmate was not the same Tiger who was set to return.

Given the emotional state he’d been in when he’d volunteered to infiltrate Spyral, that was an improvement. It felt strange calling post-traumatic stress an improvement.

Well, in reality, it wasn’t his trauma that had changed him. That had simply come along for the ride, as Dick might say.

Tiger had grown up quickly, but only now was he finding true maturity. He’d felt so worldly when he’d joined Checkmate. Perhaps that was youth. Perhaps it was fighting the Taliban from a young age. Perhaps both.

In truth, he’d known very little. In many respects, he felt he knew less now.

“Hey,” Dick poked his head out the door. “You’ve been gone a while. Everything okay?”

Tiger nodded. “I was thinking.”

Dick joined him at the wall. “Oh?”

“Do you find that as you grow older, you know less?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“Do you think it is normal?”

“Yeah, I do.” Dick leaned his head on Tiger’s shoulder. Tiger held very still so he wouldn’t move. “We’re getting wise in our old age, T.”

Tiger couldn’t hold back a laugh; he found it harder to control these days, especially when Dick knew how to get under his skin. “Yes, you do look very old.”

“Yeah, and you’re about to collapse into dust yourself.”

“Well, my joints make noises they never used to make. Perhaps that time is almost upon me.”

“Or you could just stop getting your ass kicked every few weeks. I’ve heard good health keeps you young.”

“I would not know.”

Dick laughed, sliding his hand into Tiger’s. “Anyway. What brought this on?”

“I was thinking about Checkmate. I was barely eighteen when they recruited me in Afghanistan.”

“And I bet you thought you knew everything.”

“To be fair, I had repelled my fair share of Taliban attacks.”

“Okay, that’s pretty impressive. Some cockiness is to be expected.”

“I may also have wrestled a tiger.”

“Shit. Really?”

“You will never know if I’m telling the truth.”

“You bastard,” Dick murmured.

“I volunteered for the Spyral mission,” Tiger said. He hadn’t set out to share that information, but maybe he’d needed to say it. He’d had few opportunities to talk about it with anyone.

Dick looked up at him; there was some kind of tension behind his eyes that made Tiger suspect he would have another migraine soon. “Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“Not much of one. I was well-respected in Checkmate, but I wanted to get away.”

“So you volunteered for a deep cover mission. Naturally. Why did you want to get away?”

That wasn’t something Tiger liked to think about. He already regretted opening his mouth. He wondered if his reason was still with Checkmate, or whether things had changed there as well.

Dick took the hint. “Ah, well. Story for another time? I’m a great listener.”

“I know.”

***

The worst of the migraine had passed, but Dick still winced whenever he saw too much light. Or heard anything louder than a whisper. Tiger was elsewhere; Dick didn’t like anyone seeing him like this, even if he could tolerate another person’s presence when the pain was at its worst.

He sat on the bed in the dark, slowly sipping a glass of water. Tension still bunched in his muscles; he’d learned from experience that it wouldn’t go away properly until he found the strength to move around and stretch. For now, though, he’d just have to deal.

His phone vibrated, which set his teeth on edge. Tim had messed with the settings so the backlight didn’t hurt as much when he looked at the screen, but he still had to do it quickly. It was Kory.

She didn’t call very often. He picked up right away and put the phone on speaker so he could keep it away from his aching head.

“Hello?”

“Dick?”

“The one and only.”

Kory let out a breath. “Oh, X’Hal. It’s true. You’re back.”

“Back and better than ever,” Dick said dryly; he wasn’t sure she’d pick up on the sarcasm, but he guessed it didn’t really matter. “Jason run his mouth?”

“Who else?”

“Good point.”

“You sound tired. Are you okay?”

“It’s been a long few months. I’ll be fine.” A phone conversation wasn’t the ideal platform to hash out what exactly had been going on and why he sounded half-dead. “How are you doing?”

“I’m well.”

“Seen Roy lately?”

Starfire chuckled. “Yes. He just left.”

“Tell him I say hi next time you see him… which I’m sure will be soon.”

“Dick…”

“I’m not mad, Kory. We’ve both moved on. Go forth, be merry.”

“You say the strangest things.”

“You talk to Jason on the regular. I think your opinion of strange is a bit skewed.”

“You’re probably right.” Kory hummed softly. “Jason says you’re living with your family again.”

“Yeah, some stuff went down on the tail end of my mission. Needed to find my feet.”

“Yes, your mission.” Kory’s voice hardened. “The mission where you faked your death.”

Dick sighed; he should’ve expected this. “I’m sorry I put you through that. Just because I needed to be dead in the eyes of the public didn’t mean I needed to be dead to the people I care about.”

“I’m glad you’ve realised that.” She still sounded pissed. That was valid.

“You ever find yourself in Gotham?” Dick asked. “We should talk properly. Face to face.”

“I might be in the neighbourhood next week. To visit Jason.”

“And if we happen to bump into each other, that’ll be a happy coincidence.”

“Yes.”

“Text me the details. When you have them.”

“I will.”

“And I’ll give the big guy some warning so he doesn’t get mad about metahumans in the city again.”

Kory laughed. “Is he always like that?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll see you later.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Dick set the phone aside and pressed his fingers into his temples. It had been easy enough to block out the pain while talking to Kory, but now it was coming back with a vengeance.

Still, he was glad for the phone call. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Kory. And the last time she’d seen him was at his funeral. Not exactly conducive to conversation.

It would be good to see her. He still loved her, in a way, but the need to have her to himself had long since dissipated. Enough time had passed that he could genuinely be happy for her when she saw other people.

Yeah. Now was a good time to clear the air between them. If things went well, maybe she’d like to meet Tiger.

***

The day to visit Checkmate came before Tiger was prepared for it. Even the morning prayer had done little to soothe his nerves.

It didn’t help that Dick was coming off another migraine. He made it to breakfast with Tiger, but neither of them had much of an appetite. Tiger had told Dick to go back to bed several times, but he refused.

“Good news,” Dick said quietly, picking at the fruit salad Alfred had made. “We’re carpooling today.”

“This is the first I am hearing of it.”

“Only got confirmed last night,” Dick said. “I’m seeing a specialist in Gotham, so Alfred’s driving both of us into the city. We’ll drop you off first.”

“Are you sure you are up to this?”

“The sunglasses aren’t just for decoration.” Dick patted his shirt pocket. “I’ll manage.”

Tiger had to admit having Dick close for the journey made him feel better. He stopped protesting.

“Does this specialist know what they are doing?” Damian said, stabbing a waffle with his usual fervour.

“It’s the same guy who stopped my head exploding on a near-nightly basis,” Tim replied. “He’s legit.”

“Your migraines are a result of inferior genetics, Drake, not a torture machine.”

Tim looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Thanks.”

Damian eyed him for a moment longer, until he evidently decided Tim was not going to react the way he wanted him to. Then Dick caught his eye and raised an eyebrow.

Damian scowled. “I apologise, Drake.”

“Sure.” Tim said absent-mindedly, more focused on his coffee.

“Anyway…” Dick finally picked up some pineapple on his fork. “I don’t know if the specialist can help, but I’m willing to give it a shot. At this point, I’ll try anything.”

Dick looked exhausted. Tiger knew for a fact he was, in fact, as tired as he looked. Neither of them had slept well last night. Dick was abstaining from coffee and Tiger did not need caffeine shakes, so there was no respite on the horizon.

Once it was time to leave, they’d both managed to choke down some breakfast. Cassandra had gone ahead to meet Helena; they would remain near the building but would not enter unless absolutely necessary. Tiger did not need an extra set of eyes over his shoulder. He would be under enough scrutiny already.

He was grateful they would be close by if needed, however.

Dick still flinched in the sunlight, but he appeared to shake it off. They sat together in the back of the car while Alfred drove.

“Should you require an earlier pickup than anticipated, sir,” said Alfred, “call me and I will come. Should you lose access to your phone, I use the family’s communication frequency. Master Dick, if you would…?”

“Sure.” Dick held out his palm. Tiger dropped the communicator in his hand. Dick pressed a few buttons on his watch, frowning. Or perhaps squinting. After a moment, the communicator beeped softly and Dick handed it back.

Tiger put it in his ear. “I may need to surrender my devices.”

Dick made a pulling motion from his watch and a dim holographic display grew from it. He pressed a few holographic keys and then held his wrist close to Tiger.

“Give it a few words.”

“Hello, watch.” Tiger grimaced. “I feel ridiculous.”

The watched beeped and Dick pulled back. “That was enough. Okay, you should be able to program any communicator to patch you into our frequency. You’ll be asked to give voice confirmation. If something really bad happens, which I doubt it will, it’ll also work on all cell phones, Gotham payphones and some kitchen appliances.”

“What?”

“Wayne Enterprises gets everywhere, babe.”

Tiger would never get used to that nickname, but at least it was a pleasant feeling. He still did not feel ready when Alfred parked the car near the nondescript office building that housed Checkmate’s Gotham outpost.

Dick kissed his cheek. “You’ll be okay. We won’t be far. And Cass and Helena will be on hand if something weird happens. Which it probably won’t.”

“Yes, very comforting.”

“Oh, hush.” Dick squeezed both his hands. “You just did them a massive favour. As far as I’m concerned, the least they can do is listen to you about Bannon.”

That name always felt like a lance through his stomach. He nodded silently and slid out of the car.

As they drove off, Dick blew him a kiss out the window. Tiger tried to burn that image into his mind. He could use some encouragement once he was inside.

He approached the glass doors. They slid open for him. He stepped through, heart pounding in his throat.

He paused in the lobby. Breathed. The lobby itself was deliberately dull and sterile. Not the kind of place someone would walk into by accident. Unless they were trying to escape a murderer, Tiger supposed.

The woman at the front desk was a stranger, probably a newer agent who joined after Tiger had gone undercover. She seemed to recognise him anyway and waved him through the next set of doors. Here, things became more interesting.

A security guard passed Tiger a plastic tub. He put his communicator, watch and phone inside. Then he removed his shoes and placed them on the conveyor belt.

“We’ll need to confiscate your electronics,” the guard said. “You’ll get them back when you leave.”

Tiger passed through a body scanner and retrieved his shoes on the other side. He was almost certain Bruce had hidden a tracker on him, but it was clearly disguised enough or of such little consequence that security did not feel the need to search and destroy.

Another receptionist was seated behind another desk, this time close to a pair of grey elevators. “Welcome back, Bishop Five,” he said, stamping a barcode onto the back of Tiger’s hand. “You’re needed on level ten. Have a nice day.”

Tiger stepped into the elevator and tapped the back of his hand against the card reader. Level ten selected itself and the doors sealed him in the elevator.

Tiger fell into parade rest. He shut his eyes and took deep, slow breaths. He had never been to the Gotham City branch of Checkmate before, so it was unlikely he would run into many people who knew him. Maxwell Lord was probably here, and perhaps Amanda Waller, but anyone else? No.

The doors let out a ding and slid open. Tiger stepped out, feeling calmer. He had no reason to feel anxious. He had done his job. All he needed to do was report in and give his recommendations.

And possibly attend an evaluation, which he would likely fail. Then again, it was more likely they would schedule it for another day. If all went to plan, he would not be here for long.

Tiger started down the hallway. The barcode on his wrist would automatically open the correct door once he reached it, and this place was linear. He could do this. Everything would be fine. He had nothing to—

A door up ahead slid open. An agent stepped into the hallway. They locked eyes, and recognition sparked between them.

“Eimal,” Tiger breathed.

“Tiger.” Eimal’s face broke into an uneasy smile. The man was handsome as ever… his dark, intelligent eyes; his nose slightly crooked from being broken one too many times; his thick, black hair…

This was exactly who Tiger had not wanted to see.

Eimal’s smile relaxed, just a small amount. “It’s good to see you.”

Tiger couldn’t answer. He suddenly felt much younger, in the throes of heartbreak once again. That was a dangerous feeling. He made rash decisions when he felt like this. He had to breathe. Had to control it. This feeling was nothing more than the ghost of a relationship long since dead.

He swallowed. “I did not expect to see you here.”

“Lord thought you might like to see a friendly face.” Eimal’s smile turned pained. “I had hoped enough time had passed that…”

Tiger did not know how to respond. He often felt clumsy and slow around Eimal. The man was a few years older and, he’d once believed, much wiser. He had joined Checkmate before Tiger and had been among the first to welcome him. Meeting another Pashtun had helped keep the homesickness at bay for them both.

“The past is the past,” Tiger finally said, hoping he sounded firm. He did not feel firm. He felt like the ground would soon crumble beneath him.

A flash of hurt appeared in Eimal’s eyes, but it was gone so quickly Tiger might have imagined it. “Well, it was good to see you. Don’t keep Lord waiting.” He gestured to the door at the end of the hall.

“Thank you.” Tiger didn’t know what else to say. Eimal stepped aside to let him pass. Tiger felt like he was walking through water. When he turned back, Eimal was gone.

[mentallyinwalmart]

Roadtrip!— chapter 2

omg thank you guys so much for your interest! I’m really excited to hear your thoughts on this chapter, I hope it delivers ♥️

~

“So where do we want to spend the night?”

He had his feet kicked up on the dash and his seat reclined. He looked across at Brienne with a lazy grin as he fiddled with the phone charger his phone was plugged into.

“Well, okay I mean, we don’t have a lot of time. But there are a couple places we could stop.”

Brienne fiddled with one of her curls, tugging at the neck of their sweatshirt. In truth, she had planned a whole map of places to visit and eat and where to spend the night, but she wasn’t sure Jaime would be into stuff like that.

“Brienne,” his voice pulled her from her thoughts, “we start school in two weeks. I google mapped it and we could get to New York in two days if we wanted.”

Her face fell slightly. He must already regret having chosen to ride with me, she thought. But as though he noticed her change in expression he spoke up quickly.

“Meaning, that we have plenty of time to see the United States.” He elbowed her ribs from where he sat, “Did you know I’ve never been anywhere but California and Hawaii?” He raises an eyebrow.

“For real?” Brienne asked, turning her head from the road briefly to search his face for lies.

“For real.” He grins and nods back at the road. Brienne quickly turner her head back to face traffic. “My father has taken me all over the globe, Paris, Scotland, Thailand, Machu Pichu.” He counted them off on his fingers, “He’s taken me and Tyrion to every world travelers bucket list destination,” Brienne furrowed her brow, wondering where he was going with this. “But no matter where he’d take us, we have never done anything fun and touristy. Like in Paris we never even saw the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower, he just brought us to ridiculously fancy restaurants and his friends estates.”

He turned his face to Brienne and she once again looked over at him.

“Do you know what it’s like to be within walking distance of the wonders of the world but instead by dragged to international delegations?”

Brienne snorted out a laugh.

“I can't say I have.” She shook her head, “But then again I’ve never been out of the United States.”

“Never?” He sounded shocked and she let out a mirthless laugh.

“You know Lannister, not all of us have a father who probably owns the US Military.” She chuckled, “nope, dear old dad has taken me on quite a few fun trips though. We’ve been to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, The Rockies, you know, standard American tourist stuff.” She grinned absentmindedly, falling into her childhood memories.

“Sounds better than my summers.” She looked over at her companion to see him grimacing. She frowned. What could he possibly have to be jealous of. “I’ve got a splitting headache,” He said, changing the subject, “do you have anything?”

“Tylenol, in the glovebox.” She nodded as he reached into the glovebox.

“Woah this thing is decked out!” He grinned as he pulled out an aux cord as well as the bottle of Tylenol. A blue piece of paper floated down to the floor of the car.

She prayed he didn’t notice it.

“What’s this?” He asked, seeming to forget about the Tylenol to reach down to the floor and grab the paper.

“It’s nothing,” she reached across to grab it but he moved it from her grasp, “seriously Lannister it’s nothing just put it back.”

But he shook his head, “nope! This is our van. No secrets.” He grinned as she continued to reach in vain to get it back.

“Lannister come on give it back.” She reached again but he swatted her hand.

“Focus on the road, Brinny. I’m not trying to die not having been out of California.”

She sighed in exasperation as he opened the paper.

“Brienne's ultimate road trip” he read aloud and she flushed as red as a tomato. He continued to mumble as he read over it quickly. “Bri why didn’t you tell me there was a whole plan?”

“It’s silly.” She began “I made it myself when I thought I might be going alone. But once you were in I thought—”

“Thought what? That I wouldn’t enjoy fun?” He shook his head. “This is perfect! I’ll get the full tour of the US of A thanks to the greatest, and most well researched tour guide.” He smacked her on the arm gently. “I’m serious dude, we have to do this!”

“You don’t have to indulge me,” she started, still flushed “seriously, I just made it because I thought it could be fun.” She twisted a curl around her index finger.

“Brienne.” He turned to her and under sweatshirt she felt her hair stand on end as he said her name with such earnest, “Stop trying to make less of it. You have a great plan here! Budgeted and everything!” He smiled as he leaned back and reopened the paper, scanning it for information. “So it looks like we’re staying in… Vegas tonight?” She could hear the smile in his voice, “...sleeping in a Walmart parking lot.” He shook his head. “Bri that was almost the perfect plan!”

She shrugged, “Jaime I’m broke! I can’t afford a Vegas hotel on a Friday night. Especially not in August.” She shrugged, “But if you want a hotel room that’s fine by me.”

He waves his hand. “No no, if I’m doing it, we’re committing to your plan. I’m gonna be an honorary Tarth by the end of this!” He unzipped his jacket and tossed it over his shoulder.

Brienne tried to hide her smile as he continued to chatter about how excited he was to ‘slum it’ and sleep in a van. He turned on some music, which was surprisingly not as bad as she thought it would be.

—

“Brieeeenne!” She opened her eyes to see Jaime poking at her from his seat. He had moved the drivers seat forward a bit, and was leaning over her, his face dangling a foot above hers. A few of his loose blond hairs fell down towards her face. “We’re here!”

“Where’s here?” She blinked and sat up, bleary eyes focusing up on his. She flushed slightly and rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.

“Nevada! Viva Las Vegas baby!” He grins and she feels a smile splitting her own face despite herself. Damn her if his smile wasn’t contagious.

“So what’s the plan Lannister?” She asked, staring up at him. Too quickly he moved back from her, grabbing his phone from the cup holder and sitting back in his seat.

“Well.” He started, “you didn’t make us a plan so I say we live it up a little bit before we sleep in this lovely parking lot I found.” He opened the door and hopped from the van, a spring in his step.

Brienne sat up slowly and opened the door, stretching as she stepped out of the van. Her neck was a little stiff and she kneaded at it with her fingers, running her other hand through her blonde curls.

“So where are we headed?” She asked, “Or is it a surprise?”

“I was going to tell you, but a surprise sounds like way more fun!” She rolled her eyes despite the way he seemed to light up as he opened the back doors of the van to rifle through one of his suitcases. He pulled out a sports coat and a white shirt, pulling his t shirt off with one hand. Brienne turned away too late, her eyes lingering for just a moment on his ab muscles and the way his biceps flexed as he tugged the shirt off.

She tried to calm the blush coloring her cheeks as he mumbled something about buttons.

“Brinny?” She turned to see him 2/3rds buttoned up and looking sheepish. “I said would you mind helping with the buttons?”

He shrugged and her gaze dropped to his prosthetic hand. She nodded and took two awkward clunking steps to him before she looked down to fiddle with the buttons. She cursed own awkwardness and inability to perform under pressure. She met his eyes after the last one, and took two quick steps back as she realized how close they were.

“There you are.” She smiled. He nods in gratitude then leans in further to grab one of her suitcases. “What are you doing?” She asked.

“You’ve got to dress up! Come on now.” He grins but she shakes her head.

“Jaime I didn’t bring anything nice like that.”

“That’s ridiculous Bri, what will you wear to parties?”

“I don’t go to parties I’m not usually invited.”

He hardly missed a beat, “Well that’s about to change. This year is your year. Party city for Brienne.” He grinned, “Now just put on something nice, like a blouse or something. Where we’re going isn’t that fancy.”

She nodded and he stood back as she rifled through the suitcase, pulling out a black blouse. She looked at him, then back at the shirt, then back at him. He met her gaze for a long moment before finally seeming to get what she meant.

“Got you my bad!” He turned around and she quickly changed into the blouse. She didn’t love the way it looked on her, pulled broad across her shoulder and hugging her bust. But she smoothed the wrinkles and told him to turn back around before she could second guess herself. “Perfect!” He exclaimed, “It’s like you know where we’re going!”

“I don’t.”

“Even better!”

He shut and locked the van before beginning his walk down the Vegas strip. Brienne followed behind him a pace, enjoying the way his face lit up as he took in the multitudes around them. It was dusk, and the lights glowed like stars in the dim nighttime light. When finally she was worried he didn’t even have a destination in mind he ducked into a set of double doors.

She followed before she had time to read the sign and almost burst out laughing when her eyes fell upon where they had landed.

“Medieval Times?” She asked, biting her bottom lip as he nodded, gesturing to the jousting pit and legs of turkey being eaten by people around the ring.

“Oh yeah. If we’re going out we’re going out in style.”

She shook her head as they moved to seats closest to the arena. They sat on the edge and a beautiful girl dressed as a bar maiden brought them beer and turkey. Brienne opened her mouth to say something about them being underage but thought better of it.

As the night went by they laughed and drank, Brienne’s cheeks growing more and more flushed with the heat of the room, the alcohol, and his company. However, at around ten a group of clearly drunk men dressed in medieval competition garb bumbled over.

“Hey, beast.” They said to Brienne, slightly slurred, “You look really strong. Stronger than your boyfriend that’s for sure.”

They collapsed into laughter and Brienne suddenly felt her mood shatter. Tears bubbled up in her eyes and she looked at her hands.

“Damn right she is.” Jaime’s voice came unexpectedly even as he responded. She looked across the table at him as he sat up straighter, “And I’ll wager she’s stronger than you assholes too.”

Brienne wanted to beg him to stop, to just let the men finish their taunting and go, but a tiny part of her felt better at the way he reacted.

“Then let’s see it. One round in the ring, the joust. If she can stay in the saddle consider me proven wrong.” Brienne felt like she might be sick.

“Please Jaime it’s fine.” She said and he looked over at her, this face flushed an angry red.

“She’s right cripple, it’s fine.”

Brienne’s blood ran hot, and suddenly she didn’t care about having attention on her.

“Bring me a horse.” She swung over the railing and her tennis shoes cracked against the dusty floor of the arena. The men whooped and followed behind her.

As the horse was brought and an odd breastplate was fitted to her chest she didn’t let go of her anger, of the pain she’d felt when they called Jaime such a horrible thing. She hadn’t ridden a horse in years, but when she got in the saddle, she felt as though she was right where she was meant to be.

One of the bar maidens offered her a lance and a small smile.

“I hope you win.” She whispered, “that jerk could use a good knock to his ego,” she paused, “and just to be knocked on his ass!”

Brienne looked down at the other girl, “My thoughts exactly.” They shared a smile before the round was called.

The previous matches Brienne and Jaime observed took a few rounds to declare a winner, but this match took only one.

At the first crack of her lance, her posture leaned forward, the man on the horse across from her went flying, landing flat on his back, the patrons of the venue erupting into a mixture of laughter and cheers.

Brienne swung off the horse and smiled awkwardly. She’d never won anything like this. Of course she won all the time in the javelin and the hammer throw, but this, she’d defeated this man in combat. And it felt good.

She watched as Jaime hopped the railing too and ran to her side, grabbing her arm and raising it in victory.

“Lady Brienne ladies and gentlemen!” She laughed aloud and pumped her free fist in victory.

“Not Lady for long.” The voice came from the box above the arena and Brienne turned her eyes upwards.

The Queen was descending the stairs. She had a grin on her face and when she came closer Brienne dropped to one knee, despite the fact this was simply a theme restaurant. Whether it was the alcohol still flush in her system or the joy of winning, something had made this feel all the more real.

The queen smiled down at Brienne, gesturing to her guards to bring her a sword and a crown of laurels. She lifted the sword and, as Jaime cursed quietly under his breath, gently tapped both her shoulder blades.

She placed the laurels atop Brienne’s head.

“Arise, Sir Brienne, a Knight Of Medieval Times and Las Vegas!”

Cheers went up from the patrons and as she stood up someone tackled her with an embrace. For a moment she thought it was Jaime but she looked to see it was the same bar maiden. Despite the oddity of circumstances, Brienne hugged her back, a huge smile plastered across her face.

——

They left that night with the laurels still on Brienne’s head, and a huge metal sword.

“Where are we even gonna put this thing?” Brienne asked with a chuckle as they arrived at the van. Jaime shrugged.

“I have no idea. What I do know, is that tonight I get to share this van with my actual legitimate knight in shining armor.” His smile was wide and genuine, but she could see sadness in his eyes.

“What is it?” Everything felt just a little warmer thanks to the alcohol and she couldn’t stop herself from coming a little closer.

“Nothing. Really. I just really appreciate you standing up for me.” He scratched the back of his neck, looking down sheepishly. “I haven’t been called that in a long time and, well it hurt.”

“It was horrible of them to do that.” She said, resting a hand on his arm, “You’re not broken Jaime.”

He looked at her, and the lights of the strip cast haunting shadows across his beautiful face. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“We ought to get to bed.” He finally said, shuffling by her to open the door. “It’s late and we’ve got a lot of driving tomorrow.”

Brienne nodded, “of course, you’re right.”

She fell asleep that night with the laurels still nestled in her curls, the sword on one side, Jaime on her other, the blankets cast aside at their feet as they slept on the thin mattress pad.

~

That’s chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading and chapter 3 should be up in a few days :)

As always lmk if you want on or off the tag list! Love you guys ♥️

Tag list: @sassbewitchedmyass @onlyjaimebrienne @nashilena @oathbreaker-oathkeeper @averageinside @itsclaucueva @briennexofxtarth @slytherinoftarth @ladyem-fandom @afittingdistraction @ben-roll-io @marasjadesfire @paceofbase @jointhemadnessjb @hotarukuro

[janiedean]

Because you might need something to take your mind off all the stupid...

… and this isn’t particularly good or funny, and it probably requires a lot of editing and some semblance of coherent word choices, but maybe it’ll make you smile a little, if only for the knowledge that one of your works inspired it. I wrote this little scene a while ago after reading “as beautiful as you”, having my soul just a little bit irreparably wrecked by the part where Jaime wakes Brienne by giving her a sword rather than kissing her or taking a sword from her, and having my brain immediately jump to, “Yes, but do you know why you love this so much?”

It feels like it should be part of a bigger story, but knowing me, it’s probably not getting anywhere anytime soon. All I’ve got right now is that the sparrow is actually a human (or humanoid?) who got cursed into a bird for whatever reason and must mentor a true hero to break the spell. He’s also kind of dick, which probably makes things more difficult than they should really be.

So, well, here it goes:

“«So,» said Jack. «Here she is. But how should I wake her?»

The sparrow fluttered his wings as if to shrug, then flew from his shoulder and went to hover over the princess’ still body. He considered it for a moment, then said: «Usually, a kiss is enough.»

Jack startled. «A kiss?»

His companion landed beside the princess’ head and fixed him with one of those stares of his that always managed to look much more annoyed than his features should have allowed. «A kiss,» he repeated. «You know, when you press your mouth to another’s? I know for a fact that even peasants know how to kiss.»

Jack chose to ignore that last sentence. He came closer and looked down on the princess where she laid, rather comfortably or so it seemed, on a pile of embroidered blankets and pillows. Her loose, flame-red curls spilled out from under her gleaming helmet and onto the costly fabrics of deepest blue and brightest green, and she was tall and broad-shouldered under her chainmail, which looked as if it was made of rings of silver, the way it shined in the golden mid-morning sun. She had a tiny smile on her full, pink lips, and the fingers of her right hand were wrapped around the bejeweled hilt of a sword, not gripping it forcefully yet not holding it loosely, either. There was no stiffness to her features or her limbs; she looked peaceful, and in a way, almost confident. «I can’t kiss her,» Jack said.

«What? But we’ve come all the way up here! And it’s your quest! You’ll be a hero!»

Jack looked to where the sparrow was hopping frantically on the ground. «I don’t really think heroes run around kissing sleeping strangers. Not until they’ve woken them up and asked them whether they wish to be kissed, at least.» He didn’t answer the bird’s muttered, oh, you’d be surprised. Instead, he asked him: «Is there no other way?»

The sparrow stopped and sighed. He managed to look pensive. «Well, you could take off her armor and helmet, I guess. Get rid of the sword, too. This kind of thing sometimes happens as punishment to wayward daughters who won’t get out of their hauberks and into a nice dress to go find themselves a husband, and who’d rather play with steel swords than… oh, what is it, now?»

«If that’s the case, it seems to me that she was punished for a very wrong reason, and that it would also be wrong to help in her punishment by stealing her armor and weapon. And look how brightly they shine! She must care for them a great deal.»

«Who even talked about stealing? Just take them off of her, put them aside, and give them back when she wakes!»

Jack pondered over this option. «But it still sounds wrong, and quite a bit rude. I wouldn’t blame the princess, if she woke up and got mad at me for manhandling her and undressing her as she slept, and on top of it all, taking the things she loves away from her as if I was trying to punish her, too. I could try to calm her down and explain the situation, sure…» A thought came upon him. «But is she even being punished? She looks happy and comfortable enough. Are you sure she’s really being kept on the mountain by someone else, and that she’s not here by her own will?»

The sparrow gave a brief, high shriek. Then, he quieted down and said quietly and slowly, sweet as overripe fruit: «Do you think young royal ladies just climb on the highest, steepest mountain available in the middle of nowhere to sleep for a thousand years? Now, that seems a bit much for a beauty sleep, doesn’t it? And what about all the brave knights who came to rescue her through the centuries, and even battled with the damned dragon?»

«The dragon wasn’t even really there to guard her. She just needed a quiet place to stay as she waited to heal from her illness, but every few decades, someone came to attack her, and all that ruckus kept slowing down her recovery. None of those knights even bothered to take a good look at her and find out that belching out flames at random intervals is the draconic equivalent to hiccups.»

«Well, they were a little too caught up in acting like real heroes to play nurse to a gigantic monster with very sharp claws and teeth that can also spit fire, I assume.»

«But their heroic methods didn’t work, did they?»

The sparrow averted his gaze and was silent for a moment. «Well, no. Not really. Still…»

Jack crouched next to the princess, stared at her fair face, and patted her hand gently. «Your Highness, won’t you please wake up?» he asked her. «I don’t mean to disturb you, but it is very late.»

«Oh, alright! Just keep doing whatever you,» started the sparrow in a bitter voice, but he was soon cut off by the princess herself mumbling something unintelligible. She did it again as she slowly moved this way and that, and then she let go of the sword, stretched out her strong arms and legs and let out a big yawn. When she finally opened her eyes, they were a clear blue, if somewhat unfocused. But after she rubbed at them with her hand, they seemed much more alert.

«Yes,» she said a bit groggily, pushing herself in a sitting position and turning to look at Jack. She took off her helmet and laid it down next to the sword. «I know it must be late. How long did it take you to understand? Or did my father figure it out all on his own before he sent for you?»

Jack and the sparrow exchanged a glance. «Um. It took one thousand years. And six months. Um,» said the sparrow. Jack wanted to reach out a hand and pat his little head, but he thought better of it. The sparrow wasn’t usually one for that kind of thing.

The princess let out an incredulous laugh. «That long? Truly?» She shook her head, her wild curls flying around her face. «I had thought the stubborn old goat would just keep looking for the eager grooms most like himself at first, but I had also hoped he’d swap them for more fitting choices sooner than this. Are the words, I don’t want a husband who only knows how to demand and order and act against my will and who wouldn’t know a polite question if it hit him right in his stupid, ugly mug, so very difficult to make sense of?»

«They aren’t,» Jack agreed.

«You’d think so, now, wouldn’t you. But then again, if they weren’t, I wouldn’t have had to set up my little trial in the first place. Ah, well, but at least I have enjoyed a very nice nap and I feel quite well-rested. It would have been better, if not for all those cretins and cowards trying to kiss me or do even worse… I did think to wake up for a little while to teach them a lesson, but there was some creature that took care of them before I ever could. As the enchantments I put on my belongings took care of the thieves and their grasping hands, of course.»

«Does that mean you’re a witch, Your Highness?» asked the sparrow, a little too hastily.

The princess turned to look at him and sat herself more comfortably. Her face softened and when she answered, her amusement seemed more sincere, laced as it was with kindness rather than exasperation. «Well, how do you think I’ve managed to sleep for a thousand years and then another six months still, little bird? And how could my father still be alive, if magic did not run though our line?»

«We don’t know whether your father still lives, because we’ve never met him,» clarified Jack, and felt bad for not telling her sooner. «We didn’t even come here as grooms. We were just looking for a heroic quest to fulfill.»

The princess turned towards him once more and scrunched up her brows, as if trying to decide if she should believe him. She must have realized he was speaking honestly, because eventually she patted his hand as he had done with hers. «Oh, no need for that sour face. I mean no offense, but I am glad this tiny sparrow here isn’t vying with you for my hand… and even you would have had to spend at least a few months courting me. The trial was only ever meant to find me a man I could accept as a possible groom.» She rose to her feet. «As for my father, I doubt he’d let himself die before seeing me up and about once more. I told you, he’s stubborn. And in truth we do care for each other, though it might not always seem so. Now, I remember there was a stream down there, and I need to make myself a little more presentable. When I’m done, if you’ll help me back to my father’s keep, I’ll have him feed you and give you fresh clothes and a place to rest before you go back to your quests, and whatever else you might need.»

With that, she rolled her shoulder, stretched out her arms again, and went her own way.

«Are we going with her?» Jack asked the sparrow.

The sparrow answered him: «Well, yes. You’re a hero, now, I guess. Technically, at least. And heroes do get their rewards from their princesses and their princesses’ fathers… even if it usually doesn’t go quite like this.»

Jack nodded. Food and rest and fresh clothes seemed nice, anyway.”

----

OMG THIS IS ADORABLE AND PLEASE IF YOU EVER FEEL LIKE WRITING THE FULL THING I’M 100% DOWN TO READ IT also I ship these two already like fed-ex, the crack is delightful because hONESTLY IT JUST TOOK ASKING HER XKLGKJSDGJLJDKLG I LOVE MY TROPES DECONSTRUCTION, the princess is honestly to die for, HE’S ADORABLE tho admittedly ofc the sparrow is the best lmao oh god now I want him and pigeon ned to meet or smth xDDDDD ALSO THE DRAGON BEING SICK KILLED ME SDKLGDSLJJKG THIS WHOLE THING WAS JUST SO PRECIOUS THANKS I 100% COULD HAVE USED READING IT ;___;

[katedoesfics]

Shadows of Hyrule | Chapter 56

It was nearing noon when Zelda's group text alerted Link, and it couldn't have come at a better time. He shook his head as he watched his father skate across the parking lot, standing on one end of the cart while his sister stood on the other, cheering loudly. He kept his distance from them just in case anyone should recognize him – and let's be honest, who didn't? - and squinted down at his phone, shifting it slightly to keep the glare of the sun away.

1:00. The guards will let you through the front gate. Don't consider this an open invitation.

He looked up from his phone to see his father and sister nearly collide with an oncoming vehicle. Aryll raised a fist in the air and shouted at the driver while her father spun the cart around and pushed them into the empty spot beside their own vehicle. He grabbed his daughter, spinning her around him before planting her firmly on the ground. The two of them laughed.

Link looked down when his phone alerted him of another text.

Sounds fancy, Revali's response said. What's the password?

Is there a dress code? Daruk's came in almost immediately after, and a second followed that. I've never had a secret meeting with a princess.

Revali followed that with a series of suggestive emoticons and finished it with a few winking faces.

I hate you all was Zelda's reply. Please be on your best behavior.

That's asking a lot of these guys came Urbosa's text. Are you sure you don't want to rethink this?

Zelda's response was to simply send an emoticon that looked exhausted with them all. After a moment, she followed that with a more cryptic response. I'll explain it all later.

Revali followed that with a gif of a saluting soldier.

Daruk's text came in just moments later. No one got back to me on that dress code thing...

WEAR WHATEVER YOU FUCKING WANT!

Link was sure Zelda would regret that text.

Orly? Came Revali's response. But to the group's surprise, he didn't follow that with anything further.

“Heads up!”

Link looked up from his phone as his father threw an armful of t-shirts at him. He lept forward to catch them and brought them to his chest in an attempt to keep them from falling out of his arms.

“Don't ruin those shirts, too, Link,” Aryll scolded him.

“Yeah,” his father said. “I'm not buying you anymore.”

“You didn't have to buy these,” Link reminded him.

“But I wanted to go shopping, too!”

“Me too!” His father grinned at him.

“You guys are so weird,” Link muttered. He slid into the front seat of the car and waited for his father and sister to follow suit. He turned back to his phone, a few more new messages waiting for him to view.

Wait, what's going on? Mipha asked.

Earth to Mipha was Urbosa's reply.

Leave it to Link and Mipha to not be paying attention, Daruk wrote.

Revali sent a few more winking faces.

I'm trying to study!!!

Link decided to finally chime in. He simply sent an emoji of a woman and a shopping bag.

The fuck is that supposed to mean? Daruk sent in response.

Link replied with an emoji of a hand with nail polish.

Nice came Urbosa's reply. Who do you go to? I need a new girl.

Revali's text came next. I'm out.

Mipha followed. Oh, wait, 1:00?

OMG was from Zelda. Never again.

“Is that all you kids do these days?” his father said as he started the car. “Fight monsters and text all day?”

“It's great to be a millennial,” Link said without looking up from his phone.

“I don't do that, Daddy!” Aryll chimed in from the back seat.

“That's because you're my perfect little angle,” his father said, looking at Aryll through the rear view mirror. “The first one is always a mistake. But with you, I got it right.”

“That's a good parenting thing to say,” Link said.

His father moved his hand to rest against the headrest of the passenger seat – purposefully hitting Link in the process – and checked the area before backing out of the parking spot.

“If there's anything I've learned as a father,” he started, putting the car into drive and navigating the parking lot. “It's that children will always test your patience. And in the end, you either kill them, or you come out a better person.”

“That's what you've learned?” Link rolled his eyes. “That's not much of a life lesson. The way I see it, we're still alive, and you're still a terrible parent.”

“Well, I never said I learned anything from that lesson,” his father said. “You try it and tell me how easy it is.”

“I'm easy, right Daddy?” Aryll said.

Her father practically snorted. “Don't ever be easy,” he muttered.

“You are the worst person,” Link said.

Aryll frowned. “Why can't I be easy?”

“Shut up, Ary,” Link snapped. “Why do you listen to anything he says?”

Aryll's lip quivered. “Because Daddy is the best daddy!”

“Yeah, Link,” his father said. “Haven't you gotten the memo?”

“Are we a bad family?” Aryll whined.

“We're so bad we're good,” her father said reassuringly to her.

But Aryll's brows only furrowed. “I don't know what that's supposed to mean, Daddy.”

Link groaned and let his head hit the window. “Why?” he said to himself. “Why me?”

“Don't be so dramatic,” his father said to him. “Your life would be so boring without us.”

“You know,” Link started. “I don't think that's such a bad thing.”

His father grinned over at him. “What's the matter, Mr. Hero? Day job getting to be too much for ya?”

Link's gaze narrowed on his father before he pulled away to look out the window, but he said nothing. He felt his father's gaze on him for a moment longer before he turned his attention back to his daughter.

“What's next, Your Highness?” he said in the rear view mirror.

*****

Link trudged along with his father and sister as they continued to drag him around the city, first to bring Aryll to the local shelter to play with the puppies, and then to her favorite ice cream stand where they each enjoyed an ice cream cone. It was nearing one o'clock when they finally made it home, but Link wasn't particularly in a hurry to get to their secret meeting. In fact, he was in a slightly better mood since that morning. Instead of unanswered questions about the Yiga Clan, the Gerudo, or even what Zelda wanted to talk about, he decided to focus his energy on following his little sister around as she showed him to her favorite dogs at the shelter. It felt like months since he had really spent time with his little sister, or his father for that matter, and for a moment, he appreciated their company and forgetting his own troubles, even if only for a little while.

But as one o'clock came around, he decided to make his way to Zelda's, where he was escorted inside nearly twenty minutes late. Despite that, the guards seemed to be expecting him, and they brought him right into a conference room of sorts where the rest of his friends waited. Revali looked at the invisible watch on his wrist as Link entered, and Zelda rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“Look who decided to show,” Daruk said.

“Late as always,” Revali commented.

Link flashed his fingers at Urbosa and wiggled them in the air. “Like the color?”

“Ah, yes,” she started. “Nude. Goes great with your makeup.”

Mipha looked down at her own, plain nails. “I stopped getting my done when they kept getting coated in all your blood,” she muttered.

Revali leaned over to Daruk and they inspected their own nails.

“Do you feel like doing manly stuff after this?” Daruk asked.

Revali nodded. “We are the only two men here. We must stand strong in our manliness. Link may be lost, but we do not have to succumb!”

“Can we get to it, then?” Zelda said tiredly. She dropped a couple of books on to the large, oval table.

“Let the secret meeting begin,” Daruk said with a nod.

“What's this about, anyway?” Urbosa asked.

Zelda hesitated. She opened one of the books on the table. “Well,” she started. “I was trying to do more research into these portals, specifically the first one we tried to find. Impa has been... less than helpful in the matter. Secretive, even. So, I decided to take matter into my own hands and try to get us ahead in this war.”

“And?” Revali asked.

“What I found is... unsettling.”

The group waited in silence for her to continue.

“This one talks about the fall of the hero,” she continued quietly. “It tells of a time where Hylia's descendant and her Chosen Hero failed in their duty to protect Hyrule.”

“How is that possible?” Revali said, his gaze narrowing. “I've been telling myself this whole time that we're destined to win this bullshit, and now you're telling me you're fucking ancestors have failed?”

Zelda's brows knit together. “It says that Ganondorf was able to take possession of the complete Triforce, but was sealed away by the Seven Sages. As a result, his power created a dark underworld, which is likely where all these beasts and monsters are coming from.”

“I don't understand,” Urbosa started. “He wasn't defeated, but Hyrule never fell to him?”

“The Triforce was eventually split,” Zelda explained, “which likely prevented him from doing further damage. The Triforce pieces of Courage and Wisdom found their way back to Hylia's descendant and the Chosen Hero. Through the efforts and sacrifices of the Sages and something about Knights, the next hero was able to rise and stop the next rise of Ganondorf. It's a continuous cycle.”

“So, long story short,” Revali said, crossing his arms. “We could still lose this war.”

Zelda hesitated and closed the book. “Yes, I suppose we could.”

“I can see why Impa wouldn't want us to find out,” Mipha said softly. She turned her gaze to Link, but he was looking down at his feet, stretched out in front of him as he leaned back in the leather chair. It turned side to side slightly.

“There's more,” Zelda said carefully. “In other books I've found. About the Sheikah.”

“I'm guessing it's not good news,” Daruk muttered.

Zelda shook her head. “It talks about the Yiga Clan.” She hesitated. “They're a group made up of ex Sheikah who have chosen to follow Ganondorf.”

“So, you're telling us that Impa may not be on our side?” Revali hissed. “She's setting us all up to die.”

Zelda pinched her lips together and averted her gaze. “No. I don't think so.”

“But you don't know,” Revali snapped at her.

“Why would the Sheikah do that?” Mipha asked.

“There were disagreements between the Hylians and the Sheikah,” Zelda explained. “The Sheikah wanted to use advanced technologies to help defeat Ganondorf, but the Hylians were skeptical, to say the least. They were afraid of the technology being misused and thus distrusted the Sheikah. The Sheikah became outcasts, and those that were angry at the betrayal broke their loyalties with the kingdom of Hyrule. They formed the Yiga Clan and dedicated themselves to serving Ganondorf.”

“Do we know if the Yiga Clan still exists?” Daruk asked.

Zelda shook her head.

“We need answers,” Mipha said. “Impa will have to know something about this.”

“She won't help me,” Zelda said, shaking her head. “Every time I bring something up, she tells me that they're just legends, or stories from Hyrule's history.” She paused. “I haven't dared ask her about the Yiga Clan.”

“She's hiding something,” Daruk said.

“We'll need to take this into our own hands,” Urbosa said.

“But how?” Mipha asked. “We don't know where to begin.”

“I have an idea,” Urbosa replied. She tapped a manicured finger on the book. “There's mention of an old, Yiga Clan hideout in the Gerudo Desert.”

“You're not serious,” Link said, cocking a brow. “That desert is huge. There's nothing out there. You couldn't pay me to go out there.”

“I have to agree with Link,” Revali said. “We'll definitely get lost and die out there.”

Urbosa rolled her eyes. “It's not a wasteland.”

“Actually,” Mipha said. “That is the technical term for a place with no inhabitants.”

“Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Gerudo race thrived there.”

“And there's a reason why they don't anymore,” Daruk pointed out.

“What do you suppose happened to them?” Zelda asked softly. She flipped through the pages of the book. “Wouldn't it be worth finding out?”

“Maybe,” Mipha said.

Revali shook his head. “We don't have enough information on the Yiga Clan. And we don't have the time to waste trying to get answers,” he said. “For all we know, Ganondorf could make his appearance tomorrow. We need to focus our efforts on stopping him before he gets his chance. We need to close the portals and give ourselves every advantage we can get our hands on.”

“That's the smartest idea you've had yet,” Daruk said.

Revali shrugged. “It happens from time to time. Especially when the other options are completely suicide. I'm not throwing my life away like that.”

“It seems like the Triforce is causing a whole lot of problems,” Mipha said.

“Yeah,” Revali agreed. “Wouldn't it be simpler to, I don't know, destroy it or something?”

Zelda shook her head. “The Triforce is what keeps our world in balance. Without it, the whole world would be destroyed. And from some of the books I've read, that's exactly what someone tried to do. It's our responsibility to protect it and keep it from falling into the wrong hands. The curse of Demise thousands of years ago is one we must bear for all of time.”

“So, what's the plan, then?” Urbosa asked. “The portals – did you find anything of use?”

“There is something,” Zelda said slowly. “Impa had every reason to send us to the forest in search of the first portal. It seems that when the sword was removed, that may have been what started everything.”

“What do you mean?” Link asked, narrowing his gaze on her.

“I mean,” she started. “When you removed the sword, you opened the first portal.”

[bakusquadup]

(omg i hit send accidentally!!! I'm so sorry!!) hi!! i noticed your writing's incredibly good and i couldn't help myself from requesting! i was wondering if it was okay to ask for a scenario of bakugou's s/o being insecure of how great uraraka and him are getting along and just overall really insecure about her?? and one day she misunderstands something she sees going on between them? and she becomes a zombie (+)

Hey friend! I’ve been planning to answer this ask for awhile now because GOD I LOVE ANGST. Fluff is great, but I thrive off angst, so I’m excited to write this. Also, I deleted the first message you sent awhile ago because it was cut short, so I don’t even remember if you accidentally did it off-anon anyway! Anyway, enjoy! (It’s about 2.5k, so it’s more fic length than drabble)

-Shelley

Bakugou Katsuki

“Don’t think you’ll get away with that next time, Round Face.” You rounded the hallway corner to overhear your boyfriend intimidating Uraraka; except, he didn’t sound threatening in the way he usually did, voice loud and coarse with a handful of curses thrown in. Instead, Bakugou spoke in a goading, playful manner. You felt your chest clench in protest and your muscles tighten in fear, but you fought off the jealousy, knowing it was completely unnecessary. Bakugou cared about you and Uraraka was your friend. They’d never do anything to hurt you. Your anxiety could just shove it.

You’d been resisting your jealousy over Uraraka for a few months now. Once second year started, the two had gotten much friendlier than first year, actually capable of holding continuous conversations without yelling – a feat for Bakugou with anyone. Once the sports festival passed, the two became obsessed with rematches and you felt that there wasn’t any room for you to fit in the middle of their relationship. You worried Bakugou was pulling away from you as well.

“Hmmmm,” Uraraka hummed to herself. “I’m pretty sure I will.” She giggled and spun around on her heel, leaving Bakugou to sputter a few words of disagreement before she was gone. He shook his head slightly.

“Katsuki!” you called out, walking toward your boyfriend. He turned to you, slanted grin leftover on his face from speaking with Uraraka. Your chest tightened again. “What were you two talking about?” You did your best to smile warmly and angled your head slightly in curiosity.

“Oh,” he paused, “nothing. Just something about training.” Hoping that he would explain further, you raised a brow. He opened his mouth for a moment, considering, but then closed it again, like a fish gulping water. His eyes darted up to the clock behind you. “Shit! We’re going to be late!” He snatched your hand from beside your thigh. He ran down the hallway and you stumbled after him. Guess that was all you were going to hear on the subject. It was probably nothing.

No, you trusted Bakugou; it was definitely nothing.

Later that day, you meandered down the hallway, heading back from Recovery Girl after receiving minimal injuries in training. The school was mostly empty as everyone had gone back to the dorms for the night. The late afternoon sun streamed through the windows, a golden glow being cast into your eyes and distorting your vision in a butterscotch hue. Still, it was warm, so you walked slowly. You had an exhausting day and fatigue was creeping up on you to begin with, the sun pulling it out faster than before.

“I don’t know how to say it.” Your boyfriend’s voice ripped you from your daze. “I just…I’ve never said it to anyone before.” You slowed to a crawl, sneaking toward the open door where the voice was coming from, quiet so as not to give yourself away. What was he talking about? And to whom?

“It’s okay.” Uraraka’s voice. There was the tightness in your chest again. You shook your head, attempt to expel the negative thoughts, but remained hidden outside the door, hoping to hear something that quelled your anxieties. From inside the room, you could hear Bakugou side.

“Okay, okay…fuck, I can do this,” he muttered. “Here goes.” A long stretch of silence. “I love you.”

Your stomach dropped. Your hearing went fuzzy as your mind went blank and the ringing drowned out any thoughts you may have had. You didn’t think. You couldn’t. Instead, you walked your numb body out of the building.

When you pushed the doors open, the sun which had previously felt warm and comfortable, was now harsh and blinding. The sounds of cars racing by and students milling about sounded loud and grating, yet simultaneously muffled by your buzzing ears. Suppressing your desire to cry, you shuffled your way back to the dorm.

Once in your room, you slinked your way to bed, fell face-first into the pillows and screamed. Not a real scream, but the kind of scream one does when they need to cry, but the tears won’t come out. The hoarse, choked scream that could only be heard by those listening very closely.

You rotated between crying, the hoarse screaming, angrily forming texts to Bakugou, and watching TV shows in an attempt to distract yourself. It wasn’t until just before two in the morning that you managed to finally sleep, having not been productive all night.

You awoke to find yourself still wearing your clothes from yesterday, your blanket and sheets on the floor, and your head twisted at an uncomfortable angle atop your pillow. Sitting up, you put your hand to the back of your neck and rolled your head around in an attempt to prevent further discomfort. While doing so, you caught sight of your clock from across the room. 4:15. After all the drama last night, the crying, the stress, the obsessively writing and rewriting – and eventually deleting – angry texts to Bakugou, you had been hoping you would be able to stay in bed late. Two and a half hours was hardly a full night’s rest.

Might as well use the time you had. You knew that sitting around trying to fall back asleep wouldn’t do you any good because you would just wind up thinking back to yesterday. You wanted a distraction for now.

Throwing your legs over the side of the bed, you felt the full weight of your fatigue as your creaky limbs settled back in place and your shaky lungs struggled to breathe normally. You stumbled about in the dark over to your dresser, pulling out a pair of joggers, a sports bra, and a long-sleeved t-shirt. Hopefully, that would be warm enough for the weather. You put the clothes on and snagged your phone and earbuds from your desk, heading out.

As you walked down the hallway, you were careful to move as quietly as possible – partially because you didn’t want to wake anyone, partially because it was late and you weren’t supposed to be leaving the dorm in the first place. You slipped down the stairs, swiveling your head as you went, just to be safe, but soon found yourself standing in the chilly morning air.

The moon had already set for the night, so the sky was pitch black, an expanse of inky abyss with the occasional light spot of the stars. It was cold – colder than you had anticipated – but you weren’t going back in for a jacket. You figured that the jog would warm you up, so you put in your headphones, queued up your exercise playlist, and cranked the volume way up. You bounced on the balls of your feet, then set out. No better way to fight off negative emotions than loud music and endorphins, right?

A little after 5, your phone buzzed.

You paused for a moment, leaning onto a tree and pulling it out of your pocket. Your breathing froze for a moment when you saw the text.

Bakugou Katsuki: I know it’s fucking early, but are you up? Thought you seemed weird last night, are you good now?

Something about seeing his name on the screen just made you lose it all over again. A sob welled up in your throat and you had to fall to the ground, nails digging into the crown of your head. You ripped your headphones from your ears, suddenly unable to stand the upbeat music. You sat there and you cried.

A week later and your routine had remained pretty consistent – maybe not healthy, but consistent. You had class, anxiously stressed about Bakugou, went to bed too late, woke up too early, went for a run before everyone else woke up, took a shower, did what homework you could manage, then stared blankly at the wall until class. Rinse and repeat. All while avoided both Uraraka and Bakugou, too afraid to hear what they had to say.

That Thursday, your class was set to do a battle-royale style training session. Every student for themselves, the goal is to be the last student standing. People get out by having their bandanas stolen – similar to flag football, or the like – that they must keep on their person. It had been announced a few weeks ago and you had been excited for it, but you weren’t particularly excited about anything the past week. You were mostly floating through the school day.

Still, you decided that you would go all-out. Running seemed to be a mostly effective distraction method, so a training session would probably be the same. You just had to ensure you stayed away from Bakugou and Uraraka.

“Everyone has five minutes to find a place to start,” Present Mic stood in front of the class in the training arena. Everyone was dressed in their hero costumes and chattering excitedly to each other. “Remember, that anytime you take someone’s bandana, you must tie it to yourself somewhere and others may also steal that one from you. Any bandana stolen is an out. If you get out, return here.” You glanced away from the hero for a splint second to look at Bakugou who was on the other side of the pack. Noticing her was looking straight at you, you averted your gaze back to Present Mic. Bakugou would most definitely be angry about that, but you weren’t up for interacting with him just yet. “On your marks…” You prepped yourself to make a run for it. “Get set…” Knees bent, ready to go. “Go!” Everyone raced off in different direction. You chose to head toward a large building, give yourself room to blend in and sneak around. It would give you more opportunities to activate your quirk.

Once inside, you tucked yourself just beyond the entryway, ready to reach out and touch any passersby. After a few minutes, Kaminari darted by and you managed to graze his shoulder with your fingertips. Snapping, you activated your quirk. Kaminari froze, then spun around a few times, disoriented. Your quirk deprived a person of all their senses. The only requirement to activate it was that the person be touched first. The effects wore off depending on how much of them you touched and for how long, though.

“[Y/N]!” he yelled at full-volume. “That’s not fair!” Walking up behind him, you grabbed his bandana and snapped again to undo your quirk. He pulled back, surprised by your sudden appearance next to him. “I was really hoping to last longer…” He pursed his lips and raised his brows at you. “Give me a do-over?”

“Not today,” you said, already tying the stolen bandana to your arm. “I’m playing to win.” Leaving Kaminari to find his way back to Present Mic, you sprinted through a few back alleys to find a new hiding spot. Your muscles cried out in fatigue, probably from the extra running every morning, and your head went spinning in a series of sharp headaches. Fighting off the pain, you kept running. You slid behind a dumpster near the center of the arena.

You only had to wait there a moment before your next victim ran by. You managed to hit Mineta square in the back and made quick work of him, just as you had Kaminari.

That pattern continued through two more students, but the sprinting was starting to get to you. Pausing for a moment, you leaned against a wall to catch your breath, chest heaving with the labor of inhaling.

“[Y/N]?” Jumping upright into a defensive position, you turned toward the source of the voice. Uraraka stood at the end of the alley, brows furrowed in worry. She took a few cautious steps toward you. “Are you okay? You don’t look great.”

“Don’t move!” you yelled back. “Both our quirks require touching the other person and we both know I’m more agile than you.” You slowly backed up. With each step, Uraraka matched it with her own. “Don’t follow me!”

“[Y/N], I’m not trying to take your bandana.” She took another step. “I’m just worried about you. You look like you haven’t slept in days.” Step. You were frozen in place now. “Bakugou and I haven’t heard a word from you in a week.” Step. “What’s wrong?” Step.

You broke from your statuesque position, bolting forward at her. Crouching low, you aimed for just to her left. Prepared for her to fight back, you geared up to sweep her legs with one of your own. To your surprise, however, she remained where she stood. Your leg shot out and she tumbled to the ground, but the moment carried you with her.

Hitting the ground, you let out a sharp cough as the air was forced from your lungs. Your hand lifted to cover your mouth and when you looked back at it, your palm was painted with red. You knit your brows and turned to Uraraka.

“Oh my god, [Y/N]!” She rushed over to you.

“No…get back…” you managed. Why was she so concerned about how you were now? You sniffed. Your nose was running. Were you sick? You wiped it with your blood-covered hand only to find even more blood streaking across it. What was happening? You looked up at Uraraka. She wasn’t looking at you.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” Bakugou.

And you were out cold.

You blinked at the piercing fluorescent lights above you, the sharp white color hurting your eyes. No headache though, only squinting eyes. Had you been sleeping? How long were you out? It was probably a blessing, even if you had missed the training session, you were starting to suffer from the insomnia.

Groggily, you turned your head to look around the room. To your right, Bakugou sat in a plastic chair, scrolling through his phone with a scowl twisting his expression.

“Katsuki?” you mumbled. He jerked up from the phone, turning his head to you so fast you thought he would get whiplash. His scowl melted away for moment, but then it was back in an instant.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he practically yelled. Recovery Girl swiveled around in her stool and shushed him before turning back to her computer. “The old lady said you probably had barely been sleeping and tape-face said he saw you sneaking out in the mornings to go run.” You flinched. His expression softened in return. “And I haven’t heard from you in days. What has been going on with you?”

The tears welled up in your eyes before you could stop them, spilling warm streaks down your cheeks.

“I just… I heard you talking to Ochako in the classroom last week.” Why were you telling him about this now? “I heard you tell her that you-” You were cut off by another sob, broken and airy. “You said that you love her.” Bakugou’s eyes widened slowly as understanding rushed over him.

“No, no, no.” He spoke the words quietly with a pause between each one, half for you, half for himself. “You moron. That was meant for you.”

“What?”

“Round face was just, um,” he rubbed at the back of his neck, “helping me be comfortable saying it.” His face was turning red, something that you had never seen from him, and he mumbled the ends of his sentences, trailing off in embarrassment. “I’m not the best at, uh…conveying my…my feelings.”

“Oh, God,” you whispered. Another sob welled up in you, this time not out of sadness over something Bakugou had done, but shame at yourself for acting in such a way. “Katsuki, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, idiot. Especially when all you did was hurt yourself.” He gestured to the room around him. “You got yourself here.”

“I feel like such a jealous moron.” Letting your head fall into your palms, you heaved out a sigh. “Do you still want to date someone like me?”

“‘Do I want to date someone like you?’” he repeated back. Prying your hands away from your face, he cradled your palms within his larger ones. “I love you.”

[kpoprunsmylifenow]

Don't Forget Me When You're Famous

Dawon x Reader

Fluff

Summary: You don't know when it happened, but you fell in love with your tattoo artist.

When you started going to Fantasy to get your tattoos done, you were so glad you did. You immediately picked Dawon as your artist, since his art style was so different, like he was. He was also very goofy, and when you brought your friend to have their first tattoo, he made her feel good and laugh some. You were coming in for your last session on your arm, which would complete your left arm sleeve. You walked into the shop, but you already knew your way around since this was like your second home.

“Hey Y/N. Dawon’s running a little late, so it’ll be a few minutes before he gets here.” Chani said as he was stuck at the front today.

“That’s fine. I don’t have anything besides this planned anyway.” You said as you sat in the chair against the wall. You sat there waiting before Dawon literally fell coming into the shop. You looked up from your phone and began to laugh with Chani. You saw Inseong peek out the back, to make sure nothing bad had happened, and then went back once he saw Dawon on the ground.

“Are you okay?” You giggled as you helped him up. He nodded yeah and asked if you were waiting for long. “No, maybe 15 minutes?” You said as you both went to the back. This session was just to color in most of the sleeve, so it was gonna take forever to get everything done since it was like 75% of your arm that had an outline only on it. As he was getting everything ready, you look off your hoodie to give him your arm.

“I knew this was gonna take a while, so I went to get some food.” He started to explain while he was shaving your arm. “But I hadn’t realized what time it was so I literally ran all the way back to the shop.” You laughed again.

“You could’ve just texted me and said that you were gonna be however long late.” He looked up at that.

“I didn’t think of that.” This made both of you laugh as he put the ink into their holders. “You ready to get this all finished?” He asked as he put the end of the gun into the ink.

“Yep. It’s gonna look so good when you’re done.” You smiled. Dawon smiled a little too and started on the long process of coloring your tattoo. An hour into the tattoo, you fell asleep. He could tell you hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep, but he knew you were working hard to get a promotion at your job. You were working at a local bookstore, hoping to help pay to get your book published, but so far it hadn’t been going too well. You’d asked him a few times to read a few pieces of your story, and to him it was so good. He thought you wrote very well, and expressed things with the right amount of emotion. There wasn’t really any gaps of story, and everything flowed well. He remembered though one night you almost threw away your dream.

He’d been leaving a club when he saw you sitting in a park close to the shop.

“Hey Y/N.” He said as he approached you. You quickly wiped your tears, hoping that he hadn't saw you crying. “What’s up? Why are you out so late?”

“Uh, I had a meeting earlier.” You took a big breath. “It didn’t go to well.” You said as you looked away from him, tears coming to your eyes when you thought of what they’d said.

“Aw,” He sat beside you. “What happened?” This time you couldn’t choke back your sob, and Dawon pulled you into your chest as you told him everything that that dumb publisher had said. He said that your writing was all over the place, and that you could use different words to describe such a simple feeling. And then when you showed him another piece that was more like what he wanted, he said it was too detailed. Dawon didn’t know something that was supposed to be descriptive could be too detailed. He ended up taking you home and tucking you in, making sure to lock the door on his way out, and he left a sticky note for you to find in the morning.

You only slept for 30 minutes before you started to stretch. He lifted the gun off your arm, when you started to move around.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.” He winked as you shook your head and rolled over to your side, giving your arm back to him. “Have a good nap?” You nodded your head and your eyes started to droop again.

“I have a surprise.” You whispered, smiling.

“And what’s that surprise?” Dawon asked, looking up at you quickly.

“I have a publisher.” You smiled widely. Dawon stood up quickly and yelled his excitement.

“REALLY?!?!” He laughed. “THAT’S SO GREAT. OMG, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!” You laughed and thanked him as he settled down and started back on your tattoo. You made some small talk, but he could tell that you were still sleepy. “Get some sleep. I’ll wake you up in an hour, we’ll take a break.” Dawon said as he gave you your hoodie to cuddle with. You nodded your head and got comfy on the chair. 15 minutes later, Inseong walked in.

“Oh wow, she’s dead to the world.” He said as he walked in.

“Yep. She told me earlier that she got a publisher.” He smiled while Inseong stood there shocked.

“It’s about damn time.” And he nodded too. Inseong looked over Dawon’s shoulder to look at your tattoo. “It looks so good on here, wow. No wonder your her artist.” Dawon smiled as he felt proud that he was the only one who got to do your tattoos. Inseong stayed a little while more, changing the song over the speakers in the shop to Dawon’s playlist so he would concentrate some more. He looked up and saw it was time for a break.

“Hey, darling.” He shook you a little. “It’s time for our break.” He said as he took off his gloves and sat the tattoo gun down. You stretched and yawned. “How ya feeling?”

“Better. I don’t feel sleepy anymore.” You smiled as you sat up. You grabbed your bag from the chair people can sit in and watch, and grabbed some of the snacks you had in your bag and shared the chips with him. You were talking about your new publisher, and everything you were doing to get ready for your book to be published. But then he said something that made you laugh.

“You better not forget me when you get super famous. Plus, I’m the only one who can tattoo you.” You busted out laughing.

“I’d more likely forget my own name before I forgot you!” You said as you grabbed his hand. “You’re the only one who could ever do my tattoos anyway, you’re style is my favorite.” You smiled. Dawon blushed a little. You talked for a little while more before you decided that it was time to get started again on your tattoo.

When he started to get up to wear your shoulder was, he had to ask you to take off your shirt. He didn’t know why, but this time when you took it off he got so shy. He’d seen you shirtless before, when he did the outline for your tattoo, but now he was conscious of his feelings and it seemed different this time. When you threw your shirt to the chair with your bag, Dawon had a moment to collect himself before you turned around. When you looked at him and smiled though, he knew that he was gonna tell you his feelings today.

“Uh, can I tell you something?” He asked as he was almost finished with your tattoo.

“Sure.” You’d noticed him being awkward after you’d taken your shirt off to finish, so you figured it had to do with that.

“Uh, you remember that time you asked me if I had a crush on someone?”

“Oh yeah, you said you’d eventually tell me who it was. Are you gonna tell me now?” You were excited, but you were also sad. You wanted him to be happy, but you also wanted to have a chance with him too.

“Yeah.” He trailed off. “It’s uh, it’s actually you.” And this made you look over at him quickly.

“Really?”

“Yeah, uh. You don’t have to like, go out with me or anything, but I just thought you should know.” You laughed a little.

“I didn’t think you’d actually like me back.” You giggled at Dawon’s expression.

“You like me too?”

“Yeah.” You smiled. “I’ve liked you for a while actually.” Dawon smiled and finished your tattoo.

“Now I wish I’d told you sooner.” He said as he started to wrap up your arm and shoulder.

“Why?” You asked after you’d pulled your hoodie on.

“So I could’ve done this.” And he pulled you into a sweet kiss. When you pulled away, you smiled and buried your head in his chest while he put his arms around you. “On Friday, be ready to go on the best date of your life at 6.” He said as he kissed your head. You nodded your head and quietly said okay. When you walked out back to the front, Chani smiled at you like he knew something had happened. After you paid the last little bit for your tattoo, you turned to Dawon.

“I’ll see you Friday.” And you winked as he smirked.

“I’ll see you Friday.”

[jasmine-blooms]

Favorite Songs - September 2019

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ZKsoe22myj81k3Mr7R82Q?si=NMcwG7KSR3a3JmF4fP_BBA

author’s note: Each month I create a playlist of all the songs that I had on repeat during the month because I’m too lazy to always switch up from tab to tab going, to switch up my music. This month, most of the music represented how it was what I now consider “sad girl fall,” as I’ve been feeling depressed lately. I added commentary to add deeper meaning as to why I’ve had the songs on the playlist on repeat and a way for me to journal, my feelings.

Father Stretch My Hands pt I - Kanye West

I started re-listening to Kanye because it takes a while for me to separate art from the artist and to understand and comprehend a controversy. Though I still am upset with who he choses to support politically, I still listen to his music. “Father Stretch my hands” was a song I used to listen to ironically because of the “If I f*ck this model, and she just bleached her *sshole” line and I found it so funny in middle school. But now I listen to it unironically, as it has a beautiful intro and its always fun to dance to Kanye.

Highlights - Kanye West

If its a Kanye song and it has “lights” somewhere in the title, there is a very good chance for me to fall in love with it. Highlights isn’t his best work, but it is a bop and I will freak out when he says “I need every bad b*tch up in Equinox I want to know right know if you a freak or not” 

Wolves - Kanye West

As dumb as it sounds, TikTok got me hooked on Wolves. I used to not care about this song but lately its been sad girl hours and I’ve had it on repeat. What made me fall in love were Sia’s vocals on this track. But due to meme culture I will forever associate this song with the Spongebob floating meme.

Fade - Kanye West

I know its been a lot of Kanye on this playlist but I can assure Fade is the last song of his on this playlist. The song is not the most artistic of Kanye’s but I will still bop. I always love the Aaliyah reference when the song goes “Imma rock the boat, work the middle till it hurt a little,” and I do a little thottie dance to it.

Mariners Apartment Complex - Lana Del Rey

Norman F*cking Rockwell, has probably been my favorite album so far, of 2019. When this album dropped it all of a sudden became sad girl autumn. Mariner’s apartment complex showcased Lana’s hypnotizing vocals that I always adore.

F*ck it I Love You - Lana Del Rey

I LOVE LANA. On “F*ck it I Love You” Lana brings up her usual vintage American aesthetics, but mixes it with a modern effects. The song gives me 70s vibes from the guitar in the background to the lyrics such as “Moved to California but it’s just a state of mind” giving a sense of hopelessness within achieving the American dream.

Doin Time - Lana Del Rey

I’ve had Lana’s cover of Sublime’s “Doin Time” on repeat for the past month excited for her new album. I thought I was bored until she gave an amazing music video for the song, which made me fall in love with the song all over again.

Cinnamon Girl - Lana Del Rey

Cinnamon Girl is a song that I loved due to the vocals. I had Lana’s “ah ah ah...” part stuck in my head. But because I was feeling my sad girl hours the song will be one of my favorites from my sad girl autumn.

The Next Best American Record - Lana Del Rey

My Personal Favorite from Lana’s new album, what made me put the song on repeat was “Topanga's hot tonight, I'm taking off my bathing suit” which was a strange lyric to make me have it on repeat, but it fill me with nostalgia of things I’ve never experienced. “The Next Best American Record” is just a gorgeous work of art, period.

Florida Kilos - Lana Del Rey

“Florida Kilos” was exactly the type of song that made me fall in love with Lana when I discovered her in middle school (and she made me want to do coke at age 12). The song is literally about coke and having fun, how much better can it get?

SUGAR - BROCKHAMPTON

If I had to chose a favorite song of this list, it would easily be “SUGAR”. I don’t normally listen to BROCKHAMPTON but I do love any song of theirs involving Bearface singing on it. “SUGAR” makes me feel wholesome and (insert pleading face emoji).

Indigo - NIKI, 88rising

Another song involving drug use(don’t do drugs if your reading this), and another TikTok song! Usually TikTok leads me to great songs, but this time I actually knew of the song before it went viral. NIKI is my Indonesian Queen and Indigo is just amazing. As a half Indonesian, I was really happy that “Indigo” went viral, and she is gaining more fame, which is great Indo representation. (p.s. don’t forget to stream “Indigo”)

Kids Turned Out Fine - A$AP Rocky

Just to get this out of the way, A$AP Rocky is my Baby Daddy, Mans is fine af. But back to the song, “Kids Turned Out Fine” was something reassuring, because I’m sixteen and still a kid, and everything is going to be okay, which is exactly what I needed, because I’ve been going through a lot of stress planning for my future. Rocky’s voice is soothing and calming, on this track, giving me comfort in my stressful times.

Praise The Lord (Da Shine) - A$AP Rocky

There’s not much to this song other than, it make me want to just dance like a little thottie.

90210 - Travis Scott ft. Kacy Hill

“OMG, is it A$AP Rocky?!?!?” No, unfortunately but, I do have a preference for Travis’s music over Rocky’s (Sorry Rocky, I still love you though!) but the combination of Kacy Hills vocals, and Travis’s lyrics makes this a beautiful songs on both parts of it. 

I Like U - NIKI

“I Like U” has got me thinking of someone, that I never got to tell I liked them. Yet, the song has summed up my anxiousness about my feelings towards this person. However, The lyric “Ladies and gentlemen, I'm the joke, The punchline that got too old” was a reminder of how I was acting like a clown, for this person. But, in contrast to “Indigo” by NIKI “I Like U” has felt more personal, especially because of my sad girl hours.

goosebumps - Travis Scott

“goosebumps” feature my favorite rapper, Kendrick Lamar. But it is one of those songs that’s just fun and make me feel like a lil thottie.

sex money feelings die - Lykke Li

TikTok, may seem stupid at time, but I’ve found really god music from it. “sex money feelings die, is one of those songs. The line, “baby don’t you cry,” was one of those lines I needed repeated when I was feeling stressed this September.

Novacane - Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean is one of my favorite male singers, and I fall in love with all his songs. This month my Frank Ocean song that I had on repeat was “Novacane”. “Novacane”, had lyrics that gave me “English teach wants you to find the deeper meaning in them.” vibes as not only the song was art the lyrics were too, telling the story of a girl in Cali.

[every1studio]

“dear someone” [pentagon: yuto]

genre: mega FLUFF + high school life

ficstyle: bulletpoints

prompt: “you were friends with the “prettiest girl” in school, so you were used to bringing letters from her crushes to her, but when you received a series of letter, you were surprised that they weren’t addressed to her.. but you..”

note: THIS IS MY FIRST PENTAGON FIC / I’ve really been into them lately, I hope you give them a lot of love and support + HOPE YOU ENJOY IT~ 

“come on, y/n~ if you could give that letter to Mina for me, please? pleasepleaseplease?” Kino was swinging your arm back and forth 

you snatched it from him, “you owe me a cinnamon roll”

this wasn’t the first time one of your classmates tried to make you deliver their love letters to the “prettiest girl” in school 

you weren’t jealous about it, but it was just annoying

as you were talking playfully with the “Mina fanboys”

Yuto was occasionally side-glances at you

he admired how easy-going you were, you had your own charms that he fell for

“she’ll think you have a letter for Mina if you keep on looking at her like that,” Wooseok jeered as he spun his basketball on his finer

Yuto took a peek at his hidden letter that he wrote for you

he thought of a plan; although it would make him pretty much a stalker, all he wanted was.. for you to notice him

Yuto’s always been quiet, but he’d laugh at your savageness and admire you from away 

according to his plan, you were going to be at the library before school started

and he was right

you were struggling to grab a book from the highest shelf

he stood there peering from the other side of the bookshelf; chuckling at your little struggles of efforts 

“dammit.. I need to find that step stool...” 

when you scurried off, he took this chance to shimmy his letter inside of the book you wanted to get 

Yuto went to go sit down at a table across from where your book was 

“what’s this?” you opened the book and saw the letter addressed to you

you looked around but all you could see what your classmate sleeping on the desk

you walked over to him, “do you know who left this in here?” 

Yuto pretended like he was taking a nap, he stretched out and gave out a fake yawn, “I...don’t think i saw anyone...”

“hmm..” you sat down in front of him and opened the letter

(OMG WHY IS SHE READING THE LETTER IN FRONT OF ME.. THIS IS EMBARRASSING! BUT IF I LEAVE NOW IT’S OBVIOUS THAT I LEFT IT FOR HER!!) 

he fumbled around the inside of his backpack; pretending to look busy

(how can I say this? actually for a very long time now... I’ve liked you.. if I tell you this now, what will change?) 

Yuto could see a small smile from you, “well that was sweet... this really made my day... I wonder if this is really real or is it a prank..”

he slammed down on the desk

causing the librarian to shush at him

“I-I don’t think that it-it’s a prank... whoever wrote probably thought...you’re.. pretty cool...” Yuto mumbles and with the sound of the bell, he excused himself to go to class first

“YOU’RE PRETTY COOL?” Wooseok was yelling at Yuto’s nervous mistake

“YEAH I KNOW YOU DON’T HAVE TO YELL!!” 

Wooseok slapped himself in the face in disappointment, “you wrote a nice letter and you’re gonna fuck it up with a commentary”

Yuto sulks, “this is why I’m better off not talking at all..”

he feels a pat on his shoulder, “wHAT?” 

he turns around and sees you with the letter in your hand as Mina was dropping you off to class

“you know maybe it is a prank, since you’re always delivering my letters,” it was an out of line comment but you weren’t in the mood to deal with Mina

because deep down inside, you also felt like that

“see ya, y/n~”

Yuto’s blood boiled, he hated seeing you upset because you never were

and to here Mina say that, he wondered if she really was your friend

he took out his notebook and started to write again

he wanted to know that; there’s always someone out there for someone and he hope that he was that someone for you

DURING LUNCHTIME

he got some of your favorite snacks and drink (from observation) and placed them on top of another letter

when you got back from the bathroom, there was a little crowd around your desk

“hey dude, space? you know what that is?” you shooed them away and saw the snacks on your desk

you also saw the letter; not knowing if you should be happy or not, you opened it

(even though I like you, nobody knows. even when I see other girls, nobody’s like you. I’m sorry for having no courage. you can laugh at me all you want. I’m a loser only for you)

you folded it nicely and placed it in your book you got that morning

you laid your head on the book and looked at the window; softly smiling 

even if it was fake, it made you happy

seeing you smile made Yuto’s heart full 

it gave him courage to write more letters

finding the letters became a scavenger hunt and you were here for it

you’d find them inside your math book, your seat in chemistry class, your locker, the school’s flower garden, the list goes on 

on your most recent letter, he gave you clues

which was weird because usually his letters would be about little things that he liked about you 

but the note indicated you to find “so and so person” and they’d give you another note

they even made you run across the baseball field to find the baseball with the note 

your curiosity could end right there but you were determined to find out who’s been causing little flutters of butterflies 

“find Wooseok,” you were confused but you went out to find him

you found a tree standing in the doorway of your class, “Wooseok?”

the tree turned around and answered, “yeah? oh.. y/n..”

without another word, he hands you another note

“go to the rooftop..” you mumbled, you hoped it was the last of the notes

you literally did your workout for the whole month 

before you left, Wooseok called out to you, “he’s a good guy!”

you slammed open the doors leading out the rooftop, “OKAY SHOW YOURSELF!!!”

but no answer

you walked out to the rooftop; to catch some fresh air and fat break

but the sound of the doors closed and your attention went to it

there he was

you saw Yuto 

he’s always been hiding from you

walking the other way when he heard your laugh echoing in the hallway

would obviously be embarrassed when you caught him glancing at you

handing over his pencil to you when you’d forget yours

he’d also walk behind you so that guys wouldn’t look up your skirt (as he would basically walk up the stairs looking at only his feet)

his heart would drop every time you said “good morning” or “see you tomorrow” to him

Yuto politely hands over the letter, with his head hung low 

you smiled at him and opened the letter

(you become my memories, I get strength just looking at you. the sky is shining, I hope my heart reaches you, even if I don’t say it, just know, It’s always you in my heart I want to walk with the beautiful you) 

��is this-”

“this isn’t a prank.. I.. I was just scared that someone like you wouldn’t like someone like me.. I always thought you’d like someone like Kino or something... but that never stop me from liking you..”

you felt the nervousness in his voice

you slightly punched in him the arm, “this is so cheesy.. geez” 

you didn’t know what to say but you wanted to make him feel more comfortable 

but honestly, it made you feel like you friend-zoned him 

he gave out an airy-laugh, “who am I kidding..”

Yuto turns to walk about but you held his sleeve

“I mean it’s cheesy.. but it doesn’t mean I didn’t like it... you were the one that made me look forward to the next day...”

he slowly turns around, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes at you

when you looked up at him, he didn’t think that his heart could explode anymore that it already did 

“are you serious?”

you smiled at him widely, as you quoted him from one of his notes

“I’m only a loser for you..”

he couldn’t hide his smile, “who’s the cheesy one now...”

END + [masterlist + guidelines]

[viropaulski-blog]

WHAT IS VIRO MOVE

Viro Move is one of the VR Fitness products from the team at FitReality.

This particular product is a free roaming game. As gamers and developers, we all tend to spend a lot of our lives sitting in front of our beloved gaming machines, when you work and play in the same area it’s obvious you’re not going to move very much. And so our challenge was simple, how we can use VR to help gamers to move more. As we progressed with the idea of moving gamers we realized our game was beginning to feel like a real workout. Meaning we were really beginning to sweat and feel the burn as we tested our early levels.

So we invited fitness experts into the development process to help us to mimic actual aerobics workouts, instantly we found that by stretching gameplay to the very edge we were now able to maneuver players to move around the game zone. Suddenly we had a game idea that was both engaging and healthy, and with that eureka moment Viro was born. So in a way Viro Move is our most important product of all because this is the one product which we built as gamers for gamers.

If you know our industry you will know that pitching a VR fitness game to the VR community is no easy feat. You guys know how the best VR games should look and feel, from a development sense exposing our game to the community will help us gather the right type of feedback to ensure Viro Move is the absolute best it can be.

As gamers -this is our baby. For the whole team, this will be a lifetime dream realized. We have been extra critical of every element of the game, even the tiniest details have had long late-night debates in the office. We debate and argue a lot because as gamers, we want other gamers to love the game as much as we do.

So VIRO MOVE is a free-roaming full body workout VR  game. If you are a VR gamer, you will know the BEAT SABER concept. And it will make sense if I tell you VIRO MOVE is a bit like BEAT SABER – but on steroids. For those of you who don’t know BeatSaber, I say – “OMG why not!”

BeatSabre – you have our deepest respect!

It is an amazing game that allows players to slice boxes to the beat of the soundtrack. The gaming community went wild for the gameplay. From a developer’s perspective, this game helped to propel the VR gaming community forward, faster and wider than almost all others in our industry.

Fans of that game will be happy to hear that our game has all the same wonderful game mechanics. Custom beat mapped music and that highly addictive sword slashing gameplay which amazed Jimmy Fallon and the entire VR gaming community.

In VIRO MOVE we also incorporated other game mechanics such as boxing, shooting, stretching, in-game weapons changing. Additionally, all of our levels are based on the movements from actual fitness routines. Our level designers worked with personal trainers and physiotherapists to create full body in-game movements that mimic fitness routines across multiple cardio workouts.

We began by green-screening our designers performing specific aerobics movements and then moved on to mapping specific movements from weapons training all the way to shadow boxing. For example, during a sword fight, you will complete Zumba, aerobics, dance and Kenjutsu movements without ever really knowing -You are very welcome.

*Our level designer Pawel, building lunges into his swordplay.

We designed the in-game immersive elements with an insanely high level of graphical environments along with the widest choice of intricately detailed weapons, obstacles, and environments.

Personally, I’ve played dozens of VR games, so it is difficult to shock me. However, when I first immersed myself into a Viro environment – things were moving in the background, birds were flying, the grass was blowing all around me. I mean, the guys didn’t have to make the random things in the background move for this game to be amazing, we could have had success with a much simpler environment. But the team believed the immersive experience is equally as important as the fitness routines, and honestly – it is.

Our developers pretty much incorporated every VR fitness mechanic that’s been proven to move virtual man, even invented a few new ones -and all that before the design team went back again to polish the tiniest detail. Then -and only then, they found ways to make those perfectly textured tiny details in the background move with the wind, the experience is unbelievable.

VIRO MOVE FITNESS AND WEAPONS TRAINING

Our game has incorporated boxing gloves, swords and guns as weapons to help players feel fully immersed in the gameplay. These weapons also help us to deliver training movements specific to each fighting style. I can honestly say – as an aspiring graphic designer, watching our artists drop highly detailed weapon skins every week, truly is a thing of beauty.

I’m not just blowing our trumpet here -at least, not much I hope. But I am in awe every time I see a new weapon appear. I mean, how could you not be? The weapons look so realistic, I’m super excited anytime one of the designers mails me a video flyover of his new weapon, the level of detail is inspiring. It’s hard to imagine it’s something that has been squeezed out of his head and onto a computer screen.

VIRO GUN TRAINING

I sometimes sit at my desk and zoom in on random weapons just to see the detail and effort that has been crafted into designing them.

When it comes to VIRO MOVE guns, I am the office nerd -even though when it comes to gun training, I am without question the worst player in the team. But I don’t care, Viro Move guns are my all-time favorite weapons. Our team has painstakingly crafted so many tiny details into each gun. Whenever a new gun drops I plan a good twenty or thirty minutes on photoshop – just to zoom in on a macro level so I check out the little things.

I’m not sure when I became a virtual gun nerd, but I am pretty sure it happened sometime during the last few months.

SWORD TRAINING

If you have never trained with swords, you have never lived. Holding a pair of swords on a mountain top feels nothing short of spectacular.

Now, this is my thing, training with swords is the highlight of my day. If you believe in past lives -as I now do, you will understand when I say “I’m pretty sure I was a secret Ninja in a past life”.

I just can’t get enough of VIRO’s sword training, I can train for thirty minutes alone with swords and although I am a sweaty train wreck at the end, I’m smiling all the way through.  And I honestly can’t describe it, it’s the simple things that inspire me. Like the feeling, I get by tipping two ends of the swords together before the game begins. The touch creates a vibration from the controllers in the form of a delicate sense of resistance, and happens anytime the glowing blade tips touch each other, as it would in real life, clearly! The feeling is just awesome.

BOXING TRAINING

No detail was spared. If you look closely you can see our designers even allowed for leather wear above the knuckles of this skin.

As a young man in my non-virtual life, I trained for some time to be a boxer. As it turned out I was a better Ninja than a boxer, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t relish the opportunity to use my experience and skills to get critical with our boxing level designers. Indeed, I felt this was my real opportunity to position myself as the team expert, and boy I was so very wrong.

Let me start by saying, I don’t think any of our guys have had real-life boxing training as I did. But they have worked tirelessly with professional trainers to build routines that simulate jabs, crosses, uppercuts and even under hooks and all the other boxing maneuvers my competitors used against my nose as a young man.

Watching these guys test their levels is sometimes like watching professionals shadow boxing in the gym. They have nailed all the movements, while I –the semi-professional, look and feel like a fat middle-aged dad trying to swat a nest of angry hornets. I’m getting better now, but it’s not at all like riding a bike, shadow boxing is an art form that needs time, practice and physical agility to pull off.

I need to pause a little to talk about our boxing gloves. We have an ever growing range of skins, from futuristic metal gauntlets to traditional leather and fabric gloves. Granted, you don’t get much of a chance in the game to look at the gloves, but I highly recommend that players take the time to stand there – when fully immersed, and just look at the detail that has gone into designing each of our glove skins.

Our designers have added details which to help create an enhanced sense of reality. For example, some leather gloves have ever so slight wear across the knuckles, really it’s the smallest things that make me happy sometimes.

STRETCHING

They say you should always save the best till last. I’ve always been a bit of a rule breaker and I’m not going to change today, so I have saved the worst for last. I hate stretching, I hate it more than going to the actual gym. But to be honest, it’s the most important Viro Move training tool. I try to train for twenty minutes every day and while that may not seem like a lot – trust me, after twenty minutes of Viro Move you will look and feel like you have gone ten rounds with Ivan Drago. I didn’t always make the time to use the stretching levels, which always felt like a bit of a mistake the morning after.

You can easily forget that Viro Move is a real aerobics workout – but it is, you will use muscles you didn’t know you had and if you don’t make time for stretching as part of your warm up and cool down, please expect the muscle cramp fairy to come to visit you while you sleep – and she’s not a kind lady.

Stretching is not always going to be as sexy as boxing, shooting or sword-fighting – fact, so we have put a lot of energy into making it relaxing and enjoyable, and remember most professional sports coaches will advise you to make time for stretching before and after training. Our team has built the stretching and flexibility movements into our game to help you eliminate that morning after pain. I have learned the hard way that a  six-pack is no good to anybody if you are not flexible and agile enough to stand up straight the next day. As it’s too late for me to become the next Arnold, I will settle for the ability to climb out of bed and bounce down the stairs like the sprightly twenty-year-old I still feel I am.

Stretching and flexibility are my new favorite buzz-words – still, my least favorite exercises but most probably the best thing Viro Move has given me – after swords!

MIXED MODE

I am a huge fan of Deadpool. Handsome, sarcastic, energetic, sexy, funny, muscular, worshiped by millions of women and a handful of men do you see the similarities? That’s right! Deadpool has exactly the same qualities.

The similarities don’t end there, when I play VIRO MOVE, I do so in “mixed mode”. Meaning, after I set the level, environment, music, difficulty, I can then set the game to mix weapons during gameplay. One minute I am shooting and dodging drones the next minute I’m slashing and boxing orbs. Guys, you can make believe you are Deadpool – the Ladies, we will imagine you are the lovely Laura Croft.

We built mixed mode for those of us who are experts, those who really want that extra challenge at the highest level. It’s fast, furious and even though you know a weapon change is coming, changing the weapons mid-game requires some serious practice and technique.

THE FUTURE OF VIRO

Since the initial idea we have gone on to develop other solutions for the fitness industry, but as a small team of developers, our efforts are focused on ensuring the gaming elements of all our games are the best they can be. Meaning, for sure we will help you get fit -it’s our mission in life, but we always want you to have fun in the process.

Blog is written by VIRO Paulski first published on the VIROMOVE website